A helping hand

Dagon felt more confident after his battle yesterday. He ventured deeper into the woods the next 2 days. Trying to avoid a full on battle again, he spent his time picking off any wolves he found one by one. It didn't matter if the others ran away once they found no sign of the perpetrator.

Staying on the side of caution, he was able to loot 8 perfect wolf corpses during his expedition, along with 2 wild boars he stumbled upon as well.

As his third night in the forest came to an end, he headed back to the camp. This was the deepest part of the woods he'd been in yet. Dagon had been sure to mark locations to help him find his way, he'd have little luck finding his way out otherwise.

He was only 10 minutes into his walk back when he heard a scream deeper into the woods.

"HHEELLLLPP!"

Dagon abruptly stopped in his tracks.

He stopped and listened for a moment, but didn't hear it again. Dagon was a good man most of the time, he'd helped plenty of people in the past, only wronging the ones that deserved it. Being curious as well, he couldn't help but turn back around.

He cautiously headed towards where the sound had come from. Moving slowly, it took him 30 minutes to get close enough to hear voices again. He couldn't make out any of the words they said yet, so he crept closer.

He didn't stop until he could just barely make out the situation. There looked to be 6 people in all. Three men standing up, covered in mismatched armor and gear. They all had different weapons; a sword, and spear, and a mace.

They looked like your basic group of robbers from an old video game Dagon noticed.

The three others were all tied up. One man, one woman, and one he couldn't really see. The woman was crying, but not loudly. Almost as if she was trying to be quiet. The man had an expression on his face that read, "I'll kill you all," but he wasn't make a sound. The other person was lying down on their back.

Dagon wasn't sure whether she was alive or not due to the situation.

"Are we done with all the bullshit now?" The taller of the three men asked. "I prefer not to kill, but I gotta do what I gotta do sometimes ya know?"

The two other men chuckled at the third's words as they stared at the two tied up.

"What else do you want from us?" The tied up man replied through his teeth.

"Well, you guys didn't have a lot on you, so I guess I'll have to take the woman as well for compensation," the taller man replied. "There's no point in robbing poor people unless we get some fun out of it"

The three men all had disgusting looks on their faces as he spoke.

Dagon could barely sit still as he heard the group. He couldn't just jump in, he'd be killed for sure, but he didn't know what to do.

If they were experienced enough, his arrows would have a tough time killing them all before they got to him. It was a risk he wasn't sure if he was willing to take.

If he'd learned some magic before coming here, his confidence would be much higher, but he didn't have the money to afford the training for that.

Dagon's body shook slightly in rage as he debated what to do.

The man tied up yelled in response to the robber's request, "NO! Take me instead just let her be!"

"Sorry, we don't swing that way kid," one of the other robbers said laughing.

"It's a yes or we'll make you watch before we kill you anyway," said the taller man in a nonchalant attitude. He shrugged his shoulders as he spoke as if either way was fine with him.

Dagon finally snapped, he couldn't watch this anymore. He pulled his bow back out from the storage ring, quickly notching an arrow.

Dagon noticed a strength he'd never felt before as he pulled the drawstring back. He looked at the arrow before firing, as he noticed it glowing with a blueish hue.

Dagon didn't have time to figure out what was going on. He could investigate the phenomena later, for now he needed to get rid of these robbers.

Dagon let the first arrow fly.

FWOOOOOSSHH—!

The arrow traveled at super sonic speeds through the air. "Magic!" Dagon thought to himself. What else could produce this kind of effect. The anger he built up had left his body as soon as he released the arrow.

Splash—!

The arrow went straight through the tallest of the three men. Leaving behind a hole the size of a fist in his head. The other two men couldn't hold back their fear. They immediately started crying before taking off in the opposite direction.

Dagon wasn't going to let them off that easy. He notched another arrow, firing as quick as he could.

Thud—!

The second arrow hit furthest man in the back.

Dagon was moving closer toward them as he loaded the third arrow, hoping to get a better shot.

He released the third arrow too soon, as his aim wasn't true, but the arrow still struck.

Thud—!

The arrow pierced the last mans calf, knocking him down. Unable to run any further, he pulled out the spear on his back waiting for the assailant to come closer.

Dagon didn't bother with him, he simply loaded another arrow, before lodging it straight into his face. Dagon was still a good 50-60 yards out from the man, so he never saw it coming.

The man and woman tied up never made a sound throughout the whole process. They stared at the scene around them with dumbstruck faces. They just couldn't believe it.

"Are we saved?" The man asked in a low voice, and a tone that said he wasn't sure what just happened.

Dagon came close after making sure all three robbers were dead.

"I'm sorry you two had to see that," Dagon said aloud.

The two turned around to face the voice behind them.

They studied the man before them. Six foot tall, with the look of a ranger. The man had a bow in his hand, and a sword on his hip. He wasn't clean shaven, or clean in general really. Blood covered his clothes from the wolves he'd slain on this excursion.

Dagon studied them as well. He could see the woman was gorgeous underneath the blood and tears covering her face. She was petite, "not the build of a fighter for sure," he thought to himself. Her long dark hair was matted with blood as it stuck to her face.

Dagon's eyes moved to the man. He was slightly bigger than himself. The body of a warrior. His messy blonde hair and chiseled face would've made him the heartthrob of any young girl back on earth.

The long silence between the three people was broken as the man spoke up, "Thank you for saving us, sir. I don't have anything to repay you, but we'll do anything we can for you," he said sincerely as he bowed his head.

"Don't worry about all that I didn't just do it for you guys, those robbers pissed me off, and I just couldn't hold back," Dagon announced as he waved his hands in the air, signaling to forget about the payment.

Dagon untied the two and announced, "I'm going to see what I can get from these men, you guys clean yourselves up," as he handed them some jugs of water.

Dagon walked over to the first man he'd killed. He mulled over it for a moment before coming to the realization that it wasn't so bad. He'd thought of killing people many times before, but he'd never done it due to the rules of earth. He didn't want to end up in a jail cell for the rest of his life.

Out here in the forest of Umbria, no one was going to know any better, and they were robbers anyway.

After getting his feelings in order, Dagon searched the corpses.

He took the three weapons first, placing them in his storage space. "Maybe I can get some money out of these," he thought.

He left the armor, it wouldn't fit him anyway, and he didn't want to sell it didn't look to he worth much. Their armor was tattered and poor quality to begin with.

Although his leather armor and black overcoat were covered in blood, dirt, and sweat, they were in good condition.

As he searched the men thoroughly, he found 2 pouches of coins, but nothing else. It seems these robbers were poor themselves, or had things stashed away elsewhere.

He emptied the pouch to find 10 silver coins, and 60 bronze coins.

"That's probably more than I would've made the whole trip," Dagon laughed to himself in a quiet voice.

Dagon turned around as he heard the young woman sobbing behind him. He'd forgotten about the dead one among their group.

"Are you guys ready to go?" Dagon cut in.

The man and woman looked at each other, before nodding their heads. They'd already packed up and said their goodbyes to the third person no longer breathing.

With that, the group heading out of the forest. It was a long hike, they were at least 3 hours away, as their movements had to be slow as to not alert anything else to their presence. These woods were dangerous at night, they'd learned that lesson already.