Death Mage with an SS-Rank Talent-Chapter 206

"Stop, identify yourselves and your purpose", a guard called out to them from the top of the wall.

The wall is built to protect the village from random monster attacks. Though if a powerful monster or a horde appears, the wall would fall in seconds, but that rarely happens.

Most of the time, it would be low-level monsters harassing people.

These walls are more than enough to protect the village from such monsters. Unless the village’s luck is very bad, the wall and the guards patrolling on top of the wall are more than enough to protect the villagers inside.

"Hello, we are from Dusk Academy. We came in accordance with the mission posted by your village chief", Aaron answered the guards.

He took out the mission scroll and opened the scroll to show them the proof.

The guards are awakeners. So, their eyesight was better than normal, and they could clearly see the mission scroll and what was on it.

After verifying that the three are genuinely here to complete the mission, the guard shouted to another guard, "Open the gate".

The trio entered the village, and as soon as they did, the gate was closed.

"Hello, I am Abe, the village guard captain. Don’t take this the wrong way, but it is not safe at night here. It was not just monsters; there was an increased bandit activity recently around the area. So, we have to be sure who we let in, otherwise we might not know how we even died".

The man was none other than the guard who stopped them and asked about their purpose here.

"It’s okay, we understand, and after all, the mission is regarding the bandits. So, we kind of understood why you were on the edge", Erika said.

Normally, a village like this won’t have too many guards in the first place. They most likely would have ten to twenty guards, maybe a few hunters to aid them if there was an attack on the village, but the trio sensed more than ten on the walls patrolling.

Added to that, the guard captain was on duty, which means things are not good here.

In cities, there might be someone above the captains, but in a village, they are the ones with the highest fighting authority. After the Chief of the Village, they hold the highest authority in the village. If he were on duty, then things definitely would not be good.

"Haha, thank you for understanding. I have sent a guard to the chief about your arrival. Come with me, I’ll take you to the Village Hall, where you can meet the chief", the captain said.

"Thank you", the trio said and followed the captain to the Village Hall.

---

A minute later, they arrived at the Village Hall, where they came to see an old man waiting outside.

"This must be the Village chief", the trio thought in their minds.

"Welcome to Greenwood Village. I am Adam, chief of this small village and thank you for taking on the mission", the chief welcomed the trio.

The trio smiled, "Thank you for the welcome. As someone who stands on the Right Side, we can’t allow elements like that to exist in the first place", Aaron spoke.

What he left out was that, though there are many who stand on the Right Side, not everyone would poke their necks out for someone that they don’t even know.

Who could blame them?

Most would probably be weaker than the Bad Ones present at the scene. Who would try to enter a scenario where their death would be guaranteed?

Everyone has someone waiting at home for them. No one wants to leave a family without any support.

Moreover, the three were being paid for the mission.

The Chief knew this too, but said nothing about that, and invited them inside.

"Come inside, you should be tired from the journey. I already sent someone to fetch some drinks. We can discuss the mission, as you refresh a bit with the drinks", the old man spoke, not forgetting to treat the guests.

A minute later, a servant appeared with a jug filled with juice and four glasses for the trio and the chief. Along with the juice, the servant also brought some snacks.

Once they were placed before them, the old man sent off the servant.

Aaron spoke as soon as it was just the four, "So, chief, tell us about these bandits. The mission just said that there were bandits to clear, and the highest was around level 40 to 50, maybe even reached Rank-2. Other than that, we have no details. The more details we have, the higher the chances of eliminating all of them".

If even one of them escapes, especially the leader or a vice-leader, they would surely come for revenge one day and catch the village off guard.

If the trio don’t eliminate all the bandits, that might end up destroying the village one day.

The best way to avoid that was to make sure that no bandit escapes when they attack and destroy the bandit group.

The old man understood that fact and started to give the trio details regarding the bandits.

"The bandits are called Red Mountain Bandits, as their base was said to be somewhere in the Red Mountains. They used to be a small-scale band of bandits who usually robbed travelling merchants, but recently they started attacking everyone".

"They even started attacking villages, killing men and kidnapping women and children. They are sold as slaves. Though fighting men are valuable, those bandits knew that kidnapping men who can fight is a liability. If they by chance escape their bonds, the bandits would lose much. So, they never took men as prisoners, just women and children, who are easy to control".

"Three villages were plundered this way, and every nearby village is now terrified of them, and are staying inside the village, but doing so is costing us a lot of losses. The fields are outside. So, we have to go outside, but every time the farmers go outside, they are guarded by some guards or hunters, but they would only stay there as required. Not a minute more".

"Doing so was just a waste of our resources as those hunters or guards would normally go out to hunt a boar or something in the forest, which was also a good stream of food or income resource for us, but not anymore".

The trio nodded in understanding. If the bandits were not eliminated soon, the village would face a food crisis.

The chief continued, "It was said that there were over a hundred bandits in the group, and one of our hunters had seen that they seemed to be coming from East, but this was before, when they just used to rob the merchants, not raiding the villages. The numbers might have become even more, and they could have moved their base elsewhere".

The trio nodded, "Don’t worry, we will take care of it. Tonight, we need to rest because of the travel".

"Thank you, young heroes. We have already prepared meals and rooms for your stay, follow me", the chief stood and moved. The trio followed them behind.

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