Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Protagonist is a Villain
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One of the henchmen asked about their boss's condition. Only then did some of them slowly turn around to notice my presence. But rather than dealing with those guys first, I started smashing the heads of the men sleeping in the other barracks.
It made sense to handle these ones before they all swarmed me from every direction— even I could get hurt in a situation like that.
Thanks to that, the bandits who turned around discovered a priest mercilessly bashing in the heads of their sleeping comrades.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing?!"
Only then did the bandits spot me and snap into combat stance. I grabbed the first one charging at me and slammed him face-first into the ground. Seeing a man go flying through the air made the bandits freeze in place.
The bandit who'd been smashed into the dirt convulsed and foamed at the mouth. To make sure he wouldn't recover, I swung my mace down on him.
BAM!
The mace pierced straight through the bandit's body and struck the dirt floor, kicking up a massive cloud of dust with an explosive thud. The sprawled-out bandit had his upper body blown clean off, leaving him unrecognizable.
"Ugh... uuuugh... Boss...! Boss!"
The ones clutching their swords began backing away slowly, calling out for their boss. The boss himself was still sitting there rigidly, wine glass in hand. Blood started pouring from the spear wound in his shattered skull. One of the henchmen who'd been nagging him noticed and screamed.
"Aaaagh! Boss! Boss!"
The wine glass slipped from the boss's hand. And just like that, his gruesome face—half of it blasted away by the spear— was exposed for all to see. The henchmen fell into panic, shrieking. With their boss dead, there was no one left to stop me.
"Quiet!"
I bellowed at the bandit underlings. Even with his skull smashed open, the boss struggled to part his lips.
"Spare me... pl-please... spare me..."
His brain must have been damaged somewhere. I offered a silent prayer for the boss's plummeting intellect, then swung my mace at a guy trying to slip past me and run.
THWACK!
The fool who'd ignored me and tried to bolt took a mace to the gut and crashed into the fence. Using his body as a battering ram, he splintered half of it before getting impaled on the broken wooden shards, turning into a human porcupine. He barely managed to gasp for air, desperately signaling that he was still alive, but no one was coming to help.
"Everyone, gather in the center."
The bandits hesitated, not grasping my words. I shouted again.
"I said gather in the center. Fucking hell."
Yep, mixing in some profanity got through to them. The bandits quickly shuffled over and huddled together. The boss slumped in the corner, mumbling pleas for his life over and over. I sat down with my back to him, facing the remaining bandits, and introduced myself.
"I'm the lord of Peta territory. Peta Lucius."
At those words, the bandits stirred in agitation. As the murmurs grew louder, I slammed my mace into the ground to silence them.
"You're probably wondering how I found this secret hideout of yours."
The bandits all shut their mouths. I swept my gaze over them and flashed a triumphant smile. Right—they must have been baffled at how I'd pinpointed their bandit den. Knight orders and soldiers had never even scouted the forest.
"Recently, in a skirmish at the market town, four bandits surrendered to us."
"Ah..."
One of them muttered. He seemed to have pieced it together. His body started trembling with hatred for the traitors.
"Th-those fucking bastards...!"
CLANG!
I bashed the head of the guy who'd interrupted my story with pointless noise. The bandit, who'd been cursing up a storm, foamed at the mouth and keeled over dead. Seeing that, the others clammed up again.
"Yes. Thanks to those bandits spilling the location of your hideout, I was able to pay you a visit."
Of course, those four hadn't told me a thing about the bandit group. But I had a specific goal with this little tale.
"Truth be told, banditry is a group crime. The moment you're caught, it's the death penalty—or, for lesser offenders, they chop off a hand and let you go. But you've got quite a few members here, don't you?"
Including the ones I'd killed, there were over twenty in total.
"I can't just kill you all. So if you do me one small favor, I'll let you go on the condition that you never set foot near Peta territory again."
"What's the condition?"
CLANG!
"Use proper respect."
"Wh-what's the condition, sir?"
I sent another cocky bastard who dared use informal speech to join the boss with a swing. The red-eyed one raised his hand and asked. I explained.
"Sure, those bandits surrendered, but they're still bandits at heart. We let them into the village under the pretext of rehabilitation, but honestly, I don't believe for a second they'll reform. I'd like you to take care of them for me. Will you do as I say? If you handle it cleanly, there'll even be a reward."
"Yes. Yes, we'll do it!"
The red-eyed man's name was Klebang. He was burning with rage toward the traitors.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A few days later, I sat at the forest entrance and met Klebang. All the preparations were in place. The other men were waiting for Klebang and me back at the barracks. I'd told them to just leave if they wanted, but the 'reward' must have been too tempting. Klebang glanced around nervously before nodding to me.
"It's all set, sir. We're meeting them today."
"Good. Lend me your knife?"
"Here, right here."
I took the knife from Klebang instead of my mace. Just then, the four bandit lieutenants came walking from afar. To avoid suspicion, Klebang approached them slowly.
"Sold everything?"
He was still playing the role of the ruthless 'Rabbit Foot' for the group. The second-in-command nodded.
"Yeah... We had to rush and sell on the sly, so we didn't get full price... H-here..."
And with that, Klebang slashed with his dagger. The second-in-command collapsed in the middle of reaching out his hand. Before the remaining three could scream in shock, I leaped out and slit the fifth's throat. Klebang charged at the fourth, and at the same moment, my blade pierced the third's heart.
With all four bandits down, I brushed the blood from my face. Klebang asked cautiously.
"So... what about me...?"
STAB!
I gifted Klebang a stab to the gut and said,
"Oh, right. The guards and knights should be heading to the barracks right about now."
"Guhhh... guh..."
Klebang vomited blood, his red eyes growing even redder. I picked up the second-in-command's entire fortune from the ground and headed back to the manor. I was looking forward to what tomorrow morning would bring.
The area around the manor was noisy from early morning. I knew exactly why. The guards and knights had captured the bandits and dragged them here. Excluding those who'd slipped away the day before and the ones killed during the arrest, about eight had been hauled to my manor. They were screaming to see me.
"This breaks your promise, you coward!"
"You sneaky bastard! You call yourself a priest?!"
The height of audacity. These filthy bandits were lecturing me—a priest—on righteousness and accusing me of breaking my word. I couldn't just let their insolence slide. As I raised my mace, they all fell silent. Pavlov's dogs, they called it. Just like ringing a bell made dogs salivate, lifting my mace shut them up—it was conditioned.
"Robin. Good work."
I lowered my mace again and praised Robin for his efforts. Robin looked like a gruff country uncle, but he loved getting compliments. He nodded proudly, and the bandits started yapping again.
"What about Brother Klebang? What happened to him? Did you kill him?"
CLANG!
I smashed the head of the first one trying to spout nonsense. Thanks to his helmet, one blow turned him into a tuna can crushed by a press. The bandits gulped at the sight. As I shook the blood from my mace, I said,
"Who are you to judge right and wrong when you're the ones running a bandit gang? By the laws of the state, anyone causing harm to civilians through banditry is sentenced to death. Given the severity of their crimes, these ones all deserve to die."
"You trash!"
The bandits wailed in outrage. I ordered the soldiers to draw their swords. Then, to silence them for good, I slashed down. The seven bandits shut their mouths permanently. The soldiers stabbed the sprawled corpses repeatedly— these bandits had been a real headache for them.
"Hang the bodies in the streets for all to see."
And with that, I went to meet Sieri. When I arrived at the church where she was, she was sweeping the courtyard since morning. I waved to her, and she floundered, unsure how to greet me, before setting down her broom and bowing at the navel with hands clasped. That was proper etiquette for greeting a lord, but dropping the broom was so funny I couldn't help but chuckle.