Augustus waited outside the new gates, relaxing his fingers on the hilt of his blade. A cold light flashed through his patience gaze, the late evening breeze caressing his cheeks.
"Where's Ralph?" Augustus frowned, wishing he had some sort of clock with him. He sighed, scratching his chin, 'I never faced any bandit attacks in my past life. It's strange.'
The deeper he dug, the more shit he discovered at the bottom of the well. Even if he'd managed the horde, Augustus never imagined bigger threats were hidden under his nose.
'If I can neutralise the attacks, I'll have someone look into the horde. If we can end it before it starts like with the goblins—' Augustus frowned, lowering his gaze, 'It'd be nice.'
He heard ruffling from ahead, lifting his gaze to see a big crowd approaching. Seeing them march up the forest path, Augustus cleared his throat, "This is where you'd pause."
He eyed the crowd as they halted. Only few wore battle armour over their rags while others were defenceless. They brandished cheap looking short swords, daggers and clubs.
As the crowd locked in on the man outside the gates, bows were lifted from the back-lines and aimed at him. Augustus sighed, watching as the arrows came flying at his face.
"I wanted to have a fair discussion." Augustus continued, drawing his blade. He cut in calculated arcs, slashing all the incoming arrows. He cleared his throat, "I am very tired."
He'd barely slept since he arrived here, and he'd been wasting energy. Even if Augustus had trained this body for years as a prince, it was still mortal and had its limits— like this.
"Is he the champion?" A bandit asked, turning to another.
The other blinked, reaching into his pockets and bringing out a sketched portrait. The bandit alternated between Augustus and the portrait with his gaze, then shook his head.
"Then, charge!" The bandit roared, swinging his blade in Augustus' direction. Uttering a fierce war cry, the bandit charged through the forest with the gang rushing behind him.
'The catapult or whatever they're using to bash the gates haven't arrived yet.' Holding his chin with his pupils narrowed, Augustus thought to himself, ' I'll have to destroy that,'
Augustus pulled his blade, closing his eyes and drawing a deep breath. As the mad war cries of the bandits filled his ears, their footsteps raining on the earth, he paused to think.
'If the catapult retreated, then another group could be formed for part two that'll be a lot more difficult to deal with that this one.' He continued, 'I'll stall until it arrives then.'
Seeing the bandits charging blindly into his attack range like this did not help him in the slightest, "I guess I'll have to do this myself, with or without Aaron. What a nuisa—"
A powerful burst of light tore past Augustus, blasting into the crowd. There was a big explosion, and the bandits were blown into the sky, roasted from the powerful light blast.
A plethora of slashes tore through the crowd, sending limbs flying into the air. Blood, mixed with the ash of burnt flesh, rained on the ground with the roasted bandit's bodies.
'About time.' Augustus took the chance, drawing a deep breath and dashed forward in a blink, tearing through the forest path with his eyes focused ahead, 'His entrance is nice.'
Augustus darted through the crowd, sighting the onager being pushed atop makeshift wheels by eight men. He grabbed the hilt of his blade, then swung it with all of his might.
The onager, along with the bandits pushing it, was severed in halves. As blood rained, Augustus halted his dash and turned around, flicking his blade to the side, "Very strange."
[E-Ranked Quest, "End Bandit Raid" Completed!]
[10, 000 Gold Gained!]
The catapult was neatly made, unlike the wheels it rode. There was no way the bandit gang could have gotten their hands on such a beautiful piece, "I'll have someone check it."
Sadly, he wasn't the best with these technologies. Augustus held his chin, watching as the bodies rolled down the earth, "I should have left one alive for interrogative purposes."
Aaron approached from behind, his eyes as cold as ice. The bandits scattered for their lives, running into the forests, his tone was just as icy, "Augustus, are these all of them?"
"Leave a few alive." Augustus waved his hand, turning around to stare down the path, his eyes narrowed to needle point, "Make sure that not a single man escapes this forest."
Aaron nodded his head, then vanished in the next instance. His gaze scanning the bush for hiding bandits that'd escaped deep into the forest, marching calmly, his brows knitted.
"Look at them, just moments after they'd charged in blindly to kill me." Augustus held a demeaning gaze watching all the bandits, "Are their lives any less worthless than ours?"
Unfortunately for them, all the escape routes out of Iona have been cut off by the very ones who hired them. Either Aaron catches them, or they get mauled by some stray beasts.
Augustus spun around, walking back to the village and dragging the catapult with one hand, his brows furrowed, "Tomorrow, I'll set out to destroy all the blockades around us."
While he dragged the onager, Augustus' gaze shifted from left to right. A small pigeon circled around him, a familiar red bird, and he groaned. He let it follow him into the town.
As soon as he entered through the gates, Augustus let go of the halved onager. The bird circled him one more time then descended to perch on his outstretched arm, "The palace?"
Trained familiars were used as a medium of transporting information in the palace. It did not take long for Augustus to retrieve the envelope it had tied to its leg with curiosity.
"From Rachael, the Sixteenth?" Augustus frowned and as the words left his mouth, the pigeon took off into the air. Most pigeons got killed if the sender antagonised the receiver.
Augustus antagonised all of his siblings as much as they antagonised him. He opened the letter, then a droplet of water fell on his head, "She wishes to know if I arrived safe?"
The rain poured, and Augustus stood with the piece of paper held out, watching it get soaked in the rain. He raised a brow, shook his head, and continued dragging the catapult.