The group of bandits took a few minutes to recover from the scare. After the bandits recovered, both Lucien's group and the bandits headed to the "fortress", the bandits home.
Everyone was walking in silence as they did not want to offend the devil, who was among them.
The men did not find it difficult to keep their gaze away from the beauties as the image of their comrade's head flying away was still very clear in their minds.
But the women, even in fear, could not help but take quick looks at Lucien. After all, the devil is very "tempting."
Neola was also looking at Lucien, sometimes with a confused look, other times thoughtful, some even angry. But strangely, she wasn't so afraid of him anymore.That is actually a side effect of his life mana, which made people who tasted it feel more comfortable around Lucien. After all, it is pure life energy.
Of course, both the effect of Lucien's demonic energy and life mana was fatal to women of the Zero Realm, but it would be less efficient with people of the Mortal Realm and higher Realms.
Lucien saw Neola looking at him, and he couldn't help but smile at her. "Still afraid of me or are you angry because I told you the truth about you stinking?"
Neola didn't want to be easily provoked by Lucien, so she changed the subject. "How do you know who I am? How do you know about Enzo? I don't even know your name."
Lucien introduced himself and was sincere about how he knew about them. "Some of your friends are staying in the Bluewind castle prison. They told my friend about you and Enzo."
Not only Neola, but the other bandits made a face. Even though they were bandits, they were a group and would not be happy knowing that their comrades were tortured and imprisoned.
Still, they couldn't do anything against Lucien right now, so Neola kept talking in an attempt to distract Lucien."So, you found out about us, the terrible bandits, and as the heroic knight of the kingdom, you only came with your women to solve the problem?"
Lucien shook his head. "Not exactly... Well, I'll tell you the truth since you'll be my loyal servant soon."
Neola had to restrain herself from telling Lucien to fuck himself because of his arrogance, but she was silent and listened to what he was going to say.
"I first thought of just killing you guys. Fast and effective. But the truth is, I need troops. I have powerful mages and incredible warriors, but I have no soldiers."
Neola couldn't help but make a confused expression. "Do you want to recruit us, forest bandits, for your personal army?"
"Yes, why not? I can offer rewards that no one else can or do you really like living in the forest smelling like that?" Lucien smiled at her.
'Patience, Neola, patience... We're almost there... just keep-' She tried to stay calm, but Lucien's insults about how she smells somehow made her angry easily.
"FUCK OFF!!! Can you stop saying that I stink?" As soon as she yelled at Lucien, the other bandits were tense, but again he didn't seem to care.
Lucien shrugged. "After I spend two days washing you, and you stop smelling, I will stop commenting on it."
Neola blushed, not by embarrassment, but anger. "Why are you so arrogant? Do you think you are a god just because you are handsome?"
"Don't insult my man! Gods are disgusting creatures!!" Lust complained, leaving everyone confused about what she was talking about.
Lucien hugged Lust's waist as they walked, making her calm down. "Okay, let's not fight. We need to save our energy to fight the Light Empire's soldiers."
Lust liked being spoiled by Lucien, so she leaned her head on his shoulder. They were not running, just walking fast because they were already close to the fortress.
"Only one mile, and we will arrive at the fortress. It's in the clearing behind that hill." Neola pointed to a hill about eight hundred meters from them.
Lucien knew that there were many people above the hill, but that is not the fortress. The fortress is two miles to the west, Lucien could hear more people there.
He could also hear people talking on the hill. It is a trap set up for cases where a group of them is taken as hostage.
It seemed very well thought out. The hostage group would take their kidnappers in the direction of the fortress, but they had no way of knowing about the watchmen who would alert their people if the bandits used another route, thus initiating the trap.
But how could Lucien be caught off guard? He could hear everything within a range of almost three miles, even with several different sounds in the forest.
Almost five hundred meters from the hill, Lucien stopped. Neola couldn't help but panic. "What happened? Is there a problem? We're almost there."
Lucien looked into Neola's eyes. He couldn't blame her for still being hostile to him. But he did not want to kill the group of bandits who could be his vanguard.
"I will forgive you for this trap this time. If you want to avoid a massacre, then tell your comrades not to attack my group."
'FUUUCK!! What's is up with him? What kind of monster is he? A real devil?!?!' Neola can't help but curse Lucien in her mind.
Still, cursing him wouldn't change the fact that her trap wouldn't work. Now, what should she do? Take the devil to her fortress? He always seemed to be one step ahead of her, so she feared the worst.
Lucien saw that Neola was in doubt about what to do, but time was something they didn't have right now.
"Every second that you spend thinking, the less time we have to save your people."
Neola looked at him angrily. "Is all you know how to do is threaten us?"
Lucien sighed. "It is not me that you have to fear. I'm talking about the Light Empire army that arrived at the gates of your fortress."
"Also, they brought hostages and are threatening to kill them right now."
"WHAT?!?!" Neola was surprised for a second before making a thoughtful expression.
"How can you say that? Do you think I will believe this joke? I-" Neola stopped talking when she saw Lucien pointing in the exact direction of the fortress.
Not only did he point the fortress, but he also started to speak names. Names of people he shouldn't know. Then he pointed to the hill and began to speak the names of the people who were also there.
"How do you know all this? Do you have a spy among us? Oh! The captured idiots told you those names!!"
Neola was sure that someone had said those names to Lucien because there was no way for him to guess the names of the people in the fortress with such accuracy.
The women around Lucien were already used to his super senses, but that would undoubtedly be difficult for anyone to accept so easily. Of course, that's only in inferior worlds like this.
Lucien shrugged. "It doesn't matter how I know. I'm going to the fortress, if you don't want to come, that's fine, but your people are in serious trouble."
He turned and started walking towards the fortress, Ghilanna, Lust, and Oya followed him while Neola and her group were confused.
"Come on!!!" Neola exclaimed and followed Lucien. She sent the scout to warn the group on the hill that the trap had failed and for everyone to return to the fortress immediately.
She walked beside Lucien and couldn't help asking, in a more friendly tone. "Please tell me how you know so much about us. Was it our people that you captured, told you?"
Lucien wanted Neola to trust him, so he spoke the truth. "I have a very good hearing, I can hear from a great distance."
She made a face, but Lucien continued. "Right now, I can hear many of your people passing through a secret passage in a cave three hundred meters behind your fortress."
Now Neola was surprised. "Not everyone knows the secret passage in the cave. Only high-ranking people know the password to open the door… Do you?"
"Yes, I also heard your friends saying Red Sun. Isn't that a legend from your homeland? So, most of you come from the east." Lucien surprised Neola more and more.
Lucien had read a little about the eastern continent in Cornelius' books. He also heard bandits entering the secret passage to avoid Light Empire's soldiers in front of the fortress.
That is the true meaning of "knowledge is power." Lucien is always one step ahead of Neola for knowing so much about the whole situation.
Neola didn't want to believe that Lucien could actually hear more than a mile, but he is giving more and more evidence that this is true, so she couldn't completely deny it.
"How many Light Empire's soldiers?" She asked with a reluctance tone.
Then Lucien started to tell her what he is hearing.
A while ago.
On the top of an old wall, already green with moss, some guards were watching the front of the fortress.
The old fortress, as well as the wall, is a mixture of brown and green, already in ruin from time.
But it is still the home of the forest bandits. The guards' leather armor even matched the appearance of the old fortress, making a somehow wild scene.
The bandits also have simple wooden bows and old swords. Obviously, living in the forest has not allowed them to thrive.
Trees surrounded the ruined fortress and there is also a hill behind it. But it seemed almost impossible to climb up the steep rocky hill, and the old walls still worked well, surrounding the top of the hill.
One of the guards saw movement in the bushes and prepared his bow. After all, his comrades always used the side path to enter the fortress.
"Who's there? Friend or foe?" The man yelled, also alerting all the other soldiers on the wall.
Everyone couldn't help but make a worried expression when they saw soldiers in shining armor come out from behind the trees.
"Light Empire!!!" Some bandits exclaimed, and one of them ran to warn the others.
The whole hill is no more than eight hundred square meters, so the front of the fortress is not very large, having only about two hundred square meters, divided into a rectangular area free of trees in front of the wall.
Dozens of Light Empire soldiers quickly surrounded that area. The sun's rays reflected off their shining armor, making fear grow in the bandits' hearts.
The soldiers wielded large shining shields, making a shield wall, which looked impenetrable. The bandits were sure that their arrows would do nothing against them.
Then the Light Empire's Soldiers moved aside, dividing their troops into two halves and creating a path in front of the fortress big wooden gate.
From behind the Light Empire troops came soldiers holding chains. Behind these soldiers were prisoners being dragged by the chains.
Some of the bandit guards on the wall winced when they recognized the prisoners as their comrades.
The Light Empire's soldiers made the captive bandits kneel in front of the gate. Then a man, wearing brighter armor than the other soldiers, walked in front of the group.
He took off his helmet and looked at the bandits on top of the wall. Everyone was standing in awkward silence, which made the atmosphere extremely tense.
The man sighed and prepared to speak.
*Woosh*
The sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air was easily heard as everyone was silent.
*Thud*
Then the head of one of the prisoner bandits fell to the ground, making a thud sound.
"Your son of a bitch!!!" A tall man, wearing old metal armor, arrived just as the bandit's head was rolling on the ground and couldn't help but curse the Light Empire captain.
