The twelve bandits stood with their short, sharp swords in their hands. Positioned circularly, they had managed to secure every gap, making it almost impossible to escape.
Out of the twelve, a tall, muscular man stood in the center, his eyes piercing and focused on Arzoth and Evren. The man had a deep scar on his left eye, which made the man's eye stand out from the rest. No doubt the man was the leader of the pack.
Arzoth gave a big pat on Evren's shoulder, making him stumble forward. Evren looked at his brother with a confused frown while Arzoth stared with a wide, proud smile. His chest puffed, and no hint of fear in his eyes.
"What was that for?" Evren sneered.
"Come on, play the hero. You are supposed to do that, right?"
Evren stared at Arzoth in disbelief, "Why would I- "
The leader of the pack rumbled, "Oh, so the prince is trying to fight? How naive."
The bandit next to the leader said, "Get all your belongings on the ground, now!"
The man looked at his fellow with the corner of his eye, "I am talking, aren't I?"
The bandit held his head low, stepping back farther and farther away, "Forgive me."
The leader looked back at the brothers and said, "Yes, keep your valuables on the ground, NOW!"
Evren clenched his fists, his fury palpable from every inch of his tightened face. Arzoth just stood behind Evren with his hands behind his back, his expression nonchalant, "Don't test my brother, he will beat you up! Look how angry he is! My, My."
Evren's face turned red, less from the anger and more from embarrassment.
The leader threw back his head and laughed along with his fellow bandits, "This one? Beat me? Don't mock me, Kid."
Evren lunged forward, his sword already out and his feet on the move. He struck efficiently towards the scar-faced man, Evren's sword drawn and shining under the sunlight. In a flash of a second, the leader was on his knees and Evren's sword on his neck; the movements before were not visible to the human eye.
The leader himself was shaken and did not know what had struck him.
Evren managed to tie down every bandit to the tree trunks. The irony was that the bandits themselves carried the ropes with a plan to capture the princes, which failed miserably.
Arzoth just stood at a distance with an amazed look on his face as he gazed at Evren working smoothly.
"No wonder he is the protagonist of the novel."
Evren shoved his sword into the ground and leaned on it as he glared at Arzoth, "Was this your plan too? Sending the bandits? Cause you know as well as I do that not even a fool would wander in the mountainous region to rob, as there are almost no travelers out here." Evren's gaze moved to the tied-up bandits, "They wouldn't be here otherwise, either someone sent them or they knew of our journey here."
"Evren was right, anyone in their right senses won't wander in a mountainous region like this, especially a region which is close to the demonic realm. To steal, no less. People rarely cross this place. So why are these bandits here?"
Arzoth looked at the bandits, following his brother's gaze, "It wasn't me, but there has to be someone."
Arzoth walked up to the leader of the bandits, who was tied, he said, looking at the scar-faced man, "So, why are you in this region? Did you know of our arrival?"
The leader just stared at Arzoth, determined to keep his mouth shut.
"This person is stupid; keeping quiet is the biggest indicator that he was here because he knew of our arrival."
Arzoth narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Who sent you?"
The leader kept quiet again. It was indeed annoying. Arzoth took out the short sword, which was once in the leader's grip, and placed the cold blade on the captive's hand. The man gasped, his eyes widened, and so did Evren's.
"What are you doing, Arzoth!?" Evren sneered.
Arzoth didn't say anything but stared at the man before him. The leader was sweating, his eyes on the blade threatening to rip his skin off. Arzoth's unreadable eyes were doing nothing to ease his fear.
"A fool, he can't be the one having the brain to find out our moves, or surround us like before."
The leader's fellow bandits looked over to the man, their faces filled with dread. The man kept his eyes on the blade and muttered out, "His name was Rehn, he works inside the palace, and told us to stop you both."
Shock and betrayal echoed on Evren's face as he heard Rehn's name, "That's impossible!"
Arzoth kept the blade away from the man's hands, making the leader sigh with relief.
"In the novel, Rehn didn't have any major part in it. He was mentioned only in some of the lines of the book."
"The System, bandits, and now this thing with Rehn. All of these were not mentioned in the novel. Things are changing rapidly, I need to be very careful with what I do next."
Arzoth turned to face Evren and said, "We should get going, we have to reach Valkyra land as soon as possible.
Evren frowned at the sudden change in his brother's demeanor, he was struggling to understand the workings of Arzoth's mind.
"I need to reach the Valkyra land as soon as possible before it's too late." Arzoth thought.
"What about these people?" He said, pointing at the tied-up bandits.
Arzoth said dismissively, "They'll be fine."
The bandits froze, tied up in this mountainous region, which was near the demonic realm, was terrifying.
Just then, a dark, powerful aura began to form right in the middle of the place before the brothers. The aura faded away immediately, and a demoness materialized on the ground.
Both the brothers tensed up.
Arzoth's eyes widened as he recognized the demoness immediately, "Sarina!?"
"Another incident that wasn't supposed to happen." Arzoth thought.