Immortal Era's Crafting Master 105 Being Abandoned

With those words said, Kirou turned around and started walking away with a steady gait, all under the eyes of the wary bandit archer. Just as Kirou was about to vanish behind the treeline, he said something under his breath that was loud enough for the bandit archer to hear from where he stood, "It's a shame that your cla.s.s is that of an archer. With your patience and your keen eye for observation, you would have been a terror against other players as a thief. What a pity."

Following Kirou's words, he disappeared beyond the treeline, leaving only the bandit archer present within the clearing. Instead of leaving as he had intended to a few moments earlier, the bandit archer was currently rooted in place, still facing the direction in which Kirou had left with a stunned expression on his face. The reason for this stems from the implications of Kirou's words.

The bandit archer broke out of his stupor a few moments later before thinking to himself, 'How did he notice? I've been carrying out my act properly and haven't broken character even once since we've met. So how did he know that I was a player?'

With those thoughts in mind, the bandit archer no longer harbored any thoughts of returning to the small village where the bandits are holed up. Instead, he was now very worried about what this mysterious werewolf who's managed to corner the entire bandit group will do with the information that he's discerned. The bandit archer had many thoughts flash through his mind and by the end of it, he could no longer hold himself back and started tracking down the mysterious werewolf player who's just left the clearing. He had to catch up with said werewolf and confront him about his intentions with this knowledge of his.

All while the bandit archer was doing this, he never noticed that there was a pair of eyes watching him from atop one of the many trees that surrounded the clearing. Upon seeing the bandit archer following Kirou's trail, the figure that was watching him leave smiled as its figure started to dissipate.

Just before the figure vanished, a quiet voice sounded in the area, completely unheard by anyone, "The first step has been verified. Now let's see what the second step brings to light."

*******

While the bandit archer, now identified as a player, was giving chase to Kirou's shadow, in another part of the forest, the bandits that Kirou had subdued were currently back in their village, discussing their next course of action. Their reason for doing so stems from the fact that Kirou had taken the archer with him when he went to check out the information about those new monster habitats. It seems that they were currently paranoid about the fact that the archer hasn't returned yet, causing them to fear the worst.

In the eyes of these bandits, the fact that the archer hasn't returned yet would mean that either the mysterious werewolf had probably verified the information that he had received and killed the archer to silence him, or the information has been proven to be faulty and the archer died as the very first casualty of a major purging that will be carried out by the werewolf at a later date, probably after torturing some information out of the archer. Either way, they were of the mind that the archer was dead and now they had to quickly relocate their village in order to avoid the troubles that are to follow.

The only one of the group who wasn't supporting this was bandit warrior Jackson. The reason for this is due to the fact that he's still alive after so long, meaning that the information he's provided holds true, discrediting one of their theories on what possibly happened. As for the other reason, bandit warrior Jackson's reason for not supporting it stems from what he himself personally experienced in the ambush earlier.

Jackson personally went over the events that happened earlier within his mind, from the initial meeting of the first team with Kirou, that the archer described to him, to the ambush he and his team faced on their trip out to find him. From his personal observations, he could tell that Kirou wasn't the kind of person that started unnecessary conflicts but would more than make the perpetrator pay for it should a conflict arise, as seen from the ambush that he executed on the group just after they left the village. Just the fact that Jackson was still alive after making that oath and from Kirou's own words, he could tell that their small village was not in any danger from him, but the others weren't so sure themselves.

It seems that unlike him that actually put some thought into it, the rest of the bandits at a similar level as him weren't so keen on finding this out for themselves and would rather flee at the moment before setting traps for the werewolf at a later date. It seems that Kirou's actions had given them a profound scare, causing them to both fear and despise him. With that said, the group was now arguing over where the village should be relocated to, who will travel to the new village and who should stay behind as bait, and possible ways in which they would deal with Kirou when he 'returns' to deal with them later on.

This discussion kept going for more than half an hour before someone finally spoke out with a different idea, "Everyone, shut up. Continuing like this will get us nowhere so I have an idea. Why don't we allow Brother Jackson here and a few others wait in the clearing where the scouting group's ambush failed for a few hours. As long as they are able to return, we'll know whether or not Brother Jackson here is right or the rest of you are right. That sound fair to you?" The one who said this is a man with average features, neither handsome nor ugly with little facial hair. His name is Cain.

Jackson looked at the man with squinted eyes as he could tell there was something up with the plan he just suggested but Jackson couldn't pick up on anything from his words. As for the other group leaders, they too looked at Cain with contemplative expressions of their own. Eventually, one of the other leaders spoke up, "And what about the ones going with Brother Jackson? Should things go bad, we can't risk losing important people to a possible trap."

With that question said, all eyes were now staring at Jackson, who had a scowl on his face as he spoke up, "Don't worry about it. I'll take my squad with me. With just the ten of us, the rest of you won't have to worry about possible losses to your own squads, right?" Although Jackson sounded civil when he said this, he was looking at the other four leaders and Cain with cold eyes. This caused a few of them to make sheepish expressions but they more or less showed their agreement to his words with their eyes.

Cain chose this point to clap his hands, gaining everyone's attention before speaking up, "So we'll do it like this: Brother Jackson and his squad will go to the clearing to wait on the lad's return while we'll stay here to protect the village. Does anyone have any problems with this plan?" Cain took a look at the others, seeing all of them shake their heads, signifying their agreement. Seeing this, Cain turned to Jackson and spoke up once more, "Well then, Brother Jackson. We'll have to trouble you and your men to be our scouts. Be sure to send out a signal if you meet any trouble and the rest of us will hurry to your aid." Cain said this with a casual smile on his face, one which disgusted Jackson but he held such feelings with.

Jackson rose to his seat and started to walk out of the room. As he was leaving, he spoke in a voice loud enough for the rest of the room to hear, "I'll be leading my men there now. We'll be back in a few hours with our archer."

Just as Jackson was about to step out of the room, however, he heard a voice behind him, "Be sure to have your squad leave their best weapons behind, along with your precious sword as well, Brother Jackson. If you're right, whether or not your team is equipped with their best gear is irrelevant, and if you're wrong, that mysterious werewolf won't end up getting ahold of your weapons and using them to take the lives of our village. You can understand my worries, right Brother Jackson."

Jackson turned around and stared at the one who just spoke. Cain was the one who said those words, prompting anger to build up in Jackson for a moment but he settled with just squeezing the hand of the door he was holding to pieces. Instead of answering, Jackson gave a 'Hmph' before walking out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

With Jackson now gone, the rest of the leaders were about to step out as well but they were stopped by Cain's words, "And where are you gentlemen going? We haven't finished our discussion just yet." As Cain said this, there was still a casual smile on his face.

The other team leaders stopped momentarily before one spoke up, "Didn't we just finish discussing the plan? What else are we doing here, Cain?" The person that said this looked at Cain with a harsh gaze.

As if not seeing the man's expression, Cain retained the casual smile on his face as he spoke, "I think you lot are misunderstanding something."

"Misunderstanding? Pray tell, what are we misunderstanding here, Cain?" asked another team leader.

"That part of the plan was just to get Brother Jackson and his men out of the village. We still have to discuss how we'll be going about relocating our village. I'm sure the rest of you don't have any trust in that mysterious werewolf and Brother Jackson vouching for him hasn't made this any better, am I correct in thinking this?" When Cain spoke these words, the casual smile on his face morphed into that of a knowing smile.

Listening to his words and seeing his expressions, the other team leaders thought for a moment before realization dawned on them as well. The four team leaders took their seats once more, each adopting a knowing expression of their own.

Seeing this, the knowing smile on Cain's face morphed into a crafty one before he spoke up once more, "Jackson and his men will probably be out of the village within the next fifteen minutes. During that time, we'll have our men act quietly in packing up our stuff for the relocation. We'll have have to wait five minutes after Brother Jackson's squad has left the village before we move our respective teams in the other direction. I suggest we head to....."

Following those words, Cain took out a map to show possible locations in which they could pick from while discussing the plan with the other team leaders. Unlike before when Jackson was still present, the group moved with surprising efficiency in coming up with where to relocate, the paths they should take, along with what items to take and what to leave behind. Considering they didn't have much time for this and to execute it, the discussion was finalized within ten minutes, after which all team leaders left the room and gave out orders to their respective squads.

As for Cain, he was still sitting in the room, this time with his expression hidden behind his interlocked fingers as he spoke to himself, "Brother Jackson, by the time you return, if you truly do return, you'll no longer have a place to return to. I'll be sure to take good care of that sword of yours. Since you've treasured it so much over the years, I'll be sure to take good care of it, along with the rest of the gear belonging to your squad." Following those words, Cain broke out into a laugh that never escaped the room.