It would have taken a lot of time to drag along all the bandits to the enforcer's office with the carriage being broken. But Gale wasn't irresponsible enough to leave them to their devices or kill them in cold blood.
The justice system was put in place for a reason. Terrible things tend to happen when loose practitioners take things into their hands. No matter if you're a righteous fool or an evildoer.
Although Gale wasn't sure about Tianhui's laws and regulations, he was certain it was the right move to drag them to the enforcers' office, no matter how long it would take. Shi Jun advised in that direction as well.
Also, Sun Ziang was the newly appointed enforcer whom Gale was mildly familiar with. That fellow seemed like the right kind of person to take care of things like this.
The journey back would have been a drag. Thankfully, they found a carriage from a farm after moving a few miles. The farmer wasn't ready to let go of his carriage to suspicious-looking people who were dragging a handful of wounded fellows. After knowing the people were all practitioners, he was scared shitless.
Luckily, some iron marks helped to lift the farmer's spirit.
Gale didn't take chances for the rest of the journey. Shi Jun took the reins and Gale watched over the captives. Meanwhile, Vale watched for the ambush, following the carriage on foot.
Gale spent the rest of the journey studying, sitting in the middle of the bandits. Most of them were spent and strained to anything, but still he bound them all together. The Boss bandit was probably crippled for life, though worse fate awaited him and everyone else of his group.
The Xianxia land was brutal with their punishment. Shi Jun informed him that most of the bandits would be executed after their crimes getting addressed.
As for answers, he got a few. Supposedly, through some channels the Firewolf gang learned Gale had a dimensional bag with him, full of treasures. Gale wondered how that information got out. As far as he was concerned, he hadn't flaunted his wealth here yet.
The bandits refrained from pointing out where they got the information about him, but he had his suspicions. All they could tell him was that someone tipped their boss about him.
A copper-ranked foreigner, or Iron at best with a lot of treasure with him. That seemed like a juicy enough target for the bandits.
Getting the bandits to the Enforcer's office was troublesome, but it turns out making the enforcer available to listen to him was another trouble on its own.
Unfortunately, the righteous son of the Sun Clan wasn't present. Gale took a mental note to remind the bloke when he met him again at the inn.
As for the recordings, he let Shi Jun throw the weight of the artisan's guild to clear things up. Gale left after making sure everything was taken care of and the convicted were locked up. Their crimes would be addressed afterward and would be dealt with accordingly.
Unless someone pulls the string from the dark. That would be intriguing. If the people behind let the bandits die so easily, like pawns on the board of chess, then it would be difficult for him to go after them legally.
However, would he like to go after the masterminds? That's not really his job. The only reason he came to this town was seeking peace.
"I'm tired of this shit," Gold told his buddy as they returned to the inn.
The Inn remained in stillness with the regular connoisseur of cheap liquor already departed. Wang Li was in her usual spot, Rong'er on her lap as they were studying.
"At last, you came back," Wang Li said. "Didn't you go just to check the site?"
"I did," Gale said with a smile, "and then we decided to go woodcutting. That took some time. We would've returned by sundown, but Vale got lost in the mountains and we came across a minor issue on the way back, which delayed the journey."
"Seemed like you had a busy day."
"Tell me about it." Gale sighed. "Is Sun Ziang here?"
"Why?" she asked, a wicked smile creeping to her lips. "You two want to revisit your interest? Together?"
Gale groaned. "Nah, I just beat up a bunch of bandits on the way back. I thought it would be better to tell him about it."
"What?!" Wang Li sprang up from her seat. She inspected him thoroughly only to find bloodstains on his tunic. No visible injuries as far as she could see. "Bandits. Are you hurt?"
"Not even a scratch, but they did kill one horse, though."
"Bandits. They usually don't act in the open. At least not in the town," the innkeeper muttered, and remembered the question. "Sun Ziang's not here. He left, too, right after you departed."
"He's not in the enforcer's office, either," Gale mumbled. "Anyway, did you keep the Inn open only for me?"
"And my husband," Wang Li said and let out a sigh unconsciously.
"Well, I'll leave you to it then," Gale said and walked towards the bath. Vale trailing along.
"Remind me tomorrow. You still owe me three cups of hot chocolates," Wang Li added.
"Sure. I'm off to the bath."
Gale needed a bath. Though he was relatively clean, there was blood on his tunic. He just needed a few minutes of relaxation soaked in hot water to refresh himself. Today, Gale would indulge himself a little more.
That was the first fight he was in after what happened to him. His hands hadn't wavered, and he was absolutely certain they wouldn't if he had to kill them all. Honestly, it would've been easier.
Gale still wasn't used to being weaker. Power is a terrible thing. Once you tasted true power, there was no going back.
"Woo!" Vale rubbed his fluffy head on his legs, finding him distressed.
"It's nothing."
***
Gale was stretched like a dead corpse inside the stone bath. He wasn't really that tired, just mentally exhausted. Unfortunately, there was nothing 'just' about being mentally exhausted.
The bath relieves his spirit somewhat, but the mental exhaustion never goes away. It came back every other day to torment him quietly again.
Gale was just loosening up when echoes of loud bickering entered his ears. The female voice seemed to be Wang Li's and the other one was probably her husband's.
Gale was sure of it as more of the arguments came to his ears. Wang Li seemed to be angry because her husband came late and many other things. Women tend to bring up everything during arguments.
However, her husband wasn't in the mood to listen. He shouted back equally as the argument went back and forth.
Eventually, Gale ignored them, shaking his head. He took a deep breath and submerged in the water.
Life is exhausting.
_________
Writing is exhausting.
I don't know if it's my failings, or readers pulling stuff out of nothing. This concerns the few voices I got in the comments in the last chapter. I know a lot of you are fine with it, but I think it's good to make a few things clear. This is for yesterday's miscommunication through the chapter and the ones to come. (All the miscommunication came from a different site, but I thought it would be better to make things clear everywhere.)
Here it goes.
This is not a grim dark fantasy. There will be occasional death and killing, but nothing too dark.
I have a terrible habit of moralising characters, no matter how bad they seem. I think evil without a reason and morality is stupid and lazy.
Also, bonding Vale, Gale got the Guardian Emblem. Another thing to know about fate-locks is that not all of them are free of cost. The guardian emblem isn't for killing, but protecting. Still, Gale could've killed those bandits if he wanted and there wouldn't be any cost. The bond would only weaken in wanton killing and works more on the psychological level.
Basically, if Gale thinks the killing is worth it or justified, there won't be any problem.
We'll go into details of those restriction on later chapters.