Chapter 8: The Bazaar Path (Part 2)

The thin man kept saying, “Yes, yes… I’ll surely satisfy you, satisfy you…”
Guo Shier asked, “Name, age, occupation!” Suddenly realizing this was the questioning method he used to interrogate enemies in his past life, he couldn’t help but laugh. But that laugh scared the thin man terribly.
The thin man trembled and said, “I… my name is Benilu. My nickname… it’s Monkey. I’m… I’m thirty-eight years old… Yes, I’m a hunter…” Thirty-eight was equivalent to seventy-six in Guo Shier’s past life. Here, thirty-eight was still considered middle age; most people could live to eighty, and those skilled in martial arts could even live longer.
Guo Shier was surprised. “A hunter? Aren’t you a bandit?”
Benilu cursed inwardly. Here, the vast majority of bandits were actually hunters. When they didn’t get enough loot at the borders, they would sometimes act as bandits. If they managed to steal enough wealth, they would go home happily.
“Yes, yes, I’m a bandit!”
Guo Shier asked, “Monkey, where’s your lair?”
Benilu said with a bitter smile, “We don’t have a lair. We just gather temporarily to rob. We’re also hunters from Edlu Castle. But this time we got too little. We all have families to support… It’s unbearable to go back like this.”
Ezek cursed, “Damn it… They’re a bunch of poor wretches!”
Guo Shier took out the pile of items he had collected earlier and examined them briefly. Indeed, they were very poor—eleven people with only a few hundred gold coins, a few crystals, and nearly a thousand silver coins. A thousand silver coins sounded like a lot, but they were all thin strips, about the length of a child’s finger. A hundred silver coins was just one handful.
“Poor guys… Are you all from the Duchy of Ek?”
Benilu replied, “Yes, yes…”
Guo Shier said, “You can’t be the leader here. Who is?”
Benilu turned his head toward a middle-aged man. The man was two meters tall and still quite large even lying on the ground, but his knee was dislocated, making him look pitiful. He propped himself up with his hands and said gravely, “My name is De Da. My nickname is Tiger. I’m thirty-two years old, a hunter… and part-time bandit.”
Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. This guy was interesting—even a part-time bandit. He asked, “Are you the leader?”
De Da said with a bitter smile, “I guess I’m the organizer. Yeah, the captain. Since everyone’s life isn’t going well, we came here to make a little money. Who would have thought we’d run into you two… We’re just unlucky.”

Guo Shier asked, “Are you familiar with this area? Do you know of any other bandits?”
De Da replied, “I’m not familiar with other bandits, but I know this area well. That’s why I’ve been operating on the outskirts, not daring to go deeper. There are many bandits and outlaws deep in the Karabaza Trail—we can’t afford to provoke them.”
Guo Shier laughed and said, “Just because you can’t handle them doesn’t mean we can’t. Hehe, Tiger, are you interested in joining?”
De Da looked confused and asked, “Joining what?”
Guo Shier said excitedly, “I’m also organizing a bandit gang to specialize in robbing bandits and outlaws. Hehe, it’s bound to be fun.”
De Da and Benilu broke into cold sweats, as did the others. With just eleven of them plus these two, how dare they try to rob the bandits and outlaws in the Karabaza Trail? Didn’t they know how powerful those bandits were? A gang of a few hundred was already considered medium-sized here; larger gangs could number over a thousand. With only thirteen of them, wasn’t that seeking death?
Ezekiel suddenly became interested. He wasn’t really interested in looting, but the idea of leading a group to rob others seemed novel to him. He said, “Alright, everyone join. If anyone refuses, let me know, and I’ll eat them right away!” With that, who would dare say no?
Benilu was the fastest to respond, saying, “I’ll join!”
De Da wasn’t slow either. He said, “We’ll all join…” He had no choice but to join—otherwise, he’d be eaten by this crazy man. Though he didn’t believe the man would actually eat people, he was sure the man wouldn’t hesitate to kill them under the pretense of refusal.
The others, drenched in cold sweat, quickly declared their willingness to join, much to everyone’s delight.
In moments, Guo Shier reset all eleven bandits’ dislocated legs. He said, “Alright, pick up your weapons. We’re ready to head into the trail to rob them.”
There were eleven bandits, three of them archers, while the rest were skilled in close combat, mostly at level one or two—representing the lowest level of combat prowess in this world. No wonder they only dared to lay ambushes at the beginning of the trail, not venture deeper, and only rob a few individuals rather than entire caravans.
With a total of thirteen people on both sides, they didn’t take the main road but instead entered the woods, heading deeper into the Karabaza Trail.

Deep within the Karabaza paths, there are countless tiny trails that form a maze-like network. Those unfamiliar with the area can easily get lost. However, De Da was very familiar with this place; he led a group through it, while Guo Shier quickly lost his direction. Unless he flew up to take a look, he would surely get lost.

“De Da, where are we going?”

De Da replied, “Ahead is Sudu Rock. It’s quite dangerous there, with many bands of robbers waiting.”

Sudu Rock could be translated as Eagle’s Beak Rock. Guo Shier smiled and said, “Sudu Rock? Good. Lead us to find other bands of robbers as well as possible.” He had already sent three archers ahead as scouts to report back once they found anything.

Bannilu said, “We’ll get news soon. I remember this area is under Eson’s control…”

Guo Shier asked, “Monkey, who is Eson?”

Bannilu replied, “Eson is one of the larger bands of robbers near Sudu Rock, with fifty or sixty members. They’re different from us. We’re just temporary robbers, but they’re professional robbers who have been operating here for a long time.”

De Da said with a wry smile, “We can’t defeat Eson’s band. They’re very strong.” He was extremely anxious. If their small group attacked Eson’s band, he didn’t know if he’d survive.

Guo Shier pointed at Ezekiel beside him with his thumb and said with a smile, “Don’t worry. With Ezekiel here, there’s no need to worry about anything. He can take on Eson’s band alone.”

De Da secretly scoffed. How could that be possible? Could one person really defeat a band of fifty or sixty people? That was ridiculous. He had no confidence at all. Although Guo Shier and Ezekiel showed extraordinary strength, De Da thought it was because their own group was too weak, not because those two were too strong.

“I hope so…” De Da said doubtfully. Just then, an archer ran back and said, “We’re almost at Eson’s camp… What should we do?” His face was pale. It was impossible for him not to be scared. Eson was ruthless, and getting involved with them wasn’t a pleasant situation at all.

Guo Shier didn’t explain further. If they were scared, so be it. Anyway, they wouldn’t have to fight. He said, “Alright, let’s speed up and charge straight into Eson’s camp.”

Hearing this, everyone in De Da’s group turned pale. But given Guo Shier’s dominance, they didn’t dare object and had to quicken their pace. According to Bannilu’s thinking, it was like rushing headlong into death.

About ten minutes later, a group of part-time bandits arrived at Eissen’s camp. It was a small valley entrance surrounded by a fence made of logs, about seven or eight meters high, along with two arrow towers. The two sentinels at the entrance sat lazily on rocks, eating fruits in their hands.

Guo Shier and Ezekiel strode out of the dense forest, followed by eleven others. However, De Da and the rest stepped forward reluctantly, looking extremely uneasy. Unfazed by their thoughts, Guo Shier and Ezekiel prepared to rob the camp with great enthusiasm.

“Stop!”
The two sentinels jumped up in fright from the rocks, waving their long knives and shouting, “Who are you? What do you want?”

Guo Shier shouted loudly, “Robbery!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!
Alarms sounded from the arrow towers, instantly causing chaos throughout Eissen’s camp. One of the arrow towers launched an attack—two arrows flew straight at Guo Shier and Ezekiel’s foreheads. Both of them reacted in exactly the same way: they reached out and caught the arrows mid-air.

Guo Shier even took the time to glance at the arrows. They were simple in design but powerful, with metal tips, yet they posed no threat to him or Ezekiel. Another two arrows were shot. Guo Shier gently tapped the shaft of one of the arrows, knocking it away.

Ezekiel, however, wasn’t so patient. He threw his own arrow, which emitted a sharp whistling sound. Faster than the previous arrows, it pierced the archer’s head instantly, causing him to fall from the tower with a thud. The wooden gate of the camp fence opened, and over thirty people rushed out.

Guo Shier said, “Ezekiel, don’t kill indiscriminately… I need these people.”

Ezekiel lost his enthusiasm and said, “I have no desire to kill these guys. Fine, if you want to fight, go ahead. I’m too lazy to get my hands dirty.” In fact, as long as they didn’t provoke him, he wouldn’t kill anyone. Just like the archer earlier—had he not shot a second arrow, Ezekiel wouldn’t have killed him.

Bannilu stepped closer to Guo Shier and whispered, “That’s Eissen… He’s very strong.”

Guo Shier quickly assessed Eissen’s strength and nodded inwardly. Eissen was actually a level-four Barbarian Spirit expert, capable of serving as a military commander for a castle. With such strength, he could survive anywhere—he already had a place in this world.

Eisen was an old man with a golden beard, dressed in a black-dyed fine linen robe and half plate armor, carrying a long-handled crescent axe. He had blue eyes and very light eyebrows, giving him an eerie appearance. Holding his axe, he stepped forward boldly and shouted, “De Da, do you dare attack Eisen’s camp?”
Guo Shier turned and asked, “De Da, do you know him?”