Sara continued patting Rosalinds head for a brief moment trying to confort the shaken damisel in distress.
"It must have been hard, you did really well so far, please stop crying, I will take care of the rest okay?"
"My name is Sara, you must be Rosalind right?"
Rosalind took a deep breath, wiped off her tears, and lifted her face looking directly at Sara's eyes.
"Yes, thank you, you said my father sent you? Is my father safe?"
"Yes, I already sent him to a safe place, I will take you to him, but first we need to get out of here, I have a couple friends outside causing a diversion, but I will need you to follow my instructions."
Rosalind nodded,-"What do I need to do?"
"It is simple little doe, do you know what a little fawn does to stay safe?"
"You mean, stay hidden in the bushes?"
"Exactly, I will need you to stay to the back, I will get rid of all those bad wolves for you, and when it's clear I will call for you to come to me, got it?"
"Yes, I will do as you say, but are you okay? you are injured all over, aren't you hurting?"
"Oh, these injuries? I'm fine, I already healed them."
"Huh?" - Rosalind took a closer look at Sara's body, her bruises and cuts we nowhere to be seen, all that was left were a few blood stains and cuts on her clothes.
"Well aren't you cute? thinking of me first even in this situation, you are a good person aren't you? Anyway, we need to start moving, we will have more time to talk later little doe, let's go."
Sara held the knife in her hand, removed the chair that was blocking the door, and then opened it.
The place were the bandit hideout was located at was an old military garrison that had been long abandoned, probably used during a previous war as a strategic outpost. It was located in the outskirts of the city, in fact Baron Callid had allowed the bandits to settle here, he would also allow them to target businesses, merchants and pretty much anyone else that was on his bad side; the bandits were in reality the Baron's thugs, doing all of his dirty deeds so he clould keep his hands clean, at least to the public eye.
The hideout was basically a small fortress. Rosalind was being held in the basement; the place itself was a small maze but that was not a problem for Sara, she had memorized the layout from when she was captured, and already knew the way out, she even knew where most guards were located.
Sara opened the door with Rosalind slowly walking behind her, after walking across a couple corridors they spotted him, the first guardian bandit.
Sara spoke to Rosalind in a low voice-"Stay here and as quietly as possible, (starting from this moment I will only communicate with you like this)."
"Eh?"- Rosalind noticed it, the second sentence Sara spoke was heard directly into her mind, here lips were not moving at all?
"Is that telepathy? I thought that was only possible in fairytales."
"(No, this is called voice transmission, a skilled mana user can infuse their words with mana and send them through the air in the desired direction, I will teach you later, any way, stay here, I will call for you soon)."
Sara looked at the bandit with a cold gaze, it was a young man likely in his twenties, everything about him seemed average.
Sara focused mana into her eyes, the shape of her eyes changed, her pupils became vertical and the skin around her eyes began to resemble scales, now everything in the world seem clearer, her eyes were now able to see much better in the dark and see the flow of mana in the air.
"As I thought, most of the bandits in this place are not even novice mana users."
For an oponent as weak as this, no tricks or assasination techniques were necessary, Sara quickly dashed towards the bandit, for a brief moment, the bandit was able to see something approaching; but alas, It was far too late, Sara slashed his throat before he could make a sound, not even able to ask for help.
"Well, that was dissapointing, whatever, It is better this way, I need to get Rosalind out of here before reinforcements arrive."
"(Little doe, come here)."-Sara called for Rosalind using voice transmission, Rosalind quietly approached to reunite with Sara.
"Yes, are you okay?"-Rosalind looked at the corpse on the floor with a troubled expression, a mix of fear and sadness could be seen in her face.
"It must be difficult for you, is this your first seeing someone die?"
Rosalind nodded-"Yes, except for people dying of illness or old age."
"I am sorry, but from now on you will have to see more of this, so please try to get used to it as fast as you can, that is if you want to survive in this world."-Sara declared with a serious expression.
"Let's go, my friends outside may not be able to keep their attention for much longer, we need to get out of hear quickly before reinforcements from the Baron arrive."
"Yes, I will not hold you back."-Rosalind replied with a face brimming with determination.
The two young ladies continued walking through the dark corridors; whenever a bandit appeared Sara swiftly snuffed them out, sometimes one at a time or at most in pairs.
By the time they reached outside the maze, the victim count was already over a dozen bandits, only a few of them were at the rank of a novice mana user, but even they offered no meaningful resistance, at the same time of dispatching the bandits, Sara was able to collect more knives and daggers to use for later.
Rosalind was in awe, looking at Sara moving swiftly and stealthily, no wasted movements and with incredible precision, even someone as inexperienced as Rosalind could tell, It was hard to believe that someone the same age as her could be this skilled.
"Excuse me Miss Sara, I don't know if it is rude of me to ask, but may I ask what your rank is?"
"Oh, you know about the ranking system? tell me, what do you know about it?"
"Well, not much, just that mana users and magical beasts are ranked in a system that goes from level 1 to level 7."
"Not bad, in a general sense that is correct, to be more accurate, for us mana users, those levels have specific names."
"From lowest to highest they are called... Novice, Adept, Advanced, Elite, Master, Grandmaster, and Transcendent, but meassuring someone's strength by using these ranks can be very inaccurate."
"What do you mean?"
"In reality, there are too many variables that can affect the outcome of a battle, for example; armor, weapons, other equipment like potions, battle experience, current health and mental state, specific matchups, and many more."
"I think I understand, and how can you tell what rank another person is?"
"There are many things you can use to tell, things like body constitution, the equipment they are wearing, even the look in their eyes, but those things are also deceiving. Usually the best way is by looking at the mana inside their bodies and surrounding them; but again, a skilled mana user can fake that too; in the end, it's mostly instinct derived from experience."
"I have really good eyes for this, I can clearly see it when I look at you, you are definitely a novice mana user, but that's only due to your lack of battle experience, your mana quality and control are those of an advanced mage already, saying you are a diamond in the rough is a gross understatement."
"What? me, an advanced mage?"- Rosalind was flustered and filled with disbelief.
"Yes little doe, and to answer your question, my official rank is Advanced warrior."
"Your official rank? so that means, in reality?"
"Yes, I am Elite."