Chapter 007. Bandits (1)

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

With each heavy beat of hooves, people on the street hurriedly stepped aside, clearing a path.

Some even ran far into the distance, while others slipped inside buildings and locked their doors tight.

In an instant, the once-bustling city fell silent.

Creak…

Tension spread through the streets.

Someone cautiously opened a window.

It was a young boy from the city.

Despite the adults’ warnings, curiosity got the better of him, and he peeked outside.

Huff—huff—!

And thanks to that, the boy saw it.

A bull-headed man, his body covered in blade marks, trudged along with a massive wooden crate strapped to his back.

It was a Minotauros—the bull-headed monster of legend.

A race of monsters that was said to devour humans.

But the boy wasn’t sure if what he was seeing matched the stories.

According to rumor, Minotauros was a terrifying man-eater. Yet the one before him didn’t seem particularly menacing.

The way it carried a wooden crate larger than itself looked more pitiful than frightening.

If anything, the ones who looked dangerous were the three people walking ahead of it.

They were the Bender Caravan.

Traveling merchants who made regular visits to the towns.

The boy was too young to understand exactly what kind of people they were—but he did know that the adults despised and feared them.

And perhaps because the caravan knew that, they always wore that same smug, unsettling smile whenever they came to town.

But this time was different.

Instead of their usual unpleasant grins, they were talking among themselves with unusually grim expressions.

What could they be discussing?

“The loss is huge. We paid a damn fortune for it, and it just up and died. That monster dealer bastard must’ve scammed us!”

The speaker was Ortega—the youngest and the left hand of the Bender Caravan—grumbling in frustration.

Beside him, a burly man spoke up, puzzled.

“No way… He’s not the kind of guy to mess up over pocket change.”

That was Theros—the second-in-command and the right hand of the Bender Caravan.

“Oh, come on, boss. The bigger the deal, the bigger the con, isn’t that how it works?”

“Huh. I suppose so?”

“Enough.”

Their exchange was cut short by the man walking in front—their leader, Bender, head of the Bender Caravan.

“The monster dealer’s a reputable trader. He’s not stupid enough to ruin his credibility over a single serpent. Stop jumping to conclusions.”

At their leader’s words, Ortega and Theros fell silent. They trusted his judgment.

“Then the guy who killed that serpent must be something else, huh?”

After a brief pause, Ortega offered a new thought. If the monster serpent wasn’t the problem, then there was only one possible answer.

“Most likely. And he’s probably still in this city.”

“What’ll you do with him?”

Theros asked, his hand brushing against the twin axes on his back.

“He’s probably still around.”

“What else? If he’s worth using, we take him in. If not, he can make up for our losses.”

“Oh-ho, is the kid finally getting promoted?”

“Wouldn’t hurt to have one more in the family! And if not, no big deal!”

Ortega and Theros laughed raucously, drunk on their own bravado.

Meanwhile, the Minotauros at the rear sweated and panted, moving its heavy legs quickly to keep up with their pace.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The sound grew louder as they approached the city center.

People scattered, hiding behind walls or fleeing to distant alleys.

Seeing this, Ortega sneered.

“Ha, still the same old city, huh?”

“Why? It’s gotten a bit bigger, hasn’t it?”

“Not the size, the atmosphere! Look at them—heads down, hiding like frightened rabbits!”

“Hehehe! Of course they’re hiding! After what happened when they defied Bender, how could they not?”

Theros laughed in a twisted tone.

When the previous City Lord died and a new one took his place, Bender’s group had struck immediately—before the young successor could inherit his father’s influence.

Their timing was perfect. They secured an exclusive trade agreement with the city before anyone could interfere.

With the City Lord’s power weakened and his old allies turning a blind eye, the powerless young ruler had no choice but to accept their terms.

Since then, the Bender Caravan had nearly monopolized trade across the Western City and its surrounding villages, earning immense profit.

Of course, they couldn’t block every small transaction entirely.

They could have—but it required too much effort, and pressing too hard risked rebellion. It wasn’t worth it in the long run.

Still, the Bender Caravan wanted total control—even over the smallest of trades.

To achieve that, they’d bought a monster serpent from the monster dealer.

With such a monster blocking the main route, local merchants would have no choice but to depend on them.

But when the serpent died, the entire plan collapsed.

That was why the Bender Caravan had arrived earlier than planned—to see with their own eyes who had dared to interfere with their business.

“Huh? What the hell?”

Ortega lifted his head, frowning.

Right in the middle of the road they were walking down stood a carriage. A carriage, boldly parked in their path—as if blocking their way!

Inside were two children, and to be fair, the carriage wasn’t completely obstructing the road. But that wasn’t the point.

The point was that someone dared to block their path.

Ortega’s temper flared; part of him wanted to smash the damn thing to pieces. But feeling too lazy for that, he simply shouted instead.

“Hey! You’re blocking the road! Move it, now!”

At his yell, one of the city’s helpless citizens flinched.

He could already picture what would happen next—the poor fool sweating bullets as they hurried to pull the carriage aside.

But then, a completely unexpected voice cut in.

“You move around it! And stop yelling like idiots!”

The outburst was so unexpected that every gaze—including Ortega’s—snapped toward its source.

There, crouching on the side of the street, was a blond man staring right back at them.

“You’ve got legs, don’t you? Use them to walk around. Stop making a damn fuss.”

* * *

Everyone around froze in shock.

Not only the Bender Caravan itself, but even the townspeople who hadn’t managed to run away were left wide-eyed.

No one in this city had ever dared to speak to the Bender Caravan like that before.

Whether he knew it or not, Anagin looked at Ortega—who was still staring at him in disbelief—and said,

“What, didn’t you hear me? Want me to say it again?”

The provocative tone made Ortega’s temper flare, and he was about to explode when the old man quickly stepped in.

“It’s fine… I apologize. We’ll move right away.”

“You’re too late for that. You’ve got some nerve—!”

Ortega, seething, took a step forward—but before he could get any closer, Bender stopped him with a hand pressed against his chest.

“Enough… It’s not that hard to go around, is it?”

Ortega stared at him, startled.

And for good reason—this behavior was completely unlike Bender, the very man who had encouraged Ortega to act this way in the first place.

It was all part of a tactic—a show of aggression.

To seize the upper hand in negotiations, Bender had indirectly told Ortega to act like a brute.

If they pushed others around, people would submit more easily. But Bender himself couldn’t afford to be the one throwing tantrums—it would damage his image.

So instead, he let Ortega play the role of the rabid dog. That way, by stepping in to calm him down later, Bender could maintain his dignity and appear generous at the same time.

Ortega knew this too and had done his best to play the part.

What choice did he have? That was the kind of work the youngest was stuck with.

Yet, this time, Bender stopped him and chose to take a step back first.

Just as he said, he didn’t touch the carriage. Instead, he walked calmly around it—until he was standing right beside Anagin.

Even as the leader of the Bender Caravan approached, Anagin didn’t so much as flinch. Still crouched down, he looked up at him lazily.

“Haven’t seen your face before. Are you a newcomer to the city?”

“We’ve just met, haven’t we? Why would I owe you that kind of answer?”

“Ha. Fair enough.”

Even faced with Anagin’s sharp tone, Bender only smiled faintly and pretended to take it in stride.

But the men flanking him scowled deeply, glaring daggers at Anagin.

“Ah, there you are.”

Amid the tension between the Bender Caravan and Anagin, a familiar voice broke in.

It was Rio, the City Lord, stepping out from the building.

“City Lord.”

Bender greeted him with a polite bow, to which Rio returned the gesture.

“Mr. Bender.”

The difference was, Bender’s politeness was only for show, while Rio’s was genuine, tense, and cautious.

The nervous way his eyes flicked between them made that clear enough.

“Already earlier than usual, I see.”

“We heard the news.”

“What news…?”

“That a monster serpent showed up on the road into the city and caused trouble.”

“You’ve got the news fast.”

“Gigants aren’t just strong—their ears are sharp as well. Anyway, we came because we heard that. If our trade partners are in trouble, so are we. We came to take care of it… but it seems you’ve already handled it. Is it this man?”

Bender pointed at Anagin. At a glance, he’d recognized the one who’d slain the monster serpent.

“Yes. Thanks to him, our headache was solved quickly.”

“Hoho, a monster’s corpse would fetch a decent price. Do you have it?”

“We do. Though it’s just the torso… We were asked to act as proxy sellers.”

Bender turned his head and asked Anagin with his eyes—was that true?

Anagin looked from Bender to Rio. Each of their faces showed different things: suspicion and ridicule, desperation and resolve.

He shrugged silently in reply.

“Really… How much do you want? I’ll give you whatever you ask.”

Rio’s pupils flickered at that unexpected answer. He’d expected the caravan—men who’d burst in during his father’s funeral, killed guards, and smashed buildings to force a trade—to lowball the price. But Bender was calmly saying he’d accept any sum. It startled him.

Bender’s true intent soon surfaced.

“If it’s money you care about, there are plenty of places to fill that. I’m fine with money. I’m saying this carefully.”

Bender twisted his words blatantly. It was a warning. You picked up a naive Gigant and tried to play at starting a fight—don’t think we’ll dance to your tune. You’ll pay dearly for this little stunt.

Rio felt his neck stiffen as Bender so easily saw through his plan. Had he underestimated things?

Bender clapped his hands to move the conversation along.

“All right then, let’s talk about other deals. I imagine there’s much to discuss for—”

“—You mean you’re going to slash the price of goods here, right?”

Anagin tossed the question like a stone into a still lake. Naturally, every eye turned to him again. Bender was no exception.

“—You talking to me?”

“Who else would I be talking to here?”

Bender snorted.

“Some kind of righteous avenger, are you?”

“Ha, as if. Do I look like that?”

Anagin offered a cynical smile, amused.

“Good. Means I’m not mistaken that you’re not dumb. You know that haggling is part of a merchant’s work, right?”

“I’ve always hated merchants. Even just hearing about them.”

“……”

“But you’re a surprise. I thought you were a practitioner.”

Bender showed a curious look, as if surprised.

“I am a practitioner, too. A merchant and a practitioner. How’d you know? Did the City Lord tell you?”

“No, I smelled it.”

“?”

Sniff-sniff.

“The scent of failures who tried and failed to win the god’s favor. Tell me—are you really playing merchant while pulling robber tricks to catch the god’s eye?”

“……”

“I’m thinking of becoming a practitioner myself, you know. But I’m worried. Every practitioner I meet seems like a failure—makes me wonder if this is really the way to become a god.”

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