Chapter 9

Magnus awoke with a weird look on his face, after all his dream the night before was definitely one to remember. 'Chased by Shrek through my old high school huh, that's a new one.' His dream could've been worse, however, at least this one gave him a good laugh.

(A/N: I actually had this dream once)

Magnus quickly shook off that thought though. He had a big day in front of him, he couldn't afford to be distracted. After a quick and small breakfast, he asked, 'Jarvis, pinpoint their speculated position and keep your scanners up at all times. I don't want to be surprised at all if I run into anything ok?'

[Understood.]

Standing up, Magnus put all of his gear inside his inventory before donning his armor. Taking a deep breath and holding his sword, Magnus couldn't deny the nervousness he felt, but he did his best to ignore his abnormally tight grip around the handle, and moved towards the destination. The forest was so peaceful, but around 15 minutes into the start of Magnus' journey, the ambiance of the forest was interrupted by Jarvis,

[User, there is a group of three people 300 meters northwest of you. The location and proximity of the people make me believe that they could be scouts for the bandit camp. Judging by the distance between the user and the individuals, user should be undetected.]

'Thank you, Jarvis,' Magnus replied, then he crouched lower and moved towards the forest line. 'Jarvis, can you pin their location on the map?'

[Understood.]

As Magnus looked at the map, three red dots appeared. Just as Jarvis had said these people were around 300 meters northwest of Magnus currently. Slowly, and carefully, Magnus approached the location of the three. As he got closer, he speculated a plan on how to dispatch the three. Magnus had no experience in actual combat, simply sparring at his old MMA place. In his nervousness, it was hard to truly think of a good plan, so he decided to ask the AI, 'Jarvis, how should I approach this?'

[I recommend user make small noises like sticks breaking, this could attract their attention and most likely one of them would approach to check out what is causing the noise. Thinking it is simply an animal, the man shouldn't have his guard up. I would then very quickly stab him through his throat, this eliminates his ability to call for help. Gently lie him down without making too much noise, and then wait. Eventually, the other two would come together to see what happened when they don't hear anything from their friend. I would repeat the same for one of them, and due to users newfound strength and speed, dealing with one bandit alone shouldn't be much of a problem.]

Taking a deep breath, Magnus nodded and started to move toward the location. The plan made sense and it was most likely what he would do as well. As he got much closer, he could start to hear faint noises of conversation between the three. Not close enough to make out what they were saying, however. Magnus repeated what Jarvis told him to do, once he was around 10 meters from the three, close enough to be heard. He found a good place where he was sure he would not be seen, and he started to break sticks and rustle leaves.

'This is it, no way going back now.' He thought, as he made the noise he noticed that the conversation between the three seemed to halt. In a commanding voice, one told someone to do something, and Magnus could hear footprints approaching his position. He could start to hear the man talking to himself, and he was now close enough to make out what he was saying,

"'Go check it out, Richard. Go do this Richard. What are you doing Richard?' The bastard thinks he's my master or something, just because he's the boss's brother doesn't mean shit. It's obviously just an animal why should I-" The newly named Richard's words were halted when he suddenly noticed a sword fastly approaching his neck, he didn't have time to say anything or do anything.

Magnus's sword had found its destination, lodged deep in the man's throat. Richard's eyes began to lose their life, and he slumped, not even having the time to understand that he was dead. As the man fell, Magnus caught him before slowly and quietly moving him to the side. 'I really just did that,' he thought to himself, 'I killed a guy.' Magnus had no time to think about it, however. As he heard one of the others calling Richards' name, upon a third call and no response, he could hear two sets of footprints quickly approaching him.

Adrenaline took over, and Magnus quickly once again hid in wait. "Richard! You bastard where did you go!" One of the two men was much bigger and looked better armed. Magnus chose to kill him first. "Richard! This guy is completely incompetent. Wait..." The two men had noticed bloodstains on the floor and a nearby tree, and quickly went on their guard. Their guard wasn't enough, however. Magnus was over twice the speed of a normal man after all.

He waited until his target turned to look the other way, and that was it. In a split second, he lunged from the treeline and manipulated his sword to impale the man through his throat. With his high dexterity, his weapon easily found its target. Although Magnus had succeeded in killing his target, he had no time to celebrate his victory. He quickly exited his sword from the mans throat and put himself on guard.

"Eivor! You son of a bitch! A coward like you can only strike from the shadows huh? I'm gonna gut you like a pig! Your innards will be fed to wolves! You-" Deciding to instead try and catch the man off guard, Magnus quickly lunged at him in between his threats and rambling.

Blades clashed, and Magnus' strength allowed him to come out victorious. In only one slash, the man had lost grip of his blade, and it now lay on the ground. Panicking, he attempted to reach for it, but Magnus quickly shut that idea down and brought his blade to stab the man's arm.

"AHHH! Please! Have mercy! I have a wife and kids! My family needs me back home! I won't be a bandit anymore I promise! I'll live a good life, I'll be a good man, just let me go, please!" The man pleaded for his life, the previously confident and haughty visage was now stained by tears.

For a second, his words worked, and Magnus faltered. 'Would I really leave a wife widowed, innocent children fatherless?' He quickly steeled himself, however, and thought, 'How many men has he killed? How many women has he had his way with? How many kids has he left fatherless? He deserves no mercy.'

"How many bandits are at your camp?" Magnus asked, his resolve now steeled, he would kill this man.

"Other than the three of us only seven! Now please let me go! I told you what you wanted to know!" The man begged and pleaded for his life, tears and snot covered his face, he was a pitiful sight.

"How pathetic. People like you disgust me. You sit on your high horse and pillage and kill as you please, not caring for your victims in the slightest. But as soon as the blade is turned towards you, you get on your knees and beg for your life, just as your victims did I bet. Tell me, did you spare their lives?" Turning pale, the bandit realized that his life would not be spared, so instead he decided to curse his killer,

"You bitch! You're gonna-" Magnus spoke over the man, not letting him get the satisfaction of getting his words out,

"The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed."

As the man attempted to form words in response, he was interrupted by a blade going through his throat. His eyes were clouded in fear and anger in his last moments, but it did not matter, for he simply fell to the ground.

Adrenaline wearing off, Magnus looked at his bloody blade and hands. As his hands shook, he dropped the blade to the ground and sat against a nearby tree. 'Am I... prepared to be killed?' Magnus thought back to the words he said earlier to the dying man, did those words not apply to him as well? Was he simply a hypocrite?

'No, I did this world a favor by getting rid of those men, if left alive, they would simply kill and pillage more, causing more suffering. I must adapt to this new world, here it is kill or be killed. And I would much rather be the one doing the killing.' Magnus gave a small, pitiful chuckle before he sighed.

'I have work to do,' he thought.

[User needs proof of the bandit's demise and many of them have a bounty on their heads. I recommend user to behead those he killed and store them in his inventory.]

Magnus froze, 'Jarvis... I...' he began to try and make excuses for not doing such, he was not sure if he can stomach it. But, he knew that one day, he would have to be able to do these things without question, 'You're right Jarvis, I will do so.'

[+1 wisdom]

[Swordsmanship level up]

Chuckling at the notifications, he stood up and approached the first body. Magnus prepared himself and brought his sword down on the man's neck. Watching as his head was dislodged from his body, he felt like vomiting, but he held it back, and the man's head soon disappeared, put into his inventory.

He repeated the process and the other two men, before collecting their heads into his inventory. 'Jarvis, can you remind me when 15 minutes have passed?'

[Understood.]

'I just need a second... to think and relax.' As Magnus sat against a tree and looked up to the sky, he tried his best to hold back his vomit and stop thinking about his earlier deeds. 'The sky is so peaceful for a world so full of violence.'