Chapter 16

Mom and Zedd grieved intensely for a week. They both wore black clothes only and they didn't eat any food, only drinking water throughout this grieving week. Though, of course, this didn't apply to little Senro and Sasha, who were both a year and three years respectively. They were both too young to understand what was going on and they both couldn't be staved of food, obviously. Sasha, even naively asked continually about the whereabouts of the middle aged woman and her daughters, making the grieving period a lot more difficult for Mom and Zedd to bare. But, through the hunger, tiredness and sorrow, they both managed to complete the week, without either of them succumbing to their weakness.

The middle aged woman had no relative to speak of, so her properties were rightly bequeathed to Mom and Zedd. After the week of grieving, Mom and Zedd sold the four acres of land; the family bought to add to the two acres they already had, for a hefty sum. They also sold the bulls and oxen used for farming, the horses, jewelries, the livestock business and the remaining farm produce and harvests from the farm. What was left were the two acres of land, the middle aged woman had before the family became rich; as the land was a memory and the only thing left of the middle aged woman's late husband, so they didn't dare sell it and the big house (I forgot to add in the last chapter that the family had demolished the small house (Cottage) they had and built a bigger, studier house. Sorry about that.) They then paid off the remaining wages of the helping hands (workers) and the security men, which were left and relieved them from their respective duties.

Mom and Zedd, then used the money from the sales of properties, to pay for the construction of a school. The school was meant to train people in fighting and self-defense. Within a year and seven months, the school was erected and completed, and after three to four months of meticulous advertisement around the various cities and towns, the school kicked off, with the first batch of its students numbering up to a hundred and fifty and with Mom as the head of the school and Zedd, as the vice. The students didn't need to pay a dime, as the school was free.

Back when Mom and Zedd buried the middle aged woman and her daughters, they both swore with their lives, on the graves of the trio, that they would combat and eradicate banditry from every single city and town in the outskirt of the capital, at whatever cost. They both decided that since the capital had abandoned and left this cities and towns to their own fate, then they would step in and do the job for them. But, there was a hitch. They both knew they couldn't do this on their own. There were seven cities and about a hundred and seventy one towns, outskirt of the capital. There was no way the both of them could cover all this places, all on their lonesome. They needed comrades, who also shared the same will and ideal with them and so hence, the main reason why they began the school.

Eight months of teaching, intense training and exams passed by and out of the one hundred and fifty students, eighty passed and graduated, thirty seven left, as they couldn't cope with the intensity, while the remaining were slow learners and so had to come back again in three months time and register with the new batch of students.

Mom and Zedd addressed the eighty students, who graduated, in the school's multi-purpose hall and they both shared and discussed their ideal on how they wanted to eradicate banditry and restore peace back to the cities and towns. They implored those who shared the same ideal with them to wait behind for special training, while those who weren't interested could leave and they both wished those who weren't interested, long life and good luck in the future.

Out of the eighty, fifty three waited, while the rest left, but not until after sharing and wishing their heartfelt goodbyes to each other and to Mom and Zedd. The fifty three who stayed behind, then went through another intense round of training. This training was very brutal and horrendous, that even demons in hell would panic and shudder in fear after witnessing and going through it. Out of the fifty three, thirty left, as they couldn't take the torment anymore, three, unfortunately, died during the course of training, while the remaining twenty, who had great will, grit and determination, survived and passed. This training made their bodies and bones, as tough as iron and steel, their reflexes very sharp and their disposition, unyielding. Mom, then pronounced them as 'Warriors' and from that moment , the revolution against banditry began.

The twenty warriors comprised of twelve males and eight females. Mom assigned five of the warriors, three men and two women, to run and take care of the school and train the new batch of students coming through. She and Zedd were now just overseers of the school and this enabled them to solely focus on their goal and mission.

The revolution began, of course, in Benison town, but by this time, there weren't so much bandits hiding in the town and even the nearby towns and villages, after the news of the hellish massacre of the bandits, whom kidnapped and caused the death of the middle aged woman and her daughters, went viral throughout the area, forcing most of the bandits to flee for fear of their dear lives and change their way of life.

After Mom, Zedd and the warriors had mopped up and killed the small crop of bandits in the town, they moved systemically and with meticulous coordination into the neighboring towns and villages, dealing with every single bandit or bandit group they came across. The bandit groups didn't even stand a chance, as most were finished under ten to twenty minutes, while the others who had a competent size and a group with average combat skillsets could eke out a thirty to fifty minutes duration.

Although, it wasn't like everything was rosy and easy for the party, as some of the warriors were severely injured and some even died on missions. But even through all this, they pushed on stalwartly and unhesitatingly with their ideal.

Every year, a set of students would graduate from the school, then those who shared the same ideal of banditry eradication, would go through the hellish training from the proprietors of the school, Mom and Zedd, and then those who survived and didn't drop out of the training, would join the ranks of warriors to eliminate bandits and this went on and on, even till present (now).

Mom and Zedd accomplished all this, in memory of the middle aged woman and her daughters, who died untimely and unnecessarily at the hands of vicious bandits.