One of the main trade routes of Leia Kingdom passes through Ballad County .
So, the merchant of both Aigr duchy and Inva empire, who wants to do trades with the kingdom also has to pass through ballad county.
Naturally, as one of the main trade hubs of Leia Kingdom, they are also one of wealthiest territory in the kingdom and also subjected to jealousy from many nobles .
But during the past year, the situation in the County was grim as the merchants, who were using the ballad County's trade routes were frequently getting attacked by many bandits groups who were hiding in the forest range which borders both the Inva empire and county.
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In the middle of the ballad's county capital, virro, a light brown colour mansion which is dipped in luxury and elegance, is standing proudly.
Anyone who passes from the front of it, are mesmerize by the beauty of this marvelous piece of architecture .
In the office room of this mansion, a brunette middle aged man whose hair was neatly combed backward, wearing a luxurious coat decorated with gold and silver is reading some reports by sitting in his chair.
This man is Yndar ballad, lord of ballad county .
Upon completion of reading the reports, a sigh has left from Yndar mouth .
He put down the reports on the office's study table and with a defeated expression on his face, he closes his eyes and leans back in his chair .
The report that he was reading previously, has mentioning of another failed quest for bandit subjugation .
During the past one year, Ynder has issued many subjugation quests but none of his efforts were successful in successfully subjugating these groups.
So as a result, during this past year there was a significant reduction in the number of merchants using the county's trade routes.
upon pondering about what to do with the current situation of his territory, a knock has been heard on his office front door .
Hearing the knock, Ynder immediately sat upright and adjusted his clothes.
Previously, the tense expression on Ynder's face is nowhere to be found as it is replaced with a nonchalant one as if the report has a mention of some simple matter not some serious matter.
Ynder kept his eye on the reports and said with authoritative tone
" come in "
The door opens and a man in his 50s wearing a butler suit, enters the room .
This man is the head butler of the ballad mansion, he is also one of the few people that Ynder respects .
He then without any delay, hurriedly walked towards Ynder and stopped only when he was in front of Ynder's table .
While the butler was walking toward him, Ynder saw from his corner of his eyes while continuing his act, that this man is carrying a black colour parcel in his hand. But Ynder didn't say anything, while patiently waiting for the other party to speak about it.
" lord, a parcel arrived for you " informed the Buttler with a light bow toward Ynder.
upon hearing Butler's voice, Ynder put down the reports and looked towards the package in Butler's hand .
After observing parcel for a brief period of time, a frown appears on his face as he asks in a suspicious tone
"Robert!! It doesn't have any family emblem, who sent it?
".
It was common for Ynder to received many gifts on a daily basis. They were mainly from nobles or some famous people, who were trying to get on his good side .
So, Robert has the permission from Ynder to deal with these gifts accordingly.
But this gift is rather suspicious, as it doesn't contain a name or any mark in it to determine the sender's identity.
As Robert passed the gift box to Ynder, he takes out a piece of paper from his waist coat pocket and places it in the table
" lord, I was not able to identify the sender's identity but this letter was with the box and your name was written on it.
This gift box was found in front of the mansion's main gate, which was later picked up by one of our guards .
Lord, I had checked this package by personally bringing it to our mansion's mage and he confirmed that, it's safe and it doesn't contain any harmful material, so without any delay I brought it to you . "
upon hearing his answer, Ynder nodded his head and took the letter from the front of the table .
He opens the folded piece of paper and reads the message on it
[ Count ballad !!! even though we are not in front of each other, it is nice to meet you .
I know you are very busy as well as troubled person who is surrounded by many problems.
But as your well wisher, how can I let you suffer alone in this difficult time . So, not much but one of your problem's solutions is in that gift box . Please check it . I am sure you will thank me later.]
Ynder put down the letter on the table and hurriedly picked up the box to open it which was placed on the side of the table .
Upon opening the box, Ynder's face suddenly becomes pale.
His facial expression before opening the box was a curious one but it changes to a terrified one upon finding the content of black gift box .
But after a few moments, suddenly it took 180° turn and changed into an excited one as if his face never had the previous horrific expression.
Robert upon seeing the unusual behaviour of Ynder, he moves from the front of the table towards Ynder's side to check the content of the box .
upon seeing the content, Robert gets frozen on the spot .
What Robert saw is a neatly cut head of a person, which is preserved by the preservation magic to prevent it from decaying.
But Robert immediately recovered from his shock, and started to rack his brain to find out the owner of this head .
After a few minutes of thinking about this, suddenly his eyes brighten up as he recognised the head owner .
Ynder seeing the change in Robert expression, asked him with a big smile
" do you recognize it ?"
"How could I not lord, his banner is placed in every corner of Virro. This person is the most wanted person in this county." replied the butler with a similar excited expression as the Ynder .
" yeh!! I could never expect in my wildest dreams that I would see the head of The bandit king in this way, much less parceled in a gift box " . said with a little chuckle
the content of the gift box is the head of The bandit King, which has troubled Ynder for the past one year .
Previously, there were bandit groups which attacked the merchants, but not in a regular fashion or more aggressively as of now .
As they were immediately plunged by the ballad country guards if they caused trouble. so every bandit lives in fear .
But one year ago, a person appeared in the forest where the bandits had made their hideout .
He single-handedly subjugated every single bandits group in the forest in a single day and named himself as a Bandit king .
The arrogance of naming himself as a Bandit king was also supported by his strength as he was identified as one the S rank cultivator .
This was also one of the main reasons behind so many failed subjugation quests as S rank is considered to be closest one to become a transdecent .
In the ballad country only the count Ynder is a S rank and in Ieia Kingdom S rank cultivator can be counted on fingers so, you can now estimate that how rare it was for a S rank individuals to appear .
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2 days prior to this incident.
Sun appears near the forest with the coordinates that Alen has provided to him .
This area is one of the areas from where the merchants pass .