THE LAMPS THAT SCARED THE BANDITS

THE LAMPS THAT SCARED THE BANDITS

"What happened to our men, why are they not waking up?" the Boss asked the bandit.

"It must be bounty hunters who infiltrated our camp and drugged us, we have only a few men left who are awake", the bandit reported to the Boss.

"Hell, we must leave now before the soldiers come in", the Bandit Boss told his men.

"What about the hostages and prisoners", the bandit asked the Boss.

"Leave them", the Boss said as he quickly returned to his room and took out a small case from a hidden compartment in the flooring.

Then he opened the small case.

The case was rather strange and magical because it could be unfolded. Again and again.

Apparently, the one-foot-wide case was unfolded sixteen times and when it was fully unfolded it became a strange flat cabinet of sorts when placed flat on the ground. I was shocked when the Bandit Boss suddenly pulled one of the drawers out of the flat cabinet. 

The small case suddenly became a magical cabinet that had long drawers, sixteen of them each about a foot wide which could be pulled out by up to several feet.

"Damnit these Bandits have a magical space drawer, I must have it", I told myself as I watched the Bandit while hanging on his bedroom roof with magical vines.

After the Bandit Boss stored all his cash and valuables inside his magical cabinet, he folded the case back into a small case that he carried with him in a bag. 

The Boss didn't take his followers with him as he promised them because he was leaving the camp by himself. They say there is no honor among thieves and the Bandit Boss was the best proof at the moment.

"Kaboom"

An explosion was suddenly heard in the forest. 

"Hell, the bounty hunters are coming", the Boss told himself as he hurried through a hidden back entrance in the camp leaving his followers and camp behind. 

The Boss ran as quickly as he could to the back of his camp where there were no soldiers' campfires visible.

"They must have missed the back alley, it should be the safest route to escape", the Bandit Boss told himself.

The back alley was dark at this time and the Boss was in a hurry when suddenly he tripped on something that felt like a rope as he was pulled into the air. 

"Who the Hell put a trap in the alley behind my camp?" the Bandit Boss was about to scold his bandits.

But his bandits didn't put the trap there, because I was the one who did it. 

"How did I know the Boss would come to this narrow alley in the first place?" one would ask.

Well, it was because I guided him over here. 

-----

All the campfires around the bandit camp weren't made by soldiers or bounty hunters who came to attack the camp. No soldiers came here at all. The campfires around the bandit camp were all made by me. 

I made simple devices that would time the lighting up of the fires around the bandit camp which would light up at almost the same time. The device was basically a modified lamp that had wax on the top and flammables at the bottom. So, when the lamp fuse exhausted the wax, it would light the flammables at the bottom which would ignite the fireplace that I prepared there earlier. 

There was an advantage to being a carpenter's son who knew how to make all kinds of traps for hunters.

The bandits in their camp would be surprised by the rise in lights coming from all around the camp at the same time and would read the situation as being surrounded by soldiers or enemies.

As further insurance against failure, I snuck into the bandit camp before this and poisoned their mead, with the same poison that they used to drug Grammer in the first instance. The bandits just tasted their own medicine.

With both the perceived threat of an invasion from the forest, and the drugging of many bandits in their own camp, the bandits would panic and take the most likely route in the situation, escape.

The Bandit Boss did exactly as I predicted and planned to leave the bandit camp, leaving his men behind.

For the Bandit Boss, I left a small present.

I purposely left the back-alley path to the bandit camp unlit, so the Bandit Boss would come here thinking the enemies neglected this area and he could escape from here.

"Ring of Vines"

Suddenly magical vines rolled toward the Bandit Boss as he walked into the dark path, but the vines weren't meant to attack him. All I wanted was his bag which I quickly pulled away from him, before striking him with a dose of sleeping cream that I used to dose powerful magical creatures.

The Bandit Boss would be stuck here till the morning.

-----

After dealing with the Bandit Boss, I returned to the Bandit camp to release the prisoners including Grammer. 

Luckily, the bandits were hoping to extort ransoms from Grammer's family, so the merchants were relatively unharmed although many of Grammer's guards were killed by the bandits.

"How dare you come into our camp to free the hostages", a bandit suddenly shouted to me as he brandished a sword toward me.

"Magic Missiles"

Suddenly magical metal balls were summoned from my soul realm that targeted the bandit coming at me, aiming for his skull.

"shiingg"

The bandit was shocked by the magic projectile and my magic missile flew at lightning speed that pierced through his forehead killing him instantly before the metal ball returned into my soul realm. 

Then a few other bandits suddenly appeared behind the killed bandit following the commotion.

"Magic Missiles"

Before they realized what was happening around them, suddenly magical missiles sped around the bandits that targeted their foreheads instantly killing all of them. 

These bandits weren't particularly strong, and they don't have much magical armor on them, so killing them was quite easy with my magic missiles which were as strong as peak of Mercury tier soul magic.

"What just happened?" Grammer asked me when I went to release him from his chains.