During this one week, Andrew and Marian just spend their days around the village trying to help with various stuff. Andrew no longer had any worries about leaving this place since Cornelius was now strong enough to take care of everything going on in the village and although one man is often not enough, he could at least take care of the local bandits around the area as anything which even he can’t handle would also be difficult for Andrew to handle. Hence it was fair to say that the village was in safe hands.

Apart from helping the villagers, they also use this time to arrange the stuff which they would carry with them and Andrew tried his possible best to exchange all the stuff which he didn’t need for gold with Cornelius. Although the things exchanged were only the stuff Cornelius fancies, it wasn’t short to say that Andrew was as rich or even richer than Peter when he was alive.

The rest stuffs that he couldn’t exchange for gold coins, he just heaped them for transport towards the capital. He didn’t exchange any of the wines though and kept them all to himself not even giving a single drop to Cornelius or anyone. He prioritizes his wine and although he doesn’t drink as heavily as he did in the past, he still drank a fair lot. While the sibling's pair were helping out and arranging their stuff, the father and daughter pair were having their bonding moments. Talking about stuff happening in the capital, how her studies were going, how the village was going, and other miscellaneous stuff. Cornelius doesn’t bother himself with work during this period and just spends time with his daughter, feeling absolute peace and relaxation.

While they were all having fun and preparing to leave the village, the days went by in a flash and tomorrow was the day they planned to leave. They said their various farewells to the villagers whom they were close to but unknowing to Andrew, like a tiger waiting silently for its prey, a danger much greater than he could imagine was on the path which he intends to take towards the capital. It came in the form of a group or to be precise a man in that group.

He was as tall as Michael in height, not too hefty, with the right muscles on the right part although a bit bulging seems to give him both a manly and deadly vibe. His hair was plaited into two large braids which fell along his back, he had bright black starry eyes with a perfect nose which sits on his face and a lovely smile which could not be erased from his face no matter what happens like he wasn’t afraid if the heavens were to be pulled down. He was the leader of a huge bandit organization called ‘the smiling whisperers’, a very sweet meaningless name for a bandit organization.

He rode a horse without fear, same with the group who was behind him with pride, like the laws of the kingdom didn’t matter to them one bit, with just the light of the moon cascading on them which just dimly lit their way. The clothes he wore could be described as those worn by warlords in battle. Not much armour was found in his body that could disrupt his fighting style and it all perfectly fit his body, he also has a sword strapped by his side. Not a cutlass like the hunters in the village but a real black sword that was sheathed, ready to be unsheathed at a moment’s notice.

This man was an infamous bandit in the whole of the kingdom. He was ranked among the top ten deadly bandits. And as he dressed so was his nickname, the ruthless warlord.

There wasn’t a place which he passed that didn’t end with death and looting, and the forces of the kingdom has been on the lookout for him a countless number of times and although they have been in contact with him, they weren’t able to put him down as he was in the body as steel realm and hence could deal with most of the kingdom forces. A bounty of seven million gold coins has been issued out for his head but there were not more than ten mercenaries who could match him equally in a fight and fewer who were stronger than him hence he was able to escape with ease most of the time and even kill some of his pursuers.

He didn’t seem one bit like a bandit leader though, he could be described as an everyday amiable neighbour if one didn’t know of his infamy. A ruthless murderer to the core, he has even been hired by nobles to commit some heinous crimes, so although not openly backed, he still had some underground connections.

Now this man was marching towards the cave which Oscar occupied normally. “Boss, we got the information that the cave is around this area”, says a fair woman who was riding a horse close to him. It was one of his commanders, he had three commanders who took care of everything under him. Although they acted as caretakers, they were still powerful to boot. And surprisingly enough, all of his commanders were women who were fairly beautiful with some nice perks which made them sexy and alluring, one of who is in the sensory realm, who was not only busty but has a fairly nice and seducing booty, she wore leather pants and a long sleeve with her cleavages being slightly exposed, her hair was tied to a ponytail.

While the remaining two were in the double increase realm, the one who spoke to him was one of the two women in the double increase realm. They were sisters, twins in fact who joined the man on his banditry with their big busts and coquettish look, they looked attractive in their ways. “That brat thinks that because he is my brother, I won’t hunt him down to take what he stole from me”, he said.

Shockingly, he was the brother of Oscar and with the way he talked, one would think that he was the eldest of them but he was the youngest but has a better aptitude than Oscar and hence was stronger and well renowned than Oscar was.

From looks alone, it was impossible to know they were related since the younger brother portrayed every bit of a gentleman’s aura with quite some handsome features to boot with his signature friendly smile on his face and he was taller than Oscar while Oscar always had an arrogant and brutal air around him with his scars which formed tattoos all over his body making him every bit of scarier, there was nothing about him that could be described as handsome but they were from the same father and mother.

Since they both were into banditry, it goes to show that bandits did run in their veins and it was the truth as their father was a bandit who passed the mantle unto them, same with their grandfather and their great grandfather.

With a background like that, there was a little wonder as to if their descendants would take after the trade as it seems to be something of great pride for them.

They get to the cave but were unable to find a single soul around as it was deserted, the woman who spoke to him formerly says at this moment, “I was sure our intel was correct about his current location”. The leader just frowns while he gets down from his horse to check the surrounding, he walks for a bit before noticing some other footprints which seem new, he says after examining the area, “The intel should be correct about the location but seems like we were a bit late as they seem to have moved out already. Maybe they found out the spy who was supplying the intel to you and were able to react quickly. There are still some footprints left over here from their escape”.

“Yes, you are...”, the girl stops talking as although it was subtle, she heard the sound of a branch snapping around. The man was the first to react as his eyes were already trained on the place where the sound originated from, since it was in the night with the moon barely visible, what/who made the sound wasn’t visible.

One of his commanders who was the other sister of the girl rushes toward the location, and no sooner that she left, she rushed back into the cave quickly but this time, with a newcomer. “I found him over there defecating over at the bush”, she said blandly while tossing the newcomer on the floor. She didn’t seem sociable and doesn’t like talking much. “Eh, it’s you”, says her sister at this moment while looking at the newcomer. “Lucia do you know him?”, the man’s voice sounds out after being quiet for a while. “Yes boss, he is the informant I was telling you about. I planted him in your brother’s crew when I started noticing his abnormal behaviours”, says Lucia. Seems the one with the sociable face was called Lucia. “What happened here then?”, the man squatted to the level of the newcomer as he asks. The newcomer was scared stiff at these people he was seeing, they were his initial boss with the commanders. He was part of their bandit group formerly but was sent by Lucia to infiltrate Oscar’s ranks. He knew the terror of these people who has come before him and due to that, he was gripped with fear. Lucia’s sister stares coldly at the informant for a while and raised her hands in which there was a knife now clearly intending to kill him. “Wait, Lucy. Stand down”, the man’s calm voice sounds out once again. Lucy just calmly retreats to the corner without saying anything. “You don’t need to be worried about anything. We won’t hurt you, just tell me where my brother went to”, the man’s voice sounds out close to the informant with a gentleman’s smile plastered on his face. If the informant hadn’t known this man in front of him, he might have been charmed by his smile and calmed down before him. But he understood that the more this man smiled, the more he should be feared and caution should be placed on your words.

But if he delayed any longer, he knew that his patience would run out and he would most definitely be killed, hence he started by saying. “The boss is dead. He has been killed”. “Eh”, the man let out a surprised sound as he hadn’t expected that the foolish elder brother of his would end up dying so early, despite bragging about one day being able to hold up against him to have full control over their bandit organization.

But seems like it was all nothing but pipe dreams now, and couldn’t help but think if maybe it was the law enforcement agencies who killed him or perhaps it was some strong mercenary looking for some quick money who chased him down and had him killed.

He wondered for a while about the matter and kept quiet, during the time which he was quiet in thought, nobody dared to breathe too loudly in fear of disrupting his train of thought, as they understood most definitely well that doing that would lead to their certain demise, and it won’t even be him that killed them but one of the commanders.