Modern Demon System - Chapter 11

Six bandits and Andre were still in a hostile negotiation. Andre still aimed his rifle at the bandits to intimidate them. However, he had no intention to shoot them unless they decided to kill one of the hostages which was not in his plan.

“Who are you? What do you want?” The bandit asked.

“Just a random mercenary. Would you kindly release the hostages, please? I won’t tell the army to hunt all of you down,” Andre said.

“Do you really think the army can catch us?” The bandit asked.

Andre thought about something. He needed to ensure that those bandits were scared for their life. If they had the nerve to say that, it might be the reason why they were so brave to the point of robbing a carriage of a baron. He needed some persuasion.

“Do you even know who you are robbing?” Andre asked as he pointed his rifle at the man that was clearly the oldest among all of those people in the carriage.

The bandit shook his head. The one who did the talking shook his head because he simply didn’t know who he was robbing. Andre took this opportunity to strike the weakness of them all, fear.

“Why are you robbing a carriage of a baron?” Andre asked.

They became silent. Sweat started falling down their face. Andre also thought that they knew about the baron inside of the carriage, but apparently, they were clueless as well.

“Do you think the other nobilities will get you away with this?” Andre asked again.

Sweat started falling even more from their faces. Their clothes turned wet because of their own sweat. Eventually, one of them broke in all of the pressure that Andre gave to them.

“Boss, we should just run!” The bandit that was taking cover behind the carriage said.

“Shut up!”

“See, even your underling knows better. Look, if you release the hostage, I will make sure that the nobilities aren’t looking for you. Isn’t that right? Sir Damaskus,” Andre said.

The old man moved his head up and down. It was the confirmation that the bandits wouldn’t be hunted down by the nobilities. Now, Andre just has to wait for them to retreat.

“Boss, he knows his name. We should go, there might be more of them in the hill,” one of them said.

It was the bandit that held a woman as old as the baron with his hands. She might be his wife, but well, Andre could only suspect about it. Still, if all of them broke in fear, it would be easier for him to deal with the mission. The baron would do what Andre said and the bandits would run on his order.

“Your underlings are smart. Why don’t you run?” Andre asked.

“Don’t think this is over though,” the bandit leader released the baron.

The other bandits followed his action and all of them ran away from the carriage. And the mission was successful, Andre got the rewards from the system and Baron Damaskus thanked Andre for his action.

[Mission Completed: 100 EXP Has Been Rewarded]

[222/700 EXP]

His guards were all dead. There was nobody left to protect him. The driver of the carriage had been killed as well. The carriage would be vulnerable to another attack. Out of kindness, Andre offered himself to protect the convoy, but he wanted to know who Damaskus was.

After all, he saved his life, and knowing him should open up a lot of new connections for Andre in the Havarian kingdom. He didn’t want to rely on the princess all along since there was something unusual with the princess.

“Sir, are you ok?” Andre asked.

“Could be better, but thanks, who are you?” He asked.

“My name is Andre Frazier, call me Andre. What are you doing in here?” Andre asked.

“Well, to be honest, we just came back from our holiday in the Abardan valley, but well, as you can see, bandits hit us on our way back home. Thanks for the assistance by the way,” he said.

Andre kept his mouth shut for now. He didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t want to tell him that he was the familiar of the princess herself, but leaving them alone to the nearest town wasn’t the brightest idea that Andre had in mind either. Escorting them without any rewards was not something that he wanted to do.

“Ok, I need to go. Do you need an escort to a nearby town?” Andre asked.

“In fact, yes, I do,” he said.

“How much can you pay me?” Andre asked.

“One silver coin,” he said.

Andre stopped talking as he heard one silver coin. He didn’t know how much that coin worthed, but it was definitely lower than a gold coin. He remembered that a standard contractor got paid for around 500$ daily at the very least, he was sure that a silver coin didn’t worth that much.

“Just one silver coin, are you sure? I literally just saved your life,” Andre said.

“It’s the average cost of one mercenary,” Damaskus said.

“I’m not an average mercenary, am I?” Andre said.

“Dad, I think he is right on that point,” the daughter said.

Their daughter was similar to Lily but more well-groomed and well-mannered. She lifted her skirt when she introduced herself to Andre. Andre just smiled at her. Well, that might be the effect of living separately from the other nobilities for a very long time.

“Alright, three silver coins,” Damaskus said.

Andre didn’t feel that it was enough, but Andre also knew that this noble wouldn’t pay more than the average market price. Andre accepted it and Damaskus went to the driver seat of that carriage. Andre walked alongside the carriage as the carriage moved.

“Sir, what do you think of the current situation?” Andre asked.

“What do you mean?” Damaskus asked.

“I’m new to this country. What is happening between the Empire and Havarian kingdom?” Andre asked.

“This is going to be a long story. Are you willing to listen for it?” Damaskus asked.

“Sure, I am more than willing to listen,” Andre said.

The baron started telling the origin of the Havarian and Empire war. It was because of the usual political friction between both nations. Different ideology was the reason for it, but well, without any trigger, there wouldn’t be any war. The trigger was an assassination.

A fanatic from the Havarian kingdom assassinated a duke from the Empire. Well, one thing after another, war broke out between two sides and the Empire did a sudden attack by utilizing a massive amount of troops on the eastern border. The town where Lily currently resided used to be the front line of the whole war, but as things subsided, most of the troops from both sides were retreated by the order of the Havarian kingdom itself.

The Havarian kingdom was supporting slavery while Empire didn’t. There was also the mistreatment of prisoners of war in the Havarian kingdom. In short, Andre became educated about the fact of the whole war. It was just the basic human right infringement with Havarian on the wrong side based on a moral compass. However, Andre wouldn’t dare to ask the princess that, she would deny that the kingdom did any of those actions.

Eventually, the carriage arrived at the town. In the gate of the town, the baron gave Andre three silver coins. The baron thanked him and asked whether he wanted to give him a visit on the western side of the kingdom. Andre kindly refused, saying that he still wanted to stay in the city.

“Alright, you can find me when you need me,” Damaskus said.

“See you later, sir.”