" so you three are out hunting when the Bandits attacked the village? " Gael asked to make sure he's heard everything right.
" yes, we go hunting on Fridays to Sunday, the bandits must have timed their attack when we are away so the village was left defenseless " the bearded man explained.
' that explains why these guys are here, while most of the strong and capable young men are taken by the bandits and are forced to join their ranks ' Gael thought to himself, his earlier confusion now cleared.
Hours have passed since Gael and the village chief, elders, and hunters, started their meeting, the sun has already set and the meeting is still ongoing, though this might sound boring to most but to Gael this long meeting is of great help, he's learned new information about the Mad Hammer Bandit's and it's core members.
While Gael is in a meeting Fortis and Mary left the kitchen and are playing outside when the little girl walked out of the kitchen with a Goblin, it caused a great commotion, but it slowly died down when they saw that the little girl is fine and friendly with the monster, she also explained that Fortis is a friend and will be helping their village, Mary is quite fond of Fortis and so is Fortis to Mary.
The meeting went on for a few more hours before they all walked out of the kitchen of the restaurant that they used as a meeting room, they all then took a seat at the long table where food is served, and they continued talking as they eat dinner.
" so when do you plan to attack the Bandits? " the village chief asked.
" tomorrow night, I have to make some preparations before I strike "Gael answered as he took a bite of a piece of bread.
" let us know if you need something, we will do what we can to be of help, " the village chief said and the others nodded agreeing with his statement.
Gael just nodded and continue eating, the night passed quickly, and Gael decided to stay the night at the restaurant with the others, and while he was with the villagers he found out that Mary does not have a father anymore and is being raised by her mother alone when he heard the story, his urge to save the kidnapped women and Mary's mother grew stronger but he holds himself back from going to the bandit camp and annihilate them.
He went to one of the corners of the restaurant and took a seat on the floor he called Fortis over with Mary to do soul-feeding, Mary just watched them silently on the side then after doing soul feeding Mary suddenly spoke.
" When I grew older I want to be just like a big brother, I want to be friends with a monster too," Mary said, her eyes glowing with excitement.
" Really? " Gael asked smiling.
" mmm! " Mary nodded strongly.
" then do you know what I am? Do you know what I do? " Gael asked.
" hmm…no, I don't know, what exactly are you big brother? " Mary asked realizing that she does not know what Gael does or what he is called since he can be friends with a monster.
" I am a Tamer, and Fortis is my familiar, we are comrades we fight bad guys and bad monsters who want to hurt the innocent " Gael explained with a smile on his face while looking at the little girl.
" so…cooooooool! " Mary shouted startling the other villagers who are already sleeping while the others who are still awake looked in their direction.
" shush " Gael covered Mary's mouth to stop her from shouting.
" big brother you're so cool, I will definitely be just like you when I grow up " Mary said.
" you can be whatever you want, as long as you're happy and you are not doing something bad " Gael smiled then pat the little girl's head.
" hihihihihi " Mary giggled when she heard Gael's word and when he pats her head.
After a few minutes of talking with Mary, Gael proceeded to meditate and the little girl is now sleeping beside him hugging the sleeping Fortis.
The night went peacefully and the morning sun came, everyone started to wake up one by one, Gael looked beside him and the little girl is still sleeping peacefully.
" Fortis wake up " Gael whispered waking up Fortis, Fortis having enhanced senses heard Gael's whisper clearly, he slowly opened his eyes and stood up, and before leaving Gael put a blanket over Mary's small and fragile body and let her sleep in peace.
…
"So this is their camp," Gael said to himself while looking at a camp with tents scattered all over the place, the tents vary in size and in the middle the biggest tent can be seen, Gael guessed that the biggest tent is where the leader is, which he does not understand why those with a high position place their tent in the middle and they chose to build the biggest as well.
" aren't they just telling their enemies where to attack? " Gael asked himself.
He is now at the top of a mountain behind the unnamed village, he found out the exact location of the bandit camp from the villagers since they had already done an investigation when after they were attacked so that they can plan to rescue the kidnapped villagers, that is why when Gael appeared and they confirmed that he is a friend they did not hesitate to share the information they have, and it makes things easier for Gael also saving him a lot of time.
" the villagers did good, the information they provided me with is pretty accurate," Gael said while running around the bandit camp surveying the whole camp to look for the possible location he can use to infiltrate the bandit camp.
The bandit camp is not organized properly, the tents are scattered and their placing is not planned properly their camp is also quite far away from the water source, there is a crude wooden fence and there are entrances, the south, east, and west, there are two bandits each entrance armed with spears and are wearing some leather armor.
Gael continued to survey the bandit camp from a distance to avoid being seen by the bandits he can still see the bandit camp even if he is quite far away because he has learned Fortis' enhanced sense, he made a sketch of the bandit camp while he sent Fortis to set up traps in the nearby woods.
" it's time to go back," Gael said to himself after he finished making a sketch of the Bandit camp, Fortis also finished setting up traps and went back to Gael's side.
The two of them quickly descended the mountain to go back to the village.
" big brother. You're back! " Mary excitedly said as she run towards Gael and gave him a hug, the little girl got closer to Gael during their conversation last night plus the little girl likes to play with Fortis.
Gael smiled and pet the little girl's head when she hugged him.
" how was it? " the village chief asked when he saw that Gael is already back.
" it is just as you said, I have counted their members and they exactly have 57 members including leader and Vice-Leaders but I did not see them personally, " Gael said, the village chief nodded when he heard Gael.
" so can you do it? " the village chief asked as they walked towards the restaurant.
" of course, I also draw a sketch of their camp so I can make a strategy " Gael showed the village chief the paper where he draw the whole bandit camp.
" chief I will use the kitchen to study the bandit camp further and make some plans so make sure no one will disturb me, " Gael said as he walk towards the kitchen door.
" Okay, I will make sure no one will disturb you " the village chief nodded.
" Fortis, go play with Mary," Gael said to Fortis, Fortis happily went outside with Mary to play, Mary is now more energetic and smiling a lot as well compared to when Gael just arrived.
Gael entered the kitchen and he placed the sketch he made on the table, he placed his sword on the table as well, on the sketch you can see the placement of the tents, the fence as well as the entrances and the positioning of the bandit guarding the entrances, there are some landmarks as well, there are 'X' marks outside the drawing of the fence of the bandit camp it indicated the traps placed by Fortis.
" Now let's start planning, " Gael said as he stretched out his arms and neck.