"Alright, You can head to the town now. Take care and remember the signal for bandits changes everyday and every month."
"I have the list for this week. I won't take long. If I take longer then I would send a signal to my approach."
"Good! Here are some messages that the others want to send to their families."
"I'll take care of them."
"Wait, I still haven't finished writing my letter!"

There is a window where absolutely no bandits are in the vicinity of the village, and it only occurs a few hours after we defeat a bandit raid.

I'm not sure if it's a rule or something among the bandits but we get some peace and quiet during those times. If we pursue them just after they are routed then we can be sure they will fight back more fiercy. If we follow them after an hour or so then we will be ambushed on the way. That is why we tried lengthening the time on when we will track them but after 2 hours or so, they disappear without a trace.

"Done? Give it here before I miss the window."
"Finished! Here! I also have some food here for you as thanks."
"Good, now give me some room. I'll have horn basher charge out at his fastest speed!"

*Baa!!!* *Baaaaaaa!!*

It might be their way of preventing us from discovering their base easily. It seems stupid to have a cooldown period on the attack since they could just siege us until we ran out of food but they already know that we have a farm and siege weapons.

The last time they tried that, we gave them hell! While we were eating a feast, they had to watch out for volcanic rocks falling from the sky.

We wanted to finish it quickly at first but we noticed that they were taking more damage than us during the siege, so we tried to drag it out as much as we could. Only a single siege weapon was operational and we would only fire once every time they attacked with a group of 30 or more.

They figured it out faster than we thought. They left after only suffering for 2 days. Though it was successful, we didn't come out of the siege scathe free. The healers got overworked and were in bed for a couple of days because of the siege.

That is why we were really relieved that we have new healers joining us in the village. We don't really need a large force to defend, as compared to attack. The most important factor is to outlast the enemy in sieges, so healers are at the top of the essentials, just a bit behind food and water.

*Bump!* *Bump* *Bang*

"Slow down a bit horn basher. I know I said that we will charge out at full speed but the roads aren't exactly suitable for you to run at full speed along with the carriage."

*Baa!*

I'm still near the village, though unlikely, there could still be bandits lurking about. It's not like we are the only village being attacked. I heard that there are still a few villages still surviving amidst the continuous bandit raids. I'm amazed that they are still persisting.

The bandits won't raze and destroy villages since it's their main source of wealth. They won't even fully kill everyone and leave everyone intact and unharmed as much as possible because it would impact their daily lives. For them, the faster the village recovers, the faster they can raid them again for wealth.

That is why those villages that are still standing have either really really really stubborn people living in it or they have good defences like our village, which is very unlikely. The main reason we could last this long is because the terrain in our village is volcanic. The path to attack our village can only be the main entrance. Even if they wanted to attack another side, they could only take a small group since too many people would alarm the regular patrols, not to mention monsters are very healthy in the volcanic region. It would be a death sentence for them if they attracted a monster attack while they were attacking us.

*Shoot*

[Earth Wall]

"Let's hurry on along. We have some company."

*Baa!"

They have large bags, blood on their weapons, and a lot of wounds here and there. They should be coming back from attacking someone. I don't have time to deal with them, I still have a lot of commissions that I need to deliver.

Business has been busy thanks to these bandits. I'm not saying that I want them to cause more chaos, I actually want them to go back to the dragon's road so the continent would go back to the way it was. If they keep wrecking havoc here then the prices would only increase.

It would be hard for me to purchase supplies, and it's hard to increase my regular customers. I lost a lot of regular customers thanks to those bandits! I'm sure it wasn't because of my weapons and armour that I forged for them because those items often show up in the hands of the bandits or are being auctioned off in the auction house!

It's the large merchant guilds that want to keep these bandits since even though their caravan are attacked, they could survive unlike the smaller merchant groups. They make more money from selling stolen goods from the bandits. They could buy them at a ridiculously low price because they are stolen goods and they could sell them high because those items survived battle!

A weapon or armour that survived battle is a sign of quality, without putting the new owner in danger. They would buy it then seek out the maker to repair or maintain the item.

It felt weird having to clean up my old armour stained by the blood of the previous owner, especially that one glove that still had a finger stuck inside of it. That same finger was part of the hand that was shaking mine when I just finished handing over the commissioned armour set!

"Halt! Prepare for inspection! Please dismount from the carriage and untie your mount from it! Attach the mount on the hitching post at the side! Please slip your I.D. at the counter and stand at the side as we do our inspection!!"

Ah! This is another headache that came along with the bandit problem. The security has gotten higher but inspections like these became more irritating. It slows down the process of entering the town!

"Good afternoon, master brill! Are you here for the market again?"
"Yes, I also have a few letters that need to be sent."
"Is it related to any important news about our pest problems?"
"It's not but even if it is, I can't exactly tell it to you here at the front gate, right?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry, I was just being curious."

I racked up some reputation over the years. It was partly thanks to our village being a small fortress, partly because we are the lead when scouting out the bandit base, and partly because I did a lot of commission for the town guards.

It's not really worth much since even if they know me by face, I still have to go through this lengthy inspection. I guess it's fair that everyone is treated the same. It still doesn't help that I need to regularly go through inspection since I have to visit the town every now and then to make a living.

"Alright, everything is clear! Here is your I.D. and you are free to enter the town. We do ask you to keep every receipt for every item that you are going to take outside the town."
"Thanks."

You also can't forget about the exit inspection. This one is more annoying since they would need to match everything you purchased with all of the items you take outside. This is apparently a preventative security against thieves. It was also put in place to monitor the items and rations that are being taken outside. It's to make it easier for them to know if there are any spies for the bandits.

It's ridiculous that even gifts need to have a letter from the gifter!

"Oh, Master brill! You are back! I have some things I need to do but I will visit your stall later."
"I look forward to it."
"Master brill! Good afternoon!"
"Good morning to you too."
"Master brill! Have you just arrived? Why not stay at my inn!"
"Thank you, give me the name and I will visit later. I need to visit the commerce booth to reserve my stall for a bit."
"Here is my card along with the location of the inn. I'll reserve the room, awaiting your arrival!"
"Thank you, that is very kind of you."

I'm happy that I am famous now but that is only limited to this town. I haven't actually travelled to other towns that much lately. It takes too much time to travel to other towns or cities. You meet a lot of bandits and the price for mercenary escorts are at an all time high.

My wares are properly reaching other towns though. They know of my work but that is only because merchant guilds are buying my wares and selling it to them, with a sizable mark-up.

It's not like I am the only one famous but I am certainly the most intriguing.

I only sell once every few weeks. I live in a village that receives regular raids from bandits. I still stay at a small stall in a low traffic area on the market no matter how popular I get. Finally, I rarely sell my items in the auction house.

These layers and layers of 'weirdness' adds a space to buying items from me. The things I sell are up there in quality and I only increase the prices according to the market price from materials. I do charge labour costs but compared to the others, my prices are on the lower average of the prices.

As of now, my existence is at the level of neighbourhood gossip. As long as this continues, my small goal to be a hidden expert will only be a matter of time! Well, I have to continuously improve my craft but I will eventually get there, maybe plus minus a few decades.