ATTACK & RESOLUTION

Sage sighed as she watched the approaching horde. At first glance she counted more twenty of them, each equipped in what appeared to be fine gear. On a normal occasion she would frown at their stupidity for attacking just two hours after dusk. After all, if it were her she would attack at after midnight when almost everyone is sleeping. She would also have opted for a silent approach instead of such a brazen charge.

Still, these guys were not like the weak bunch the Scarlet Quartet destroyed in the Trenton Highlands. Five of the bandits had Grade 4 physiques and more than a few who had awakened their mana with some of them reaching the 1st Order. There was even one among them who had achieved 3rd Order. This raiding party was one that, in her opinion, could give most mercenary bands trouble. She could see where they got their confidence from.

"I knew it!" ninja-wannabe exclaimed when he saw the charging horde. He levelled his knife at her, his eyes filled with malice. "I knew you were up to no good! You planned this didn't you?"

This comment attracted wary eyes from almost everyone. The merchants put a little more distance between her and them while the mercenaries watched her out the corner of their eyes, their fingers twitching along their weapons at each of her movements.

In response to this she remained silent. There was no need to respond to such an accusation. Over the past couple of days wannabe-ninja had been nothing but a jerk. She had put up with much of his arseholish acts, but her patience in dealing with him was nearing its limit.

Turning an unhappily gaze to the moustached merchant, she said, "Mr Delsarte, I've grown tired of your dog's constant barking. Even in this situation his priorities are skewed towards proving I am some sort of bandit instead of dealing with the true bandits. I implore you to please reign him in, unless of course I misunderstood something and you are the kind of man who lets his dogs bother his guests."

This caused the merchant to cough in embarrassment, although that embarrassment quickly vanished as he turned to the half-orc with a somewhat frown.

"You're right young Miss," he agreed, to the mercenaries he added, "Do what I'm paying you to do. Protect my family and get rid of those bandits!"

The half-orc, who had already arranged his group in a protective circle around them, nodded and made various hand signs to his companions. Most of them seemed to get the message as the dwarf cast a spell on them.

She recognised it as 2nd Order [Night Vision]. It was a spell she had seen in Zachary's magic book, one that was useless to her; so she never bothered to learn it.

Immediately after gaining the ability to see in the dark, the hag cast [Force Wall], a little late though because one of the arrows fired by the bandits managed to strike the rookie mercenary in the thigh, sending him rolling on the ground howling in pain, his bravado from earlier completely gone. The mercenaries did not seem to have much reaction to this. The merchants on the hand jumped back and uttered shrieks when they saw this scene. The girl merchant screamed even louder when she saw an arrow flying towards her suddenly bounce off the invisible barrier. Fortunately for her the arrows that followed met the same fate.

It was only after the mercenaries were ensured of the stability of the Wall that they leapt into action.

First Kaylee returned fire, managing to strike down two bandits by hitting them dead centre. Unfortunately, none of them were the Grade 4 bandits.

The hag also attacked using [Fireball], but her spell was rendered useless by a water spell cast by the other side.

As for the half-orc, the dwarf and the ninja-wannabe; these three were the close-combatants of the party. Before [Force Wall] was erected they had already charged out. Taking this moment, wannabe-ninja cast [Haste] on the three of them, speeding up the decrease in the distance between the two opposing forces.

The ninja-wannabe was the first to reach the opposing forces, quickly flying into an array of blurry attacks which saw him instantly gain the upper-hand against one of the stronger bandits. The others tried to help but a moment later they had their hands full dealing with the dwarf and half-orc. Different from their rogue-like colleague, these two did not need to use finesse to handle their opponents. With their superior physiques one swing of their weapons was enough to sweep their opponents aside.

The half-orc's battle-axe cleaved through a Grade 4 bandit and a Grade 5 bandit who had enhanced his strength with magic. It was unfortunate for the latter that low Order enhancement spells only temporarily increased one aspect of the body and not the entirety of it. The unfortunate bandit was caught by the half-orc's blow because his reflexes were not up to par.

The occurrence was similar on the dwarf's side. His hammer seemed to have been made of high grade metal because his every blow crushed his opponent's weapon before going on to crush their chest.

Kaylee kept shooting at the enemies and shot down two more bandits in the process.

As for the hag, her aptitude seemed to heavily lean on the fiery side because all her attack spells were flame based, and unfortunately the mage on the other side, even though he was of a lower Order, was able to counter her with his water magic. Of course Sage knew that the hag could probably overpower him if she wanted to, however if she did that she ran the risk of hitting one of her allies currently engaging the enemy. For this very reason the hag stopped trying to attack and decided to just maintain the barrier. She even took this time to tend to the injured rookie, who was still wailing in pain.

Out of the corner of her eye Sage caught the merchant children quivering as they stared at the young mercenary with wide eyes. Unlike their parents, who looked somewhat composed, these two lacked experience in hiding the terror they were feeling. The girl was even crying at the scene.

With a huff Sage, looked away and returned her attention to the frontlines.

The battle was nearing its end. Of the original twenty-something bandits only a handful remained. Even though the half-orc, dwarf and ninja-wannabe had sustained wounds, these were minor injuries that did not affect their combat strength. With this they easily managed to sweep away the rest of the bandits.

Except the mage. The moment he saw things were going south for his crew he immediately cast [Flight] and tried to flee.

Unfortunately for him, he did not get far before an arrow struck him in the back, probably hit a vital organ because the impact sent him crashing back to the ground where the three mercenary close combatants awaited.

"You're pretty good with the bow," Sage complemented the half-elf when she saw this.

In response, Kaylee glared at her and sneered before walking away. She marched over to the bandit corpses and searched them for valuables while taking the time to put the unlucky bastards who survived being crushed and sliced out of their misery.

After the bandit sorcerer fell the half-orc grabbed his ankle and began to drag him over to where the rest of them were while the dwarf rushed towards the rookie mercenary and squatted down to heal him.

As for the ninja-wannabe, he rushed straight up to her with blood spattered clothes. The fight had torn his clothes and his face was exposed for the first time since the journey began. There was a terrible burn scar that ran across the entirety of his face. Sage did not react to his appearance, but she heard the merchant family gasp and even saw shrewd-eyed merchant cover her mouth as she stared at ninja-wannabe with wide eyes.

Wannabe-ninja on the other hand was completely unbothered by their stares. At the moment he only had eyes for her… very angry eyes.

"You were in cahoots with them weren't you?" he asked in a demanding voice.

Honestly, she wanted to punch him. However, that would most likely escalate into a life and death brawl in which she would be forced to kill him and his companions; and probably the merchant family as well to keep the entire affair from leaking out. Sage acknowledged that she had a bit of a temper, but she would never fly of the handle for something so trivial.

Instead, she would wait until they reached the capital before trailing the bastard to a dark alley and beating the crap out of him.

Unfortunately, Yshta was four more days away. At the moment she could only sneer at the man and turn away.

"I expect an apology on your knees when the bandit mage confirms my innocence," she responded solemnly.

In response ninja-wannabe sneered before wrapping up his face and walking over to the surviving bandit that had been dragged to them. Seeing this, the half-orc distanced himself from the bandit sorcerer. The hag, who no longer had anything to do, suddenly walked up to the merchants and asked them to move back and look away. Seeing serious expression, the merchant couple complied without hassle, encouraging their offspring to do the same in the process.

Ninja-wannabe took this moment to cast a spell Sage was unfamiliar with. It was some sort of area spell, though it only seemed to cover a two metre diameter, enveloping only him, the half-orc and the downed bandit.

It was only after the interrogation began that she realised the effect of the spell was to keep all sounds produced in the spells area from escaping. She could not hear the roguish mercenary's conversation but she could see the other party's twisted expression every time the ninja-wannabe sunk his knife in a painful spot whenever he was unsatisfied by the captured mage's response.

After what felt like an eternity the sound barrier dropped and wannabe-ninja stood up and eyed her with a dissatisfied expression.

As for the bandit mage, having been rung dry of any information he had, he was of no more use and was summarily disposed of.

Ninja-wannabe took another look at her before he began to drag the corpse to the other bandit corpses in the distance.

However, he did not get far before Sage stepped in front of him.

"Now that it's been confirmed I am not aligned with the bandits I await my apology," she said to him sternly.

"You could be in league with the next group of bandits that show up," ninja-wannabe said stubbornly.

He tried to walk away but she stopped him again. As if she was going to let him walk away after all the shit she had to endure from him.

"I still want my apology," she said firmly, "and I prefer to hear it now."

Wannabe-ninja frowned and moved menacingly towards her, probably intending to do something. However, the half-orc intercepted him and gave her an apologetic look.

"I hope you forgive him Miss Sage," the axe-wielding mercenary said. "Laz might be rude but, apart from today, his instincts have always been correct."

His remark only served to earn him a sneer from her.

"And you expect me to be understanding of his vulgarity?" she snarled. "Because his instincts are telling him something?"

"Miss you have to realise that you do look sus-"

The half-orc tried to defend his colleague but she cut him off.

"You let him pester me because of my appearance?" she yelled, projecting incredulity. "Is this how you usually treat the guests of your employer Mr Taruk?"

"No, but-"

"Then I expect an apology from him and you as well," she interrupted him again. "Or do you expect me to forgive those who've done me wrong when they aren't even willing to offer an apology?"

Hearing this, the half-orc sighed and knelt in front of her. His roguish partner tried to resist but he was quickly forced into complying and following suit.

The other members of the party all looked on with frowns, with Kaylee shooting her a particularly nasty glare. She ignored them all and kept her eyes on the two kneeling at her feet, awaiting her apology.

"I'm sorry," wannabe-ninja said with a tone that sounded like anything other than an apology.

In response, she turned from him with a loud harrumph and walked away.

"Don't come within five metres of me ever again," she warned him.

The sham of an apology was nowhere near enough to satisfy her. When they reached Yshta she was still going to beat the shit out of him.