"Huh? little miss adventurer is a tamer? if that's true, then where is your beast? how come you faced me alone earlier?"- Said the boss with a mocking voice.
"Isn't it obvious? the only reason I lost to you is because I allowed it, how did you not notice it? are you sure you are and advanced warrior? did you not find it strange that even though you defeated a mage in close combat, you still couldn't land a single critical hit?"
"What are you talking about? why would you let yourself be captured in the first place?"
"You idiot, for this precious little thing behind me of course, my beast and I could have easily annihilated all of you, but I couldn't risk her being used as a hostage againts me, so I allowed you to capture me, and you even led me to the treasure youself, isnt that funny?"- Sara explained while trying to hold her laughter.
"Then, all of my men inside the fortress are..."
"You got it, all dead. By the way, I couldn't find my wand inside the building, it is quite expensive so you better give it back to me."
"Ugh, seriously, those useless bastards, It will take some time to build back up our numbers."
"It's fine boss, we can just recruit some more thugs, most of them were novice at best, our best fighters are in the scout team anyways."
"Well that is true, hey blondie, tell me, who sent you here? who is paying you to do this?"
"Paying me? no one is, I came here because a little bird told me, that you were planning on feeding a beautiful pearl to a fucking pig, now she belongs to me."- Sara exclaimed while putting her arm over Rosalind, the young girl was visibly flustered.
"Anyways, I don't want to stay here all night, Murder! come here!"- Sara yelled loudly, was this some kind of spell? what was she summoning?
"Boss did she go crazy?"- For a moment everything was quiet, nothing seemed to happen, until... A light flapping sound could be heard, it was the sound of wings, a fluttering black figure came out from the trees, gliding towards the blonde girl and landing on her shoulder.
"What took you so long?"- Sara reprimanded the creature standing on her shoulder, it was a Raven, a very big one at that.
"It's fine, stop nagging I was busy."- The raven replied in a synical tone.
"Hah, busy? knowing you, you were probably chasing some female bird while letting Splyce do all the work."
"Nah, I would never do that at night, the only birds awake at this time of the night are stupid owls. Yuck."
The bickering between the girl and the bird continued for a little while, Rosalind and the bandits were left as simple bystanders, looking dumbfounded.
"Ahh, whatever, just give me your report."
"Fine, fine, Ahem, mission accomplished, all the bandits in the woods except for one, are now dead."
"Good job, now the only ones left are these here, I killed all the ones inside the garrison, stay here with the girl I will take care of the rest."- Sara removed the bird from her shoulder, and place it above Rosalind's shoulder.
"Hello little girl, nice to meet you, I am The Great Murder, the smartest and strongest Raven of all time, stay under my wing and great things will happen."
"Ah, yes Mister Murder, I am Rosalind, it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."- Rosalind answered with a nervous voice, the girl was still confused and unsure of what was happening.
"Hey, what the hell is this bird saying? all my men are dead? they were all killed by that stupid crow?"-The boss could not hide his anger anymore.
"What? stupid crow? I am the majestic Raven, Lord Murder to you! Shut your mouth you fool before I peck your eyes out!"
"Aaahhhhhh, Boss, save me!"- Before the raven could continue his rant, a loud scream echoed from the woods, It was the last surviving bandit from the scout team.
"Carl? what happened to you? where are the others."
"I think they are all dead Boss, I could not even see what got them, there is a monster in the forest, it lurks in the shadows, it tore them all apart."-The crying bandit trembled, groveling on the floor.
"So what that bird said was true?"-Said the other minion.
"Ugh, dammit, change of plans everyone, we need to leave now. After this blunder even if we survive and beat that monster, the Baron will just discard us since we are not useful to him anymore, we need to get out now or the hounds will track us."- the bandit Boss no longer cared about the escapees, he himself wanted to escape as soon as possible.
"Where do you think you are going?"-Sara asked in a cold tone, yet her voice was laced with killing intent.
"What the hell do you want you mad bitch? the Baron's men are on their way here, they were supposed to pick up the girl and the money, that noble is crazy, there is no way they will go back empty handed, they will torture us and feed us to their beasts."
"What's wrong with that? the strong always prey on the weak, isn't that the law you guys live by? nothing has changed, now it's just your turn to be preyed upon."
"Bitch, you really are crazy, we all need to get out of here, why are you wasting time here with us? you need to run away too."
"I dont care, I am not going to let you leave just so you can keep abusing other people, you will all die tonight."-The men looked at Sara with a serious but despreate expression.
"You have three options, you die slowly by the Baron's hands; you die quickly by my hand..."- Sara made a pause before finishing, but the Boss interrupted.
"And the third?"
"You take your own life, I will grant you that much."