Gareth along with his team finally reached the southern border of Martial Glory Kingdom after travelling for three days. Actually, they could reach it earlier than that, but their riding speed was rather slow because Gareth wanted this journey to be a leisure one.
Martial Glory's southern border was dotted by a string of military forts, constructed horizontally from the kingdom's western coast all the way to the foot of Aurga Mountains in the east.
Martial Glory has an odd attitude regarding their foreign policy; they were really suspicious towards every foreign power, especially nations that shared borders with them. This attitude leads to their militaristic tendency which caused them to be disliked by both Genosia and Eternal Fragrance.
That was the reason these fortresses exists, to protect the kingdom's heartland from any invasion by its neighbor, the Kingdom of Genosia.
However, all of this had nothing to do with Gareth, he doesn't care about it nor he ever will.
Right now, he and his people has been stopped at one of the forts that also functioned as a border entrance.
After an hour of inspection and negotiation with the border guards, which was settled by a purse filled with 50 silver coins, the team was granted the permission to leave the territory of Martial Glory.
And once they have crossed the border, they were warmly greeted by Genosian soldiers guarding the other side of the border entrance. These soldiers' attitude was completely different, they didn't put any difficulties for the team at all. Professional and polite.
In a flash, Gareth and his people already resumed their journey towards the capital of Genosia, Genoa.
The city of Genoa was located at Genosia's southern coast, the team needs to travel for another several days in order to reach it.
Along the road, Gareth could see how big the economic disparity between Martial Glory and Genosia. Ever since crossing the border a few days ago, his team have visited several of Genosian villages for the purpose of resting.
Judging from how vibrant and energetic these villages were, it's clearly that Genosia is more wealthy and prosper than its northern neighbor.
It looks like jealousy and envy also part of the reason why Martial Glory has little love for Genosia.
Gareth's journey since leaving Afrin was extremely peaceful and smooth. So far, his team only encountered some weak Demon Beasts that could be handled very quickly.
But halfway to Genoa, Gareth detected a large activity happens on the main road, just a few kilometers from his position.
Gareth's Martial Sense was extremely potent and has a wide range of coverage, that's why he could detect almost everything within the radius of dozens of kilometers.
"Do you sense something, Young Master?" Diandra's voice could be heard suddenly.
Gareth stared at her weirdly. This woman always knew whenever he feels that something has happened, and he didn't have a clue how she does that.
"Yes... Something is going on in front of us... A battle, I think." Gareth replied.
Hearing that, Diandra squinted her eyes, while Heinz and Arda was grinning from ear to ear. Even the usual composed Zeke couldn't stop himself from letting out a smirk.
Those three guys were elated. It has been a very boring journey since Afrin. They were hoping they could, at least, be allow to watch the battle to chase away their boredom.
"Do you want to check it and see what happened there?" Asked Diandra.
The rest of Gareth's companions was staring at him with gazes full of expectations.
'Ah. These guys really...' Gareth spoke to himself inwardly.
"Alright... Let us see what's going on in there." Gareth decided to go and see what kind of battle unfold near them.
Since they were riding in full speed, they've reached the vicinity of the battle within a short time.
What the team saw in front of their eyes was a battle between two distinct forces.
It appears one of the forces was a group of caravans or sort as they have large amount of carriages within their ranks. Currently, the caravan was under attacked by hundreds of rag-tag men, whose members wore mismatched armors and clothes.
The combatants from both sides did not possessed high strength. The strongest amongst them only had the cultivation of 7th-rank Martial Master.
Looking from a large amount of dead corpses littering the ground, it's clearly the battle has been raging on for quite a while. And the caravan was at disadvantage now as the enemy has slain many of their fighters.
"Those people who are attacking are clearly a bunch of bandits. We should quickly help the caravan." Diandra spoke loudly, and there's a tone of disgust mixed within her voice.
She hated bandits generally as they reminded her of the slavers that captured her and killed her family in the past. Even Heinz and Zeke was riled up due to those bandits as well.
"Fine... Just make it quick, but don't perform things excessively. If you can capture the bandits, do that instead of killing them. And make sure not to reveal your Saints strength, those people there will have heart attacks if you did." Said Gareth as he agreed with Diandra's suggestion.
Diandra, Heinz and Zeke nodded simultaneously in response to their young master's order.
Next, Gareth set his sight at Arda, "Look kid, be careful alright. Don't underestimate those bandits. Even though you're stronger than them, you didn't have much battle experiences while they have. Stay focus during the battle and you'll be fine."
"Got it, bro. You don't have to worry about me, hehe." Arda replied cheerfully. He was about to fight in a battle. It's obvious he was enthusiastic about it.
Gareth nodded and spoke, "Okay, here we go then."
Afterward, he and his team started moving towards the battlefield in front of them.
***
Near a luxurious carriage situated in the middle of the caravan's formation, a middle-aged fat man stood by while gripping a sword on his right hand.
This man was a human, and he wore a combination of expensive colorful attires. Although his appearances looked kind of comical and would certainly draw lots of mockery to himself, his expression was really calm and composed, even in the face of the bloody scenery that happened right in front of him.
The name of this fat man was Marco Bonucci, an upright noble and a rich merchant.
He ran a trade caravan that usually doing business to faraway countries. Hence, he travels frequently most of the time. However, he was truly unfortunate this time. His caravan has been ambushed by a large group of bandits that came out of nowhere.
Marco's personal guards successfully repelled the enemy's first attack smoothly, but they suffered some casualties when the more powerful bandits began showing up on the battlefield.
At this moment, Marco saw his guard's captain, a Bearman from the Beastman Race, running towards him.
This bearman was the strongest subordinate he has, and he was supposed to lead his men on the front, but it looks like something urgent has came up.
"Lord Marco!" The bearman shouted loudly as he stopped in front of Marco.
"What's wrong, Dima?" Marco asked as he stares at the bearman whose name was Dima.
Dima has a tall and huge bear-like body that was entirely covered by white-colored furs. He was clad in some kind of a mixed plate and leather armor and he held a large battle-axe, which already smeared with bloods.
"The bandit leader has revealed himself, and he's really strong, our men could not hold for much longer!" Said Dima gravely.
"What! How strong he is? You did probe him right?" Asked Marco worriedly.
"I've confirmed it... He's a 7th-rank Martial Master." Dima spoke with a downcast expression.
Marco's face turned pale after hearing that.
7th-rank Martial Master!
There was a very little chance for Marco and his entourage to survive from fighting that kind of power.
Marco himself was a cultivator, but he was only a weak 2nd-rank Martial Master with low combat ability. Even Dima only has the strength of 4th-rank Martial Master. There's no way he could defeat the bandit leader.
The caravan was truly in danger now.
Not only the carriages brought many valuable goods and stuffs, Marco's family was also presents inside his luxurious carriage. If the caravan's forces lose the battle, the result will be catastrophic for Marco. He would lose both of his fortune and his precious family as well.
'What should I do now?' Marco asked himself inside his heart.
"Lord! Look! Over there..." Dima suddenly shouted and pointing his finger at something near the battlefield.
Marco awoke from his stupor and quickly turned his vision towards the direction that has been pointed out by Dima.
Then, he witnessed an unbelievable scene happened in front of his eyes. Not only him, even others like Dima, Marco's personal guards and the caravan's people also watching the same scene.
It was the scene of multiple colored lightning strikes began to raining down on the bandits' rank. Most of the bandits were quickly burned to death due to being hit by those lightnings.
Next, several people on horses suddenly emerged and broke through the bandits' formation. Those people started massacring the bandits left and right. They're killing them without a shred of mercy or any hesitation at all.
The bandit forces fell into panic due to the sudden situation.
The bandit leader ordered his forces to retreat immediately. He had brought hundreds of men to ambush the caravan, and most of them has been killed in just a matter of seconds.
Initially, he was happy when his men had succeded overpowering the caravan's guards. He thought, It would be just a matter of time before the caravan fell to his hand. However, reality was harsh.
The one whose on the top could suddenly fall into the bottom, and this is what the bandit leader currently experiencing. He had no choice other than pulling back his forces.
Just as the bandit leader was about to retreat with his men, a streak of silver light flashed towards his body from a far distance.
The bandit leader was stunned, he did not have enough time to react as the silver light's movement was really fast.
*Puchi*
In a quick manner, his head was separated cleanly from his body, without him having a chance to resist at all.
His consciousness still remain for a while and during that short period of time, the bandit leader could finally see the silver light clearly. The silver light possessed the form of a young boy.
What the bandit leader saw in the last moment before death was the sight of that silver light boy smiling at him adorably.
A few minutes later, the battle was over.
Most of the surviving bandits were captured by the strangers that had saved the caravan. Only few were able to escape unharmed.
Dima and his men were in the middle of gathering the bodies of their fallen compatriots, while the caravan's people were mostly busy tending the wounded and cleaning the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Marco was still standing frozen beside his carriage. The scene he had witnessed was too much of shocking. It's not like he never saw a battle before, but the one earlier was so different from the battles he saw and participated in the past.
Then, Marco drops his shoulders and sighed in relief.
He had survived this ordeal virtually unharmed. His caravan and, most importantly, his family was also in safe conditions. Due to this, his mind became relaxed.
But Marco remembers that his personal guards have suffered lots of casualties. These men have served him for a long time, and they have sacrificed their lives to protect the caravan.
Marco decided he would honor these men by paying huge amount of consolation money to their families and brought their bodies back to home.
The strangers had gathered themselves just near the captives. Marco did not know who those people were. But he assumed, they're probably just a group of passerby that happens to be nearby when the battle was underway and had decided to help.
And all of them were powerful cultivators. That's why Marco did not dare to be impolite as he brings Dima and his family to join him in greeting their saviors.