Church’s Partner (2)
Flames were spreading in a small pioneering village at the foot of Mount Gessen.
“Aaaaahh!”
Screams echoed across the lands.
Shady-looking individuals roared in reply as they entered the village.
“Kill everyone!”
“It’s a woman! She’s quite young.”
“Take her!”
“What about the baby?”
“Kill it! The whining is annoying!”
A group of armed men pointed their spears on the backs of the helpless locals.
Every man and woman, even the children, were killed without mercy.
Thinking of themselves as demons from hell, the dreadful group continued to massacre the village.
However, they were really just a bunch of ordinary bandits around level 20 at best.
Even if they were weaker than Intermediate Hunters, they were still powerful compared to commoners.
Zachrol, the leader of the bandits, grinned as he watched the village burn.
“Hah, this is a much better business than fighting off Dungeon monsters.”
He, too, once dreamed of becoming a Hunter.
No, most of the Zacrholdan members did.
However, a Hunter’s path was challenging and ruthless.
It was as hard as the pleasure of alcohol, gambling, and women were sweet.
He became more and more in debt due to his addiction to that pleasure. Zachrol smuggled and robbed people to pay off his debts, eventually becoming a wanted man and being forced to flee all the way to Mount Gessen.
Despite being searched for by the law, they continued to hunt those who were weaker than themselves.
Those who were once stained with evil could never change their ways.
That was why Zachroldan continued to loot defenseless villages.
“Evil bandits!”
A middle-aged man clad in light armor entered the village, a spear in his hand.
One of the bandits soon fell to the cold, hard ground, his blood flowing out of the hole the man’s spear left behind.
“Kuuugh!”
His Spearmanship was reasonably good.
If measured with a measuring stone, he would probably be around level 15.
And he wasn’t alone.
Young men from the neighboring villages also came into view, all wielding spears.
“Master!”
“We’ll join you!”
They seemed to have learned martial arts from the middle-aged man as they used similar Spearmanship to block off the bandits’ advance.
The other spearmen seemed to be roughly around level 7-8.
They looked like village vigilantes.
Even if they were only simple villagers who did manual labor daily, they were still not opponents that could be easily ignored if they had mastered some form of martial arts.
Spearmen were especially dangerous when in large groups.
Zachrol laughed despite the number of enemies in front of him.
“The mountain worms dare bare their fangs at me?”
Zachrol swung his sword at the young spearmen at the front of their ranks.
His sword flashed, and blood soon splattered on the ground and the armor of the other spearmen.
“Gargghh!”
“Eeeegh!”
He was a Level 21 Swordsman.
He could easily overpower three or four Spearmen below level 10.
However, as long as he was human, he would still be in trouble if multiple opponents surrounded him, yet Zachrol seemed didn’t mind.
He swiftly raised his shield and shouted.
“Magic Arrow!”
Three magic arrows shot forward and struck the young men.
Those who had been hit fell backward with a painful groan.
Taking advantage of their broken formation, Zachrol cut down three more of the Spearmen.
“Die, you weak bastards! Hahaha!”
They thought Zachrol was a Warrior, but they just saw him cast a magic spell.
There was only one plausible conclusion.
“It’s a magic tool!”
“Damn it! He’s using a magic tool!”
Zachrol had the Magic Arrow Shield, the lowest level magic tool from the Dungeon.
However, even the lowest level of magic tools required the user to be at least level 20 before the user could wield them.
“There’s nothing left for you here but certain defeat.”
Combining his physical abilities with the power of magic, he easily slaughtered the remaining youthful vigilantes.
Witnessing their tragic ends, the dying village chief couldn’t help but ask the bandit leader a question.
“Why are you doing this? We paid the fee this month…”
Under the guise of protecting the village, the bandits were paid monthly by its residents for their services.
Even though the compensation was lower than the amount the Kingdom would’ve taxed them with, it still wasn’t worth paying if not for having their lives at stake.
During the past few months, the bandits didn’t harm the village because it was more beneficial to collect money from the locals than to kill them.
There was no reason for them to do something so vile and inhumane.
“Oh, things have changed, you see. Khuahaha.”
Zachrol shrugged with a smile.
“I heard high-level Hunters are coming to defeat us. We’re going to have to hide for a while, but we need a few pennies if we want to last for a long time.”
The pioneering village was outside the territories where the Kingdom could guarantee its safety in exchange for taxes, making it out of the army’s reach.
It was also rare for high-ranking Hunters to pass by such a low-income area.
However, there were still times when righteous individuals appeared to protect the village.
“It’s only right for us to save ourselves from them, right?”
Zachrol planted an informant in Highten ahead of time to get inside information through carrier-pigeons.
If a subjugation force were to come, he was bound to know before it could mobilize.
“If you’re looking for someone to blame, blame those nosy, short-minded bastards. Without them, we wouldn’t have done this.”
The village chief could no longer reply.
He had already passed away.
“Now, you guys! Pack everything so we can go into hiding!”
Zachrol ordered, causing his men to work faster.
“While the naughty Church’s partners are fussing around, we can relax, drink alcohol, and play with women in our hideout!”
* * *
Ryu Han-bin and Artis followed the path to the mountain.
“Their leader is named Zachrol, and he has thirty members in total.”
Recalling the information the Priest Emile gave them about the Zachroldan bandits, he couldn’t help but complain.
Their enemy’s number definitely couldn’t be considered small.
Only the two of them were going after the bandits, after all.
“If we were on Earth, this would be outright ridiculous.”
It was common sense in the modern world to put at least twice as much police force as needed, even when they’re only trying to wipe out street gangs.
However, in this world, the gap between individuals was so large it was normal to send just two Hunters after a group of thirty bandits.
“Well, the situation would have been similar in the Middle Ages during the Cold War.”
In fact, it was much worse in the Latna Continent than in the Middle Ages.
In this world, transcendental powers such as magic and Auras existed, and the abilities to individual skills.
Magic Tools were also unavailable for usage unless the user’s met the level requirement.
The combat power gap between humans was far broader than the combat power gaps on Earth, and only those who were already powerful could wield the most dangerous weapons.
‘It’s like a fight between a child and an adult, but the adult’s the only one allowed to use guns.’
If the Hunter’s level was high enough, massacring dozens of low-level people alone was even possible.
“Anyway, it doesn’t seem like a big deal, so we have to deal with it and increase our contribution to the Church.”
* * *
Ryu Hanbin soon realized that he had taken things too lightly.
“Boo-hoo-hoo!”
“Sob…”
They could see twelve villagers crying just outside their burnt mountain village.
They were the ones who barely survived the Zachroldan raid.
Dead bodies could be found all over the now-desolated land.
In the ashes, the body of a roasted child could be seen.
The misery wasn’t enough to describe the scene.
At a loss for words, Han-bin displayed a stiff look.
“…….”
He had only ever witnessed such horrific scenes on screens for him, who lived in Korea during the 21st century.
Seeing it in person with his own two eyes, the sense of reality hit him hard.
Artis had already begun investigating the incident by asking the people to gather any information they could use.
“Where’s their base? Do you guys know the approximate location?”
However, the villagers refused to cooperate.
“This is all because of you!”
“Why did you have to intervene and make us suffer?”
“We were living in peace!”
Instead, they poured the hatred and resentment in their hearts on the people that came to subdue the bandits.
If they didn’t come, Zachrol would have just quietly walked away after receiving compensation.
After soothing and comforting them, Artis finally got information on Zachroldan’s hometown.
Wasting no time, they immediately left the village.
Han-bin sighed deeply after crossing the mountain pass.
“Was that our fault?”
Artis shook his head firmly.
“The bandits would have done something like that in the end, even if we didn’t come.”
“But the villagers…”
He didn’t come there in hopes of getting the villagers’ appreciation.
But he couldn’t deny that he naturally imagined himself being thanked by people after defeating the bandits.
He didn’t expect to receive such hatred and resentment.
Artis comforted Han-bin.
“You cannot expect reason to come from those who have lost everything. After that much suffering, it’s only natural for the villagers to blame the world for everything. Don’t think about it too much.”
They had to focus on defeating the bandits and rescuing those who were captured.
It was their duty, after all.
“It feels like everything’s in vain.”
“All good works are all initially in vain.”
Artis laughed.
“That’s why such works are worth more.”
With fresh eyes, Ryu Han-bin looked at the red-haired young man.
Thinking about it, he realized Artis had always been that way.
It was why he trusted him in the first place.
He willingly threw his life away to keep his promise to a level 5 Swordsman.
Artis urged Han-bin.
“Let’s go after them. We have to save the captured women.”
“Yeah.”
Ryu Han-bin’s eyes began to glow.
* * *
An angry roar thundered through the mountains.
“You motherfuckers!”
At the same time, he swung his black greatsword.
The entire wooden house collapsed at the mercy of his weapon, causing a loud crashing sound to echo.
Daaaaang!
However, the whole place remained quiet.
No one came out.
Artis clicked his tongue.
“They all ran away.”
The Zachroldan’s home was empty.
Knowing that the two were coming, they had already gone into hiding somewhere else.
Ryu Han-bin demolished what was left of the house out of sheer anger.
Han-bin murmured while trying to calm down.
“This is why evil groups can keep surviving even though there are many high-level Hunters in Highten.”
No matter how high anyone’s level was, it would still take months to search the entire Mount Gessen.
Even if there was enough force to destroy the bandits, finding them alone took enough time and effort for the bandits to hide.
They would wait for the subjugation forces to give up, then they’d return to looting and extorting other villages.
The situation was similar to the American West era.
With the land being too large and there being too few people, the state’s control over its own territory wasn’t perfect.
Looking back at Artis, Ryu Han-bin asked a question.
“What should we do? I need to catch them as fast as possible.”
“I don’t know if there’s a way to track them down. It might be impossible for just the two of us. High-level Spiritists can use tracers, but…”
Ryu Han-bin was a Warrior, and Artis was a Mage.
Neither of the two could use tracking techniques.
“How about hiring a high-level Spiritist who can use a tracer then coming back?”
They have a lot of money to waste anyway.
Ryu Han-bin wanted to get rid of the bandits, even if it meant spending his funds.
He was simply that enraged about what they did to the village.
Artis shook his head.
“Tracking is a level 60 high-ranking technique. There’s no Spiritist as powerful as that in Highten.”
“Damn, is there no way to track them down?”
Ryu Han-bin gritted his teeth together out of sheer frustration.
A letter made out of light suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Would you like to use the Tracking Skill?]
“Huh?”
The Guidelines seemed to have been triggered.
Further explanation appeared after the initial message.
[Tracking Skill: Searches for any marks the target left behind and gives you an approximate direction to its current location. Can be used once every 6 hours.]
Dumbfounded, Han-bin stared at the message.
“… Has there always been such a feature in the Guidelines?”
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