“Boss Golden Tooth, is this little girl really the person we’re looking for?”
Skinny Monkey asked the burly man in front of him in a hidden camp deep within the dense forest.
“There’s no one else around. Can’t you use my proper title?”
The man named Golden Tooth replied, looking quite dissatisfied.
Skinny Monkey immediately corrected himself.
“Captain! Is this girl the target we’re looking for?”
“Don’t ask so many questions. Go do your work.”
Hearing Skinny Monkey use a different title only to ask the same question made Golden Tooth’s head ache.
His meaning had clearly been for the man to stop asking questions altogether.
‘How can this subordinate be so simple-minded?’
Reprimanded by his boss, Skinny Monkey tactfully shut his mouth.
Not daring to ask more, he turned and walked out of the wooden hut.
After a moment of hesitation, he headed toward a separate building.
The young girl they had captured earlier was being held there.
Well, calling it “held” was a bit of a stretch, as they had been providing her with good food and drink the entire time.
Arriving at the tightly closed door, Skinny Monkey knocked.
Without waiting for a response, he pushed the door open.
The room was bright, with sunlight spilling through the window and filling almost the entire space.
However, the girl seemed to be intentionally avoiding the sun.
She had curled her thin, frail body into a small patch of shadow.
There was a birdcage at her feet containing a crow, its eyes staring straight at Skinny Monkey as he entered.
“Ahem. Little girl, how do you like it here?”
Skinny Monkey cleared his throat, looking at Mida with a playful expression.
Mida didn’t speak.
She didn’t even move, shrinking into the corner in a daze as if she hadn’t heard him speaking to her.
Seeing no reaction from Mida, Skinny Monkey felt a twinge of guilt.
Still, he stepped forward, grabbed her clothes, and growled, “I’m asking you a question! Are you deaf?!”
The moment the words left his mouth, Skinny Monkey noticed that Mida seemed different from when they had first encountered her.
To be precise, the light in her eyes had vanished.
Originally, Mida’s beautiful eyes had been like a vibrant, living spring, but now they were dull and lifeless, as if the spring had dried up.
There were still tear stains on her cheeks, looking as though she had recently wept.
Looking at Mida in this state, Skinny Monkey couldn’t bring himself to continue.
He let go of her clothes and tossed her back onto the bed.
Just as he was about to leave, a chaotic commotion suddenly erupted outside.
“What’s going on? What’s all the noise about!”
Skinny Monkey pushed the door open and shouted toward the yard, but he found that no one in the camp was listening to him.
At that moment, a bearded bandit squeezed through the chaotic crowd.
He scrambled toward Skinny Monkey and spoke urgently, “Officer! The Holy See has found us!!”
“What?!”
Skinny Monkey’s expression shifted instantly at the mention of the Holy See.
After glancing back at Mida, Skinny Monkey slammed the door shut and walked toward the source of the noise.
—
Francis and the other three stood in the clearing at the center of the camp, silently staring at the surrounding crowd dressed in bandit attire.
A few reckless fools had just rushed forward to attack them, and they were now lying unconscious on the ground.
Through Francis’s use of **[Identification]**, it had been basically confirmed that the Saintess was in this camp.
However, they did not take the initiative to attack.
Although these bandits were no match for them, they were worried that pushing the group too hard would cause them to take drastic actions against the Saintess.
The Saintess was more important than these people.
“Hey, Zhencheng, do you think waiting here is more efficient than just slaughtering our way in?”
Qiancheng asked.
He was becoming impatient.
“Let’s wait a moment and see when their leader comes out,” Francis replied.
“My main concern is that they might do something desperate and use the Saintess as a hostage.”
“Tsk. Zhencheng, even we had to use a Holy Stone to find the Saintess. How could these guys possibly recognize her?”
Another Defender of the Faith snorted in disdain.
He felt this was entirely unnecessary.
“That’s enough, Zhongcheng. Just stay calm. Since the Bishop gave this mission to Zhencheng, stop interrupting,” Qiancheng said, trying to ease the tension.
Seeing that no one was taking his side, Zhongcheng tactfully shut his mouth and said no more.
Just as the group was becoming restless, a figure stepped out from the surrounding crowd and approached the Defenders of the Faith.
“What’s this? Are you the leader of this pack of bandits?”
Francis asked with a sneer as he looked at the thin, monkey-like middle-aged man.
“Enough nonsense. You’ve kidnapped someone you shouldn’t have. We demand to search your camp now.”
Francis intentionally raised his voice so everyone could hear him clearly.
“As you can see, we are on business for the Holy See. It is only by the mercy of the Holy See that we haven’t wiped out this camp yet. I hope you won’t be ungrateful.”
Skinny Monkey glanced at Francis, his eyes lingering on Francis’s one empty sleeve, but he said nothing.
Feeling the other man’s gaze, a flash of gloom crossed Francis’s face before he regained his composure.
As the two sides stood in a standoff, a loud, booming voice suddenly cut through the air.
“I don’t give a damn about the Holy See. Around here, I’m the law.”
Francis looked toward the source of the voice and saw a burly man with a single gold tooth set in his mouth.
“Boss Golden Tooth!”
Seeing his leader appear, Skinny Monkey’s hunched back straightened instantly, and he stood as tall as a pine tree.
“Are you the one in charge of this camp?”
Francis asked politely, suppressing the anger in his heart after seeing the reactions of the surrounding bandits.
‘The Saintess is still in their territory. Tearing off the mask now is just asking for trouble.’
“What, you want to act wild on my turf?”
Golden Tooth’s lips curled into a slight smirk.
“Even if the Holy See’s Holy Knight Order came today, they’d have to lose a layer of skin before they could leave.”
“I’m sorry, I think you might have misunderstood. I want to —”
Francis was halfway through his sentence when Golden Tooth impatiently interrupted him.
“Stop your whining. You think we’re going to listen to reason? Whatever we steal belongs to us! Boys, get them!”
Hearing their leader’s command, the subordinates naturally didn’t dare to hesitate.
Carrying knives, spears, swords, and halberds, they rushed toward Francis’s group of four.
Watching the Defenders of the Faith get surrounded by his men, Golden Tooth let out a cold laugh.
“How foolish. You thought you could come here and take something with only four people?!”
In the next moment, however, Golden Tooth’s cold laugh froze.
He saw the four men pull various weapons from their clothes and begin slashing through the crowd like windmills.
His subordinates fell at their feet like wheat.
Blood gathered beneath them, forming a pool the size of a small spring.
Seeing this, Golden Tooth’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
“Stop! Everyone retreat immediately!”
He issued the retreat order without hesitation.
The already terrified bandits immediately dropped their weapons and scrambled away from Francis and his companions.
Francis clenched his one hand into a fist, his palm almost entirely stained red with blood.
“Can we communicate properly now?”
Seeing the enemy retreat, Francis didn’t pursue them.
Instead, he asked in a leisurely manner.
Unlike before, his tone now carried a hint of arrogance.
Golden Tooth clenched his fists and lowered his head, making it impossible to see his expression.
Francis waited quietly.
Neither side spoke first.
After an unknown amount of time, the blood on the ground had already begun to dry.
The dark brown earth emitted a metallic, bloody stench that hung over the entire camp.
Finally, Qiancheng grew impatient.
“Hey, Zhencheng, what are you playing at?! How long are you going to keep watching?”
Qiancheng complained to Francis before taking a step forward.
“If you’re not going, I am. Let’s hurry up and finish these lackeys so we can rescue the Saintess!”
Francis didn’t speak or stop him.
He just watched the silent, burly man, sensing that something was strange.
The relationship between this man and his subordinates seemed different from that of typical bandits.
Usually, if a few of them were killed, common bandits would lose their will to fight and lose their nerve.
However, these bandits hadn’t retreated until the man gave the order.
No matter how bloody the scene became or how terrified they were, they had continued to throw their lives away one after another.
It was as if some kind of rule was binding them.
Just as Qiancheng took his second step, Golden Tooth, who had been silent with his head down, suddenly spoke.
“All units, hear my command! Form ranks!”