The next morning, the mercenaries returned to the village. Seeing their faces, the villagers all cast angry expressions as the men of the village confronted them.
"You wretched bastards! How can you call yourselves mercenaries when you are this shameless and evil?! We have seen through your farce."
"..."
The mercenaries looked at the face of the man who had just said those words and suddenly burst into laughter.
"Pfttt-"
"Ahahaha!"
"Dear Lord, These villagers, hahaha, I can't I can't my god"
The mercenaries laughed as they had just witnessed the biggest clown in history.
"Hah~ This is why dumbasses like you are so easy to play."
The mercenary captain Rek said with a mocking expression.
"You guys found out? ...So? You expect me to pat you on the back and congratulate you? What if you found out? What can you weaklings even do?"
"You- You cruel bastard."
The boys from the previous night who were still injured walked towards the mercenaries and said,
"You are the ones controlling those elephants using something right? You damn cowards aren't anything without those elephants."
The boys approached while criticizing him.
"Hoh?~"
Rek looked at the two boys and spoke in a playful voice. His expression was hidden because of his helmet but Rek definitely wasn't in a playful mood.
"You brats do have some courage to speak to me like that... I just don't know if your courage comes from your heart or that stupid mind."
One of the boys angrily said to which Rek replied.
"What nonsense are you spouting, you coward. You are too afraid to even show your face and you call us stupid?"
"Hehehe, Says the two covered in bandages. Keke, be honest. The two mutts sneaking in the forest were you two, right?
"..."
The two boys didn't answer but Rek took the silence as a 'Yes'.
Hehe, I don't know what makes you this stupid. But listen you hairless brats, you don't go near your enemy unarmed."
"Huh?"
The two boys said in confusion as Rek unsheathed his talwar (T/N: Sabre).
"They say curiosity killed the cat... But for you two, stupidity killed the mutts."
The two boys realized what Rek was about to do and immediately turned to run away. Unfortunately, their fates were sealed the moment they approached him.
Rek swiftly walked cutting both of their heads with his talwar and killing them in a matter of seconds. some blood got on his face; his movements were clean... You could even call them exquisite.
But, the look on his face was the furthest thing from exquisite.
"Keke, I am a coward for not showing my face? Ahhh, I wanted to play for a little longer but what a turnoff."
Rek slowly took off his helmet as he licked blood on his face.
He wiped his Talwar from the blood of the two boys as some villagers became nearly petrified.
after seeing the leader of the mercenaries face all people start running.
"Boys~ Get them!!"
He shouted as the villagers began running for their lives. The mercenaries grabbed the people running by their heads and dragged them to Rek.
One of the mercenaries suddenly dragged an old man towards Rek. After bringing the old man there, he mercilessly threw him to the ground.
The poor old man fell to the ground with little to no resistance and looked up. His eyes met directly with those of Rek's and he said with intense rage.
"Rakta! You spawn of the devil. You have become just like your father Jalandhar!!"
Rek- No, Rakta looked at the old man's face and smiled maniacally.
"Oh, so the old man now became village chief still didn't forget me? What an honour~ As the head of the mercenary group, I must say I am honoured. Ah- Or should I say the head of the bandits?"
The village chief felt like he was about to puke blood at the shamelessness of Rakta. But, he somehow kept the urge in and stared at Rakta.
"Listen ok, I didn't want to do this but you guys left me with no choice. Tsk, how can you stupid villagers not play your damn part and act like stupid villagers. Why put your nose in others business."
The village chief seemed to be boiling with pure rage as he asked,
"Why...?"
"Hmm~?"
"Why are you doing this to us?"
"Oh? I was just playing you know?"
"What?"
"Listen old chief, being a bandit is boring. All people think we do is just loot and kill. What a bad stigma we bandits have. We bandits are also humans, aren't we?"
"..."
The chief didn't respond but his gaze alone was shouting 'No'.
"We bandits are also humans... So why do you treat us like mindless barbarians?"
"What?-"
"I am infamous across the land."
Rakta had an evil grin as he said,
"Bandits can do a lot more than just killing and looting, can't they? Why attack you and kill you in one fell swoop... When I can just torment your mind.
Why make you think I am the bad guy from the start when I can act like the hero and betray you at the end?
Why crush you immediately when I can give you hope... and shatter it?
To see the true despair, I want to paint on your face, I need to become your hero. I need to first save you repeatedly. Make sure that you trust me,
Then...
Betray you again and again and again and again."
"..."
The old man couldn't respond to Rakta as only a single word rang inside his head.
'Lunatic'
"Haha, why so silent old man? Where is the energy from when you were mentioning the name of my father?"
Rakta smiled while still wiping the blood from his Talwar.
"...Please..."
The old man whispered in a slight voice,
"...Please let us go... We will hand over everything we have... Just leave us alone"
Hearing those words, Rakta clicked his tongue and said,
"Man, you goddamn villagers are no fun. I wanted to play the 'Mercenary of justice' for a little longer period of time but I guess you idiots don't know how to play the right role."
The old man wanted to ask how extorting them from their money and livestock was equal to being a 'Mercenary' of justice. But for the sake of keeping his and the lives of the villagers, he refrained from doing so.
"..."
Rakta raised his Talwar and brought the blade near the old man's neck. The sharp edge slightly touched the old man's neck as a few drops of blood began seeping out.
The old man didn't try to fight back.
He would be lying if he said it wasn't painful. But, the old man knew well that death was the only result when you messed with a lunatic who also happens to be a bandit.
The bandits had already managed to capture most people behind him so the old man was the single person who hadn't been tied up.
With his frail old body, the old man concluded that it was better to accept his fate rather than pointlessly resist it.
"Wow, accepting death? I was going to kill you but hey, I am a human being after all. Seeing your weak old body makes me sad, so... Let's strike up a deal."
Rakta retracted his Talwar and said with an amused expression.
"This village is my third target. Although I call you idiots for not playing your part, At Least you weren't complete dumbasses like the previous two villages where they couldn't realize it till the end."
Rakta sheathed his Talwar and got up from the chair.
"Hehe, let's trade. You people have to give me 20 silver coins in a day. In exchange, I promise not to touch any of you... Of course, If you don't keep your end of the deal... Hehe, my men need some compensation, right?"
"What sort of outrageous nonsense-"
The old man spoke after a long time but was interrupted,
"Shush! a single woman for every single day if you failed to pay the price. Since I value business ethics more than anything, I will let the villagers choose which woman it will be... And If you don't, no worries my men are more than willing to do the job."
"You cruel-!"
Rakta ordered his men to leave and walked towards his horse while ignoring the curses from the old man.
He got on his horse and smiled creepily before leaving,
"Have fun collecting the silver coins~"
"Hahahahaha"
The rest of the bandits laughed like maniacs as the entire group left as they had just not ravaged a village and murdered a few people.
...
After the bandits left, the villagers were in a state of panic, fear, shock, and anger simultaneously. The kids had been traumatized while the adults were also shaken.
The villagers considered many options to resolve the situation. The popular suggestions were to just flee but how could such a large number of people just leave? Most of the men were injured from the beatings of the bandits.
And if they wanted to escape from the grasp of those bandits, they had to get as far away as possible. But it would take no time for the bandits to catch up to them.
So, confined within the bounds of their own village. The villagers decided to pay the bandits. But, after combining the money from each villager, it barley worth over 14 silver coins.
Alas, time flew and the next day came.
Rakta walked towards the villagers and after seeing only 14 silver coins, laughed hysterically.
"Kekeke, I gave you a chance, didn't I? Now my dear business partners, you people didn't hold up to your side of the deal. Can't blame me, can you?"
Rakta grabbed the hands of a beautiful looking woman probably in her mid-20s and began walking towards his horse.
Meanwhile, the villagers were being held down by the bandits. Unable to do anything, they could only watch as the woman cried while being taken away.
A man who seemed to be that woman's father begged Rakta to stop but was kicked by the other bandits.
Both the father and the daughter cried as the villagers could only watch...
Rakta left with the woman and his men following him soon.
After they left, the villagers tried to console the father... But words couldn't reach him... That night, the father stabbed himself to death while tears were still rolling from his eyes.
2 days later, some 20 mercenaries came. The mercenaries were about to ask about directions but the villagers instead told them about their circumstances.
After listening, the mercenaries became furious that those bandits were ruining their image and went to their hideout.
That night, the villagers heard the footsteps of horses and stepped outside. They believed it to be the mercenaries who had returned after winning.
But despair painted their faces when they saw corpses. Corpses of those mercenaries, their horses carrying them.
Behind them, the bandits laughed and Rakta stepped forward with his horse.
"I gave you guys a chance to survive. But not only did you not complete the deal instead sent these weaklings after us? Hoho, my dear villagers I deserve some compensation."
With those words, the bandits took away 2 women instead of a single one. The two seemed to be a mother-daughter duo... Seeing them being taken away, Their husband/father obviously interfered.
The man snatched the knife from a bandit near him and threw it at Rakta. The bandit immediately captured the man again while Rakta deflected the flying knife nonchalantly.
A few more men began to fight back after seeing the father struggle, but their effort was in vain.
All who tried to resist were swiftly killed and the villagers lost all the hope they had.
*Present day*
The old man spoke with a sad expression,
"You boys are young. Even if you say you want to help us, it's better not to waste your life on us. Instead, you both should rather avenge us in the future."