The Slave: Pride

Even though Zorf looked like an idiot, but his combat abilities were impressive. Supposedly with his help, this time's mission would have succeeded. I've blocked all escape routes from the bandits; if they decide to escape, it means they will enter the territory of the Zagia kingdom.

I just need to wait for the final result, whether they will be destroyed first or be hit with the power from the Zagia kingdom. Whatever happens, it will be in my favor.

***

Right now, we were walking through the bushes; I felt like we were avoiding a group. However, since then, I have not seen a group in question.

Lenora opened the way by cutting the grass in front of her. Even so, I don't know the direction she's headed.

"It seems you're confused, Maiko. "

Finally, she spoke to me.

"I'm a little confused; why have you been focusing in various directions. "

"Let's just say I'm monitoring the situation. At least they're getting close. "

"Come closer here? "

"Please be quiet for a moment, Maiko; soon, we will cross paths with them. "

I decided to follow her orders because my position was under her protection.

For a moment, Lenora stopped moving forward. Finally, I did the same thing.

A few moments later, I heard a voice from another direction.

From the front, several people were running through the undergrowth by force as they did so. Their voices can be heard clearly.

Right now, Lenora was looking in another direction. But why did she do this? I guess this is equivalent to seeing the battle at close range. We should stay away from this place.

My eyes began to focus on the person who had just arrived. There were five of them, and they started to stop running.

"Damn, why do we have to run to the borders of other countries. We should be able to drive the troops out of that stupid kingdom. "

A male bandit started talking to himself.

"Are you stupid, even though there are quite a number of us? But we still won't be able to fight the much more trained army of the Archana kingdom. "

Another bandit responded to his remark.

"Tch, I'll kill them all. How dare they come here and put us in such a tight position. "

"Of course, we will do that, as long as the boss is alive. We will be able to do that; the problem is we have to escape from their pursuit. "

"I know, but we have to rest. My three men are already exhausted. "

Looking at them, it seemed that the previous army was chasing them. The problem is if they run away like this. It means that Archana's royal army and the nobles who came have suppressed them. I can think of this as a bad situation for them.

Suddenly, Lenora turned towards me.

Her face looked ashen as he lowered the bag she was carrying.

"Maiko, lie down. We have to hide. "

After saying that, Lenora just lay down. I followed her orders by doing the same. Right after I lay down beside her, she repeated something.

"After this, follow my cues to hold your breath for a while. "

"But why ?."

"Just do it if we want to survive. "

In the end, I could only obey her orders without knowing what we were dealing with.

In this silence, I heard the sound of fairly fast footsteps from the other direction, the sound of sharp weapons cutting through everything in its path, signaling what Lenora meant.

I glanced at Lenora; she gave a signal with her finger. Just then, I held my breath as long as I could.

A few moments later, I heard a scream from the direction of the previous bandit. It was brief, but I understand why Lenora asked me to do this.

Being covered in thickets like this, I couldn't see what was going on, but our position wasn't apparent to the people who had just arrived either.

I hope he leaves soon.

This time, I only heard a voice.

"It's over; you guys are so weak. "

"Damn, I'll revenge you after this. "

One of the bandits is still alive.

"Okay, you better follow them. "

A few moments later, I heard footsteps coming from their direction.

Then, I saw an arrow shoot towards the direction the bandit was before.

Only a scream was heard after that, which meant that the bandit had been taken down. I didn't think they could move that fast.

"Zorf, I told you before. Leave one prisoner kept alive. "

It was the voice of another man, have their troops arrived. How can they move so fast?

"Derfen, huh, didn't think you'd come down directly to the front line. "

"I knew right away that you intended to kill them all, so I immediately followed you. You two, take them. "

"good. "

It seems that some of them started walking towards the bandits; right now, I can only see the state of the clear blue sky, I don't dare to peek at them.

If I did that, the chances for both of us to get caught would be very high. That would go against Lenora's orders. I have to hold myself back.

Until now, I could still hear the screams of pain from a bandit who survived.

He was taken by force. It was something he deserved for having killed the people in the village before.

However, I was again startled by the man's voice who slaughtered the five of them earlier.

"I think someone is hiding around here. "

"What do you say, Zorf? There should only be five of them. You've killed all four of them; there's only one person left here. "

This is serious, is our position found out? Supposedly, it wasn't possible.

"That's not it before I smelled a woman. "

"Huh? are you stupid? There is a woman in a conflict-ridden border forest like this. Just get rid of that thought. "

"No, I'm sure I smelled this. But now, the smell had disappeared. "

"Come on, don't be stupid. There's no way a woman is here; it's just your hallucination. Hurry back; our mission is complete. "

"All right, Derfen. "

In the end, I heard the footsteps of the troops moving away somewhere.

Even so, we continued to lie here for a while, but now and then, I took a breath because it was impossible to hold my breath this long.

After a moment of waiting, Lenora began to speak.

"Phew, Maiko is safe. We can already move back. "

Lenora stood up and looked in all directions.

"Those people, is the Archana royal army? "

That's the only name I can think of.

"Yes, it seems the news circulating is accurate. One of the nobles came here. "

"No wonder we have to move very carefully. Just a slight misstep, our fate might be the same as that of the captured bandits. "

I began to understand the real danger we faced.

"You are indeed smart; we should continue our journey because they could come back here. "

"Yeah, let's go. "

After carrying our bags back, we finally continued our journey. We haven't been able to rest in peace.

***

I also stood in the middle of the raid group; currently, our position was in fact-finding.

As per what the reconnaissance squad said, it seems monsters have attacked this place.

When I tried to touch some bloodstain marks, I guess this attack was made in large numbers.

"Master Severo, should we send a reconnaissance team to search this place first? "

"No, I'll just go inside. Get the group members to build a defensive line around here. "

"Okay, after this, I will follow you. "

After hearing my order, Mafalda immediately left.

Now, it's time to see what happened.

I walked towards the entrance of this place. At the beginning of the trip, I've seen the bodies of men strewn on the road. It seemed the monsters had attacked this place fiercely.

However, things like this made me even more curious as to why the monsters would attack a place like this; after all, it would be strange for a group of humans to have a base in a place like this.

"Master Severo, I can finally catch up with you. "

Suddenly, I heard Mafalda's voice.

"Have you told them? "

"Yes, they have done what you ordered. "

"Thank you, but be careful, Mafalda. Stay behind me. "

"Very well, Master Severo. "

Finally, I can enter this place deeper. Although usually, I'm alone is enough.

As we walked deeper, more and more corpses lay here.

"This is strange; the thick fog that was blocking us disappeared suddenly in just one night. "

"I guess, maybe the side effects of the enemy's magic have disappeared. "

"I hope. We can find out who made this place. "

"If my guess is correct, maybe after this we will find out who made it. "

In just a few steps, I could see another victim.

This time, I saw a hobgoblin the size of a dead human being caught in a trap from this place.

"Hobgoblin, was this creature that attacked this place? "

Mafalda seemed to see the corpse from various sides.

"This is the only monster seen before. We only saw human corpses. Meaning, this might be the work of the goblins. "

When I aimed the torch in a further direction, I started to realize something.

I also threw my torch in the direction of the thing that was bothering me.

Mafalda then ran to my side.

"Master Severo, is there something strange? "

"That's it; it seems I didn't manage to hit it. Mafalda, fire a magic light shot where my torch is. "