We're going to sneak into the bandits base and try a rescue attempt for Lance and his party. If we don't they could use them as hostages. I take the gnolls that were thief/bandits with sneak inside. The beast riders would wait at the front door in case anything went wrong. Gobber will be leading them since he can't sneak, he'll be dead weight if he comes. We head to the entrance, there is only one for the entire building. This building is still gigantic. Bigger than the entire fort outside.

I pick the doors lock. The burglar job makes it far easier an I thought it would be. We slowly open the door and I can see a guard sleeping. After four gnolls are inside we take aim and fire five bolts through him. One would have been enough but we can't be caught yet so overkill is necessary.

We keep pushing forwards. We haven't been detected by anyone yet and managed to kill another six bandits who were sleeping. Checking the next room I see more bandits sleeping. We kill another six. Pushing forwards we get to the main room. This room is fairly close to the entrance of the building. The door is unassuming but I can tell the bulk of the enemies are behind this door. We have to look elsewhere for now.

We head back to the way we came from and turn down a different hallway. This hallway is probably the right direction. It's in better condition than the other paths. If they captured the maids they would spend all their time cleaning. We head towards the back of the hallway where a singular door is. I open the door and see plenty of familiar faces. Slowly waking everyone up I whisper.

“Come on we're getting you guys out of here.”

When I say that Beatrice starts screaming!

“Help! They're in here! They're in here!”

What! Why? I can't afford to get caught! I cast silence on her. Kora is holding a knife! What the hell happened to these girls? I walk forwards and deck her, knocking her out in one blow. I do the same to Beatrice. It was cruel but it was the only way something bad wouldn't happen. Two of the gnolls are carrying both girls I knocked out.

I send the main squad out of the room. We'll take the hostages outside then clear the rest of the fort up to the main room. The cuts on Lances arms were almost infected. They definitely would have been if Kattie hadn't healed them. He might have lost his hands if they'd gotten infected. I whisper to Lance while casting regenerate on his cut arms.

"What was up with Beatrice and Kora?"

Lance whispers back. "I have no idea but they've been acting weird ever since I got here."

We'll clear the rest of the building before we go to fight the main group. We round the corner towards the exit and there is a bandit standing still looking at us. Coming towards the screaming. Shit! We all fire are crossbows but he was holding a bell. He must have been the night watch drawn to the sound of Beatrice screaming. It lets out two rings before it hits the ground making a third ring.

“RUN!” I yell everyone running towards the entrance.

We're attacked by bandits running to the exit. A two of the gnolls died from the attacks. Dammit! We continue rushing towards the exit. We're almost at the door but rounding the corner we see a group of twenty bandits. The last of their force is grouped. Half aren't even wearing armor. Most likely woken up by the sounds of the bell. Just grabbing their weapons. I'm not giving them a chance to talk or kill us.

The leader looks like he's about to speak. A smile shows across his face as he sees the army that's been fighting him is only a bunch of gnolls. With their leader being a young boy, barely old enough to know anything about the world. The look in his eye shows that he already assumes he's beaten us. That look will be gone once his face is blown apart.

I pull out my knives cannon and aim at the leader who's standing in the middle of the group. Firing before he gets a chance to speak. Boom! 4 of them were killed, 3 injured. Still not enough to even the odds but the sound alerted the beast riders not far from us. I start channeling my chi into a chi wave! If I can I'll use one hundred percent and kill all the fucking bandits along with myself if I have to! Gobber is the first one rounding the corner. If I fire he'll get caught up in the blast!

The fight breaks out between my gnoll thieves and the remaining bandits. Being outnumbered our casualties are high. The beast riders come rushing in to help us slowly one at a time. The advantage switches. Very few have attacked me but the few that did I barely managed to avoid until my troops could kill them. Around ten of the gnolls have died in the fight… We lost that many troops because of Beatrice... I want to FUCKING kill her! I want to kill her so bad!

Title Army slayer- damage against big groups of enemies is increased by 10%

Title Avenged- 10% of parents class levels are added towards yours

Thief 15 to 25

Level 25 Thief passive skill gained Improved pickpocket- increased chances to successfully pickpocket

Archer 18 to 25

Level 25 Archer passive skill gained Dual fire- able to fire two arrows from your bow at once (doesn't work with crossbows)

Warrior 13 to 18

Berserker 13 to 16

Master of learning 19 to 20

With Master of Learning reaching 20, your other classes and jobs will level faster

Beatrice finally wakes up, after everything happened most of the people who were freed are sleeping. The gnoll who was carrying her died protecting this human piece of garbage... I waited until she was up. I wanted to hear why she screamed like that, getting my men killed. If it's not a good enough reason I'll kill her myself and won't care how Lance and Trice react. We didn't lose a single gnoll until the end and we could have got through with far less casualties if our cover wasn't lost.

“Why?” I ask a simple question.

“Why? Because you were gone for over a year... No normal person would think they would ever be saved! I did what I thought was right... What I thought was best for Trice.”

I hold back everything trying not to destroy her. Visibly shaking from anger.

“Is that the only reason you got so many of my brothers in arms killed!?”

Beatrice talks almost laughingly. “Brothers? Those were men? They look like monsters to me. I don't care if you kill me you've already ruined my life twice. Once by being born and another killing the bandits.”

What? I ruined her life by freeing her from servitude under bandits. After hearing her I start to feel less angry at her and more sorry for her. She must have went crazy trying to fit into her new life. Stockholm syndrome is very heavy with her. Even so I lost a dozen gnolls. That's more then one third of my troops I brought.

Ah, fuck it feels so bad. Was their nothing I could do to save them? Maybe if I listened to the leader he'd have let us leave... No! Thinking about what could have been different isn't the right response. Tomorrow I'll apologize to the gnolls. I feel like I failed as their leader. I owe them at least that much.

The next day we loot the fort. There is an armory with almost one hundred sets of peoples armor. Selling it all would probably net around ten gold (10 gold 15 silver with haggling). We find a treasure room filled with money! Altogether totaling 20 gold. The bandit leader was using a rare sword. Too big for me to use so it goes to Gobber. I can't wait until I'm big enough to use the equipment that drops.

It was a regular enchanted sword with a rare damage increase gem in it. The two stat boosts were to strength and stamina. Depending on if the leader would have talked or attacked. He might have been able to turn the tides of that battle. Feeling better I didn't give him any room to speak I have to address what happened to the gnolls.

“Everyone please listen up! If you are a gnoll and you lost a relative or a loved one in this attack. I'm sorry... From the bottom of my heart... I'm sorry. If I would have just planned everything out better... If I had a little more time... I had to drag you into this mess. Please forgive your stupid leader.”

I bowed my head. On the verge of crying from my incompetence. We killed the bandits but it felt like a loss. If I had another three months to prepare we might have walked away with no casualties. Nargzar, the leader of the gnoll thieves and one of the three survivors of that group speaks up.

"Boss! We all knew exactly what we were getting into before we started. Death is commonplace in this world, you should know this by now. Because of you, we're far stronger than ever before! To be honest... I'm not sure any of us would even be alive if you didn't come and take us in when you did."

I get it now. Even though it felt like a loss, we could have been wiped out. One more slip up and our group might have been annihilated. A leader can't dwell on the past because that will effect their leadership in the future.

We finish checking the fortress and the only person left is a women hiding in the back. No one even noticed her except for Gobber. His scout is high enough to catch the smallest details now. She's very attractive and she's scared to death. Was she another one of the bandit prisoners?

“Please don't kill me, I was forced to be a wife to the bandit. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

I feel that was a lie. Why lie now? Does she think I'm going to kill a helpless person. With that weird response I have to ask questions now instead of just letting her go free.

“Hey has this woman ever harmed any of you?"

Ashley stepped forward. “She humiliated me everyday, she poured hot oil down by back before... "For making her man cheat." She is the reason this bandit fort got so big. She's the real leader.”

Well I guess that answers the question. I pull out a freshly made wind scroll and load it into the knife cannon. I put a knife in afterwords finishing the weapon. Pointing it at her I ask another question.

“Does anyone want me to spare her?”

She's violently sobbing.

“Please don't.” Trice answered. “She might be bad but the only reason Ashley wasn't raped every day by multiple men was because she didn't think it was right to put people through that. Honestly that's why none of us were raped besides Ashley.”

I put my cannon away. Trice made a good point. I still feel like she should be punished. Perhaps live as the maid in my fortress so Ashley can pour oil on her? No, I could just cut her arms so she can't hold anything like they did to Lance. If I couldn't heal injuries like that... I would do that… I give the cannon to Ashley. She has a right to kill her if she wants. I explain how it works to Ashley.

"You just add enough mana to set the spell on the scroll off and it would fire."

Ashley points it at her. The bandit queen is lamenting what has become of her life. Ashley is shaking, she's obviously never killed anyone before. She drops the weapon to the ground... Well that still leaves her punishment open. I ask Trice what we should do. Anything I do will end in her death or something worse then death.

“Trice, you're smart what should her punishment be?”

Trice thought for awhile. “Turning her over to the authorities in a city would make the most sense. No reason for us to dirty our hands with her blood if they decide to kill her.”

I guess that makes the most sense. That's what we'll do.

We make our way back towards the farm to drop off my grandpa. He didn't participate in the fight... His help could have saved a few of the gnolls lives. I don't understand why he didn't help. He must have a reason though. Before we left he told me something.

“When you reach fifty with warrior and guardian come back to see me.”

What!? I've never told him about my class, how did he know I have those two classes? Did he just guess?

Before we leave towards the fortress. I make the trip back to I check my village again. Someday I would like to rebuild this village into something better then what it was. Everyone of the old buildings that used to be here was burned to the ground. I look at Trice and ask a question I couldn't have asked until today.

“How… How did my parents die?”

“They died honorably. Together they managed to kill twenty bandits. You're father was surprisingly skillful while your mother was as skilled as I thought she would be… I don't know if you want me to tell the truth but they were both crying with smiles on their faces when they were finally overwhelmed.”

That's good... I knew my parents wouldn't go down easily. I check the burned ruins of my old house for something to remember my parents by. I see something gleam. It's the golden comb they bought me for my first birthday. Its slightly melted to being useless as a comb... The best gift I got that day. I cry the hardest I've ever cried before. My parents weren't the best, they barely raised me. Even so they were my parents.

The night after I hit twenty I had a dream. A dream that I was a thief on the seas. Constantly battling with pirates, but it was more then a dream. It was a whole lifetime long. The dream lasted over thirty years. While I could only remember parts of it. It felt like the memories I had of my previous life as a warrior. After I thought about it. I realized that it was one of my previous lives I remembered. So was that the bonus for hitting level twenty?

I wonder if anything like that is ever going to happen again. Well I might remember something useful from these new memories. Thinking about it, I remember a crescent shaped island where I made my base out in the sea. Holding over a thousand gold I collected robbing ships with my crew. Then betraying my crew hiding the treasure for myself. It ended in my death but I know where a giant treasure cache is. It's probably been around fifty years since it's been abandoned so it might not be there. Also having a base in the ocean would be helpful later on.

Mental map expanded

Location of potential class unlocked Pirate

Ship making Woodworking patterns learned

Negative trait acquired Greedy- Willing to betray friends for big enough amounts of money, willing to kill if you feel you've been cheated when it comes to money

Title Navigator- Able to transverse the oceans easier from knowledge of the ocean

Wow what a huge amount of new information! I know everything about the ocean close by here. The first chance I get I should head to the base for that money... That negative trait though seems like it might screw me later on... I wonder if there is a way to get rid of it.

We make it back to the fortress. The return trip was a joke in comparison to the rush there. I feel light inside, it's like a huge weight as been lifted freeing everyone from the bandits. Kora is a relative of my mothers so I feel bad that she's so confused about what she should do now.

Until she see's the fortress. Her eyes sparkle in wonder seeing it. I guess it looks more grand on the outside than the bandit fort. The walls of my fortress are far better looking (wood doesn't make for good defenses compared to brick). Compared to this base that fort barely had anything inside it. It was only that big to house the number of bandits. My fortress is covered with things to do. Not a square foot of space goes unwasted. She is looking around excitedly about what might be her new residence.

“Kora, you're free to live wherever you want and no one is forcing you to stay here.”

I have to make sure she knows that.

“Why would anyone ever want to leave this place?” She responded.

Now that I remember she loved being in my families mansion and this is potentially bigger and better than the mansion.

I take a few days off. We build some rooms into the walls of the cave for all the new humans that might take up residence here. Beatrice of course leaves towards the city the first chance she gets. Of course she didn't want anything to do with me, still holding a grudge.

I hope Trice or Lance can talk some sense into her. It's not like I care either way. I have to head to the city later today to take the bandit queen to the guard post. We head to town. Me Hilda, Gobber, Lance and some of the maids.

Ashley and Kattie break off heading somewhere once we enter. Kora also heads off amazed at how big the city is. My fortress is great but nothing beats the sight of this giant city. I'm not sure what Kattie and Ashley are doing... Maybe they're going to visit or going live with a relative? The rest of the group heads towards the guard tower.

We enter and there's Zeke. Like always shuffling papers. It takes a minute for him to look up and ask.

“So whats going on?”

Before I can talk the bandit queen goes off. “These people kidnapped me and they're trying to punish me for no good reason! I think they might be criminals trying to kidnap my children and sell them but they need to get rid of me first! Look they even have a hobgoblin!”

I almost laugh at how unfortunate her plea is. Zeke turns to Hilda and asks.

“Hilda is that true? Did you quit being a guard to kidnap children?”

Zeke looks at me. “So you decided that kidnapping is more profitable than saving the kidnapped and doing charity work inside the city then?”

He turns towards Gobber. “For shame Gobber. Being a hobgoblin automatically makes you a criminal, doesn't it?”

She already knows where this is going and with her last hope crushed she shuts up. Having been amused by Zeke's speech, I speak next.

“This women was the leader of a bandit group. We don't want to punish her so we'll leave it to the city to decide what to do.”

There's no such thing as jail in this part of the world. She was lashed with a whip twenty times and will work as a city drudge worker for ten years. She's more then welcome to flee the city. If she does they'll put a wanted marker on her and she'll never be able to enter any cities again. Without being killed on the spot that is.

It's not really a good punishment for a bandit. Anything I would have done might have drawn unwanted attention from the other humans that where there at the time. I don't want people to start thinking I'm heartless because of the revenge punishment I would have given to her. It's out of my hands now and whatever happens to her doesn't concern me.

Drudge work isn't easy either. She'll be forced to clean the shit out of the streets that is dumped from the windows. It's a disgusting practice but large sewer systems aren't a thing on this side of the world. It's one of the things I miss from my previous life. That side of the world was more civilized than this part.

I missed toilets so much I had one built into my room for personal use. Gnolls don't really have a problem with that. They've made a room separated from the main fortress they go to take shits at. It was too close to the fortress so I had them move it further away after the smell got to strong.

It's amazing that gnolls have better bathroom habits than humans do in the part of the world. The gnolls thought the hot springs was a giant toilet when I first made it. I had to beat the few idiots I caught shitting into it the first day it was made. They adapted quickly to it though. I haven't had any problems besides for baby and younger gnolls who didn't know any better using it that way. I've gotten into the habit of replacing the water every week though.

I go back to school after a few days break. I still need to finish it and it's important to me. I missed over a month of school from that journey. I'll be taking it easier from now on. I'll hold back on my goals until I graduate. I'll still keep working on things like expanding the size of the fortress. I might make it a tourist spot since it has a hot springs.

Speaking of that I should make a cold room with rocks enchanted with freeze to keep food for longer. I also have to keep doing enchants. Making one of each type of ring and I need to learn more about magic circles to make teleport magic work. It would be nice to keep one on me to make quick traveling back to the fortress easier. I should go teach it to the Merlin and see if he knows how it works.

I head to the enchanters shop after school. He has a big sign hanging out front, it also says.

“Buy a rare get free enchants to your gear.” On the door.

I go inside and I see two familiar faces, both from the magic school. It seems like he has picked two apprentices up to help with work. Maybe I should teach them how to do the enchants as well? I don't trust them enough though and it might lead to them finding out about my class. I call of Merlin, this time I don't hear him falling and crashing. I just see him appear out from behind the door.

“Well if it isn't my favorite customer, what can I help you with?”

I look around at the new rares, he's been busy increasing his stock. None I couldn't make myself though. I pull him aside so his apprentices can't hear.

“I got some new enchants I'd like to hear about. I learned the summoning tree of enchanting and it has a summoning enchant for magic circles.”

… He clasps his hands over his mouth, eyes widen to the point they might fall out of his head.

“DO! Do you realize that is an extinct enchant! No one's known how to make portals for hundreds if not thousands of years!”

Jeez why did I even try keeping it a secret. I make up a story and say it loud enough for the apprentices to hear.

"I was only asking about portals because I read about them in a book. Of course I don't know how to make them! That would be impossible."

He kind of shuffles around pushing things looking for something. I hear him say under his breath.

“This kid's going to be the death of me. Springing surprises like that on me.”

He pulls out a book with a magic circle drawn on the front of it.

“Here you go.”

“Normal payment?” I asked him.

I would have to teach him how to do the magic. He looks very troubled by what I said.

“I'm not sure knowing how to make summoning circles would be good to know. If a king finds out about it he could try to have you kidnapped and used for the sake of making portals for his cities and armies.”

I speak at a moderate volume trying to be casual but not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

“I can still teach you the other summoning enchant tree rares.”

I lean in close to him whispering. “And it wouldn't hurt to know, as long as you're not yelling that you can make them it should be fine. Also thank you for telling me. I might have not realized how important this rare was.”

He agreed and I taught him the recipes I had learned down to the summoning rune one. Teaching him the rune enchant freaked him out. His hands were trembling, it might just be his old age though since he trembles very often around me. If his apprentices learned that powerful enchant they would most likely end up dead or a slave making them all day. It could endanger anyone else who knows about it. If they're caught they could give away more information.

My gut feelings are that I can trust Merlin. He seems too cowardly to ever betray me and a man to honest for his own good. He' also can keep a secret from people because his life is also on the life. Well he can keep a secret after he screams about it first. Meaning I'd have to make up a story every time I told him something new.

I know that fighting close range is my biggest weakness. Compared to my intelligence and dexterity classes, I haven't focused strength enough. I don't gain experience anymore for the intelligence classes from monsters. So I'll switch up my fighting style and move into close range. Maybe I can apply at the training boot camp in the city. I'm not sure if I can do both at the same time but it shouldn't be impossible. I'll finish classes around the same time next year if I start right now. I decide to do that. I head to the fortress to get Gobber.