The scar-faced man tightened his reins, his greedy gaze sweeping over the trembling villagers.
"Today's the day for your protection fee paynt. My brothers should have notified you last ti. Is the grain ready?"
"Don't bla for being blunt upfront—if the grain isn't enough, we'll have to take people to make up the difference."
"And you lot..."
His eyes finally settled on Gauss's team, who stood out starkly from their surroundings.
They lingered particularly on Aria and Shadow.
Gauss had already quietly instructed his teammates to remove their adventurer badges earlier.
His goal was to avoid alerting the enemy prematurely.
He also wanted to understand why this band of mountain bandits had co here, preventing them from putting on a different face upon seeing his adventurer rank.
Otherwise, how would he know if they were truly here to pillage and plunder?
Relying solely on the villagers' one-sided account also seed sowhat unfair.
But now, perhaps because there were no badges to directly prove their identity and rank, or maybe they hadn't had ti to notice them,
The scarred man had already publicly declared his pillaging intentions, allowing Gauss to feel at ease.
"You..."
Normally, when a bandit leader saw such beautiful won, he would definitely want to seize them and take them back to the mountains.
But for so reason, just as he wanted to utter so filthy words, an indescribably unpleasant feeling, like an invisible hand, gripped his throat, leaving his words stuck in his mouth, unable to co out.
"You... are adventurers, right?"
"Mind your own business, and I'll let you go."
Although he felt sowhat uneasy inside, the twenty or so subordinates beside him ard with iron weapons still gave him enough courage.
Over twenty n equipped with weapons, having undergone so training, with team coordination—their strength was not to be underestimated.
This was also why he could still act arrogantly when facing villages with larger populations than theirs.
The combat power of bandits far surpassed that of ordinary villagers.
The villagers were not only at a disadvantage in equipnt but also had to engage in farm work daily.
Bandits only needed to pillage and hone their skills.
The gap in ruthlessness, ntality, and skill might even be greater than the physical disparity.
The bandit leader thought he was offering a very generous and magnanimous choice.
After all, while an unranked adventurer team might indeed have stronger individual combat power, if it ca to a fight, his side would most likely erge victorious in the end.
He had encountered so-called low-level adventurers before.
When outnumbered, they weren't as fearso as imagined.
But... this group seed a bit unusual.
Before speaking, he had actually struggled internally.
He had wrestled for a long ti between fighting enemies of unknown strength for potentially rich rewards but risking casualties and losses, and avoiding trouble whenever possible.
In the end, he followed his instincts.
Simultaneously, his arm behind his back gestured to his brothers, signaling them to prepare for battle.
The brothers behind him subtly spread out, forming a semi-encirclent.
If conflict broke out, they could imdiately surround and attack Gauss and the others.
Seeing the bandits' covert encircling movents, the threatening ferocity flashing in the scarred man's eyes, and his glances toward Aria and the other woman, Gauss's last trace of hesitation vanished.
These people were thoroughgoing mountain bandits, not pitiful souls forced by circumstances.
Even if they might have had unspeakable difficulties initially, at this mont, they were oppressing many people, becoming burdens and oppressors to others.
"Aria, you protect the villagers."
Gauss had no intention of communicating with the other party, speaking softly only to his teammates.
As for the scoundrels before him, he would handle them himself.
Hearing this, the bandit leader's face instantly darkened.
Although Gauss was ignoring him, the aning was clearly obvious, and... why wasn't he asking his companions for help? Telling them to protect the villagers instead.
Could he alone deal with all of them?
For a mont, he felt both angry and worried.
That ominous feeling grew heavier.
Those who dared to make such bold claims were either fools or experts.
Before he could think further,
Gauss's figure suddenly moved.
The bandit leader only saw Gauss flicker before his eyes, unable to react in ti.
The next mont!
Excruciating pain suddenly erupted in his abdon.
Then his entire body felt like it had been hit by a battering ram, flying backward as if his bones were coming apart.
"Thud!!!"
His body traced an arc through the air before accurately crashing into a distant haystack.
"Urgh!"
His body sank into the haystack.
A mouthful of blood still gushed from his mouth.
Gauss remained where he had been standing, slowly retracting his leg.
His gaze then turned to the twenty-plus bandits surrounding them.
"Gulp."
Audible swallowing sounds arose.
Noticing the black-robed man looking at them,
So bandits' legs began to weaken.
The black-robed man began emitting a fierce, dragon-like aura that stunned everyone present.
Those he looked at felt as if they were being stared down by so monster.
"B-big... big sir, we'll leave right now."
"Don't attack! Don't attack!"
"We promise we'll never co back."
Don't expect village-raiding bandits to have much backbone.
Bullying the weak and fearing the strong was always their true nature.
Gauss even suspected that if the village dared to resist with the determination to take a chunk of flesh even before death, given these bandits' quality, they might not truly dare to fight to the end.
Gauss shook his head.
He didn't take a single word of their pleas seriously.
Their current deanor was only because he was here, and he couldn't stay in the village forever.
If he left the village, they would send people to scout nearby for a few days, and once confirming his departure, they would definitely return.
Then they would retaliate even more harshly for the humiliation suffered from him.
Even if the villagers had received his training by then, there was no need to leave hidden dangers.
Thinking this, Gauss moved again.
His speed was too fast.
Aside from his teammates, no one present could clearly see his movents,
Only seeing a black gust like a hurricane sweeping across the ground.
Then bandit after bandit flew backward cleanly,
Soon all lying on the ground, moaning incessantly.
Gauss then threw the rusted iron weapons seized from the bandits onto the ground nearby.
His gaze turned to the utterly stunned villagers.
"What's your na?"
He looked at the leading middle-aged man and asked softly.
"Sir, I'm, I'm Bruno."
"The... village chief here."
Although his mind recognized that the brutal Gauss before him was fighting for them, his body still trembled uncontrollably.
Even if Gauss was unwilling to admit it, in terms of life hierarchy, he and ordinary people were almost no longer the sa species.
Gauss slightly restrained his aura.
"Chief Bruno, please lead the villagers to take up weapons and fight."
Gauss spoke.
While speaking, he glanced at the pile of weapons seized from the bandits.
This newly established small village couldn't rely solely on his protection;
their fighting spirit needed to be awakened.
Otherwise, even if he taught them combat skills, even if he led them to kill goblins and other monsters, they might still instinctively feel fear when facing such bandits.
From the mont he entered the village, he had been observing the situation.
After learning his identity, even when hearing the alarm whistle, the villagers only felt tense montarily, then as if finding their backbone, placed all their hopes on him.
Rationally, this was fine.
But to survive in this desolate, monster-infested land, they still lacked the backbone forged through blood and fire.
"Us... us?"
Bruno swallowed, pointing at himself.
"Yes, please kill them." Gauss said softly with a smile. "My companions and I won't intervene anymore."
"If you don't dare to act, then let them leave."
He had intentionally not delivered fatal blows for this purpose.
Actually, these bandits' combat power had been mostly weakened by his whirlwind-like attack earlier. Coupled with their weapons being taken away, aside from so psychological pressure, the situation between both sides had already reversed.
Now, this was just a teaching scenario he had created.
Commotion arose among the villagers.
Not everyone dared to raise the slaughtering knife against others, even if they were originally bandits.
"B-big sir, how about... you help us kill them instead." A woman in the crowd said.
They didn't hate these people, but they didn't dare to do it themselves.
With Gauss here, they instinctively relied on the strong.
Gauss sighed, a flash of disappointnt in his eyes.
Without replying, he turned to leave with his companions.
Village Chief Bruno noticed his expression and movent, swallowing hard.
From Gauss's actions, he judged that what he said earlier was clearly true.
Summoning courage within,
A slightly strained shout squeezed from his throat.
"Fan En, Kalenka, Mike, Connie..."
He called out a series of nas like mustering troops.
"Take up weapons with ."
Gauss slowed his steps.
Seeing them pick up weapons after brief hesitation, he nodded imperceptibly.
"Don't kill the bandit leader in the haystack;
leave him for . I have questions for him later."
"Understood, sir."
Not far away, bandits struggling to get up from the ground saw these originally lamb-like villagers now holding weapons, rusted blades reflecting blinding light in the sun. For a mont, their expressions beca dazed.
"You, you..."
Gauss had controlled his strength perfectly earlier.
Making them not die, but leaving their bodies sore and inconvenient to move.
So clever bandits quickly knelt, kowtowing on the ground.
Their scalps soon broke, blood flowing down their cheeks with the swinging motions,
But they didn't stop.
"Spare us, we're poor people too, forced to co for so food. We have families in the mountains too."
"My child is only three years old, let go! I beg you!"
"..."
The bandits completely changed from their earlier ferocious appearance, pleading tearfully.
So villagers softened upon seeing this.
Fortunately, Chief Bruno understood there was no room for reversal now.
Letting them escape would only bring disaster upon themselves later.
Now they could only keep them all here.
"Attack!"
After speaking, he took the lead, striding forward with his knife.
It was clear his movents weren't very skilled, showing almost no training traces.
But...
"Thud!!!"
He gripped the knife with both hands, putting all his strength into the swing.
The swing trajectory and blade angle were sowhat off, but it didn't matter much.
"Schlick!"
The sharp blade entered flesh, producing a chilling sound.
With his strength, naturally he couldn't kill the enemy with one strike.
Actually achieving a quick death for the enemy required certain skill and strength too.
Ordinary untrained people generally couldn't do it easily.
Blood gushed from the bandit's body.
Splashing onto Bruno's face, combined with his gritted-teeth exertion, made him appear sowhat fierce.
The knife stuck in the bandit's body, making him struggle frantically in pain.
Bruno pulled out the long knife.
He only felt inexplicably hot and excited inside, his body trembling continuously, but courage kept surging in his heart.
One strike! Two strikes! Three strikes!
......
He continuously swung the knife, hacking at the bandit.
Blood splattered like ink on the ground, also dyeing Bruno's coarse cloth clothes red.
His movents were completely unskilled, without any experience, unaware of vital spots, but even so, it was enough to kill an opponent with little resistance.
Panting heavily, looking at the motionless, mangled bandit at his feet, as if still seeing his earlier kowtowing, pleading face, his stomach instantly churned violently.
But he forcefully suppressed it.
He raised his head, his bloodied face looking at the other villagers.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Think of our children. If the sir wasn't here today, we'd be the ones suffering."
"Take up weapons, kill them!"
His voice was hoarse, but his resolute actions just now made others instinctively follow his command.
One by one, they imitated him, approaching the struggling, crawling bandits.
Swinging with force!
Blood splattering!
With so taking the lead, the other villagers' courage seed completely ignited.
Long-standing fear of brutes, desire for survival, all erupted together, ultimately overwhelming the cowardice in their hearts.
The scene beca chaotic and brutal montarily.
No skill, even less elegance, only the most primitive killing.
Gauss hovered in the sky, quietly watching this scene.
Being in a commanding position allowed him to see everyone's situation on the battlefield clearly.
Although he spoke resolutely earlier, if any accidents occurred, he would extend assistance imdiately.
After all, he only wanted to use these bandits as training for the villagers. If casualties actually occurred among the villagers, it wasn't his wish either.
His gaze tightly locked onto everyone, subtly intervening twice during the process.
After the dust settled, he descended from the sky, slowly landing beside Chief Bruno, who looked like he had been soaked in a blood pool.
Chief Bruno watched him descend from the sky, his expression becoming even more respectful.
"Sir... as you instructed, except the one hiding in the haystack, the others have all... been dealt with."
His body still trembled slightly, but his eyes were much firr than before.
Gauss nodded.
His gaze swept over the villagers baptized by blood and fire.
So numbness had faded from them.
Human change is difficult, yet simple.
Sotis it takes a lifeti, yet never escaping one's inherent nature.
But sotis, only a few minutes are needed for complete transformation.
"Well done." Gauss still smiled. "Rember today's feeling."
"Rember, it was you, using the weapons in your hands, who protected your village and families."
"Even after I leave, as long as you don't forget today's courage, you can still protect your families when facing enemies invading your ho."
"B-big sir, it was with your help earlier, otherwise it wouldn't have been this simple." Bruno's mind remained clear.
He knew that although they quickly killed over twenty bandits, the premise was Gauss having beaten them into helplessness earlier.
In terms of actual combat skills, they were still very raw.
"No matter, in the coming days, I'll teach you weapon techniques."
Gauss waved his hand.
He walked to the haystack, dragging out the bandit leader who lay limp like mud inside.
Mana flowed within him.
"Friendship Spell" activated in his hand.
Normally, the Friendship Spell's target needed to be a "non-hostile creature."
But currently, the other was already dazed from his kick, and their strength and attribute gap was too large.
He couldn't resist his mana at all.
Soon, the bandit leader lost his last shred of consciousness in terror, becoming a marionette.
"I ask, you answer."
"Okay, sir."
"In which direction is the mountain you live on?"
The bandit leader raised his arm, pointing toward a certain peak.
"How many people are still on the mountain?"
Under the magic's power, the bandit leader kept spitting out answers as if he had taken truth serum.
Gauss quickly grasped the mountain's situation.
Besides him, there was a younger brother leading the remaining dozen or so bandits.
The rest were so imprisoned slaves.
These people grew crops and vegetables for them on the mountain.
Also needed to do physical labor, and served for their physiological desires.
After fully understanding the intelligence,
Gauss dispelled the Friendship Spell.
The bandit leader regained consciousness, fear and hatred flashing in his eyes.
"Don't kill—"
Before he finished speaking,
Gauss, feeling sowhat irritated, had no desire to listen to his nonsense.
"Crunch!"
With a twist of his hand, the bandit leader's neck snapped crisply.
Silently throwing the leader's head to the ground like garbage,
He looked at the other villagers.
"Clean up the battlefield. Keep any useful cloth and clothing, gather the stripped bodies and burn them collectively."
Although he looked down on these spoils, the dirty cloth was still considerable gain for the villagers.
After washing and re-sewing, they'd have more clothing.
"Okay, sir." Bruno's face showed a flash of joy.
"Aria, you stay in the village and keep watch for . I'll be back soon."
Though unstated, Aria already knew what he planned to do.
"Gauss, I'll go with you too." Aria spoke up. "I'm a woman;
it's not very convenient for you to go alone."
Gauss t her gaze.
Considering there were also imprisoned won on the mountain, having Aria along would indeed be more convenient,
So he nodded.
"Captain, I'll go too." Serlandul raised his hand. "I'm a physician."
"Then co along too."
Gauss turned to Shadow, apologetic expression on his face.
"Shadow, then I'll trouble you to stay behind."
"Don't worry, go with peace of mind." Shadow nodded.
Seeing her agreent, Gauss relaxed.
Shadow was the strongest in this team besides him.
With her staying behind, Gauss felt assured.
The reason for leaving soone was because the village's strong blood scent had a significant chance of attracting monsters.
Although Ulfen, Raven, including his clay constructs could stay behind, having a team mber present was always better.
After brief arrangents,
Gauss took Aria and Serlandul and quickly rushed out of the village.
"Call if there's danger."
Shadow glanced at the still busy villagers and spoke.
"Okay, sir, please attend to your matters first."
Chief Bruno responded respectfully.
When Gauss and the others hadn't put away their badges earlier, he had noticed this adventurer was five-star rank.
Although he didn't understand what five-star adventurer strength level ant, that didn't prevent him from knowing this adventurer's fearsoness.
And compared to the cruel yet gentle Gauss, he felt this cold woman was sowhat harder to get along with.
Only when Shadow's body suddenly vanished into invisibility did everyone present collectively sigh in relief.
Indeed, everyone in this adventurer team was incredibly strong.
Like monsters.
......
The foul stench of blood saturated the mountain peak.
Corpse after corpse lay at Gauss's feet.
Gauss looked expressionlessly at these heads that had lost all signs of life, faces still bearing traces of extre terror.
He sighed.
He couldn't understand
Why these people could be so brutal toward their own kind.
Looking at those imprisoned n and won, completely naked, bruised purple and blue, so even physically mutilated, his mood grew increasingly heavy.
He raised his head, faintly sensing sothing had erged within his heart.
Aria and Serlandul were treating everyone.
But long-severed arms and fingers couldn't regenerate anymore.
Or rather, Serlandul's healing abilities hadn't reached that level of limb regeneration yet.
"Please endure it."
"It will hurt a bit."
"O-okay."
The trembling, evasive-eyed prisoners fearfully stole glances at everyone with peripheral vision.
Long-term enslavent, imprisonnt, and even abuse had conditioned them to instinctive fear of other humans.
It would probably take a long ti to recover from this tragic experience.
In this situation, no matter how good-looking or friendly Gauss and the others were, it was useless.
After Aria fed them Mana Berries, their condition improved considerably.
Gauss gathered all the resources on the mountain peak.
Aside from the present prisoners, he spared no one else.
After Serlandul completed basic treatnt, Gauss also created several simple carts.
The re-clothed prisoners, under Gauss's soft directions, boarded the carts. Then clay constructs and mounts pulled them down the mountain path along the road.
The vehicles erged from the forest.
When they reached open ground, the first brilliant afternoon sunlight shone upon them.
So "slaves" finally raised their heads, expressions dazed.
They seed to have welcod a new life.
And the past period felt... like experiencing a very, very long dream.
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