LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 4 – Hurry up and kidnap me!
After our little stomach surgery service with the bandits I started asking them various things about where we are and what this place is.
At first they were quite confused by the questions, but with a little "pressure" they started to talk without asking us questions back.
According to them, we are now on the tracks between the Empire of Austibanian (popularly known only as the "Empire") and the Kingdom of the Highlands. Apparently this forest doesn't have a specific name but is popularly known as the Forest of the Dead Ranger because of the legend of a certain evil god who kept stirring up the monsters at the bottom of a cave while accumulating energy from around the forest for tens of thousands of years, when Mio heard this part she began to whistle.
About the bandits, bandit A who approached us was apparently named Joseph being the leader of the bandits patrolling this region, bandit B and bandit C were named Garudo and Gerudo respectively, the two were brothers who also helped Joseph patrol the place, it seems they are part of a larger gang of over fifty bandits who live by looting the people who pass through various passages, not only in this region but throughout the border between the Empire and the Kingdom.
Once the interrogation was over, we left the bushes we were in before and returned to the road. When we return, I turn to the three men following me and begin to speak.
"So, now that we are done, there is something bothering me. Where did the other four goons who were with you go?" I say pointing to where they were looking at us before they attacked us.
"You guys even figured that out in.... Those guys were our superiors, they came to supervise to see if we got anything, as this is a very remote place people rarely come here however when we were talking we saw you two and they told us to bring you to the gang HQ" Joseph says putting his hand on his head.
"Yes, they must have already gone back to Kant to report this" completes Garudo.
"Hmm... this is quite problematic, but it could be fun" I finish thinking aloud placing my hand on my chin.
"Master, can't we just kill them? Worms like these people should be extinguished soon"
"Of course not, it's getting late and we need a place to sleep, right? Besides, it's a great chance to see what a gang like this is like.
(Anything I don't mind killing them but as a last resort, ok? These people can still be useful) I whisper in Mio's ear.
Mio is still a little apprehensive but after begging a little she eventually gives in, Mio sighs and nods her head indicating that she will back up.
I turn to Joseph and hold out my hands and Mio does the same.
"Anyway, let's get this over with, cuff us soon.''
"Wait, are you two serious?! Impossible, impossible" "Listen, you are promising but there is a huge gulf to our commander!"
Joseph keeps yammering on about how strong this Kent guy, who is the commander of the border gang, is. Apparently Kent was a promising knight of the empire who was demoted for harassing common citizens and taking bribes from merchants. Because of his terrible conduct Kent was relegated to living on the frontier since even with his attitude he was still one of the best swordsmen in the country.
Seeing that he could no longer return to the higher echelons of the knightly order Kent then decided to join the various gangs and bandits who lived by robbing and kidnapping people who passed by under his banner and thus created the Frontier Gang.
"What's your problem, you were already going to attack us, right? Hurry up and kidnap us!" As I say this I activate the [Curse of Fear] skill, my speech becomes much more arrogant as if I'm taunting them and beams of mana come out of my body.
Everyone in the place, including Mio, swallows dry. I never imagined that the day would come when I would insist on being kidnapped...
In the end Joseph gave up warning us, Garudo and Gerudo took two handcuffs from their pockets and put them on our hands.
It was a black alloy handcuff that I didn't know but it was much stronger than iron, even so I could feel that if I wanted to I could let go as if the handcuff was made of paper.
We continued walking on the road and then took a detour into the middle of the forest taking a path that I don't even remember anymore with so many intersections.
Walking a little further I noticed several tents stretched out around a lake, several things that looked like lamps illuminated the place slightly. If you don't take into account the sounds of female moans and cries coming from the huts it was a very beautiful sight.
While we were enjoying the view a man appears, he was thin and had a neatly trimmed hair.
"Hey, look who finally arrived! Geez, when you guys took your time getting here I thought you were finally caught" The man speaks to our three "kidnappers".
"Dan, it's been a long time! You have no idea how hard it's been... Anyway, we have two new beauties, is Kent there?" Says Joseph to the man named Dan, Mio and I then step forward showing ourselves to him.
Dan sees us and as if appraising us starts looking at us from several different angles.
"These ones you have got are very good, I will let the commander know and then you will go in" Dan winks at Joseph and then before he leaves he looks at us and crouches down to talk to Mio and me.
"Don't worry girls, I understand it's scary but nothing bad is going to happen to you if you listen to us, okay" Dan strokes our heads as if we were two scared children."
I end up giving him a wry smile and Mio looks at Dan with contempt as if he were looking at a garbage can. I am sure that if I hadn't kept her sword in my inventory and hadn't told her to stay out of trouble she would have cut this guy in two right now.
After this we entered a tent much larger than the others, the place stank of beer and inside there was a muscular man who was probably Kent sitting, he was drinking along with four sexy women, all the women had chokers around their necks making it very obvious that they were slaves.
Seeing this scene I frantically try not to say "Riajuu explode!!!".
Until today I have never made s*x besides paying prostitutes, why does this guy have four beauties serving him?! Trying to suppress my envy I end up smiling to cover it up.
Kent notices us come in and looks at us with disinterest.
"Hmm, it's just two brats, get them out of here"
"Luckily they will make us some good money" Kent says taking a sip of his beer.
After that Joseph and the others take us to another tent right behind this one.
Fufufu I swear that one day I will wipe that smile off this Kent guy's face.
Our three dear kidnappers finally take us to our accommodations.
We entered a wide tent and inside there were about thirty children between the ages of 5~13 sleeping there, they were sleeping on what looked like makeshift mattresses lying on the ground, you could see that several children had bruises all over their bodies and some even had parts of their bodies like cut hands or feet being patched up amateurishly.
"So ladies, this is where you will sleep, unfortunately we can't let you sleep anywhere else so as not to cause any harm" says Joseph with a somewhat apprehensive expression"
"We're sorry but we don't want to get in trouble" says Garudo bowing slightly.
"We're really sorry" says Gerudo also bowing.
"Hold your heads up, it's not as if you did this against our will, so far you've been a great help."
Honestly, even if this gang had a hundred times the current number of members and fought me I wouldn't lose, so there's no need to apologize, for me this here is just to pass the time.
Then I said goodbye to Joseph, Garudo and Gerudo, Mio and I went to one of the mattresses that was empty and lay down together.
"Good night, Master."
"Good night, Mio"
And that's how I finally ended my first day in this world.
