Chapter 319 - 296: The Bounty Is All Yours

Chapter 319: Chapter 296: The Bounty Is All Yours

Back in the Gray Wood Forest, he and Hill had even argued over the matter of the Drake Squad.

This time, however, he showed no mercy.

This Thief Gang robbed caravans, murdering and stealing. There was no telling how much innocent blood stained each of their hands.

If even one of them escaped, more people would inevitably suffer.

’Better to cut them down, root and stem, right here!’

Seeing the Black Robed Mage stop casting, the remaining thieves, as if grasping at straws, immediately dropped to their knees with a series of THUDS.

"Spare us, Lord Mage! Lord Mage!"

"Don’t kill me...! I was forced to do this!"

A scar-faced man wept pathetically. "I have an eighty-year-old mother at home! I’m begging you, show mercy and just let me go! Pretend I’m just a fart in the wind!"

"I’ll never do it again! I’ll run straight back to my village and be a farmer!"

One moment they were villains who could kill without batting an eye, and the next they were more pathetic than stray dogs on the roadside.

The sight of their groveling was nauseating.

"Alright, shut your mouths!"

Gray barked with a cold snort.

And so, the thieves obediently fell silent.

With cautious eyes, they studied the Carriage Guard Team that held their very lives in its hands.

Booker, who had been hiding in a carriage the whole time, only dared to pull back the curtain after the commotion outside died down.

The ground was covered in bodies, staining the very earth red. A peculiar, charred smell hung in the air.

The members of the once-aggressive Thief Gang were now either dead or kneeling on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

As for the Guard Team...

They were still calm and composed. Not a single casualty.

A complete victory!

’Thank goodness...!’

Booker swallowed hard as a bead of cold sweat trickled down his cheek.

The lingering fear passed, replaced by a wave of relief.

’I’m so glad Miss Bev introduced me to such a powerful Guard Team!’

’If I had gone with my usual arrangement...’

’Two Middle Level Professionals and a few Junior Warriors.’

’Up against this Thief Gang...’

’...we would have been doomed!’

’A bonus!’

’I have to give them a bonus for this trip!’

Just then, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes.

A slender, robed figure emerged.

With one hand, Hill dragged a large man by the collar, carving a furrow in the ground behind her.

THUD.

She tossed the thief she’d knocked unconscious in front of Zelir.

"Who’s this...?"

Zelir asked, puzzled.

He took a closer look and saw the man was in a sorry state.

The bridge of his nose was completely twisted and still gushing blood. There was also a hole in his palm.

"A big fish that slipped through the net," Hill said. "A Middle Level Ranger, also part of the Thief Gang."

"He was hiding in the bushes, getting ready to ambush you."

"Oh...?"

Zelir nudged the unconscious Ranger’s face toward him with the toe of his boot.

"This Thief Gang is no small fry... Three Middle Level Professionals."

During the battle, Zelir had swapped his passively triggered Magic Barrier for an actively cast Ring of Resistance.

’But if he’d been hit by a Combat Energy Arrow from a Middle Level Ranger... he wasn’t sure it would have held.’

"What’s the situation here?" Hill glanced around, her gaze falling on the kneeling thieves.

"They gave up and surrendered," Zelir said.

"Surrendered?"

Hill tilted her head as if she’d heard a word she didn’t understand.

"We’re not Knights, we don’t have to worry about treating prisoners of war... wouldn’t it be more convenient to just clean them all up?"

"Cleaning up," of course, meant sending these men to meet their maker.

The thieves kneeling and begging for mercy nearby felt their hearts pound in terror.

"No, please!!"

"We’ve truly learned our lesson!"

"Spare us!"

They began kowtowing furiously again, begging for mercy.

"That’s not really necessary..." Valles gently objected.

In the heat of battle, he would have killed them without hesitation.

But now that they had laid down their arms... he couldn’t bring himself to strike.

"Forget it. It’s not necessary. We’re not executioners."

Zelir shook his head. "We don’t need to be the ones slaughtering prisoners. We’ll just capture them and hand them over to the Security Team in the next town."

"Whether they’re executed or imprisoned won’t be our concern."

"Fine..." Hill shook her head, looking quite disappointed.

"Booker."

Zelir beckoned to Booker, who was peeking out from behind the carriage.

"Yes! Coming, coming!"

Booker scurried over, carefully stepping across the corpses until he was in front of Zelir. "Mage Zelir, what are your instructions?"

"It’s all settled. Let’s clean up the scene."

Zelir said, "As for these thieves, tie them up first. Bind them securely and lock them in one of the carriages!"

"You got it!"

Booker readily agreed, his attitude extremely respectful.

"Mage Zelir, I am so, so grateful to you for stepping in and resolving this crisis for us!"

His gaze swept over the corpses, and his voice trembled.

"That was the most terrifying group of thieves I’ve ever encountered in my entire career!"

"It was nothing."

Zelir waved his hand. "Just part of the job."

"Everyone, out!"

Booker turned and called to his attendants, who were still hiding in the carriages.

"Get the thickest ropes! Tie these bastards up tight!"

"Yes, sir!"

Working together, the men bound the surrendered thieves’ hands behind their backs, the tough ropes digging viciously into their flesh.

One by one, they were all trussed up.

Throughout the process, Valles kept a cold arrow aimed at the thieves, a constant threat.

Anyone who showed the slightest bit of resistance would have no need for ropes; they would be dealt with on the spot.

"Get in there!"

Gray kicked a thief in the rear, shoving him roughly into the carriage that had been temporarily cleared out.

Then he slammed the door shut, locking the six members of the Thief Gang inside.

Next, they began to clean up the scene and take stock of the damage.

The bodies of the thieves were simply tossed to the sides of the road to clear the way.

The scene remained a gruesome sight; one could only hope that anyone passing by later wouldn’t be too frightened.

They had lost a total of six horses in the attack.

Three horses had fallen into a pit trap, their legs broken by bamboo spikes.

The other three were killed in the volley of arrows.

The three lead horses that had fallen into the trap, though still alive, were letting out heart-wrenching whinnies of pain.

Once a horse breaks its leg, it’s finished.

Zelir tried using his Healing Skill, but it had little effect. The injuries were simply too severe.

After all, they weren’t Warriors and lacked the self-healing abilities granted by a Heart of Qi.

In the end, there was no other choice. It was kinder to be decisive than to let them die a slow, painful death here.

Valles stepped forward. One horse, one arrow. After three crisp releases of the bowstring, the horses’ suffering ended.

A few of the attendants had also been wounded in the volley of arrows.

Some had arrows clean through their thighs, others only had grazes, but thankfully, no one had died.

Zelir also cast his Healing Skill to stabilize the wounded.

A warm, gentle green radiance shone down, and their superficial wounds began to knit together at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Areas that had been oozing blood quickly scabbed over.

The pain faded, replaced by a tingling, cool sensation.

"Oh! Oh my god... It doesn’t hurt. It really doesn’t hurt anymore!"

A young porter stared at his own arm in excitement.

His injury wasn’t actually that severe, but witnessing the miracle of magic made it impossible for him to suppress his excitement.

Just like the thieves from moments before, he dropped to the ground with a THUD.

"Thank you, Lord Mage! Thank you, Lord Mage!"

"Alright, alright... There’s no need for that." Zelir helped him up with a slightly helpless air.

The others all looked at Zelir with expressions of respect, even worship.

In the past, when commoners like them got hurt, they would just sprinkle some medicinal powder on the wound and leave the rest to fate.

And to have a noble Mage—one who usually only served the Nobility—personally tend to their wounds?

That was a level of treatment they wouldn’t have dared to even dream of.

"You even helped heal them... Ah, I truly don’t know how to thank you enough."

Booker’s face was filled with sincere reverence.

"Mage Zelir, I don’t have much else to give you. Please, allow me to add another fifty Gold Coins as a small, extra token of my gratitude."

"Thank you for the thought." Zelir nodded in acceptance.

The original payment was supposed to be Ten Gold Coins per person, for a total of fifty Gold Coins.

Now he was adding another fifty.

All told, the merchant caravan’s escort fees for this single trip now amounted to One Hundred Gold Coins, with food and lodging to be calculated separately.

That was no small sum.

"And one more thing," Booker added. "The bounty on this Thief Gang is all yours, too."