"Your Highness". Anna called.
"Be quiet Anna". He said, shutting her up from interrupting his conversation with the man.
"Tell me, do you have any idea where this bandits are located". Mikeal questioned.
"Of course, I do. I would have taken them out myself if I had the means to".
He showed bitterness as he clenched his fist with disappointment at his weakness.
"Take me there". Mikeal ordered.
"Your Highness, you can't. You absolutely can't". Says Anna, going to the front to block Mikeal from going.
Without trying to rebuke her action, Mikeal turned to the saddened villagers as he spoke.
"You are all in distress are you not". He asked, to which they nodded weakly.
"I have been assigned to this land to lord over you all. And I for one believe that the responsibility of a lord is to see to the distress of his subjects, to attend to their needs and concerns". He exclaimed.
"Tell me, are you not all in distress? Are you not in pain and anguish". He asked once more.
Listening to him speak, to him question their emotional state had them all speechless.
As though they all planned it, the villagers each went on their knees one at a time, including the old man.
"My lord, we are in distress. Please, help your pitiful subjects!". They cried out to him.
Having heard their pleas, he turned to Anna as he said. "You see now why I have to do this". He retorts.
"Before you try to stop me from helping my subjects, ask yourself this; what sort of lord do you wish to serve under". Mikeal articulated an answer that choked Anna's throat.
"If you are to insist on going, I suggest you get some rest first your Highness". She suggested to which she further explained.
"You have been on the road for months with as minimal rest as possible. You need time to recuperate before you venture into yet another task".
His question weighed heavily on her. The kind of lord she wishes to serve is a question Anna had never taken the time to ask.
She had been blinded by loyalty linked to the royal heritage and her duties as a sworn warrior but perhaps that isn't how it is supposed to be.
"For each time I waste resting is a time the lives of the captured are put in jeopardy. As their new lord, I cannot afford to duel on such luxury neither can I keep my subjects waiting for long".
They ditched the horses and departed for the bandits hideout with the young man leading the way.
He took them east of the village settlement and threaded them on the barren plain grounds.
The north of the village is bordered by a cliff, the same one Mikeal and Anna made a stop at on their way to the village. The cliff is not only of high altitude, it also extends on a very wide scale that would take months to cover.
South of the village is the wilderness location. A place that seems so near yet so out of reach. The eastern and western part of the land is well... A plain open barren field with nothing sown on the land.
The only occupant of the land is the villagers settlement and in comparison to how wide it is, the land they accommodate is nothing but a pebble in an ocean.
"I still haven't learned of your name". Mikeal said, trying to bring up a subject to pick on rather than have a quiet lonesome journey to their location.
"Vincent, that is my name... My lord". He hesitated to refer to Mikeal by that title.
"Vincent?- is there anything we should be aware of about these bandits". He queried.
Mikeal wants to be prepared for an in-case situation. He is not fearful of what he might encounter. After all, the chances of him meeting another mage are on the extremely rare side.
If it is just humans, he has no reason to fear. But he can never be too careful as well.
"They arrived in our village's vicinity about a month ago".
'Oh, it's a story now!'. Mikeal wondered.
He had only asked to be filled in on their situation not a tale of how they came to be. That is of no significance. But then... He decided to let him cook. It wouldn't hurt to have that extra information.
"Even before their arrival, we had always been worse off and barely struggling for survival".
'Yeah, that is not so hard to notice'. He remarked, inwardly.
Mikeal could already see their situation, the land itself and their homes. He did not need to be told to know how poverty-stricken the villagers were.
Vincent explained it all, both the significant and the insignificant points. He awakened Mikeal's understanding of it.
He was made to know that the bandits demanded the villagers pay tribute for allowing them to live and toil on the land, the very same land the villagers ancestors left behind for their predecessors.
So yeah, in a way the bandits are more than just bandits. They are treacherous scums who decided to take their women hostage as payment for their debt, the so-called tribute they demanded of the villagers.
Mikeal found himself strangely calm through Vincent's explanation. The villagers had gone through worse at the hands of the bandits.
Tales of their suffering would have a lot sobbing uncontrollably and others filled with immense pity toward them.
Mikeal however felt none of those. He was just plain and simple-minded. His opinion on the issue does not venture past bringing the bandits to justice.
As for his opinion on their sufferings, he had no comment except to solve the issue as their lord. For him, it was just work, an obligation as their new lord.
No personal vendetta to pick with the bandits or revenge to enact on them.
'Though I can't say the same for him'. He retorts, taking a glance at Vincent whose eyes are bloodshot as he speaks about the bandits.