In the stillness of the midnight, Shun ran across the grassy plains towards the cliff. Upon reaching it, he saw the bridge he had once crossed when he secretly sneaked out.
He stopped running and muttered to himself,
"I didn't expect to come back here this soon."
With a peaceful expression, Shun continued walking, crossing the bridge. After passing through the forest, he slipped into the underbrush, searching for oddly shaped rocks.
After searching for quite some time, Shun felt exhausted and decided to take a break. He gazed at the stars in the sky, leaned his body against a rock, and slowly closed his eyes, feeling the night breeze brushing past him.
Then, Shun opened his eyes, lifted his body, and stood up to resume his search. As he walked, carefully scanning his surroundings, he finally spotted a peculiar arrangement of stones set up by someone. He removed them and found a stash of pouches filled with gold coins. With a pleased expression, Shun took all the gold and stuffed it into his bag. Strangely, no matter how much he put inside, the bag never seemed to fill up, as if it had an enormous space inside.
"Phew, good thing I asked for this magic pouch from Master. Otherwise, there's no way I could carry all this gold away," Shun muttered with relief.
After packing up the gold pouches, Shun stood up, ready to leave, but he was mesmerized by the sight of fireflies dancing not far from where he stood. He followed them and soon realized that they had gathered at the very spot where he had parted ways with Ana, the pure-hearted little girl.
"Ana... I wonder where she is now."
Shun then resumed his journey back to camp. However, along the way, he noticed thick black smoke rising from the village where Ana had come from. He decided to check it out and see what was happening.
Upon arriving at the scene, he saw a house engulfed in flames, set ablaze by bandits playing with fire. The place was in ruins—most of the houses had been burned to the ground, while the remaining ones stood empty as if abandoned.
Shun stepped out of hiding and spoke to the bandits who were torching the house.
Emerging from the shadows, he said, "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt."
"I'm a bandit from Reaper. I saw you guys doing something interesting."
"Mind telling me what that is?" Shun asked casually.
"Huh?" One of the bandits spoke up.
"Reaper?"
"What the hell are you doing here?" The bandits looked nervous.
"I'm just taking a stroll. I don't intend to cause trouble for anyone, but that big bonfire you're making sure caught my attention."
"Get out of here quickly! Don't mess with them, or we're screwed," one of the bandits whispered to his companion.
"We're just burning the body of a dead slave," one of the bandits said, sweating nervously.
"Oh, really?" Shun grinned wickedly and started walking past them.
"Well then, I'll be on my way."
Just as the bandits began to relax, one by one, their heads suddenly fell to the ground, blood splattering all over the earth as the fire continued to rage.
In the silent night, Shun checked the belongings of the fallen bandits. Among them, he found weapons bearing the mark of his old bandit group—the very ones he had abandoned to travel with Ravel.
"Looks like things aren't going so well," Shun murmured.
Without a sound, he vanished into the quiet night.
---
That night, the rain suddenly poured. An old man sat inside a broken-down house in the ruined village, chewing on stale bread.
Then, Shun arrived at the house and saw the frail, shivering old man. He approached him and spoke.
"Finally, I found someone still here in this village," he said with a sigh of relief.
"Hey, old man, you're a resident of this village, right?" The old man looked frightened upon seeing Shun.
Noticing his fear, Shun removed his cloak and set aside his sword.
"Relax. I won't hurt you. If you want, I can give you some food," Shun said calmly.
The old man still seemed hesitant, but in the end, he spoke up.
"Yes, I'm from this village. If you came here to ask about it, that means you must have seen it before it was destroyed," the old man said seriously.
"Yeah, about four years ago."
"I see," the old man nodded before beginning his story.
He recounted that a year ago, bandits had raided their village and kidnapped young girls. The terrified villagers sought help from the central city, and reinforcements did arrive—fifty guards and a few adventurers. But three months ago, the bandits returned in overwhelming numbers, crushing the defenders.
At that time, the bandits captured all the villagers, leaving behind only the elderly, whom they deemed useless. The rest—men, women, and children—were taken to the bandits' camp for slavery and exploitation.
"I see."
"Tell me, old man, do you know the name of the bandit group that attacked your village?"
"There were many bandits in the raid, but there were also men in armor who joined them," the old man revealed.
Shun thought for a moment. After a brief pause, he finally realized who was behind the attack.
"Alright, old man. As promised..." Shun reached into his bag and handed him some vegetables and bread.
"Well then, see you around." Shun then dashed through the heavy rain and disappeared into the night.