Tejas and Vidur didn't know how to respond so all they could do was be silent.
After telling the story, the old man walked towards his house. Seeing him leave, the two boys also headed back to their camp.
After reaching back to the camp, Vidur sat down while Tejas walked around with an angry expression.
"How can they do that to ordinary people? Do those damn bastards not have a heart? What did the villagers even do to them? I will kill those bastards."
Tejas said while nearly shouting with anger and rage. Seeing this state of Tejas, Vidur sighed before speaking.
"Tejas, Clam down."
Vidur spoke with a very cold voice,
"Tejas, I think the bandits we met when we came down from mountain is the same group because the big guy who you fought and won said he was from rakta bandit group, the group we met wasn't powerful but the main group is different.
Do you want to die like those mercenaries? If those bandits killed that number of mercenaries, that says enough that they aren't just simple thugs."
Tejas replied,
"Huh? you mean that big bald banar guy, I think he did say about they are famous rakta bandits but I thought they were just nobody but after what their leader did to this poor village people, you just want to let those evil bastards go?"
Vidur slowly got up and wiped the dirt from his bottom,
"You are missing the point. Of course, I won't let people like them get away. But, charging mindlessly at such a large number of bandits is stupid."
You will only get killed. So, what we need is a plan. A plan that lets us save the abducted women first and a plan that allows us to kill the bandits."
Tejas seemed to have calmed down after hearing Vidur's words so he nodded his head before asking.
"So, what's the plan?" Tejas asked.
Seeing the clueless face of Tejas, Vidur smiled before replying.
"Do they not say 'If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.' Before anything, we need intel on the bandits!"
Tejas' lips curved up and made an 'O' signifying he had understood. After this, Vidur started to slowly devise a plan as Tejas occasionally pitched in some suggestions.
Just like that a few hours passed and the old man returned again. Seeing that Tejas and Vidur didn't seem to be planning to leave.
The old man sighed and offered some food and water to the two boys.
"Since You two seem to already plan to help us, can you please bring my daughter to me. Yesterday Rakta's subordinates took my daughter away. I beg you two. Please, I will never forget this deed in my life."
The old man put forward such a request to which Tejas replied,
"Of course, old man! You have been the kindest to us. Even if you weren't, we definitely would have saved all the women and killed those bastard bandits. It's our promise to you old man, Just you wait!"
The moment that the old man heard Tejas words, he immediately got up and said excitedly.
"Great!! make sure to save my daughter and kill that bastard Rakta. I will show you the direction to their hideout."
Tejas was all in with the idea to go there right away, but Vidur reminded him not to fight a battle with an empty stomach.
So, the boys made sure that they were full and headed towards the direction pointed by the old man.
Just before riding their horses, the boys bowed towards the old man and did their Namaste.
The old man gave two his blessings to succeed and the boys headed out. It's just that they didn't notice the almost-suspicious grin the old man had on his face...
"I hope you boys do a better job than those mercenaries, time will tell let's see what fate you kids have."
...
A little boy slowly opened his eyes and saw himself tied up with rope in the wall, blood coming out from his head and dropping on the ground. When he looked ahead, he saw people with torches and many kinds of weapons.
"Where am I? Why did I get tied up on the wall? Why are there so many people in front of me?
Village people shouted,
"let's break all his bone with a hammer."
"No let's break all his fingers and pull out his nails."
"Hey look the bandit boy woke up. let's slowly torture him just like what his bandit gang did to us."
The boy was getting scared after hearing that, he was crying.
"You bandits are no better than Rakshasa even if you are just a boy, you are the same like your father, do you know what your father and his men did to us?
They torture us for their fun, raped our wives and daughters, they killed our animals for their food and for fun, we gave everything what they ask us but they weren't satisfied, they took everything from us."
One man slowly pulled out his knife
"We will do the same to you and your mother just like what your bandit group did to my wife and boy."
He threw his knife toward the boy, but he miss.
"No, I don't want to die." The boy cried.
another female came near to the boy start shouting.
because of you i lost my son if you just died that day my son will still be alive but because of you he died now i got the chance i will take revenge for my son.
A man suddenly got up from his bed shouting, he was sweating so much, he saw a nightmare, he picked up an alcohol jug and started drinking until it finished then threw that jug.
One man suddenly came forward
Leader, are you alright? Did you see that nightmare again.?
Yes, no matter how much I try I can't remove IT from my mind. I can't forget those nightmares.
He got up from his bed and wore clothes.
"let's go dura to see how our prisoners."
"Yes, leader Rakta."
meanwhile in forest
"Hey Tejas, what do you think about that old man?"
As they were making their way through the forest, Vidur asked a sudden question.
"Huh?! Vidur, why are you asking something like that?"
With a weird confused face Tejas continued,
"Isn't it obvious, the old man is just a man whose daughter was taken away. His village has been nearly ravaged. Are those bandits really human?"
Vidur didn't reply for a moment before calmly answering.
"It's suspicious. The number of footprints of horses and humans both around and inside the village is giving bad vibes. I... I can't help but think that the old man is hiding something."
Hearing these words, Tejas looked at Vidur before speaking.
"Aren't those footprints of the bandits and mercenaries? What is there to be suspicious about them?"
"Yea But still, When I looked around the village it felt off. I saw a place where the soil was mixed with a lot of blood as if a huge fight had taken place there. But... The blood there seems so dry that It's lot older than the date the bandits even arrived first."
Tejas remained silent at Vidur's words. He wasn't ashamed for admitting that he was a lot dumber compared to Vidur but this reasoning seemed a bit ridiculous?
Tejas knew for a fact that the villagers had actually been attacked and from hearing the old man's story, everything seemed to add up. The evidence in the village further backed up the story.
To Tejas, it was clear as water. 'The bandits harmed the villagers, abducted the women, and are killing innocent people.' For Tejas, this was enough reason to kill them.
He believed that he needed to avenge those who died at the hands of the bandits.
Yet, when Vidur was saying something was off. He couldn't understand it. So all Tejas did was give a dumbfounded look again.
And seeing this expression, Vidur sighed before speaking.
"Actually, never mind, I might be just overthinking this. Even if I have a slightly bad feeling about the old man's words, it doesn't change our goal. To save the abducted women."
Somewhere along these words, the two boys arrived at their destination. They got off their horses and tied them inside some large bushes.
Tejas and Vidur, according to the information quietly approached the waterfall which was also the hideout of the bandits. Tejas sneaked around the waterfall to gather information while Vidur also prepared himself while simultaneously keeping an eye.
30 minutes later, Tejas returned with a dejected face and said everything he found out which wasn't much.
Even after sneaking around for so long, he had only confirmed a few things. Hearing this, Vidur spoke up.
"This isn't enough. If we can't get enough information from the outside. We just have to find it from the inside. Listen, I will go there and try to act like a bandit. I know it's risky but among the two of us, only I can act properly. If you go there, they will find your secret before you even enter the cave."
Tejas didn't agree with this plan but after a few minutes of arguing he reluctantly agreed. Then, Vidur left the area and waited. He crept upon a guard that was taking a piss and silently knocked the bandit out.
After a few minutes, the bandit was left stripped in the forest near his own pee.
With the disguise, Vidur covered most of his face and walked towards the cave confidently. Luckily, his acting was good enough that nobody noticed.
Thus, Vidur easily managed to sneak in. Meanwhile, Tejas was making traps near the cave. According to their plan, Vidur would lure the bandits to the traps he set.
He dug holes, covered them with leaves, tied the grass into a small trap intended to trip the bandits and many other small traps.
While doing this, Tejas made sure to step on as least number of leaves as possible. He avoided making sounds as much as he could but some sounds were inevitably made. Fortunately, the guard at the front of the cave didn't seem to be bothered by the occasional sounds.
Inside, Vidur began counting the number of bandits and to his surprise, there were around 60. Vidur was getting a bit nervous but still acted like how the bandits around him acted.
From the corner of his eye, Vidur spotted a cage with several women in it. He slowly walked around and moved further into the cave. Finally, he noticed Rakta sitting on a throne at the end of the cave.
Right after that, Vidur turned around but he bumped into someone. Vidur looked at the man and moved his head up to see someone a head taller than him looking down at him.
Vidur immediately bowed and apologized before trying to move away. But that's when the Man spoke up.
"Who are you? And why are you this deep inside the cave? Normal bandits aren't allowed here."
The words caught the attention of the bandits nearby and especially that of Rakta,
"Are you a new guy here? But even then, this place being off limits is known by everyone. So, show me your face and tell me the code."
Vidur didn't answer for a moment as his eyes slowly looked around. The bandits were slowly drawing their weapons.
Vidur internally clicked his tongue, he knew the man who he had just bumped into. He was none other than Sardhas, the bandit Tejas had defeated.
"The code is..."
Vidur spoke while simultaneously looking at his surroundings. Sardhas' ears perked up when he heard Vidur's voice.
Sardhas couldn't exactly remember it but the voice sounded familiar.
*Whoosh*
Before Sardhas could process anything further, Vidur threw his cloak at Sardhas' face before drawing his Khukuri.
With a swift movement, Vidur kicked Sardhas and brought him down before pointing his Khukuri at Sardhas' neck.
The rest of the bandits immediately surrounded the two as Sardhas suddenly shouted.
"Leader, this brat is one of the two boys that I met."
Along with Sardhas' voice, Vidur also spoke up.
"Move a single step forward and this guy will lose his head."
The bandits suddenly hesitated to approach Vidur. If it had been any other bandit in Sardhas' place, they would've charged with no care. But because Sardhas was Rakta's close subordinates, nobody dared to put Sardhas at risk.
"Oh~ Really?"
Rakta got up from his throne and slowly walked towards Vidur.
"So, you are an outsider that managed to sneak into this part of the cave. Seriously, is my place this easy to enter into?"
"Don't move!"
Vidur shouted at Rakta while nearing the blade of his Khukuri closer to Sardhas' neck. He was probably a millimetre away from touching the skin of his neck.
"Wow! Would you look at this kid? You sure are courageous for someone of your age. I am kind of interested now. Mind explaining why you intrude into my adobe and threaten the life of my underling?"
Seeing the almost playful expression on Rakta's face, Vidur couldn't help but get slightly annoyed. He was at a serious disadvantage right now. Surrounded by many enemies, the only thing keeping him alive was Sardhas near him.
"Listen bandit, I also don't like to intrude into someone else's house. But I have a job to do here."
"Oh~, And what might that be?"
Rakta asked Vidur to which Vidur replied confidently.
"To defeat you!"
"..."
After Vidur spoke, the cave fell into silence. The bandits seemed scared of Rakta as everyone looked at Rakta's face.
For everyone's surprise Rakta was smiling.
"Hahaha, little boy. I know that you are deliberately provoking me. You are trying to buy time, right? To kill me? If that was really your goal you wouldn't have taken my subordinate as a hostage. You would've directly attacked me."
"..."
Vidur couldn't respond. He felt like He had been read like an open book.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
Rakta started clapping and said,
"You not only have the courage to enter the lion's den but also the wits to try and trick me? If it had been any of these fools here, your little ploy would've worked. But sadly, little boy, the real world isn't that easy you know. You are but a mere kid that has yet to even see the reality of the world."
"..."
Vidur stayed silent but his mind was racing like crazy. This plan of his where he was just going to gather some intel had turned into a situation Where his wits were being challenged.
As beads of sweat gathered on Vidur's face, Rakta spoke again,
"Hehe, if you are here to do something. Then it's probably to rescue those women, right?"
Vidur shook his head but His expression seemed to give it away.
"Hoho~ jackpot! So, you are actually here to save those women but you don't seem like a villager from that village. So, why are you even getting involved in this?"
Vidur finally replied,
"I don't need to answer someone like you that thinks the lives of normal people are worthless."
Vidur tightened his grip on his Khukuri while slowly moving back,
"Wow, so those villagers told you about the women huh? You also seem like a kid that's going to be a hero of justice, right? But a young child like you who doesn't know how the world works, it's a bad thing to come here."
Rakta said to which Vidur took a long breath in. He calmed his rapidly beating heart and spoke in a calm voice.
"I am not a hero of justice. But the villagers are innocent. Your plan of giving the villagers hope and crushing it, killing the innocent people, abducting the women, no matter what you say, you are nothing but a evil bastard that preys on the innocent."
Vidur finished speaking and prepared himself. From the words he said, He could guarantee that Rakta would attack him. Vidur planned to provoke Rakta and run away.
There were a couple of bandits behind him, blocking the way to the exit but Vidur was confident that he could go pass them.
"Hehehehe"
"..."
Well, all of this was the plan in Vidur's mind. But one thing he didn't expect for Rakta to do was laugh like a maniac.
"Kekekekeke, hehehehe HAHAHA!!"
Rakta laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke ever before a serious expression appeared on his face.
With a cold voice, he spoke
"You think those bastards are innocent? Hahaha, ignorance is truly bliss, isn't it? Kid, you don't seem to realize how cruel those villagers are. You seemed smart but you got fooled by this easily. Did you really believe everything a random old man said? Hahaha, Whatever I don't care about. It would be a shame to kill you. I will let you leave. If you really have a functioning brain, I am sure you know what the best option here is."
Rakta's cold voice turned into that of anger and interest as he continued.
"For sparing your life, entertain me kid."
Rakta ordered his subordinates to completely block the way to the exit as he went and sat on his throne.
"Fight kid. Judging by the fact that you have somewhat of a brain, you didn't come here alone. It doesn't matter who you fight just entertain me. If you defeat my best fighters, I will give you the honour of fighting me."
Vidur suddenly felt an arm gripping his hand. He looked to see Sardhas gripping his wrist which was holding the Khukuri.
"Hehe, since he is right there in front of you, let's begin. Against your first opponent. One of my strong men, Sardhas!!"