"fwoooh….”

He puffed on his cigarette while looking at the aftermath of the battle. The soldiers were carrying the bodies of the dead bandits and placing them side by side to form a line. This was a standard procedure in cases like this that bandits were killed to look for any notable individuals. Some bandits were beyond recognition, but most bandits would carry a name tag with them at all times. It was part of their code to bring one so that a priest can conduct their last rights to them. Where their names would be needed for.

“Looks like we need to bury most of them.” the captain said nonchalantly. “though killing a bandit would let you get a gold reward from a town through the showing of the name tag which most bandits carry, though some tattoo their names in their bodies instead of having a name tag. We would remove the tattooed skin from the body.”

“That’s... convenient…” Justin replied still smoking. For him those people deserved to die anyway. They wanted to destroy the house and kill him and the soldiers, which he couldn’t accept. Mostly because they threatened the good soldiers. But also because the Landlord might have a heart attack when he comes back and sees his house was destroyed.

Still, he didn’t quite regret killing those bandits. Even if some of them were good people, he just couldn’t find any sympathy for someone who would choose a life of crime.

He then looked to the direction of the bandits they captured, who were helping the soldiers with carrying their dead. One of which was the young bandit he met earlier.

“What would happen to them now?” he asked the Captain.

“Since they are bandits, and they came here Illegally from Prathea. Law dictates that we must bring them to the nearest town or city to be sent to the gallows and be hanged.” he answered.

That was something he expected, specially since that was how countries from earth would treat criminals in the past.

“how about you let me take care of them for now?” he said looking at the bandits.

Since he was going to get a title deed for the house and the land surrounding him. He might as well also make the place a small settlement where travelers can stop by between the towns. The location was great and it was between two of the biggest towns in the province.

“Tell me sir Justin, how would you do that?” he asked the man.

He thought for a while, he didn’t actually hate the idea of letting the Captain decide their fates when they turn them over to Lersche’s Barracks. He wanted to make them useful instead.

“I was thinking of hiring some of them as workers here. I actually plan on forming a village or settlement here so that travelers can stop by from time to time. And since they are bandits, most of them might have either a [Builder] or [Worker] class since they weren’t born as bandits anyways. And it also acts as a form of penitence for them.” he explained.

He thought about it, if you do good to someone that has done you bad, it will make the man regret his decisions for the rest of their life. He wasn’t a sadist or anything, for him it was just the right thing to do.

“But still you need to go through a few procedures, there are also the fees that must be paid. And you also need to register them as slaves. Though I don’t understand why you would want them as slaves.” he answered confused.

He didn’t plan to make them slaves, more like workers. Since the Idea of slavery was foreign for him, and was only something that happened long before he was born.

“If it’s about the procedures and the fees, I think I can handle that. Since you said those there was bounty for the bandits, and there is also the equipment they have which we can sell.” he argued. “ And I don’t plan on making anybody a slave, I want to hire them. And make them functioning individuals of society.”

The captain was taken aback from his reasoning. It was the first time he heard about someone who wanted to help bandits, though not in the way of helping them in banditry. But more on helping them get out of the life of being criminals. The ideas of Justin felt foreign to the captain at first, but while thinking about it, it was a better way of dealing with them.

“Very well then, I will gladly assist you in your venture. When we go to town I will ask Christa to accompany you to the appropriate offices.” the captain said with a nod goodbye.

He dropped the burn out cigarette butt on his portable ashtray. He could’ve just dropped it on the ground and step on it, but he loved how green the grass was. Though a few holes from the exploded arrows were here and there were seen. And also the occasional blood and guts of the dead littered the place. Those would just be used by the earth to heal anyway.

“Status.”

Status (3 Skill Points available)

Name: Justin Lowe

Race: Human (Male)

Age: 25

Level: 18, 4155 EXP to next level

Classes:

Scholar, Fighter, Chef, Gunner

Sub-Classes:

Book-keeper, Brawler, House Cook, Rifleman

Blessings:

Favorite of Apo-Init, Favorite of Apo-Tangatang, Favorite of Apo-Bulan

Health: 420/420

Mana: 500/500

Reputation: Neutral(3)

Fame: 30

Agility: 30

Strength:60

intellegence: 50

Wisdom: 55

Endurance: 60

Luck: 11

He was now level 18, and he gained a new Class and Sub-class. He also had 3 Skill Points. Maybe he would add more to his luck. He thought to himself. He then took another cigarette out from the pack and lit it again. He wished there were also cigarettes in this world. He then walked back to the house.

In the backyard, the Old merchant and his children, along with some wounded soldiers were resting. Christa was handing out some food to them while they sat on the pavement. It was around a few minutes passed midnight, but the air was not cold. Maybe it was because of the heat from the torches, or the heat from the battle that ended only a few minutes earlier.

The Old man thanked the gods that his children were unharmed. He might be a merchant, but he wasn’t that rich. Most people thought of the [Merchant] class as people who have a lot of money to waste, but this was far from truth. He was born in a rundown village away from the Kingdom’s capital, and life was tough. But he strove to get by, and eventually he moved out of the village to pursue the career as a merchant.

When he was in his late forties, he met the love of his life and decided to stay in her home town. His in-laws hated him, but what could they have done? She was already pregnant with their child. So they just let them be. He thought that maybe his life has already gotten better since his time in his home village. But after giving birth to their second child, his wife fell ill.

He sold most of their belongings and almost neglected his business, until eventually his business was closed and his money all dried up. Asking help from his in-laws, he was able to get his wife back into shape, but that came with a cost.

His wife was held captive by her parents because they deemed him unworthy of being her husband. And he and his children were forced to leave the town. He didn’t have any money when he was leaving. But through the help of some of his friends, he was able to get them some supplies and goods that they could sell. and since then they have became travelers. Kingdom to kingdom, town to town, village to village, they traveled trying to find money. And after ten long years they came back to the town where is wife was.

But when he knocked on the door an unknown man opened the door with his wife held in his arms. His wife has married another man.

He never came back and just tried to give his children a better future.

He was handed a bowl of soup by the Young female mage. They just heated the left over soup, but the man was grateful nonetheless.

“Thank you young miss.” he said and proceeded to drink the soup from the bowl.

His son though was just staring at the bowl, he was still a bit shaken up from the ordeal. If it wasn’t for the bandit’s mistake of trying to attack this house, they would’ve become slave, or worse dead. The thought of seeing his sister being a plaything for a bandit or noble gave him a stomachache.

“don’t worry son were safe now, though I must say this might be a sign from the gods for me to settle down somewhere. I think we should try to buy some land in Lersche. Would you like that?” the Old man said to his children.

“If you would like to father, I actually like Lersche a lot. And there are a lot of places to go to.” his daughter answered, unlike her brother, she looked calm. She needed to stay calm so that his brother wouldn’t try to take on any of the bandits earlier. If she cried is brother might be enraged, so she just cried deep inside.

“Yeah we can just stay in Lersche! I also met a nice girl there before and we would meet up everytime we go the…”

His sister punched him in the shoulder.

“...what did you do that for?” he retorted.

“I just felt the urge to do it.”

“...”

“Ah! Stop that now, our host is here.” The old merchant said, making his children stop from quarreling.

Justin then approached the man while still smoking his cigarette. The Old merchant was eyeing him while he was approaching.

“Greetings kind sir, thank you for saving me and my children from those bandits.” he said to the man in front of him while bowing down. His children then followed suit. Justin though didn’t like seeing people bow down so low to him.

“Stop bowing old man, I am but a simple man, and only to gods and royals should one bown down so low like you and your children just did.”

“Thank you Sir, if you would accept this as a small token of our appreciation, we would be grateful.” the man said while handing a bag of coins. He had hidden the bag inside the sole of his boot and planned to use it only in emergencies.

Justin hesitated.

“...Old man, it’s fine. I just did the right thing. But I have a proposition for you.”

“What would you like this Old Merchant to do with you sir?” said the merchant. Though he was their saviour, he didn’t know how his mind worked and was still weary.

“Would you like to work for me? Your children included. I plan on making a small village in this area, and I am currently looking for some people who can help me achieve that.” he explained. A merchant was a good addition for him, since he knew how to handle people more than him.

The Merchant thought about it, he was old, and he already planned to settle down now. He looked to his daughter and she smiled. She agreed on taking the chances with this man.

“What’s in it for us then!?” his son asked the man.

“Hush boy! This man saved our lives!”

“I’m sorry for my brother’s behaviour sir.”

“it’s fine, I understand that he might be worried about a few things, but if you would, I’d like to explain the details.” he answered. “Well then can I have your names then?”

“Oh, my name is Rodrick sir.”

“I’m Aileena.”

“Fredrick.”

“I will then explain what work you would do. For Mr. Rodrick, I plan to make him my right hand man, since he looks like the person who can deal with people more diplomatically.” he explained. “miss Aileena may I ask you what your classes and sub-classes are?” he then asked.

“I have the [Chef] class with a [House Cook] sub-class, and the [Worker] class with a [Cleaner] sub-class.” she replied.

“I should take you in as the cook then. You can manage to cook for a lot of people right?”

“Yes, I can manage.”

“Great! Then for young Fred, you could just help your sister then.”

“Okay?…” Fredrick answered.

“So there are other men that will also work with us sir?” the old man then asked

“Yes I plan on taking in some men that want to find work, there would be a lot of work to be done to make this place into a thriving village. And the first thing we need are more men.” he said.

“Okay sir, we agree.” he then shook their hands. He turned back, and walked away while lighting another cigarette.

“That guy seems nice, but what was that thing he was puffing with that made smoke?” his son asked him.

“And he smelled weird too.” the daughter added.

“That kids is called tobacco, though it looked smaller than the ones I have seen. I met a few people smoke it, It’s quite expensive actually. A leaf of that would cost a gold coin.” he explained.

He looked at the back of the man, he really did look like a nice guy. And he offered them to work for him and stay there. But still who is this man anyway? He can just wonder.

Christa was listening in on their conversations. She was surprised by the decisions made by Justin. She was curious why this mas has made such decisions. Even the cardinal didn’t give people such offers, and when she heard from the captain that he planned to take in some captured bandits as workers she was genuinely surprised.

She has only known him a few hours ago, and she could tell that he was a honest to goodness man. But he also had this brutality in him that made him able to kill those bandits without regrets. She saw first hand when he casually shot the bandit leader and took something from him, she didn’t ask about it. But there was only one word that came up to her mind to describe the man.

Dangerous

But even with those thoughts she wondered about Justin. Just where did he come from and what is his purpose? Was he born in this world to change it? Was it for the good of humanity or it’s fall? For now she could just watch.

A few minutes later, Justin called the bandits that were captured. He was with the captain and Christa. Most of the bandits looked tough and had a lot of scars, new and old. They looked like they’ve been to countless battles, a few even had some missing fingers.

“As you all know, you are now prisoners of the Marthean Army. And by law you would most likely be hanged in the city where your bodies will be hung on the gates.” he said, his tone was intimidating.

“But if you would accept my proposition, I would like you to work with me. I plan to start building a settlement here that would become a village, or maybe even a town or city. But I would need some helping hands. And there’s where you come in. If you swear to me and to the gods that you would help me as I helped you then you would be forgiven for your transgression with me. Step forward of you want to change your lives.” he said to the men. 4 younger bandits then stepped forward along with a single man, the others didn’t move and just smirked and sported a smug look facing him.

“Christa if you may.”

The Mage then stepped front of them.

“Though this spell is used only for slaves to avoid them from hurting their masters, we have decided to cast this spell to each and everyone of you because you might cause trouble with Sir Justin.” she said and she chanted a spell.

“Jistrathar a sular tasarak, locitum maldifidii akula, for my name is Christa, grant me this request.”

A ray of light then shone above their heads and a mark was branded in the back of their left hands as a sign of the seal.

“The seal prevents you from doing anything bad to sir Justin while under him, if in any instance that some of you try to hurt him, the seal will activate and incapacitate you. After that your fates will be decided by him.” Christa explained

“However if you show that you are willing to work for me, I asked Christa to dis-spell the seals and let you continue working from there on out.” he added.

The men were happy for the turn of events. Their lives have just been saved by the man, and they were thankful for it. To them Justin was like a saviour.

“Well then if that’s been taken care of, the five of you shall be sleeping in my tent, but you will still be guarded by my men. Don’t even try doing anything funny or we might as well send you to the gallows of Lersche.” the captain then added. The men nodded and were escorted by some soldiers to the Captain’s tent.

The other bandits though were tied to a tree.

It’s been a long day for Justin. When he was working, he didn’t op for overtime and it since made him unable to function after a long day of work. He’s tired now and he felt sticky from all the moving around he made. The black army suit didn’t even help either since it was a bit hot wearing it. He lead the Merchant and his children to the Living room where he placed a foam comforter and a few pillows and blankets for them to sleep in. He bid them goodnight and went to lead the captain and Christa to their own rooms.

“That looks like a soft bed Justin! It’s been a while since I have slept in a soft bed! Thank you!” said the captain, he closed the door and said goodnight. Christa on the other hand just nodded and closed the door to hers.

Well it’s time for him to sleep now, he went upstairs, removed his clothes and lay on bed. In a span of hours he has killed some men, made deals with people and successfully saved the house from being destroyed.

“What an eventful day.” he mused as he closed his eyes.

He then remembered he needed a bath.

“Fuck…”