JOURNEY

"Uh uh. Yeah, you should be grateful that you are getting to live longer than", Andrew says while wiping the saliva that was drooling from his mouth.

Huh. Why spare him when you saw what he did to the village?", Cornelius screams at this moment, not understanding why Andrew would want to spare Oscar.

"What business does it have with you, old man?", Andrew asks in a pissed-off mood not regarding Cornelius one bit.

From the first time he saw Cornelius until this moment, he didn't have any good feelings toward him, he didn't have any good vibes around Cornelius and usually tried his best to avoid him.

Cornelius was stomped by the way he was being spoken to by Andrew and couldn't help getting angry but as he was about to speak, Andrew interrupts him by saying, "I did advice you to mind the next words that would be coming off your mouth, if not you did be dead".

"Do you know whom you are talking to? He is the village head, you should be the one minding the way you speak", a shout sounds out at this moment.

On Andrew noticing whom the shout came from, he couldn't help saying inwardly, 'Really the daughter of your father'.

It came from Cornelius' daughter, she seems to have forgotten the situation she was in formerly, and has started feeling all high and mighty since she was able to scale through without much harm. She has grown up that way actually, and due to her father's connection, she always had things go her way with little to no scruples. She felt depressed when she got to the capital because there were a lot of people who were of higher status than her and she didn't fit into any of their class, she was treated with scorn over there and she became something of like an attendant to the nobles over there to get into their gatherings and be noticed. Hence on coming back, her superiority complex tended to kick in and she started being bossy all over again but she was using it for the wrong person as without a word in response, she was slapped hard on her cheek, "Do you mind keeping quiet for a while?", asks Andrew with scornful eyes.

This was the exact kind of eyes which those nobles stared at her, but she didn't dare retort as she was just dealt a brutal lesson and the next words from Andrew made her almost faint.

"Wow, I was able to control the force this time around. I was almost sure her head would splatter all over the floor", he says feeling smug with his achievement.

Cornelius almost chokes on hearing those words which came out of his mouth of him. Andrew felt smug for a while before returning to the present as he clears his throat and said to Oscar, "Now give me your treasures and wine. I want all of it and you could be spared".

"Of course, of course, they are all yours. You just need to escort me to the base for the transfer of the properties", says Oscar with his head bowed down.

"Ohh Ohh, why would I be that foolish as to do that? What if you have set up an ambush for me?", says Andrew while narrowing his eyes at Oscar's suggestion.

Oscar on noticing the way Andrew stared at him couldn't help explaining himself, "I wouldn't try that. You could kill me at any moment you so seek if I did something like that". "Yeah, I guess so", says Andrew while rubbing his chin, "But for insurance sake. You would be coming along with me to be my shield", he continues while pointing in a certain direction which tends to coincide with where Cornelius' daughter was standing.

"No, not her. Take me instead, I am fit to be your shield", screams Cornelius, appalled by the decision of Andrew to use his daughter as a shield, one little mistake could lead to her death and they were after all going to the bandit's base and no one could tell what manner of traps were installed over there.

"I don't need a crippled old man who can't move efficiently as my shield. How would you be able to take attacks in my place then?", Andrew asks while looking at Cornelius as if he was a madman for making such a suggestion.

Cornelius just kept on screaming trying to change Andrew's mind, but he was bound to be ignored by Andrew. Andrew looks toward Cornelius' daughter before asking with an innocent smile on his face, "Fair maiden, may I get to know your name?".

Knowing the kind of person Andrew was, such a smile coming from him scared her the more, but she replied nonetheless to avoid another hit from Andrew. Who knew if he could control his strength this time around, "I...i...it's Eve", she said while trembling in fear of Andrew. How could such a young boy who seems harmless be so dangerous? Maybe that was what Eve thought.

"Such a nice name for a beautiful maiden like you", Andrew says while moving towards her in quick succession. "You should get changed, having your body exposed doesn't seem good for such a beautiful maiden like you. Go change your clothes before we get going", he continues.

Someone who wasn't aware of the situation would have thought that he and Eve were dating and they wanted to go out for some fun time, but since Eve knew the reason for it all, she couldn't help trembling. Perhaps, if she wasn't that rude towards him, all these wouldn't have happened but it was all too late for regrets now as she begrudgingly makes her way towards her room to get changed.

"No Eve. Don't go. Don't listen to him. I would get you out of this", Cornelius who was still on the floor screams at this moment.

"Old man, the only reason you haven't been killed is that I am not prepared to handle any of the troubles that come along with it, so I did advice you to keep your mouth shut over there", Andrew says while raising his head.

He didn't know the moment Andrew came to his side and even raised his head by his hair, it was a great humiliation. He hasn't felt this greatly shamed apart from when he talked to those higher ranked nobles, but who was treating him this way was a young boy who has not fully passed through puberty, a boy whom he has not taken seriously from the beginning now had the guts to treat him this way.

On seeing Cornelius this way, a smirk couldn't help coming to his face as he felt pride in seeing Cornelius putting on such a face. Although he wasn't sure if Cornelius was in the know of the fact of how Michael treated him, the fact that he didn't treat him any better made him have this nauseous feeling around him, so he didn't feel a bit of guilt about treating him the way he did right now.

A few minutes later, the potential decoy came out all dressed in a fairly nice gown, she seemed beautiful in her own right but Andrew just looks at her dully not fancying her a single bit before saying, "Since the party is all ready, guess it's time to go then. I did leave this kid over here for your protection, if anything happens to her though, you did most definitely go without her. So I did advise you to watch over her and if she wakes up before I come back, just knock her unconscious again".

He didn't wait for Cornelius to reply before walking along, Oscar didn't have a say in this journey of theirs and all he could do was lead them towards the base of their operations, while Cornelius was left behind with his maids, gnashing his teeth while watching them leave the village.

The journey started down and no conversation was held between the just formed group of people who were walking down the road. Since Andrew rarely left the village to the outside other than going to the forest, the scenery was all new to him and although there was a carefree expression on his face while he hummed along the way, he was very cautious as he paid a great deal of attention to his surroundings to counter any form of ambush or trap being laid on the way while positioning the only female in this group in front of him as a preventive measure in the situation where he wasn't quick enough to react to any such ambush.

Anyone would have seen this act as cowardly but Andrew took it as a normal thing, he still had a long life ahead and there were lots of things he hasn't experienced, and the lady treated him as a slave whom she could order around, so it all seemed fair to him to use her as a block. The journey unlike what Andrew thought it would be was uneventful with no traps or ambush on the way, although Oscar went out with most of his crew, some were left behind to guard their hideout in case any unforeseen circumstance was to occur, but they weren't any strong fighter in this group as they were all people that could be found anywhere with no real fighting skill or experience.

The reason why there was no ambush or trap along the way was that Andrew has killed all the members brought along who made up the power tree of the bandits. To ensure the quickness and effectiveness of the raid, Oscar brought along with him all the strong fighters available in his crew so that even if they had to face Michael, they would be able to have a fighting chance but an unknown which they didn't consider showed up and wiped out every single one of them leaving only Oscar behind.

The ones left behind in the cave wouldn't even be able to pick Andrew's teeth, let alone be capable of preparing an ambush for him. They quickly got into the cave and Andrew saw all there was to see in just a single glance, they were no form of impression in his eyes as he got bored quickly, he turned to Oscar before saying, "Where are the things you promised?".