Warden hadn't believed his eyes when the bandit threw away the knife. He was already halfway in the path of making it, [The Divider] extended to almost reach the neck of the bandit, but he only strayed at the last mont, finding the bandit actually listened to him.
What were the odds?
Tifan set Kelsa free from his clutches as the woman stamred onto the ground, too ntally and physically drained to even walk.
"Are you going to kill now?" the bandit asked, his voice shaking, deep gasps swaying the smoke the blade was emitting. Tears stread down his cheeks as he closed his eyes, setting his fate in stone.
"Sorry," Warden said, not retracting his blade just yet. "My body acted on impulse when you moved abruptly. Never thought you'd go through such demands."
"Then why ask?" Tifan said.
"Mostly to make you more focused on and less on the hostage," Warden said. "I almost got the opportunity as well, but then. . ." I saw sothing.
"So you won't kill ?" Tifan asked, hope brewing into his tone.
"Take the oath," Warden demanded, still at blade point. He didn't see much point in keeping the threat, but n's resolve is fickle. Tifan might regret his decision at this very mont and act.
"Um, of course," Tifan agreed, his eyes back on the weapon at his neck. "I, Tifan, take a soul oath, binding my class and abilities that I'll leave behind banditry and turn over a new leaf."
"And you'll also pay back the village for the terror you wrought," Warden added. "I guess a couple of years of indentured service to the village might be good enough."
"You can't be serious," Tifan shouted, almost regretting his decision. "What if they ask to kill myself, or better yet, poison to death?"
"Humans aren't born for violence." Warden shook his head. "Their circumstances let them beco violent. The villagers rely want to survive and live their life like normal. They'll find your service quite handy to be wasted."
Tifan couldn't help but glare at him. He felt like he was being cheated. The bastard was aiming for this all along.
In honesty, Warden hadn't been aiming for it. It just clicked at the mont. He would be leaving the village very soon, so the presence of a seasoned fighter, who could scout for potential dangers, would be beneficial for the village.
"Even if you leave banditry, what will you do?" he said. "You have hard people. You have to repent sohow."
Tifan thought for a good minute, his eyes darting towards all the villagers he had beaten up as well as the rest that were sneaking on them for a while but dreaded to co along after the bloodshed.
"Fine," he said. "I take a soul oath that I'd work for the village for a couple of years as long as the work is not threatening my life, but won't take any orders unless it cos from the boy called Xiv."
"?" Xiv croaked, puzzled.
"Is that fine?" Tifan asked Warden.
"I guess, but why Xiv?"
"He's kind," Tifan said. "Now, will you please retract your blade? I won't be able to control my bladder any longer."
Warden retracted [Reaper's Edge] and sheathed the blade. He made his way to the kid, who still had a puzzled look on his face.
"Well, I guess congratulations are in order," Warden said, looking over the boy's wound. "You got yourself a sneaky bodyguard."
"Warden, I don't know. . ." The look in his eyes wasn't the sa. Before, Xiv looked at him with a level of reverence, but now a good amount of dread had joined after the slaughter of the bandits.
Honestly, Warden couldn't bla the kid. If he were in Xiv's situation, he would likely feel much the sa. Fear the bandits that co to threaten your village, but also fear the saviour that killed the bandits without even batting an eye.
"How's your wound?"
"It's better than it looks," Xiv said with a sigh. "A broken leg and dislocated shoulder, but no damage to critical organs."
"Your nose is broken," Warden joked, trying to ease the kid. "You won't get a beautiful wife anymore."
"That is the least of my worries," Xiv sighed, throwing Onia a look, who was just as appalled by everything that unfolded before her eyes. From Xiv and others getting beaten to Warden killing all but one bandit. Sight such as this will keep her awake at night.
"Definitely, not least," Warden smiled. "What do you say, Onia, will you marry a guy with a disfigured nose?"
"I. . ." the girl was easy to fluster, not to ntion the dread that gnawed at her heart. Before, she had only seen n killing wolves, or wolves killing n, but not n killing n. The sa was true for Xiv, but he knew Warden a little better, which made it a lot easier.
Warden took a ntal note to keep such a sight of violence behind young people's eyes. Honestly, in this situation, it was unavoidable, though if Xiv had more courage, he would have asked if it was a necessity to kill them all.
Perhaps, perhaps not. We'll never know, he mused. "Well, fear not," Warden said. "We'll find a healer to fix Xiv's nose. Better yet, if he can advance to iron, it will fix on its own." "Iron rank, that's still hard, even for all my life." "Nah," Warden said. "Even that fat bandit chief made it, and you saw you awful he was. Xiv, you can do a lot better. A lot of good."
He unfastened the pouch that had the hearts and cores he collected from the dungeon and handed it to Onia. "So leftovers from the dungeon," he said. "The hearts will be beneficial to healing. Take as many as you need." "But..." "Don't worry, I had the lion's share," Warden laughed. "But Warden, these loots are exactly what brought these bandits to the village," Xiv said. "I don't think we should keep treasure that we can't guard." "Wise words," Warden nodded. "Still, use whatever you please to heal and return the rest to later. You need rest." He got up and turned his head towards Tifan. "Co on, Mr Bodyguard. We have so corpse to dispose of."
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