Anne removed the arrows from the bandit king’s arm, but the first hit to his shoulder was the worst of the bunch. Despite his enhanced defence, it had sunk in deep. The arrow had deflected from a wall before it hit, which had caused it to change trajectory mid-flight.

“We can’t take it out, it’s barbed.” Anne stared at the shaft hatefully. “This was Clive’s doing, we never allowed the bandits to use these things in the past.”

“It’s… fine.” The bandit kings voice slurred as he grinned at us. “I’m tough, just pull it out. A bit of pain is no problem.”

“Wait, turn him around!”

The three of them stared at me after my weird suggestion. Anne opened her mouth to question me, but I waved her into silence.

“Do it, now! I have an idea, but we need to be quick!”

Leah and Anne shared a glance before they turned him over. He had lost consciousness, which helped avoid any further pain my plan would cause. Anne watched as I pulled a dagger out of thin air and stepped towards the injured man.

“Wait, what’re you doing?” She stared at the dagger I held as her hand drifted down to her sword.

“Trust me, hold him still.” I leaned down beside the large man and looked over his wound. There was a slight ridge on his back, which helped pinpoint my target. “If we pull out the arrow, he might lose his ability in that arm. We need to push it through first. Use any regeneration spells you have, this is going to hurt.”

Anne gritted her teeth before she cast two spells in quick succession. Both of them worked in unison to cover the bandit king in a wave of pale light, but it faded quickly. Before it could vanish, I leaned forward and cut his back.

Push through, cut the tip off… pull back out…

I didn’t think too much about what I was doing. After I had cleared the tip, Leah pulled the shaft from his arm. I pulled out a potion and passed it to her so she could force-feed it to the bandit king as Anne chanted another spell, which worked to seal up the wound at both ends.

“Turn him, gently.” I whispered after the spells had treated his injury for at least a minute. We worked together to tip him over, but a trip down the tunnel was far beyond him for now.

“Leah, go down and keep the others calm.” I patted her shoulder as she tried to disagree. “We’ll be fine up here, I need you to keep them under control.”

She nodded and walked over to the hole. After a quick glance back, she jumped into the darkness and left me alone with Anne and the bandit king.

“That was clever, were you a medic in the past?” Anne glanced at me. It was awkward to admit I had just tried it out from a vague memory. It wasn’t like I would have had the chance to do such a dangerous operation in my past life.

“I’ve watched a few of them work, and I knew the steps.” I looked down at the bandit king. Even whilst asleep, he still had the look of a hungry shark.

“You still don’t trust him, do you?” Anne looked at me serenely. She wasn’t blaming so much as asking a question.

“What made you trust him?” I returned her question back to her. If I said I had come to the bandit camp with the intention to punish him, she wouldn't take it well. “He doesn’t seem like the type of man who could make someone give up their life for him. You had a high rank in the Holy Kingdom, why throw that away?”

“You’re right, he isn’t that type at all.” Anne shook her head sadly. “His thoughts and goals are so straightforward. He’s a bandit by blood and rite, but he isn’t a bad man underneath that.”

“I don’t get it. He leads a bunch of thieves and murderers.” I knew it was a bad time to ask, but I couldn’t hold back my curiosity. “I just want to understand what makes him special.”

“His ideals. If he promises something, you can believe it.” Anne turned to me with a smile. “People are more complicated than you could ever believe, but sometimes we need a little simple in our lives. He isn’t a good man, but he is a great one.”

"But what about the villagers? I know that Clive took advantage of them, but how was it any different before he took over?"

"What about you? You saved the villagers, but you haven't thought past that point. What is your grand scheme now that they have lost their home?" Anne shot back a question that caught me off guard. After a moment I collected myself for a response.

"If I didn't save them, Clive would have used the entire population as a hostage for Leah and the rest. On top of that, the leader helped me a lot when he trusted me, so I repaid that trust when I saved his people."

"And would you have saved them if he hadn't helped you?"

Again, her question left me stunned for a moment. This one was harder to answer. She watched me unblinkingly as she waited for my response, but I took my time before I responded.

"Probably. Even if he had decided against trusting me, that wouldn't mean he was my enemy. It would have made sense if anything." I smiled as a weight lifted from my shoulders. "If we left them behind, their lives in the forest would be over either way. They had some use to the bandit camp as a source of income and troops, but that would have never outweighed his anger when Leah and the others betrayed him."

"Then you aren't much different from him." Anne waved at the slumbering man by her side. "His logic and yours would be the same, though his reasons are a little less complex. You're both good people at heart."

“Right.” I turned away. It was difficult to hold her gaze as she spoke about the man she loved. I still didn’t get it, but there had to be some reason. I didn't like him, but he had risked his life to save me.

He seemed angry when I mentioned the attack on the town… which means he likely didn’t know. This guy doesn’t look like a good liar. Either way, I need to find out. If he had anything to do with it, I doubt Anne would let him off, never mind me.

After I heard her explanation, it was difficult to ask any more questions. Instead of that, I focused on myself. I had managed to activate ‘Dragon’s Luck’, which was one of the skills on my armour. After my analyse skill came into effect, the full details popped up into view again.

Dragon’s Luck - User gains increased luck due to affinity with dragons. Luck affects every action taken. Chance of effect activating increases with skill level. Enhances critical strike chance and effect. Duration increased due to mana requirements of user, additional effects possible. Current effect - Holdfast.

Well, that explains how my blow did so much damage. I wonder what 'Holdfast' means though...

I had expected my strike to knock Ray back, but the fact he had died to it had shocked even me. The three critical strike announcements likely had something to do with that, added on to his identity as a zombie puppet. Rose might be able to explain it, but that could wait.

The word that confused me was the first under the current effects, ‘Holdfast’. What it meant was a mystery. I tried to ask Anne, but she shrugged and said she had never heard of it before she turned back to the injured man by her side.

Whatever it was, the duration was about to end. It looked like my low level had made it last longer, but it only had three minutes on the clock. I tried to call out to Rose, but she didn’t respond. I could feel her, but something was keeping her distracted.

Cory hovered above us and acted like a makeshift torch, which at least meant we weren’t left in darkness.

I need to pick up some torches or a lantern when I go into town again.

I mentally created a shopping list. There were a few things I had missed off previously. I had a large storage capacity, so taking a few utility items wouldn’t break the bank.

"What was your link to the village?" Anne looked up from the injured man as she interrupted my planning session. "You planned our route carefully, but it would have been easier to escape without them. There was no way you'd know that the cult would attack the village, right?"

"No, I didn't." I shook my head and leaned back against the wall. "Clive made me collect some money from them. The leader trusted me with it, even though he had no reason to. I just wanted to repay that trust."

"Trust, eh?" A raspy voice echoed out. Distracted from our conversation, Anne glanced down at the bandit king. His recovery was faster than I had expected, but Anne didn’t seem surprised as she grinned at him.

“Come on, no time to pretend you’re asleep.” She rapped him gently on the forehead. “We need to go down to meet the others.”

“Right, how’s the kid?” He mumbled. Anne smiled and pointed at me, after which the bandit king nodded happily. “Oh, right. Good.”

I watched as Anne helped him to his feet. I only saw him wince a little because I was watching for it, otherwise, I would have missed that example of a human reaction.

“You go first, we’ll follow after.” Anne flicked me away. I didn’t try to argue as I jumped into the hole and slid down to the first floor of the dungeon. The fall was longer than I remembered, but it didn't take too long before I slid to into the first room of the dungeon.

‘Rook.’

As my feet touched the floor, Claire’s voice echoed into my mind. She sounded weak, but that was better than nothing. She had been one of the first people I met when I arrived on this planet, and she was one of the few I trusted. I stepped out of range of the entrance slide and smiled at the orb on my shoulder. I could see the villagers in the distance as they crowded around Leah, so I moved toward them as I responded to Claire.

“Hey, took you long enough-”

A wave of pain cut through my chest without warning. It was as though a beast was trying to claw its way out of my heart. The others, who had been on their way to greet me, watched in shock as I fell to my knees. I grit my teeth against the overwhelming agony and forced out a single word.

“…rose…”

“Damn it, I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull you together in time.” Rose appeared, her expression grim as she knelt by my side. “Hold it in, Rook. This is going to hurt.”

I couldn’t throw out the sarcastic quip that boiled in my brain. I heard Anne and the bandit king as they slid down into the tunnel, followed a moment later by Cory as he floated above me.

“What happened?” the red crystal bobbed beside me worriedly. The pain wasn’t receding at all. If anything, it had increased compared to the first impact.

“He’s overused his Novice pool and his Rage pool.” Rose lifted her hand and placed it against Cory’s surface. “He had the holdfast effect, but it just ran out. I had to pull his soul together, or the burst would have blasted it apart.”

“I can reverse the flow in the dungeon, but there's no way he can take that much. What's your plan?” Cory asked as Rose moved her other hand in front of my face. I could infer what Cory had meant, but where would the mana come from?

"Just do it. Send it through me, I'll hold him together. We just need to dilute it a bit."

Everyone in the room dropped to the floor a moment later. The only ones who remained standing were Anne and the bandit king, but it wasn’t like they were unaffected. Their gazes turned to the glowing crystal who hovered above them. Without context, it was clear what they would think.

This glowing red crystal had tricked them.

“Stop!” Cory yelled as they took one faltering step after another towards him. Due to the transfer, Cory was fixed in place, which made him an easy target. I looked at the pair who approached and tried to send my thoughts to them telepathically.

Obviously, that didn’t work.

The bandit king drew his axe and Anne pulled out her sword as they walked towards us. Cory had no combat skills, and Rose couldn’t interact with the world directly. With those two out of the way, only one person remained who could save me.

Claire rolled off my shoulder to the floor. She rose up as a pillar of slime formed under her, which twisted and shifted into… a wall. Claire’s core turned to me, and I could feel the reassuring smile she would have thrown my way in the past.

‘Don’t worry, Rook. I’ll hold him back.’