Day 5/7, late at night.
"A spy?!" A middle-aged man was shocked.
He was the leader of one of the teams that survived; a small group of twenty-four bandits led by the man, a peak second-stage Guardian mage.
"Yes. This was deduced by none other than our boss." A burly man smiled and replied.
"I'm not doubting, boss Kieran, but can you help us clarify what you mean by a spy existing amongst us." A brown-haired man who looked like he had been raised in a desert[1] spoke up.
The man was the head of the only mid-sized bandit group remaining if Bayern, who was absent from this gathering, was ignored. Unlike the other bandit head present, he was a mid-rank third-stage Guardian mage, so his words had more weight even though he was currently in the Purple Snake gang's base.
The burly man frowned at the speaker and just as he was about to lash out, a voice sounded from the curtains behind him.
"Relax, Viper. We aren't bullies."
Although the speaker behind the curtain couldn't be seen, the voice obviously belonged to a male. Also, a silhouette of the figure could be made out thanks to the lighting from the other side which cast a shadow onto the opaque curtain.
The man behind the curtain was the leader of the renowned Purple Snake gang as well as the only peak third-stage Guardian bandit in the region, Kieran.
"Yes, boss." The burly man, Viper, replied.
"You're wondering why I said there was a spy, right, Tarik? If I'm correct, you believe that I'm just spouting nonsense to get you all anxious and then slowly begin to absorb your groups, right? That's not a bad take." Kieran replied with a calm voice.
The brown-haired man, Tarik, was surprised at Kieran's conclusion but he nodded as the words were true. Tarik was indeed suspicious that Kieran was planning to create confusion and anxiety amongst the various bandit groups and utilize the excuse of a spy leaking intel, to eliminate those who stood in his way or would refuse to bow to him. If that were to happen, there was no guarantee that Tarik could keep his head unless he bowed to Kieran, but that was against Tarik's nature.
In fact, if not for the fact that there was some evidence that their hunters were a small team of mages, he would have left the area long ago.
"However, you're wrong. To be honest, if I want to suppress and take over your groups, I can do so easily." Kieran replied.
His silhouette picked up a cup and sipped from it. At the same time, his aura burst forth with immense ferocity. It started from the early rank of the first-stage of the Guardian realm and began climbing quickly to reach the peak of the third-stage, Kieran's original level of power.
However, just when Tarik thought it was all over, Kieran's aura burst again and reached the early rank of the fourth-stage of the Guardian realm.
Tarik widened his eyes and tightened his fists, both in fear and astonishment. Kieran was not a peak rank third-stage Guardian mage as everyone thought, he was a fourth-stage Guardian mage.
This wasn't just a difference of one rank but a difference in phase. Kieran was now a second-phase Guardian mage; he could easily take down third-stage Guardian mages without a sweat.
"I see." Tarik's heart beat fiercely.
'He's right. With such strength, he doesn't need to scheme against us.'
Seeing that his actions had eventually led to his expectations, Kieran dropped the cup and continued.
"As I was saying, there is a spy amongst us, or rather, used to be. This isn't a suspicion or an idea of mine that we recently conjured. On the contrary, I've had this suspicion for a while now but only confirmed it thanks to this event. Bayern is a spy with ties to the Arnhaunt family."
Tarik and the other two bandit heads had their eyes wide in shock.
"I can't believe it." One of them said with disbelief.
"I can't say the details now, but if you want, I can have my men hand you some of the evidence we've collected. From how his team operated, how they treated their targets, and who their targets were, to his personal decisions and his management policies, Bayern left some suspicious prints in his moves which had formed evidences against him. All the evidences pointed to a conjecture of mine which was further confirmed by the recent happenings as well as Bayern's actions." Kieran said.
"In this time of distress, Bayern retreated? Why? After all, it was one of his team members that had presented us with a part of the information relating to the enemy. Unless he was being cautious, I see no reason for him to have retreated. But even then, why? We can always attack the enemy and once we win, he could have retreated.
"Apart from that, isn't it fishy how the enemy took all the others down within just four days? How did they know their locations? How did they draw them out? Why were they so confident? Unless the enemy was overwhelmingly powerful, which we have already confirmed to not be so, the only other option was that they had inside information. In that case, the spy would have to be someone high ranking." Kieran said.
He then continued.
"If we are to assume that Bayern is the spy, then it would make perfect sense as to why he had retreated. He wouldn't want his men to be caught in a crossfire so the only option would be to avoid the final battle, which was exactly what he did."
"Damn it." The first bandit leader who spoke, banged his fist on the table.
Tarik didn't say anything yet, but there was a glum look on his face and a slight murderous aura around him.
"Then why didn't you kill him from the start?" Tarik finally spoke.
"I had my reasons." Kieran replied as he picked up the cup again and drank from it.
Tarik glared at the silhouette behind the curtain but he did nothing more than that. Kieran was already stronger than him before and the revelation that he was now a fourth-stage Guardian mage made Tarik even less willing to face him.
"If this is true, then that means that the enemy already have information on us all, even our meeting and the decision to work together." One of the bandit leaders said.
"True, but it doesn't matter." Kieran said.
"What they have on us is limited to what Bayern knows. For example, they don't know that I am a fourth-stage Guardian mage. If they did, they wouldn't dare to face us." Kieran said with a smile, although none of them could see it.
"You're right."
Tarik nodded in agreement as he knew that Kieran as right.
The information on the enemy team wasn't just acquired by Bayern's group alone but also Kieran's Purple Snake gang. According to the data, the estimated strength of the entire enemy team was on par with a fourth-stage Guardian mage, in other words, one Kieran. If the enemy knew this, they would have retreated or waited for reinforcement, but it wasn't like the bandits would wait for that to happen.
Also, although, Kieran was on par with the combined enemy forces, he wouldn't be fighting alone. In summary, the enemy was both outnumbered and outmatched by the bandit alliance. In fact, even Kieran's Purple Snake gang alone should be capable of handling them, but to be sure and reduce risks, Kieran had requested their support.
"What do you want us to do?"
. . .
Day 6/7
After Bayern's information, Asher spent the previous day getting into contact with Luther and Aaron and having them unify their teams as he planned to take on the Purple Snake gang. The reason for this was simple and obvious.
The gang, by now, would have formed a temporary alliance with the remaining survivors. Under Asher's order, Bayern had led his group away but the Purple Snake still had three allies to work with. If Luther's or Aaron's team tried to take them alone, they would lose unless Asher permits them to release the seals on their strength. Even then, there was still a chance of losing men as they would be easily outnumbered by the opponents. In the end, the only smart choice of action was to attack together.
Information was power and with the information about the various groups Asher had got from Bayern, it wouldn't be difficult to plan the Purple Snake and co's defeat.
"Here's what we know." Asher handed Luther and Aaron a piece of paper.
"We have to strike fast so we move before noon." Asher said.
"Shouldn't we wait for the night to fall?" Aaron asked.
"That's bland and very predictable." Asher smirked.
"Predictable?" Aaron was confused.
Since they had information on their opponents, it was easy for them to move one step ahead so, there was no need to rush things that much. Even till now, Aaron didn't believe that it was possible for their movements to be tracked as they moved quickly. Apart from that, they didn't leave behind any traces of their next target or direction.
"Yes, predictable, because they already know." Asher smiled cunningly.