Chương 19: Banditry

In the afternoon sky, a man stood in front of a burnt decrepit shack. a man with blonde hair and blue eyes stood as he watched the wind blow aways the ash of the memories gone by

There have been a lot of things Alex regretted. The fact that he wasn't here when his parents died, he wasn't able to protect them against the soldiers and their last conversation being an argument about whether he should leave his village or not.

He almost tears up thinking about it, but he shakes his head as he angrily thought 'The time of mourning is over, the only thing left is revenge.'

His career as a mercenary might not have made him the richest man. But his career has certainly given him the necessary skills and knowledge to make do with the few men he already has.

The village where he was, burned before he could return. They said that it was a mere unfortunate circumstance, but the rumours was that some soldiers decided to pin some assassination on an aging couple and the village suffered as a result.

He looks at the place where their house used to be. He grits his teeth as he was reminded of what they did, he then lowers down and clenches his fist, filled with ashes. He mutters to himself, "I'll burn House Rivider to the ground. Just to avenge what they did to you."

A few years have passed after that. He left that village with a few men to seek out the retribution we all felt we deserved. I trained them in fighting and surviving, turning them into a fighting force that could be considered competent.

It took years, but the Bandit group known as the Seekers has it's influence spread out through the entirety of the northwest of Rosalian Kingdom.

Though despite that, it remains powerless in the face of powerful forces with Rosalia. Though they tread carefully to avoid attention.

The only reason they remain powerful was due to the current crisis, with each noble unable to send out their armies from their domain due to the fear that the king might die, with the succession reaching a climax, with them unable to participate.

"Alex!" The shout from his side takes him away from his thoughts. He focuses once more as he looks at the voice. His right-hand man who followed him from his hometown.

He keeps walking directly to a tent in the middle of an encampment, he opens it to see five men stand. "Sir Alex!" He nods to them as he sat, "What's the current situation?"

The five men look to each other before his lieutenant speaks. "Sir, we are currently low on funds. The gold reserve is running low, due to the strict diet and foraging we can get by for at most a month."

Alex listens to his words and nods in understanding, "I see, how about the different rackets we have on come cities?" He looks to the men

One of the men replies, "They are making money but the amount of money coming out is more than what we can make."

The man beside follows with a nod as he replies, "I understand that you want to help fellow humans." He shrugs, "But we can't exactly help them if we ourselves are poor."

Alex keeps listening before responding with a grim expression, "I understand, but we can't call ourselves good people if we just let kids starve on the street."

The man replies with a glare, "Then what should we do then? Starve ourselves?" Another man spoke, "And besides we aren't exactly law-abiding citizens? Right?"

Alex expresses his distaste, his anger palpable as the men around him stay silent. He shouts in great anger as he slams his hand at the table, "How is disobeying a law expressly made to makes us inferior, a law I should follow?"

The men around him stay silent as Alex breathes deeply, calming himself down. "Sorry," He clears his throat as he looks to the men around him, "What suggestions do you propose?"

A few moments pass and his lieutenant speaks, "How about ransom?" Alex thinks on it, "That could work since most of those rich snobs are demonic nobles." The few men nod their heads in agreement.

Alex then looks around as he asks, "Is there any more suggestions?" Another man replies, "How about finding a sponsor?"

Alex furrows his brows as he replies, "That's impossible, there's no human within Rosalia, rich enough to sponsor bandits and insurgents."

The man responds with a smile, "How about the Arasel Kingdom? I'm sure they'll be more than happy to sponsor rebels against their continental rival." The men around him murmuring their agreement.

Alex takes his word into consideration until he finds a problem, "How can we contact them?" Alex thinks some more, "And even if we can, how sure are you that we can retain our autonomy? The Arasel Kingdom is currently at peace, for all we know we could be just sold out to Rosalia."

The man meekly nods before he reasons, "That's possible but we can't just rule out the possibility." Alex replies to his words, "Then we wait, once we have exhausted every possible option."

The men then stay silent as they think of their next moves. One of which exclaims, "How about toll money? We take money from any merchant that passes through our routes."

Alex thinks through it as he immediately shakes his head, "That would immediately increase prices in all of the cities under our influence."

The men around him turn silent before Alex continues, "That wouldn't just affect the people in our territory, it might even destroy the goodwill from both the populace and force the nobility to move."

Alex's mood turns sombre, "We need to remain beneath their radar as long as we can." The men around him nod grimly, knowing that no matter how far they've gone magic will always be the deciding factor.

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