Chapter 156: From Fighting to Preparing (2/2)

“Some residents survived, but I’ve sent them to have a nap beforehand. As for the bandits, all except the ones who ran off were killed.”

‘Just as expected’, Loren thought and looked down at his feet. When Gula was fighting, some bandits had also come to attack him here. He had killed almost all of them barehanded, but an idea suddenly came to his mind, and he decided to keep one alive. So instead of killing he knocked him out, and was currently keeping him under his feet.

“Hey Loren, are we takin’ those bags?”

“Is there any reason to? Let’s just return it to the residents.”

There was no problem for one to claim the stolen goods one had recovered, but Loren was not thick-skinned enough to do that, even if the goods were recovered directly from the bandit’s hideout.

“Why? Don’t work for free!”

“We can also demand some rewards from the town. Just leave it to Lapis, she’ll work out a good deal.”

Having said that, it looked like the guards who came to intercept the bandits had been almost completely wiped out, and he had no idea who to negotiate rewards with. Loren decided to also leave that to Lapis and turned his attention back to the bandit he was currently stepping on.

The bandit was a man who looked to be near thirty years old. He seemed to have been a bandit for quite a while: he was covered in scars, and his face was vicious even in his unconscious state.

Even if he looked scary enough to frighten children, there was nothing he could do while unconscious. Before he woke up, Loren decided to do what needed to be done: he picked up a rope used to tie loot bags, and properly tied the bandit up, then threw him over his shoulder.

“Eh? Is that an emergency ration?”

Having realized that they were about to bring that man somewhere, Gula asked.

“Emergency ration for whom… Ah, you mean you?”

“You also eat people?”

“Cannibalism is not my hobby. And I’ve heard that people don’t taste good.”

Gula’s face stiffened at Loren’s smooth comeback. She hadn’t expected that reply at all.

“From whom did you hear it?”

“A fellow mercenary who once got caught in a siege. The enemy was using starvation tactics, so they had to eat whatever seemed to be edible… Well it’s nothing important.”

The odor coming from the bandit made Loren grimace. He smelled of sweat, filth, and dirt. ‘Maintain personal hygiene, won’t you!’, Loren thought. But a hygienic bandit probably didn’t exist anywhere in this world, so he just resigned himself to it.

“Is there any place where we can avoid public eyes? We don’t have much time.”

“How‘bout under the shadow of that ruined warehouse?”

Gula gestured at the place with her chin, and Loren headed there with slightly-quickened steps, the bandit still on his shoulder, and Gula followed him. She seemed to be interested in what he was planning to do. When Loren dropped the man to the ground, leaned against the wall of the warehouse and unhurriedly opened his jacket to pull out something, Gula generally understood his plan.

What Loren pulled out from his jacket was a knife. He held it in his right hand, blade naked, and slapped the bandit with his left. Gula asked.

“You wanna to hack him? It’s a bit dirty, isn’t it?”

“Well, that depends on his endurance.”

The bandit’s eyes opened just a slit. Loren knelt down behind him, flickering the knife in front of his eyes so that he could see it better.

The bandit looked around with slightly-opened eyes. His awareness seemed to still be hazy, and he couldn’t grasp what kind of situation he was in. When he finally realized that he was being tied and couldn’t move, and noticed Loren waving a naked knife in front of him, he let out a short, small shriek.

“Don’t make a sound. If someone comes, I’ll have to deal with you real quick.”

Loren pushed the blade close to the man’s cheek and said. The cold steel blade seemed to fully wake him up, and he paled.

Loren seemed pleased with that. He leaned in just a bit closer and whispered:

‘What the hell are you planning to do?’, the bandit stared at Loren as if seeking for an answer. He actually could guess, but just couldn’t make himself believe it.

Loren paid it no mind and continued:

“First of all, I’ll give you a quick demonstration about what will happen from now on if you don’t answer my question.”

“P-please stop. Just ask what you want to ask!”

“For the sake of both of us, I hope you’ll tell the truth. I don’t have time for you to lie to me. So, it’s better if you experience once what will happen if you lie or keep silence. Easy to understand, isn’t it?”

Loren unhurriedly dragged the blade on the bandit’s cheek down to his lips. Tears came out from the bandit’s eyes, and he even seemed to want to shake his head to beg Loren to stop, Loren’s firm grip only allowed him to move his neck. A stiff, broken whine leaked out from his mouth.

“I’m not an expert, so I’m not very good at this. Well, it’s probably enough though, so enjoy it.”

The bandit let out a muffled scream and flailed his feet wildly. But as Loren was straddling him, he was almost immobile, and he could only let Loren do whatever he wanted without being able to resist.

“Uwah… So Loren even knows of these nasty things.”

Gula exclaimed. She was covering her face with her hands, but still peeked out from behind her fingers to watch the scene. Meanwhile, Loren just continued his knife work without a change in expression.

Xem: Dear readers, in this chapter I have edited lines of Gula to make them more aligned with her relaxed, informal and laid back demeanor. Please share your thought on this in the comment section below