Bloodied hands
"What can we even going to do? " asked Leopold, witnessing death from so close for the first time .
"We can't give them their lives back but we can give them justice ." I said.
This is most probably done by bandits and slave traders I said pointing to the destruction .
The black market I explored was only the tip of the iceberg of the underworld . The real underworld sold everything from grimoires, rare magical beasts, body parts or humans . There were captain levels of people hiding in the dark protecting the circle from leaving clear traces .
Leopold was shocked to know that Slave traders are still active .
'Come on, how innocent can you be ',I thought .
Money from all the houses are gone . Looking through the remains , this happened within a span of the last few hours as the smell of blood is still fresh .
The things they stole should not be small so they must take a break somewhere .Moreover it was night so mana beasts roamed freely during this time .
Looking from the trails and footprints , they went towards the east of the village as there are no settlements in that direction .
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I created a phoenix shaped mount with solid flames , picked up Leopold and flew towards the east at full speed . On the way we saw chartered patches of land signifying that we were in the correct direction .
After flying for a few hours we came across a deep forest among which flickers of light were visible . Among the trees lies a camp . We tip-toed our way towards them . I confirmed that it was indeed a bandit camp based on the attire of the people and weapons each of them carried .
At one side of the camp large amounts of food and different types of goods were gathered . There were some people who were tasked with surveying but a look from sharingan was enough to render them useless .
I took out my communicator and sent an SOS signal to the nearest camp with my location . Even with the fastest flying speed it would take at least 3 hours to arrive here due to the distance .
I told Leopold to wait for my signal to maintain a distance and I went ahead as I didn't want him to mess things up and see some bloody scene . Moreover he should be able to stall if reinforcements arrive.
I suppressed my presence as much as I could and entered the camp as the sharingan rotated in my eyes capturing every detail .
There was a campfire in the middle of the settlement with tents around them and around 50 or so bandits drinking with different kinds of weapons with them .
A saw some large tamed mana horses presumably on their ride .
I found a cage near the largest tent inside which around 30 little children not older than 10 and some young women with torn clothes were kept unconscious and tied up with 2 bandits guarding . One of the children I recognized was the girl I met at the stall . I put mana into my eyes and casted paralysis and mind control magic with [sharingan ] on the two guards and entered the tent with the largest mana presence .
It was most probably the tent of the bandit leader . The bandit leader , a medium heighted man with a large beard . He was having his way with a woman whose eyes showed as if she had lost her soul and will to live . The moment the bandit leader saw me I blasted his mind with mana pressure and put him under my control using [sharingan] .
I covered the woman with a blanket I found nearby and casted a healing spell on her . Her physical injuries can be healed but I can't do anything about the mental damage she suffered .
As for the bandit leader, I held a dagger against his throat and said " talk about everything about your recent raid" while keeping him in [ genjutsu ].
" Got information about a big event ….wealth ….slaves ….woman " he said in a dazed voice .
Why did you need slaves ? Why did you kill everyone ?
" Order from him …. Need no survivors …. Need children under 10 …."
Who is that person ?
" slave dealer …don't know name … only got money … "
When are you going to deliver the slaves ?
" Today, mid night " . That information was enough for me . With a slice I cut off his dick and unlocked the mind control . He tried to scream with pain but I held his mouth from screaming .
I directly fired condensed flames inside his mouth to burn him from inside . I felt no remorse after killing a scum .
The went near the entrance of the tent and heard two people talking ,
" That chick was awesome , it was fun breaking her "
" Should we use those kids next ? I don't think boss will mind if we take one " another one asked
"Breaking the young ones will be more fun "
Truly the scum of earth I thought before quickly exiting the tent and beheading them without them even realizing . This attracted the attention of the other bandits .
'Oi a kid killed two of us ….he exited from boss's room … That's a magic knight ,kill him before he calls for reinforcement '.. Shouted the bandits readying their weapon .
I had already decided to wipe them out so I didn't waste time and casted blazing shield on the cage so as not to hurt the captured in crossfire .
The bandits fired all sorts of spells which I either destroyed or dodged . I went near one of them and severed his hand and leg . One shot a plant based magic to hold me in place which I destroyed with a kick causing a crater . One fired a fireball and I shot a bigger one setting him on fire .
My [Sharingan] rotated continuously as I slaughtered the bandits . The ones that didn't fall under my blade started burning alive . " WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING HE IS JUST ONE PERSON KILL HIM "shouted one panicked .
My mana was enough to knock almost half of them out but I didn't want that . I knew that I had to get human blood on my hands someday so I don't mind if it's theirs .
As a magic knight I was allowed to kill , especially bandits . Every time my blade struck, one person died .Even after being bathed in blood I didn't feel anything . Is my mind becoming so twisted that I stopped feeling anything after taking someone's life . I consoled myself with the thought that if these bandits stayed alive they will continue to take lives . It doesn't matter if some of them were doing it out of desperation , the moment they stood opposite to me their fates were already sealed . I am not a saint and show mercy just because someone did it because he was out of options .
By the time I was done it was almost midnight and time for the dealer to arrive .
After killing everyone I called back Leopold . His cheerful eyes were a little dull ,I could see that Leopold had fear in his eyes seeing the bloodbath. He was quite angry and sad for not being able to protect so he didn't mind me killing those bandits .
I warned Leopold about the dealer and told him to be cautious .
We searched the rest of the camp and found more unconscious women and children which we moved them near the cage.
I smelled something in the air and quickly warned Leopold to cover his face with condensed mana but I was too late as he had already dropped on the floor .
"Foosh"
All the source of light in the camp was destroyed as the entire camp got enveloped in darkness .Soon I sensed a presence followed by foot steps
*CLAP * Clap * Clap * sound of whistling.
"Bravo ! Bravo! What a spectacular performance . Cough Cough
Seems like my magic didn't work quite well on you "
Said a man walking slowly that I assumed to be the slave dealer. I could see from the corner of my eyes that the entire camp was surrounded by poisonous smoke .
' This is going to be difficult ' I muttered as I slowed down my breathing and the flow of blood and focused ahead .
He was a tall well built man wearing black clothes with short brown hair . He wore glasses which glowed in green light . By his appearance he should be around 30 .I felt like something was wrong with him , there are two types of mana circulating within his body and clashing against each other .
" Cough Cough ! Thank you for taking care of my goods and killing the pests , now I don't do it myself . You made my job much easier .
Unfortunately I can't leave survivors ,especially magic knights . So why don't you accompany them to the hell as well "