Extermination of the Bandits

Chapter 14

Extermination of the Bandits

I mulled my chances of success in taking out both of them before they alert the other bandits while deactivating the charm.

'I could do it with my Stealth Spell. They won't even know what killed them'

In the end, I didn't want to take any chances so I applied my Stealth spell and silently crept sideways away from the horses and climbed up of the hill. From there, I climbed sideways and my destination was the place just above the bandits.

In the meanwhile, I heard them talk.

"Boss Bandit is just so awesome, isn't he?" The one on the left asked.

"He sure is. I am just frustrated that we won't get to taste that girl until the boss has his fill and he hasn't even started" The dead man on the left replied back with an undertone of lust.

I thanked the gods for small mercies. It seemed the girl hasn't been raped since her abduction. Still, I had to give it to them. They were focused on doing their job. Not even once, did they take off their eyes from their surroundings. Unfortunately for them, their death would be coming from somewhere else.

"You don't have to tell me. We won't even get to eat until all of them have eaten the feast. This lookout job sucks" The left one complained.

"Shut up. Just do your job. We, the Blackheart bandits haven't been caught because of the boss' planning" The right one admonished the first one.

"You don't have to tell me. I have been in the gang even before you" The left one retorted.

There was some silence after that which let me mull on what I heard. Apparently, these bandits have been active for a lot of time judging by their conversation.

Usually, bandits are very rare. Hell, I was quite surprised with this quest when I first saw it. There are many risks in this profession. Adventurers, monsters, are just the majority of them. The King's and noble's army also eliminates any bandits they come across. It was why Bandits generally don't last very long.

"I didn't ask before but how long have you been with Boss Bandit," The right one asked after a while.

"This would be my third month with the Boss," The left one said puffing out his chest.

That means these bandits have been terrorizing the folks for longer than that.

'But not for long' I thought preparing to jump.

"You idiots! Are you here to guard or gossip? If you go on like that, you won't last very long. Boss doesn't care about incompetent people" A third voice came from inside the mine which stopped me from jumping. Not a moment later, I heard the three sets of footsteps coming closer.

Man, talk about good luck. It seems I just arrived before the change in shifts. And even one of the elder bandits (Who probably came to check on the guards) is there for the taking. A malicious smirk came across my face while thinking about it.

"C-Chief, W-We are s-sorry" They stuttered out while bowing towards the newcomers.

Just as I sensed them arriving at the entrance of the mine, I jumped with my face facing the entrance of the mine. Simultaneously, I took out my 2 short swords while in the air.

Before the 2 apologizing bandits had even an inkling of what was going to happen, I swiped both of my swords through their necks just as I passed them. Knowing I hit my mark, I didn't wait for the confirmation and proceeded to stab both of my swords through the other 2 bandits' throats who came with the elder bandit for their next shift.

Blood flowed freely as they died in a gruesome manner, by choking on their own blood. I bit back a grimace when some of the blood got on my armor. Still, I was moving even then. I took out my swords from their necks and turned towards the elder bandit.

I have to give him some credit. He was by far the most experienced bandit of this gang. He already had a hand on his sword which he was in the process of taking out. His eyes were wildly running around, taking in the surroundings seeking for the intruder he couldn't see.

I didn't give him any chance. Before he even took out the sword, I swiped the left sword (which was closer to him) through his neck.

He had an expression of shock before he died.

Once, I was sure that he was dead, I looked sideways to see two headless bodies of the first two bandits with their head lying near them.

Thank god that my mask had smell filtering enchantment on it. I don't think the blood pooling around the necks and headless bodies would smell any good.

I breathed deeply and calm my racing heart. A month before, my heart would have been beating like crazy. My hands would have been sweaty. But after a month of these quests, I have adapted a lot. Now I am a lot calmer in fights like these where death is a common occurrence.

I shook my thought of these morbid thoughts and put my swords in the scabbard. Instead of using them and breaking their enchantments by wearing them off, I took two swords from the dead bandits and strapped them on my waist.

I didn't bother looting the bandits as I could do it after completing the quest. I reapplied the heat-sensing charm before walking into the mine as while the mine was lit with torches on the walls, it wasn't enough. I also reapplied my stealth spell. It was already functioning but I knew it would deactivate soon.

All in all, I wasn't worried that anyone would see me. And I was sure that someone would come to check as to when I killed the bandits, the horses became scared (probably after smelling blood) and started creating a ruckus.

My hunch proved to be correct as I saw the heat signature of a man coming towards me halfway through the distance muttering about incompetent morons who don't know how to calm down a few beasts.

On seeing him, I stopped my advance and silently crept towards the wall. And just as he passed me, I stabbed my sword through his neck. Again, he choked on his blood as he died. While I agree that this is a bad way to go, I didn't feel guilty over that considering their actions. Moreover, it also helps that by dying in this way, they don't get a chance to call for help.

The horses also stopped making a ruckus soon after.

Once I was sure that there was no one else coming, I resumed and walked towards the antechamber where the other bandits were still feasting. I could hear the sounds of laughter and merriment.

"Boss sure is funny. He made the girl cook us feast and now the boss will be feasting on her" One of them joked. The drunken bandits roared in laughter at the joke.

'It looks like I would have to hurry' I thought as I didn't want the girl to get raped.

Thank god that the bandits were drunk otherwise it would have been harder to do what I was going to do.

By my count, there were more than a half a dozen bandits in the antechamber. A few of them were already asleep after feasting so I let them be for the time being.

The four of them who were still awake were my main priority.

I silently crept behind them and took out my swords before swiping them through their necks. Before the other two could even understand what was happening, they received similar treatment as their fellow bandits.

Four thuds echoed in the antechamber as their heads fell down, blood pooling from the headless body.

The rest of the bandits were still knocked out. They didn't even realize that 4 of their comrades have died.

Even then, I silently crept on them and stabbed their necks with my blades. They died a gruesome death choking on their own blood.

A scream of a girl took me out of my thoughts.

I raced towards it.

I reached another chamber a little away from the main chamber to find a big man ripping the dress off a young girl while simultaneously groping her. The tears flowed freely from her blackened eyes. I could also see some bruises on her body.

I shook in rage as my blood boiled on seeing that.

I didn't care to be stealthy. I ran towards him and knocked him out with a single hit from the hilt of the sword.

I didn't kill him for two reasons even in my rage. The first was so that the blood doesn't spill on the girl and get her traumatized. And second, to interrogate him.

The girl looked dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events and looked around before her eyes met my frame just as I deactivated my charm. For a moment, I looked internally ignoring her and sensed that I still had more than 60% of my magical reserves.

The girl flinched on seeing me and hid her uncovered breasts with her hands.

"Don't worry I am here on a quest. I have already taken care of the other bandits" I spoke in a soft voice to calm the girl.

"T-Thank Y-You" She stuttered out.

"Why don't you find your clothes and meet me in the antechamber," I asked as I picked up the boss bandit and tossed him on my shoulder before walking away from the half-nude girl.

While she was finding her clothes, I tied the bandit boss, tightly with a rope lying around.

I also looted all the dead bandits of their bodies before depositing them in a corner. I thought about interrogating the boss bandit now but decided to postpone it once I was away from the girl. That way, she won't get traumatized hearing his screams.

Now that I wasn't in the hurry, I could see that the bandits had stored the crops just beside the antechamber on its left side. Obviously, it was a little less than what they had taken as they probably ate some of it. But I was already expecting that and I am sure the villagers were also expecting it.

Suddenly, I was taken out of my thoughts when I noticed the girl entering the antechamber and stopping dead in her tracks from the corner of my eyes. I followed her sight and saw that she was looking at the dead bodies of the bandits in the corner.

"Don't worry, they will never harm anyone ever again" I spoke in a soft voice.

She flinched at that but didn't reply. Instead, she lowered her head and looked away from me.

I sighed.

I couldn't hold it against her. She was almost raped. It would leave some mental scars. It would be better if she would be in the company of her family members.

"Let's get you to your family. They are quite worried for you" I said as I started to walk towards the exit. Not a second later, I could hear her walking behind me too. She only stopped for a second when she the dead body of another bandit lying in between.

I bit back a grimace at the reaction she would have once she saw the other 5 bandits on the entrance of the mine.

Thankfully, she only tensed when she saw the bandits' bodies. Otherwise, she gave no reaction whatsoever though I had to stifle my laughter when I saw her trying to dodge the bandits' bodies while she exited the mine.

I freed one of the horses and gave it to her to get back to her village.

On her questioning look, I replied "I have some things to do here. I will come after finishing my business" and sent her on her way.

Once she went away, I looted all the bandits left and deposited them in the corner. This way, I had more than a dozen bandit clothes, half a dozen swords, a couple of bows, a dozen daggers, and 3 dozen crudely made arrows.

I was surprised that I didn't find any money with any of them. I didn't even find it in the mine too. I checked everywhere, even in the bandit boss' room where I found her raping the girl.

The bandit boss was still knocked out so I decided to store everything else that was looted from the villagers. All the crops went to my ring rather easily. Unfortunately, my ring was full before I could store one-fourth of the crops so I had to carry them towards the cart. Instead of doing the labor, I emptied my ring's inventory in the cart and filled it again with the leftover crops. After a couple of trips, the cart was fully loaded.

While I was doing it, the boss bandit also woke up. I heard him stir up just as I stored the last crop in my ring.

"Look who decided to come back to the living" I spoke in a cheerful tone.

The boss bandit looked around to see all his gang members killed, lying in the corner half-naked. Half of them didn't even have their heads attached to them. Obviously, he was horrified.

"Ah, Unfortunately, I had to eliminate your friends" I spoke in a fake somber voice as I followed his line of sight.

"You Bastard" He screamed "Do you know who I am? I'll kill you"

"Man! What is with all these criminals? They always start with the threats they can't possibly keep up" I complained. "I mean how can you even kill me. You are tied up, without your weapon and even clothes, whereas I am in my armor and only a second away from killing you if you even get out of your ropes somehow" I said as I released a little bit of killing intent.

The Boss Bandit flinched at that and became silent hearing me.

"What do you want?" He growled.

"A lot of things," I said with a malicious smile "And you are going to tell me everything"

2 hours later

I was whistling as I rode on the horse, the eerie silence of the night doing nothing to dampen my high spirits. The other horses tied with mine were carrying the cart filled with the crops. My destination was the large village I reached today with the trader as it had the largest share of the crops in the cart.

But my joy wasn't because of it.

After some torturing, the Boss bandit told me everything I needed to know.

Apparently, the boss bandit used to be the son of the mayor of a small town. Seeing as he was brought as a big fish among a small pond, he grew up to be an arrogant bastard. There, he fancied a girl who wasn't interested in him so he raped her with the help of his 2 cronies. Anyway, for that crime, he was sentenced to death but the mayor freed him secretly since he was his son all the while sentencing his 2 cronies to death.

But the mayor knew, it wouldn't be safe for him to remain in that town so he made him run away.

And since that day, he had been leading this bandit gang for almost 5 months. They only remained safe for this long because the bandit boss was a little clever fellow. They didn't stay at one place for too long. They looted the villages surrounding their hideout which they scouted before. And once their larder was finished, they would move to another place, as a caravan so as to remain undetected.

They would repeat the cycle again and again and move to different places. It was only by chance that I took the quest and happened upon them.

Anyway, once I got his history, I made him talk about the loot he had hidden away from his gang members. I was a little surprised that he informed me about the secret hiding place quickly but didn't think much of it. But when I didn't find the coins after digging for a while, I understood his tactic.

I found him struggling to get himself free when I got back to the mine. To teach him a lesson, I cut off one of his legs to make him understand that he won't be able to get away from me. I let him scream for a while before cauterizing it. I could still hear his bloodcurdling scream he generated when I cauterized the leg if I close my eyes and think about it.

Was it a little ruthless tactic?

Sure.

Did I care?

Not at all

All I cared about was the result. And he sang like a canary on truth serum after that ruthless tactic.

'Here is a thought. I could try to make some type of truth serum' I mused. 'But it won't be easy. I am not an alchemist. Sure, I could make the potions but that is due to memorizing the recipe and not my talent. I would have to find some alchemist who could help me. I couldn't even go to the capital to the Alchemist girl because of my bastard father. She would have been perfect for the job too' I thought despondently

Anyway, when I went to his secret place, I found a treasure box which contained quite a lot of money. I saved a particular amount in my ring which contained everything of the villagers. Even then, a little less than one-tenth of the treasure remained and it went in my other ring. This way, I got about 5 Gold Dragons with only a bit of interrogation. It wasn't much but it was still enough to make me happy.

After looting his treasure chest, I freed him just like I promised him in return for him to tell me about the location of his secret stash. The thing was I freed him of his mortal body just like his bandit friends.

'Like I was gonna free a man like him' I rolled my eyes

After that, I took every bandit's head and put them in a few sacks which were tied to the horses for proof that I completed the quest.

The only problem I could think of now is my decreasing magical reserve.

Seeing as it is night, the horses can't exactly see good enough to travel. So I had to conjure a light that was leading us. While it wasn't taxing for a small amount of time, it was quite taxing to use for a large amount of time.

'And I have been using it for more than half an hour already'

After checking internally, I couldn't help but curse. It seems I might not be able to travel to another village judging by my dwindling magical reserve.

'Oh well,' I shrugged as I came upon the village and deactivated the charm. 'I could tackle it tomorrow'

"The Mysterious Warrior is here" I heard someone yell as I neared the village.

Soon, all of the villagers gathered at the gate of the village and I was welcomed like a hero when they saw the cart filled with crops. Though their enthusiasm dimmed a little bit when I told them that they would get only 90% of their crops as the bandits ate some of the food.

I lied to them a little bit as they were on the wealthier side compared to the other villages. This way, the other villages would get 95% of their crops. Knowing that some of them might even steal the crops, I already stored the rest of the crops in my other rings to safeguard them.

To cheer them up, I gave them all the money that the bandits took from them which worked as I intended.

After giving the village, their share of crop and money, I was soon taken to the village elder's house where I ate dinner and went to sleep in his guest quarters.

...

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