Chapter 536 - Pauper Bandit Group (2)

After the caravan broke through the bandit's group's encirclement, they quickly reached the village's vicinity. The bandit quickly stopped their chasing and began looting the caravan's guard's corpse.

When the caravan reached the village's vicinity, the bandit didn't dare to continue chasing. It was because there was an unwritten rule among the bandit group, especially the weaker bandit group.

The weaker bandit group would not chase or even raid a village. The reason was that they were afraid that the kingdom would eradicate them.

Although the kingdom still knew there was a bandit group around the delivery's path, they still could close their eyes. Moreover, if the bandit group was weak. The kingdom had only limited soldiers, and they had to allocate those limited resources everywhere. Hence, the kingdom prioritized those resources for the Bridge World.

The bandit didn't dare to go over the village's vicinity or raided a village with everything said. It would invoke the kingdom's wrath upon them. Even they could implicate the other bandit group.

Because of this, the caravan's group gambled their chance to break through the encirclement. As a veteran merchant group, they would know this secret. Actually, it already became a public secret. Many people already knew about this, but they didn't dare to say it aloud in the open.

Pauper Bandit Group was the last group which blocked the caravan's path. This bandit group was also Auron's group's target for this mission.

"50 people," One of the boys said. "It seemed the military's information was way off the mark."

"Nope. The information was based on one month ago. An increase of 15 people in a month seemed normal for a bandit group." The other boy rebuked.

Auron was closely listening to the boys' discussion. He stayed silent and looked towards the girl. The girl really piqued Auron's interest. So, he waited until the girl said something before correcting the boys.

Meanwhile, the girl was pondering silently with her hand holding her chin. Not long after, the girl opened her mouth.

"It is not that simple," The girl started. The boys looked towards the girl.

"First of all, the number is wrong. It is not an increase of 15 people. It is more than that. I think it is more than 20 people."

"As a bandit group, when they are raiding, there should be some people that left to guard their base or the place where they hide their treasure. Maybe, they left around 5 up to 10 people to guard their base. Hence, with the raider's number, there should be around 60 people. Almost double their number."

"The number doesn't make sense for a month. There should be something behind this. Moreover, I still sense something wrong with the raid this time. However, I still cannot figure it out."

After the girl had said her piece, the boys started to ponder on the girl's words. It seemed logical. However, everything was still based on the girl's conjecture, no proof yet.

At this moment, Auron chimed in, "The raid seemed too well organized."

It was just that one sentence, but the girl seemed to get enlightenment from Auron's words. "Ah!! That is correct!"

"From the caravan's owner's story, the operation was too organized for a bandit group. More than one bandit group was involved in this, and it seemed like they are too well organized."

"It looked like there is someone who pulls the string behind the scene," The girl was pondering.

Auron agreed to what the girl had said. Such weaker bandit groups couldn't work with each other. Their greed should be surpassed normal. So, it was difficult for them to work with each other.

A stronger bandit group was involved in this situation that controlled all of the weaker bandit groups around this area.

"Okay, that's it for now! We will cancel our schedule to observe the Pauper's bandit group's base. I will make sure the bandit's base first. In the meantime, you guys should look for more info around this village first."

Auron had to make sure his student's safety was not compromised. That was why he canceled the schedule and made sure of his information first. If everything was within the margin of safety, he would continue the mission. If not, then he would take the risk to cancel the mission and let the military knew.

If the military deemed Auron's mission to be a failure, Auron would be fine as long as he didn't endanger his students' safety. 

"Okay," Auron's students said in unison.

Since they didn't have anything urgent to do, all of Auron's students went back to finish their breakfast first.

Meanwhile, Auron was preparing everything to scout the Pauper bandit group area first. Auron had brought the map and put a point to where the Pauper bandit group's base. Then, using the Pauper bandit group's base as the center, he drew a circle. 

From then on, he put several points more inside the circle. Usually, they would not feel satisfied with only one base for a weaker and growing bandit group. As they grew bigger, they would create a new base that could be used for later days. And, this new circle that Auron drew was the possible bandit base.

Auron bade farewell to his students. He didn't forget to remind them to stay low and don't push themselves too hard.

Auron exited the inn. Before he left the village, Auron intended to move around the village first to gather a quick report and more information about the villagers' bandit group.

Fortunately, Auron got the chance to meet with the caravan's owner inside the bar. He was drinking and thinking about bad luck. Auron used this chance to approach the drunk caravan's owner.

Using this chance, Auron managed to get more information about the bandit group that attacked them.

For example, Auron knew that there were actually only 2 bandit groups that attacked them. One of them was the Pauper bandit group. And, the leader had joined the raid as well.