The first thing I did after I left the bandit camp behind was go to a nearby village, which I never had been to before to inquire about the whereabouts of my mother, but she was sold eight years ago, so it would be hard to track her down.

Unfortunately, the first thing that greeted me when I arrived near the village was bounty posters with my image along with the other bandits that I killed.

It looked like after more than 15 years of pillaging since the creation of the bandit group, the authorities finally decided to make a move.

This troubled me greatly, after all, I didn't have anything to cover my face, and it was pretty recognizable as the poster somehow looked identically to me.

I wasn't sure how they would be able to make such an identical picture, but it wasn't the time to think about that.

I had to cover my head with a hood and enter the village to inquire about the whereabouts of my mother.

Unfortunately, it was summer, and wearing a hood during such heat was quite suspicious.

Instead, I decided to shave my head completely just to offset some of the dumber villagers, hoping that I wouldn't attract more attention than needed this way.

After I shaved my head at a nearby river, I returned to the village and entered unimpeded.

After asking around for a while, I came out empty-handed due to the long time that had passed since my mother had been sold by the bandit leader.

However, I didn't come out unscathed from this problem as I was recognized by the innkeeper where I asked for information.

The man was ready to shout out for help, but I quickly knocked him out and left the village as quickly as possible.

Killing more people would add up to my bounty, and it was already pretty high, so unless it was necessary, I refrained from killing any more.

I sighed as I scratched my now bald head and went from village to village, inquiring about my mother's whereabouts, while also making sure to make myself look less and less inconspicuous.

The problem was that my face was too recognizable, and the portrait on the wanted poster was a carbon copy of my face, so even though I did my best to avoid trouble, trouble would find me.

There wasn't much time before I was confronted by a "Hero" who wanted to take me down and take my bounty.

The person in question was a rather short youngster with small braided blond hair who wore thick armor, he had a sharp sword pointed towards me as I was slowly unsheathing my own and taking an observatory glance all over his body.

I knew I wasn't his match from the moment our eyes met. This person was a trained warrior regardless of his young age, he looked to be even a little bit younger than me, maybe 14 or even 13 years old.

I wasn't considered a warrior yet, even though Mikutsuhi told me I was talented, it didn't really seem it was like that since there was someone younger than me who had already surpassed me in this god-forsaken place.

My hands were steady as I blocked a slash from my opponent, however, my arms trembled as I took a few steps backward.

The teen in question had cornered me in the forest as I was traveling to another village to inquire more about my mother's whereabouts.

It looked like my traveling route was leaked and predicted by this person after they inquired about me from the villagers that have recognized me.

This was a rather troublesome thing. I knew I wasn't this guy's match, but he was very aggressive, and he didn't even let me say anything as he waved his sword in front of me, ready to loop my head off my shoulders without any words.

I parried and fought against him very defensively as my experience helped me fend off the stronger opponent.

I have sparred with the other bandits for a long time, and my experience in combat was quite bountiful.

However, in the end, experience can't bypass pure strength.

My sword was thrown out of my hands as the webbing between my thumb and hand broke, blood starting to flow slowly from there.

The sword of my enemy was ready to be inserted into my neck, but I knew that I couldn't fall here.

My eyes turned serious as I took one step forward, this was a life or death situation, something that triggered my fight or flight response to the maximum, and I decided to fight!

The step forward made the youngster flustered as he didn't think that I would take a step forward in this situation, making his sword miss my neck by half a centimeter, embedding it into my shoulder, and making my crimson blood flow freely from there.

I didn't have any other sharp weapon besides my teeth, so I lodged them directly into the gap between the youngster's armor, biting his neck like a savage.

The youngster tried to back away as he became scared, but I kept my teeth lodged into his neck, increasing my jaw's grip on his weak spot.

Then I moved my head, ripping off his jugular and killing him instantly.

Some of the blood entered my mouth, and I swallowed it unconsciously.

A piercing pain exploded in my stomach the moment the youngster's blood entered it, and I could feel the opened injury on my shoulder slowly close with that burst of pain that expanded upon my whole body.

I coughed out some of my blood as I looked at the dead body of the youngster, he was someone talented to have reached such strength at such a young, so that meant he would have some important person backing him.

I needed to get rid of the body as soon as possible, and burry the weapons and armor somewhere that couldn't be found, it was a pity as my bandit instincts told me that they were pretty good things, but those types of things could be easily recognizable, they couldn't be sold nor worn unless I had the appropriate strength.

The body had to be destroyed thoroughly, as for the pool of blood that stopped expanding at my feet, there was nothing I could do about it.

Getting rid of the blood would take time, and I didn't have that time, also that experience when the youngster's blood entered my body vexed me greatly, making me think about why should such a thing happen.