BANDID

In a forest that looks quite dense, a group of traders consisting of dozens of people seems to be walking with full alert.

"My lord, we will arrive near the lake in a moment," a guard told a fat man who was sitting in a horse-drawn carriage.

"Good... then I'm quite tired, and want to relax for a moment," answered the fat man who turned out to be the leader of the traders.

Not long afterward, after riding for 5 minutes, a beautiful lake appeared in front of them.

Seeing this, the group of traders became happy, because in the end they stopped in a fairly safe place.

For the record, this lake is a stopping point for traders to rest at night, before they continue their journey through the forest.

Upon arrival there, the tent was immediately set up and camp preparations were made, of course security factors were also taken into account where several people were assigned to guard the surrounding situation.

"The air on this lake is still the best," the fat man came out of the tent and walked casually along the edge of the lake.

"Just one day and then we will arrive at our destination," he muttered happily, imagining that tomorrow they would arrive at the place they were going, after staying here overnight.

The sunlight became increasingly dim, with that the night sky began to rise, only at the moment of sunset a light caught the fat man's attention.

A few meters away in front of him, behind a bush on the edge of the lake, he saw a golden light emitting from the water.

Feeling curious, the fat man then approached the origin of the golden light.

Squatting in front of the lake water, he saw vaguely that a gold-plated object appeared to be stuck on the edge of the lake.

"Good thing….hahahah…I didn't think that I would find something good here!!" Excitedly, the fat man then stretched out his hand to pull the object.

"Uhh... it's a bit hard... give me more strength!!!..." Finally, with a bit of effort, the fat man managed to pull the object.

And what he got was a small sword with a gold scabbard full of carvings and a beautiful red gem on the hilt of the small sword.

"This is good stuff...it looks like a magic weapon...hahahah...it can definitely sell well" happily he immediately put the sword away and took it back to the tent.

What he didn't notice was that when the sword was removed from its original place, a dark red liquid like blood continued to flow from the place where the sword was removed.

And slowly but surely it started to color the beautiful and beautiful lake.

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The next day a scream was heard from outside the tent, "!!!"

Suddenly, this made the traders who were resting startled and woke up.

" What is it???

" What is it???

"Was there a bandit attack???" Asked many traders who woke up from their tents.

"That...that...the lake water turned red like blood!!!" One of them pointed towards the lake, where they saw that the lake water which was still clear and blue yesterday had turned red like blood.

Suddenly seeing this, they became afraid and confused about how this could happen, so then the fat man who also saw this scene became afraid and said.

"Quickly pack up the tent, and we'll get out of here soon!!" The fat man's order awakened the others.

So then immediately, the merchants' camp went into an uproar.

#####

On the road several kilometers away from the lake, the merchant group that had emerged from the lake, now breathed a sigh of relief.

Feeling like you have escaped something dangerous.

"Sir…..in the afternoon we can arrive in town" replied a coachman who led the fat man's horse carriage.

"Ha…..why did this trip feel so unlucky" complained the fat man.

1 km away from the merchants' group, dozens of ferocious men armed with swords and bows were waiting.

"Will they arrive soon?" asked a leader with a fierce face and long hair.

"Ha…ha…ha ... .already boss…they'll be here soon" a thin young man with quite a handsome face said in reply.

From his face and stature, it could be seen that he was the youngest of the dozens of people. As for what they were doing there, it was nothing but waiting for passing traders to be robbed.

Yes they are a band and are now preparing to rob these traders.

Waiting patiently not long after, the awaited traders arrived, saw the Sud prey Ah, before their eyes, without much delay, these bandits immediately launched their action.

"Kill….all of them!!!" the bandit leader shouted.

"There are bandits…..fight!!!!!" The responding voices of the merchants were heard.

So then a scene of fighting between the bandits and traders occurred, where even though these traders had greater numbers, it was a shame.

In front of the ferocity of the experienced bandits they appeared, helpless and in the end quickly defeated, and a small number ran towards the city of their destination to save themselves.

"Hahahahaha…..we won!!!!!" He laughed loudly with joy at the loot in front of him.

"Quickly look for valuables and leave immediately..." The bandit leader ordered back.

"Smelly kid...quickly take...their things!!" shouted at the thin young man loudly, when he realized that the young man seemed shocked by the bloody scene in front of him.

"Ahhh...yes boss...fine" while holding back his nausea, he then immediately looked for valuables from the traders.

In the midst of the busyness of the bandits looking for valuable treasures from the merchants, the young man unknowingly entered the horse-drawn carriage of the fat man, who was currently in it.

He saw a fat man who had died from a sword cut, holding back his fear and disgust he began to search around the fat man's body.

Until then he found a bag of coins and was happy to put it away, busy looking again he didn't find anything valuable anymore and when he was about to leave, he tripped as he was getting out of the train.

And what made him stumble was a short sword with a gold sheath and a red gem on the hilt.

Feeling beautiful and interested, he subconsciously took it "This sword is very beautiful...if it is sold it will definitely be expensive!!!" Compliment her and then quickly hide it.

Not long after, the bandits immediately left there, leaving behind the chaos of the robbery with many corpses of the traders.

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At night in a small valley, you can see dozens of huts made of simple bamboo and wood, looking lively with the sound of parties.

These dozens of huts were none other than the huts of bandits who had just looted traders during the day.

And in a small hut in the corner of the valley, the skinny young man who had joined the attack with the bandits was resting.

The room in the hut was very small, only measuring 2x3 M, which only contained a small wooden bed for a bed and an ugly table and chairs made of rotten wood.

On the small mattress which only had a thin leather base, the skinny young man seemed to be sweating profusely and his chest appeared to be rising and falling rapidly.

There was a feeling of hunger in his stomach, only he no longer had the energy to move.

There was vague, clear hatred in the young man's heart, how the bandits treated him so cruelly.

Carrying the loot of the traders, with his thin body, he still occasionally received kicks and taunts on the way to their base.

For the sake of safety, the bandits chose a base hidden in the forest, not to mention the location was remote and difficult so just walking was tiring.

And he, who was considered a servant for the bandits, clearly had no choice but to comply with their excessive demands.

Where he had to transport the loot with his thin body and follow the bandits to their base.

Not to mention that when he got there he still had to serve the bandits to throw a victory party, and after finishing it with a slap he was sent away to return to his small hut without any food.

Which made him tired and hungry at the same time.

"Just... just wait... when I become stronger I will definitely repay you all!!!!" A fierce determination fueled the young man's anger.

But he knew that right now he was helpless and had no choice, because he couldn't run and no one would accept him outside as a child of betrayal.

So he could only endure and learn to be better in this gathering of bandits.

But what was unexpected was that the city's security forces who had received the report from the merchant who had managed to escape, were now right around the valley and stalking the bandits who were partying.

"Finally we found their headquarters too!!" A soldier looks happy when he sees dozens of huts that look bright under the valley.

"That's right…these bastards are the scourge of our city!!!!" said another.

"Observe first and wait when their break comes and we will attack!!"  their leader's voice was heard saying.

"Yes captain" they replied in unison.

So the preparations for the ambush began by the soldiers, waiting patiently until early morning as they continued to observe the bandits who were having fun partying.

Until the night gets colder, the bandits who are happy partying are now one by one returning to their huts to rest.

And on the other hand the soldiers who had been waiting patiently now began to move towards them silently.

Until all the soldiers succeeded in surrounding the entire bandit base, then the killings began to be carried out in silence by the soldiers.

One by one the heads of the bandits fell from their necks, and what was worse was that there was no meaningful struggle by the bandits in the face of the ferocity of the soldiers.

It's understandable that they were heavily drunk and in the end only became easy targets for soldiers who were already prepared.

In the small hut of the skinny young man, at this time the skinny young man who had gained a little strength woke up from his sleep, only for a strong fishy smell to immediately spread into his nose.

Smelling the smell, he was immediately startled and woke up "what's this smell...fishy.....this...this...blood!!!!!" Soon he who still memorized the bloody smell of the merchants being killed by the bandits became fully awakened.

Trying to find out, through the gaps of his small hut he saw a murderous scene of soldiers slaughtering bandits, frightened by what he saw.

Immediately he opened his broken wooden bed and from there a small escape hole was visible.

He didn't pack much, he took a few personal items that he had, and he also brought a beautiful short sword.