An Old Man

The monster tamer belonged to the bandit group. It was easy to tell the difference because of their unified clothing. They had military-like pants while they wore sleeveless jackets, men and women wore the same clothes. Ed was surprised by their unity as he thought that bandits usually did whatever they felt like. 'I guess the leader beat them into it.' Ed thought.

The monster summoned by the bandit was called a Gale eagle. It was an Epic grade monster and its cultivation was Heavenly Establishment level 1. True to its name, it was a specialist in using Wind magic. The villagers who were locals were terrified by the monster, as they didn't fight all the times. On the other hand, the ones who came to challenge the tower could easily kill it with their team. Unlike Ed, the monster tamer's abilities were very low. Ed was killing bandits in stealth mode. He used space magic along with Spectral Shadow Steps to achieve completely silent kills. Other than some exceptional bandits, the ones he targeted were killed in a single sword slash.

As expected, after a while, the bandit's leader noticed Ed and targeted him. He was on the front lines but retreated to catch Ed who was killing his comrades or grunts as he called them. "You bastard!" he angrily rushed towards Ed.

"Are you sure you have the time to mess with me?" Ed didn't lose his cool. In fact, this was also part of his plan. Having Raikou and Sieg kill the leader would definitely bring attention towards Ed. Unwanted attention. So he had to lure him from the front, and the rest was simple.

"You!!" The bandits' leader was surprised as Sieg appeared in front of him. "Why are you on this floor?!" Apparently, the bandit's leader was familiar with Sieg.

"There is no reason for you to know that." Sieg caught the leader and teleported him away. It was a skill similar to Ed's long-range teleport, except that its range was limited. Sieg couldn't bring along many people either.

Both of them appeared a couple of kilometers away from the village.

"You may have defeated me before, but my cultivation is higher now! I won't lose again!" the leader who Sieg had defeated before was confident in his victory this time around. That is until, "and what gave you the idea that my cultivation is still low." Sieg's answer shocked the leader. Sieg's aura erupted and he showcased the extent of his abilities as a Heavenly Establishment level 5.

"Still, my abilities have improved over the last years. I won't lose!" Still refusing to admit his weakness, he boasted about his strength. A black smoke appeared on his hand and then was directed at Sieg. The grass that was touched by the smoke withered and died.

"Gyaaah!" The leader stumbled down as he felt pain in his leg. Frightened, he looked back and a black wolf stood behind him. "Both of us seem to be a little excessive for a weakling like him." Sieg who emerged unharmed from the smoke told Raikou. Now, the leader could only look in horror as both of them approached him.

Back at the village, the bandits who lost their leader went into an unorganized struggle. Ed managed to kill all the strong ones, while his companions, who had human forms, were able to protect those that he intended to protect. By now, the bandits were almost annihilated. The villagers sustained casualties, but not as much as they expected. In fact, if Ed and his companions weren't around the villagers would probably end up dead. But, he was also the reason why the bandits attacked in the first place.

"My liege," Sieg, who teleported back, called Ed something inconceivable. "We finished the mission," after he spoke to him, Raikou appeared out of his shadow. Ed recalled his companions and teleported away from the scene. He appeared next to the entrance of the bandits' hideout. He was going to loot whatever they had left here. Ed started examining the hideout, and suddenly he heard something.

"Who are you?" a feeble old voice reached Ed's ears. It was almost as if the voice had given up on life, only to find some hope.

"Why would you want to know?" Ed obviously knew why. The source of the voice came from inside cells. It was a slave who spoke to him. The slave was an old man who could very well be over 60 years old. Ed was surprised to see that he was at Heavenly Establishment level 7. He was curious how the leader managed to subdue him, but he knew there were many ways.

"Please help us!" Before the man could respond, other slaves who noticed Ed's presence started pleading.

Ed ignored them all as he moved ahead. "I can tell you where the treasures are." Again, the old man spoke to Ed. Even amid all the noise of the other slaves, he could easily discern that voice.

"I can find it on my own, why should I help you?" Ed knew very well that the old man wanted to give him the treasure in exchange for freeing him.

"That's the only thing I can offer. If you won't accept, then I'm sorry for taking your time." The old man didn't push any further. Ed was planning on releasing all the slaves before leaving. If he left them here, there was little chance that someone would end up freeing them afterward.

Still, the old man intrigued Ed so he opened the cell by cutting it open. The other slaves left in a frenzy, but the old man walked slowly towards Ed. "this way," he kept his promise and lead Ed to the treasure room. Gold, weapons, jewelry, potions, and pills. All of these things were neatly organized which shocked Ed. He imagined that they would all be thrown on the ground, or in a spatial ring. Instead, they were organized in shelves properly.

Ed took the things that caught his attention. Unfortunately, nothing was worth much in here, at least in Ed's standards. After taking the things, the old man asked Ed, "what about the rest?"

"you can have it," Ed told him as he walked outside. A man appeared and swung a blade at Ed. "the treasure is mine!" one of the slaves was too greedy and tried to kill Ed. His brain didn't function correctly as he failed to notice that since Ed wasn't a bandit, it meant that he killed one of them to know this place. On top of that, his nonchalant attitude would show that he could take his time. Meaning that he wasn't afraid of the bandits coming back and finding him.

A thread emerged out of Ed's shadow and killed the slave. The old man witnessed everything and was shocked, his eyes wide open. Ed wondered why the man waited until Ed left the room to attack him, but, apparently, it was simply idiocy.

"If you're done then let's go, I can take you to the teleportation circle. Ah! It overheated so you have to wait for a week." Ed told him as he was walking out.