As the 15 remaining members of the garrison got ready, 2 weeks had passed since leaving the training camp, they had all gained a lot of experience and insight into the way of the world, it would take them 4 hours to go back.
Ferdinand suggested they take the road back to camp, it would take them 8 hours to make it back, but it would be a lot safer than cutting through the forest, Everett wanted to test the waters so he called for a vote, everyone except for himself and his two aides sided with Ferdinand´s idea.
Everett could see he had lost a lot of respect and support from the garrison since Theo´s outburst, he had to remedy the situation before arriving back to camp.
Before setting out Everette summoned Theo, "Mr. Dawes how are you feeling today, well rested I hope" Everett asked, Theo was surprised he felt Everette wanted to punish him, "I'm ok, feeling better" Theo answered, "He most likely wants to give you a formal reprimand, just be polite and agree to whatever he says even if you don't mean it" Prim advised him.
"The reason I called you here Mr. Dawes is to congratulate you on your bravery at the end of the dungeon, but also to talk with you about the words you spoke once we arrived here at Mushroom Town, you must be careful as right now you are nothing more than a trainee, whereas I'm a highborn and your captain at that, I understand you probably have never been faced with death or the hardships of battle and considering your poor upbringing I have decided to let it pass just this once, don't let it happen again, do you understand?" Everett said to Theo.
Everette said everything soothingly but with authority, it was a political scolding, Theo simply nodded, "Answer your captain!" Ariel ranted, "Yes sir!" Theo answered.
Afterward, they all met up at the town's south entrance, "Ok everyone we will be taking the official road, estimating well be back at camp in about 8 hours" Everette said.
As they got on their way, it was much easier to travel through the official road, they would just have a scenic walk back to camp, "Captain what will happen with the Spider Queens Core and the rest of the C-rank monster cores?" asked one of the trainees there.
"The B rank monster core will be delivered to the superior officers as for the C rank mana cores we have 24 of them so each of you will get one or two back at camp" Everett answered without bothering to look back at them.
After walking for a couple of hours they came across a broken down carriage with a few townspeople, "Good day lord, if we may ask for some assistance" one of the townspeople said, "What seems to be the trouble?" Everett inquired.
"We were attacked by some bandits, they destroyed our carriage and took our supplies, can you help us?" the townsman asked.
"How long ago was this and how many were there?" Everett inquired, "A couple of hours ago, there were about 6 of them, they took everything, including our family's artifact," The townsman said.
When Everette heard this his eyes glowed a little, "What type of artifact is it?" Everett asked, "It´s just an old chalice and we don´t know what it does but it´s been in our family for generations it's our good-luck charm".
"We will help you, you 3 stay here the rest of you let´s go," Everett said, he pointed to Ferdinand's two teammates and one of the trainees that had been paralyzed, the 12-man garrison that set out into the woods looking for these bandits.
"Why are we going into the woods, wouldn't the bandits just run into the next town?" someone asked, "Bandits in Vermis usually run into their hideouts or to a temporary camp to check their score and then they plan on where to head to next, so we have a day to find them and get whatever they took" Everett explained.
Theo had had enough adventures for a while so he wasn't too happy about finding bandits, he just wanted to go back to camp and go back to a monotonous routine of just training and conditioning.
After walking for a few hours they came across a clearing it looked as if a battle had happened there, with blood spills, fresh tracks all over the place, and broken down branches in two directions.
"Looks like they found some trouble, either they were attacked by something or there was a scuffle between them, let's hope it´s the latter, so well split up here" Everett stated.
"Theodore you should take the path on the right, It has a clean break on the branch and not as much blood, so the ones that survive probably went that way" Prim advised Theo.
"Let´s take the path on the right," Theo said to Ferdinand, Ferdinand looked at Theo a little surprised, and then nodded, "Well take the right path captain" Ferdinand repeated to Everette, Everett looked at Ferdinand, Everett wanted to take the path on the left, it had a blood trail so tracking would be easy, and whoever they found was likely weakened and would be easy to confront.
"Very well, take this map so you can make your way back to the road, you have two days, take Mr. Dawes´ team and that trainee, well take the path on the left" Everett announced.
As they divided into two squads of 6 Ferdinand´s squad went to the right as Everettes went to the left, "Why did you want us going right?" Ferdinand decided to ask Theo, "It was just a hunch" Theo shrugged.
Someone had passed through this way, Ferdinand was able to pick up several disturbances and lead a path, it took them 4 hours to reach a small clearing, and as the squad came up to it they found 3 individuals most likely the bandits, as soon as the bandits saw them, they relaxed, as if they were scared of something else.
On the way they got acquainted with the new member of their smaller squad, Nick an 18-year-old 3rd rank high stage earth element, who specializes in defense and tanking, he was from the same village as two of the trainees that died in the Spiders dungeon, he was quite upset both his friends had died he grew up together with them.
Ferdinand found this odd, but gave the order for the squad to surround them, "Halt don't move, who are you?" Ferdinand questioned, he was sure they were the bandits but still felt he should do his due diligence.
Ferdinand approached the 3 individuals, they seemed to be resting, he looked at some of their bags and found the chalice the villagers talked about and a few other things that matched the description of their belongings.
"You all will be detained by us for theft and pillage, you will be turned over to our captain who will decide what to do, understand?" Ferdinand stated, the 3 bandits nodded their heads, they didn't seem all that concerned that they had been caught.
The squad tied them up and took all the goods the bandits had on them, Ferdinand questioned them a bit further but seemed uneasy and gave short answers there were more of them but they were attacked by something they didn't want to describe.
As they were making their way back they came across Everette´s squad, "Great, looks like you had better luck than us" Everette exclaimed, "Was this all of them?" Everett asked, "Yes we found these 3 along with a few of the stolen goods" Ferdinand explained, "Did you find anything?" Ferdinand asked, "No one alive, but we did find quite a few bodies, whatever attacked them, ripped them to shreds, we also found some of the goods" Everette indicated.
As the 3 bandits heard this they all shuddered, "We had no luck with the artifact, what about you?"Everette inquired, "We haven't done a detailed account of the goods, we thought we would do it back at the carriage so we can return everything to the villagers" Ferdinand was quick to answer, he knew what Everette was really after was the artifact, "Very good then, let us return quickly" Everette winced his words were appropriate but his demeanor was of an upset person.
After reaching the carriage that had been fixed by the 3 remaining trainees, the villagers were overjoyed that they were able to capture the bandits, after looking through everything, they claimed it was all there, "Did you also manage to find our family Chalice?" The villager asked, "Yes, here it is" Ferdinand answered as he took the chalice from his pack and returned it to the villager.
Everett saw this but said nothing, it was too late to take it now, "As you can see we have been able to provide you with a great service today" Everett said, the villager clearly understood that they had no reason to help them, "Yes, we are so grateful to all of you young lords, as a token of appreciation please accept our finest wine" The villager said, "We thank you for your intentions, unfortunately, we are to be on duty, so alcohol isn't the best of compensations, how about the artifact, as you claim, you don't know what it does, we can get it properly appraised and for surrendering such a precious item we can gift you appropriately" Everett was pushing to get the chalice but the villager became rather hesitant, it would be a great offense if he were to cross a Highborn, as he was of a lower class.
"As you ponder this, we must impart justice so your misfortune may not befall unto others," Everett said, "Line up the bandits, we will be doing a swift execution" Everett stated, this was a tactic, he was well within the legal parameters, as bandits caught by law would be executed, but he was doing this as a show of strength to nudge the villager into surrendering their artifact.
"What? we should leave that to the local authorities, we are a garrison in training!" Ferdinand wasn't able to hold back at this, as a former noble he had been taught that executions were a part of life, and the best punishment, as it allowed fear to be instilled in the people and the ones that broke a rule would never be able to break it again.
Everett was now glaring at Ferdinand with deep hatred, the whole garrison was looking at the two of them a little frozen in place, Ferdinand had gained everyone's respect as he was a great warrior but also had proved to be someone who cared for their safety and would always counsel for the safer option.
One of the bandits had heard everything, he was convinced the villager had cast a curse on them for taking their goods, he cut his bindings and lunged at the villager with a hidden knife he had.
Because everyone was distracted by Everette and Ferdinand, all they could do was watch, the bandit was a few seconds away from cutting the villager's throat, the villager was a commoner non awakened, it would be like cutting through butter, killing him as he would drown in his blood.
Theo wanted no more senseless killing and he was determined not to let another innocent person die, he did not hesitate and immediately cast Time-Step, he quickly cut the distance and reached the bandit before he could strike the killing blow.
Theo then disarmed the bandit and punished him, Theo seemed a completely different person, completely focused and determined, it was a one-sided affair.
Everyone was shocked by Theo´s quick reaction, the bandit was pinned on the floor with Theo restraining him, Ferdinand was happy with Theo´s actions, he didn't think in such a short time he'd be able to become such a determined individual, that abilities that Theo was displaying were beyond his years.
Even Everette was impressed, "Good work Mr. Dawes, great reflexes, you just saved this man's life," Everett said as he pointed at the villager, the villager was on the ground panting for breath as he had just seen his life flash before his eyes, terror, and relief could be seen in his wide eyes.
"Thank you so much, young lord," the villager said to Theo as he prostrated himself in a sign of deep respect, Theo just waved him off as he felt uneasy with such a show of gratitude towards him, having never been on the receiving end of such a thing he felt a little embarrassed and awkward.
"Now, it is time to execute these bandits before they try something else" Everett announced, "No, there will be no more death" Theo stated, Everette was at a loss he had just complimented Theo and displayed his approval to him and now he was disrespecting his authority blatantly and publicly.
As Everette was eyeing Theo, "Please, we have faced enough death captain Everette, may we leave this to the local authorities to do with them as they see fit" Theo inquired respectfully, trying to give Everette some face.
Everett had had enough, "Very well, follow the villagers back to town with the bandits and deliver them safely, Ferdinand see to it that it gets done, your squad will stay with you as for the rest of you it is time to move back, we'll wait for you back at training camp" Everett boomed and with no further delay they took their leave without looking back.
"That was brave of you Theo, but never disrespect a noble much less a highborn in a public forum, they can take your life and no one would be able to help you" Ferdinand advised Theo, Theo himself did not know why he even risked so much for bandits no less, he had just had enough and could not stop himself.
"I'm proud of you Theodore, Justice is one of the cardinal human virtues, never apologize for imparting it nothing is to be preferred before justice," Prim said to Theo.
After they arrived once again at Mushroom Town they turned the bandits over to the Constables Post, after which they accompanied the villagers safely to their residence.
"Thank you, young lords, for your assistance, without these goods we´d have been lost, please accept this as a token of our gratitude," the villager said as he offered his family´s artifact to Theo, "There is no need, please keep your family's artifact," Theo said he felt he could not accept such a gift.
"You saved my life and all of my family, to gift you with this in exchange for our lives is nothing, even if we had greater riches they would not be enough to pay you back," the villager said as he handed the chalice to Theo.
Theo took it and thanked the villagers as the squad left and made their way back to the inn where they would be staying once again at Mushroom Town, "Do you know what this artifact does?" Theo asked Prim, "I have some idea but will need to have a closer look to confirm," Prim said, Theo, nodded.