Bandit Queen

"Please… let Nina go. I… I will do whatever you want! I will become part of this group if you want. But please don't give Nina to these guys!" The man pleaded with the woman in front of her.

It looked liked that the man was in pain and forcing himself to talk. More than himself, he looked like he was worried about a woman named Nina. Are these the two that I saw being carried before? That seemed to be the only reasonable explanation.

"Ugh..You… you are a woman yourself! How can you live with yourself if you just hand over another woman to these animals! Haah… haah..."

Even when all of this was happening, the bandits in the hall didn't say a single word or move a muscle. They were simply watching as if this was a show. I looked back at the beautiful woman that sat on her throne like a queen. So she was the leader of the bandits? That could be the only reason she was sitting there so casually while this man plead with her.

The woman seemed like she was amused and kept watching the man without saying anything. I was starting to wonder what the man would say next when the 'bandit queen' finally moved.

She lazily stretched her legs and stood up slowly. The man stopped what he was going to say and started watching the woman warily. The woman walked up to him seductively and finally spoke with an entrancing voice.

"I am so surprised that you can plead for another woman while being in front of me. Do you not feel anything while looking at me? Can that woman be even more beautiful than me?"

The woman seemed calm but somehow I felt cold sweat running down my back. I couldn't place my finger on it but something about her voice or demeanor made me afraid of her. Just what kind of person is she?

"I… I…. I love Nina. I love her and only her! Please don't harm her. I will do anything for you!"

The bandit queen continued to look at him for almost half a minute. The man finally seemed to have realized that the woman in front of him was really dangerous. He stopped talking and tried to back away from her.

To my surprise, the woman didn't do anything to him and walked back to sit down on her throne.

"Bring her"

Once the bandit queen gave this command, the woman standing next to her, I could only assume that she was the queen's personal guard of some sort, started walking towards me.

Shit! She is coming right towards me. I was well hidden but there was no telling what the guard was capable of! What if she could see well in the dark. I tried to couch down as much as I could, hoping that she doesn't see me.

The guard walked passed me towards the right path. I was hidden at the intersection between the entrance path, the hall and the paths to left and right. It might be that the path on my right led to some sort of prison where the woman was being kept.

Just as I had thought, the guard returned while carrying a woman on her shoulder. This woman must be Nina that the man was talking about. Nina was pleading with the guard while struggling but the guard didn't seem bothered at all.

When the female guard carried the Nina past me, I risked a quick glance since I knew that the guard's back was turned towards me. I saw that Nina still had her own clothes and had her adventurer badge on her shoulder. She was actually an F rank adventurer! I didn't know how strong Nina was but she must be stronger than an unranked adventurer like me at least. If she was so helpless against the guard, there was no hope that I could save them on my own.