Rudra continued to fight the bandits , only enough to cripple them but not to kill , when the leader of the bandit group the level 60 chief , came out to the fight with his axe.

While dodging his first attack , Rudra quickly realized that this guy was trouble , trying to parry him with bare hands was akin to asking for a quick death. 

Rudra immediately summoned elven sword , and started to parry the enemies attacks. Sword hit against axe , metal hit against metal as sparks flew everywhere. Rudra was fighting a intense battle as not only did he have to parry the chief at full concentration , but also dodge the other bandits incoming attacks without retaliating or killing them. 

Slowly but surely , Rudra was getting frustrated , as this fighting was taking much more time than he expected. Fortunately , the chief made a mistake. He tried to slam the axe to cut into Rudra's legs however Rudra jumped , causing the axe to hit the ground . 

Rudra stomped on the chiefs hand as a result , and cut the axe's wooden handle off. Rudra then landed a kick , square to the Bandits face. 

BAM! he was sent flying. 

The kick caused him to bleed , as blood dripped from his mouth. The chief was hurt , as he staggered to regain balance. 

This was exactly the opening Rudra was looking for , running straight in towards the chief , Rudra jumped and hit an elbow straight to the top of his skull , the powerfull hit to the temple caused him to loose consciousness. 

The troublesome chief went down! 

Rudra then turned towards the rest of the bandits , who were sweating buckets now , most were already battered by Rudra's bare fist attacks by now. With their chief down , they understood that they were hardly a match for the man infront of them , who was not even using his full strength to fight them. 

Rudra repeated in a deep voice " It doesn't have to be this way , surrender , surrender and answer to your crimes , I will personally put in a good word to reduce your sentence. Live a life of honor , where you can hold your heads up high , the way you have chosen is wrong. Pillaging and looting from others will only make you hated and despised".

One bandit sneered " YOU DON'T KNOW HOW WE GREW UP ADVENTURER , DO NOT TRY TO PREACH US RIGHT AND WRONG , we steal because we have no food , we pillage because the merchants from whom we steal can afford so , without their family starving. We do no wrong , we provide a stable environment for the kids to grow and the women to live in peace. It is you who is disrupting the peace of our settlement adventurer , go away and WE will let this slide ". 

Rudra shook his head , as he said " If you have no food then you do hardwork and earn money , stealing to live can be pardoned once if it is the case when you are starving and dying , but it cannot be a way of life , no matter how u place your words bandit , I will never be sympathetic to men like you who have no backbone for hardwork. If you donot want to come by choice , then you will be taken by force! ". 

Rudra sprung into fight again , and the bandits roared to fight him back at full spirits. However they again found out , how they were no match for Rudra , who was absolutely mauling them. 

Within 10 minutes all 17 bandits laid on the floor , unable to move. 

Rudra removed a large piece of rope from his inventory , and started to bind the bandits .

The women who were silent watching the fight uptill now , now began to scream and cry , at the scene , some fell on their knees and started to beg Rudra to let their husbands go , while some threw kitchen items at him. 

It was a difficult position to be in , even for Rudra , even while knowing that this is just a game , the heart-wrenching scene of the women crying for their husbands made him feel like he was the villain here. 

The elderly of the village took up swords , as they thought about fighting Rudra too , but Rudra just glanced at them and said " Please do not sir , you have done no wrong , and I donot wish to hurt you , but try fight , and you will make an enemy out of me ". 

The elders also started to cry , they were despairing at being soo useless , they knew they were no match for Rudra and that it was pointless. 

It was at this moment that a woman covered in tattoo's came out of the biggest Hut in the settlement. By the way everyone started to bow towards her , Rudra knew she was someone important , either a shaman or the village chiefs wife. 

She looked at Rudra and then at the fallen chief , as sadness could be seen in her eyes. She then said " adventurer , without the men , this settlement will not be able to last , we cannot fight against the wild beasts and we cannot protect the children from slave traders , you taking them will spell the doom for us all. It's better that you kill us all here !".

Murmurs could be heard around the village , the other citizens had started to get agitated .... This was bad. 

Rudra trying to regain control of the situation said " Here , this is 10,000 gold ! , It is enough for your settlement to last atleast a year in food , I will personally talk to the incharge of the village of Tolaknagar to take in your settlement as a part of the village , then you can be assured about the safety of the village , if he does not agree to take you in , I will personally take you all in at Purplehaze city. I am the mayor and I have many running employment schemes , job , food , security I assure you of all three ". 

The woman's eyes widened in shock , she did not expect the adventurer to be soo generous , he was also the mayor of Purplehaze city , and his promise carried weight. 

The others in the settlement already started to consider Rudra's words seriously , maybe this could be their new beginning . 

Even soo the woman had regret plastered all over her face , she said " the chief is my husband , and I cannot let him go to jail. I accept your other conditions , I personally promise that we will leave the life of pillaging , and start fresh. Please let the men go. ". 

Rudra shook his head , " Not possible ma'am , if you do crimes you must answer for them , they won't be executed , community service or jail time will be their punishment , you will see your husband again in a maximum of three years time ". 

The chieftess still had a sad look on her face , then she silently lifted her skirt , to reveal her long legs as she said " You are a man , I am sure we can discuss the terms for their release .... ". 

This was a point in the quest , where many undertaking the test failed , their resolve wavered and their primal instincts took over. However Rudra was not one of them. 

Rudra said " I'm sorry ma'am , but I am a knight , such conduct is unbecoming of me , I have said all that Is needed to be said , I will free the hostages and take the culprits to the local authorities now , do not try to stop me ". 

Saying soo Rudra cut the two hostages free from their binding against the tree , the two of them looked at Rudra with reverance and respect. As they thanked him for saving them. 

Rudra smiled and asked them if they needed food or water? And then about accompanying them to the nearest village. However they refused the offer and chose to be on their way. 

Rudra tried to score as many brownie points as he could , as he kept praising the honor of the knights , and the valour wether it worked or not , would be reflected in his evaluation. 

Rudra then mounted his direwolf mount , as he guided the 17 men tied to a rope , towards the village of Tolaknagar. 

What was usually a 20 minute sprint on the mount , took over one and a half hour at the slow walking pace to cover , but Rudra finally reached the village boundries. 

/// Dear readers , yesterday I had the worst economic day for the book in over 2 months , my income is down by 40% .

Instead of taking it lying down , I am prepared to fight back today and get back up strong, as today will be a mass release day , as many chapters as I can write , I will publish. Do support! ///