As they travelled west, they continued down out of the foothills into the plains. They came out of the wild scrubland and into stone fenced pastures after three days. Every so often they encountered villages.

Towards the end of the day they encountered a patrol of cavalry in service to the local hegemon. The encounter was brief and polite. The captain of the cavalry spoke with Baron Windreach quietly for a moment before warning him of bandits and continuing on his way.

They encamped in a meadow and guards were placed around the encampment. Between the guards, warding spells, and sprites it would take a cunning bandit indeed to sneak up to this encampment. Nevertheless, the night was uneventful and they broke camp and left early in the morning.

Derek was on alert from the moment he heard of bandits and kept his head on a swivel. Prince Kylin and his two knights laughed. Sir Duncan spoke up, “Derek, you are going to exhaust yourself if you keep this up. Ha, you are exhausting me. The Baron knows his stuff, if bandits are coming for us, his scouts will report it. Why are you so excited about this? You’ve slain a greater Demon; next to one of them, bandits are nothing.”

Derek smiled back sheepishly, “I’ve never fought a bandit before. I just got really excited at the thought of fighting some.”

Prince Kylin laughed, “This caravan of yours is a bit better armed than the typical one. Any bandits who even see this group will avoid you. I don’t even think that many military groups would be willing to attack such a powerful group willingly unless there was a damned good reason for it.”

Derek frowned, “I guess it's a good thing. No matter how powerful we are we might still lose people if attacked. It’s a bit unwise to ask for that kind of trouble on ourselves.”

Sir Kenneth spoke up, “That’s a wise statement, but it is a rare knight errant who will wish for a safe journey for themselves.”

Sir Duncan laughed at that, “We will make a knight errant of you yet, Derek!”

They all laughed at that and kept riding. It was true that with their combined retinues and lack of cargo, this group was not a very wise target for bandits to pick. Bandits have to survive the raid to be able to spend what they take after all.

The day passed with no issue and they were well into the fifth day of their journey when Derek finally gave up the hope of encountering any bandits. They were traveling down the highway when a scout came back across the ridge ahead of them on the road. He rode up to Baron Nicholas and gave his report.

Upon seeing the scout come riding back Derek, Prince Kylin, and his knights rode forward to find out what was happening. When they arrived the Baron turned to Kylin, “Prince Kylin, there is a group of bandits attacking a merchant's caravan up ahead. I am going to give the order for my people to go around. What do you wish to do?”

Prince Kylin looked at his two knights, then responded, “Baron Nicholas, it is wise to lead your people around, but we three are errant, by our vows as knights we cannot ignore this. Can you see to the protection of our retinue? It will allow us to fight more freely.”

Baron Nicholas understood the situation and nodded, but hearing this interaction, Derek spoke up, “Grandfather, Prince Kylin is my friend. I would like to fight against these bandits as well.”

Baron Nicholas frowned at his grandson and thought it through. Fighting bandits was dangerous but his grandson was very strong for his age. This fight might temper him and further solidify a friendly relationship with Serris. He nodded, “You may go. Ovid, ride with him. Sergeant Keller, take your squad to support them. We will go around and continue to Windreach. Good luck Prince Kylin, Derek.”

The group headed towards the ridge. Prince Kylin was a strong tier four knight, Sir Duncan and Sir Kenneth were both middle tier seven, Ovid was a peak tier five weapons master, and Derek was a tier two that could fight on a level with tier three or four quite easily. The squad of ten soldiers were commoners who had not breached tier zero by maturity, but they were elite.

It must be understood that in spite of the fact that they could no longer level or tier up, commoners could still grow. There were methods that allowed for schema and essence to be reset that only tier zero people can make use of. Higher tier people won’t use these methods because the reset drops you back to level one of tier zero, which would prevent them from tiering up again. But this method can be very effective in improving commoners because then a stronger schema can be applied to allow them to maximize the effectiveness of their ten levels.

Soldiers of powerful organizations like the House of Windreach can often expect treatment such as this. They will receive a reset and have powerful schema and materials provided to them. Often times the most elite forces of such an organization will be just as powerful as a tier two Hero. These soldiers are then equipped with the finest weapons and armor and are tasked with the most important of tasks.

Sergeant Keller and his men could be considered strong tier two when considering their strengths. They quickly fell in behind the five heroes before them. As they crested the ridge they saw the fight below them.

In the valley below there was a string of a dozen wagons and carriages. They had been guarded by a little over forty guards who were now locked in chaotic melee with almost fifty bandits who had swarmed in from either side of the road. Off to the left, on a hill overlooking the fight there was a group of bandit archers firing down into the fight and causing more chaos for the guards. On the far side of the valley, blocking the road, were five black armored horsemen.

The fight had already gone on for a few minutes when they arrived and the guards were getting the worst of it. Kylin instantly took command, shouting, “Duncan, Kenneth, with me. We will break through the right side and head for the enemy horsemen. Derek, lead the rest to handle the left and clean up around the wagons.”

They all acknowledged the command and commenced action. Duncan lead the way on the right, with the other two following behind just to the right and left. Derek let Ovid lead off on the left and they formed a loose wedge formation to sweep that side.

As he rode he began to cast a spell. It was a mix of fire and air and highly potent. He cast it at the sixth level and felt a wash of fatigue as his mana plummeted. The air above and around the archers began to spin in a cyclone. They let out shouts of fear as they recognized the danger they were in, but it was too late.

In that moment the air around the archers burned a dark red color as the Firestorm spell finished activating. Not one of the archers were able to evade and only the ones on the edges of the spell survived, screaming as they fled while their bodies caught fire in the immolation. The ones on the inside may have been more fortunate and were roasted in mere moments. The terror of a level six spell was tremendous.

Derek allowed the fatigue to wash over him then followed up with a Righteous Blessing. Unlike Belany, he did not have to overdraw to cast these spells, though casting these caused fatigue and large mana drain for him, it did not endanger him in any way. It did take longer for him to cast these and it did take more mana out of him, but he was hoping that the Righteous Blessing would help with the fatigue and recovering the mana.

When he cast it, he targeted his fifteen and the surviving guards. He was careful to exclude the bandits. There was an immediate effect among the guards as they felt increased strength and their fatigue was reduced. This helped to boost their morale, while the immolation of the archers and the arrival of a group of cavalry had the opposite effect on the bandits.

Duncan collided with the bandits first. His horse smashed one aside while he deftly cut through any that came into reach with his longsword. Kenneth and Kylin followed on, also breaking through any that happened to get close enough to them. They needed no spells for this, the difference in strength, skill, and equipment was just too great.

On the left side Ovid led the way. His saber danced in his hands and any bandit that came in reach was quickly killed. Derek, to the right of Ovid, brought his glaive to bear, cleaving to the left and right of him with great efficiency. He was amazed at how easy it was to defeat these bandits. Compared to the Demons he fought, they were incredibly weak.

To the left and right, the soldiers also attacked with great efficiency, cutting through the bandits like wheat. The bandits quickly started to break from combat and a rout started. Derek ordered the soldiers to pursue and took Ovid to join Kylin and the others, but by the time he had arrived the black armored riders had already been dealt with. One had tried to escape but was casually picked off by Duncan.

When they arrived, Kenneth was already checking the corpses. On one he found a letter, “Looks like this was their leader, it isn’t even in code. It’s an order instructing him to attack merchants in the area. These must be the troops of some rival of the local ruler.”

Duncan mused to himself, “How unfortunate for them that we arrived.”

As they spoke, Sergeant Keller brought two men up to them. One had a scar on his face and wore the boiled leather of the guards. He had a silver sword pin on his shoulder that seemed to denote rank. The other was a skinny merchant with a smooth smile and quick eyes.

“Many thanks my lords. This day would not have gone well without your intervention. I am Matteo and Nester here is my guard captain. By the heraldry of your soldiers I assume you all come from Windreach. But I am at a loss for who you are.”

Prince Kylin spoke up, “The three of us are errant knights of Serris: Kylin, Duncan, and Kenneth. My companion here is a Demon Warrior of Thorne, Derek, and this is his retainer Ovid. We were escorting a delegation from Windreach when we heard of your plight and rushed here to help. The Baron let us borrow some men to complete this task and now we must return.”

The merchant heard this and replied, “Won’t you stay with us for even a short time? It would be inappropriate not to reward you for saving us and some of our passengers are young masters headed to Windreach to take the tests to enter the Academy. Perhaps you can ingratiate yourself to a patron if you stay. It will only take me a moment to get my paymaster to draft you a reward.”

Kylin smiled to the merchant, “No need for a reward. It will be enough if you have your men spread the word of our deeds here. We will wait long enough for you to prepare to leave and rejoin our companions once we see that you are on your way.”

The merchant smiled back. Knights errant cared more about their honor and fame than anything else. A poor one or one in need of temporary assistance might be willing to take a reward but many of the wealthier ones would not. For a merchant like him, to be rescued by rich knights errant was a godsend. Not only were his wares safe and most of his people still alive, but he also only had to spread the word of the knights’ deeds as recompense. This was a bargain in any country.

“Thank you sir knight, we will surely spread the word of your deeds.”