Vincent sat beside Ron as he watched the sceneries pass him by. It was a new experience for him who had never left the village his whole life. He had read a lot about the vast world. He would imagine the beautiful world as he the read books' vivid descriptions. Never had he once expected that the world was even more magnificent than he could have ever visualized.

Ron looked at Vincent and spoke, "Do you like these sights? I don't really think there is anything to appreciate about them though. Just dull greeneries and empty fields. There are a lot more pretty sights after we cross Nemoss lake."

"I like the sights here. Everything is unfamiliar and fresh. So many things I've never read about or seen before. The sounds the birds make are different from the ones I am used to. The flowers have different colors. The trees are thicker and taller than the ones back in Plumeria village."

"I see. That's good I guess. We will probably stop for a while to have lunch. It will be noon soon. After that we should reach the village by Nemoss lake in 4 hours if we hurry. We will spend the night there. Hopefully, we won't encounter any bandits on the way. It's getting a bit dangerous lately on these paths."

"Bandits? Will they kill us if we come across them? I heard that bandits are ruthless criminals who would do anything to get what they want."

"Hmmm.... I don't think they will kill us. Most bandits are but poor folks who couldn't make a proper living and resorted to banditry. Few of them are actually strong and their strength lies in their numbers. Most of them will just rob the victims and let them go but there are indeed a few ruthless ones who will do things far worse than just kill their victims."

"Things worse than killing their victims? What could possibly be worse than death?"

"Let's see.... I have heard some bandits like to torture their victims before killing them. The women have it tougher since it is not uncommon for the bandits to violate them. The red vulture, a bandit group earned that name as they raised some red vultures who like to feast on their prey whilst they are still alive."

Vincent paled from hearing the answer. He had never heard of such cruelty. He started to feel scared and wondered if leaving the peaceful village was the right choice. Ron saw Vincent looking scared. He smiled and reassured the kid whom he had taken a bit of liking to.

"Don't worry. Mr Rusell over here is an Iron tier swordsman who can use tier two martial skills. While the younger Stan might not be as impressive as Mr Rusell, he recently became iron tier swordsman as well. He cannot use any martial skills yet. Still just his physical capabilities will be more than enough to deal with small bandits. The big ones will just let us go after looking at the crest carved on the carriage. Even the fearless bandits won't mess with a noble household unless they are crazy."

Vincent checked the two mounted guards who didn't look all that impressive. The younger was sweating like crazy while the older one got off his horse and headed towards some bush to piss. Warriors and mages were ranked according to their capabilities. An iron tier swordsman was someone who had trained his body beyond what a normal human could do. They could also start learning martial skills which allowed them to use the energy in their body to pull off ridiculous stunts. The glorious image he had in his mind when he read about warriors was instantly shattered. Still he felt relieved after hearing that the two guards were iron tier swordsmen.

Vincent would ask questions about things he saw on the road to Ron who would patiently answer to the best of his abilities. They traveled just like this until it was time to eat. The food was sandwiches given to them by the official before they left. The bread was bland and the ingredients sandwiched inside had lost their freshness. The meal was anything but tasty but no one complained as they were all hungry.

Just as Vincent was getting on the carriage, he heard a whistling noise followed by a rattling sound. His legs went limp as he fell on his butt. He looked up and saw an arrow embedded in the carriage just a bit right of where he was standing. His breathing became erratic as he looked behind him only to see more arrows flying towards Ron and the two guards.

The enemies seemed to be made up of people without much skill as none of the arrows found their mark. Vincent put strength into his legs as he tried to get inside the carriage where no arrows could harm him. He had only got up halfway when he heard another arrow whistling towards him and hit near the previous arrow's spot. The horses started panicking and neighing. They would have run away had they not been tied to the nearby trees.

Vincent finally managed to get inside the carriage as he watched Ron running towards the carriage as fast as he could. Rusell the older guard unsheathed his sword and ran towards the ambushers who had put away their bows and were approaching the group with weapons such as swords, axes, daggers and spears. He calmly dodged a thrust from a spear wielder before slashing at the shaft which got cut into two without much resistance. He then cut the man holding nothing but a short stick from his shoulder to his waist diagonally. The spear wielder fell down as his guts spilled out from the clean cut he received.

The other ambushers were terrified of the scene as they abandoned all notions of fighting and ran away. Rusell just watched them flee while Stan gave chase for a while and returned after being reprimanded by Rusell. Vincent got off the carriage after hearing Rusell say that the bandits had fled. When he saw the corpse of the spear wielder with guts sticking out, his nose picked up the thick smell of blood and innards. He finally reacted as a strong urge to throw up took over him. Avoiding the gruesome sight by turning away, he tried to hold down the fluids climbing up his throat. He closed his eyes in an attempt to think about something else only to see the image of the man with his innards flowing out of his body.

He bent over and vomited. Everything he had just ate was forcefully ejected out of his body. When there was no more food remaining, acidic gastric juice made its way out next. His stomach hurt and his vision was blurry from the tears that wet his eyes.

Ron who had been trying his best not to throw up could not control himself and followed suit after looking at Vincent. He drank some water and offered some to Vincent. They then calmed the horses and proceeded towards the Nemoss lake.

Vincent looked towards Ron who had regained his calm and asked, "Is it really fine to leave his body there?"

"Let it be. He got what he deserved. A fitting end for a bandit. God punished him for his misdeeds. His companions will meet the same end. Bunch of cowards who ran away after a single comrade died."

Vincent didn't say anything. He stopped believing in god when none of his prayers were answered to when his mother was sick and he could only watch on helplessly as her condition worsened.

'God didn't punish him. He was too weak when compared to Rusell. If he happened to be stronger, we would probably be the ones to have died. Those bandits were unskilled. Not a single one of their arrows hit and they ran away after just a single one died. Seems like it is true that most bandits are just poor folks who couldn't make a living if they didn't resort to banditry.'

'I need to get stronger. Strong enough to crush anything that comes in my way. I need to keep my promise to mama. I can't afford to die. I WILL become strong.'

Vincent set a goal for himself as he caressed the deck of playing cards he always kept with him.