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And as this place is the shortest route for merchants\' supplies, this route is reasonably common for bandits to use. They might not attack or sometimes drive away from the merchants, but they still demand a payment to pass.

I don\'t know what the government was doing or what the authorities in nearby cities do, but they actually care less since it\'s outside their premises.

If they don\'t rule over a piece of land, they won\'t care for it. Perhaps the capital of the dukedom will be the one to take action, not those regional or local governments.

After scouting the area, I returned to the four girls\' side and reported everything I could get on the geography.

Apparently, the woods are common hideouts for bandits and lower criminal groups.

Why? It\'s because of the advantage within the geography. If they can control things within their palms, they can easily negate attackers that are pursuing them to capture them.

I could care less about this anyway. The girls just want some action and capturing, so this might not be too hard.

What do you expect from a small bandit group in the countryside? Nothing. They are just street thugs compared to organizations or syndicates.

"Let\'s gooo~" Rosellete said with a playful tone and a beaming smile on her face.

"Excited, huh. Let\'s go." Ellena said, just after we patched up some plans.

The escape route is ready, as well as the attack plan. Fortunately, the geography was easier to remember. They just need to be careful with the traps that I didn\'t destroy during my scouting.

Apart from it, there\'s nothing to worry about. Having some fun will suffice.

Thalia wasn\'t showing any hint of excitement about the operation. She\'s actually carefree and slightly timid about approaching the depths of the woods.

Well, she\'s nothing to be compared with the battle junkie trio.

Yes. Trio. Rosellete is irreplaceable as well as Ellena. But I didn\'t expect Selena to be one of them. When they finally approached some small group, Selena was the one who led them with a grin on her face.

Funny to see, Selena was actually a battle junkie... I already said it twice.

In about 5 minutes, they had already defeated three bandits who were unaware of the infiltration.

Well, bandits in the region had the liberty to choose wherever woods they want to camp. It\'s not like the local governments had the power to always look out for criminals.

Small regions, towns, cities, and villages focus more on their economies rather than the crime rate of their places.

Why? Because they need to survive and eat. If they can\'t produce a good number of funds within a month, everyone will starve.

That\'s perhaps the reason why bandits exist. Since they couldn\'t handle the heaviness of being poor, they chose a path where they could gain money fast.

Of course, there are some who are just scum who like to clutch around greed.

"Let\'s separate. Both of us, Thalia, will go straight to the location, and you two will be at two different locations." Ellena commanded as she was the leader of the party.

They both nodded in agreement according to the plan and carefully moved towards their respective directions.

Ellena and Thalia also started moving, but Thalia became less energetic.

"What\'s the problem?" Ellena asked.

Thalia looked at her with a fazed expression and said, "Nothing."

She shook her head and waved her palm in front of her in frustration.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

However, Thalia\'s answers contradict her dispirited expression.

"What\'s really the problem? Your face doesn\'t tell me that you\'re okay."

Thalia became silent and slowly opened her lips. As she slowly answered Ellena, they both froze and looked around.

"It\'s getting creepy, actually, Big Sister."

"... What do you mean?" Ellena asked.

"Look at that." Thalia pointed in one direction above the ground. It was a tree that she pointed at, but not the tree was her subject. It was a skull hanging on a tree.

That\'s what I forgot to mention earlier. That trademark serves as their sign that this place is their territory.

What a blunder I made.

But I didn\'t think of it as being important actually. Eventually, they will enter their territory without even seeing the skull sign for a long time.

"Yeah, I know. It\'s creepy. But we need to go on."

Thalia nodded.

"But do you think I can put a fight? I mean, I\'m still a bronze-ranker." Thalia worried.

"You don\'t need to worry. If you fail, I will protect you. You can still grow stronger, and if your rune activates in the future, you can get stronger still. Right now, just focus on your stamina control and you\'ll hit a pretty good mark in a fight."

Thalia smiled at Ellena\'s sweet and encouraging words. She nodded with a smile and put her close-arms on her chest, gesturing as an encouragement to herself too.

"Let\'s go," Thalia said as they finally entered another part of the woods.

***

As Ellena, Thalia, and Aaron entered the territory, a cave existed, and inside of it, there were bandits, a great number of them standing, seemingly guarding some room.

Two bandits are standing in front of a dimmed, barred room with a number of females shackled with chains and their necks have chokers that dampen their runes.

The females were slaves. The bandits\' captive, and soon to be sold separately.

There are whines and pants among them, gasping for air as they also get tired of pleading for their freedom.

It had been days for them, and shortly, they had lost hope.

A tear dropped from one of the female slaves. She was just 13 years old, among a range of 11 to 19-year-old slaves in the room.

"When are we getting out of this place..." she said in an inaudible tone.

"We are... slaves now. Hopefully, I will get a good owner."

There was no hope, but one of them was actually praying to be saved.

"Grah!"

"Kwah!"

"Khek!"

The surrounding area was filled with shouts, but they weren\'t coming from the slaves. Instead, it came from outside of the barred room and it reached the guarding bandits\' ears.

They were alarmed, picked up their swords, and called for some to exchange their positions.

"What was that?" one of the bandits asked.

"I\'ll check it. Wait here, " one said.

As one of the bandits left, the slaves inside were just fazed, looking at the alarmed faces of the bandits.

The one slave who still had hope said, "Are we getting out now?"

"Sshhh... Don\'t talk. They might hear you and hurt you again. That sound may not even help us, so just stay quiet."