Putting the matter of the usefulness of the Knights aside, if what the Bandits are after is not revenge for being cast out from the city, then wouldn't that mean that I'm going to be targeted as the one who killed the group that attacked the village after all?
The next day, I went to the slums a little earlier, sometime before midnight. The promised day of my payment to the Slave Merchant is almost upon me, so I have to do something about the rest of the money for Roxanne's purchase today.
Once again I went out without borrowing a lantern, and observed my surroundings while blending in with the darkness around me.
It took me some time, but I finally found him near the house in the alley I discovered yesterday: The Lv.9 Bandit who dragged that woman away, the one who was able to speak Brahim. He was leaning against the house's door, probably standing on guard duty, but luckily for me it doesn't look like he's got company. Assuming that we're alone in here, I called out to him.
「Have a minute to spare?」
「Who the fuck are you?」
「No one in particular. And certainly no one suspicious.」
Yeah, that's the most suspicious line in the book. You can't get any more suspicious than that even if you tried.
「The fuck do you want?」
The Bandit lifted the lantern he was holding in one hand to illuminate me. I on the other hand could not see his face at all, since he was weraing a hooded cloak that covered the entirety of his face.
「I want you to tell me something. But not for free of course. I assume you know what this is?」
I reached under my own cloak and produced the Bandit Bandana from under it.
「This is…!」
「Tell me what I want to know, and I'll be willing to part with it for as little as one gold coin.」
「Just one coin, huh? Alright, what do you want to hear?」
「Tell me about Hugo.」
As I suspected, just showing the Bandit Bandana to this guy loosened his lips immidiately. Offering it to him at such a dirt-cheap price was a nice finishing blow on my part as well. After all, if what I learned about the Bandit Bandana is true, meaning that it amplifies the abilities of whoever is wearing it as long as he or she has one of the criminal Jobs, I'm willing to bet that he would pay every amount of money to get his hands on it, even if I wanted 10,000 or 20, 000 Nar for it.
「It would seem that Hugo Boss got killed. (TL Note: the term used here is "Aniki", a word used to describe a Yakuza of older, or senior rank within the family, and is said as a title of respect from a lower ranking family member to a higher, therefore the word "Boss" is used here instead.)」
「I see, so he's dead, huh? Could you go into more details about that? I'm afraid I didn't hear the full story of how it happened.」
After feigning feeling sorry for the dead Bandit, I asked the one in front of me to continue. So the Hugo who got killed must be the same one that I heard him being mentioned last time in that conversation I have been eveasdroping on. That must be the name of the Bandit Chief whom I have killed during the attack on the village. Since this guy called him Boss then I guess he was either on friendly terms with him or respected him a great deal. If he was a member of one of the factions opposed to the one this Bandit in front of me belonged to then he wouldn't be talking about his death with such sorrowful voice. So in order to get on this guy's good side, let's keep the act of me feeling sorry for his loss a bit more.
「Sounds good to me. I'm keeping the dough in my room, so we're going to continue our talk there. What do you say to that?」
「No objections here.」
I nodded in agreement. The man started walking, and I followed after him as he entered the house. So that really is a Bandit's hideout then? I had my suspicions about it, but I thought it would be too convenient to actually be true. But hey, if life's handing me an easy solution to my current problems then of course I'll take it without a second thought! This is so convenient for me, and worked out better than I expected. As I follow the bandit inside the house, I'm darting left and right with my eyes to check my surroundings and keep my sword arm steady. If I get a good look at this place, I will be able to add it as one more location I can warp to should the need for that ever arises.
「Wait here for a bit. I'll go get the money.」
「'Kay.」
The man told me to wait as we proceeded down the hallway. We stopped in front of the door at the very end when he told me to wait outside. He then opened the door and entered inside. Before he closed the door behind him, the light of his lantern illuminated the inside of the room just enough so that I could also have a good look at it. The more spots for me to warp to in case of an emergency, the better.
「Sorry about that. That was the leader's room. Today's my turn to keep watch, so I also have to check up on him every once in a while. Good thing that he's a super heavy sleeper. He also knew Hugo Boss, you know? Want to greet him later?」
He told me when he came back to me. The faction he belongs to really must not be a hostile one.
「That would be nice.」
After that, I followed the Bandit without saying anything. Arriving in one of the other rooms, the Bandit laid down the lantern and looked back at me. His lantern was shaped like a square without a lid. When I peeked at it from above, I could see the small flame as it flickered about. I guess this has to be this guy's room. Other than a simple bed there was pretty much nothing else in here. Now this is a one bleak room. Compared to this one, even my room back at the inn has more things in it.
「Before I give you the money, I want to confirm that this is really a Bandit Bandana and not some kinda fake. You don't mind that, do you?」
「Sure. Just a second.」
I reached under my cloak to take the Bandit Bandana out…
「Kuh…!」
Suddenly, the guy swung his fist towards me! I dodged the blow at the last possible moment, but as a result, the Scimitar I was carrying on my waistbelt was now being held by the Bandit. He must've snatched it away from me when I was busy avoiding his punch.
「That Hugo really was a moron. I assume you know about the turf war that happened some time ago, right? The one who was supposed to emerge victorious from it was supposed to be him, so my faction joined forces with another to get rid of that pest! We only wanted him out of the city so that he wouldn't get in our way anymore, but imagine my surprise when I heard that he tried to raid some random village and failed, actually getting offed in the process! I swear, I thought I was going to laugh my balls of when I heard that!」
「I see.」
「That I'm going to get my hands on the Bandit Bandana, I will become a force to be reckoned with! But I'm not just going to stop at taking control of the slums, oh no! My ambitions are bigger than that! Much, much bigger! It's no use trying to escape, kid. Nobody else is here beside us, nobody saw us coming in here, and nobody is going to come to your rescue. Now, hand over the Bandit Bandana and don't try to do anything stupid, or else.」
Now that he mentions it, I really haven't seen anyone else since we entered the house.
What this guy said just now matched with my own information. I also think it is safe to assume that his aim was to steal the Bandit Bandana from me this entire time. That is why he has brought me here to this secluded place away from the eyes of other people. He can rob me of my item here and then kill me, and no one would ever noticed that anything happened here at all. He probably didn't even bring any money for that little act of his. But if he thinks he's got me cornered, than boy do I have news for him!