Start of the raid

We left the inn and I started eating the bread and cheese that I had taken from the inn. It was true that I wasn't too hungry but I didn't want to inconvenience anyone by getting hungry in the middle of the journey.

We arrived at the gate just as I finished eating. I saw around 20 - 25 people standing around. Half of them were guards while others looked like adventurers. All of them looked like veterans. To my surprise, even the guild master was there and looked like she was ready for travel. Is the guild master personally going to join this raid? I didn't know much about adventuring since I had been one only for a few days. I didn't know if this was normal or out of the ordinary. I looked around and saw that even other people in the group were looking at the guild master with surprised gazes. It looked like this was an unusual situation after all.

We walked over to greet the guild master and Cleo asked about the plan.

"We are waiting on a few more people and will leave in 10 minutes." The guild master responded with a smile. She was in her young girl form and looked quite cute. Somehow she really didn't seem like mighty guild master from yesterday. She saw me staring at her and asked "So how are you Ren? Do you think you can do this?"

I nodded my head and said "I have been in that cave before. I think I will be able to help"

Before Annette could say anything Cleo interrupted and said with a serious voice "I don't want Ren and Turek to be in any kind of danger. They are coming along to gain experience but that doesn't mean they should be in dangerous situations"

Annette nodded and replied "I understand. I never had any intention of putting your team in any dangerous situation. Usually only strong teams would be asked to join a raid like this. I included your team since you might be able to learn something from this raid. Think of this as part of your reward…"

Cleo had a relieved expression.

"Leana and me are planning to join the raid while Sheila, Ren and Turek would stay behind. Does that seem ok to you?"

Annette thought for a bit and said "Let's do what you have planned. I will also leave 1 or 2 people behind to watch our camp. They can stay with them."

A few more people came and we set off on the raid soon after. The path we took this time was the same as the last time. While had given all the information and directions on how to get to the bandit camp the day before, it was still better to have to guide. Because of this, Cleo spent most of her time in the front guiding the party. The rest of us stayed behind since we were tagging along anyway. The pace was not as fast as when we were rushing away from the bandit camp but it was still quite fast. We took breaks every hour or so.

Considering our time of departure and our pace, I estimated we should reach the bandit camp around 5 to 6pm. We might wait a bit for it to get dark before attacking. I thought about the bandit queen and the strange state the bandits seem to be in. I also wondered about the curse on Tien and Nina that the high priestess healed. Just what was the connection between all this? What if something unexpected happens? Was it really a good idea to join this raid? We are just an unranked party. Maybe this was too much for beginners like us. Well what was done cannot be undone. We couldn't just leave the group in the middle. We could only see this through at this point.

We continued our journey but we slowed down the pace as we got closer to the bandit camp. The scouts started to check for any bandit patrols as we didn't want to alert the bandits. Because of this it took us longer than my expectations and it was already dark by the time we got close to the camp. Surprisingly we hadn't encountered a single bandit patrol. We made camp a few miles from the bandit camp. Because we wanted to stay hidden, we didn't light any fires.

As we sat around, Annette and few other veteran adventurers discussed the plan of attack. It was decided that 2 adventurers would stay back along with me, Turek and Sheila. The rest would advance and scout the area before attacking.

Cleo looked nervous, which was unlike her. I asked her about it and it turned out that she was actually worried about leaving us behind. Me and Turek assured us that we would be fine. We were still quite far from the bandit camp and we had 2 veteran adventurers with us. Finally Cleo was sure of our safety and decided to go with the raiding party.

That probably saved her and Leana's lives.