The short-haired man raised his leather wineskin, took a long swig, let out a belch, and wiped the dregs from his beard with his sleeve. He sneered, "Compensation? Compensation for what? That bastard Cowens..."
He glanced around nervously, and seeing no one else, lowered his voice. "...he's always had it out for me. If it weren't for the few men still loyal to me, he'd have ditched me long ago... You guys can have your fun with these women. When you're done, take them back and let those damn fools raise your sons."
The young man laughed. "Now that's what I like to hear, boss. Can I go first? Is the one dead in the tree fair game?"
The boss squinted up at the naked woman hanging from the branch and spat on the ground in disgust. "Filthy!"
The young man rubbed his hands together, stood up, and started climbing the tree.
Meanwhile, the scrawny man with rotten teeth looked expectantly at the five girls tied up back-to-back at the edge of the camp. He swallowed hard a few times. Unfortunately, the chicken he was roasting wasn't cooked yet, and he couldn't step away. Otherwise, he would have taken the first turn while the others were gone.
Just as the young man reached the branch and was about to untie the rope, there was a sudden thud. A misshapen sphere landed next to the campfire.
The two men, drinking and roasting their chicken, froze for a second. They watched the sphere roll to a stop. As its brownish-yellow hair fell away, a gruesome, tormented face was revealed it was their old mate, "Lucky" Shayne.
"Ah!"
"Shayne!"
They scrambled to their feet, but before they could react, a tall, golden figure leaped from the darkness. He swung a long staff, which crashed down on the short-haired man's head with a dull thud, knocking him unconscious.
Aldric then sidestepped and punched the man with rotten teeth in the face. As he fell, Aldric followed up with a kick to his shin.
The force of Aldric's kick was immense. The man heard a faint crack from his lower leg and collapsed, clutching it and screaming in agony.
The young man in the tree froze for a moment, then realized they were under attack. He didn't care how high he was; he leaped down, tackling Aldric from behind.
But the impact barely made Aldric sway. He immediately planted his feet and threw himself backward, slamming the young man against the rough tree trunk.
The young man grunted, the sharp pain in his chest forcing him to release his hold on Aldric's neck.
Free, Aldric spun around and delivered several heavy blows with his Elementium-plated fists. The young man coughed up blood and slid to the ground, offering no resistance.
It was another resounding victory.
But Kevin, emerging from the woods, frowned, secretly frustrated he had missed the fight again.
The Ser is too powerful, he thought. At this rate, what can I really learn from him? Applause and cheers?
Aldric looked at the young man, who was spitting blood and whose eyes were rolling back, and flexed his fists.
He looked up. A pale, human figure hung from a branch, swaying in the wind a naked young woman, a deep groove cut into her neck by the rope.
He didn't know if the perpetrator had done it intentionally, but the girl was hanging close to the trunk. Her legs and arms were covered in scrapes, and the corresponding height on the tree trunk was smeared with blood and bits of flesh.
What despair and struggle did she endure in her final moments?
Aldric drew his "Serpent's Striker," leaped up, and with a light flick, the blade's gleam cut the rope. The girl's stiff body fell, landing on the young man and eliciting another cry of pain.
"Kevin, go get Claire."
Looking at the group of bound girls silently staring at him from a short distance away, Aldric suddenly felt a twinge of fear.
He didn't dare approach them, afraid of what other sad stories they might tell.
A moment later, Claire emerged from behind her hiding spot, following Kevin.
When she saw her friends kneeling helplessly on the grass, she ran to them, crying, and began to tug at the ropes binding them.
Aldric silently drew his dagger, tossed it beside Claire, then turned and walked over to the groaning man with rotten teeth. "Are you the leader?" he asked.
The man glanced at him but didn't answer, continuing to moan.
Aldric sneered, stood up, drew back his right leg, and kicked the shin he had just broken, snapping it at a sharp angle.
"Ahhhhh! It's not me, it's him, him! The one with the short hair!"
Aldric nodded, walked back under the tree, and grabbed the young man by the collar. "Who's the leader?"
The young man gave a weak smile and spat a mouthful of bloody saliva in Aldric's face. Though he tried to look tough, his eyes flickered involuntarily toward the unconscious short-haired man.
Aldric wiped the spit from his face with his arm and slapped the captive across the face.
Leaving the half-dead young man, he walked over to the short-haired leader, grabbed him by the ankle, and began dragging him out of the camp and into the woods.
As he did, his gaze fell on the woman's body that had fallen from the tree. He turned and asked, "Claire, who is this? Do you know her?"
Claire, who had been busy cutting her friends free, turned her head. When she saw the woman on the ground, she screamed, "Aunt Aimee!"
Getting his answer, Aldric couldn't bear to look anymore. "The dagger is yours for now," he said. "I have no more use for these two. Do as you see fit. Kevin, come with me."
Leaving the bandits' camp, Aldric found a spot far enough away to still see the firelight. He threw the last bandit on the ground, took off his helmet, and sat on the bandit to rest.
"Ser..." Kevin began, hesitant.
"What is it?"
"Is it alright to leave them there?"
Aldric frowned. "It should be fine. I've disabled those two."
"No, I mean..." Kevin didn't know how to phrase it, his lips pressed together stubbornly. "They can't fight back anymore."
Aldric gave him a long, hard look. "Kevin, you saw what they did, didn't you?"
"I saw, and I'm very sad. But as a knight, one must have a compassionate heart..."
Aldric waved his hand, cutting Kevin off. "I only injured them. Their fate is in the hands of those women. If they choose to spare those... things, then so be it. But, kid, we have no right to forgive those who have harmed others on behalf of the victims. Mercy for wolves is cruelty to lambs. You always have to make a choice between the two."
Just then, a series of piercing screams came from the direction of the campfire.
Aldric glanced over, then shrugged. "Looks like the victims aren't willing to forgive them."
Kevin also looked toward the flickering firelight, a thoughtful expression on his face as he nodded.
"Come on, we still have work to do."
Aldric stood up and kicked the short-haired man on the ground. "Not bad at playing dead. Have you practiced?"
The short-haired man scrambled to his knees, kowtowing desperately to Aldric. "Lord, please spare me, I swear I'll leave and never come back! Please, I have two children at home, if I die they won't survive, please have mercy..."
The man pleaded, weeping and wailing.
Aldric rubbed his chin. "It's not impossible. Tell me everything you know, and maybe I'll consider letting you go."
The short-haired man's head shot up, his eyes filled with suspicion. "Really?"
Aldric smiled and pointed toward the campfire. "Perhaps you'd rather have a chat with them?"
The short-haired man's lips trembled as he looked in the direction Aldric indicated. The howls from that direction were growing more frantic, interspersed with the piercing cries of women. He turned back, stammering, "Don't hand me over to them..."
Then, as if spilling beans, the short-haired man told them everything he knew.
He and his companions were from the southern part of the island of Skagos, belonging to a small tribe of mixed Skagosi and fugitive Northmen.
This raid to the south was initiated by a Skagosi named "Wat-en the Horned."
To ensure enough manpower, he had gathered warriors from three small tribes, forming a raiding party of over ninety men.
To maximize their plunder, under Wat-en's direction, they had deliberately bypassed the lands of the vigilant and formidable Houses Bolton and Karstark, taking more time to travel to the farther, more lax south.
Aldric was confused. He turned and asked, "Kevin, didn't you tell me this was the North?"
Kevin quickly explained, "It is, Ser. But relative to Skagos, this is the south."
"I see." Aldric understood. It was like the relationship between Beijing and Harbin.
If the Skagosi lived in a place where the North was considered "the south," then it made sense that they were keen on raiding.
He continued his questioning. "What's your next target?"
The short-haired man's face was bitter. "Lord, I really don't know. Cowens, that bastard, already saw us as dead weight. Why would he tell us where he was going? Please, have mercy, let me go."
"You're all alone now. If I let you go, do you think you can survive in this land?"
The short-haired man was at a loss for words. He certainly wouldn't admit he planned to find his leader and go home with them.
But in his panic, he couldn't come up with a new lie. As he stammered, Aldric knocked him out with another punch.
"Kevin, watch him. I'm going to get a rope."
The grass ropes Aldric had made at the beach camp had all been used to wrap the wheelbarrow's wheel for shock absorption and were worn out after just two days.
Fortunately, these bandits had plenty of rope. He decided to search their supplies for a suitable one.
As he passed the campfire, the two pirates he had left there were now covered in wounds and barely breathing. The tear-streaked girls quietly hid their blood-soaked hands behind their backs and looked at him, not knowing what to do.
Aldric simply averted his gaze to the ropes scattered on the ground, picked one up, and left without a word.
When he returned to the short-haired man, he used the rope that had once bound the girls to securely tie his upper body. He then tied his ankles together, leaving less than a step's width between them, so he could walk but not run.
After yanking on the ropes to ensure they wouldn't easily come loose, Aldric clapped his hands in satisfaction. "Alright, drag him back to the campfire. But you need to keep a close eye on him. Those girls are in a frenzy. Don't let them kill him. This guy hasn't told us the whole truth. But it doesn't matter. We'll hand him over to the local castellan and let them figure it out. As a passerby, I've killed six pirates and captured one. That's not a shabby welcoming gift for the local lord."
With that, Aldric left Kevin and returned to the girls. He glanced at the two barely breathing bandits and frowned. "Still not cleaned up?"
The implication in his words was brutal. Claire exchanged a look with her friends, then gritted her teeth, took the dagger in a reverse grip, and approached the young man. She raised it high, but couldn't bring herself to strike.
"Forget it, give it back to me." Aldric held out his hand to Claire.
After a moment of struggle, Claire reluctantly handed the dagger back to Aldric.
Taking the dagger, Aldric plunged the tip into the young man's heart. "Don't be a pirate in your next life."
He then finished off the man with rotten teeth, who was lying on the ground, his breath shallow. He walked back to the campfire and sat on a rock the bandits had been using as a stool. "Claire, in return for saving your lives, get us something to eat. These guys should have some supplies, right?"
"Yes, yes they do. We'll get it now."
Hearing Aldric's request, the dazed and lost girls finally sprang into action, seeming much more lively than before.
The food in the bandit camp had all been stolen from their village. For these survivors, it was all familiar ingredients.
Watching them, one washing the pot, another washing vegetables, bustling about and chatting quietly, Aldric knew that the "strong medicine" he had administered had worked to some extent.
These girls were still young. They couldn't live with anger and hatred. And the best way to let go of this painful past was to let them personally return the suffering they had endured to their tormentors.
As for the last short-haired bandit, Aldric used him as a seat cushion.
He had no choice. When Kevin dragged him over, the surviving girls had become very agitated. Two of the most volatile ones had even grabbed rocks and charged at him.
If Aldric hadn't stopped them in time, the short-haired man would have likely met the same fate as his companions.
All medicine has side effects, and this "strong medicine" for a sick heart was no different.
Aldric didn't want these girls he had saved to become accustomed to, or even enjoy, torture and abuse. So, to soothe their emotions and protect his last source of information, he personally sat on him to protect him Kevin couldn't handle this situation.
When the hot food was served, the group of disheveled men and women finally managed a few smiles.