*Haa... haaa... haa...* Duke found a Merchant lying on the ground breathing heavily with grievous wounds that were obviously not from battle.
"Who's there..." The Merchant asked in a weak and almost inaudible voice.
The Merchant's body was mutilated with different gaping wounds that were already infected in some areas. A big slit in his stomach kept bleeding. Seeing this Duke knew the Merchant in front of him wouldn't have long to live. That and he could also see the inside of the merchant's stomach through the gouging wound.
"Who did this to you?" Duke asked as anger flared up inside him. Whoever the Merchant was, he should've never had experienced such gruesome torture.
"It was those... lying Bastards... The Bandits... they ran off with the money... and everything I had..." The Merchant started to tell Duke everything, from how he was ambushed by Bandits while transporting some goods he thought could make him enough profit to pay for his sick daughter's medication back home. The poor Merchant didn't even have enough money to hire guards as he was out of time and needed to pay for the medication this month.
Sadly, all that hope disappeared when the Bandits ambushed him. Unfortunately for the Merchant, it wasn't Waxer who led the Bandits that day, it was the slimy Stank.
Although Waxer wasn't known for being merciful nor kind, at least he had a leveled head, unlike the sadistic Stank who the Merchant met.
Stank found it funny and stupid how the Merchant would put himself in danger for a stupid little brat, and so he played with the Merchant's feelings.
"I'll let you go with the Gold, as long as you don't say I give up, right guys?" Stank laughed.
"Gahaha, yeah! Sure sure, we'll let ya go..." The other sadistic Bandits chimed in.
They started to brutally torture the poor Merchant, making him scream and squeal in pain. But the Merchant did not give in.
"Che, what a waste of time..." Stank begrudgingly spat.
"Your... promise..." The mutilated Merchant, covered in wounds, said in a weak yet unyielding voice.
"Kekeke, you actually think we'd keep the Promise?! Never in my life have I see someone more stupid and gullible than you!" Stank deviously laughed.
"Gahaha, what an idiot" The other Bandits laughed.
"You... liars..." The Merchant tried to say but was already too weak to continue speaking.
"Isn't it the best entertainment when you give someone hope, only to cut it off when they think they've finally won? Kehehehe" Stank happily mocked the Merchant with words that would one day come back to haunt him.
"You're... just pitiful... losers" The Merchant spat out towards Stank.
An annoyed Bandit came closer to the Merchant, attempting to slit his throat, but Stank stopped him, saying:
"Let's leave him there to die from the wounds, he's already dead anyway, it's probably more painful anyway" Stank urged, letting the Merchant suffer even longer.
*Clench* Duke became visibly angry as he listened to the Merchant's muddled story.
"Don't worry. I'll kill them all, I'll avenge you. And make sure to get the money for your daughter's medication" Duke swore to the poor man in front of him.
"Thank you... but please don't kill... the Bandit named... Pahr" The Merchant said with his dying breath.
...
As the sadistic Bandits left, a young teen by the age of Duke came up to the Merchant and gave him some water.
As the Merchant's consciousness was slowly fading he saw the silhouette of the youth giving him water out of guilt. The Merchant felt grateful and disappointed at the same time, seeing such a kind youth, being forced into a life of Banditry.
The Merchant wasn't ignorant, he knew well enough that not all Bandits were sadistic monsters. Some were just unlucky and were forced into a life of stealing and pillaging they never wanted. This was why it broke his heart more seeing such a compassionate young man get forced into Banditry.
[What circumstances drove him here?] The Merchant thought as he bled on the ground.
"What's... your... name?" The Merchant asked the Boy.
"P-Pahr... m-my name's Pahr" The youth stuttered as he answered the bloodied man in front of him. The boy was still feeling guilty that he just watched his fellow Bandits torture the poor Merchant.
"PAHR! Hurry up ya little brat!" A Bandit shouted interrupting Pahr before he could say anything meaningful to the Merchant.
"I'm... I'm sorry" Pahr said in a low voice as he ran away, unable to face the Merchant any longer.
...
As Duke remembered the Merchant's last words, a pained sense of regret lingered on his mind.
[If only I was a little bit early...] Duke wondered how things could've gone differently.
But this was why Duke was all the more angry when Waxer didn't leave, and instead chose to stay.
"Why did you stay?" Duke asked in a low voice emanating visible hostility.
Duke had planned to keep the Bandits that stayed alive and punish the ones who left. In other words, Duke felt Waxer deserving of punishment, yet he didn't leave. Which both greatly confused and frustrated Duke.
"What? Can't I stay and work an honest living?"
Duke stared into Waxer's eyes with the knowledge and experienced he gained through being bullied, Duke had a keen eye when someone was lying to him or not. This was why he immediately saw through Stank... That and Stank sucked at acting.
But as Duke stared into Waxer's eyes, he only saw sincerity. Not the malicious deceit Duke expected from the Bandit boss.
"What?" Waxer asked, thinking he had annoyed the young lord too much.
"Nothing..." Duke turned around, away from Waxer as his conflicted emotions were too strong to bear right now.
"Byran, ready the men" Duke ordered as he and the Knights mounted to chase after the Bandits.
Meanwhile...
*Yawn* Vivian woke up feeling groggy...
[Oh yeah, Duke's still at the Bandit subjugation... So that's why it's so quiet around here... I hope he's safe] Vivian thought to herself.
"Milady, breakfast's ready" a female maid entered Vivian's room. She was Anna, from the Bank where Benjamin used to work at. Due to Benjamin's dismissal, the Bank became more and more unbearable for Anna who always had the gentlemanly Benjamin as her backer. Now that he's gone, they became even more sexist than before until Anna couldn't take it anymore and quit. Luckily for her, the Pendragons were hiring.
"Milady, today's the day you're scheduled to be on the meeting for Grain Distribution along with the other Southern Nobles..." Anna astutely reminded Vivian.
"Thank you Ann..." Vivian thanked Anna as she prepared herself. Today's meeting was like a battlefield, and she was the soldier.