Chapter 173: Zayn

The old fort in the Orna Mountains used to serve as an important choke point in stopping the Frostaxe Clan from invading the kingdom. Over the years, though, the landscape changed, and the route that the fort originally defended became too hard for the orc army to traverse. Avalanches became more common in the area, forcing the orcs to find alternative routes, which eventually led them west towards Kerman.

The fires and lanterns within the fort had been lit once more after so many years.

"Life is good."

A large man leaned back in his throne-like chair. A woman bound in chains next to him trembled as she fed him from a tray of exotic meats.

The man was Zayn, the current leader of the bandits in the northern region.

The woman tried to keep her arm as steady as possible as she fed him but couldn't help but tremble a little. Still, she managed to feed him without dropping the meat or making any other mistakes.

"See? Was that so hard?"

Zayn spoke not to the woman bound in chains but to a man who lay on the ground missing his right arm. He had made the unfortunate mistake of accidentally dropping a slice of meat on Zayn's lap, which resulted in him swiftly losing his arm. His right shoulder had already been healed, leaving a short stump. They didn't want him to die, after all.

As the woman continued to feed him, a bandit entered the room.

"Boss, we—"

"Boss?" Zayn asked with a menacing tone.

The bandit shivered in fear. It had only been two days since his old bandit group was absorbed into this one, and he hadn't completely adjusted.

"L-lord Zayn, we have the total numbers. We captured 2,432 people from Chilton, and they are all currently locked downstairs, with the exception of those two."

"Good." A smile grew on Zayn's face as he thought to himself, 'That's half of this month's quota. Another raid like that and we're golden.'

"Tomorrow we are raiding Sipenan."

"So soon? But—"

"Did I fucking stutter?" Zayn interjected, instilling more fear into the bandit.

He hadn't been here for long, but he knew what happened to those who went against him.

"Do as I say. After this raid, we will live like kings for the next month."

Though scared, the bandit was also excited at the prospect.

"Yes, my Lord!" The bandit bowed before heading off to tell the others.

Watching the bandit scurry off, Zayn chuckled to himself.

'Fear keeps them in line, but to truly make them work, they need rewards.'

Left alone, Zayn went back to enjoying the handfed delicious meat. That was until a woman entered with a much more authoritative presence.

"Tomorrow? Really?"

"Why not? We would then get the rest of the month to have fun and relax."

Zayn didn't treat her like the bandit that was previously here. She was one of the few B-Rankers in their group and deserved some level of respect, even if she was weaker than him.

She facepalmed. "Don't you think making two entire towns disappear will attract some attention?"

"Oh, so one town's worth of people disappearing doesn't?"

She made an ugly face as she couldn't deny it. "Still, isn't this too fast?"

Zayn reassured her. "Once we are done with the next town, we go silent for a month. The pressure should die down after that long."

"Fine, I hope you're right."

Neither of them actually knew if it would play out how they wanted, as it was their first time raiding entire towns, they were playing it by ear.

"By the way, when are they coming to pick them up? We aren't going to feed them, so it's on them if they die."

Even if they wanted to feed the captured townsfolk, they had nowhere near enough food and water to sustain them for more than a meal.

"I already contacted them when we got back. They should be here around tomorrow morning."

The woman nodded and began to leave. "You have fun then. I'm gonna get hammered."

'Tomorrow?'

Unbeknownst to the two of them, someone had been listening in the entire time underground. Sol didn't see anyone else approaching with [True Sight], so he assumed there wasn't anything else he could learn from them and used [Burrow] to scout the fort further.

He had already found where the townsfolk were captured, in a stone building near the center of the fort that used to be a prison. It wasn't made to accommodate so many people at once, so instead of using the cells to keep them locked up, they were simply shoved into the building and locked inside.

While the situation for the townsfolk was tragic, it was even worse for the few who could fight. Those who could fight had been locked up elsewhere, specifically in the main building of the fort, which also housed a smaller prison. The people locked up there were much more dangerous, so to prevent any accidents, the bandits had cut off their arms, making it so if they did escape, they couldn't do much.

Sol was furious when he found them in that condition, but he refrained from doing anything rash. He had seen everything he needed to see and traveled underground to the outside of the fort, where he emerged a mile away.

'Rex isn't back yet. Guess I have to wait.'

While he explored the fort and its buildings, Rex was tasked with getting an overhead view of the fort and assessing the bandit forces. It was hard for Sol to do that as he couldn't see or hear that well while underground. After 30 minutes of waiting, Rex returned.

"Yo, Captain. Want me to tell you what I found?"

"You can tell me once we regroup with the others. We are low on time."