22nd day of the third month.

 

"So you have taken the route from here to Ellam many times before?" I say while looking at the black-haired adventurer riding alongside our wagon.

"That's right, I take this route at least four times a year to visit family." The man replies without meeting my eyes.

His gaze is focused on the person beside me who is driving the wagon, Neri.

"We'll be reaching the road that leads to Ellam soon, the road conditions won't be as good as the one we're currently on so you better take care. It's a pity that your master refuses to take over the reins for you."

Hey! Fuck off, and stop eyeing Neri, she's mine. I try to naturally position myself to cut off his line of sight.

 

Noticing my actions, Neri looks over for a second as if deliberating how to respond before she decides to just ignore him.

 

"..."

"Hey, why do---" The black-haired man continues to presses but is interrupted by the sound of an approaching horse.

"Master, Neri, I'm back." The silver-haired girl happily exclaims as she transfers over from her horse to our wagon.

"Welcome back beautiful lady, I hope your---"

"Shouldn't you take over as the scout now? I think the road we'll be taking is coming up soon." Faris innocently interrupts the black-haired man's greetings as if it is the most natural thing in the world.

 

Whether it was on purpose to not, good job Faris! I reach out my hand to pet the silver hair of my beloved companion. much to her confusion. I don't forget to look back over at Keith with the smuggest expression I can muster while urging him to hurry up and do your job with my gaze.

"Very well, I will go fulfill my duty." As if my actions have no effect on him, Keith displays a resolved look as if he is going to undertake an important task before he starts rides away.

He looks back and nods one last time our way before galloping ahead on his mount.

Good riddance, that perverted fucker didn't even try to hide his leering at all.

 

---

"The road starts here." The black-haired adventurer loudly declares.

The dirt road he indicates to branches off from the main gravel road and is much more narrow, being barely able to fit one wagon through. On the side of the dirt road is just grass and bushes so there's enough room for two vehicles to pass by or make a U-turn.

Keith, the black-haired adventurer swiftly heads down the road without a moment to spare, becoming the vanguard of the caravan as previously arranged after confessing his familiarity with this route to Ellam.

"We're so going to be delayed if there is any rain with this kind of road but I guess it beats the uneven ride we would've had to endure if we decided to cut through the forest," I mutter to the figure of Keith slowly become smaller along with a horse he borrowed from the caravan.

The two girls beside me nod at my words before the little dwarf holding the reins to our wagon starts urging the horses forward, after the figure ahead.

With Keith taking over as the vanguard, the responsibility of scouting ahead falls to him now, allowing us for the first time since setting off to be able to travel leisurely with all three of us on the wagon. Blacky, who also no longer have scouting duties, gets to enjoy the more relaxed pace of traveling alongside the wagon as well.

But this does not mean I have nothing to do while on our way. After the secret conversation with Vorn and Mr.Lensly last night, we all discussed what signs of danger we have to look out for on our journey to Ellam and delegated responsibilities to each of us.

Our party's responsibility is to keep our eye out for suspicious movements, whether it be from within our caravan or from an outside party. Which lead to our current arrangements with me looking out the back of our wagon, at the transports belonging to the merchant, Macer Fide. Faris, on the other hand, is covering the direction of our two other flanks while Neri is keeping an eye on the front.

With our new duties, the atmosphere on our wagon is a lot tenser than it used to be, as we travel for over an hour without conversing as we are each focused doing our part. Noticing the mood, I immediately proceed to try to calm us down by starting a topic for discussion.

"Have both of you ever heard about situations like this before? I mean, the leader of the Relentless Waves, Vorn told me it's becoming more common in recent years but just how common is it?" I ask while being sure to keep my voice down so that only the girls can hear me.

"There were always stories who tell of similar incidents happening but it wasn't until the famous Madalein incident that happened last year that encouraged a lot of copycats. The method allows bandits to take advantage of the rules from the merchant guild, is hard to defend against if not extra cautious and lets them get away with the crime if pulled off correctly." Neri's voice sounds out from the head of the wagon.

"What is the Madalein incident?" Faris quickly asks curiously, jumping to sit beside Neri before resuming looking to the left and right.

Faris knows some bits and pieces about merchants and peddlers from her father, so it can't be blamed that she's curious about anything that relates to the topic that her dear father talked about, or so that's how I see it. Especially since she was probably cut off from news and anything that didn't benefit her full course training while with the slave trader.

Realizing Faris's thirst for answers, Neri succinctly explains while I quietly listen in, not disturbing them despite being the one to start the conversation.

"The Madalein incident was basically a bunch of bandits raiding and murdering of an entire merchant's caravan, hailing from the Madalein family, thus the name of the incident. The robbery deeply wounded the Madalein family, especially their reputation and caused waves in the merchant community throughout the continent."

"What's so special about the incident? Isn't that just a common incident that happens all the time, just that it happened to a larger caravan?"

"The key to the incident was how the bandits were able to pull the raid off. The common incidents you refer to usually happens to the less wealthy merchants and smaller caravan who hired insufficient escorts either in quality or quantity. The caravan in the Madalein incident was one of the most elite caravans, the powerful Madalein family employed a large number of high ranking adventurers along with their own personal guards. That's why they fearlessly transported large amounts of wealth, never imagining that such misfortune could befall them."

"So their arrogance got to them? Or did several large bandit groups team up together to rob them?" Faris asks impatiently with a frown.

"Neither, the bandit group that robbed them were just a small group of bandits with little renown. They managed to wipe out such a large caravan thanks to a single hostage. They took the daughter of some merchant who was friendly with the Madalein family and blackmailed him to lure the Madalein caravan into a trap. The merchant purposely sabotaged his own caravan without the knowledge of anyone else, asking the 'accidentally' passing by Madalein caravan for assistance. With the two on good terms, the blackmailed merchant poisoned the food at a banquet that was meant to thank the Madalein's for their help. The slow-acting poison started to act up after the blackmailed merchant's caravan parted ways, setting up an easy target for the bandits."

"...Couldn't they have just taken the family of a member of the Madalein caravan hostage and not go through that roundabout way? Even if the powerful merchants have their families well guarded, they could also just stick to the smaller caravans to make up for it with the numbers as well."

"They could, but then they would alert the merchant guild if incidents kept occurring and be hunted down by many people as they disrupted the interests of many parties including the kingdom. Just a generous bounty alone from merchant guild would eliminate most of the safe havens that were willing to harbor them before, not to talk about the possibility of their subordinates betraying them for the bounty. The key is to coverup the incident as best as possible and not draw the attention of any powerful factions. They were able to make the sole survivor, the merchant they blackmailed tell the guild that they encountered an extremely strong group of monster that wiped them out, clearing the suspicion from any investigators. Of course, if the same story keeps happening then the investigators will look further into it so they chose the best value they could get from one robbery even if it was a high-profile target."

"I see... Having multiple incidents would alert the guild or the kingdom but just one incident wouldn't draw as much attention... but wait, then how did the incident become so famous?"

"At first, it didn't. The investigators barely looked into it with the testimony from the blackmailed merchant. The lack of reoccurrence made the guild just write it off as a one-time thing and thought the monsters returned into the dungeon they came from and soon the incident was forgotten about. That was until the blackmailed merchant stepped forward after not being able to stand the guilt anymore. Dozens dead because of him for the life of his daughter, he didn't regret his decision in order to save his daughter but the guilt really gnawed away at his sanity. Once the incident came to light, the merchant community was outraged and scared of copycats so they quickly implemented new measures to defend against such incidents."

Those bandits would've gotten away with the crime too if it wasn't for the meddling merchant. I guess it's impossible to commit the perfect crime, loose ends always will exist.

The rich and powerful merchants realized they weren't invulnerable so they quickly implemented changes to protect themselves. Funny, I wonder if they would've acted the same if it was only some small caravan that was attacked.

"Wait, if new policies were implemented to address the issue, then how is it becoming more and more common recently?"

My naive little Faris, no matter what world, those fancy policies, and countermeasures are designed to protect the interests of the powerful people at the top as the main consideration and not anyone else.

"The policies do work, for the big merchants at least. The smaller caravans aren't as well secured, and the bandits know that. Though they aren't able to target the larger targets anymore with this method, it can still reduce their risk and make their raids on smaller caravan a lot easier if they're patient enough to prepare. But still, shouldn't the merchants be the ones more aware of their vulnerabilities..." Neri says with suspicion, looking back at the carriage behind us. "I think master is r---" Neri's words are cut short as the sound of someone approaching on horseback enter my ears.

I look to the source which is in the direction of where we're heading to see Keith pulling up near us. Within a minute, one of the liaisons for the caravan arrives and Keith states his findings right next to our wagon.

"I found a well about ten minutes away, we can head there to take a rest since we won't have to use up our mage's mana for water."

Although the horses do drink up a lot of water, I'd much prefer drinking my own water than from a well, especially from what I've seen before...

"Roger." The liaison quickly heads back to relay the report.

Approximately ten minutes later, the caravan starts to bunker down near an abandoned shack that is equipped with the well Keith found. It's time to feed the horses so it'll probably take half an hour before we will set off again.

We make our way towards where Mr.Lensly is, conversing with Keith and the rest of his party totaling five people.

Noticing my party, Keith cuts the conversation short.

"Excuse us, we'll be heading out to stand guard around the perimeter." Keith delivers the line in a professional tone, before retreating with his party.

Neither Mr.Lensly nor me and the girls talk as we watch Keith's party move further away. Coming from the direction of the well, Vorn quietly joins us along with a member of his party. Once Keith and his party are out of hearing range, we turn to confirm the position of Macer Fide before Mr.Lensly finally breaks the silence.

"I fear you are correct... Let us move as planned."

Both me and Vorn nod at his words before retreating with our companions in different directions just like we've previously planned.

---

22nd of the third month, noon.

"Boss, our mole has signaled us that the target has entered into position, we're all ready to set off."

"Haha, finally. To be safe, we'll set off in ten minutes." The burly man in worn-out plate armor gives out his commands happily.

Having received my orders, I head over to where my subordinates are tending to their mounts, giving them the signal to prepare to head out as I hop onto my horse.

We've done this before, we're all experienced and know what do to. Now with this new plan boss started using, the last part which used to be the hardest part became as easy as taking candy from a baby since we no longer have to fight for our lives.

I can't wait to finish up this job and head over to the nearest town to visit the brothels, the girl we captured this time got me all fired up but the boss won't let us even near her. Let's sure hope the loot will be plentiful enough for us to enjoy for a while.

Ten short minutes past rapidly as we all follow our boss towards the trap we set up. We exit the temporary hideout and make it onto the dirt road. Looking at the tracks, it's clear that the targets we've been eyeing have already passed by here and into our trap.

Just as we start to march down the road, we spot a few figures approaching our way.

"It's our helpers," I advise the boss, fearing he will order an attack.

Hearing my words, the boss signals our band to stop as we wait for them to approach.

They are five of them in total, all wearing loose robes that cover their faces just like we requested. Can't have people recognize our helpers now and report it to the guild now, can we?

I step forward to confirm their identities and result in a staring match between me and their leader.

"Come on, we did as told, they're now resting by the well. Quickly release Linda now! We'll be sure to tell the guild that monsters got us!" A female voice sounds out from one of the hooded figures beside their leader.

"You better, or we'll come to find you even if you run to the depths of hell. Kal, take them to the girl and regroup with us after you're done."

One of my lanky-looking henchmen quietly diverts from us to start leading the five robbed figures.

"Are you sure we can just let them go like that?"

"It'll be fine boss, best not to push them too hard. Besides, the guild will be suspicious if they report in with one member missing and then she suddenly reappears after the incident."

"Hmm, I'll leave it to you."

Of course, you'll leave it to me, you leave everything to me... I swear, if I could be as charismatic as you to lead and keep these thugs in line, I'd poison you to death on our next meal.

Stupid bunch of meatheads who only know how to answer to muscle. Goddamnit, I'm getting stressed out, there better be nice girls available for me tonight or I'm going to go crazy.

A few minutes of traveling down the road later, we finally are able to lay eyes on our prey today. That seems to be quite a number of transports, I sure hope they're loaded.

"Approach cautiously, we can't be sure if they all got knocked out by the poisoned or not." Our meathead leader shouts out.

Yeah, real cautious yelling out in the open like that. I use hand signals to tell my lackeys to start moving in as I follow from behind at a safe distance should anything go wrong.

We get close enough for our bows to reach them but still see no signs or anyone. Strange, it can't be they all took a drink from the well and fell asleep on their wagons together can they? I continue to look around for an explanation of the mystery.

Just as I am about to warn my men to back up as they approach the first carriage a loud noise of wooden splintering sound out.

I turn over to see a giant ball of earth heading straight at me at a speed that I know I won't be able to react to.

The shouts from that musclehead leader enter my ears before my vision blackouts.

"SHIT, AMBUSH!"

---

Taking a deep breath, I look over to Faris on the left and Neri on the right.

We're currently hiding in the treelines a small distance away from the caravan, preparing to fight.

To once again fight against other humanoids, sentient beings who think and use weapons like me.

It can't be helped but we'll be fighting against humanoids once again, bandits. It's kind of scary fighting against people who can be much more intelligent than you, stronger than you, or both. We can't really tell their strength until we fight but Vorn assured me that the typical bandits wouldn't be that strong or they would still be working as adventurers.

They're mostly ex-adventurers who failed in advancing further, who fell to their short-term greed. They probably weren't even able to rank up to a bronze badge and felt frustrated at the system.

"Master look, they're people coming from over there," Faris informs us, pointing to the barely visible mounted figures approaching the caravan, confirming the imminent attack that is about to begin.

"Okay, let start slowly move in from behind them."

We stealthily sneak up behind the approaching bandits, keep an appropriate distance away from their detection, waiting for the fight to start just like we planned.

Last night, Mr.Lensly and Vorn started talking about the possibility that Macer Fide, the merchant we picked up on the way was actually a mole for bandits just like in the Madalein incident.

They suspected Mr.Fide because of the way he acted and how eager he was to send his men ahead to inform about such small delays.

But I voiced my suspicions that indicated otherwise. I believed that Keith, the leader of the adventurer party that Mr.Fide employed is much more likely to be the mole.

I arrived at that conclusion not just because he was so adamant about taking this specific route but because I remember seeing him back in Unatis before.

Keith has black colored hair similar to mine which made me take more notice of him than other people so I recognized seeing him by Greens Filth as well as the adventurer guild before.

I remember seeing him arguing vehemently with his companion with the same colored hair, even knocking into me.

But when I saw him during our journey, he seemed much colder and like a soldier but got along with his companions fine. Although I wrote it off as just them making up at first, when I heard Mr.Lensly and Vorn voice their suspicion for Mr.Fide, everything fell in place in my mind.

About why Keith would take an escort quest that would force them on a trip where he'll be stuck staying closely with his companions for the whole duration of the request while their relationship is strained. Why a party who chose to continue dungeon diving despite the high rewards for requests from the war suddenly did a 180 and took on an escort quest.

Although we could've captured them all while they were off-guard, we knew the bandits already had their eyes on us. So rather than waiting for them to ambush us at any time, we decided to use their plan against them to ambush them back in return.

My conjecture didn't change much to our plans besides keeping Keith's party out of the loop and splitting more attention to them. With him being so proactive at becoming our vanguard, we kept our guard up on everything he informed us about, including the well he found. Right after finding us the well, Keith used an excuse to move away to an area we couldn't easily monitor, almost confirming our suspicions.

We couldn't inform everyone part of Mr.Lensly caravan without risking exposing ourselves so the moment we settled by the well, we took action. We subdued Mr.Fide and his companions just to be safe and gave some room for Keith and his party to signal their backer, only observing them from afar. Once we confirmed their movements, we prepared for an attack that was likely about to happen which brings us to the present.

The bandits are nearing our vehicles, not suspecting much despite the absence of anyone in their view.

The moment the first two bandits were about to check up on one of the carriages, the doors smashed open, accompanied by the familiar sight of a large earthball crashing straight through the nearby bandits, and even sweeping away a mounted bandit who unfortunately is in the spell's trajectory.

With the bandits dazed from the sudden attack, the people from the Relentless Waves rush out from one of the carriages and start attacking the bandits. I spot a few nature mages too stepping out to unleash one of the spells they have prepared before retreating back into safety.

The only exception is the young girl, Sera who continued to stay out in the open, bringing the fight to the bandits.

Making use of the fact that the bandits are distracted by the caravan, we hurry to join the gray and launch our sneak attack.

Faris sneaks up close to one of the bandits in plate armor at the back, plunging one of her short swords through the gaps of the armor. The bandit dies silently until the sound of his armor collapsing onto the group alerts his allies, but that is already too late.

Faris already reached her next target and Neri has already brought her hammer straight down onto the head of one of the poor lads. I also unleash a lightning bolt that I've been charging up at a mounted bandit who seems to be the leader and water stream that is encompassing the feet of as many bandits as possible.

The moment the bandits turn to the sound of one of their strength enhancers collapsing, my lightning bolt already drilled a hole through the center of their leader and an electric current is channeling into my water stream. The electricity shocks a majority of the bandits, stopping them in their tracks as my two girls move in to engage the few who aren't paralyzed.

Keeping the bandits in place, I look over to the caravan to find the two knights from the Relentless Waves, shielding their masters as well as Sera from the oncoming bandits.

They made the right decision. Although Sera has exceptionally powerful spells from her high levels, her cast time, reaction time, and variety of spells are all at a level of a novice. Having not trained in combat, I suspected as much. She's like a bodybuilder who has never learned to fight before, although she has a lot of strength, she doesn't know how to apply it to hurt her targets.

On the flip side, the Relentless Waves are like lighter weight class MMA fighters who are trained to fight, their spells don't look as big and powerful as Sera's but their application, precision fully demonstrates their skills in combat.

They're firing off water cannons to knockback the approaching enhancers, while their teammates in the back charge up an ice lance-looking spell to finish them off. The bandits who do manage to close in on them have to deal with the two large strength enhancers guarding their mages.

 

Their ice magic takes a lot longer to cast compared to my own but their teamwork more than make up for their slower cast times. It also seems like they can't dual cast spells they aren't fully comfortable with.

The fight soon ends much faster than we anticipate. I guess they weren't even prepared for a hard fight at all, expecting to easily take care of the rest of us while we are unconscious. But having an anticlimactic fight here is a good thing, it means our preparations were enough and we didn't have to struggle to survive. Taking it easy is the best.

Just as we're about to gather around Mr.Lensly for a debriefing, Faris shouts out in alert.

"Master! More armed targets approaching on foot, stay on guard!

Damn it, is it not over yet? Did I jinx it?

"Non-combatants back into cover, quickly!" I shout out before moving over to greet our new guests.

Now then, this better not be some final boss level that is forced upon us. I quite enjoyed that easy fight from ambushing the bandits so please let that be the end of it.