A Merchant's Reciprocity
The bastard we'd taken hostage walked the moonlit mountain path with practiced ease, just as you'd expect from a wretch who made his living off cowardly work. After about an hour, a faint light appeared in the distance. We'd wound through the rugged terrain so many times that without a guide, we never would have found the place.
Then again, a bandit gang of this size would have prompted the nearby territories to dispatch a proper army to wipe them out. The fact that they'd stayed hidden from those territorial forces made this kind of secrecy only natural.
The wretch I'd beaten to a pulp had been walking with a dead man's face, but the moment his hideout came into view, he started grinning like an idiot. Looking at that inability to control his expression, he didn't seem like the type who'd ever amount to much even as a bandit. He probably thought that mountain fortress was a lifeline dropped from heaven.
"Luna. Go ahead and scout the situation."
I grabbed the bandit grunt by the scruff of his neck as I spoke. Luna bowed her head lightly and vanished toward the hideout, her movement too fast for the eye to follow. The bandit grunt trembled, unease written across his face as he watched her go. Nothing to worry about. He was a dead man walking anyway.
"Hehe. So that means you're going to spare me, right?"
He put on the most groveling expression he could manage, but far from wanting to spare him, I only felt more disgust. I stretched a hand toward him and fired a Light Arrow.
A sacred arrow punched into his chest. He was so filthy—body and soul—that I wasn't even sure a holy arrow could purify him.
"Gahk!"
He died with a look of disbelief, letting out a single dying gasp. A chess piece that's served its purpose should be discarded promptly. No telling if the rat might try some last-ditch trick. Besides, thanks to Doraemon Hand, he wasn't likely to fetch a high price anyway.
I shoved his corpse aside and waited for Luna. She was back in less than ten minutes.
"There are two sentries guarding the entrance. Everyone else is asleep."
Posting sentries already gave them a fairly professional feel. Of course, to survive on a mountain crawling with monsters, watches were essential day or night. Lighting fires despite the risk of revealing their position was probably meant to keep the monsters at bay.
Naturally, they'd be as wary of people as they were of monsters. For men who knew monster habits well enough to exploit them, humans were the greater threat.
"Best to take out the sentries quietly and go in. Can you assassinate them?"
"Please leave it to me."
Luna was originally an in-fighter, strongest in a frontal clash. Assassinating an enemy when the skill gap was this wide, however, was no great challenge. She and I approached the hideout with care.
The closer we got, the clearer the scale of the place became. Three large buildings stood tall, each a little smaller than a cheap inn in Tellibai. Put the three together and you could house about a hundred people.
A small wooden palisade enclosed the building that looked like a barracks and the fields around it. It was crudely made, so I couldn't guess how much defense it actually offered, but it was still fairly serious work.
Even in Solari World, bandits this organized weren't common. Most gangs numbered around ten, and those with a proper stronghold you could count on one hand. The fact that these bastards were this professional meant the loot we'd get from cleaning them out would be equally professional.
"Those are the ones."
Luna lowered her voice and pointed at the palisade gate. Two sentries clutching long spears were nodding off on their feet. There was no point posting a watch if they were going to sleep through it. Even at their most professional, I supposed, bandits were still bandits.
"I will take care of them."
Luna took only a single blade in hand and slipped forward in silence. Her movement would have been hard to follow even in broad daylight; with the veil of darkness over it, she looked like a ghost.
In an instant she was behind the sentry on the right. She clamped a hand over his mouth and sliced his carotid artery in the same motion. Blood fountained from the neck of the man who'd been sleeping so soundly, and Luna laid the newly departed carefully on the ground.
Amazingly, even with his comrade murdered right beside him, the sentry on the left was still dozing. Was Luna's assassination technique that superb, or were that sentry's nerves as thick as a hawser?
She assassinated the left-hand sentry with the same skill she'd used on the right. When she was done, not a single drop of blood stained her clothes.
"Buhihit! Good. Clean work. Well done."
I praised Luna and stepped into the hideout. Once inside, I could tell the place was far larger than it had looked from outside. Plenty of smaller buildings had been hidden behind the large ones. At this scale, it was practically a country village.
"The bandits are all sleeping in this barracks."
Luna pointed to the building at the center of the compound as she spoke, then indicated the buildings on either side.
"This one had a mess hall and recreation facilities. That one appeared to be a training ground."
The bandits had set themselves up almost at the level of a territorial army. I looked around as I entered the barracks. With Luna at my back, there was nothing to fear. If it came to it, I could always ambush them with my skills.
In contrast to the sentries posted outside the hideout, there were none in the barracks. Did they figure that with watches outside, the inside was safe? That kind of psychological blind spot was how accidents happened.
They would feel that truth in their bones today. Not that today's lesson would do them any good. These bastards wouldn't have a tomorrow.
"The higher-ranking ones appear to be sleeping on the top floor. The rooms up there are the largest."
"Good. Then we take those bastards first."
Just as Luna had said, a hulking figure who looked every bit the boss was sleeping on the top floor. The bastard had a room that could have housed ten people all to himself. If this guy wasn't the leader, this gang's hierarchy was as soft as a slime.
Luna and I came right up beside him, but he was dead drunk on sleep, snoring loudly. This was the boss of a gang this size? Aside from looking vicious, he didn't seem particularly strong. The type who used his head, maybe?
"First, cut off his arms so he can't resist."
"Yes."
Luna danced with her blades. A sword dance under the moonlight was rather beautiful. The result was not.
"Gyaaah!"
The boss, who'd been sunk in deep sleep, bulged his eyes and screamed. But both his arms had already fallen off the bed. He twisted his armless torso like a pretzel, still screaming. I clamped a hand over his mouth so the others wouldn't wake.
"Buhihit! What a sweet scream. Fine night, isn't it, bandit friend?"
His bulging eyes glared at me, but they were full of bewilderment, as if he still hadn't grasped the situation. Should I show a little mercy? He had a right to know what was happening, at least.
"I am a merchant of the slave caravan you lot tried to plunder. I received your insolent gift quite well. Having been given such a precious present, I can hardly fail to return the favor, can I?"
Only then did understanding dawn, and his face filled with terror.
"Scream again and this time I'll split your heart in two. I have a few questions for you, so I'd rather it not come to that. Well? If you understand me, nod."
He nodded, and I slowly released his mouth. Fortunately he had a brain in his skull; he didn't scream.
"Where in this hideout do you keep the cash and plunder?"
That was all I wanted to know. He didn't answer right away, rolling his eyes instead. I gave Luna a slight gesture. Without hesitation, she severed his right ankle.
"Gyaaaaah!"
"I can hear you scheming from here. You still don't understand your position. And I told you not to scream, didn't I?"
"Kh-hhk! Hah... but it hurts too much..."
"If you'd answered honestly, there wouldn't have been any pain. Watching you try those little tricks makes my heart ache. Luna."
"Yes, Master."
"This insolent fellow seems to be entertaining strange thoughts, so we ought to make an example. Go downstairs and kill all the others."
"Understood."
Luna carried out my order at once. Watching her, the boss trembled as if a chill had seized him.
"I'll talk... I'll talk! I'll tell you, so please, just spare my men...!"
Anyone watching might have thought he was a virtuous commander who cherished his subordinates. What had actually startled him was that, to a bandit boss, his men were the gang's strength itself. To me, bandits were merchandise to sell as slaves. But if this bastard wouldn't cooperate, there was no reason to keep them alive.
"Lead me to the plunder quickly and I'll rescind the order I gave Luna. But if you try any tricks... I may be too late to stop her."
"Kh-hhk! I'd guide you myself, but my body's in this state..."
"Just give me a rough location and I'll find it myself."
The place they stored their plunder was a warehouse at the center of the hideout. It was sealed with three padlocks, and no one but the boss was allowed inside. True to a bandit gang, the rules around plunder were strict—even approaching the area was punishable.
I pulled three keys from the drawer of his desk and headed for the warehouse. Finding the place he'd described was easy. A windowless brick storehouse standing smack in the middle of the compound—it would have been harder not to find it.
The entrance was sealed with a thick chain and padlocks. I unlocked them and pushed the stiff wooden door, revealing a pitch-black interior. I created light with Light Control.
"Oho! Quite a haul, as expected."
Pouches stuffed with silver coins, assorted artworks, swords and shields, spears and other weapons, sturdy plate armor—the warehouse was packed with everything they'd plundered. They supposedly disposed of this stuff on a regular schedule; today must have been right before a sale.
I dumped it all into my inventory. Since the inventory could stack items of the same type in a single slot, cleaning out the plunder was easy.
When I returned to the barracks, the stench of blood hung thick in the air. Luna had apparently finished her assigned task. Given how much plunder had been in the warehouse, I didn't particularly mind that these bastards were dead. I went to the boss's room.
"Buhihit! Thanks, friend. I'll dispose of your fortune quite well. Finding the goods took a little time, so I couldn't save your men, but you're alive, so all's well that ends well, no? Try to look on the bright side."
"Uwaaaagh! You son of a bitch! You promised me!"
A promise with a bandit. What could be less sincere than that? This bastard was pretty stupid even for his kind.
"Haha. I never broke my promise. The problem was that Luna works a little too fast. You've given me such abundant wealth, so I'll let you live. Well then—live well."
Of course, this bastard would die of blood loss soon enough. He screamed loud enough to shake the hideout, cursing me. I left him behind and strolled out of the barracks at my leisure.