*Pant!*
*Pant!*
The bandit leader was running inside the woods, leaping from one place to another to hide from the pursuers. After a while, he hid behind a tree, dropped to the ground, and tried to regain his breath.
‘I should have lost them, right?’ He took a peek while looking around, not finding any person. For that short time, he felt relief since he managed to keep his life.
However, he soon heard someone’s voice echoing from the other side.
“So, who taught you how to catch the demon?” 𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐
“!!!” When the bandit was about to turn around, a sword came out of the opposite side of the tree and stopped right in front of his neck as if telling him that it would kill him if he didn’t answer that question.
“I-I don’t know!” The bandit leader shouted. “Don’t kill me please!”
“Answer my question.” The voice asked again as the sword slightly pressed the neck, making it bleed.
Feeling the pain made the bandit leader panicked as he kept begging for his life. In the end, he told him everything he knew. “I truly don’t know anything. Suddenly, a mysterious person came to our hideout and told me about the method.”
“Then, tell me more about the method.”
“The method is not how to catch the demon or anything, it’s just to make us invisible to the demons, allowing us to be safe when utilizing the demons.” The bandit leader gulped down.
“Hoh? Spill everything you know about this method.”
“We use—”
When the bandit leader was about to reveal the information, the blade suddenly moved to the side as they heard a clicking sound by two metals clashing each other.
“Hii—!” The bandit leader panicked while Noel emerged from behind the tree, glaring at the woods.
‘An ambush?’ Noel thought while trying to find the assailant. ‘Is it someone from the Supreme Devil Organization? I should have realized it sooner and asked the bandit from the mine since there was no one who could kill the bandit leader previously.
‘Meanwhile, this time, the attacker must be connected to the Supreme Devil Organization. I don’t know the other party’s strength. Seeing that the cult is messing with powerful people across the country, it’s clear that their strength is extremely high. I don’t think I have a chance to win against them. Should I retreat then?’
Suddenly, he felt killing intent from behind.
“Kh. I’m too late.” Noel turned around and swung his sword, but he saw another arrow piercing the frightened bandit’s head, killing him.
“No…” The bandit let out a shrill before dropping to the ground.
“!!!” Noel gritted his teeth while looking around, trying to find the killer. He needed to be extremely careful because they might kill him as well, considering he was prying for the information.
One minute became two minutes, two minutes became five, but not a single attack was launched after that.
‘Are they not coming at me?’ Noel thought. ‘There should be two killers earlier, but they don’t come at me?’
He was perplexed because the killers should have silenced him instead of letting him alive. But this way, he also didn’t understand their aim.
‘Why did they only kill the bandit, not me? What is their aim? Instead of focusing on this matter, I should have left the forest where I can regain my vision on my surrounding so that no one can sneak attack on me.’ Noel thought.
He had been using Spirit Aura Breathing and Sword Aura to prepare for combat, so the moment he thought about retreating, he fled the scene with haste.
Of course, Noel didn’t drop his guard down, expecting another ambush to be set up in another place. Yet, there wasn’t a single attack coming toward him.
Eventually, he escaped from the woods without being attacked a single time.
‘Huh?’ Noel was confused but at the same time felt relieved because he managed to stay alive.
After coming out of the woods, he saw the merchant group earlier waiting for him.
The two siblings even came out of their carriage to meet him personally.
“We’d like to thank you for your assistance.” The blue-haired man stepped forward and politely bowed his head.
“And we’d like to apologize for making you step aside when you were crossing the road earlier.” The man’s sister also apologized because Noel’s strength should allow him to gain the priority over the road.
Just like how a commoner needed to ceded the road when a noble cross the road, they did too.
Noel still hadn’t dropped his guard down and said, “It’s fine. I’m not that small of a person. And I’ve also received your thanks, so I’ll be leaving.”
This was just Noel’s usual action when there was an assailant nearby. Staying with them was dangerous, so he tried to part with them as cold as possible so that the enemies didn’t kill this merchant group.
However, the merchant group didn’t know this. They feared that Noel bore a hatred to them for being so useless. Not a single guard managed to kill a bandit or a demon, so it looked like they were useless.
But the fact was that Noel was simply too strong compared to normal people. Utilizing the Spiritual Energy allowed him to swiftly deal with the bandits and the demons, so it wasn’t their fault since given time, they could kill some bandits and demons by themselves.
Still, the blue-haired man said with an aghast face. “May I know where you are going? If possible, I’d like to thank you personally.”
“No, it’s fine. I just did what a normal person would do. So, you don’t need to reward me for subjugating the bandits.” Noel shook his head. “Since I’ve done my job, it’s time for me to leave.”
Noel nodded to them before running forward, leaving everyone behind to their disbelief. And just like that, Noel saved them and left them without getting the recognition he deserved.
“B-brother…” The blue-haired woman glanced at her brother. “Is he angry with us?”
“I don’t think so. From what I can see, he seems to be rushing. I don’t know the reason but he wants to leave as soon as possible. Either way, he’s such a good man. With that kind of power, he is not arrogant and overbearing. It’s such a shame that we can’t invite such a man and make a connection with him.” The man sighed.
“Still, don’t you think his voice and hand look like he’s a young guy? Like around my age?” She asked, remembering Noel’s feature.
“I guess?” The man made a small smile.
The two siblings didn’t realize they actually misunderstood Noel’s action. Noel simply wanted to get away as fast as possible because of the killers. If there wasn’t a killer, he would ask them to send a message to the Demon Banner Army to report about what he found as a reward. However, the siblings certainly remembered Noel’s facial feature: blond hair, blue eyes as well as his age.