The Lamia was about to say something, but Karl was already gone. Rae used [Shadow Step] and a length of silk to drag him with her into the trees, then a second step to where Hawk had found the Bandits.
The group turned to stare at Karl, who had appeared alone next to their camp, and began to slowly get to their feet, brandishing weapons.
“I have some good news and some bad news for you.” Karl informed them.
“Oh, you think you have good news for us, do you?” An aging bandit informed him with a smirk.
The man looked at least half Ogre, and smelled far worse, but that could have something to do with whatever it was that they were cooking. It smelled of rot and vomit, and Karl was becoming certain that he was about to do these bandits a favour.
Karl nodded at him. “The good news is that none of you have to go to work tomorrow.”
The bandits began to laugh and circle Karl, who still didn’t have a weapon in his hands.
“And what is the bad news?” “I forgot to ask that lovely young lady how much she was willing to pay for your stinking carcasses.”
Karl called the team out, and Remi got things started with a [Thunderstorm] that had Hawk immediately complaining about her poor decision-making skills.
He had his [Wind Barrier] up to stay dry, but he didn’t love water magic any more just because it was his little sister using it.
Remi’s lone bodyguard hit the leaders with a Tsunami, while Karl followed it with a flurry of [Chain Lightning] enhanced arrows.
He hadn’t had his bow out in a while, but all the bandits were running as soon as Remi and Rae appeared. They didn’t even seem to see Cara until someone nearly stepped on her and the Void Badger flew into a rage, tearing everything apart.
Not even the trees were safe from her wrath. Rae was herding bandits toward Cara with her webs and golems, while Remi and her bodyguard focused on the core area.
Karl called out the two Lamia bodyguards, and let them loose on the camp.
It was over in under a minute, leaving only one dome of silk, and a lot of blood after Rae picked up the bodies.
“What is in there? Snacks for later?” Karl asked Rae.
[Small creatures. They weren’t fighting, and I didn’t know what to do with them.]
“Bring them back with us. Toss up a rock or two and we can shadow step.” Karl suggested.
Instead, Rae made him a blanket and passed Karl the bag. With both on her back, she was covered enough to Shadow Step.
Remi retreated to her space, and Cara sniffed around the camp for a minute before realizing there was nothing worth taking.
Not even roast meat.
She returned to her space empty-handed, and Karl hopped back toward the wagon, with Rae’s help.
She returned to her space, and Karl jogged the last dozen metres to the waiting group with the bag full of children dragging behind him.
That was a minor oversight. When they were on Rae’s back, it was fine, but he shouldn’t bump them along the ground like that.
“I don’t suppose that you have an Orphan collection program, do you? I’ve got a bunch of them from the valley.” Karl asked as he approached.
“Pardon?” The closest guard asked, confused.
“The bag, it’s full of the children from the bandit camp. They don’t really count as bandits because they didn’t even try to fight. I have the corpses of the combatants stored in a separate space.”
The Lamia and her guards were staring at Karl now, and Ophelia began to laugh. “Well, that was definitely less than ten minutes, you can keep your good sleeping spot.”
The guards came over to grab the large silk bag, and one of the others gestured for Karl to step aside.
“Did you really kill them all and collect their bodies?” He whispered.
Karl nodded. “You can have them if you like. Or I can put them in the ditch over there.”
The guard nodded. “We do need to verify their deaths, and if the bodies are gone from their camp, we need to see them.”
Karl led the guard away to a low spot, where he began to stack the bodies.
The guard looked more horrified with every addition, and Karl realized that with the extensive use of [Rend] and [Disintegration] there weren’t all that many fully intact corpses.
“How did you do that?” The Guard whispered. “I’m part troll.” Karl joked.
That didn’t really answer the man’s question, and Karl didn’t look part troll. But it was a good enough answer for his superiors. A rampaging Royal Rank troll would be the sort of natural disaster that a bandit group would not survive.
“We should get rid of those.” The guard sighed.
“I’ve got this. Hawk, please do the honours.”
Hawk bombarded the pile with fireballs, roasting it all to ash in a matter of seconds.
“A troll that isn’t afraid of fire?” The guard asked.
“Find the one thing in the world that can kill you, and make it your friend. Dragon Hawks are a great and loyal partner once you earn their respect.”
The guard looked at Karl like he was insane, but didn’t say anything else before returning to his team.
The bag was open, but the kids were still sitting in a terrified huddle, too afraid to even cry. There were demons, a young Minotaur, three half Ogres, and a few Karl couldn’t identify.
Their eyes were locked on him, unwilling to look away from the danger, even when the guards were trying to talk to them.
Karl smiled at them. “Why don’t you tell these nice people all about how you ended up in that valley? I think that they can help you find a much safer spot to be, with no monsters. I mean, maybe with monsters, but not the scary kind.”
The Lamia in the luxurious carriage giggled softly, and a few of the guards facepalmed.
“You have a way with words, Merchant. We will have a team from the city escort the children back to town for placement. Were you heading for Halsearing?” She asked.
Karl nodded. “We are. Then I head north tomorrow. There is a nomadic Orc tribe that should be in the area, and they wanted the dried fish.”
The Lamia nodded, and Karl added a warning.
“We were attacked this morning, between here and Lutonade, using a Portal. If you’re going to head west with a fine lady, you should be careful. They had Pirate Captains with them.”
The Knights looked grim, but the Lamia looked calm as she nodded in understanding. “They shouldn’t bother us. Lutonade has an agreement with the Knight Orders. Would it be too much to ask you to wait here for the retrieval team to come get the children? They should make it here near dark.
I would ask you to walk them to the city, but you wouldn’t make it before dark with their pace.”
Karl did the mental math. They would have to avoid the city to make the anomaly on time tomorrow night, but that might be better for them.
“If I do the delivery first, then come back to the city to resupply, that should be fine.” Karl agreed, while the children cowered in terror at the thought of being left with him any longer.