Black feathers? Yes, he said something about seeing black feathers before the bandits ambushed them.
Aldrich didn't know what exactly that meant but he had a hunch that it was somehow related to how the bandits had access to information that they should not have.
While the party remained hidden and quiet the bandits bickered with each other and Aldrich nodded to himself when he was sure that the bandits did not have any more reinforcements.
He noticed that the party was getting impatient and some of them like Emma, Frank and Helen were sweating excessively. Even then, he didn't give the order to attack yet.
There was a time for everything.
Not long after, the sound of horse-hoofs and turning wheels reached the vicinity at which point half of the bandits went into hiding a in the thickets.
Aldrich smiled and motioned for the group to begin moving ever closer to that group of three bandits. The bandits had all their attention to the carriage that was closing in quickly.
Emma nocked an arrow and looked to him for the signal to shoot. Aldrich waited.
The carriage did not slow down at all, in fact it had no cargo, it was basically empty and the coachman was already told not to slow down at all when passing through this area or risk losing his life.
"Hey! Stop in the name of the Emperor!"
"Slow down this instant!"
"This is an imperial inspection!"
The three bandits who remained to block the way started making a commotion and waving their weapons at the approaching carriage.
So they were relying on this kind of trickery to do their dirty work huh…
"H-hey, bro-brother he's not slowing down at all!"
"Wave your spear in the air, if he doesn't stop then just throw it at him."
"He's too fast, even if I get lucky…"
"Shut yer trap! Just do it!"
The leader was clearly the bandit wearing the red bandanna. Aldrich shook his head, if he was in place of these bandits he would have retreated but it would seem like they got used to winning.
"Don't kill the one wearing the red bandanna." Aldrich whispered.
One of the bandits hurled his spear at the carriage but it missed so spectacularly that Aldrich even suspected that it was done intentionally.
He was too drunk. Probably, or he was just bad.
It was right then when the bandits realized that the carriage was not going to slow down and they scrambled in panic to move out of the way of the speeding carriage.
"Now."
An arrow flew and shot one of the bandits in hiding, but it only pieced his shoulder. Another arrow flew by and this one took out his eye, the bandits were in a state of panic.
A short shadow reached out from behind one of the other bandits and climbed on him from the back, then two daggers slit his throat. It was Cole, even Aldrich lost sight of him for a moment.
"Y-you! We're under attack!"
Aldrich dashed out to the third bandit who was in hiding in the woods and with a simple movement, a slash so fast and deadly the man probably didn't even see it coming, his head flew into the air.
His body slumped to the ground and blood gushed out of it.
One of them yelled. That was when a flask full of brown liquid smashed into his head and smoke started to rise from all over his body without any fire.
"Agggh! It burns! Aaaaaah! No, noooo!"
The man fell on the ground and started scratching himself everywhere in a frenzy. The red bandanna leader cursed and attempted to run away.
"Fucking hell! Just wait you bastards!"
Unfortunately Aldrich had his eyes on him the entire time, before he could get any further away Aldrich blocked him.
He attempted to change direction but before he could even think straight he was sent flying in the air by Aldrich's kick to the gut.
"Oops, did I over do it?" Aldrich wonder aloud.
That wouldn't be good, he needed this asshole alive for now.
"Gheg!"
Fortunately the bandit was still alive, unfortunately he started emptying the contents of his stomach right then and there.
"Hey man, you alright?" Aldrich only frowned and patted the man on the back.
"H-hey! Y-you, leave me alone, you don't know what you're doing!"
"Yeah, yeah," Aldrich nodded and warned, "this is going to hurt a little so grit your teeth okay?"
"What?" The bandits was evidently not very bright.
Aldrich didn't waste time chatting with him, he grabbed his right arm, twisted it backwards until he heard a crack, indicating that it was dislocated.
"Aghha! Aghaaaaaa!"
The bandit with the musket finally finished loading the thing and aimed at Aldrich, but before he could fire his back was cut open by a swift saber.
This is Frank's favorite weapon, he wielded it with one hand to his back while taking a strange looking stance.
"Stop screaming, damn." Aldrich was annoyed with the red bandanna bandit who was screaming his lungs out.
He tore his bandanna off of his forehead and stuffed it in his mouth. He then searched his body for any other weapons and didn't find anything so he took out a rope from his adventurers backpack and tied his legs together.
At last he checked up on the rest of the party and it seems like most of the work was done, this was the power of a surprise attack. Along with several other factors, of course.
Aldrich walked over to the bandit who was first shot in the shoulder and then in the eye by Emma, he was dead.
There was another bandit shot by six arrows by Helen, he was the fat one who threw away his spear at the carriage. He attempted to escape after their leader made a run for it.
But he was still alive.
"Helen, come here for a moment."
Aldrich called for her and Helen came over looking perplexed.
"This guy is still alive," he said and pointed at the fat bandit, "can you finish him off please?"
"W-what? I shot him five times… how is he still alive?…"
"Well, he's big and your arrows didn't hit anywhere fatal so… anyway he's immobilized so just finish him off with a dagger if you want."
"Uh—well… I-I don't— I'm not sure how to do it." Helen said looking extremely on edge and breathing erratically while avoiding eye contact with him.
Aldrich smiled warmly, "eh, don't worry about that, I can help you, here take this." Aldrich handed her one of his throwing knives. Then he knelt besides the fat bandit who was silent the whole time.
Aldrich pointed with his index finger and said, "look here, if you want him to bleed out then a deep enough cut to the left here is good enough but for the best result just a wide horizontal slash here is good enough."
"I-I…" Helen looked aghast.
"Aldrich, it's fine I'll do it." Frank intervened and took out his own dagger intending to finish off the fat bandit.
"No." Aldrich stopped him with a look.
"She's going to do it."
Helen held the knife and knelt beside the bandit, her hand was shaking and she was still frustrated.
"You can do it," Aldrich put his hand over her's and felt her hands calm down, together they slit the bandit's throat. Helen fell backwards on her butt, her black hair with red streaks looking disheveled.
"You did it. Good work." Aldrich pulled her up and congratulated her while smiling warmly.
"Yeah, I did it, thanks"
"Hey, Aldrich want me to kill this one too," Nathan called to him and pointed at the bandit who fainted after Nathan's potion was thrown at him.
"No, keep him alive. We might have a use for him."
The reason for the difference in treatment was because he could see that Nathan didn't have a problem with killing, he might have killed before.
Of course Aldrich expected Emma to be the problem but it looked like she did her part from afar. Which is probably what Helen wanted to do by shooting the bandit so many times.
Unfortunately she was unlucky and the bandit lived despite the many arrows he was shot by which forced Helen to confront this obstacle much more personally than she would have liked.
"You-YOU! Have no idea what you just did!" Exclaimed the bandit leader who somehow managed to spit out the bandanna in his mouth.
Aldrich smiled and dragged him over by pulling his hair, "well, I'm counting on you to tell us what we're dealing with."
"Kid you have no idea—"
Aldrich turned around and smacked him in the face, "fuck! Can you stop repeating the same shit over and over. For now shut up!"
"B-bastard, just wait—"
Aldrich smacked him again and again, until his face bloated and a tooth flew out.
"Do you understand the common tongue? I dislike having to repeat myself, I said shut the fuck up. You will only talk when spoken to, am I clear?"
Aldrich pulled the fool over so that he can have a better look at him, "Or believe me you will wish you died with the rest of the trash."
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