I’m not really sure if there’ll be another one before Saturday, but I’ll try. I do have a lot of things to do, though.

On the bright side, I am feeling a bit better. Even though this cold or whatever it is takes ages to go away, it seems.

Oh well. Enjoy the chapter!

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After the fires were put out, Thera took a basin and went to wash up with Laura as a lookout. Then she guarded the area while Laura washed up.

The grime and gore gone, Thera and Laura quickly built a safe fire in the village center, underneath the large cauldron that Laura had brought. Soon enough, they were passing food out to the workers who were clearing the burned buildings of unsafe timbers and half-burned logs.

Thera also boiled some water and passed out mint and chamomile tea to help the women relax their frazzled nerves.

She sighed as she thought of how much she would have to gather to replace the amount that she had lost, but now wasn’t a time to be stingy.

About half of the people had lost their houses. Most considered themselves lucky to have been able to keep their lives, but there were also many in mourning over those who had died.

Although Thera could not understand their language, she could guess from their expressions and gestures what they were trying to say.

The villagers invited them to stay, but Master Thales would not hear of it. He shook his head, and said that they were on a journey, and had to continue on their way.

Laura left the huge cauldron behind as a gift. And Thera left behind some of her herbal blends and Dandelion Coffee, but not before having Master Thales warn them not to drink the coffee at night unless they wished for no rest. She also showed some of the women how to make it while she was there.

In the end, the entire village came out to bid them farewell as they left that afternoon.

Watching the three figures escape into the forest, a little boy clasping the hand of his mother stared after them and said. “Mama, I wanna grow up to be just like them!”

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“Well, I hope you’re happy!” Madam Rothema huffed at Thales as her house once more hovered over the treetops above them.

“While you were there fraternizing with the villagers, I had to take care of several hundred dead bodies, so that the village wouldn’t be swarming with wolves by now!” She grumbled.

“And even now, I’m still not sure that the trees won’t suddenly gain consciousness and decide they want to be vampiric treants or something equally troublesome should emerge.”

“Peace, Madam Rothema.” Master Thales said, grinning mischievously. “Such a thing is only possible after hundreds of years. We will simply have to make a visit before any of that happens to prevent it.”

Now that the tables were turned, Thales was actually enjoying his day, knowing that Madam Rothema was bothered. He considered it only just compensation for her having bothered him all this time. But, he was not so foolish as to admit it.

“Hmmph!” was all that Madam Rothema replied.

Thales hid his grin, and turned to the two girls, as serious as if it had never happened. “This place has become a somewhat lawless area since last I visited. You may do well to be on your guard while we are here.”

Thera nodded. There was no telling whether the bandits they had killed were all of them, or even if any of them were the leaders in the bunch or not. As such, it would only be prudent to exercise caution in these parts.

“Why? Didn’t we kill all the bandits earlier?” Laura asked.

“Just because we killed all the ones we could see doesn’t mean we killed all the bandits.” Thera replied. “There could be a lot more somewhere else and we wouldn’t know it until we walked right into them.”

Also…there was a possibility of there being a bandit king in the area, considering so many bandits had shown up just to take over one village. If that was the case, then there was no way that their presence had not been made known to him, considering he just lost a huge chunk of his fighting force to a man and two girls.

But Thera did not voice her suspicions out loud. It had been close to several hundred years since the last bandit king had lived. No one was likely to take her suggestion seriously.

Master Thales had been silently conversing with Madam Rothema off to the side. Thera was not sure how they could do that, but she was sure from the expressions on his face that he was having a conversation with Madam Rothema.

It’s probably a skill that you get when you reach Black Class. She surmised.

Thera wondered if they were thinking along the same lines as her, for there was no way that the group they had encountered was just a random leaderless band of bandits.

But, if so, then where was the leader?

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At Bandit Cave:

A dark figure sat upon a stone throne, muttering incomprehensible things, and occasionally taking a swig from his bottle. His clothes were all black, and his head was shadowed by a cloak, covering all the features aside from his mouth.

Another figure appeared, cowering before this mysterious madman.

“King Darin, I-I have come to make my report…the men that you sent out…”

“Well? Whart abrout ‘em?” King Darin growled groggily.

“It seems they were unsuccessful… The whole group was de-destroyed...and their b-bodies seemed to have va-vanished.” The cowering man said, stuttering in his fear.

“WHAT!?” Darin roared.

The cowering man flinch.

“SAY THA’ AGAIN!” Darin ordered.

“Th-the m-men w-were d-d-defeated, m-my k-king.” The man said, shaking, obviously terrified.

Darin was silent for a while, his face unreadable as the news sank in. The man standing before him was growing more and more frightened as the silence stretched out.

Finally, Darin spoke “An’? Don’t learve me hangin loik dis! Who dun it, man? Who dun my men in?”

The man jerked himself out of his fearful reverie and stuttered. “Ah, y-yes! It was a g-group of th-three: O-one man a-and t-two g-girls.” He watched Darin’s face for any signs of displeasure.

Darin sat back in his chair and took a swig from his bottle.

“…heh heh heh hahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAAAHAH!” He began to roar with laughter.

“…my king?” The man asked, fearing that Darin had gone off the deep end.

“Nuthin’ nuthin! Go get Andrick, man..” Darin waved his hand before breaking out into a bout of chuckling and laughter that would have made any man think he had gone off the deep end to be sure.

Andrick soon arrived. By that time, Darin had managed to get enough control to keep his mad laughter down to an occasional chuckle here and there.

“You called, Oh Bandit King Darin?” Andrick asked, yawning terribly.

“So, Andrick, have ye heard about tha raidin par’y we sent out a few days ago?” Darin asked with a grin.

“Not a thing,” Andrick yawned. “after being shaken awake, all I’ve heard is that you wished to see me.”

Bandit King Darin’s face broke out into a wide grin. “Good, good. Naow, wha’ do yew s’pose harpened to ‘em this taim aroun’?”

Anderick yawned again. “Didn’t they just completely wipe out the village as usual?” He asked, still a bit muddle-headed from being awoken so early.

Darin’s wide grin grew wider. “Ye’d think tha’, wouldn’ yew? Heh heh heh!”

Andrick immediately stopped yawning. “You mean to tell me that they didn’t wipe out the blinking village?” He asked, rather surprised, coming awake.

“No. They didn’.” Darin replied.

“Well, then what happened to them!?” Andrick asked, curious. “Are they still fighting? Did they come back? How many were killed?” He began asking questions, needing to know what had happened.

Darin answered all of the questions at once, slowly speaking each word clearly. “Eight hundred men left a few days ago, and none are likely to return ever again.”

Andrick was so surprised that he dragged a nearby chair over to take a seat before he collapsed on the floor. After a long pause, he said “It wasn’t the villagers who did this, was it? Who were they? How many?”

Darin held up three fingers.

“Three thousand!” Andrick exclaimed. “Where did they get such an army!?”

Bandit King Darin shook his head. “ ‘Twas three people tha dun ‘em in, Andrick. Jus’ three. One man an’ two girlies.”

There was a long pause.

“You can’t be serious.” Andrick said. “If that’s true, then those three people are stronger than the Beast king of the mountain! They’re monsters!” He clenched his hands.

The Bandit king leaned forward, a big grin on his face.

“Aye. Tha’ they be. Send out all the men, Anderick. Find em. But stay outer their way, an let me know as soon as possible where they be.”

Bandit King Darin’s eyes narrowed. “An do it as fast as ye can.”

Andrick stood up so quickly that the chair fell to the loor with a bang. “Immediately!” And ran out of the throne room.

The Bandit King leaned back, chuckling to himself and murmuring things in a sing-song way. “Birds wi’ four wings swirling roun’~Buildin’s as reach up to the clouds~Shiny bugs tha' swallow men, an’ runs an’ spits ‘em out agin.”

Then the man broke out into another round of laughter.