《The King is Back》Chapter 9 - Big Trouble In Little Lebourne
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It is a calm winter morning in the remote village of Lebourne, located in the outskirts of the kingdom of Estalia. The heavy snows covering the roads are being scooped up by the citizens as they start the day. This winter has hindered many of the villagers in doing their normal activities such as farming. The heavier than usual winter fall also means that the usual kingdom’s soldiers and traveling merchants that visit these lands are nowhere to be seen. The faces of the villagers carry a shade of gloom that seems to predict their looming doom.
The following afternoon, a group of 30 people can be seen in the village gate. These are what people would call all sorts of different names: thugs, criminals, bandits. These bands of misfits all carry dirty, rugged looks in their faces. Their uniforms, or lack thereof, are mismatched with one another. Some can be seen wearing good quality metal armors while some are only wearing cheap leather armors. Some carry swords while some others carry bows or a wooden staff.
“THE VILLAGE OF LEBOURNE!-” One of the bandits in the front of the group shouted.
“Rejoice! Your saviors have come!”
"""HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA""" The bandits laughed at their representative’s joke.
The dirty face of the bandit who spoke started to create an even more disgusting looking smile.
“Enough jokes. We are here for this week’s protection fee! Bring me the chief!” The bandit shouted to the whole village.
That’s what they called their extortion, protection fee. To the bandits, not being killed or kidnapped to be sold as slaves by them is protection.
The villagers are forming a crowd in the middle of the village’s road. It is as they say: there is safety in numbers. The villagers feel safer when they are in close proximity with one another. The crowd then starts to make way for David, the village chief, to step forward.
“G-g-gentlemen! Let’s settle this peacefully! We can make a deal” The village chief said to the bandits.
“Huhh? Peacefully? Do you want peace? Then pay up!” The bandit’s representative replied.
After the representative said that, all the bandits start to draw their weapons. The villagers can be seen panicking.
“W-we don’t have money! Our money has run out! There are no travelling merchants that come here and we lost contacts with other villages!” One of the villagers, not the chief, said.
“Eeeeeeeh? Have you people forgot what we told you we would do if you can’t pay up?” The bandit representative replied.
“P-please! Let’s settle this some other way!” The village chief begged.
“Hell nah. If y’all can’t pay up then we’ll be taking your strong men, plump women, and juicy children then! BOYS! GET THEM!” The bandit’s representative barked orders.
The villagers can be seen panicking and tries to run away but the heavy snow slowed them down. The bandits’ stronger physiques allow them to catch up with the villagers.
“Kyaaa!”
“Let me goo!”
“Let my wife go!!!”
One by one they are taken by the bandits. Not just the men, but the women and children too.
The bandit’s representative and his lackeys then spotted something in the middle of the panicking crowd.
“Hmmm? Now where do y’all backwater village like this found this bronze-skinned sexy bitch?” The representative said.
The one he described was a girl in her late teens with attractive features and a shoulder-length hair. Her exotic beauty is very rarely if at all, seen in this part of the continent.
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“Please! Not her! She’s just a guest!” The village chief begged the bandits to not take the girl.
“Now why would we care about that? Hmmm… she’ll fetch a pretty price for the nobles.” The bandit representative said.
The bandit’s representative and his 5 lackeys start to approach the girl.
“Please! I-I’m just a small girl!” The girl begged the bandits.
“That’s right...you’re a small girl...hehehehehehe” One of the lackeys said.
“I guess we can get a little taste before selling her…” The bandit representative replied as they approach the girl.
Finally, the girl is within arm's reach of the bandits.
“Noo!” The girl screamed.
(BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG)
Six booming sounds can suddenly be heard rapidly and the bandit’s representative and his lackeys suddenly fell to the ground. An abundance of the color red starts to contaminate the white of the snow.
“W-w-what?” One of the bandits who was near them said.
“I guess I’m not such a small girl huh?” The girl said.
The girl was of course Urada. She has been disguising herself as a defenseless girl and hid in the crowd. She is currently not wearing her armor and is only wearing a simple villager’s garb. She waited for the bandits to get close to her and quickdraws the mana gun hidden in her back to shoot the six bandits at once.
“24 to go.” Urada muttered.
“T-t-that bitch! BOYS! GET HER!”
The bandit’s warriors that carry swords start to charge at Urada. For each of their attacks, Urada only barely dodged and then shot their vital points.
(BANG BANG)
Urada’s movement with her gun is like an angel of death that can take your life within a manner of seconds. Each bandit that approached her found themselves dead before they can put a scratch on her.
“YOU!” One of the bandits charged again at Urada.
The bandit stabs the sword towards Urada.
(BANG)
But a string of pain can suddenly be felt in the hands of the bandit holding the sword.
“Aaah!”
The sword fell. Urada then runs up to the bandit, aimed her gun at the head and shot in point blank.
(BANG)
A huge hole can be seen in the head of the bandit. The warrior bandits are now all defeated.
Near the village gate, the archers, and one mage bandit can be seen with faces of shock after seeing what just happened. This one girl defeated their entire warrior bandits...all of that just happened in under 30 seconds.
“BOYS! Aim your arrows at her! Steve! Use your magic!”
The remaining 9 bandits archers and one mage then start to aim their arrows and magic at the girl.
“Not so fast.” A voice can suddenly be heard behind them.
Suddenly, one of the archers is split in half by a golden glowing sword.
“AAAAH!” One of the bandits screamed out of shock at what he had just seen.
The glowing golden sword belonged to none other than Braum. Before they can react, Braum starts to move at an inhuman speed, disappearing and appearing at different spots and attacking the bandits.
“Aaah! My hands!! Ughh” One of the bandits screamed before he died.
The remaining bandits' number starts to go down one by one until it is just 4 of them left.
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“Call the backup!!!” One of the bandits barked at his friend.
(SHOOOOOOO) That bandit then starts to blow a whistle. But after a few seconds, no help came.
“What are they doing??? Why aren’t they coming?? Forget it! Kill this man!” One of the bandits barked orders.
The bandits start to shoot their arrows at Braum. All of the arrows just bounce off Braum’s armor.
“What kind of armor is that??” One of the bandits screamed out of confusion.
(SLASH SLASH SLASH) Braum killed the remaining archers by dismemberment as his sword is just a tad bit too sharp.
“Ughhh! Esvalicus Gastana!” The final bandit mage invokes a chant and then five fireballs can be seen hovering around him.
“Fira!” The bandit mage screamed and the fireballs start to move at high speed towards Braum.
Braum then starts to slash his sword at the incoming fireballs. He hit four of them and they disappeared. But the final fireball hit his armor and the armor’s blue barrier activated.
“What! That armor can deflect magic!” The bandit mage was surprised.
Before he can say anything else, Braum has already arrived in front of him.
“Aaagh!” The bandit mage gave a scream before dying. Braum stabbed his chest.
“Tch. I missed one of those fires...I need more training.” Braum said.
He realized that if he was not wearing his armor, he would have been quite wounded from the fireball.
“Urada!!! Let’s check up on the others!” Braum shouted at Urada who was further inside the village.
“Alright, Zed!” Urada replied.
Deep inside the forest, two hooded individuals with strange-looking armors can be seen. Below them are three men on their knees that have their hands behind their backs. The two men were, of course, Kelvin and Niko.
“Resistance is futile. Those handcuffs are made from carbon fiber and further enhanced by magic.” Kelvin said to the prisoners.
Suddenly, two other hooded individuals can be seen approaching them.
“Rob, Kaz, how are things holding up here?” Braum said to the two.
Kelvin and Niko have dealt with the reinforcements that are outside the village. Their numbers totaled to 20 other bandits. Following Braum’s orders, they have captured some prisoners.
“Zed. As you can see, we have kept some alive so we can find their base of operation.” Kelvin replied to Braum.
“We’ll fucking tell you nothing! Go suck your momma’s titties you brown-skinned motherfuckers!” One of the bandits shouted at them.
“Heh.” Niko snorted at the bandit’s low-level insult.
“They all play tough...in the beginning...we’ll open your mouths.” Kelvin said to the prisoners.
A dangerous smile can be seen in Kelvin’s face. This is his specialty in the special forces. He was an expert in torture and the handlings of prisoners to extort information out of them.
“Zed, Kaz, Stef. If you would just sit back and relax, I’m going to handle this alone.” Kelvin said to the group while smiling.
‘This guy...is dangerous’ Braum thought inside his head.
Braum, Urada, and Niko then each found a tree and leaned their backs on them to enjoy the show.
“Now….where is the location of your nest?” Kelvin said while pulling a small knife from inside his pockets. He said that to the bandit that is the most right.
“We fucking told you fucking brownies! We ain’t going to tell you shit!” The bandit in the middle shouted.
Suddenly, the knife is stabbed at the middle bandit’s throat.
“ *Gurgle*” The bandit tried to speak but the knife was inside his throat. He then fell down and died due to the blood loss.
“I didn’t fucking ask you. You...where is the location of your base? I’ll cut one limb off your friend here every time you either lie or opt to not tell me…” Kelvin said to the left bandit.
“I-I-I ain’t going to tell you shit!”
Kelvin then cuts the right bandit’s left hand with his small knife which might seem impossible but he did it anyway.
“AAAAAAAAAHHH! PLEASEEE!” The right bandit screamed.
“Once more, where is the location of your base?” Kelvin asked again.
“I-I-I…….” The bandit hesitated.
Kelvin then cuts the right bandit’s other hand.
“AAAAAAAAH!!!!” The right bandit screamed louder.
“W-Why did you do that???” The left bandit asked.
“You took to long to answer...Now….hey you...what will you choose….I cut off more of your limbs or you tell me the location of the base?” This time, Kelvin asked the right bandit.
“I-I’ll tell you!!!! The base is located 7 kilometers north of here!!!! Near the r-r-river! The cave is located inside a cave near the river!!” The right bandit told Kelvin while in agony.
“I guess I won’t need you anymore will I?” Kelvin said to the left bandit.
“P-please!” The left bandit begged.
“Too late. More like I won’t need the two of you anymore.”
Kelvin pulled his gun and shot them.
(BANG BANG)
The two bandits fell down, dead.
“We have found their location, Zed. Shall we go there right now?” Kelvin turned around and asked Braum smiling while spots of blood can be seen on his face.
“R-r-right. Not yet. We will bring these bodies back to the village first then we will go.” Braum answered back.
Braum was scared shitless. He was still a teenager and this was the first time he ever saw something as graphic and disturbing as that, despite having killed the bandits before. But Braum knows that he must not show weakness as a king. After all, as scary as Kelvin is, he is still his underling.
“ *breaths in and out* Let’s bring these bodies back” Braum said calmly.
Back in the village, the villagers were still quite shocked by what just happened. Their savior did as they promised and killed the bandits!
Suddenly, Braum and his group returned to the village carrying the bodies.
“OUR SAVIORS!”
“THEY’RE THE ENVOY OF THE GODS! ENVOY OF GODS I TELL YOU!”
The villagers cheered to their survival and praised Braum’s group.
“Where is the village chief?” Braum asked the villagers.
“I’m here!” The village chief arrived in front of them.
“Please keep these bodies and cut off their ears. We will be back soon.” Braum replied.
And then Braum’s group left faster than they arrived. The villagers were still cheering. The village chief was dumbfounded.
“Who are these people…"
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