Yaku falls to one knee and looks at the bandit leader with blurry vision. "Darn, I only have less than 50 seconds on this damn sword," Yaku thinks to himself. He grits his teeth and lunges at the bandit leader, and they clash swords. It's apparent that the leader is in a class of his own. He parries Yaku's attacks and even sweeps his legs for a second, but Yaku recovers immediately. With deep breaths and blurry vision, Yaku keeps on fighting.
Twenty seconds are left until his mana fully runs out, and as time goes on, the bandit leader becomes more and more aggressive. Yaku manages to parry a couple of attacks and lands a kick to the bandit's stomach, but as the bandit is pushed back, Yaku falls on one knee again. His mana has fully run out, and his sword is back to a cheap scrap sword.
The bandit leader notices. He starts to stroke his long beard, laughing and showing his missing teeth. Then he licks his lips and looks at Yaku with blood-lusted eyes. "It seems this is the end for you. I can always get new men to pillage and kill. You've done nothing but waste your life," the bandit says while standing right over Yaku. Yaku, with one knee on the ground leaning on his sword so he doesn't fully fall forward, looks at the sword being swung in his direction, smiles, and closes his eyes. "Well, this is the end, Mother. In the end, I truly was nothing but a poor vermin from the south," he thinks to himself.
Sound of stabbing
"AHHH, YOU FUCKING FILTHY BROAD!" the bandit screams, as it appears the woman that Yaku had saved earlier came back after hiding her child. She picked up a dagger from a dead bandit's corpse and stabbed the leader in the back before he could kill Yaku.
The leader turns to her and grabs her by the neck. "I guess you will die before him, then," he screams at her as his spit gets all over her face.
Sound of stabbing
The leader starts to cough up blood, as it appears that Yaku had stabbed him in the back. He falls to his knees, and before he could utter any words, he falls dead. The woman falls on her butt and sits on the ground in shock. She smiles with tears in her eyes. "Thank you... truly, thank you," she says to Yaku.
All Yaku hears are mumblings as his ears start ringing and he loses consciousness. "HEY! Oh my lord, HELP ME! The man who saved us is nearly dead!" she screams with all her might.
Yaku opens his eyes slowly. He hears the sound of birds singing. He sits up and puts his hand on his forehead. "W...what happened?" he says.
"YOU'RE AWAKE!" the lady who saved him shouts. She falls to her knees and starts crying. "Thank you, thank you. You saved me and my child and saved so many of the villagers. We are truly in your debt," she says with a shaky voice.
Yaku starts itching his head. "Hahaha, no worries. My legs just moved on their own. I had no choice but to fight," he says while laughing. She smiles at him and stands up. "You've been sleeping for 24 hours. The men have made temporary tents until we fix up all the burned houses. Come on, let's go eat," she says.
Yaku stands up with drool running out of his mouth. "I don't have any money for food," he says to her.
"Hahaha, don't worry, it's all free—saviour of our village," she answers.
"By the way, my name is Lydia. What is your name?" she asks.
He answers, "My name is Yaku. Please take me to the food, hahahaha."
Yaku fills his stomach with meat and rice, burps. "Ahhh, I haven't eaten like this my whole life. I'm so lucky to be alive." The villagers thank him and pat him on the back whenever they see him. The blacksmith of the village comes to the food table.
"Hey warrior, I saw that your sword was no good. Swing by my shop, let's get you something better for the road," he says to Yaku.
"Old man, I don't have a single copper coin to pay you," Yaku responds.
"Well, that's good, because it's on the house," the blacksmith responds.
Yaku's eyes shine with hope, and he accepts immediately. After eating, he goes to visit the blacksmith, and he offers him a sword worth 2 silver coins for free.
"It's sharp, sturdy, and not too heavy. Perfect for you, kid," the blacksmith says.
Yaku thanks the blacksmith and refuses a free shield, as it's not really his fighting style. He stays in the village for 3 days to recover, and then he bids Lydia and the other villagers goodbye as he heads to his first major city.