A few minutes later, Alex and others came. Alex immediately scanned the cave entrance and noticed no dead bodies.
Glancing at Meera, he concluded that she had buried the dead bodies using her Spirit Magic, he couldn't help but chuckle.
''Where is Eleonora?"
''She has gone inside ahead to scout.''
To Alex's question, Meera responded before glancing at Golfak who was still trembling after his first time killing another human.
Alex and others looked at him for while before shifting their attention towards the entrance waiting for Eleonora to come out.
Meanwhile, Gracier and Meera were conversing, exchanging jokes to lighten the gloomy mood, Golfak finally came back, he was looking pale.
Alex noticed Eleonora coming back from the cave with silenced steps.
''How was it?''
At Alex's question, Eleonora gave a small nod before explaining.
''There's one main path ahead. However, it later splits into 3 passages. On the right path, there seems to be where the captured individuals are detained. Because there were guards, I left not doing anything. The middle path is quite wide, the sounds of reveling were coming from there. Also, the left side seems to be some sort of armory and storage area. Roughly they seem to be 4 to 5 men inside the cave, I'm not very sure.''
''I see. Are there any other exits to the outside?''
''I didn't check as I didn't have enough time,'' Eleonora responded.
''Okay, Gracier, Meera, and Lucien, you three go check the left path, wait for us there. As Eleonora goes on the right path clean the guards and sees if there is no prisoner. Golfak, Sebastian, and I will take care of the middle path.''
Hearing Alex's instructions, everybody nodded their heads. Alex added,
''Conrad, I will let this man in your custody. Do whatever you want with him. It will be good to let him work in the mine as a slave worker instead of killing him. Well, that's my opinion, though.''
Conrad who was hiding left out a chuckle before responding.
''I understand. I'll take care of it.''
''Okay, we'll rush in.''
At Alex's cue, they rushed into the cave.
.....
Because the entrance was narrow, Eleonora went in first to check to complete her task. After that, Lucien, Golfak, Meera, and Gracier entered in that order. Alex entered last.
''It's narrow.''
In the cave, it was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. There was only enough space for one person to fight freely.
Checking the situation, Alex spoke.
''Kill 'em all. Let's none alive.''
''Ohh!!!"
Everyone nodded at Alex's words, Eleonora advanced to the right passageway where the prison was, Gracier, Meera, and Lucien toward the armory.
Alex saw that before quickly taking the middle passageway while trying to make as little noise as possible.
''Tsu!?''
As Sebastian approached the front, Alex waved his hand to stop him.
''Here there are.''
''Numbers of enemies?"
''Three.''
''We take one each. I'll take the one in the middle, you two take care of the rest.''
Everyone nodded at Alex's instructions, Sebastian and Golfak prepared their weapons, ready to rush in at any time.
''Ready? Go.''
To Alex's signal they moved, Alex was the fastest to arrive in front of the bandit leisurely sipping his ale while doing some kind of dirty dancing, the others were singing.
''Wha-?"
He did not even manage to finish his word before his head was sent flying into the air, blood spurted from the headless body covering the table in blood, Alex had already left the place.
''Enemy attack''
''Guh,''
The other two finally reacted, however before they could react and pick their weapons, Sebastian and Golfak attacked them and killed them. Sebastian quickly ended his victim, it was Golfak who took a little bit of time to kill his enemy.
The fight ended in a matter of minutes, meanwhile, Alex was cleaning the blood from his blade Razor. It was more like a massacre than a proper fight because none of the bandits' level was higher than Alex's and crew, the strongest was at level 25, the one Alex took down, the other two levels were 24 and 23 respectively.
As the previous bandits they eliminated on the road, their level was a little bit higher, the boss level was 33.
Shaking his head Alex announced, ''Check if there are any valuables here, if there is take them before taking care of the corpses, we will burn them before leaving but not now because the cave will be filled with smoke. Once you finish come join me at the armory.''
Both Sebastian and Golfak nodded their heads, the latter complexion was a little bit pale, however, his eyes were resolute.
.....
Alex joined his sister and the others in the warehouse.
''Welcome back Big brother.''
''Hello, Leader~"
Gracier and Eleonora greeted Alex in front of the storage area, Meera and Lucien must be inside the room.
There were also two unfamiliar people. While expecting that they were probably some captured merchants.
One of the two unfamiliar men, a middle-aged man advanced and bowed his head.
''You must be their leader. I'm Léopold, a merchant, thank you for saving me and my assistant, also nephew' life.'' Léopold said, the assistant also bowed his head however Alex could see a bit of hostility in the man's eyes.
''You welcome, I'm Alexender,'' Alex responded unfazed by the assistant hostility, he then turned his head in Meera's direction, she just came out with Lucien.
''So, what's in there?''
''Mm, well. Firstly, there is a moderate amount of gold, silver, and copper coins, there are some jewels as well, 15 Gold coins, 150 silver coins, and 200 copper coins to be more exact. Besides, there are also some cheap magic items. However, strangely, there's a large number of weapons which I guess must be the merchandise of the two humans over there.''
At the end of her words she glanced at Léopold and his assistant, the two nodded their heads before staring at Alex as if to ask can we get back our merchandise?
The two were afraid that Alex would take their merchandise back to the guild or worse refuse to give it back because he can if he chose to, in the former case they will need to pay a heavy price to get their stolen merchandise back from the guild, they hope Alex will be merciful.
Heaving a sigh Alex said, ''Let's them collect their weapons.''
Léopold and his overjoyed ready to thank the man for his generosity, however, it was a piteous sense of relief, short-lived as it was.
''How many are there in total?"
''Fifty,'' Meera answered.
''I see. You'll pay 1 silver coin per weapon making a total of 50 silver coins, I won't ask too much, take it or you'll collect your weapons at the guild.''
Léopold gritted his teeth and finally accepted the deal, after paying the 50 silver coins, he left with his assistant to check the weapons.
Alex and others followed suit, checking the magic items and jewels, Alex spotted a good magic sword, a longsword with Wind attribute.
''Sebastian take this.''
Alex said before throwing the longsword at Sebastian who caught it and inspected it, then he took a few casual swings, he seemed pleased with the sword, he did not test the magic sword attribute because now wasn't the time, sheathing the sword into his scabbard, Sebastian bowed his head.
''Thank you, leader, thank you a lot.''
Alex waved his hand to indicate that it was not a big deal, he appreciated Sebastian's quickness, he was fast when it comes to making decisions or following orders, sometimes he knew what to do even without being told, he can be considered a good party member.
The others smiled pleased with Alex's decision, they were happy for Sebastian because with this sword, his strength will increase so was their chance of survival, their chance of quickly accomplishing the incoming mission, only Golfak seemed displeased with Alex's action, however, he did not dare to protest because he was really afraid of Alex more than Eleonora.
Suddenly, Léopold who was checking his merchandise came and asked,
''Young man can I buy the magic items and jewels if you don't mind?"
•••••
Nickaido's here,
Thks to all of you giving me your PS, truly thank you. I know that the story is not perfect, but I'm sure that with your help it can become better, with your constructive criticisms and suggestions it can become a story everyone can enjoy. Keep voting, keep supporting this shameless author. I plan to open a discord server for the novel soon, I'll inform you once it's created.