Chapter 759: This Case Is Getting Weirder
Both of us ended up reporting to the Guild receptionist about the ‘weird bandit’ and I provided my side of the story too.
The Guild receptionist noted down our accounts seriously on a notepad, most likely intending to send this as a report to the Guild itself.
I told them about Sameer being robbed before our caravan was stopped by him and we got into a fight with him.
I had to make sure that to make it sound like I didn’t defeat him alone and definitely not that easily as well lest they ask more questions.
After all, my goal wasn’t to help them catch him, I was hoping to get information about him to catch him myself. It would be bad if they managed to get him before I did and I have to break him out to deliver him to the King.
Just as I was telling them about how he had disappeared after I beat him, someone suddenly appeared from the side and interrupted me.
“Wait! Are you guys talking about a masked bandit that has been going around robbing caravans?!”
All of us turned to see a rather young looking Mahun woman wearing a mage outfit standing an arm’s length away from us.
Behind her were a few other Mercenaries whom I assumed must be her party members.
I tilted my head at her, “Did you meet someone like that too? Some guy who’s speaking really weirdly like his words are all jumbled up or something?”
She nodded quickly, “Yes, yes! We just met him about a few days ago after we left Dufranal Market! He immediately came, said some nonsensical stuff, beat us all up and then left!”
“Were you guarding a caravan too?”
“Yes! And the weirdest thing was he didn’t even take anything! It’s like he just came to us for the sake of beating us up! He didn’t even take anything at all!”
Eh?
Ok, now this is completely weird…
For Sameer, he took his money, his wagons, his weapons and supplies. For this guy, he took only their money and nothing else.
Then for this girl, he took absolutely nothing?
I don’t understand what his goals are at all…
At first I thought he might be stealing weapons and supplies to use as war supplies or something and maybe the money would be used to purchase even more supplies or even hire troublemakers. But now I’m not too sure that this was the case anymore.
I know his group is trying to create some kind of giant conflict but what is he actually trying to achieve?
The last guy was intending to use human bombs to mimic an invasion attempt to get the Nekinumi Kingdom to respond against Lecharouc Kingdom, but I can’t tell how exactly this guy was planning to create conflict here.
Unless… I have the wrong guy?
Maybe this is just some random Off-Worlder who is completely unaffiliated with that group?
Damn… That would mean that I was back at square one…
The Guild receptionist turned to the newcomer, “You said you met him a few days ago?”
She nodded, “Yes. Less than a day after leaving Dufranal Market!”
The receptionist then turned to the other guy who had his money stolen, “And where did you meet him?”
The guy thought for a moment, “It was about a day or two away from Dufranal Market.”
The receptionist nodded at me, “And the other merchant that got robbed before you?”
“I would have to guess about a day or two away from here. Then I encountered him just a few hours ago.”
The Guild receptionist took a moment to write down something on her notepad before she looked up again, “It looks like… He only started out by being a nuisance a few days ago and travelled from Dufranal Market to the borders of our country, slowly turning to banditry the closer he got here.”
All of us nodded, agreeing with the Guild receptionist’s hypothesis.
“And all of you say that he was wearing a mask and cloak that completely hid his features?”
All of us nodded again.
She noted something down on her notepad before looking up again, “Who here has fought this person?”
Everyone raised their hands.
“How strong was he?”
The female mage went first, “He just appeared in front of us and punched each of us with his fist.”
“Wait, he beat you physically?” The male Mercenary asked.
She raised an eyebrow, “Yes? Did he not do the same thing to you?”
“No? He used magic to take my group down. More specifically, he was using Electromancy and Aeromancy and he seemed to be quite proficient at it too. Was it the same for you as well?” He asked while looking at me.
I scratched my cheek, “For the first one, I heard he also beat them up with one hand behind his back. But for my case… He used Umbramancy but he didn’t do much before we beat him.”
The girl gasped, “You managed to beat that masked guy?”
Another voice came from behind me, “Wait… Are you guys talking about some masked bandit in the desert that’s going around beating people up?”
We turned and there was another group of people standing there, this time a mix of male and female Mahuns.
The Guild receptionist blinked at him, “Were you… Also attacked by some bandit that is speaking weirdly and wears a mask and a cloak?”
“Yes. Were all of you also victims of him?”
“Were you hired to guard a caravan?”
“Huh? No? We were just travelling from Shendhala Oligarchy to here to look for Dungeons. We’re Dungeoneers.”
“And that bandit attacked you? What did he want from your group?”
The leader of the Dungeoneer party nodded, “He just popped out of nowhere and attacked us. I… Don’t think he took anything though.”
I tilted my head at him, “Wait… Why wouldn’t you know if he took anything?”
“He knocked all of us out after he beat us and left us there. When we woke up, we didn’t find anything missing either. All of us were completely fine as well.”
“When were you attacked? Like… How far away from Dufranal Market were you?”
He looked confused, “Dufranal Market? No, no, we were coming from Onarechin City. We just chose to take the desert route instead since it was arguably safer to travel through there instead.”
The rest of us looked at one another.
I turned back to him, “When did this attack occur?”
“Two days ago while on our way here.”
Wait… Two days ago?
If it’s two days ago… This guy should be around my area… We’re coming towards Sands Border Town from the north and these guys should be coming from the east…
The Guild receptionist was scratching her head now in confusion, “This… Doesn’t make sense… How is he able to be attacking the slave trader you found yesterday, but then be at where these people are two days ago?”
I gasped, “Oh! I remember! The slave trader said he could open portals as well!”
“Portals? Are you talking about a bandit that can teleport around while wearing a mask and cloak?” A new voice came from even further back.
The Dungeoneers parted to reveal a lone female Mahun standing there with a sword on her hip.
Another one?
At this point, the Guild receptionist seemed to be having a headache from all the reports that were suddenly coming on. I bet she never thought that she would suddenly get so many reports about one bandit going around attacking so many people today.
She sighed and wrote down something on her notepad, “Were you also attacked by that bandit in the desert?”
“The desert? No? I was attacked on the road here from Yenom Port Town. That happened a few hours ago.”
Everyone else stared at her before turning to look at me.
If this woman was attacked just now… That would contradict my story about me being attacked as well.
“What did he do to you? Did he take anything? Demand anything?” I asked.
She grimaced, “I don’t know. He just appeared and started saying some things that I don’t understand before he attacked me.”
“What happened after that?”
“I beat him of course. How else would I be standing here if he managed to beat me? Cut him down with my sword I did.”
“You killed him?” The Dungeoneer leader asked, his eyes wide in surprise.
She nodded like it was no big deal, “Yeah, I just slashed his neck and killed him.”
I leaned forward, “And his corpse?”
“That’s the weird part… I was pretty sure I killed him since I decapitated his head and his body landed behind me after I delivered the slash… But when I turned around to see where his body had landed, there was nothing there. There wasn’t even blood on my sword like I had imagined the whole thing… But I definitely felt the resistance of me cutting through flesh.”
Ok… This is just getting weirder and weirder…
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