Chapter 30 – Bandits 5

When Aile got closer, he saw decapitated heads that were put up in spikes.

Some looked bony and dry, others looked fresh that had blood trickling down, and there were many in different stages of decay. The head was of young and old.

The smell was abhorrent, Aile was going to puke from the site and already developed a deep hatred for the bandits. The horse-like creatures too disturbed and were not following Aile's order properly. Fortunately, the area was not too large.

Aile soon passed it, although there was hatred visible in his eyes, he was mentally relaxed. The site of seeing so many heads on spikes truly infuriated Aile.

Although Aile did not condone what the bandits did for a living, killing so many people and even disrespecting them in death was something Aile disagreed and renounced.

Following the rules and protecting the people were things that he did not expect them to follow, especially in a world where killing is common. They as bandits cannot and should not be cruel to the one that cannot protect themselves, especially the young and the old.

Aile soon passed the area of bloody heads on the sticks.

He saw lights that were generated by fire and noise coming from afar. He travelled towards it for a few minutes.

He saw a wall-like structure that was made from wood spikes. From afar, he saw many areas that had fire lit. Gathered around the fires where the shadows of people. Their shadows were projected far away, making them seem like giants. Loud and unrefined voices were heard from afar. There were sounds of laughter, mixed with shouting, arguments and talking.

When he reached close, he smelled the strong aroma of alcohol. Although Aile unquestionably hated them for how they treated the dead, he still admired their close nature. He came and saw how they interacted with each other, argued, laughed and talked together, and Aile became envious.

He had never had someone to do all of this with. He could not have such a carefree life if he wants to survive Duke White's plot. This truly made him envious of them.

At this time when he was thinking about his loneliness, he remembered Sara, Emily, Fiona and Sophie. He had been close to them. Perhaps when he absolutely trusts them, they can be close enough to joke with and enjoy each other's company like the carefree bandits.

He restored his mentality and continued on making enough noise to gather the attention of groups of the bandits.

They seemed vigilant at the beginning, but once they saw the carriage, they dropped their guard. A group of bandits slowly approached Aile.

Seeing their friendly nature, and how they seemed so unthreatening, surprised Aile. Seeing the group of people that looked so human, Aile could not associate them with the tyrannical scene a few minutes ago.

A group consisting of two men and a woman came to Aile.

"Hey, are you looking for the boss," said one of the men with a drunk voice.

"Yes, I am! Do you know where he is?" said Aile with his deep voice.

"We will - will take you," said the other man.

Aile then made the gesture to make them lead the way.

On the way, the tree talked with him incoherently. They were very friendly to him.

From the direction, Aile quickly figured out that they were heading towards a tent on top of a small hill.

Aile used his senses to figure out what was happing there. He wanted to get a feel of the person and location to check the feasibility of his plan.

As soon as he checked the tent, his eye twitched in annoyance. He detected quite a few stage-two cultivators. He perceived at least eight people there at the second stage of cultivators. He had learned, from Xue's case, that his senses were not accurate, so there are chances of there being more cultivators.

He knew his plan to loot has been put on hold. He was curious to find what the bandit's upper echelon was talking about.

Sounds of argument were heard when he enhanced his sense of hearing.

"What your group is doing is pathetic? You, disgusting swine."

"Haha, we are bandits, we do what we want! What does the way my group act has to do with you all? You all are a bunch of scared rats."

"We are in the same damn group, your disgusting action is reflecting on us. You all are making me ashamed, you shameful cowards. You can go and kill and fight with the guards at Port Kiar if you have the guts, why are you targeting civilians?"

"What is the fun at having a death match with Port Kiar's dogs, you people do not understand the power to have over one's life. Just thinking about it makes me want a kill a few more... hahaha... I have built up another appetite because of all of you. The next group's death is on all of you."

"Say that again you swine, and I will add your head to your spikes,"

"Ching,"

"Shing,"

Aile heard the sounds of weapons being taken out.

"That is enough!" said a deep threatening voice, that surprised Aile.

He had not detected anyone at the location where the sound came from, and he felt danger from it. Aile's senses immediately warned him of a dangerous threat from this voice.

Aile muttered, "Damn, a level-three cultivator!"

"Bishoy, you and your group should stop the killings. If you continue, then the empire would be forced to send troops to deal with us, and all our effort will be wasted. However, you did well to deal with that merchant. Now we do not need to worry about supplies for a while, try to maintain a good relationship with him."

"Marco, you all should stop the infighting and do not interfere with how the others run their business. Boss is very disappointed at both of you. I do not want to see both of you arguing or fighting again."

Aile understood that there are at least two groups within the bandits. Aile listened to the rest of the meeting, and it was mainly a few orders to the bandits. It did not seem too interesting to Aile.

What Aile found interesting was that the bandits had two factions, and they had an objective. They did not want the royal army to interfere, as it would ruin their plan. Aile was almost sure that someone was interfering with the town's progress.

Soon Aile was standing outside of the tent.

The guards did not let them enter. Another guard that went inside came back with the news, "Boss is busy, wait for some time, and he will meet with you!"

Aile had heard the conversation, and the guard had gone to Beshoy the killing maniac. Aile thought "of course Jack dealt with Beshoy."

Aile did not want to stay here for long, he no longer felt safe in the presence of so many powerhouses.

He wanted to leave as soon as possible. However, he was stuck for some time here now. He was worried that Fiona would come here with the army, which would be very dangerous for the guards and Fiona. He wanted to quickly meet up with Beshoy and come up with an excuse to leave.

Since Aile had no other choice, he just closed his eyes and listened to the bandits in the camp to see which faction they stand with. This was Beshoy's camp, he expected that the majority to support his decisions, but he was surprised to find out that was not the case.

Most of the bandit camp was denouncing Beshoy's action. Apparently, Beshoy and his trusted men, who are called "Team Eagle," are the maniacs that like to torture and kill people.

A small group of bandits is completely against them, as they are civilians, and they realised that the victims can be one of them or their family. Some of them are planning to join Marco and leave Beshoy as his action is not supported by them, but they are scared of his retaliation.

Aile understood that most of the bandits were not evil, and they would seem ordinary like the three that brought him here. There are just a few that has taken things too far.

Aile had made up a lot of time as he travelled by a carriage all the way here, but this wait had made him very worried that Fiona might try something. He was also concerned about Xue. But she was smart she did not activate the first alert runes after Aile left and activated it 20 minutes after. This way, he can still easily find her, as he had 50 minutes to finish this meeting and find Xue.

He waited for Beshoy for 40 minutes, their bandit meeting finished, and he showed up.

Beshoy was around 1.8 m tall. He had a small thin build. He had black hair that was in the initial stages of baldness. His left cheek had a burn mark, it made his left side of the face scrunched up, making it look like it was stuck in a half winking state.

"Who are you?" said Beshoy.

"You can call me, "Shadow," said Aile.

"What is with the mask? Where is Jack?" asked Beshoy questioningly.

Support me on PAt re0n

Patr-eon.com/Shadow_Novel