Chapter 61

As the winds of war approached, the decay of humanity accelerated.

All over the Lemmroussel Empire, the consequences of humanity’s hard-fought war against the monsters were apparent.The regions furthest from the border suffered no major damage, though the northern regions were a different story. Many refugees from there had abandoned their villages and towns, fleeing from the encroaching demons.Most of them had nowhere else to go, and ended up stuck in the slums of the other cities.Those who couldn’t even find a place in the slums resorted to pillaging food from others.

Among the many roads that connected various villages to the new highway between Simurgh and Clennad, a group of refugees-turned-bandits were raiding a wagon.

The only people on the wagon were a mother and daughter pair. The mother, who was in her thirties, was the one steering the horses, while her daughter, no more than ten years old, was making sure the things in the wagon did not fall off.

They had gone to a village to trade their produce for the village’s specialty products, and were on their way back. Neither of them had imagined them being attacked by bandits so close to the capital. After all, the worst thing that had ever happened to them was an injury or two by wolves, bears, or a small monster. Even then, such incidents had been rare.

The bandits’ horses were clearly taken from others. They were bandits after all, but that did not mean the horses were particularly strong or fast. However, even without being prize mares, the horses they had were more than enough to catch up to the cargo-laden wagon.

“Hey you, stop right dere!”, one of the bandits yelled.

Since they were on a small subsidiary road, it was too narrow for the wagon to go around the bandits. Knowing this, the bandits drew closer.

“Eeek!”, the mother screamed as several arrows sprouted in front of the wagon, narrowly missing the horse.

The arrow did not need to hit the horse, as just the threat of it was enough to startle the horse into stopping. Once the horse was stopped, the bandits were able to surround their prey.

“Oi, don’t be killin th’ two wenches, aight?” A man who appeared to be their leader barked out an order at the other bandits who were brandishing their rusty swords menacingly at the cowering mother and daughter.

“Aight boss, lesee what we got ‘ere… Sum food, veggies… this weird grass too, but it ain’t nuthin’ I know.”

“Shit! Nothin’ but a buncha food! We can’t make coin offa this!”, the leader cursed.

“So boss, wut should we do wit’ these two? Dat woman’s a bit on the older side, but she’s still quite the looker, ain’t she?”

“Ya think she’d fetch a good price when we sell her?”

“Boss! Hey Boss! Do ya mind if we… play with ‘em for a bit?”

One of the bandits looked at the two women with a vulgar smile plastered on his face.The mom hugged her daughter tightly, shielding her from the bandits. Her daughter also clung onto her mother. However, the girl’s eyes never left the bandits.

“Eh, do whatever ya want. Just don’t leave any scratches, okay?”

“Guhehehe… Got it, Boss! You’re the best!”

“Dun worry ‘bout it. Gotta help a man sumtimes, yanno?”

One of the bandits took a step closer.

“Stop! Don’t get closer to mommy!”, the girl yelled, trying to keep the bandit at bay.

“Shaddup, ya dumb kid!”, the bandit yelled, as he pulled the mother up by the arm. Another bandit ripped the girl from her mother’s grasp, and slammed her against the ground with an audible thud.

“It hurts! MOMMY!” The girl flailed around, trying desperately to get out of the bandit’s grasp.

The girl’s mother screamed wildly, trying in vain to reach out to her daughter while struggling to escape from her captor.

“Don’t hurt da brat. She’s still young, but I’m sure there’ll be some twisted bastard who’d take her. We’ll get a better price for undamaged goods. The wagon may be a dud, but two new slaves should make up for some of it.”

“Whatever you say, Boss!”

The bandit strengthened his grip on the girl’s head. But a sudden kick planted into his flank sent the bandit rolling across the ground.

“Ugh!” The bandit had no idea what had hit him.

“Wha!? What happened? Who are you!?”

An unknown man had suddenly appeared in the midst of the bandits. The man wore a thick fur coat, shirt and pants made of durable cloth, and tough leather boots. His mouth and nose were wrapped with fur to block out dust. He was clearly dressed for a long journey.

“Damn… I seem to have come across a sickening sight. Well, I don’t even know if I should consider this good or bad luck. They definitely won’t be able to help me…”

All they could see was his unkempt and disheveled hair; even his eyes were barely exposed, but they could hear from his voice that he was quite young. A sword hung strapped to his waist. He was unsteady on his feet, much like a drunk man who had too much at the taverns.

“The hell are you doin’, you bastard!”

“You’re fucking dead meat!”

The bandits yelled angrily at the stranger who had attacked their comrade.

“Hold up for a second, boys. Hey mister, that’s a nice sword ya got there…”

“Oh, this?”

The traveller shook his sword. The scabbard was plain and hardly worth noting, but even the uneducated bandits could tell by the ornate hilt that the sword was worth a pretty penny.

“Hand over that sword, and I’ll let you go for what you did to one of my men. Alright? But dere’s a toll you’re gonna need to pay for passing through. And that toll is… your life!”

“Hee hee hee…” the other bandits laughed along with the macabre joke.

“Sorry, no can do. It’s rather important to me, you see. Also, I’m afraid I can’t afford that toll either.” The traveler reached for his sword as he replied apologetically.

“It don’t matter if you can’t or won’t pay. You’ve got no choice but to comply, got it? You’ve only got your own bad luck to blame for ending up on this road.” The bandits laughed after hearing the words of their leader.

“Oh man, and I thought I finally caught a break from my bad luck. I’ve been lost in that forest for over a week, and the first people I meet I run into you guys…”

“Wahaha, you truly are an unlucky fellow, mister. You’ve even made me feel something for you for a bit!”

“And so, lassie.”“Y-yes?”The traveller suddenly turned to the girl, causing her to stutter in surprise.

“Are you from around here? Do you have any food? Could you share some with me?”

“H-huh? Um…. Yes, I live around here…” the girl stammered out an answer, bewildered by the rapid fire questions.

“How… how about a meal? I’ll help you in return,” the traveller gasped the words out.

Bewildered, the girl nodded.

“Alright! My luck has turned!” Suddenly yelling, the traveler went from despondent to elated in an instant.

“Hey mister, what’re ya talking about?”

“Ah, my apologies. It seems that I’ll be pushing my bad luck onto you guys.”

“Huh? What the hell are you saying?”

“Boss, why don’t we start killing him already?”

The bandits began to encircle the traveller, weapons in hand.

“Good for you eh, luck is finally on your side. You can’t have bad luck when you’re dead! ”

“Um…Just making sure you know, but despite your numbers, I decided to show up right in front of all of you. You know what that means, right?” The traveller left the implication hang in the air.

“I’ll also be headed to Simurgh first thing tomorrow morning, so should I see you off?” the woman called out to him. She did have to report the bandits to the city guard, after all.

“I’ll gladly accept your offer.”

After all, he had no reason to refuse.