Tree, tree. Larger tree. Smaller tree. Five small trees in a row. Man, stuff is getting more and more boring looking. There are barerly any magical creatures, just normal looking ones. Except for these fucking birds! Screw off, Im not a tree for you assholes to build a nest on.

Vitas head turned 180 degrees to look at the different birds that were trying to rest on Vitas cape. A couple had somehow managed to create a small nest and were currently sitting right in front of Vitas face dumbfounded. In their glassy little eyes, Vita didnt see any form of intelligence. Only an empty void for a brain.

Knowing that some of them managed to build a nest pissed Vita off, but it did make Vita look slightly cooler.

At least there arent any parasites trying to get inside. Hate those bastards.

Vitas head turned back to the front while contemplating the death of all parasitic life.

It was while doing this evil thinking Vita heard something moving far ahead. Which was odd because nothing in the forest would make so much noise on purpose. Even bears would move with some silence, unlike these loud creatures. The closer Vita got, it got more and more obvious that whatever made so much noise wasnt from any forest creature.

Reason?

Language.

They spoke, as in they spoke the way humans would speak. They did try to whisper to each other, but with Vitas sensitive ears it wasnt a problem to hear them. Vita didnt understand the language they spoke, but based of tone of their voice they seem to be really focused on something.

Deciding that intruding on their job would be rude, Vita far stalked behind them to watch whatever they were doing without intruding on their business. The birds that were chirping near Vita seemed to create some sort of camuflage, because the bandits didnt seem to care about them and they started to make more noise. They spat at the ground after the person who seemed to be the leader said something while showing the people behind him a piece of paper.

Holy moly that guy is 'Ugly.' with a large U and with a full stop after it. Dude probably takes baths in shit and drinks horse piss in the morning. And what is that zit on his forehead? Is he a teenager?!

The sheer amount of ugly on that mans face forced Vita to stop, which was perfectly timed with team ugly stopping as well. The leader pointed, said some words and a part of the group quickly walked ahead while another part of the group walked to the left. They had split up, but for what? Vita used all 7 eyes to look and only then did Vita see the slight traces of a path further ahead.

Wait a second. Super ugly, in a forest and splitting up when close to a path? These guys are the fantasy bandits the main character would defeat! But how could I, a noble king of the forest, touch such dirty and sinful peasants! Bah, lets see what tomfoolery they are up too first before we let them see our noble visage!

...

Holy fuck I need therapy. Cant be speaking to myself this much.

"Aaron, are you sure that we will be able to find anything at all? Even though I do not know too much about The Worlds Tongue, I do know that we wont be finding any noteworthy beasts when we have barerly traveled a mile inside." The knight said as he held the reins connected to the horse that Diana sat on. She wore a cloak in case it started to rain and to keep her dress clean from nature. It would work as a disguise too, if only she would wear the hood as well.

"Sir knight, patience please. Everyone knows that the further in you go, the stronger the beast. But with the magic anomaly that occured, we might run into some dangerous fellows. There are even rumours that a dragon fought with some unknown monster which caused the anomaly." Aaron said as he turned to look at them. He looked at the both of them and then back to the front.

Aaron and the rest of his merry band were organised in a U shape with Diana and the knight in the middle of it. But the knight didnt feel like they were in in the middle to be protected. For one reason or another, his gut feeling said that trouble was lurking nearby.

And right he was, as he heard something move behind them. Turning around, he saw a group of dirty looking men approach them with different crude weapons in their hands. He didnt need any words from Diana and immedietly dashed towards them. The sudden burst took the bandits by suprise as the knight appaered in front of one of the bandits. Using the momentum created, he hit the bandit right in the gut. The bandit went flew a meter and landed hard. vomiting up both acid and blood as he flew. One of the closer bandits ran up to the knight with a sword held high and another bandit followed up with a dagger.

The knight let them get closer before pulling out his sword and cutting deep into the sword wielding bandits chest. The bandit let out a scream as he felt the cold steel cutting through his lungs. The knight didnt let him fall just yet, as he used the dying man as a meatshield to block the dagger that came from the side. The bandit let out another scream and then went silent. The knight pushed the now dead corpse at the bandit who tried to stab him. The bandit pushed away the corpse only to see the cold shine of metal as it cut his head open, exposing his brain to the air.

But before he got to continue the slaughter, he heard someone struggling behind him. He turned around in panic and saw what he feared.

"Now now sir knight, no need to kill any more of us. Unless you want your little princess here to get her eyes poked out." Aaron stood there with Diana, bound with rope, underneath his arm. He had gagged her with a piece of rope, but how had he not heard anything at all?

A figure moved from behind Aarons shadow. The first word that came to mind was ugly. But he had seen that ugly face before.

Jakob the Ugly. He wasnt know to public, but he had seen a bounty poster once with his ugly face on it. He had also heard Dianas father talk about being on the lookout for someone calling themselfs Jakob. He would have never expected to meet this bastard.

There were two reasons as for why Jakob was considered a problem. One, Jakob was a semi-infamous bandit known for his extreme ugliness. Second, he was a true degenerate who has broken nearly every rule known to humanity. Murder, rape, kidnappings and tax evasion. A danger to any village or city he might be hiding in. And now he stood here with with the marquess daughter tied up with rope under his arm.

He could feel rage build up in him as Aaron sneered before talking. But he didnt get to let out a single sound. Out from the trees, something long flew out and hit everyone ,except for himself and Diana, in the head. The rage that was building up was quickly changed to cold fear at whatever was able to do something like this.

He didnt ponder for too long on this as he remembered that Diana was next to the scum, so he quickly picked her up. She was covered in blood, terrified and shaking. Poor thing would probably never recover, how would he be able to talk to her father about this.