Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Chapter 767

“This outfit doesn’t really fit me.” Garnet complained as we started walking into the cave.

“It’s fine, just stay back in the darkness, and let me do all the talking,” I responded, looking at the entrance. “I wish I had earth manipulation at Terra’s level. I never really practiced it. I know some fire, wind, and even a bit of water, but earth I have no strength in. Even with magician, I wouldn’t be able to block the entrance.”

“You want to seal us in with them?”

“It’d be nice” I shrugged. “Whatever, we need to get moving.”

“Y-yes!”

The pair of us disappeared into the darkness of the cave, which appeared just slightly darker than it should thanks to filling it for three hours with miasma. At the moment, it was probably as thick as any normal dungeon I’d been in. The people inside might be feeling a bit worn down. Light from torches didn’t seem to push as far into the darkness. Of course, my white mage light always seemed to ignore this rule. We descended into the tunnel and quickly started to hear the sound of people.

Voices were talking in the dark, and the occasional cough, or the sound of footsteps as someone moved around. Furthermore, Life Sense began to pick up redder, and I started to see a group of nearly a hundred bandits. This was a number far larger than I had expected.

Thinking about it, I realized that fighting our way through or killing them all seemed impossible. Even if I could spend another ten hours dumping miasma into this cave, it’d not be dark enough that we could wipe out such a large group. Even if high power mobs started to appear in that darkness, it also seemed impossible.

That left us with one other option. Since I was sneaking into the bandit cave, then I should be able to act as the bandits did. If I could get to the metal, I could stash it in my inventory and then run. Stealing from the bandits was always an option. No one would guess I was a hero who had Inventory.

“Hagger? What’s going on topside?” A voice came from the darkness.

I nearly jumped, but just managed to keep my cool. A man came out from the darkness. My Sense Life hadn’t seen him until he spoke. He had managed to hide his life force from me. He wasn’t the first I had seen that was able to do this, but I hadn’t expected to run into anyone that capable here. Behind me, Garnet kept her head low, and her face covered.

“Nothing,” I said, allowing my mimic abilities to take effect. “Just a passing monster.”

I didn’t try to change my voice or act differently, but I used the mimic abilities to pretend to be this guy named Hagger. Garnet jerked when I spoke, which told me that how I was talking and behaving must have surprised her, but I didn’t notice any difference myself.

“I see…” The assassin who came from nowhere nodded and then seemed to melt away before my eyes. “In that case, the bandit hero would like to see you.”

“Huh?” I said, unable to stop myself.

“Boss wants to talk!”

Boss… he was the Bandit Hero?

Chapter 768

In the other world, I had known of two people named the Bandit Hero. The first died after being poisoned in a lighthouse. I had only met him briefly. The second was currently in southern Aberis. He was supposedly rallying against Demon Lord Aberis’s return, but he was stupidly working with the man and doing his bidding. I didn’t know if the men were related. One might be a relative of the other. It could be a title that people passed down. It could also be pure coincidence.

Typically, you were the Hero of whatever country gave you a Hero coin. I was the Hero of Chalm because Chalm chose me to be their Hero. Becoming a True Hero required defeating a demon lord. That didn’t necessarily mean killing them, but at the very least stopping them. Then, there were the special names for heroes. The Maid Hero and the Princess Hero were the names of Elaya and Xin, who had both likely unlocked the True Hero job when they defeated Aberis the first time.

Lord Edward Aberis I was the Hero King, named for his leadership role among the revolt that overthrew the Demon Lord. I had also heard of the Harem Hero, the Slave Hero, the Summoning Hero, the Animalkin Hero, and of course, the Bandit Hero. They seemed to have gained their names through great feats. How great? Well, I hadn’t earned one yet, although that might be because not enough time had passed and to be fair, I hadn’t done anything that reshaped the course of a country. I may be a Hero to Chalm, but to be a named Hero, I’d have to be a Hero to nations.

So, I didn’t know who this Bandit Hero was. If this world was a perverted form of Aberis before the fall of the Demon Lord, then was the Bandit Hero a copy of one of the Bandit Kings in the outside world? It would have to be the one from the lighthouse, who perished in an unfortunate manner. Then again, it could be a different person entirely. Any Bandit could call themselves Bandit Hero if they wanted to increase their credit. Even the title Bandit King didn’t require you to have the job Bandit King, and I wouldn’t put it past Bandits to not respect the sanctity of other bandit identities.

Either way, we were summoned, and if I wanted any chance to get that Silvthril for Garnet, then we had to play along until I knew where it was. Thankfully, with the Map filling out ahead and my Sense Life, I was able to move like I knew which way I was going. Perhaps, my mimicry ability also came into play. After we had passed the assassin guard, Garnet tugged my arm.

“How did you talk like that. Your voice was completely different!”

“Was it? It’s just a skill. Don’t worry about it too much.” It seemed my mimicry was good enough to fool her.

Finally, I found the chamber where the Bandit Hero was waiting. I could see his lifeforce, which wasn’t hidden like the assassins. He was displaying it in full. Typically, very powerful creatures had thicker red, while weaker presences were light and faded. That’s why I could easily tell a human compared to a fly. Since life was brighter for animals with mana, or monsters, and was faded to the point you could barely make them out in regular creatures.

As for the Bandit Hero, he had an extremely thick presence. It was at the same level I had seen in Xin. That meant, that as a boss, he was as powerful as the Princess Hero and far more than I could take!

Chapter 769

Thankfully, I didn’t have to defeat the Bandit Hero. I just had to fool him. As long as I could maintain my ruse as this bandit, Hagger, then I could have a chance at stealing the metal.

“Stay in the back. Lower your head. Look respectful.” I told Garnet.

“Uh… I don’t think this is going to work?”

“Do we have another option now? I hissed back.

We ended up walking out into a large room. It had a certain dark malevolent feel to it, like a dungeon boss room, but I had a feeling I had no one to blame but myself for setting this atmosphere. I knew it wasn’t a boss room though, as it wasn’t preceeded by a safe room and there was no door to close behind me. Even the cave-like dungeons had doors. There were large bowls filled with flame that lined the path. At the end of it was a man lounging in a chair, his legs tossed over the edge. This room was grandiose, and the flippant nature of the man filled with life only made me worry further.

“Ah… Hagger! You’ve returned!” The man called out in a friendly manner.

I pulled on my Mimic and took a breath as I waved. “Yes, Boss, I didn’t find anything suspicious up on top.”

“Of course, you didn’t…” He sighed. “Since you’re the thing that is suspicious.”

“Boss?”

“Quit it… I can see right through your appearance.”

I sighed. “Well, since Xin can, I supposed it makes sense you can too.”

“You know Xin?” This time, he sat up in his chair with interest.

“Yes, we’ve met a few times,” I said, watching him cautiously.

“You seem calm, I like that.”

“You do as well.”

He seemed very relaxed and didn’t look like he was about to attack me. However, I acted similarly. Even after having my plan instantly seen through, I didn’t feel much fear. I didn’t feel fear much after cutting that piece of my soul away. In some ways, that could be a good thing, but I suppose fear was something that also kept you safe. I might have never walked into a cave filled with bandits and tried to Mimic my way through had I felt a bit more fear. Either way, no one would guess we were anything but old friends suddenly meeting.

Garnet had dropped her pretense and glanced between me and the Bandit Hero. If I had to describe the man, he was moderately handsome, with a close cut beard and mustache, and he dressed in leather armor, a bit like me.

“I’ll just be straight with you. The only reason I allowed you down here was because of your dwarf. I’ve been eyeing her for a while.”

Garnet grabbed the back of my shirt, making a noise as she hid behind me. With how flirtatious she usually was, I was surprised she didn’t engage him. He did seem a bit charming. However, she seemed completely unphased by that charm. As for me, I felt a bit angry. I had already lost Carmine, there was no way I was going to lose Garnet as well.

“Calm down! Don’t give me that look.” He waved his hand, and all of the Silvthril appeared from what must have been his Inventory. “I want her to make a weapon out of this. I think you may find that we’re on the same side.”

Previous | Table of Contents | Next