Capítulo 20: Insidious Wolf
"Prison Star Chronicles"
"May 6th,187"
"7:36 a.m."
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The first thing Ira Village's headman, Woodall, did upon waking up was to patrol the village with a group of people. In such a small village, there was no formal security force. It was up to Woodall and a few other men, both young and old, to protect the village from the depredations of wild animals.
"Summer is coming, and the wild boars will become rampant. We need to be more vigilant around the farmland."
After explaining the situation to everyone, Woodall specifically went to the house arranged for Banning to see if there was anything he needed help with.
However, Banning was not in the house, and there were no signs that the bed had been slept in. As a hunter, Woodall could sense that Banning hadn't spent the night here.
(How strange...)
Woodall went around the village again but couldn't find any trace of Banning, nor had any of the villagers seen him. Woodall reasoned that the village was small enough that Banning couldn't have gone unnoticed unless...unless he had left overnight.
Woodall was puzzled, unable to think of a reason for Banning to leave in such a hurry. Then, he inquired around, and no one reported any thefts.
(Should we organize a search in the nearby area?)
Woodall felt that it was not worth mobilizing everyone for a person who had just joined the village for less than a day. If they failed to find him, it would adversely affect the atmosphere in the village—what small villages like theirs feared most was the outflow of people.
At this time, Woodall saw Avril looking as if she was searching for someone too. Upon inquiry, he learned that she was looking for Banning as well.
"It's not...not that important... I just noticed his clothes were torn and wanted to ask him if he needed help...with that...", Avril stuttered, lowering her head.
Woodall sighed and told Avril the truth that Banning might have already left the village.
"Although he seemed to get along well with everyone yesterday, we actually don't know much about him... Maybe he had some unspeakable reasons."
Avril seemed to pay little attention to Woodall's subsequent words. She just stood there blankly for a while before stiffly replying "Mm-hmm," and then walked away dispiritedly without even saying thank you or goodbye to Woodall.
·
In a cave more than twenty kilometers away from Ira Village, the Crimson Cloud Bandits were busy preparing for an upcoming raid.
The leader of the Crimson Cloud Bandits, Wolf, avoided the gazes of his companions and left the cave, heading alone to another nearby narrow cavern. Following markings only he knew, Wolf retrieved a hidden treasure from the cave and carried it with him.
A year ago, the Crimson Cloud Bandits fled to the border of Lord Azure Lizard's territory to escape the heat. During that time, Wolf happened to rob a small caravan while leading a scouting party. Initially, he thought he had seized ordinary goods, but he unexpectedly found a treasure box engraved with the emblem of the Scarlet family.
The Scarlet family was one of the five great lord families in the Wester Kingdom, and their possessions were generally untouchable; anyone who dared to touch them would be hunted down by the Scarlet family to the ends of the earth.
If Wolf had known in advance that the caravan contained something from the Scarlet family, he wouldn't have dared to rob it even if he had ten times the courage. But now that he had already acted, and since this wasn't actually a caravan of the Scarlet family, but merely contained one of their items, he might as well go all the way.
Acting quickly, Wolf ordered his men to kill all the members of the caravan and burn their bodies to destroy the evidence, making it look as if the caravan had vanished from the face of the earth. On the way back to rejoin the main force, Wolf found an opportunity to kill all his subordinates from the small team. After the reunion, he lied to the others, saying that they had encountered a caravan with elite guards. All of his comrades died, and only he managed to escape the encirclement.
From then on, only Wolf knew about the treasure box.
Inside the Scarlet family's treasure box was an unidentified crimson gemstone. After careful investigation, Wolf learned that the gemstone was not an ordinary item, but it would require a large sum of money to hire a corresponding level "jeweler" to appraise and process it. This was his main motivation for looting villages recently.
After the raid on Ira Village, the Crimson Cloud Bandits would certainly leave the area to avoid attracting attention, so Wolf brought the treasure box with him before this operation. He would only feel at ease if the treasure was with him.
(Alright, I've left that kid alone for a while now. It's time to go scare him and get some information out of him.)
·
In the cave, Tyler silently listened to the silly loli scolding him for more than an hour. His conclusion was that her vocabulary was limited, and she lacked any technique in her insults. If she were to argue with the Karens at any grocery stores, she would be reduced to tears in no time.
Additionally, during the period of appreciating the silly loli's scolding skills, Tyler reorganized the information he had obtained since entering the bandits' cave and had a clear idea of what to do next. Originally, he thought that the main ability of the Divine Eye of Transcendence was to foresee death, but now it seemed that the "power" of "mind reading" was not to be underestimated.
Before long, Wolf, the leader of the Crimson Cloud Bandits, approached. Tyler immediately switched into acting mode.
"Your Highness, spare my life!"
"Your Highness, I truly want to join you!"
"Your Highness... please don't kill me... I... I'm willing to do anything for you…!."
With his hands and feet tied, Banning writhed on the ground like an earthworm, shouting and pleading, eventually breaking down in tears.
Wolf walked up to Banning and motioned for the guard to step aside.
"Enough, you may leave and rest; I have matters to discuss with this young man."
In the makeshift cell, only Wolf and Banning remained. Without mercy, Wolf stepped on Banning's head and twisted his rough shoe sole left and right, scraping Banning's face and nearly crushing his ear in the process.
Banning writhed in pain, wailing incessantly, until Wolf crouched down and whispered menacingly, "Silence, boy, if you wish to live."
Upon hearing this, Banning immediately quieted, ceased his squirming, and lay still, staring at Wolf with a face full of terror and anxiety.
"Humph, good, I do appreciate obedient dogs," Wolf smirked before getting to the point. "Listen well, lad, there's no need for pretense. I already know you're in league with Fuchs; he's told me everything."
Hearing this, Banning's mouth gaped open in astonishment, his pupils quivering. Wolf did not miss this revealing expression and knew his ruse had succeeded in utterly intimidating the wretched boy.
"Be honest with me now. I may spare your life and let you serve in our bandit group, but if you dare deceive me, I'll have you dragged out and beheaded as a sacrifice. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes, your majesty! I'll t-tell you everything right now!"
Trembling with excitement, Banning's face was a mixture of blood, snot, and tears, but he paid no mind and immediately began confessing to Wolf.
"Your majesty, I-I-I didn't actually follow Fuchs here. I-I don't have the ability to do that, right? Fuchs was actually the one who brought me to this cave..."
Banning divulged everything without reservation, detailing his connection with Fuchs as Wolf listened with a satisfied grin, relishing the feeling of manipulating others.
In reality, Fuchs had already set off for Luca Village, and Wolf hadn't questioned him at all. After Banning exposed everything, Wolf planned to kill him first and then confront Fuchs with Banning's severed head to settle the score.
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