Point-of-View: Ekai Zabel

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  "This is such a pain……why do we have to do this?" Sighed Misen irritably.

  "Do you have to always complain? This is an important task, so stay focused," I responded with a sense of exasperation.

  "I've been on a ton of Quests and missions with him, and I can't think of a single one where he didn't complain the whole time," Chimed in Selesa.

  "Tch, shut it, you oversexed idiot," Snapped Misen in reply.

  "Could you two please quieten down, I'm starting to get a headache," Groaned Siert, rubbing his head.

  It was the 15th of May today, and I was currently at one of the fortresses built by the former Laus Domain. All the fortresses had been converted into trade centers, like small merchant towns. They sold goods from all the nations, so had a pretty wide variety, and were also each home to a few hundred residents.

  Of course, with advancements in teleportation spells and storage spells, traveling by foot was no longer necessary, so getting to where you want to go is almost instantaneous regardless of distance.

  Which means that transporting goods is not only much easier, but also a lot safer. Bandits and such were no longer a concern, especially since the Laus Domain had killed most of the remaining bandits and thieves when they were building these fortresses.

  Well, at least, we thought that bandits were no longer a concern. About a week ago, two of the trade centers were attacked by bands of bandits, several people were killed and a lot of goods were stolen.

  Kuro no longer has enough monsters under his command to keep an eye on the entire planet, he had several blind spots now. After the attacks though, he had his monsters comb the areas around where the attacks took place, and found the bandits' hideout.

  He's been spying on them, and having learnt the details of their next target, he sent us out to ambush them when they attack. He'd initially planned to teleport directly to their hideout and wipe them out, but it turned out that they possess a wide range of Spell Cards, including teleportation and the like, and they're constantly on the move.

  Kuro's only been able to identify one of their hideouts, and we have no idea how many other hideouts they may or may not have. He'd sent out several Vampire Minions and Demons to the trade centers to act as guards, while the Rustlands and Liberty also contributed to that cause.

  And since we knew that this place was likely to be attacked today, Kuro had sent a team of four to ensure that we prevent the attack and capture as many of the bandits as possible, in order to interrogate them. We've finally established peace, we can't afford such a disruption so soon.

  We didn't know for certain where these bandits came from, but about a month ago, there was a small group of people in the Rustlands that were protesting the alliances with the other races and Abyss. It wasn't long before the protests started to get violent, after which the Rustlands began cracking down on such people.

  But, then, most of those involved in the protests suddenly disappeared……thanks to the protective barriers, the Rustlands' higher ups figured out that they had left the nation, but since nothing major happened after that, they eventually forgot about it.

  It wasn't until the recent attacks on the trade centers that they realized that they were missing several Spell Cards from their supply.

  Of course, compared to the enemies we've been facing over the last three years or so, simple bandits are a relatively minor threat, but still, minor or major, a threat is a threat.

  And honestly, the guards that have been posted at each of the trade centers, the Demons, Vampires and humans, are probably more than enough to deal with bandits, but Kuro wants to strike a significant blow against the bandits to discourage them, and hopefully force them to come out of hiding.

  So, here were are. Misen, Selesa, Siert and I were the team dispatched to this place, a trade center in the snowy plains between Liberty and the Rustlands. It was quite cold here, making it hard to stay focused.

  "Hey, check it out, the detection barrier is picking something up," Suddenly remarked Selesa, as she held up a flat, blue crystal.

  It was made of the same material that the Power Reader glasses are made of, and it's linked to a powerful detection barrier spell that we activated when we arrived. Azyl had created this detection barrier, and even someone with invisibility or intangibility spells cast onto them couldn't slip past its detection.

  As for the flat crystal, it displayed the location of any people that enter the range of the detection barrier, denoted by blinking red spots. It was quite fascinating, like a moving map.

  "Looks like seven people, about a hundred meters to the east and closing in. Did they appear out of the caves in the cliff?" Wondered Siert with a frown, as the blinking red dots began to close in bit by bit.

  Hm, it might be worth inspecting those caves, they might have a hideout in there somewhere……then again, it's like a maze in there, so there is a degree of risk……

  "Maybe they teleported into one of those caves from somewhere else and waited till it got dark? I mean, the sun literally set like five minutes ago, the timing can't be a coincidence," Replied Selesa, narrowing her eyes at the crystal.

  "Hm, it seems like they're planning to get in from the east wall……they probably have Wind Magic users," Surmised Misen, before taking out a nullification barrier Spell Card and adding, "Let's head over there and stand back, and once they're too close to get away, we'll activate this to nullify any active stealth spells and prevent them from teleporting away."

  "Good idea, let's go with that……as for how we go about capturing them after we activate the nullification barrier, I suggest……," I began, before elaborating on my plan.

  "Sure, works for me," Responded Selesa with a thumbs up.

  "I have no complaints, seeing as my role is the easiest," Nodded Misen in approval, as Siert responded affirmatively as well.

  We then swiftly moved out, heading for the top of the fortress walls and going towards the east side silently. These fortresses have only recently been converted to trade centers, so they haven't fully been set up yet, the tops of the walls are still pretty empty.

  These bandits must have realized that, and decided to take advantage of that fact and sneak in from over the walls. The tops of these walls are like wide balconies, so if we crouch down and stay by shadows, especially at night, we'll be almost impossible to spot.

  "I don't hear anything, but the dots just stopped by the wall……they're probably about to start flying up," Selesa informed us, keeping an eye on the crystal.

  "Then let's get started……Misen, activate the nullification barrier," I instructed quietly, as we stood up.

  "Yeah, okay," He replied with a nod, as he took out the spell.

  As he activated it, Selesa grabbed my shoulders and flew up into the air, before I formed a large fireball to illuminate the area……and sure enough, seven people were there, looks of alarm appearing on their faces as they realized that we could see them.

  I then blasted out my flames, as Selesa formed swirling wind currents to spin the flames around them, boxing them in and keeping them from escaping.

  "Wh-what is this!?"

  "Where did these people come from!?"

  "Damn it, i-it's like they knew we'd be here!"

  They've all frozen up, uncertain as to how to move……some of them were holding Spell Cards with looks of panicked confusing, probably trying to teleport away.

  Before they realized what was happening, Siert formed seven of his water tails and used them to grab the bandits, wrapping around their torsos firmly. And finally, Misen blasted the water with lightning, stunning them and knocking them unconscious.

  "Wow, uh……that was really easy," Remarked Selesa in surprise, as she descended back down towards the top of the wall, "And what's more, it went perfectly according to plan."

  "Well, considering the kind of enemies we've been dealing with, normal bandits are quite tame in comparison," I pointed out, before adding, "But yes, it was a lot easier than expected."

  "Yeah, even I agree with that……it almost seems too easy. The way they reacted and moved, they're clearly just amateurs. Once whatever stealth spells on them were nullified, they had nothing else up their sleeves," Remarked Misen with a frown, as we began tying them up.

  "From what we know of the previous attacks, those were carried out by seemingly amateurs as well……I might be overthinking it, but there might be more to this situation than meets the eye. Hm, but then again, it could simply just be that everyone in this group of bandits are amateurs," Mused Siert, looking a bit uneasy.

  Even so, something about this does not feel right. Were these bandits just sacrificial pawns, to test and see how we would respond to the previous attacks? But they couldn't have known that Kuro was spying on them……maybe they just assumed that all the trade centers would have increased their security and wanted to test it out?

  We've been through some incredibly intense and deadly battles over the past few years, so this unease is likely because we aren't used to resolving a battle so easily……right?

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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