After his encounter with the merchant, Sol continued along the path and entered the forest. He encountered new creatures he had only read about before, and seeing them in person was an enjoyable experience.
Sol had his guard down. Not being used to traveling, he was more focused on taking in the new sights, like a tourist. Even though the merchant had warned of bandits, Sol completely forgot, as it was overshadowed by the news of the Frostaxe Clan preparing to invade again.
Suddenly, an arrow flew past Sol's face. Then, the four men moved into sight as the boss yelled at him.
"Don't move, or the next one won't miss! Drop the bag!"
Being threatened by bandits for the first time in his life, Sol complied out of instinct and took off his backpack, tossing it on the ground.
"I don't have much money, just some copper. Please let me go."
The bandit who was bored before the encounter twirled his dagger while looking at Sol and, with a sinister smile, said, "Let you go? We don't want your damn copper, we want you."
'What? What could they want from me?'
Feeling he had to do something before they captured him, he used [Analysis] on the middle-aged bandit who looked like the leader.
Name: Brock
Race: Human
Talents: [Axe], [Strong]
Level: 22
HP: 310
MP: 110
Str: 41 (+10)
Vit: 31
Agi: 21
Int: 6
Wis: 11
Talent Skills:
[Fell Cleave] Lv 3
Passive Skills:
[Basic Axemanship] Lv 9, [Strength Up] Lv 2
Active Skills:
[Heavy Swing] Lv 4, [Leap] Lv 2, [Charge] Lv 2
'Wait, is he actually the weakest?'
Quickly using [Analysis] on the other three, Sol discovered that the others were even weaker, being a level or two lower, and one hadn't even unlocked their second talent yet.
'I would be more confident if I had a sword. My damage would increase greatly.'
"Hey! Stop looking around, get on the ground!"
Noticing that the bandit lacking a second talent was holding a sword, Sol sprung into action.
"Make the wind move in my favor…"
"Shit! He can use magic, shoot him!"
"[Tailwind]!"
Sol then dashed towards the sword-wielding bandit and, before the man could react, met him with a [Snap Punch] to his face.
[Snap Punch] Lv 2: Throw a straight punch at high speeds. Chance of stunning target. Cooldown: 2 minutes.
The bandit was knocked out and launched backward, dropping his sword.
Sol quickly picked up the sword and kept running to make it difficult for the bandit archer to land a shot. Brock and the other bandit with a knife tried to give chase, but Sol was too fast for them.
Before taking on the leader, Sol decided to go for the bandit archer first and remove him from the equation. Dodging an arrow and parrying the other, he quickly reached the archer.
Unable to put up proper resistance, he was slashed by Sol, breaking his bow in the process. Giving a regular punch to knock the archer unconscious, Sol returned his focus to Brock and the knife wielding bandit.
"Leave, you can't win."
"You're just a fast rat, get him, Isaac."
The knife bandit, Isaac, sprinted forward much faster than before, and Brock used [Charge] to accelerate as well.
Seeing both run at him, Sol moved his empty hand towards Isaac and cast a spell.
"Gather and slash forward, [Wind Cutter]!"
A blade of wind flew out and cut into Isaac's leg, making him fall to the ground.
Brock charged past Isaac, getting close enough to attack, and used [Fell Cleave] on Sol.
Deciding that parry might not work on such a strong attack, Sol decided to meet it with his strongest sword skill and used [Cross Slash].
As the heavy axe met Sol's sword, sparks flew, and the weapons bounced off each other.
"How?! That skill more than doubles my damage!"
'The combined effect of [Intermediate Swordsmanship] and [Cross Slash] increases my damage by almost 300%.'
Brock didn't use [Fell Cleave] again, likely because it was on cooldown. Sadly, Sol couldn't verify that as his [Analysis] skill was not high enough.
Using his massive speed advantage, Sol attacked his limbs to neutralize him. After a few basic attacks, Brock couldn't fight anymore and dropped his axe, too weak to wield it.
Sol took a moment to look around at the scene of the brawl. The bandit swordsman was still knocked out, with his body leaning against a tree. The bandit archer was sprawled on the ground, with a broken bow by his side. Isaac was awake but reeling in pain from his legs. Brock was kneeling on the ground, out of energy, with a defeated expression.
"I guess this is where it ends. I guess you were right, Isaac. Should have gone for the carriage."
"Nah boss, who could have guessed this would happen."
With both bandits talking as if they had already died, Sol felt a bit awkward and interrupted.
"Umm, I'm not killing you guys."
"Huh?"
"You're not?"
"Uhh, no. I was just going to take you to the city and turn you in."
Both bandits looked at each other in disbelief. Brock then shook his head at Sol.
"Kid, I would rather you kill me now."
"What? I don't recall hitting you in the head."
The thought, 'How naive is this kid?' ran through Brock's mind.
"Listen, it doesn't matter if you kill me now or turn me in to the city, as the outcome will be the same. If the guards don't execute me on the spot, I will be jailed, and if lucky, I will be sent to the mines to work until I die. At worst, we will be killed at a later date. There is no good outcome for us."
"I see…"
"If you understand, then it would be a mercy to kill us now rather than send us there. That or let us go."
Sol was conflicted. He understood the truth, and the "good" solution would be to kill the bandits and move on. He would even gain benefits from doing so by using [Siphon]. But Sol couldn't muster the resolve to kill another human, he had never done it before. Sol had at most seen dead bodies of adventurers who died against wolves or other monsters but this was a step too far.
If he didn't kill them and let them go, it was very likely the bandits would keep attacking others on the road. It's not like they can retire, move to the city, and live a simple life.
There was still the option to turn them in to the city, but that would simply be taking the burden of killing them off him. The bandits would still die in the end, and that didn't sit well with Sol.
Contemplating for a long while, the bandits awaited his decision.
"Let me ask you something, why did you become a bandit?"
"...We all have different reasons. I used to be an adventurer, but a quest went awry, and a noble died. Since my party couldn't even catch the killer, the noble's family directed their anger toward us. I was the only one of my party to survive. Didn't have anywhere to go, had to make money somehow. One thing led to another, and… well, here we are."
"In Isaac's case, while he can be annoying at times…"
"Hey! What does that have to do with why I became a bandit?"
"Heh. Isaac is your average alley kid, used his [Quick Hands] talent to pickpocket. Got caught, but luckily escaped and joined our group. Very few choose to be bandits; it's simply the hand they were dealt."
"I see, I think I know what to do."
Sol then backed away from Brock as he moved to where he had dropped his backpack. He picked it back up and began to walk away.
"Wait. You're actually going to let us go?"
"Yeah. It might be something I regret in the future, but right now it feels right."
In shock at being given a second chance, Brock warned Sol.
"Kid, you're naive as hell. Even if most didn't choose to become outlaws, we have all committed sins. We will likely go back to robbing others. Acting like that will eventually bite you in the ass."
Brock didn't know why he was trying to give justification to Sol to kill them. Unknowingly to Brock, Sol reminded him of himself when he was younger and that made him want to warn him, to prevent Sol from repeating the same mistakes.
"Maybe so, but I hope you take this opportunity to change your future. How long do you plan to keep robbing others? Eventually, you will encounter another strong person like me and die at their hands instead. But I believe you can do better. You did not get a choice to become a bandit, but now is your chance to change that. Once I leave, you have a choice; you can choose to go back to banditry, or you can choose to do better. You can choose to do something that you truly want to do."
Having no response to his rebuttal, Brock was silenced.
"What I want to do… I see… In that case, I thank you for this chance."
Sol waved as he walked away, hoping this was the right choice.