Bandits.

The possibility of encountering these people never came to my mind.

Back in Kitrod, nobody in their right minds would ever think about living in the wilderness where strong monsters roamed rampant. Here in Badoth territory, the creatures found in forests were relatively harmless, so there was almost no risk for bandits to camp out in the wild. Come to think of it, this wide forest that spanned about 30 kilometers was quite an ideal spot for the bandits to live in, since it was quite easy to hide from any pursuing authorities. I don't think anyone would ever want to go look for these bandits, though. The forest was far away, and most normally go around it.

"Hey! Let me go! Or at least put me together with Casath!"

"Shut up! Quit chirpin' or I'll kill ya!"

After being netted by the bandits, they took us deeper into the forest so that other travelers, if there were any in the first place, wouldn't know that there were bandits nearby and would drop their guards. Hanung wasn't quite happy about being placed 10 meters away from her half brother.

Regarding that little girl we tried to help out earlier: it turns out she was actually 20 years old, and was the leader of the bandit group. She only looked petite because of either poor nutrition or because she was born that way. Counting her, there were thirteen bandits in total, eleven of whom were keeping watch over us, while the girl and another bandit were leading the horse-drawn carriage towards where we were taken.

"That little girl… A bandit… But she looked so innocent… How…"

Amber seemed to be shaken by the fact that the seemingly innocent little girl was nothing like she imagined, and had been mumbling in disbelief for the past ten or so minutes.

As for Casath, he was constantly struggling to break free, so ten of the bandits ganged up on him a while ago and knocked him out cold.

I suddenly had a thought about how my travel companions were acting like problem children in this situation. Why couldn't you all stay calm like me? There's no point trying to escape or resist right now, since there's no help around in this nearly empty forest.

"Oi, there's nothin' good in here!"

The carriage was brought over a few minutes later, and it seemed like the Jackal girl wasn't happy with what was inside. Apart from our few bags of clothes and food rations, there was nothing of value at all.

"We were planning on resupplying as soon as we got to a town. There's nothing valuable on us other than the 60000 doviti inside my wallet. You can find that in my robe's front left pocket.

"Blaze?"

Amber seemed to have finally broken out of her trance of disbelief and turned her head over to look at me, puzzled by what I just said.

"Ya tryin' to trick us?"

"No, not at all. You'll be searching us sooner or later, so I might as well save you the trouble."

"Heh… I think I'm startin' to like ya."

"I didn't give the girls any money, so you won't need to search them. That reptilian probably has some money on him, though. I gave him quite a sum yesterday."

Having heard what I said, another bandit started searching Casath's pockets and soon found a moderate stack of paper money.

"Yer quite cooperative."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? There's nobody else in this section of the forest, so I can't really scream for help, anyways."

"Blaze!"

Some of the bandits chuckled after my response, while Amber seemed to be quite bothered. I'm fully aware that making it known that we were currently alone was a stupid thing to do, since as long as there was the possibility of other people being nearby, they would be wary of their surroundings and hesitant to kill us, since we could be used as hostages.

"Why are you telling them all this?!"

"We're traveling along in an empty forest, and the people who know where we're going already know that we'll be away from town for four days, so they won't be searching for us for a while. I can't stall these bandits for that long, you know."

"You could at least resist!"

"How? Think about it. Casath is unconscious. Hanung can't run away on her own since she'll freak out as soon as she's separated from Casath. Your magic doesn't work on females, so this Jackal girl is immune and would probably slit your throat if you try to do anything. Basic magic won't be effective against this many enemies, so I can only use intermediate and advanced magic. But we're inside a forest, so if I use my fire-type spells, it'll probably kill not just these bandits but all of us as well. Trying to resist seems pointless to me."

"They might kill us eventually though!"

"I don't really care about Casath and Hanung since they're just hired help. I do care about you losing your life, but we've only known each other for a month, so I'm sure I'll get over it quickly. Besides, if I'm going to die eventually with no way to escape, then I don't want to trouble myself with being worried about my final moments. I'd rather think happy thoughts and pass on peacefully."

"Don't you cherish your friends?"

"Friends? What are you talking about? You three never even hang out with me. I'm always at the town pub drinking alone or with other merchants. If anything, I think of you three as acquaintances, so I'm not that emotionally attached to you all."

"That's what you think of us? Jerk!"

"Hey. I'm a merchant who treats his customers nicely with respect, you know. The problem is you three never buy any of my stuff, so of course I'd treat you differently."

"You heartless, cruel bastard!"

I never thought I would ever see Amber be this angry. She was always such a cheerful and carefree girl. I guess moments of crisis like these really do bring out the unseen sides of people.

Regarding what she called me just now, I don't think that was necessarily true. I'm just brutally honest about my thoughts and feelings, I think.

"Bahaha! Yer funny!"

As though too amused by my words completely atypical of someone in distress and Amber's bickering, the Jackal girl and her fellow bandits were all laughing.

"Tell ya what, I'll let ya go since ya amused us."

"Really? Thanks. See, Amber, being honest has its benefits."

"Fine, I'll be honest about my thoughts too! I hope you die slowly and painfully, you… you… scum!"

"You're running out of bad words to address me as already?"

"Shut up!"

Amber really looked like she was ready to claw my eyes out at any moment. I thought her face actually looked cute when it was all red like this, though. Meanwhile, several members of the bandit group were holding their stomachs and laughing. A while later, the bandits freed me from their net and pointed towards where I should go to get out of here.

"Thanks. By the way, is it possible to let Amber go as well? She's valued by my employer, so it might leave a bad impression if I let her get killed here."

"What?"

"You can keep the other two, though, since they have no relationship with my employer and won't affect me in any way. He might not think fondly of me if Amber tells him what happened later on, but I think he'll probably forgive me, given the situation."

"Like hell I'd want to go with you now! You can just hang out alone! I'd rather stay here and die!"

Wow, I'm asking nicely to have her freed, and she doesn't even want that to happen.

"On second thought, she might claw me to death if you let her go now, so could you probably let her go when I'm far away? Also, you might want to think about turning the other two into slave workers. They're the best known couriers in our town, so I'm sure they're very fit for the job."

"Fine."

"Well, it's probably unlikely for me to get the carriage back since it's worth so much money, but could I at least have my staff back? It's practically worthless, but I have a lot of fond memories with it. You can also have someone follow me to make sure I don't use any magic."

I don't really have fond memories of it, but I do at least want something that can protect me in case I somehow get ambushed or attacked again in this forest.

The bandits were hesitant at first, but eventually gave me my staff back. To make them feel at ease, I tied it to my back so that it couldn't be used as a weapon. The nearest town from here was Dasota, which was probably 40 kilometers west from here, so I headed towards that direction. As for whether or not I can actually walk that far on my own, well, I'll figure that out when I'm out of here. I stopped after taking a few steps and turned back towards the bandits when something came to mind.

"By the way, are any of you hungry?"

"Huh?"

"The only food rations I brought along was some jerky and biscuits, which aren't really that appetizing. It's probably around two o'clock right now, and I'm surrounded by all kinds of exotic food ingredients in this forest, so I figured I might as well make a late lunch for everyone here."

"Ya got a screw loose or something?"

"Well I do get told that quite frequently, but I don't think I do. I just figured that I might as well have a meal here before leaving, since it's a very long walk to Dasota town, and I'd probably be famished by the time I arrive. Might as well make it a large meal as thanks for you all letting me go."

"You crazy moron!"

Ah, so Amber did have more bad vocabulary to address me as.

"I'll even taste the food several times while cooking if you're worried about me doing something."

"…Okay?"

The bandits exchanged confused looks with one another, then reluctantly agreed to my offer. On the Jackal girl's command, half the group split up to retrieve pots, pans, utensils, water, and firewood. The girl herself and one other bandit went with me to help gather food ingredients, while five stayed behind to keep watch over their captives and the carriage.

* * * * *

"Hey."

"What?"

"I understand that you don't trust me yet, but do you really need to be this close?"

As though worried that I might take out my staff to do something unwanted, the Jackal girl kept her distance uncomfortably close to my left elbow so that she could quickly respond to any sudden movements I make. The bandit that followed along mirrored her by keeping close to my right elbow.

It was bothersome enough that I was losing personal space, but I felt more bothered by the fact that I could occasionally feel the girl's breathing on my left hand. I'd feel so much better if her nose was at a taller height…

"What's your name, by the way?"

"Weren't ya complainin' about bein' close?"

"I was bothered by the lack of physical distance between us, not by our relationship. Besides, aren't you bothered by being called a 'little girl' even though you're already 20 years old?"

"…Name's Lica."

And so, Lica and the other bandit continued making me feel uncomfortable as we walked around the forest. I occasionally asked the two to give me a little more personal space, but they kept ignoring my request.

* * * * *

Cooking food was, in some sense, similar to crafting potions: as long as one follows the recipe and preparation instructions correctly, then the final product should be something good.

Come to think of it, since I was currently gathering exotic ingredients in a forest that people rarely ever use for cooking, this was probably more like a planned medicinal trial. Rumor has it that people long ago would test out different plants and potions on prisoners in order to determine which were harmful, and which were beneficial to our health.

Of course, with my life currently on the line, I couldn't make myself the subject of such risky experimentation. Given my knowledge as an alchemist, however, I think I should be able to make reasonable guesses as to what is considered safe, and how each item would contribute to the overall taste of what I was going to cook.

"Ya going to poison us?"

"I told you that I would be taste testing it several times, remember? I obviously won't be cooking something that would make me die."

Lica didn't seem to be happy about the fact that I was picking a large quantity of mushrooms. To be fair, it's not like every type of mushroom with a volva or vivid colors was poisonous. Some types of mushrooms imitate the appearance of poisonous ones in order to lower their chances of being eaten by other creatures.

"Aren't those dangerous?"

Now the other bandit seemed to be bothered by how I was picking out some wild berries.

"Well, I can understand that you're wary, since blueberries look similar to pokeberries. Then there's also the fact that tomatoes are nightshade plants, so it has plenty of similar looking toxic relatives in the wild. But trust me, I know what I'm doing."

All kinds of berries can be found growing in the wild, but many of them were very poisonous despite their juicy and delicious appearances. I have absolute confidence in my ability to discern between the poisonous and non-poisonous types of berries, though… I think.

"Ya ever have suicidal thoughts?"

"That's not a nice question to ask. But yes, I did have those kinds of thoughts. That was a couple years ago, though. I'm quite happy with my life right now."

The two bandits looked at each other with a doubtful gaze.

"I used to be poor and debt-ridden, but now I have a good home and career in a nice town, so I haven't thought about giving up on life at all."

They really seemed to be bothered by how I was picking some random wild plant leaves and herbs right now. I wouldn't blame them, really, since poisonous plants often had compound leaves that were divided into three leaflets, like the ones I was picking out right now.

Nonetheless, I knew what I was doing… probably.

* * * * *

Back where the rest of the bandits were waiting, all the preparations seemed to have been finished.

There was an ample amount of water and firewood, and several large pots and pans were lined up. Apparently a deer also passed by and was quickly hunted down. I really didn't want to stain my hands with blood, so I asked the bandits to butcher it while I prepared everything else.

First, I washed off the dirt from the mushrooms and rinsed the berries, herbs, and plants.

Next, I sliced the mushrooms and threw them onto the pans. There wasn't any butter or cooking oil around, so I asked for some of the deer fat in order to saute the mushrooms.

While the mushrooms were being fried, I put water filled pots onto the cooking fire to boil.

I then set the half cooked mushrooms aside and began squeezing out the juice from the berries, adding that juice to the pots of water.

As the water was heating up, I asked for some of the butchered deer meat to be brought over, cut it into small cubes, added it to the pans of mushrooms, and continued sauteing.

Later, I added the saute into the pots of water in order to make a nice stew, and added some of the jerky from my food rations since there was no salt for seasoning.

Half the herbs and plants were ground with the berry flesh into a fragrant paste that added color to the stew, while the other half was finely chopped up for use as garnish.

To ensure a good flavor, I tasted the stew several times during the forty-five minutes it took to cook, while the bandits were busy roasting the deer meat.

"There's no bread to enjoy this stew with, so let's use the crackers I brought instead."

When the stew was done cooking, I divided it into large bowls. A small amount of crackers and garnish was added on top of each bowl, and the remainder was set aside for anyone who wanted to add more on their own.

Since the bandits were probably planning on killing off my travel companions eventually, I told them to just leave the three alone and make them watch us eat.

It was a pleasantly delicious stew that had the strong aroma of the herbs and plants, and a faint gamy smell from the fresh deer. One could taste the mild sweetness of the berries and the rich fat flavor of the sauteed deer meat and mushrooms amidst the light saltiness added by the jerky. The liquid stew was accompanied by the crunchiness of the crackers that were filled with flavor after absorbing some of the stew, and the refreshing taste of the garnish.

The meal was delicious enough that all the bandits quickly wolfed down their food in order to get seconds, and even thirds. I didn't eat much since I had already tasted a fair amount earlier.

We had an enjoyable time eating, chatting, and laughing together while ignoring Amber and Hanung who were glaring daggers at me. It was quite a shame that all the stew ran out after about half an hour.

* * * * *

There was so much chatting going on that none of the bandits noticed me chanting a spell at some point during those thirty minutes, and that I had sneakily untied the strings on my back to let my staff fall onto the ground. After figuring that it was now an appropriate time, I picked up my staff and quickly used a speed boosting buff on myself.

A couple bandits stood up and drew out their weapons in response. Their movements were slow, however, and they could not dodge the incoming swings of my staff. The others tried to get up and draw out their weapons as well, but they were either quickly struck down or were already too weak and sluggish to do so. Those sluggish ones didn't even get a chance to stand up: they just hit the ground without even getting hit.

Over the next minute or two, Amber and Hanung looked in shock as all of the bandits eventually collapsed onto the ground, several of whom were curled up into a ball and shivering, while the rest were holding onto their stomachs and groaning in pain.

I have never been so glad about my staff having the enchantment of "chance to avoid food poisoning" until this very moment.

Regarding what I said earlier while picking ingredients, I knew exactly what I was doing. There was a dangerously high amount of pokeberries, horse nettle, wild cherries, poison oak, wisteria, false morels, fly agaric, and several more things that shouldn't be ingested inside the stew. Because of that, I had no doubt that all the bandits would all collapse from food poisoning after consuming multiple servings. I was careful enough to only ingest small amounts during the cooking process and ate the finished stew as slowly as possible to minimize the amount I took in, but I was still feeling a little uneasy even with my staff's weird enchantment.

Nonetheless, the risk I took worked out in the end, and I freed my three companions from their nets after confirming that all of the bandits were unable to do anything.

"Well, um… Sorry for taking so long."

"…"

To be honest, I only planned on trying to get just Amber out of this mess. The fact that all three of my traveling companions survived the ordeal was unexpected. Oh well, at least they'll view me more favorably now.

Figuring that I could probably get some value out of turning the bandits in, and also in part because I didn't want to be considered a mass murderer, I had Amber and Hanung assist me in prying all of their mouths open, sitting them up, and pressing down on the back of their tongues to trigger a gag reflex so that they could throw up any amount of the stew still inside their stomachs.

There were some nettle leaves among the plants I harvested earlier, so I quickly ground them up and added water to them, then poured the mixture down each of the bandits' throats. Nettle was a natural laxative, so the toxins in their bodies should hopefully get flushed out before their bodies could absorb them.

As a precaution, I also forced myself to throw up and also took some of the laxative. Poisoning caused by consuming mushrooms, plants, and berries was often incurable, but preventative measures like what I did could be taken in order to lower the risk of death.

Whether or not the bandits actually survive was entirely dependent on how much their bodies could endure, and how much of the toxins their bodies could flush out. They were still writhing in pain, but to a much lesser degree than before thanks to the measures I took. It was likely that most of them, if not all, would survive and recover in a week or so, and that I wouldn't be labeled as someone who mass murdered thirteen people.

There was still a fair amount of roast deer left, so Amber, Hanung, and I ate some to fill out stomachs and saved the rest for whenever Casath woke up. Because of all the badmouthing earlier, our meal was awkwardly quiet, as we were all too embarrassed to say anything.

When we finished, I cast a strength boosting spell on the three of us so that we could pick up and throw Casath onto the carriage. We couldn't fit all of the bandits on board, so we threw four on the carriage, tied two to the roof, hanged one on each of the sides of the two spare horses, and had the remaining ones dragged on the ground by a rope. I don't know why the bandits brought over some sacks earlier, but we did carefully wrap the bandits dragged on the ground with those to reduce the drag. Maybe they kept their pots and pans inside of those sacks or something.

With Casath still out cold, Amber was now in charge of steering the carriage.

Estimated time until arrival in Dasota town: three hours.