286 Waste of time

Following the middle-aged man through the muddy swamp, Arthur eventually came face to face with a large settlement, hidden behind a thicket of large vines and mangrove trees. They had cut away large sections of vines and wood, creating small platforms that were built on the mangrove forest itself.

Most of the slaves and captives were kept in large pens or groups, the vast majority of them being young men and children. All of the women and young girls were either kept within the tents of the bandits, or stored in another building so as to prepare them to be sold in the near future.

Most bandits tribes made their living through plundering passing caravans or looting smaller tribes that couldn't defend themselves. They would take everything that they could, from the stored food all the way to spirit plant seeds that had just been planted.

In a large enough sum, everything was worth something in this world.

Especially ones life.

The middle-aged man gestured to the tribe that had been set up before Arthur. His expression nervous, and he couldn't help but unconsciously bite his lower lip as he turned towards Arthur.

"Lord Boundless. This is the Tremor Tribe. We are a group of bandits that had been formed after the destruction of a small Sect within the White Dominion Sect territory. The Leader was one of the inner disciples, who coincidentally reached Rank 3 a few years-".

"I don't care".

Arthur interrupted this middle-aged man words, before narrowing his eyes and stepping into the small tribe.

The appearance of this unknown green haired, green eyed young man attracted the attention of some of the bandits patrolling the grounds. Arthur didn't even so much as spare them a second glance, as he turned towards the large pens, which contained the various slaves and captives that the tribe had plundered these last few weeks.

Gazing down into the pens, Arthur could see that the vast majority of these captives were men and young children, and instantly turned away from them, moving towards the next pen.

A few of the guards, all of whom were only Rank 1 Fae Masters noticed Arthur's actions, and immediately headed over towards him, extending their arms out to try and grab his clothes.

They were all in their mid-to-late twenties, and despite being inferior to more than half of the Kovacs Clan younger generation, they still lorded over those who were not Fae Masters. Seeing this young man with strange hair, none of them associated the Boundless Forest Yearning, to this unknown individual.

"Oi! What the fuck do you think you're doing! This isn't the place for pretty boys like you to mess around-".

The man that extended his arm towards Arthur, saw a green coloured flash pass by his eyes, before he looked down, noticing a thin, red line congeal around his arm.

Blinking once, the man noticed his arm, from the elbow down fall off and his eyes widened, his voice resounding out through the tribe, as a fountain of blood spurted out from his severed arm.

Arthur didn't give him or the rest of his group another glance, as he waved his Leafsword, sending a Rank 2 Woodslice Fae towards them.

Caught by surprise and without any way to defend themselves, these Rank 1 bandits felt a hot pain bloom from their chests, only to find that the lights in their eyes grew dimmer and dimmer with every passing moment....

Their bodies hit the floor, bisected as their blood and internal organs splattered about everywhere.

The sight and scent of blood caused some of the captives within the pens to perk up, and turn towards Arthur shouting.

"Lord Fae Master! Have you come to save us!?".

"Please help us! My wife and I were dragged from our homes and brought here!".

"You have to help us! These bandits are monsters!".

"Please sir! Help me find my darling Betty! She only just turned 13 this last spring! And I haven't seen her for over a month!".

All of these voices fell on deaf ears as Arthur moved towards the other sections of the tribe. The vast majority of Fae Masters here were only Rank 1, so with a simple flick of Arthur's sword, he could cut down just about every person who tried to attack or threaten to dismember him.

'The Tremor Tribe.... was that what the Treble Clan was called before "she" took over it? Her Origin Fae was the perfect compliment to the Inheritance that she had found, but it might be possible that it was discovered before she took control....'.

Arthur kicked open a door, his eyes sweeping over the naked figures of everyone inside. Even in the face of such a lewd and unpleasant smell, Arthur's expression didn't so much as blink as he sighed before moving onto the next room.

The cries of young and married women echoed out, but Arthur didn't pay even the slightest bit of attention towards them.

None of them meant anything to him, and would only slow him down in finding out what he wanted to find.

Eventually arriving before the Tribe Leaders Tent, Arthur entered the large construct ignoring the gathering of bandits at the entrance behind him.

Lifting his head up and glancing at all of the mortal treasures and several Fae Boxes in the corner of the room, Arthur pushed forward and entered the bedroom partition behind another layer of tent. The sight of a late-twenty year old man, passionately making love to a nubile young woman caused Arthur to sigh before shaking his head.

Turning around to leave, Arthur was interrupted, as the sound of a sword being drawn echoed out.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing here!? Don't you know who I am!? And how the hell did you get in-".

Arthur turned around, activating several dozen Fae, summoning a large Sword Construct in the air above him. The fifty metre long Pride Emotion Sword flashed through the air, piercing straight through this Rank 3 Fae Masters stomach, and the young woman beneath him as well.

Arthur didn't say a single word, or even felt a single thing as he took the life of this complete and utter stranger.

Glancing around the room, Arthur shook his head, before leaving and muttering something under his breath.

"What a complete and utter waste of time....".

He thought that he mind find someone from his past, or his future rather in this bandit tribe, but obviously had jumped to conclusions the moment he saw that Music Attributed Fae.

Music Attributed Fae were quite rare within the Azure Envy Continent, and there was only a single Inheritance that Arthur knew of, from a Fae Master who walked the Music path within the Continent that Arthur was currently residing in.

"Music Attributed Fae.... School of Harp.... It's not suitable for myself, but if I could control a future Rank 5 Fae Master by befriending her, it wouldn't be so bad....".

Arthur just sighed, before coming face to face with all of the bandits from the tribe. There were only about 40 to 50 of them, and the strongest one only had a liquid ruby origin essence Fae Master cultivation....

Arthur gazed at them all lazily.

"This is what you all get for wasting my time".