A large green carriage was traveling through a small dirt path through the mountainous woods. Even with special rubber and metal wheels, along with a rather expensive suspension, the carriage was still incredibly bumpy and shaky. Rattling constantly.

The two black horses at the front were walking at a leisurely pace even as the sun started to go down. The bald-headed middle-aged man driving the carriage was wearing chainmail armor and looking around cautiously. Although they were almost home, he still couldn’t be careless.

Behind that carriage was a covered wagon. A man covered completely in silver plate mail was sitting next to the unarmored young woman who was holding the reins. She had a bright and sunny complexion. With long brown hair, blue eyes and tan skin.

“Is it really over?”

“Yep. Finally.”

“That’s good.”

“Hopefully I can spend more time with my wife and kids now.” The armored man snickered, “My daughter will be two in a few months.”

“Lucky bastard.” The smiling woman took out a cigarette from behind her ear and put it between her lips, “Can I get a light?”

“Sure.” The Guard reached into her pocket with his armored hand and took out a lighter, flipping it open, his metal thumb pressed the little button a few times until a small flame came out.

“Thanks, heh~!” She puffed a few times and asked, “How much do you think we’ll actually get from the compensation?”

“Us? Verde Village or like, us individually?”

“I know Verde got a million. Verna got another million from a separate lawsuit. But how much are ‘we’ getting personally? Can I retire?”

“Hah~! Yeah right.” He shook his head and lifted up the face mask. The young man with brown eyes, short black hair and a thin goatee was the 15 year old Irving. He breathed in the second-hand smoke and sighed.

“Mina, you shouldn’t get your hopes up. What did you lose back then? You don’t even own a house in town. You live with your girlfriend. You’re not even married. Maybe you’ll get a few hundred gold for emotional damages?”

“My ‘girlfriend’ is gonna be my wife next month. And she lost her father back then. She’ll definitely get a few thousand at least!”

“For deaths, it’s definitely higher, but it depends on who died… Peri will get a few hundred K for Ollie and Jade. Ronnie was already on his deathbed when he was ‘killed’ by the disaster. Good luck trying to get Aunt Emy to give Rily more than five K.”

“A girl can dream, right? Heh~!”

“Just be careful what you wish-aaah~!”

An arrow flew past and the broad head sliced open the bridge of Irving’s nose! He quickly put down his helmet and ignored the pain, pushing the stunned Mina into the wagon behind them. Her cigarette fell out of her mouth and was hit by an arrow that ricocheted off Irving’s metal pauldron.

“Damn!” The middle-aged coachman up ahead was shot in the hand and lost his grip on the reins. The horses didn’t have any armor though, so they were all riddled with dozens of arrows and crossbow bolts within a few seconds. They whined and neighed in despair, but they didn’t even have the strength to go out of control. Fortunately they weren’t traveling very fast, so the two vehicles didn’t flip over or have any serious accidents.

“Hahaha~!”

“Die!”

“Come on, Cursed Bastards! I ain’t afraid uh you!”

Five unkempt men in chainmail and leather armor emerged from the woods on the sides. Three of them had spears, one had a sword and shield, while the last and biggest man used a battle-ax. The arrows stopped, but the ten archers were still lurking on the big branches or behind the tree trunks.

“Protec-Ack~!” Before the guard up front could say anything, his throat was pierced by a spear and then he was dragged down from the carriage, where two other men continued stabbing him until he stopped twitching.

“Shit!” Irving cursed as he grabbed the hilt of a large greatsword that was resting by his side, with most of the blade inside the wagon. Pulling out the sword, he jumped down and plunged the blade through the chainmail of the ax-wielding bandit’s chest. The armor offered little defense against the powerful blow. Then he pulled out the sword and started fighting against the man with the shield. It only took a few seconds for him to kick away the shield and chop the man’s head off!

“Wordless scum! You can’t even become Bandits! Hahaha~!”

“Screw you!”

“Die!”

“Kill him!”

His taunt worked pretty well, because some of the archers who were hiding in the bushes came out to fight him in melee with hammers or mining picks. Unfortunately, both weapons were actually fairly effective against his armor!

“Ah! Shit! Verna! How long are you gonna wait?!”

“Hyahahahaha~! I thought you wanted to kill them all yourself~!”

The curtains on the left side of the carriage moved away and revealed a gorgeous face. A few arrows hit the windshield and bounced off. Those blue eyes blinked a few times as she looked over toward a few robbers who tried to break into her metal door with mining picks. She wore a fancy reddish orange dress that matched the color of her hair and revealed a lot of cleavage. She didn’t wear as much jewelry as her mother, only a necklace and small earrings made from the gold and sapphires that Oliver gave her years ago.

“You’re scratching the paint!”

“Bitch! We’re gonna be scratching your pretty face in a minute!” One of the female bandits cursed as she swung down the pick harder and cracked the glass!

“You’ve already made me lose a lot of money.” Verna scowled, “You’re gonna have to pay me back. One way or another.”

“Ah~!”

“No! Aaaah~!”

Screams suddenly came from the archers hiding in and around the trees! Then dozens of arrows flew out from the woods again, but this time they were targeting the bandits! Then a bunch of heavily armored Guards emerged from the back of the covered wagon. Some of them were holding swords, shields and axes, but most actually had shackles and handcuffs!

The damaged metal carriage door opened and knocked two female bandits to the ground. Then Verna stepped down, smirking at the two women who barely reached her chest even when they stood up again. The two girls who weren’t much older than herself had pretty bad acne, scars and sores on their faces. Their bodies were also very skinny and malnourished. They were still ‘young’ though.

“No! Please! Don’t kill me!”

“Who said I wanted to kill you?” Verna’s plump golden lips grinned as she reached out with both hands. Then metal rings appeared around their necks, shackles on their wrists and ankles, with chains that tightly bound them both together.

“Girls like you are worth a lot more alive than dead. It’s only a question of whether you’d rather be harvested for parts or ‘work’ to pay off your debts to me?”