CHAPTER 330: THE VALHEIM FAMILY

Surprisingly, even though Cassius had only said it on a whim to cheer Skadi up, it seemed like she was extremely lucky.

Barely fifteen minutes after they started along the road again, they stumbled upon another bandit crew, this one attacking a merchant caravan.

Cassius and Julie both froze for a second, staring at the scene in disbelief.

"...You’ve got to be kidding me." Cassius muttered.

Julie glanced sideways at him, brows lifting. "You didn’t...somehow cause this, did you?"

"I was joking." He said firmly, almost defensively. "Pure coincidence."

They exchanged one last baffled look before shrugging it off. If nothing else, Skadi was practically vibrating with joy at the sight.

"MASTER! BANDITS!" She howled, tail wagging so hard it was practically a blur. Without waiting for a single order, she dashed forward and tore into the attackers like a wild storm.

Claws flashed, fangs ripped, and within minutes the "battle" was nothing more than a blood-soaked slaughter.

By the time she finished, not a single bandit was left breathing, and all the renards they had been holding captive had fled into the open, freed and terrified.

Skadi herself looked like she had bathed in gore and seeing this, Cassius sighed, got down from his horse, and, despite knowing she wouldn’t care, began personally washing the blood from her fur and clothes.

"Hold still, Skadi, stop wriggling. I’m trying to get this off you before it stinks." Her ears drooped in embarrassment, but she obeyed.

But he shouldn’t have even bother as just an hour later, yet another group of bandits appeared, this time foolish enough to attack them directly.

Aisha stepped forward immediately, tail flicking with anticipation.

"My turn..." She said simply, taking out her wand.

Cassius didn’t stop her and the next few minutes were...disturbing, even by their group’s standards. She dragged the would-be ambushers into the earth alive, forced them to swallow dirt, and ended their lives in slow, choking agony. She came back satisfied, brushing her hands as if she’d merely finished skinning fish.

"They won’t be bothering anyone again." She murmured with a cold smile.

But it didn’t stop there.

An hour later, another crew had ambushed them and Julie and Cassius looked at each other in genuine disbelief.

"Okay, now this is unnatural." Julie muttered.

Cassius pinched the bridge of his nose. "At this rate, we’ll depopulate the entire bandit population of the continent before lunch."

Aisha and Skadi, on the other hand, couldn’t have cared less, at first. For them, it was more prey, more food, more satisfaction.

But as the hours dragged on and the encounters kept piling up, even they began to lose enthusiasm.

By the eighth hour of travel, they had fought more than fifteen separate bandit groups and right now with the sun high up in the sky, Skadi trudged back from the latest skirmish, hands covered in blood, shoulders sagging. She looked ready to collapse.

"Master..." She said weakly. "I can’t do it anymore. I can’t kill anymore bandits. It’s too tiring...I think I’ve killed over sixty of them today alone. My arms, my knees, my wrists...I can’t."

She slumped down heavily onto a massive boulder the group had been using as a makeshift table for their impromptu meeting.

In the distance, the fresh corpses of yet another group of bandits lay scattered near the caravan they’d just saved.

Aisha folded her arms.

"Don’t get me wrong." She said evenly. "I enjoy butchering scum like this. Every bandit I kill means another child saved, another innocent life spared. It’s the key to real peace."

Her tail twitched, ears flicking back in irritation.

"But this doesn’t add up. I’ve met more bandits in this single day than in the past three months combined." She glanced between the others. "Something’s wrong here."

Cassius frowned hearing before then asking, "Alright, before saying anything I’d like to know, where we are exactly?"

Julie answered before Aisha could.

"We’re in the Valheim Estate. All of today’s road...all of it...belongs to them. They’re Holyfield’s neighbors."

Cassius tilted his head. "The Valheim Estate...?"

Julie’s expression soured. "Unlike the Holyfield Estate, which is known for its security, its happy people, and how well it’s run...the Valheims are the exact opposite."

"The complete opposite." Aisha nodded. "The Holyfield name may be young, barely a few hundred years since its founding, but it built its name through the mines, the trade, and the way it treats its people. It’s respected. A key figure on the continent now."

"And unlike your family, the Valheim’s history goes back over a thousand years." Julie’s lip curled. "Their ancestors were among the founding fathers of the current era. Noble blood. Old power. And yet..."

She shook her head, voice sharpening with disgust.

"They’ve always been a rotten, arrogant breed. They don’t care about their people. They only care about themselves. Mismanagement. Corruption. Illegal dealings. Crushing taxes. They bleed their own citizens dry."

She spat into the dirt.

"They’re a disgrace. A piece of scum family who shouldn’t be in power at all. And if the people have any spine left, a rebellion will come, and when it does, the Valheims will be torn down to the last stone."

Aisha crossed her arms, tail flicking. "If this is how they run things, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already."

Hearing this, Cassius glanced toward the bloodied road they had just traveled, finally realizing...this wasn’t just bad luck. This was systemic rot.

He then turned to the others. "Do you think...they’re the reason there are so many bandits loose right now?"

Julie didn’t hesitate, she gave a sharp nod.

"Most definitely. Think about it, Cassius, once, in the past, even Holyfield was infested with bandits. Why?...Because of its prosperity, its trade routes, and the fact that its borders touched multiple estates and countries. Bandits saw an opportunity and poured in like rats. But..."

She gave a small, grim smile.

"Those bandits didn’t last. The knights of the past hunted them down one by one. And even now, the Holy Guard sends out patrols in a systematic manner every few weeks to clear them out."

"Because we know just how horrible bandits are, what they can do to trade, to villages, to lives. That’s why the percentage of bandits in Holyfield is almost nonexistent compared to other estates."

She looked at Cassius meaningfully.

"It’s all because of security measures that were set up long before either of us were born."

Then she turned her head toward Aisha.

"And Aisha here has doubled down on them. Extra patrol schedules. Centralized watch posts. Coordinated scout reports. Measures so effective they’ve been passed on to other estates. She’s a big reason why bandit numbers are at an all-time low in our lands."

Cassius turned to look at Aisha. She didn’t say anything, just met his gaze with a quiet, confident pride, the corner of her lips curling upward.

Julie continued. "So, taking all that into account, there’s only one explanation for this mess—mismanagement."

"Any decent estate would have noticed and acted. But if we’re talking about Valheim? They probably don’t even know what’s going on in their own lands. And even if they did..." She snorted. "They wouldn’t care enough to deal with it."

All this time, Skadi had been listening with wide eyes. Finally, she tilted her head and asked innocently.

"If everyone knows they’re bad guys...then why hasn’t anyone done anything? Why are they still sitting up there like they own the place? Isn’t that where the king comes in? Shouldn’t he be doing something if they’re not doing a good job?"

Aisha exchanged a brief glance with Julie before answering. "It’s obvious, Skadi."

Skadi’s ears flattened, and a low growl rumbled in her throat. "Obvious? How?"

"Because..." Aisha said, her tone steady. "...they’re old blood. The Valheims have a history that rivals the royal family itself. They’ve held power for over a thousand years. That kind of legacy is...hard to tear down. Add to that a decently strong army, and it’s not exactly easy to tell them what to do, or to replace them entirely."

Skadi’s tail flicked, her face twisting into a frown.

"But that’s not fair! They’re supposed to protect their people, or at least let them live decent lives! Instead, they’re ruining everything. How are people supposed to win if they’re forced to live in horrible conditions?!"

She gestured angrily toward the road they’d been fighting along.

"It’s hard enough for us to go on this road, and we’re members of the Holy Guard! How much harder do you think it is for ordinary people? The farmers who make the tasty veggies, the traders who bring toys, the poor innocent children?!" She bared her teeth. "And you’re saying the people aren’t going to do anything about it?"

Cassius gave a small, almost amused smile.

"Instead of us answering that, why don’t we...ask the people themselves?"

Without another word, he started walking toward the merchants they’d just rescued. The three women also quickly followed.

The merchant leader, a fat man whose fine clothes were now dusted with dirt and sweat, spotted them approaching. His eyes darted from Cassius to the massacre beside him, the sprawled, unmoving corpses of the bandits, and he quickly waddled forward.

"Thank you! Thank you, all of you!" The man said, a smile breaking across his round face. "If you hadn’t been here, we’d have been slaughtered, completely wiped out!" He pressed his hands together in gratitude, bowing awkwardly. "Truly, we owe you our lives."

He reached into his satchel, pulling out a heavy coin pouch that jingled richly.

"Please, take this. If you want more coins for your...donation efforts, or for your orphanage, I’d be more than willing to contribute."

Cassius blinked and, almost instinctively, glanced at Aisha realising that he she has already made her rounds without him even realising, while she avoided his eyes, looking off toward the blood-streaked road like she has no idea what he was talking about...