They already exited the Monarch Forest a few hours ago. After getting out, they proceeded to climb up the mountain at Allen's lead.

'Where are we even going?', Edwin thought.

At some point, Allen stopped walking and took out a compa.s.s. It was the same compa.s.s that he tampered with before they entered Monarch Forest. Edwin saw the compa.s.s and made him think why Allen kept taking it out.

Before they even started to climb up the mountain, Allen have been taking in and out the compa.s.s for many times.

Unlike yesterday, the compa.s.s needle started moving and pointed to a certain direction up the mountain. Allen placed it away in his satchel and continued to stride towards the direction where the needle pointed.

Some time later, the two of them arrived near a pit on the mountain. On the pit, was an encampment of some sort.

"There are actually people living on the mountain?" Edwin remarked, "Isn't this pa.s.s dangerous?"

However, Allen shook his head then pointed to something near the settlement. Edwin looked over and saw that it was a coach, but he felt that it was a bit familiar.

"Could it be?", Edwin turned his gaze to Allen.

"Yes, it's that same carriage.", Allen nodded and took out his compa.s.s again. The tip of its needle pointing towards the carriage.

"The people camped in there are pirates. The driver of the carriage we rode on is also a pirate.", Allen added.

"How did you know?", Edwin asked.

"The accent of the driver was suspicious. It seems like he was forcing to copy the accent of the townsfolk. If he didn't come from the neighboring country the east, then he's a pirate.", Allen said.

He added, "So I hid a special kind of metal that I could track on the book that I was reading... and my hunch about that man was right."

"What are we going to do now then?", Edwin asked curiously.

"No, what are you going to do?", Allen returned back the question.

"Me? Wait... I'm going to take care of them myself?", Edwin asked in surprise.

"You still didn't answer my question. Again, what are you going to do?", Allen repeated the question.

"I'm going to... kill them all?", Edwin replied. A tinge of hesitation appeared on his face.

"And why is that?", Allen asked.

"Because... they killed innocent people?", Edwin said.

"Alright, but what if there are also some innocent pirates in that camp?", Allen asked again.

"How can that be possible? Pirates being innocent?", Edwin was baffled.

"Some of them were probably forced under certain circ.u.mstances. Yes, they have sinned in some ways such as stealing and possibly murdered others to make a living, but is that reason enough to end their lives?", Allen questioned.

'Should I answer yes or no?', Edwin thought. In the end, he couldn't answer back anything.

"We live in a world where morality is one of the basis of what the majority will think of you. Killing is wrong, but there is always a reason for everything that we will do.", Allen said.

"Edwin?" Allen turned his head to Edwin, "Have you killed somebody?"

"No." He shook he his head. As far as he could remember, he hasn't killed a single sentient being yet. Even the elves were only severely injured.

"I will capture them, but what will I do to the ones who did heinous acts?", Edwin asked.

"Leave them to me. Try to restrain all of them first.", Allen said. Afterwards, he gave the boy a black robe and sent him on his way.

***

The camp didn't have any walls surrounding it, letting Edwin easily enter its perimeter. He noticed at one glance the nicely built shanties, as if the settlement was a permanent one.

He heard noises of cheering as well as laughing as he got closer to the center. In the center of the settlement, a large bonfire was burning; surrounding it were celebrating people. He didn't head straight to that location because there were too many of them.

Allen took his satchel where most of his equipment were and only carried his twin daggers with him so that he would be challenged.

He kept travelling around the camp discreetly until he found the place that he was searching for, which was a rather large house. The house was bigger in size and even had some decorations on it compared to the rest of the buildings around it, but it was near the bonfire where there the crowd was having a party of some sort.

Edwin guessed the building was the home of the leader of the settlement.

Still under the cover of darkness, Edwin made a detour around the center, avoiding the torches or any source of light that could expose him until he arrived at the back of the leader's house.

"Hey you! Stop right there!", a voice said behind him.

Edwin was caught off guard, and he cursed within his mind, 'd.a.m.n it, I should've checked the area first.' He was sure that all of the men were celebrating, but he was caught by a patrol.

"Why aren't you kneeling? Go kneel!", the voice said again.

He slowly started to get into a kneeling position; however, he was also getting ready to take out his twin daggers from his sleeves at the same time. As he was about to fully get into a kneeling position, he swiftly got his daggers out and injected it with internal energy while turning around towards the voice.

Turning around, he only saw a seemingly drunk man who was talking to a training dummy from the other side of the path.

"You piece of **** how dare you not respond! Eat this.", the man lifted up his sword in a bid to attack the dummy, but he suddenly slipped midway and fell on his back towards the ground while the sword swirled on the air above him.

As the man was about to stand up again, the b.u.t.t of the sword accurately hit his head and knocked him out.

Edwin: "..."

After that, he checked the backdoor and figured out that it was unlocked. He carefully entered through it and closed it.

He was now in a small hallway lit up by torches. He probed the rooms that was connected to the hallway until he found the bedroom.

Going inside the bedroom, he surveyed around until he finally walked towards a wardrobe and hid in it.

Time pa.s.sed and the sounds of celebration faded. Edwin almost took a nap, but his tiredness was cleared off when he heard footsteps coming towards the room.

Through the little holes on the wardrobe, he spotted a big man whose physique could be mistaken for a barbarian, and beside him was a woman; then something happened next.

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Edwin's mouth widened as he witnessed everything, from the up to bottom to the both of them going up to the bed. He covered his eyes, calmed himself down, and swallowed his saliva.

Afterwards, he heard the sounds of moaning, making his face twitch repeatedly.

"Harder, harder.", the woman's voice said. After Edwin heard that, even louder moans echoed throughout the room; this time making his hands shudder.

Then he started hearing the sound of the bed creaking loudly for many times. Edwin unconsciously slapped his forehead in distress.

"Huh, who's that?", the man said. He went out of bed and grabbed his sword from underneath.

Afterwards, he approached the wardrobe. When he was in front of the wardrobe, he pierced his sword through it and slashed it apart.

When the wardrobe collapsed, only pieces of wood and clothes remained, some of which got torn apart, but there wasn't anything else.

"I could've sworn I heard something", the man said.

In a split-second, Edwin appeared behind the man and knocked him out by the back of his head. The man dropped to the ground with a thud.

Edwin seemed to be slightly panting and sweating although he didn't waste a lot of internal energy.

"Ummm... kid, don't you want to come up here? I can give you... you know.", the woman shyly said to Edwin, as if she didn't see how the man was easily beaten by him.

Edwin quickly threw the dagger with its handle aimed towards the woman's head, which knocked her out. That's when he started to pant heavier, but he tried stabilized his breathing and it went back to normal a few seconds later.

After which, he stiffly walked towards the bed to retrieve his dagger and tied the man with the rope he found in another room, while he wrapped the woman around the blanket first then tied her up. He also covered their mouths with cloth in case they would attempt to call for help once they woke up.

"Next targets, the a.s.sistants.", Edwin said as he left the house.