Thoughtlessness

Some of the people in the crowd started moving, going to comply with Leo's request. Normally nobody would have listened to him, but they had seen how powerful he was, they were honestly frightened.

They were thankful that he had helped them, but they feared what would happened if he decided to turn on them.

"Excuse me, Sir." The voice of a man came from behind Leo. Leo turned and the guard who had pointed his spear at him yesterday was standing there. Leo didn't say anything, he just waited for the guard to speak.

"Thank you for helping my brother and I, as well as the rest of the village." The guard had a look of shame on his face, he was clearly concerned about what he had done to Leo when he had first arrived.

"You're welcome, I can't do nothing when people abuse their power just to hurt others or gain some easy Ven." Leo replied while slightly frowning at the guard.

The guard seemed to have caught on to Leo's insinuation, "I-I understand, thank you again." with that the guard walked away.

In the next few minutes, ropes were brought over and the bandits were tied up and brought to the jail in the village. Those that hand their hands cut off, had their arms tied tightly to prevent blood loss.

The village didn't have much need for a jail since it was rare for crimes to be committed. It was luckily just large enough to house the bandits left alive. The two guards that were at the gate were told to watch over them until the military arrived.

Leo had searched all the bandits to see what they had with them. Other than their weapons and clothing, they were carrying nothing. 'I was hoping they would have some Ven on them, I could always use more.' Leo's expression conveyed his disappointment, but he did take their weapons so that he might sell them to the blacksmith later.

"Cheer up, when the military arrives they will most likely give you a reward." Rosalia was the one speaking. She had noticed Leo's disappointed look.

"Really? I didn't think of anyone giving me a reward. In the first place, I wasn't doing this for the Ven... although after I won the fight I was hoping they would have some for me to take." Leo had a guilty smile on his face.

"Well it was very kind of you to help out the village, even if it was in hopes of getting a reward, it would still have been nice. But since you did it just to help, I'm even more inclined to think highly of you." Rosalia giggled after she finished speaking.

'I can't believe he was one of those people with a special ability. The king stated that all ability users were to be gathered at the nearest city to them a few weeks ago. I guess Leo never heard about it since he was in a secluded area his whole life.'

An older man came walking up to Leo and Rosalia and started shouting. He had a long grey beard and no hair on his head. He was 1.6 meters tall.

" Why did you do that! They always leave after we pay them and don't do anything to harm us! But... But now..." the man started to fall off with his sentence because Leo had walked up to the man and was now right in front of him, staring down at him.

"Who are you to speak for the village!? Would you rather be harassed by them than get rid of them? That makes no sense." Leo was clearly angry at what the man was saying.

The old man backed away slightly before speaking again. He was clearly frightened by Leo, like every one else, but he wanted to say his piece. "You don't know anything boy! I'm the chief of this village, and there are more of them out there, they have dozens of men! The ones you dealt with today were just a small group, and when the rest find out what's happened they will attack us and wipe out the village!"

Leo's anger faded instantly, 'Fuck... He's right. I didn't consider that. Dozens of men? I took out ten of them easy enough, but they underestimated me, which allowed me to lower there numbers a bit in the beginning. If they had all rushed me at the same time, it would have been a much harder fight.'

Leo stared at the chief, he was clearly expecting Leo to reply in some way. "Do you believe they will show up before the military does?"

"Yes!" the chief was getting impatient. He felt that Leo was just trying to avoid the problem by getting the military involved.

"I see... Well it would have been easier if they were here, but I can still do it without the military helping me." Leo started walking off towards the jail where the bandits were being kept.

"Wait! Where are you going, we're not done talking!" the chief walked after Leo, shouting at him from behind.

"Calm down old man , I'm going to sort out the problem." the group consisted of Leo, Rosalia and the chief. All three of them walked towards the jail, with Leo in the lead.

The jail was in the center of one of the side roads in the village. A different side road than that of the blacksmith. When referring to the roads, the villagers call them each by a number, the one with the jail is 1, the center road is 2, and the blacksmith is in road 3.

Leo was walking from the entrance of the village, which was in road 2. It took him a couple of minutes to reach the jail, he had to slow down for the old man who was still following him.

The jail was just a basic wooden building. It has 1 floor, a single door in the front, and windows along the sides , except the side the cells are on.

Leo walked in and could see that there were two seperate jail cells inside, taking up and entire side of the room. One half had all the surviving bandits. While the other had just their leader.

The two blonde guards were sitting inside keeping an eye on the prisoners. When Leo walked in they both stood up abruptly.

Leo looked at the leader in one of the cells and then spoke to the younger guard, "Open the door, I need to have a chat with this one."

The guard did as he was told and opened the door. Leo walked into the cell and stood right in front of the leader, the man was shaking in fear.

Leo looked him in the eyes "So, how much am I going to have to hurt you before you tell me what I want to know?"