CHAPTER II: The Bandits

As Hiroto went outside of the resto-bar, he witnessed Clare getting dragged by the bandits. He balled his hands into fists while clenching his teeth. "Release that woman this instance." He shouted with exasperation.

Then, the leader of the three bandits took his Gun and shouted back at Hiroto, "Move an inch, And you're dead."

Then Hiroto drew his katana from his belt slowly, The blade made a hissing sound as he pulled out the katana from the scabbard while fiercely gazing at the bandits with irritation. He Then, lunged forward, sprinting towards the bandits. Triggering the leader bandit with anger and simultaneously pointed the gun at Hiroto's head. Confident that he will hit Hiroto despite the distance of being thirty meters away from him.

He shot with his Gun, targeting Hiroto's forehead. Hiroto tilted his head to his right, dodging the first bullet with ease. The bandit fired again with his second bullet, But Hiroto was able to tilt his head to his left, avoiding the Bullet again effortlessly.

Upon missing his target, his eyebrows are lowered and drawn together Because of anger and at the same time Quivering in fear as Hiroto comes closer. He rapidly continued firing his Gun at Hiroto, yet Hiroto was able to sidestep to his left just enough to dodge the bullets. Hiroto adjusted his grip on his katana, Holding the katana both with his hands, Then he Leapt towards in front of the bandit, slashing the bandit's right arm to where he was holding his Gun, forthwith cutting off the bandit's right arm.

"You little shi~." The bandit shouted in vast pain. As blood flows from his hands. Hiroto immediately followed up with another slash, spontaneously killing the bandit.

The two remaining bandits were astounded and were shivering in terror As they watched Icarus, the leader, being killed by Hiroto with a Hasty movement.

"How could this happen!? Icarus was a skilled sharpshooter, he never missed his shot! He was killed instantly! Even our eyes failed to keep up with his movement." The second bandit, Named Githinji, thought to himself.

Hiroto then, Gazed at Githinji with Murderous intent with his eyes turning white, His pupil narrowed, and his eyebrows lowered and drawn together with anger as he walks closer to him. As he Grips at his katana tightly, drenching with blood. Githinji was intimidated, He took a step back at the same time he took his Gun from his belt and pointed it at Hiroto.

"Don't Come near me!" He shouted while trembling in fear.

Hiroto Ignored his warning as he continuously approaches Githinji.

"Go! Get out of here! warn the king about this samurai!" He shouted to the third bandit with him.

Upon hearing Githinji, The other bandit ran and fled from the scene.

Hiroto then, Grabbed the right arm of Githinji Tightly. With an immense Grip. Githinji then shakily dropped his Gun. Trembling, Because of fear. Hiroto immediately impaled Githinji's Lower chest, in the bottom of the rib cage, killing him in mere seconds.

During the battle, Clare Found herself helplessly stuck in agitation during the fight scene. For a moment, She managed to witness Hiroto killing the bandits.

She suddenly fell to her knees because of fear, Covering her ears and closing her eyes at the same time.

With all the commotion, She was unable to endure and she fell unconscious.

Moments after the commotion, Hiroto noticed Clare was unconscious. Upon seeing her, He Then carried Clare on his shoulders and went back to the resto-bar, Leaving the dead bodies of the bandits he just killed.

"What the hell just happened?!" said Old man Yoichi with utter confusion.

"I killed two Bandits. The other one fleed." Hiroto explained.

"What!? Were you even apprised of what you have done!? You have put this country into a bad situation, Hiroto!" said Yoichi.

"Why is that? I'm not a fool to just let the bad things happen in front of my eyes, especially since I know that I can fend them off." Hiroto explained.

"May I ask once again, What's happening in this country? who are those guys?" Hiroto asked.

"Those are what we call Bandits. They come here and take sixty percent of our fortune, our food, and our products. The reason why people here in the land of Nozomu are skinny and pale-looking. It is because the people suffer from hunger." Yoichi explained.

"Do you fear them without trying to fight them?" Hiroto responded.

"It's because we are unable to. We lack manpower, Weapons, and Courage. We once tried resisting. We forged weapons, We built guns. Yet, we failed on fending them off. We were being monitored. Once we show them resistance, they murder some of our people. The reason why we are unable to defend ourselves. So we give them what they ask to maintain peace. But now, It seems vague because of your negligence." Yoichi explained.

"What I witnessed, Was not the kind of peace you seek, was it?" Hiroto replied.

"The peace we seek can no longer be attained, What happened, happened. We better draw up for they will be coming back for our heads, especially you, Hiroto." Yoichi explained.

"I'll stand by and face them myself, I'll be here at the resto-bar, You guys better hide yourselves," Hiroto replied.

After Hiroto said this, Yoichi was worried and doubted Hiroto if he could trust him, but he immediately trusted Hiroto upon witnessing that moment.

So Yoichi agreed with Hiroto, then he ordered Clare, and the bartender to go along with him. With great terror and agitation, they immediately hurried themselves to flee from the scene leaving Hiroto by himself at the resto-bar.

Moments later, four bandits arrived outside of the resto-bar.

A bandit ordered to his fellow bandits that he should go alone inside the resto-bar first because they thought Yoichi and Hiroto might be planning some sort of scheme.

As the Bandit entered the resto-bar he immediately saw Hiroto near the counter sitting all by himself staring at him with intense bravery written all over his face.

"This place is no longer safe. We have surrounded you, samurai," The Bandit stated.

And then Hiroto slowly lifted his Katana and simultaneously pointed at the bandit while blood is dripping on the Katana and while grinning at the bandit.

"You can't intimidate me," Hiroto said.

The bandit immediately took his gun from his belt and pointed it at Hiroto.

And then Hiroto immediately grabbed the spindle of the chair next to him and hit it on the right side of the bandit's elbow to where he held his gun, while simultaneously tilted his head briskly to his left to keep the point of the gun away from his head.

Due to the intense force of the blow, The bandit accidentally pulled the trigger of his gun, yet it was not able to hit Hiroto. Hiroto then adjusted his grip to his Katana, Holding the katana both with his hand, then simultaneously slashed the bandit's right leg, causing it to bleed and be amputated.

The bandit screeched and immediately fell on the floor, the slash of the katana winded him causing him to mewl in pain. As the bandit gasped, he tried to stand up despite his leg being amputated. Hiroto reacted quickly then immediately impaled the bandit, leading to his death.

Upon hearing the commotion, the three bandits outside were suddenly worried about their companion. So a bandit shouted at their companion inside the Resto-bar and asked if he was still okay.

Yet their companion was unresponsive. So they undoubtedly decided to burn down Yoichi's resto-bar with the molotov cocktail that they were carrying.

They immediately threw the Molotov towards the Resto-bar hoping for Hiroto to die from fire or smoke inhalation. But by this time, Hiroto was already aware and overheard their conversation.

He quickly came out from the rear side of the resto-bar through a window.

But, Hiroto is a samurai who does not retreat in any battle. So he plans to kill them despite being outnumbered.

"Quickly! surround this place". The bandit ordered his fellow bandits as they plan to corner Hiroto.

"Both of you go to the back, I'll be observing here, for he might still be inside." He added.

The First bandit gestured to his fellow men that he would pass through the left side of the Resto-bar going to the rear side of it. The second bandit agreed and he immediately decided to pass through the right side so that they could easily corner Hiroto that is currently at the rear side of the resto-bar, Leaving the third bandit at the front side of the resto-bar.

By this time, the fire in the resto-bar grows and spreads rapidly since it is built only of timber.

As both bandits approach, they could only hear the crackling sound of the wood made by the fire.

Suddenly, the glass window shattered due to the thermal shock caused by the fire.

Due to the sound of the shattered window, the second bandit currently on the right side of the resto-bar was startled and pulled the trigger of his gun alerting Hiroto to his current position.

Upon hearing the gunshot, Hiroto immediately positioned himself to the right corner at the rear side of the resto-bar and peeked at the second bandit to see his position.

The bandits were unaware of the current position of Hiroto.

As the second bandit approaches Hiroto, Hiroto gripped his katana immensely and at the same time listening to the bandit's footsteps intently as the sound of the footsteps getting nearer.

When the bandit approached, He was unaware of Hiroto's position so Hiroto immediately grabbed him on the left side of his shoulder, and at the same time, Hiroto impaled the bandit in the bottom of his rib cage with his katana.

"You did well," Hiroto whispered as he patted the bandit's back.

The other bandit named Nolan who passed on the left side of the resto-bar arrived at the scene and was astounded.

Seeing Hiroto unattended with his presence, he immediately fired his gun at Hiroto without causing a delay. He was able to hit Hiroto on the back of his left shoulder.

He followed up with another shot, yet Nolan misses it.

Hiroto reacted quickly, he turned his direction towards Nolan while the dead body of his fellow bandit was still impaled in Hiroto's katana using it as a human shield.

As Hiroto comes closer, Nolan rapidly fired his gun at Hiroto, Yet he was only able to hit the dead body of his fellow Bandit.

As Hiroto approaches, He kicked the rear side of the burning reso-bar to cause intense smoke in their direction causing Nolan to miss more of his shot due to the thick smoke.

The Bandit continuously fired his gun at Hiroto even though he was having difficulty with his accuracy caused by the thick smoke.

When Hiroto approached, he kicked the dead body of the bandit that is currently impaled with his katana towards the direction of the Nolan, Which surprised Nolan. He tried to shoot Hiroto again but he ran out of ammunition and needed to reload.

Hiroto was aware of this as he heard the click sound coming from the gun, so he reacted quickly and slashed Nolan to the body followed by an impale that caused his death.

The remaining bandit currently at the front side of the resto-bar named Rogue was alerted by the commotion. He shouted to his fellow bandits if they would respond.

Upon being unresponsive to him, Rogue realized that he had no chance against Hiroto despite being at an advantage of wielding a gun. So he decided to drop his gun, he kneeled, and at the same time, he raised both of his hands and shouted to Hiroto.

"Spare me, samurai, For I am only a victim of this bad governance!" Rogue shouted to Hiroto.

Hiroto quickly approached him. He reached his hands to Rogue for him to stand up.

"Your life will be spared if you cooperate." Said Hiroto.

"Indeed. I will give you sufficient information about the other bandits, and the supreme leader to your satisfaction." Rogue added.

Hiroto didn't hesitate and immediately trusted Rogue.

After this, Hiroto thought of going to Yoichi's place together with Rogue to discuss Hiroto's plan of attack.