Chapter 81: Vigilante Work

Arden traveled far beyond that nameless mountain range. The nomad tribe was helpful to him and because of that, he was able to get out clearly. He followed the map and their guidance until he reached a village. The village was simple but in there he found sobbing men and women. He asked what’s wrong. They told him that bandits have been rampant on the south road. Their cattle were stolen and many of their daughters were killed. He found their story awful, but this time he made sure to clarify everything.

He’d investigated and indeed there was trouble on the south road. After investigating he went back to that same village and asked what or when the attack happened. They told him the time, and then where they went to. Arden then followed their trail and found them hiding in a deep virgin forest. Their hideout was hidden but he could tell just by their trails. He scouted the area and after scouting, he started his rescue.

The rescue went well. Most of them didn’t expect Arden. They were careless and thus he was able to wipe them out by killing them one by one. He manages to kill the bandits and then went to the hostages. They were shaken and clearly afraid. Arden told them he was rescuing them. This made the hostages lower their guards and he took them back to their village. But taking them back to the village he saw that the villagers were getting butchered.

He got angry and killed. By the time he was done he noticed how bloody he was. The bandits were killed and some survivors were found. It was that time when Arden sported himself with the bodies. He turned the Black Panther pelt to a scarf instead. It took him a while to do it but it was better than throwing it away. Other than that, he felt like keeping it would remind him of the time he got pushed from a top of a cliff.

The bandits have quite the equipment. One of the villagers told him that they have been rampant on the south road. Arden noticed that, and because of that, he wondered if he should clean them up. But first, he sported himself with the items. He knew how to craft so he turned the items into his. He made a knee-length hooded black cloak, took the leather lamellar and equipped it underneath, and then he turned their leftover weapon as a saw blade. He also made a full mask. The mask was already there but seeing that it was best to cover his face up, for protection, he made the mask fit like a helmet. It was still the pierrot-inspired mask but this time he made it a bit nicer, putting a smile on the mask.

Of course, that had a reversed effect. After fully equipping himself, he went and left the village. He let the survivors take the gold of the bandits. He got thanked, and it was enough for him. Then along the rest of the spring, he went and started his purge against the bandits that are roaming rampant in the southern road. At first, it was due to seeing the people that were suffering, and how he wanted to save them.

But the more he slaughtered, the more he could see how dire the southern road was. He witnessed robberies, rape, and murder almost every day. And almost every day, he would fight them, and slowly his black cloak got tattered at the result of fighting the bandits. Arden’s last killing was at a stone bridge.

They were many of them and he has heard that they were filling up the bridge and forcibly letting people pay the toll. He was in a tavern at the time, and in there he saw the wheat flour, wine, and wax. The riders on the stone bridge were great marksmen and they outnumber him easily. So he got an idea.

He used the coins he had to buy some wheat flour, wax, some shards of metal and two barrels of wine. He also took a simple carriage, a near-starve horse, and rode it near a forest where he set the carriage to blow. He remembered that his foster father warned him at one time about not to spread wheat flour in a tightly sealed room. It also applied to tight barrel and boxes, and he was warned that it would cause a dust explosion.

He’d thought that he could use this. But a simple explosion won’t be enough to take them all down. So while at it, he mixed in some wine, and soft wax, and shards of metal. So when the wheat flour explodes. The wine and soft wax would spread around them. The shards of metal will act as shrapnel and hit them enough to immobilize them. As they are immobilized the fire would spread like napalm and they would be set aflame.

With them in fear, he then would attack while they were distraught. It worked perfectly, and he won by outright using the flames, and his ability to kill the nervous and spooked bandits. He rescued a lot of village women. He also cleared the camp and let it burned to the ground.

He also went and removed the spikes that were attached to the stone bridge. He buried the heads and prayed for them in a simple stone grave. He could not find their corpses so that was the only thing he could do. After that, he left the stone bridge and went on taking the fight against the scum in the southern road further.

It has been quite a while since winter ended. He found himself roaming around doing such kind of things. It is already the middle of spring, the year is 497. Arden is currently at on a village. The village was rather well-off but there was a recent group of bandits that have taken shelter in one of the houses. They started shoving around the farmers, killing the guards, and threatening the local women.

He is standing on the roof of the house they are living. The roof was hipped, so Arden could kneel in the roof without a problem. He touched the roof, and let his energy pulse like a sonar wave. This was one of the skills that his foster father knew. Its concept was foreign to Arden, but he could use it.

Using this skill, he could learn the location of the bandits who are in the house. With it, he could tell exactly where they are standing. He wants to take them by surprise and in the imprints, his father left him. He was told that no one expects an attack from the above.

So he readied himself, prepared the smoke bomb he made. He stomped heavily on the roof. He threw the smoke bomb inside. He let the smoke fill the room before jumping in. His eyes were already enchanted with mana. Even he could do a simple reinforcement and because of that, he was able to see through the smoke. The bandits weren’t able to see, they were in a panic and they flailed their arms.

It was easy. Arden merely drove his saw-blade into their hearts. He decapitated another and uses his bare hands to break one of the bandit’s arms. The bandit struggled, so he broke his legs too. When the smoke cleared, the bandits were neutralized. He looked around the room. He saw one of the women in the village tied up the frame of a bed. He cut the ropes and told the woman to inform the villagers that the bandits are dead.

The woman nodded her head quickly and left. Arden then turned his attention to one of the bandits. The bandit’s limbs were broken, and he was groaning in pain. In the time since spring began, Arden learned something new. Scum’s like this exists everywhere. And even though he faced many at the time he was with the war band of the lady. He really never saw them in action. The southern road made him knowledgeable about their ways.

And seeing their ways, he can only conclude that they are the people he should not help. He doesn’t have a great understanding when it comes to judgment or justice but he knew the basics of good and evil. So Arden could only see them as evil. It is plain and simple as that.

The men of the village went to the house. They heard the commotion but didn’t go out of fear. But seeing Arden, they seemed haunted. But all of that vanished the moment they saw one of the bandits tied up beneath his feet. The villagers put a smile and certainly, they started to spite on the bandit, cursing at him, telling him how they will skin him alive. The villagers thanked Arden a lot. Arden felt like it was odd of them to thank him while cursing, acting like evil in front of him.

The bandit was clearly scared. Arden could see that the bandit was afraid. His eyes were telling that he’d rather be killed than suffer. Arden stared at the eyes of the bandit with his impassive eyes. He couldn’t give any mercy to the bandit at all. He was done here, so he left the bandit at the hands of the villagers.

...

He trekked on a winding path. He then saw a large apricot tree. He was rather tired so he sat and pressed his back near the tree. He removed his full mask, and let it rest on his lap. He took a breather and let his shoulders slid down. He could see the awesome mountain ranges in the horizon. The village he went to was visible from this particular spot.

It was already the middle of spring. So far he has been roaming around following the southern roads. Initially, he planned on going straight to the capital to enter the front-lines. But instead, he found himself doing vigilante work around the southern road. He killed bandits and the likes out of his own desire.

As for why he is doing it. He merely thinks that is the right thing to do. There are bandits, they are killing people, raping people and making trouble for people. There was no one that was doing anything so he acted instead. It was a simple conclusion. He found the vigilante work tiring. It was not a happy job. Unlike the tales, he hears in taverns or Inns. The real thing was that everything was terrible.

Because of that terribleness that his still acting around. So far the southern roads have been cleared up. It took him daily travels and daily hunting to somehow get this far in clearing up the roads. It’s almost funny how this all started up. He thinks that he really should work on his goals.

His current goal is to clear the southern road. He’s not that delusional enough to clearly clear the roads of the bandits. But so far he has been making waves. One of the teachings of his foster father was that scum and the likes are cowardly and superstitious. So he just needed to make them fear him badly. To do that he has been doing brutal actions that would make those who he maimed remember what he did to the others.

They would then spread what he has done and so far the ‘lunatic’ in the southern road he is trying to weave is spreading. Arden really feels odd that his being called lunatic. Thankfully, he wore a mask to hide his identity. Mask can be pretty intimidating and what’s better way to ingrained fear other than seeing a blood-stained mask of a jester?

Ardent feels like the work is exhausting. But right now under this apricot tree, he can rest. There are still things to do, and after he clears up the last bandit encampment near the ends of the southern road. Then he will start heading out to the north and somehow find ways to get to the front-lines or at least contact his foster sister.