“Looks like some folks arrived here first.” Reinhart said with a smile.

“Reinhart, is that you?” one of the bandits, who seemed to be more well-equipped than the others, asked the knight with a suspicious expression. His gaze, however, came to set upon the people following behind his acquaintance. “Who are those people?”

“Just some friends.” Reinhart shrugged. “No need to worry about them.”

Although the man said that, the bandits were already on guard and were eyeing the group behind him. More specifically, they were staring at Rog, who had his bow at the ready. However, the bandit leader’s expression changed once he saw Rimold not too far behind the hunter.

“Hector?” the brigand stared at the rogue with a shocked expression. “Is that you?”

Rimold hesitated, but still nodded. “It’s me, Lemmond. I followed Reinhart into the caves… I just didn’t expect to end up here of all places.”

The bandit didn’t seem to be convinced by his explanation. He pointed at Red and Allen. “What about the kids? And the man with the bow? Who are they?”

“Oh, they are…” the rogue struggled to come up with an explanation.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, why are we even playing this game?” Reinhart interjected with an annoyed expression. “You already know something is up, so why bother asking?”

Lemmond’s expression worsened at the man’s words. He looked over at Rog.

“I recognize you.” the bandit nodded. “You should be Rog from that one Water Dragon Guild, right? People claim you’re the best hunter in the region.”

“They’re right.” Rog said, while maintaining his bow at the ready.

“And these kids? Are they from your guild too?”

The hunter didn’t respond to that question.

Lemmond shook his head and looked over at Rimold. “I didn’t expect you to be a traitor either, Hector. I suppose that’s not even your real name, right?”

Rimold refused to respond, looking over at the man with a serious expression.

The bandit’s gaze then moved to the knight. “Then, what about you, Reinhart? I thought Rickard and Gustav had a deal.”

“They did.” Reinhart nodded. “But that was before we found out you were working with the Empire behind our backs.”

“What does it matter? Hasn’t Gustav made deals with the Empire’s people in the past, too?”

“Aye, he did. But those were business deals with merchants, and nothing else… This, however, seems to go a bit beyond normal business, doesn’t it?”

The bandit frowned at his words. “We can still work together, you know? The things we can dig out of this place are beyond anything Gustav could make just by trading.”

“You’re misunderstanding.” Reinhart shook his head. “Gustav likes profit, but he also values his own life a lot. Associating with people who are trying to overthrow a region with the help of the Empire is nothing short of high treason. He made this point pretty clear to me before I left.”

After the knight finished speaking, silence settled in the chamber. This ultimatum made the state of things pretty clear, but the bandits were still hesitating to move. They were looking at their leader for his orders, but the man seemed just as reluctant to make a move.

“Are you sure there’s no way to solve this?” Lemmond asked. “We don’t need to- Ugh!”

Before the bandit could stop speaking, an arrow hit him in the shoulder - missing his chest by a margin as the man moved out of the way at the last second. Everyone in the room looked back at Rog, the one who had just let the arrow loose.

Reinhart frowned. “You know, you could warn us about these things the next t-”

“Kill them!” Lemmond’s voice called out.

The bandits finally spurred into action, charging at Rimold and the others.

“Well, I guess that’s that then.” Reinhart shook his head with a sigh and dashed to meet his opponents.

There were over twenty of them, but the knight didn’t hesitate to charge into their midst. Before they had even clashed, though, an arrow shot out from behind the man, dropping another bandit.

Upon seeing another one of their companions being shot by the hunter, some of the bandits ran around Reinhart and charged straight at Rog.

Rog looked over at Rimold. “Keep them off me, please.”

The rogue nodded, drawing one dagger in each hand, and charged at the bandits.

The hunter then looked over at Red and Allen. “You two stay near me in case things get-”

Before Rog could finish his sentence, his eyes widened, and he dove to the ground. An arrow shot past the place where he had just been at, almost hitting his arm. Both Rog and the boys looked over at where the arrow had come from.

There on the other side, they saw Lemmond holding a bow and in the process of nocking another arrow.

“Well, that’s inconvenient.” Rog frowned and shot an arrow at the bandit, forcing him to dodge and gaining himself a moment to breathe.

“I can flank him.” Red said.

The hunter, however, hesitated at his suggestion. “He seems to be strong.”

“I don’t need to kill him, I just need to-”

Another arrow came for them, forcing the group to dodge.

Red looked over at Lemmond hiding on the other side of the huge chamber. “I just need to distract him long enough.”

Rog continued to hesitate, but the sounds of battle continued to sound out from around them. Reinhart seemed to be holding his own against over ten bandits, but Rimold himself was having a hard time keeping the rest of them away from the hunter.

In the end, Rog nodded. “Fine, I’ll give you cover. But if you get noticed, retreat immediately, understood?”

Red nodded and unsheathed his cleaver, ready to depart.

“Wait!” Allen interjected before the boy could leave. “I’m coming too!”

“It’s too dangerous.” Rog shook his head, shooting another arrow at Lemmond.

“I don’t care!” the young master didn’t back down. “It’s dangerous for Red too, so I’m going whether you like it or not!”

The hunter frowned, but before he could say anything, Red spoke up.

“Let him.” the youth said. “If we die, he dies too.”

Rog sighed and nodded.

This was all the reply Allen needed. The young master eagerly unsheathed his sword and got near his companion. “I’ll be right behind you!”

“Stay low.” Red said. “We want to use the battle as a distraction.”

Allen nodded, and the two of them were off. Rog did as he promised, and continued to shoot at Lemmond to give them cover. By the time the bandit looked back at the hunter, the two kids had disappeared from his side. The man, however, didn’t give it much thought.

…

In the meantime, Red and Allen were circling the outskirts of the chamber to approach Lemmond. While this room was very large, there were no rocks or any other sort of cover to hide their approach. Thankfully, though, there was a huge brawl happening right in the middle of the chamber to offer them cover.

“Reinhart is really strong, isn’t he?” Allen said, while observing the fight.

Indeed, even against over ten bandits at once, the knight still had an upper hand. Not to mention that these brigands seemed stronger than the ones Red had come across too, so they were even keeping up against Reinhart to some extent. Still, the man was like a hurricane with his sword, with lightning fast movements and non-stop attacks that had already taken the lives of two bandits. He didn’t seem weighed down at all by his heavy armor.

On the other hand, Rimold wasn’t faring so well. The man was quick too, perhaps even quicker than Reinhart on his feet, but the same couldn’t be said of his skill. The rogue had a hard time wounding any of the bandits, and could at most focus on dodging and keeping them occupied. It was clear that direct melee combat wasn’t really his specialty.

“Come on, we need to hurry.” Red said, turning his focus back to the task at hand.

None of the combatants seemed to notice the kids’ movements. Or perhaps if they did, they were clearly more concerned about other matters to worry about two children wandering around. Thankfully, this meant their path to Lemmond was not blocked.

“There he is!” Allen said, pointing out the bandit.

Even now, the man seemed to be focusing on dodging Rog’s arrows and firing back some of his own to worry about anything else. The battle between the two archers was a peculiar sight, as they continued to trade arrows every few seconds. Still, the mere fact Lemmond could keep up with Rog meant that this man couldn’t be underestimated.

“What do we do?” the young master asked. “He’s going to notice us if we just run straight at him.”

Red knew Allen was right, so he had an idea. He took out his short bow from his back and set his cleaver aside. “I’ll shoot at him, and you take this opportunity to close the distance to him.”

“That sounds great!” Allen nodded with eagerness, but a second later, concern came to his expression. “But what if he shoots at me?”

“I’ll be right behind you and Rog will also be waiting for his opportunity.” Red said, assuaging his worries. “There’s still a risk, obviously, but we are fighting, not training. There will always be a risk.”

“You’re right.” Allen nodded with renewed confidence. “I’ll wait for you signal.”

Red nodded and nocked his arrow. He raised the bow up, aiming it at the man. There was almost one hundred meters between them, but the boy’s aim wasn’t to kill the bandit, but just to distract him.

When he felt somewhat confident in his aim, Red signaled to Allen. “Go now!”

The young master nodded and started running in the bandit’s direction. When he had reached about a third of the way, Red let his arrow loose.

Lemmond seemed to notice the arrow almost immediately. The bandit sidestepped almost out of instinct, causing Red’s shot to miss and clash against the wall harmlessly. The man looked over, trying to see who had shot at him. He was surprised to notice a small child charging at him with a sword in hand.

“AAAAAAAH, DIE!” Allen screamed at the top of his lungs.

Lemmond frowned and didn’t hesitate to raise his bow to shoot at the boy. At that moment, however, there was another swishing sound.

“Shit!” the bandit cursed to himself and dove to the side.

Rog’s arrow scraped his arm, drawing a fine line of blood. Still, it had missed its mark. By the time Lemmond recovered, however, Allen had already closed the distance to him.

The young master swung down with his sword, displaying the strength and skill ingrained in him by Hector and Domeron over the years. The bandit, however, was also no slouch and raised his bow to block the blow.

Allen’s sword cut the wooden arc in half, but that borrowed enough time for Lemmond to side step and counter attack. With surprising speed, the man sent a kick towards the young master’s midriff, and Allen could barely put up his hands to block it.

“Ugh!”

The boy groaned in pain as the blow sent him flying backwards. Just as Lemmond was ready to follow up, though, Red had also closed the distance.

The youth swung his cleaver at the man, more in an attempt to keep him from advancing than to hit him. His plan worked, and the bandit was forced to seize his momentum and step back, lest he cut himself on Red’s cleaver. It was at that point that he heard another swishing sound over the echoes of battle.

“Fuck!” Lemmon once more dove backwards, dodging Rog’s arrow by a small margin.

However, as soon as he landed on his feet, he felt a large force hit him on the side. Lemmond stumbled, and when he looked down, he saw another arrow sticking out of his ribs.

The bandit’s eyes widened in disbelief. “B-but I dodged-”

Before the man could collect himself, Red’s cleaver came swinging down. The bandit tried to put his bow stumps up to block, but the boy’s weapon was far sharper than Allen’s sword. It cut effortlessly through both the wood and Lemmond’s leather armor, digging into his collarbone.

“AAGH!” the man screamed in pain and kicked Red away.

The youth felt a heavy blow against his belly that took all of his air. He crashed back onto the ground a few meters away.

The bandit struggled to get up, the cleaver still stuck in his chest. At that point, though, the damage was already done. Another swishing sound came out, and an arrow lodged itself on the side of the man’s skull before he could react.

His body slumped to the ground, lifeless.

“Lemmond is dead!” one of the bandits called out, and panic spread through their ranks.