Chapter 4 – Bandits

The night went by slowly but peacefully. Quite a few people lurked around after the sun fell, but none dared to approach or enter the stables for some reason.

Perhaps the owner is feared, so no one wanted to try their luck. Either way, this allowed me to get quite a few hours of sleep, and I woke up a few minutes before Meredith and Jacob, which allowed me to help them prepare the horses and the carriage for the travel ahead.

It didn’t take long, mostly because Jacob and Meredith wanted to leave as soon as possible, so they quickly checked out and had the wagon back on the road and out of the depressing village within half and hour or less.

“We’ll be going straight for the Kingdom of Heligway.” Jacob hummed from below me, and I pulled my gaze away from the starry sky to look down at him. “Rings any bells?” He raised a brow as he gave me a quick glance, but I shook my head after a few seconds of thinking.

Everything is a blank for me, no matter how much I try to remember. The only things that come up aren’t even memories, but mere orders that were put inside of me on my creation.

“Do you know of a Karkinoss?” I ask Jacob, holding little hope that he actually knows anything about my only lead to my past. I fear that I disappeared within the anomaly many centuries ago, and a lot of things change through the years, so my chances of finding anything are next to zero.

“Karkinoss?” Jacob hummed, then shook his head with a sigh. “Doesn’t ring a bell, my apologies.” I merely shake my own head at that and turn back to gaze out towards the forest surrounding us while holding my rifle.

Meredith had told me that we will definitely face a bandit attack before exiting the forest, so I’m making sure to keep my guard raised while sitting on top of the wagon. It is best I have the high ground since I am a ranged fighter, I only wish my aim was better.

“How come you and your family are traversing such dangerous places without a bodyguard?” I tilted my head towards Jacob, my eyes scanning through the tall trees to try and catch a glimpse of anything out of place.

Luckily, there don’t seem to be a lot of bushes around, but the problem is that the trees are quite tall and big so quite a few peoples can climb up and hide on them.

“We actually live in the Kingdom of Heligway, and I work as a merchant for one of the War Companies.” Jacob explained, then paused as the wagon hit a bump that made it bounce and rattle loudly. “The War Company was in need of some materials, but the last one that I needed to procure for them was being sold by another War Company, and they were too far from the Kingdom of Heligway, so I hired a bodyguard and traveled there with my family, only for the deal to go down. Our bodyguard also joined the War Company we visited, and just left us like this. So here we are…” Quite unprofessional and vexing, that’s for sure. Luckily we both ran into each other yesterday, else it would’ve very likely ended badly.

Still, being a member of a War Company must be good since the bodyguard so readily joined them. Or perhaps he had already received his payment or a part of it and then left without finishing the job.

There are quite a few rules in the book I got from the receptionist at the Guild, but they are just words, and I highly doubt many will follow them. Rules like ‘Don’t fight or steal from each other’ or ‘Do not withhold important information about Dungeons’, and other basic stuff.

“Now that I think about it, I think the War Company I work for has a Forgotten in their ranks.” Jacob suddenly perked up and I gave a slow blink as I mulled over his words. This doesn’t really help me, but it does make me curious on how many Forgotten are out there.

“It must be horrible to have no memories…” Jacob sighed softly. “I can’t imagine just waking up one day, with no memories of my wife and children, and unable to even feel sad about it.” My grip on my rifle tightened slightly, but I quickly forced myself to relax. It was useless to dwell on such things as it only brings up more questions.

Mostly because the headless corpse on the throne from yesterday keeps popping up in my head whenever I try to remember my previous Master and creator, and I am always instantly overtaken with fury and disgust.

Whatever, all I have to do for now is just grow strong enough so that I can survive, and then maybe I can go out and travel between Kingdoms and other places so to try and find clues about my past.

Oh well, those are plans for the future, right now I must worry about the roadblock in front of us.

“There’s a roadblock.” I called out, making Jacob slow the wagon down as he narrowed his eyes and stared at the simple but effective roadblock a few dozen meters ahead of us.

It was just a group of large tree branches put down to block the road and force anyone driving a cart to stop and go clear it in order to get through, which would give the bandits an opening to assault and raid them and their belongings.

I look to my left and right as I get into a better position just to be extra sure that no bandits are flanking us, then return my gaze to the simple roadblock ahead of us to analyze the situation.

The branches were tall and thick enough for a grown man to crouch and perfectly hide behind them, but then they’d have trouble jumping over them, so chances are that they are at the very edges of the street and quite a way before the roadblock too so to surround us completely.

“Maybe we should go back and try at another hour…” Jacob clicked his tongue, slowing the wagon to a stop as I merely hummed. “Maybe hire another Mercenary to help you too.” I scrunched up my nose at that, but decided not to comment on that and let the comment slide. He was Meredith’s husband, it wouldn’t look well upon me to talk back to my Master’s beloved.

“Doesn’t look like they plan on waiting.” I hummed and nodded towards the roadblock as I looked at the several figures that were now coming into view, stepping out from behind the trees and the bushes or jumping down into view.

Nine hostiles in total, two with bow and arrows. Not a good line-up for me, even more so if they get any closer.

They don’t seem to be in a hurry, probably because they know very well that Jacob is unable to have the wagon turn on a dime, especially since it’s in the middle of the road.

They were also spread out wide through the road so to board the wagon in case we decide to speed off. These bandits are somewhat experienced.

So I better take them by surprise.

“Sir, please do not step away from the carriage.” I told Jacob as I jumped down and landed on the gravel road, my wings curled up around my legs like usual. “Do scream if any start rushing towards you though.” I hum, then ignore his protest as I step towards the approaching confident bandits.

I am a ranged fighter, but they do not know that. Jacob himself, a Merchant, did not recognize my weapon even though he works with them quite often, thus telling me that firearms either no longer exist, or are very few and rare, to the point few know about them.

Plus, my aim were the two archers. Those are the most troublesome for me, the others I’m sure I can take on, even if with a bit of struggle. My rifle packs quite a punch, and very few of them are even wearing leather armor, the rest are just wearing casual ragged clothes.

I made sure my walk was faster than theirs so that I’d put more distance between us and the wagon, thus meeting up with them in just a minute.

The bandits all stopped and leered at me with lustful eyes while the biggest one among them, probably around two meters tall and with a giant greastsword on his back, walked up towards me with a confident grin on his face.

“Here to haggle to let you all go?” The man sneered in a deep and rough voice, his dark eyes looking me up and down and only resting on my rifle for a second before they focused on my chest. I wasn’t wearing my cloak currently, an oversight on my part, so it was very noticeable.

“Maybe we can let you guys through…” The man hummed, his grin never fading away as he raised a hand to stroke the slight stubble on his chin as his eyes moved up to mine, and I only lift an eyebrow at him. “Give us all your valuables and a good time, and I may think about it!” He laughed, his goons joining in while I merely shook my head.

Of course, I should have expected such a request.

“Sorry, I’m not into corpses.” I answer as I bring up my rifle and aim straight towards his face.

Bang!

[Warrior] – Lvl. 6 has been killed!

Experience has been rewarded for killing an enemy!

The laughter was cut off by the resounding gunshot and the spray of blood coming out from the bloody hole in the man’s face. It didn’t push straight through, but it had enough force behind it to cave his whole skull in and deform his face.

Still, if this guy is the leader then the others are even weaker than him. How is he just Level 6? Has he not fought against anything since getting his class or is Leveling Up different for each person?

I shake my head and push those thoughts away as I rush forward even before the lifeless body fell on the ground.

Bang!

[Thief] – Lvl. 4 has be-

Two down, seven more to go.

Alas, the element of surprise and shock did not last long once the second gunshot rang out, taking the life of a thin and hunched over man thanks to a hole being smashed into his throat.

“Fuck! Get that bitch!” Rude. I ignored the demeaning words from… whoever said them and instead merely kept rushing towards the two fumbling archers while the other bandits finally took proper hold of their weapons.

Their attention was now fully on me, which is very good, but also bad. I must thread carefully if I do not want to get overwhelmed.

I frown as I notice a bandit with sword and small shield jump in my way with a snarl, but I refused to slow down.

So instead I start shooting at his feet.

Bang! Bang! Bang!-

He screams just as I ram my shoulder into his still raised shield, but I still managed to knock him onto the ground. Mostly because one of my bullets very likely took off one or multiple of his toes, or put a hole through his foot. I did not pay attention.

[Warrior] – Lvl. 5-

Another Warrior, but with a different weapon set. Peculiar.

I click my tongue and jump to the side while ignoring the bleeding face of the man that I just killed while he was defenseless on the ground.

The attacker this time is a woman –or at least looks feminine enough for me to assume she is one– and held a pair of daggers in her hands, just like the second man I killed.

Good thing she screamed before lunging at me, else I wouldn’t have been able to dodge that.

I jump to the right this time, not to dodge an attack but to put the woman between me and the archers, my guard and ears up for anyone that is going to rush at me now that I have my back turned towards them while the dagger wielding woman maliciously glares at me, her face a perfect mixture of both fear and anger.

I notice the woman glance behind me for just a second, then the grip on her daggers tightens, and I narrow my eyes as I hear the sound of gravel crunching right behind me.

She lunged forward, and so does the hostile behind me. The one behind me is faster, so I take a step towards the dagger wielding woman to shorten the distance between me and her.

Then my wings unfurl as I spin around and lash out with them in a wide arc, and I feel them connect and successfully take out the legs from under both of my attackers, toppling them to the ground.

Bang! Bang!

And then quickly finish them off with a bullet to the head before they recovered from their rough fall.

Two more down, four more to go.

“What the fuck…” The unfurling of my large wings seems to have shocked the bandits even more, but they quickly recovered just as I started rushing towards the archers once more.

Bang!

[Archer] – Lvl. 3 has-

Of course the closest Archer could do nothing but wait for death as it was far too easy to get out of the way of his shakily aimed arrow.

It was the arrow from the other Archer that successfully struck my right arm, just below the shoulder.

I scowled and ignored the sharp spike of pain as I turned towards the last Archer and leveled him with a vicious glare of my own.

I glance towards the other two bandits, but I only see one of them slowly approach me, the other is… nowhere to be seen. Did he make a break for it?

Doesn’t look like he is going after the wagon either.

Oh well, that’s easier for me.

I lift my rifle up and take aim towards the Archer, then quickly release several shots without a care, each one making the wound on my arm sting and hurt quite a bit each time.

This of course was taken as an opening by the other bandit, who instantly charged at me, only for me to topple him over with my outstretched wing by taking out his legs from beneath him like I did with the previous two.

I can lash out or swing them widely with quite a great deal of force behind them, enough so to topple someone over by taking them by surprise.

Bang!

And another one down.

I sigh and turn towards the last one, who had by now already given up any hope of survival, especially since one of my bullets seemingly hit his left leg. Perhaps one of the last bullets I fired before turning to the charging bandit.

“I’ll only ask this one time; Are there more bandits waiting for us beyond the roadblock?” I ask the downed Archer as I approach him, and I aim the barrel of the gun straight towards his injured knee. A silent threat as incentive to make him speak.

He quickly shakes his head, so I lift my rifle and shoot him in the face. He did his part, so his utility expired.

Wish I had another bandit to interrogate alongside him so to verify the information, but alas, I guess I must keep my guard up for the rest of the road until we are out of the forest.

I hiss softly and lower my rifle, then let it go and hold it with my uninjured arm. It doesn’t look like the arrow sank too deep, but I’ll need assistance in wrapping the wound up with a Healing Bandage.

“Kaera!” I perk up and turn my head towards the carriage, then smile softly as I notice Meredith rush up to me. Glad to see she seems unbothered by the corpses around, which we’ll definitely need to move to let the carriage through.

“My apologies, but I’ll need a bit of assistance later.” I nod my head towards the arrow sticking out of my shoulder as I fold my wings and wrap them around my legs once more.

“Isn’t it better to remove it now?” She asked as she quickly checked me over for further injuries, but of course there are none other than the arrow.

The bandits were lackluster at best. They had a good plan and course of action, but were incredibly weak and seemed to have barely any fighting experience, and quickly gave in to panic. Had the close quarters fighters all rushed at me at the same time then I would’ve been dead, or worse.

“It won’t bleed too much as long as it remains inside, so I’d rather hurry and clear a path for the wagon so to start moving again before patching it up.” Meredith blinked, then sighed and nodded at my words, but the worried look on her face did not fade away. Looks like this Master of mine is quite the worrywart.

I let Meredith hold onto my rifle, then quickly dragged some of the corpses across the ground so to free the right side of the road for the wagon.

Funnily enough, Meredith and Jacob quickly scavenged the corpses of their weapons and loaded behind some boxes inside the wagon.

Well, they are in usable conditions so they can still be sold for a bit of money.

The branches blocking the road were next, and it only took two minutes to move them aside and create a path wide enough to pass through, thus I let myself be dragged inside the carriage by Meredith so that she could help me patch up.

“You were amazing out there.” Meredith hummed as she knelt down in front of me, sending a glance towards the box Aisha was using to hide herself and her little brother from view.

I couldn’t help but puff my chest up in slight pride at the praise my Master gave me, but I controlled myself so to not give a shameful display.

“We were lucky they were inexperienced and low Level.” Meredith furrowed her brows, then gave a nod as she scooted forward and reached over to rest a hand on my shoulder, and then grab the arrow with the other one.

I take a deep breath, clench my fists, then- yelp loudly as the arrow is roughly yanked out.

I can’t even be angry as I would have done the same thing.

“Remove your shirt, let’s bandage it from the inside.” I nodded and did as I was told, then slowly removed the dirty and slightly tattered shirt so to not worsen my injury. “Oh dear…” I glance at Meredith as I sat the shirt aside and create a Healing Bandage in my right hand, then blink as I notice that she was staring at my now naked chest.

I feel my cheeks grow warm as I raise a wing to cover my chest, and Meredith quickly snaps out of her staring and chuckles quite loudly in good humor as she takes the offered Healing Bandage, then quickly unwraps it.

She first wipes away the blood leaking down my arm with a wet rug she procured from the only barrel in the carriage, then tightly wrapped the plain Healing Bandage around my wound.

Then I may have put my shirt back on a little too quickly after that. I might be open to let my Masters use my body however they wish, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be embarrassed when exposed.

“Take a rest for now, we’ll be out of the forest in the next few minutes.” Meredith told me, or more like ordered me, once she noticed how I was about to stand and step outside to go back on top of the wagon.

So of course I sat down with a short sigh.

Might as well check on my Status since I have the chance and time.

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 7

Stats;

(Body) – 8

(Vitality) – 8

(Agility) – 10

(Mind) – 10

(Spirit) – 10

[Available Status Points: 10]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] – Lvl. 2

Class Skill/s;

[Frost Bullet] – (1/10)

[Healing Bandage] – (1/5)

Another two Levels… Either those guys were cowards and rarely fought, or they gained their classes just recently. Otherwise there’s no plausible explanation on why their Levels were so low.

I sigh and shake my head, then place two in Body, two in Vitality, two in Mind and four in Spirit.

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 7

Stats;

(Body) – 10

(Vitality) – 10

(Agility) – 10

(Mind) – 12

(Spirit) – 14

[Available Status Points: 0]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] – Lvl. 2

Class Skill/s;

[Frost Bullet] – (1/10)

[Healing Bandage] – (1/5)

That’s better.

I sigh and lean my head back, then rest my rifle on my lap as Aisha finally comes out and hurries in her mother’s arms together with her little brother, and I couldn’t help but smile at the wonderful sight.

I’m glad I was around to protect them.