"Is that it?" Irwyn asked with a large frown on his face. In front of him spanned a small mountain, completely encircled by [knight]s in ebony black armour.

"All the troops are in formation," a red-haired man answered Irwyn. He was one of the most trusted tacticians of the Blackburg family as well as a rather accomplished mage, "Realm and earth mages have already sealed any underground escape routes and are still monitoring them just in case."

"I see," Irwyn nodded, "What do we know exactly?"

"The leader of the group is the so-called Bandit king Krim. A former seeker in the third tier with no tangible hope of further advancement. A common [berserker warlord] with no unique ability foundation. The Blackburg family had cut him a deal when he had arrived and took over multiple small bandits groups 30 or so years ago: We would allow him to reign over all the bandits in the region and in exchange he would make sure that the Blackburg interests would never suffer at his men's hands."

"Are you certain they were responsible for the pillaging?" Irwyn asked another question. The whole time his gaze was directed towards the small mountain. He could clearly make out a few abandoned buildings in front of the entrance into an old mining complex which had probably been shut down when the ore ran out.

"Beyond the shadow of a doubt. They are the only force in the region large enough to do burn down an entire village without letting any survivors escape. Moreover, we have extracted confessions from multiple members we have captured since the beginning of our investigation."

"The prisoners?" Irwyn finally moved his gaze briefly glancing at the mage beside him.

"As per your wishes, quietly executed," the man replied.

"Plans to fill in the power vacuum are also already in place, I assume," Irwyn nodded, "Then give the order."

"As you wish, Lord Irwyn," the red-haired men nodded back and took out a small mechanism from within his clothes. Raising it above his head the device was activated, propelling a crimson flare upwards. The scarlet blaze reached high enough to be visible from the other side and the troops reacted to it quickly.

The knights did not march forward, keeping their distance. Instead, cloaked figures stepped out of the line, raising their hands towards the landmass in front of them. At first nothing happened, however, after just a few seconds the ground began to shake. Bit by bit, the tremble became more intense, reaching all the way to where Irwyn stood. Soon enough it grew into an earthquake as pebbles danced on the ground and birds fled from nearby trees

Perhaps realising what was going on, people began pouring out of the mine entrance, however, as soon as they appeared, their bodies were cut into pieces, not unfamiliar to the way Alice had dealt with the goblins a few days prior. Witnessing such merciless massacre, the flow of humans halted almost instantly, the bandits rather remaining out of sight. That stalemate didn't last for long before the next big change as a resonating crack accompanied the sound of an earthquake.

The peak of the mountain shifted ever so slightly and then a fissure appeared along it. And like an avalanche, the rest of the mountain began cracking as well. Rocks and boulders split off, cascading down, raising clouds of dust. From there it took only a moment for the final collapse. With a mighty boom, the very mountaintop caved in, filling up the hollow space left behind by years of mining. The already shaken layers of reinforcements stood no chance against those impacts and the mine crumbled. With one last boom, even the entrance collapsed, raising a large cloud of dust. Everyone still inside the mine was either crushed or buried alive, just as intended.

"I will have the earth and realm mages perform a sweep once they recover from the mass casting, though I highly doubt anyone is alive after that," the tactician said, through Irwyn begged to differ.

"Don't let down your guard!" the boy yelled at the troops in front of him, "Incoming enemy, fast!"

No one dared slight Irwyn as the Knights drew their blades. They were not expecting to fight that day, however, that didn't mean they were not ready. Just when they finished their short preparations, something rushed through the mist. It was the hulking frame of a giant man, great axe in hand and only leather pants covering his muscle saturated body. Just his speed alone clearly identified him as the man who led the bandits, the third tier berserker Bandit king Krim. Bloody cuts appeared on his body not long after he left the dust cloud as the spacial mages attempted to bisect him like they did with the others, however, they could not achieve anything worse than flesh wounds. The lack of firepower of spacial mages was clearly showing, as although they could strike the enemy swiftly and from far away, they were unable to cause any significant damage to someone with even a smidgen of resistances.

Next the cannonball of a man reached the knights. The line was only one man thin, however, they were prepared for the charge. A sword was already in his trajectory as he arrived while the surrounding knights quickly moved to assist their comrade who was facing the most direct attack. The berserker did not slow down, instead, he swung his axe at the knight, forcing him to dodge. Despite that, the Blackburg fighter managed to flawlessly get out of the way of his death while maintaining his sword pointed in the berserker's direction. Despite that, Krim did not even attempt to dodge. He allowed the sword to cleanly impale him, straight into his side while he kept his speed, trampling the brave [knight] in the process.

His sprint continued, now clearly directed straight at Irwyn. It was the best course of action for the bandit as he stood no chance of actually escaping without a hostage. He had likely scouted Irwyn's presence and position when he sent his men to rush out and die. Although his charge did not last much longer. Irwyn felt a powerful surge of mana manifest beside him as the berserker's sprint slowed down and then completely halted, his hulking form collapsing to the ground with audible impact just a few metres away from Irwyn.

"I am sorry it took so long," the man standing next to Irwyn said, looking down their foe, "He must have some item which amplified his resistance to magic on him."

"No need to worry," Irwyn did not flinch, stepping closer. The sword penetrating the bandit's side was stuck even deeper thanks to the fall, already coming out the other side and bleeding profusely. The man's eyes were absolutely wild as he struggled to at least stare at Irwyn. Clearly he had been affected by the [barbarian warlord] skill [Berserk], eroding his cognitive ability in exchange for raw combat power. The fact that he could still focus on targeting Irwyn was no small feat.

“I should probably torture you for what you did,” Irwyn said, kneeling down in front of him, “However, it is about time I move on,” as those words sounded a surge of magic left Irwyn, manifesting as a javelin of golden flames above his head. The next moment it shot forward, piercing the bandit’s forehead and impaling his entire body before it exploded and incinerated the corpse whole.

“Lend me your dagger,” Irwyn returned to the side of the Blackburg tactician.

“Excuse me?” the man was startled since their enemy was already dead.

“Just lend me your dagger for a moment,” Irwyn repeated himself.

“Of course,” the man did not need to be asked a third time. He drew the weapon sheathed on his belt and carefully handed it to his liege, unsuspecting of what the young mage had in mind. Irwyn took it into his right hand and placed the blade on the back of his hand, near the thumb and intentionally cut himself.

“Irwyn!” Elizabeth yelled from nearby. Irwyn had requested that she just quietly stands by and listens, which she obediently did until then. However, seeing Irwyn cutting himself she was startled enough to exclaim.

“Don’t worry,” Irwyn smiled in her direction, the light wound was already seared as Irwyn took particular care to burn away any blood that may have remained on the dagger, “You can have it back. Put into the report I suffered a slight injury and make sure it isn’t put on paper I did it to myself,” Irwyn looked once more at the mage beside him.

“As you wish, lord Irwyn,” the man nodded, taking back the dagger. He most of all understood the difference between a tactician and a strategist, “I will handle the cleanup then. Have a good day.”

“Let’s head back,” Irwyn approached Elizabeth who was still looking at his wound strangely, “Without Clarissa, it will take us a few hours even on good horses.”

“Are you feeling any better?” Irwyn asked Minet. The boy seemed to be in a far better state, though far from talkative.

“He finally ate something while you were gone,” Alice reported, “However, he still hasn’t even spoken.”

“I see,” Irwyn nodded, taking Minet’s hands into his own, “Remember, if you ever need anything I am willing to help you. No matter what it is.”

“Your hand,” surprisingly Minet spoke but not as an affirmation, rather after noticing Irwyn’s wound.

“It’s a flesh wound,” Irwyn shook his head with a smile, “I didn’t have the time to get a healer to take a look at it yet.”

“Let me help you,” Minet exclaimed, golden light already channelling through his hands. In a few seconds Irwyn’s hand was enveloped and hidden beneath its mirage. When the light disappeared the wound was no more.

“Impressive for someone in the second tier,” Irwyn said, smiling at Minet, “Tell me. What do you want to do from now on?”

“I…” Minet hesitated for a moment, gathering his thoughts, apparently snapped out of his state at least momentarily, “I want to help people. Just like mother did for the villagers. To save as many lives as I can, so that other families don’t have to suffer and grief,” he clutches his own chest as he said those last words.

“Then come with me,” Irwyn said firmly, “All the knowledge and resources you can bear. I can grant you all you may ever need to achieve that goal.”

“Why are you so good to me?” Minet’s eyes teared up, “We barely know each other.”

“Because I owe your mother a great debt,” Irwyn answered with seriousness in his face, “She brought me from the brink of death with her own hands. That is not something that can be repaid with wealth alone. So please, allow me to give back after taking. Will you follow me?”

“Yes, I will!” tears finally ran down Minets face, mixing somewhere in between the sorrow of his mother’s death and the happiness of perhaps finding a way forward for himself. As those words sounded Irwyn stood back up, a wide smile plastered on his face.