Trash Disposal Day
"Why are you here?" Elsid asked, startled by Bernard's sudden appearance.
"I was preparing camp when I happened to see you heading deeper into the forest," Bernard replied.
Elsid had never imagined someone was following him. He must have been too focused on the task at hand.
"Then I noticed the trail of blood throughout the forest. I figured something was wrong and hurried after you."
It was clear Bernard had come to the same conclusion as him.
"So what's the plan? Why do you need another person?"
"You see them over there. Can you handle one?"
This was a stroke of luck. With Bernard's arrival, Elsid no longer had to hesitate.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
"Consider it done."
The two men shot forward like the wind. A sharp crack rang out, followed by a heavy thud. Elsid struck one bandit across the head with his wooden sword, knocking him out cold in an instant.
"My father, the previous lord, once told me," Bernard said as he locked another guard in a rear choke, rendering him unconscious before he could utter a word. "Never kill a villain too easily. Squeeze every last drop of sin from their marrow and make them pay the full price."
"Now I see why you were close with my grandfather."
After subduing the two guards, they stripped the men of their clothes, tore the fabric into strips, and bound their limbs. With no other binding materials available, the enemies' own garments would have to suffice. Reducing the number of combatants in advance was always wise.
"Shall we head inside now?"
"I'll take the lead."
With the guards dealt with, Bernard stepped forward and the two entered the wooden palisade. They had initially considered climbing over to find another route, but the gate stood unlocked, without even a latch. Following the blood trail through the forest had already hinted at how careless these bandits were—almost to the point where Elsid wondered if orcs might actually be more vigilant. Still, their negligence worked in their favor for now.
***
"Doesn't look like we'll need to search much," Bernard remarked.
"Seems that way," Elsid agreed.
Inside the palisade, there were no bandits in sight. Instead, a gray cave mouth yawned before them, its entrance screened by a wooden fence with two bandits posted as guards. Moving quietly, the pair slipped into the cave. Torches lined the walls, lighting their way without difficulty.
As they pressed deeper, Elsid spotted a group of bandits standing watch—and beyond them, something that should never have been there.
"Hic… Grandfather…"
"Eris… you have to…"
Wounded men lay bleeding. Children sobbed in their mothers' arms. Dozens of people were crammed into iron-barred cages along the cave walls. From the mouth of one weeping mother came the name of the granddaughter the old man had begged them to save. It was easy to guess she was his daughter. And by some coincidence, the little girl's face belonged to the child from the general store in Lime Village—the one who had greeted him as a customer when he sold his hides.
Elsid had planned to sneak in and free the hostages quietly. But the moment he saw the scene, every careful plan vanished. All he felt was a burning rage he could no longer contain.
He drew the wooden sword from his waist.
***
"Aaaagh!"
"Guh!"
"Kkhh!"
One, two, three… The bandits guarding the cages screamed as they were hurled through the air and slammed into the ground.
"W-what is this…?" one bandit muttered, collapsing in disbelief. As a low-ranking member, he had followed orders to raid nearby villages, seize valuables, and capture every villager. A few stubborn men had needed "persuasion," but everything had gone according to plan. The men were to be handed over as test subjects, and the women… well, there would be time for amusement later.
Yet now everything had gone wrong. A single man with a wooden sword had appeared out of nowhere and was tearing through them all.
"What a rotten day," Elsid muttered as he approached the kneeling bandit. "I had to look at a village reduced to ashes and countless wounded people…"
"So listen up, you worthless trash…" He leveled the wooden sword at the bandit's face. "Let's make some dust fly."
It was a sentence that allowed no argument. At Elsid's feet lay a heap of bandits who had lost all will to fight, groaning in pain.
"P-please, spare me."
"No one's dying. I'm just going to break a few joints. Maybe fifty or so…"
True to his word, none of the bandits gathered before the cages died. Their arms and legs were twisted in impossible directions, or their necks were turned halfway around, but every one of them was still breathing.
"Now, which part should I break next? Shoulder, wrist, knee… or maybe something else?"
Elsid's wooden sword slowly dipped lower, pointing toward the bandits' groins.
"I suppose breaking something other than bone would be fine too."
"Eek!"
The only bandit whose bones remained unbroken trembled like a leaf in the wind. As Elsid advanced on the cowering man, a hand suddenly gripped his shoulder.
"Stop, Elsid."
"Bernard… why are you stopping me?"
"Don't you feel anything when you look at this scene?" Elsid demanded. "You said it yourself earlier—don't kill them easily! Make the guilty pay with every last drop of their marrow!"
"Of course I do. I'm no saint from legend. How could I forgive men who did this to innocent people?"
"Then why—"
"Because…" Bernard pointed with one finger. "The child is frightened."
Elsid followed the gesture. A little girl clung to her mother, trembling and sobbing in terror. It was Eris—the same child whose face he remembered.
Seeing her, the fury that had risen to the top of his head cooled, if only slightly.
"…Thank you."
He had nearly shown the girl the same sight he had witnessed as a child. He owed Bernard for stopping him.
"I-I'm alive…" the kneeling bandit exhaled in relief.
Crack.
"Save the nonsense for when you're in prison."
Elsid swung his wooden sword and shattered the man's jaw, knocking him out cold. He probably wouldn't chew solid food for a while.
Once Elsid had rendered every bandit combat-ineffective, Bernard took over.
"I am Bernard, Lord of Ragna Castle."
Though they had been rescued, the sudden appearance of two men who had crushed the bandits so brutally had left the captives wary. Bernard's title as lord would likely earn more trust than Elsid's presence.
"An elder who escaped from here asked us to come rescue you."
Whether it was the mention of his status or the promise of rescue, the captives' fear seemed to ease a little.
"Is there a child named Eris here?"
"I… I'm Eris."
As expected, the little girl from the general store stepped forward.
"Then you must be that elder's granddaughter."
"Father… is he alive?"
"Grandfather…"
The mother and daughter stared at Bernard with wide eyes.
"Yes. He is resting in our village right now, both body and mind."
"Thank goodness…"
"Grandfather… he's alive…"
Bernard answered honestly, and tears streamed down the faces of both mother and daughter.
"Don't worry. We intend to save everyone here… so please wait just a little longer."
Bernard gently stroked Eris's hair as he spoke. Then he turned to her mother and held out a bundle of keys.
"I took these from the bandits I knocked out earlier. If anything happens, use them to free the others and escape together."
"Y-yes, I will."
Eris's mother nodded vigorously.
Elsid rose to his feet, sensing the conversation was winding down. Just then—
"Th-thank you, Mister Wooden Sword."
Eris spoke up unexpectedly, her voice still shaky with fear, yet she had thanked him.
"Um… are you going… inside?" her mother asked in a trembling voice.
Were they worried about him?
"Yes. I'm going to take out the trash."
Elsid walked deeper into the cave, his voice unusually solemn as he tried to reassure them.
"There's plenty of trash. Let me help."
Bernard fell into step beside him, and together they headed further into the darkness.