Return

"Collect all the things and place them in the open, and call all mages," I said to Captain Azalia.

She nodded and walked away and soon begin to order guards. Except for those guarding the keep and injured; all of them moved.

As for the bandits, we have placed them in the cells of the keep, with a tight watch from the guards.

A minute later, all the mages gathered in front of me. Including Zela.

"How is he?" I asked her. "Out of danger," she replied. I sighed upon hearing that. Captain Hiren is seriously injured and wouldn't be able to come back to the job quickly or ever be.

I pushed the worries about him and turn to mages; it is time to do an important job.

"I want you all to send this message to all baronies. I want it sent exactly like this," I said and showed them the page.

"We should be able to do it. Now the anti-message field had weakened," said Reve. The bastard blood shaman had cast an anti-massage spell field. It had made it hard to send the message.

Immediately, they all sat down and started to send the message to the surrounding baronies.

"Zela, I need you to send this message," I said. It is to Count Darrow. He needs to know what had happened. Though, I am sure, he had got to know about it already.

This will be from me; not from his son, who had run away.

A couple of seconds later, the message was sent, and immediately, the reply came. He had a lot of questions and I answered each of them carefully.

For more than half an hour, I had sent and received messages from Count Darrow before I got a small respite.

"Sent this to the Mirador Hold," I said and gave the page to Zela. They also had a lot of questions, and I told them everything they need; thankfully, I finished quickly.

"Any response from Mage York?" I asked. To which she shook her, "No, he is not receiving messages," she replied.

I had asked Count Darrow and Mirador Hold whether they have received any contact from Mage York.

They remained mum, which is an answer in itself.

Especially Count Darrow, who was relatively calm. If he didn't know about his son, he wouldn't have been that calm.

The messages begin to come from the baronies to Count Darrow and I replied to them all while watching the guards place the bandit's things in the open.

From Iles bags of the bandit leader and his lieutenant and their weapons to money pouches and other things of common bandits. Aside from their clothes, we have brought everything out.

Hun!

I was watching it when I saw something surprising. Three guards came, bringing the five small crates with them; each one of those crates had the little monsters in them.

I could recognize two of them. One is Lurois, a black feline beast with a single curved horn, and a Halmk, a pure white sparrow, which is the size of my finger. It is also known as a cloud-surfing sparrow.

I was looking at them when my gaze fell on a wolf-like beast. It seemed weak, and there was something different about it.

"It is a mutt, right?" I asked after a few seconds of observing. "From the looks of it; it did seem like a mutt," replied Zela.

Mutts are monsters that are a mixed breed. Such monsters are unpredictable and usually killed, rather than taken.

"Try a healing spell on it," I said, looking at the pitiful monster. Zela looked at strangely for a moment, before casting a healing spell. A few seconds after, its condition seemed to improve a little.

"Mister Silver. We would be grateful if we could get that cloud-surfing sparrow," said Zela, and Stone nodded.

"I will see what I could do," I said.

The loot belongs to the city and while have some rights in it. It is the city that will decide what we could take. These monsters are expensive and rare, especially Lurois, which is in always high demand.

"Joseph, try to ask where the bandit got these beasts," I said to Joseph. "Yes, Adviser," he said with a lot more respect than before.

He left toward the keep while I walked toward the stuff of the bandit, which was placed in the open under the moon's sky.

"Captain Azalia. We are going to make an inventory; I need you and three other guards to be witnesses." I spoke. She nodded and soon I started to make an inventory.

It is a procedure; I need to catalog everything. Clean records always help; it also wards off suspicion.

I don't want anyone to think I had taken anything.

Soon, we finished with everything and now only eight Iles bags have remained. Two belong to the bandit leader, six belong to his lieutenants. There were seven lieutenants, with one being on the battlement.

That Jon had killed.

Of all the bandits, only one had escaped. The blood shaman and, to me, he was dangerous as the bandit leader.

"Losh, pick the first iles bag and begin taking out things slowly," I ordered. The woman nodded and begin to take out the things; the first thing she took out was a pouch and it was filled with money.

A lot of money.

We counted the money before she took out another thing and then another. One by one things came out till nothing remained and she moved to the other iles bag.

One by one, we emptied five iles bags. All of them had money, weapons, and potions, along with some food and personal item.

Now, only two iles bags of bandit had remained.

Losh begins to take out the things and I could see the excitement in her eyes. She is not the only one feeling that. I am also feeling it; the bandit leader had been doing this for decades. He must have amassed a huge fortune.

A few minutes later; all the excitement deflated.

He has more money and precious things than his lieutenants, but nothing shocking. I kind of expected spells, scrolls, and chests filled with gems, but I found nothing of that sort.

"This is the last thing," said Losh and took out folded parchment from the second bag of the bandit leader.

"Open it," I said to Losh as she looked at me for permission. She did, and I saw it.

A map.

"Close it," I said hastily. She did.

It is a map of the bandit leader; it must be something important. It is better that others did not see it.

"This is the list of items we have got from bandits. Verify it and sign it," I said to Captain Azalia. She begins to check the list, and a few minutes later; she signed it.

The guards did the same and handed it to me. I once again checked it myself, before signing it.

"Replies?" I asked as I reached Zela, and she handed me notes. I replied to them through Zela and walked toward the quarters.

So far, I have avoided it, but I need to look.

A few minutes later, I am looking at the horrors of bandits. Those bastards had even killed children.

"The bastard got an easy death," I said and walked out. He should have suffered the greatest punishment, but he died after suffering seconds of pain.

Two hours passed, and I was sitting beside crates of monsters. Feeding cute little things pieces of meat, which they are eating ravenously except for one.

The mutt had recovered a lot, but was still weak and refusing to eat.

It did not surprise me; many dogs my father trained behaved like this. It could be sickness, a new environment or just the monster didn't like to eat from strangers' hands.

"Its been nearly three hours. Why didn't they arrive?" asked Joseph. "They will soon," I replied with a smile.

I am in constant contact with baronies, mirador holds, and the city. All forces are coming and should have come by now, but there is no sign of them.

After what happened, they will take time. I don't mind; I am quite enjoying myself with these cute things. They reminded me of home. Brough back, the memories of my childhood.

Soon it was midnight, and notifications appeared in front of me.

[Warrior Lv. 12]

[Warrior Lv. 13]

[Conditions Met: Sure Foot- Gymnasts Grace]

Seeing the notification, a smile couldn't help but appear on my face. I had leveled twice and even got a skill upgrade.

Which is a great surprise and a welcome one. It is more important than gaining new skills. If it was not for Sure Foot, I wouldn't have survived the dungeon. I wouldn't have survived this battle.

Now, it had upgraded, and it is pleasing me to no end. I wanted to scream joy and jumped around, but I stayed in my place.

"Yes, Yes Yes!" I may have controlled my expressions, but that does not mean others would also do the same. They have leveled up, and many of them screaming loudly and jumping in joy.

Many had leveled up; some are showing, and some didn't.

I am glad for them; they deserved it. They have fought a great battle, even when their leader had abandoned them.

Hun!

I was watching them when I noticed something in the crate that put a smile on my face. The mutt who stayed weakly in its crate, slowly took the bite of meat I had placed in front of it.

The first bite seemed to have awakened his hunger and took another bite and then another, before finishing the whole thing.

I did not give it more. It is enough for it; I will feed him again, after a few hours.

A few more minutes passed and when Zela turned to me. "I have received a massage; they are fifteen minutes away from reaching the fort," she informed.

"Captain Julian, ready your men," I said to him. He nodded and walked away, and begin to order his men, while I moved to the battlement.

More than ten minutes passed when finally, I could see the force with the spyglass, and I have to say; it is quite a force.

"How many people do you think they brought?" I asked Stone, handing him the spyglass.

"Around seven hundred," he replied a few seconds later.

A few minutes passed, and the army appeared in front of the gates. I could see a lot of people, Baron Harrods, Major Jarvis of Mirador Hold, and even Mage York.

There is no sign of Lancel, but I am sure he is hiding in one of those carriages. Seeing that, I walked down from the battlement, toward the gate.

"Open the gates," I said, and the guards opened them, and I walked out with Stone, Captain Azalia, and Captain Julian behind me and looked at the small army that stopped in front of the keep.

All looking at me silently.