>“No, that’s too dangerous Lady Mo Ke, you mustn’t go!” Shouted Dioh who hadn’t talked to me since I revealed my devilish nature,
“Saving lives is more important.” I threw him an expressionless look and while he had his head lowered in guilt, emphasized this next point: “I’ve said so many times already, don’t call me lady, I’m a man.”
Dioh: “...”
In order to win the trust of the bandits, I silenced all the opposition and slowly made my way to the bandits. Yet just as I took a few steps forward, a bandit minion jumped out.
“Put down your weapons, the one on your waist and the one on your back as well.”
Disarm myself? There’s no way I would do something as foolish as that...without my weapons, I was basically a sheep walking into a den of wolves. But would they release the hostages if I didn’t do so? They didn’t seem that dumb either.
Seeing as I refused to disarm myself, we entered another stalemate once more. However, this continued for only a few seconds before one of the bandits whispered into the troop leader’s ears after which he gave a grandiose wave of his hand and said: “Let her come over, just her alone. As for her weapons, so what if she has them? With so many people on our side, is there even a need for us to fear her?”
“...” Are you sure that’s cerebral fluid in your brains and not glue? Is there even a person dumb enough to allow the hostage to keep her weapons of his own accord?!
Thus, my armed self ended up as their hostage. The first thing they did when I reached them was to immediately surround me as a precaution. Putting aside my concern for the girls for now, I coldly swept my eyes over the gathered bandits. The majority of them were merely one-stars with the strongest being the troop leader who was a two-star. As for their weapons, they were ordinary weapons without any unique attributes to speak of. In a head-on fight, I was confident I could escape even if I couldn’t win.
“Can you release the girls now?”
“Now? Like h.e.l.l I will. That’s not happening till we leave the bastille.”
Seeing him try to go back on his words didn’t surprise me one bit but given that I was already a part of this mess, I might as well see it through to the end.
With unwillingness in their eyes, the hunters could only watch as I was brought out of the Wolf’s Fang Bastille. In the midst of all that, the bandits tried multiple times to get acquainted with my body but was rebuffed by my unyielding att.i.tude. I don’t know why but it felt like he didn’t want me to fight with his subordinates. It was probably because George and the others were still nearby so they didn’t dare to act.
So we continued onwards till it neared nightfall. Even after a day’s worth of tracking, the hunters were still doggedly following our tracks so the troop leader made the decision to actually release the hostages just as he said. To think he actually he went through with his promise...and here I was mulling over what to do should he decide to go back on his word.
Was it truly as he said that bringing them along with him was a burden? Either way, this was an unexpectedly better outcome than what I had envisioned.
By now, the girls were indeed starting to lag behind because of their frail, battered bodies so perhaps he really did let them go in lieu of our mobility. Of course, it could just be that he was fulfilling his bargain. As the bandits began chasing away the women, they turned to me with moistened eyes which revealed a gamut of emotions within them.
Some were stoic as they pa.s.sed by me, some with stunned as they shuffled past me while some bowed as a sign of grat.i.tude, either way, no matter whether they acknowledged me or not, they all left with tears in their eyes.
A while later, I found out that not all the girls left as expected. Gill’s girlfriend was the sole exception to that rule as she decided to stay behind while holding onto Gill’s hands. In her eyes, I couldn’t any trace of envy towards the leaving girls.
I guess in the end that’s the sad truth isn’t it? After going through all that, those girls would probably never regain their bright future again. Even if they managed to get married, they would most likely be mistreated because of this sordid history. While they didn’t ask for such a fate, reality wasn’t one to bend to mankind’s will. Whatever you did in the past, whether it was done of your own volition or not, might end up causing irreparable damage to your future.
In a sense, you could take it as “once a thief, always a thief.”
{In the past, I remembered watching a drama called >. In it was a female lead that played the role of a female student who had been raped in the past. After getting married, her husband often throw out this phrase whenever they got into an argument: “Don’t forget about your past!”In other words, do not forget that you’re not a virgin.
Very good...such an upstanding character he was…
Despite being ridiculed for that, the husband still thought that the girl had a part to play in being unable to safeguard her chast.i.ty.
In of that light, Gill’s girlfriend was extremely fortunate to have found a loyal boyfriend like him. If I’m not mistaken, her name was Scarlet?}
Forget it, talking about all that now was pointless, I just hope that the girls will be able to have a better future ahead of them. Perhaps they could flee to a place where no one knew them.
As I saw them off silently with my eyes, I was unceremoniously dragged forward by the bandits. Yet, I held my tongue for now. Now wasn’t the time to turn on them yet...these bandits might turn around and go after the girls once more if I were to attack them now. After all, I still wasn’t completely confident in my ability to handle 10 bandits at once.
By now, the sun had set completely and darkness had fallen. It was roughly seven or eight in the night when we came to an open forest clearing.
As they had left in a hurry, the bandits didn’t have time to pack any dried rations for themselves. Thus, having not eaten for an entire day, their stomachs were on the verge of revolting from hunger. For the most part however, their hunger didn’t affect me. What was concerning on the other hand was the sporadic wolf howls I heard in the background. Night time was the hunting time for wild animals after all.
Having roughly determined that the hunters wouldn’t catch up to us for a while, the troop leader suddenly halted and stretched out his arm in a bid to confiscate Shadowfang.
“This spot should do. Devil, how about giving me that blade on your back?”
“Give it to you?” I sneered at the stocky man and said: “Do you think that’s possible?”
“Don’t forget you’re currently surrounded by us and those hunters won’t catch up to us for a while. I suggest you don’t endanger your life needlessly.”
“You actually dare to lay your hands on me despite knowing that George and the others are in the vicinity, aren’t you a bold one.”
“Hahaha, do you think they’ll even have the chance to catch up to us? Those hunters are probably too busy to care about you right now.”
“What do you mean?” According to what I know, Dawson had already left the bastille for G.o.d knows where and there was no other leader figure left in the troupe who could stand against those two three-star hunters.
Did I miss out something?
“Don’t bother guessing, let me enlighten you instead. Still remember those wolf howls you heard just now?”
Wolf howls! I get it now! Those wolves weren’t out hunting in the night but were instead attacking George and the others...but how is that possible? The only person who could control such large numbers was Dawson but didn’t that man leave the bastille already? Wait, we only determined that based off what those minions told us and not with our own two eyes.
It was highly possible that Dawson sneaked back into the bastille and spread out false information about himself…
Considering that the village still needed to settle some matters, the village needed a three-star warrior and some hunters to stay behind as an insurance against another raid. Thus, Moranthal had to stay behind. Furthermore, with all those casualties they suffered after that chaotic battle, recovery potions were a must in order to save that many villagers.
However, such potions were expensive and posed a safety problem of their own. If the person buying them didn’t have a large sum of money with him, he wouldn’t be able to purchase enough potions. Yet if he did, he ran the risk of being robbed. In other words, Eddison was the only logical choice here that could safely run this errand especially given his merchant background...
In other words, the villagers could at most send out two three-stars along with some hunters to chase after the bandits; in this case, it was George and Io leading the expedition.
With that much strength, there was basically no danger of them being wiped out but what if...their goal wasn’t to wipe us out?
“Dawson’s over there?” Even though I didn’t state a direction in particular, the troop leader understood the meaning behind my words.
“The Big Chief is indeed commanding the wolves.” The troop leader admitted nonchalantly. Looks like he was pretty confident about capturing me seeing as he had 10 people with him. Thus, he had no qualms about revealing Dawson’s ploy.
“Big Chief knew that you all would come knocking so he ordered us to put on this show for you all. Who would’ve thought that you would actually be dumb enough to risk yourself for a bunch of whor*s. Even I’m starting to wondering if you’re really a selfish devil. How about you take off that mask so I can have a gander right now. If you’re pretty enough, I might just spare your life.”
“...Dawson’s after this blade isn’t he?” I gave the blade on my back a pat. “Too bad for him, I’ll never hand it over. If he wants it, he can come get it himself.”
“Hah, you’re still trying to act tough in a situation like this, Demoness?” To some extent, the troop leader still had enough brains to not overestimate himself and instead commanded the other bandits to act. “Get her! The Big Chief has spoken, as long as we bring him the blade, everyone will be heavily rewarded. As for that for demoness, her life or death is of no concern!”
“KILL!”