MA: 93. Bandit Rats

Bandits. Scum of the world thrived in the least likely places where life could thrive. This was due to the lack of security such as knights belonging to a Kingdom, guards, Atelier presence, or high-level Adventurers.

They were scavengers who preyed on the weak and swarmed in groups in the backwaters of the world. Even in the largest bastions of civilization, it was impossible to uproot scum entirely.

If one were to come across a group outside of the cities and towns of Emvita, then chances were that those people were bandits. One large tell-tale sign was their clothes. Usually, they wore specialized equipment for the area and donned a mix-match of gear stolen from unfortunate victims.

But this did not matter much to Red.

They spoke, but nothing was really getting to her. Their mouths were clearly moving, and sounds were coming out, but she kept looking over to Snow. An imaginary question mark hung overhead.

“Didn’t think there’d be merchandise walkin’ free along these parts. Not durin’ these days. Fellas scouting the boundaries gotta be scratchin’ their heads wonderin’ why folks keep decidin’ to head through the Fault. Least yer still in one piece.”

One of the men began rubbing his hands together. Several more emerged from the wall of sand. There were twelve in total, each staring at them with hungry eyes.

Red didn’t know why. But Snow knew well what this meant.

If they were smart, then they were already calculating their market value due to the color of their eyes.

“You’re gonna need one of their goggles.” Snow muttered beneath her breath.

While there was a glimpse of worry on Snow’s face, the air surrounding her said otherwise. Not that the bandits noticed this.

Agate. Translate. I don’t understand a word they’re saying.

< Bandit Rats are talking >

I know they’re talking! But what language! Wait– I get it now!

“Look at ya. Tremblin’ like a shrub. Dun worry. We’ll take care of ya. Blue eyes fetch a good price. Now for red eyes?”

The one who was presumably the leader lapped their cracked lips.

“Worth more than our entire stock combined!”

They were clearly hostile. Seven crossbow bolts were pointed at them. But the maximum damage they could deal was 20. Probably more if they scored a headshot. The low ATT wouldn’t even be enough to threaten Snow who only had 400 HP.

Not to mention Rockie and Three Paw who were level 55 and 50 respectively.

“Squeak.” Red finally decided to communicate with these people.

“Squeak…?” One raised a brow. “Did we break ‘em?”

“Squeak? Isn’t this your language?” Red scratched her head. “I thought this is how rats speak, right? Squeak. Squeak.”

They were not amused to say the least. Normally, people would grovel and beg for their lives. For them to make light of their dire situation meant one of two things.

The first was that they were incredibly naïve, which funnily enough, would be factored into their market price. Those who purchased merchandise, be it slaves or whatnot, did not tend to look rugged or proven workers.

There were better ways.

Instead, people were interested in those who did not have a blemish on their skin, or looked as though they could not fight back against their captors.

The second reason was what caused them to hesitate.

It was no coincidence that the first bolt that was fired had missed its target.

“Yer either stupid, or ya think yer bold enough to flee. Ya got a fleshy one behind ya. No armor. A bolt to the shoulder might change yer tune.”

He raised a finger and brought it down. A bolt was then released, only for a metal twang to ring out. It had been cut in midair. Before the leader could even process this, Three Paw leaped from out of his shadow and claimed that finger.

“Kill them – KILL THE WOLF! Take its paw! Just – CAPTURE THEM! Ain’t no pesky wolf getting’ out of this alive. Didn’t know ya had a special cub as a talisman against the likes of the Solemn Paw!”

Snow barely flinched as bolts came her way. She could just tank them and deal with the aftermath later. She was a Healer.

This was normal for her.

However, Rockie came jumping in. It brought her into its body as it turned into an oversized ball. The bolts disappeared into fur, the wet thud a sign that it had clearly punctured its flesh.

But these bolts were made of metal.

Crunch

“Rockie… Are you – You’re eating them?” Snow could feel the visceral movements of what felt like tiny jaws gnawing at the iron bolts.

“That’s so coooool~!” Red exclaimed, kicking a bundle of rocks in the direction of three bandits. The fragments moved like bullets, puncturing their leather armor and lodging themselves deep into their bodies. “Heh. That’s my Rock Bug!”

She said proudly, pointing at Rockie right after slashing the hand of a banding.

“It’s gone–!?”

“Aren’t you listening!?” Red thrust the pummel of her blade against his forehead, cracking the goggles and his skull in one fell swoop. “Oh right. These rats are weak. I barely touched him. That’s what you get for having 120 HP.”

Indeed. Red’s base ATT was 800. A single punch was enough to kill them where they stood.

A light flick would bring them to near death.

Seven were eliminated with her own two hands. Another three succumbed to Three Paw. Interestingly, the wolf did not use its overwhelming strength to eliminate them. Rather, he had targeted weak points, such as fingers to disable their weapons, chewed through crossbow cords, their heels and goggles.

One of the bandits could be seen laying with their head in the wall of sand. By the time he was able to bring himself back, all that remained of his eyes were gouge-out sockets.

“Cheeky! Heh. Why do I feel so proud?”

“Bwa!”

Three Paw dragged the last two by their heels to Red’s feet. Then, he placed a paw on their backs victoriously. As Red prepared to question them, Rockie rolled around to gobble up their equipment, feasting on the metal and spitting out soaking furballs made of leather and cloth.

“Now.”

An insidious grin crept onto Red’s face. She stared at them like they were no more than worms. No, rats.

After all, how could they be human if they dared to kill another human? Why would they want to capture them?

“I wanna know what you think of me.”

“… Damned… High-ranking Adventurer…” One grumbled.

“Hm! Hear that! They think I’m super strong!” She boasted.

But an approaching Snow had other questions.

“Who came before us!?”

“Do you think… we’ll answer–!”

“Three Paw. Another finger.” A glimmer of red light shone in her eyes.

“Bwa!”

“GAAAAH!”

She knelt in front of them, her blood-stained boots inches from their remaining fingers.

“We won’t ask again. Who came before us?”

“Villagers… VILLAGERS! Peasants… From the Central Forests!”

“From what village!?”

They bit their tongues, refusing to speak another word. But the moment she gave Three Paw another look of acknowledgement, one of them started to sing again.

“All! Whoever came! We’re opportunistic bastards! Yer ain’t wrong! But ya gotta understand who yer dealin’ with!”

Desperation filled their eyes, but none of it ever swayed Snow.

Red had the impression that this wasn’t her first time interrogating people.

“And who would that be?” Snow demanded.

“… Us. Yer day’s will be numbered! Ya got no other place to go other than the Town of Aire! If yer smart, then you’ll let us live! Keep us as guides. Even strong fellas like yerself aren’t gonna get past Justicia Crossing in one piece!”

“Is that true?” Red wondered.

“Yer gonna really need us.”

Red considered it as Snow stood there smoldering in silent rage. The faces of the bandits lit up. Had they managed to fool the red-haired one?

Slash

Thud

Flashes of red filled their vision. In the next moment, they were staring down at their arms, and then, their legs.

“W-What…?”

They looked down at where their hands were supposed to be, finding nothing past the elbow.

“Rats, right? Not humans. If you were humans, then Snow and Agate would’ve said something. Squeak squeak.” She hummed delightfully. It wasn’t her intention to torture them.

Rather, Snow was doing what she thought was right. If they weren’t humans, then why not make them closer to what they were?

Rats didn’t need arms and legs. They just needed stubs. It’d be easier to walk on all fours that way.

“I’ll… I’ll kill ya… I’ll grab ya… and I’ll–!”

Three Paw sunk his teeth into their necks. Blood splashed over Snow’s face as she stared unblinkingly at their deceased bodies. The fact that she didn’t mourn, or wince told Red everything she needed to know, and that she was right not to consider them humans.

“Red. Another lesson. Don’t take labels seriously.” She warned.

Then, she ran her hands into their necks, finding skin with various tattoos.

“Was I not supposed to kill them?” Red wondered.

“No, you did good. This is how it usually ends for either side. Besides, they would’ve died the moment they started talking. Take a look.”

The tattoos resembled an intricate spider’s web with an illustration of jewel drawn on their adam’s apple.

[Appraise Object].

Tattoo of Suppression

< A mark ordained by a blood vow. When conditions are broken, the wearer of the Mark of Suppression is eliminated. May be used on slaves >

< [Appraise Object] Has Gained a Level >

< [Appraise Object] is now [Appraise Object I] >

< (E) ACTIVE: Appraise Object I

< EFFECT: Gain insight into standard-leveled objects. Additional levels in Appraise Object may reveal deeper secrets in previously appraised objects >

< COST: Nil >

“A Tattoo! What’s a tattoo?”

“A mark you draw on the skin. Usually with a needle and ink. For this, they use blood under an oath. They break it, and they lose their lives.” Snow whispered. “… Just who did they capture? I don’t believe it was people from Hearth. They left on the onset of the Corruption Zone’s appearance.”

But there was still a chance that their friends and families had reached the town of Aire before them.

If it was under a slaver Syndicate’s control…

“It can’t be. Justica Arms wouldn’t allow it.” She was convinced that there couldn’t be criminal organizations this deep in Justica Arm’s territory. “Rockie. Can you bring the bodies along?”

“We gonna eat them!?” Red salivated.

“Not us.” Snow pointed at the fields of grass ahead. “We’ll use them to lure monsters away while we cross the Fault line. At least they’ll be useful that way than to let vultures of the night scavenge them.”

“Awww. We can’t eat people?”

“Absolutely not.” Snow

Snow lightly chopped Red’s head with the side of her hand.

“But you do it…” Red murmured beneath her breath. Then, she raised her voice: “You know, we’ve been through lots of nights. Why is it starting to get scarier now?”

“Because we’re getting closer to the Highways. It’s mandatory that people travel through in armored carriages. We don’t have that luxury till we reach Aire. But don’t worry.”

“Yeah, because I’m here, right~!?”

Thwack

“Oww… You’re emotionally hurting me!” Red cried after another soft hit.

“It’s because we won’t hit the Highways till after Aire. So there’s no point in worrying about it yet. We’ll get ripped apart if we don’t prepare. Geez. Do I need to tell you about the tale of the Ugly Duckling? The little duck that strayed away from the mother duck in the middle of the night?”

The Ugly Duckling was a popular story that served to scare misbehaving children. It was a story about a duckling that strayed over the hills and far away, only to never return. There were variations of the tale where the duckling returned a monster, or the most classic version based on an urban legend from a distant Region called Grandis.

It was the tale of a wolf Demi-Human who went off into the mountains with children, only to return alone. They were believed to have eaten the children. Next to this was another well-known variation about another wolf Demi-Human who lived alone in a valley lake, far away from their own kind.

There were no morals to this story. Only grief to instill fear into children. That way, they wouldn’t run off or disobey their mothers. If they did, then there was no telling what the night held for them.

Red saw this in an entirely different light, however.

“Rockie. Three Paw. Who is this Snow? She just called me ugly!”

Three Paw wore a look that said: “How dare you!”, but he didn’t go any further. This was Snow after all. If one had to ask who Three Paw was most loyal too…

“Traitor. Wolves will be wolves.” She growled. “Rockie?”

“Brrr.” It reached out to brush its soft, fur-tipped legs against both of them.

“Smart. You’re playing both sides so you always come out on top. Just like how I raised you.” Red nodded to herself.

“… Red. Stop being so funny.” Snow giggled.

With that said, she led the group through the Languid Fault.

It shouldn’t take them more than two hours.