A silver locket around the bandit’s neck flashed a bright blue color. The high speed stone slammed into an invisible barrier right in front of his nose and dropped harmlessly to the dirt.

Adrian cursed under his breath as the magical shield completely blocked his attack.

"Hurry up, Claire!" Adrian shouted.

He kept firing stones using Gust, but they were useless. The raw kinetic energy of a basic wind spell just could not shatter a magical shield.

The fight dragged on and bodies kept dropping.

The mercenaries knew how to protect their vitals. They took nasty cuts but managed to stay on their feet.

The noble soldiers lacked real combat experience. They trained in safe courtyards, not bloody dungeons and due to this, they were getting slaughtered.

Men collapsed into the dirt with fatal stab wounds while others bled out from severed arteries. Nobody had the luxury of helping them. It was every man for himself.

Adrian watched the massacre. Real combat experience was entirely different from swinging wooden swords at the air.

Claire finally carved a path through the bandit frontline. She completely closed the distance and lunged at the mage with her sword.

The mage panicked. He knew his locket could not stop a D rank knight’s physical strike. He jumped backward, completely abandoning his spell.

"Retreat!" the mage screamed. "Retreat! Retreat!"

The bandits instantly turned and scattered into the dense woods.

But the damage was already done.

The bandits had barely lost anyone. A few of them had mild to medium injuries, but none were left dead on the road.

Their convoy had taken a lot of damage. The mercenaries had survived with moderate injuries, matching the bandits. But the soldiers paid a heavy price.

Five soldiers lay dead in the dirt. Ten more were severely injured and they were groaning and crying in pain. Only five soldiers escaped with light injuries.

Adrian walked over to Felicia and Bastian’s carriage. Bastian was standing near the wheel, looking absolutely terrified.

"You need to turn back." Adrian told Felicia. "Go back to your estate and tell your father what happened here. We do not have the manpower to travel safely anymore. What happens if there is another ambush?"

Felicia looked at her bleeding men and nodded grimly. She did not argue. "You are right, Baron Sterling. We will return home."

She ordered her surviving guards to gather the wounded and turn the carriage around.

Adrian sent them off and watched them leave until they disappeared down the road. He then turned to his surviving mercenaries.

"We are not traveling all the way back to the Viscount’s territory." Adrian announced. "Pull the carriages back two or three kilometers. We will set up a secure camp off the main road. You all need to rest for a day or two."

The exhausted men nodded. They led the horses down the road and set up camp in a wide clearing.

Adrian did not hide in his carriage. He grabbed medical supplies and walked right into the crowd of bleeding men.

"Hold still, this will sting." Adrian told a young mercenary.

He poured an antiseptic potion over a deep gash on the man’s arm and wrapped it tightly with a linen bandage.

The mercenaries looked at him in shock. This was completely unlike any noble they had ever met. Nobles usually stayed hidden and refused to interact with hired blood. But Adrian got his hands dirty and helped apply the bandages.

When it was time to eat, Adrian brought out large cuts of raw meat. No one asked him where he got the fresh food from.

He had stored massive amounts of meat inside his dungeon, and since he could link to the system interface anytime, he simply pulled it into the real world when no one was looking. He handed over enough meat to feed the entire camp.

The mercenaries cheered and happily threw the meat over the roaring campfire.

Aria sat on a log near the fire and took a bite of the cooked food. She chewed once and immediately frowned.

The adventurers cooked their meat the exact same way they always did on the road. They cooked it directly over the coals by tossing the meat over the red hot coal. The end result was that the meat was extremely tough, burnt on the edges, and heavily salted to hide the ash flavor.

Adrian had spoiled Aria a lot ever since the divorce. He always made sure her meals were tender, juicy, and packed with actual flavor.

She used to eat this exact same tough meat in her past life before her regression, but she simply could not stomach it now.

She took two small bites, put her wooden plate down in front of her, and refused to chew another piece.

"It feels like I’m chewing on leather...." Aria complained with her arms crossed.

Adrian saw her pouting and chuckled. He sat down next to her and leaned in close so the mercenaries would not hear.

"I will make you something special tomorrow." he whispered. "But be a good girl and do not waste food or papa will be mad at you."

He wanted to cook a massive feast right now, but he held back. He did not want to make something incredibly special just for himself and his daughter while the mercenaries ate their fully cooked tough meat.

The mercenaries were already in a great mood. Cooking a luxury meal right in front of them would only create a massive social barrier. He decided to wait until they were back on the road.

Adrian regretted his decision soon after.

Aria quietly ate all the food but refused to talk to him in any way.

Seeing her act like this, all he could do was smile wryly and look at Claire who just looked away in response as she tried to hide her smile.

’Why is no one on my side... I just wanna keep the mercenaries happy so I can recruit them into the army later...’ he thought to himself but sighed as he felt like he had messed up his priorities for the night.