CHAPTER 481: ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE, SOMETHING SOMETHING ACTORS (1/2)

The village of Lyon ended up being in a worse state than we had anticipated. The lord of this region was a veritable bloodsucker to the commoners, concerned only with taxing them but not with administering them. In a lot of ways, he was similar to the Vampire plaguing the village, the only difference being that his tithe wasn’t blood.

Because of that, the village had no way of hiring a proper mercenary troupe that was powerful enough to defeat the Vampire. The lord of the region had no intention of sending his troops either. And while all that was happening, the Demon Hunter Guild administering this region was still trying to determine what the actual difficulty level of this request was.

Naturally, that didn’t mean the village was just going to lie down and await their demise either. The able-bodied youth of the village decided to take matters into their own hands by forming a bandit troupe to raid passing merchants… at least, that was till they bumped into me…

“So what you’re saying is that your initial aim was to gather enough money in order to hire a more powerful mercenary troupe?” I guess that’s an option too. Some of the more powerful mercenaries are just as effective as slaying demons as the Demon Hunters.

“Not necessarily…” The bandit leader paused for a second before continuing, “If we aren’t able to procure enough gold to hire a mercenary troupe, the next plan was to find a way to move the villagers away…”

So they had a backup plan as well… huh… I never expected this bandit leader to be capable of such meticulous planning.

However, I could clearly see his eyes shifting as he said that. In all likelihood, the safety of the village wasn’t his only concern either. Perhaps, that might just be an excuse for his banditry. After all, it would be a lot easier for him to flee by himself versus dragging along an entire village. Between selfishness and self-sacrifice, I was more inclined to believe that Humans chose the former.

Even so, now wasn’t the time to nitpick on the motives for his banditry. With the bandit leader’s brief account, I now had a rough idea of the situation.

Having understood the danger of the village as well, Neneth couldn’t help but throw me a curious look. “Oh right. Sister Mo Na, Neneth and Sister Nicole are both here to slay that creature of darkness, but what are you here for?”

For Nicole, of course. Does it look like I’m here to visit family instead?

Hear! Hear! Now that was some good speech delivering right there! Just listen to how noble, how determined I was just now. The men would cheer while the women would weep tears of joy! I’m such a genius. Even I’m moved by my rousing performance and selfless spirit…

“Wah~~Such nobility, Sister Mo Na!” Clearly, Neneth agreed with my assessment as well. The next time she looked at me, there was an undisguised fervour in her eyes. “Not only is our Sister Mo Na beautiful, she’s so compassionate as well… Sister Mo Na’s the best, Neneth likes you even more now!”

Hahaha. Just look at my wonderful oratory skills. Dealing with some naive brat is no challenge at all. Now that I’ve successfully persuaded Nicole’s little follower, how long more before I take the prize herself?

Unfortunately, the speech itself did not seem to impact the rest as much as Neneth. The bandits obviously weren’t going to buy it, seeing as they had a grudge with me. But why was Nicole so unmoved as well? My speech was flawless, my acting skills sublime… I doubt there’s anyone in the Western Human Realms who can act better than me! And if there is, step forth right now. I’ll use my actions to prove who is the actor with the bigger sword!

However, I knew better than anyone that overconfidence was a slow and insidious killer. That was why I quickly reined in my conceited thoughts… I mean, my attempts at bravely challenging the competition… As long as you can convince yourself, you can convince anyone!

Seeing that Neneth had completely bought into my story, Nicole raised an eyebrow before coldly asking, “Just by yourself?”

“Of course not, I just got separated from my companions.” I pointed at the pleading bandits. “There were others with me. We just got separated during the chaos of the bandit encounter. They got tangled up with his lackeys while I tried to summon my Fire Elemental. But because of my inexperience, and a momentary panic, I ended up…”

As I said that, I lowered my head as if in remorse.

“Don’t be sad, Sister Mo Na, Neneth thinks you did a fine job.” Neneth quickly tried to change the topic upon noticing my dejected look. “But Sister Mo Na, you mentioned there were others with you? Where are they now? Do they need our help?”

“That’s okay. They are all accomplished warriors, there were just too many bandits at the time, and we were ambushed as well. Oh, that’s right.” I pointed at the bandit leader. “This guy should be their leader, he was the one that had them try to capture me… Even if my companions are still fighting, the battle should be over once we show them that their leader has been captured.”

“In that case, let’s hurry.” Neneth turned to Nicole as she said that. “Sister Nicole, let’s go save them, all right?”