CHAPTER 331: DO YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

With a quiet chuckle, Cassius shook his head.

"The orphanage already has enough money. We don’t need more. What I do want..." His voice hardened, though his smile remained. "...is to know if you’ve already complained about the bandit situation to the Valheim family. And if you have...did they do anything in response?"

The fat merchant shifted his weight uneasily, the coin pouch still in his hand. His earlier gratitude gave way to a more cautious, almost guarded expression.

"We...have complained." He admitted after a long pause, his voice dropping in volume. "Many times. Not just me, merchants, farmers, caravan masters...anyone who travels the trade roads."

"The bandit raids have been getting worse for years now. We’ve sent letters, petitions, hell, we’ve even gone to their seat in Valheim City ourselves."

Cassius tilted his head. "And?"

The merchant’s lips twisted in something halfway between a bitter smile and a grimace.

"And nothing. Oh, they’ll listen, or at least pretend to. You get a chamberlain, maybe a scribe if you’re lucky. They’ll nod, write a few notes, and tell you the issue will be...’looked into.’ Then you go home, you wait...and nothing changes."

"The bandits get bolder, the patrols stay just as scarce, and the guards they do send are either lazy or crooked."

Julie folded her arms, her expression sharpening. "Lazy or crooked?"

"Both..." The merchant said bluntly. "Sometimes the guards are in on it, working with the bandits. Sometimes they just don’t want to risk their necks for a wagon of grain or bolts of cloth."

"One of my friends, Garen, a spice trader, he lost half his shipment last year on the west road. He reported it, even gave the names of the bandits because one of them used to be a hired hand of his. Do you know what the Valheim officials told him?"

Cassius’s eyes narrowed. "What?"

"That maybe...maybe...he should hire more private guards next time if he wanted his goods safe."

The merchant let out a short, humorless laugh.

"That’s their answer. We pay taxes so they can protect the roads, but when the roads become death traps, the burden’s suddenly ours to solve. Hire mercenaries, they say. Arm your own wagons, they say. As if that’s free."

Skadi’s tail lashed in irritation. "That’s stupid! They’re the lords of this land, keeping people safe is literally their job!"

The merchant shrugged helplessly. "Tell them that. See how far it gets you. People here...we’ve learned not to expect help. We rely on each other, or on passing souls like you."

"...But the Valheims? They don’t ride these roads. They sit in their halls, counting coin and telling themselves that if the taxes keep flowing, everything must be fine."

Cassius studied him for a moment, then asked.

"So...why not push harder? Band together? Demand change?"

The merchant’s eyes darted nervously toward the others in his group, and his voice dropped even lower.

"Because people who push too hard...tend to disappear. Or suddenly find their businesses inspected. Or taxed into ruin. There’s always a way to silence troublemakers. Everyone knows it, so everyone keeps their head down."

Aisha’s fists tightened, and Julie exhaled slowly through her nose.

"I see."

Cassius gave a faint, knowing smile before his gaze shifted toward the men groaning and clutching their wounds on the ground.

More than half of the caravan’s guards were down, bloodied, exhausted, and if Skadi hadn’t stepped in when she did, most of them would be corpses by now.

He turned slightly toward the merchant.

"What about them?" His tone was calm, but his eyes carried a faint edge. "You’ve got this many guards, and yet your goods were nearly taken. With numbers like these, they should have been able to hold their own."

"Are they possibly...incompetent? Poorly trained?"

The merchant’s eyes went wide and he shook his head so fast it was almost comical.

"No, no, nothing like that, my lord. These men are veterans. Some of the best I’ve ever had the coin to hire. Two of them served under royal banners before, they’ve seen their share of battlefields. Every one of them knows their craft. This..." He gestured to the forest. "...This was not about skill."

"Then what was it?" Julie pressed.

The man exhaled heavily.

"Awareness, my lady. Or rather, the lack of it, at least not for lack of trying."

"You see, we travel long, grueling routes. Months of road, across every kind of terrain you can think of. No man can keep his senses razor-sharp for that long without a single lapse. And here..." He swept his hand at the trees on either side. "Here it’s worse."

"The road’s narrow, the forest thick and close. You can’t see ten paces into those trees, let alone spot a hidden bowman. Bandits in a place like this...well, they could be squatting behind the next trunk with a blade to your throat before you even know they’re there."

Cassius’s eyes flicked toward the dense greenery, taking it in with a quiet, calculating look.

The merchant continued, his voice turning grim.

"These ambushes, they’re always sudden, always from nowhere. The bandits here aren’t fools; they know the terrain better than we do. And once the first volley comes...our formation shatters."

"The guards are caught scattered, scrambling to defend the caravan. By the time we regroup, the damage is already done."

He hesitated for a moment, then added,

"Truth be told, if our men and theirs fought in the open, on even ground, those bandits wouldn’t last a heartbeat. But here? With these trees, these shadows? The forest gives them every advantage. We lose that fight before it’s even begun."

Cassius let the words sink in, his eyes sweeping the treeline once more. Then he spoke.

"If that’s the problem..." His voice was low, almost thoughtful. "...then why not remove it? Cut down the trees on both sides of the road. Make it wide, open, so there’s nowhere to hide, nowhere to sneak up from. You’d turn this stretch from a death trap into a clear, safe path. Bandits wouldn’t stand a chance before you spotted them coming."

The merchant blinked at him, then his face lit up in open admiration.

"That...my lord, that is an excellent idea." His voice warmed with genuine enthusiasm. "Simple, yes, but efficient. Remarkably so."

Cassius raised an eyebrow at the sudden praise, but the man went on before he could speak.

"In fact...it’s exactly what was done in the Holyfield Estate some years back. By one of the top members of the Holy Guard herself, Aisha Noctus."

Aisha’s head snapped up, startled at hearing her name so suddenly.

The merchant, oblivious to her reaction, spoke with almost reverent respect.

"She was the one who had the vision to clear the roadside forests entirely. Not just trimming, no, she widened the paths, opened the land, and even had the roads reinforced so that wagons could travel faster."

"No cover for bandits, no blind spots for bowmen. Since then, traders like us...we prefer the Holyfield routes whenever we can. Safer, faster, cleaner. In all my years on the road, I’ve barely heard of a single ambush there. Truly, the woman was a genius."

By now, all three, Cassius, Julie, and Skadi, had turned toward Aisha.

She blinked, then looked away quickly, a faint blush blooming across her cheeks. She shifted her weight, suddenly fascinated by the dirt beneath her boots.

The merchant noticed the sudden quiet and glanced between them. "Is...something wrong?"

Cassius didn’t miss a beat. He let a faint, sly smile curl his lips.

"No. Just thinking that this...’Aisha’ they speak of, she really must be a genius."

The effect was immediate. Aisha’s blush deepened, the color rising all the way to the tips of her ears as she avoided every pair of eyes on her.

The merchant, still unaware of the dynamic playing out in front of him, gave a satisfied nod. "Glad you agree, my lord."

And with that, the conversation wound down. The merchants began to gather their things, tending to the wounded guards and slowly getting the caravan moving again, while Cassius and the rest remained by the roadside, the trees still looming over them, as the wagons rolled on and the sound of wheels and hooves faded into the distance.

Cassius then let his gaze drift over to the trio and found all of them standing still, their eyes distant, brows furrowed. It wasn’t just the quiet of the road, they were each wrapped in thought, their faces wearing the same weight.

He tilted his head slightly, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

"What’s wrong?" He asked lightly. "You all look like you’ve just been told the world’s ending. What are you three thinking about with such serious faces?"

The three women looked at one another, almost in sync, as if confirming silently that they were indeed thinking about the same thing.

Finally, Julie sighed, stepping forward.

"It’s just..." She hesitated, then met his gaze squarely. "After hearing the merchant’s complaints, my first instinct, what I would normally do, would be to order a squad of knights to sweep through this forest. Wipe out every last one of those bandits. Make the roads safe again." Her voice grew sharper. "And right now, that’s exactly what I want to do."

She let out a bitter laugh, though there was no humor in it.

"But the reality is...we’re not in the Holyfield Estate. This is Valheim territory. I have no authority here, no power to command anyone. I can’t issue orders, I can’t mobilize forces. Even after hearing a citizen’s plea for help, I can’t do a damn thing about it."

Her tone softened, but there was a clear frustration under it.

"And that...that makes me feel powerless."

Aisha’s head dipped slightly, her voice quiet but firm as she nodded in agreement.

"She’s right. I can’t just walk away after hearing something like that. Every time I think about it, about the bandits still out there, it gnaws at me. Sure, we saved this caravan...but what about the next one? And the one after that?"

Her hands clenched into fists.

"When we leave, there won’t be anyone here to save them. I can already imagine it, how many people will die, how many families will be torn apart. It’s...it’s horrible."

Skadi crossed her arms, her expression hardening into an indignant glare toward the trees.

"You know what I want?" She said flatly. "I want to go in there right now, find every one of them, and kill them all. Hunt them through every bush and hole until not a single one’s left breathing. I’d track each group down, one by one, and slaughter them without hesitation."

Aisha gave a sharp nod, the anger in her eyes matching Skadi’s.

"And I’d help you too, mutt. I’d conjure a dozen massive boulders and roll them all where they hide. Every single one. Clear this road of them once and for all. If we could do that, we’d make this route as safe as it could possibly be."

Julie listened, hee eyes narrowed, before she finally nodded slowly.

"Believe me, I understand exactly how you feel." She exhaled heavily, her voice carrying a reluctant weight. "But even if we didn’t have the Holy Guard with us, and even if the four of us went ourselves to deal with them...yes, we could most definitely kill them all. And no one would shed a tear for the loss of a few dozen murderous bandits."

Her gaze hardened briefly. "But that’s not the issue here."

She paused, letting the silence hang for a moment before continuing.

"The real problem...is time. We’re already on a mission, an important one. And as much as it grates me to say it, we can’t afford to stop and waste days chasing down a bunch of criminals."

"Even though we started early and have some breathing room, it’s still not enough to go around leisurely hunting bandits. Every day we spend here is a day lost from our objective."

Aisha opened her mouth to protest, and Skadi’s shoulders tensed like she was about to argue, but both stopped when they caught the flicker of strain on Julie’s face.

She wanted to do it, just as badly as they did. But she was forcing herself to stay bound by reason.

That made their frustration crumble. The two of them slumped slightly, their anger dulling into reluctant acceptance. There was no way around it, they would have to leave this behind, no matter how bitter it tasted.

The air felt heavier for a moment, all three of them realizing that, at least for now, they had no choice but to leave things as they were.

Then, just as the mood seemed to sink to its lowest point, Cassius stepped forward. His voice then cut through the silence, casual but laced with something that instantly caught their attention.

"You say that, but what if I told you..." He said, a slow smile forming on his lips. "...that I have a way to wipe out every single bandit in the area...and still keep the same pace toward our destination?"

Three heads turned toward him at once.

Julie’s brows furrowed. "What?"

Aisha blinked. "You can’t be serious."

"Master..." Skadi looked at Cassius in awe.

"Do I look like I’m joking?" Cassius raised a hand in offense. He then gave a small shrug, his tone infuriatingly relaxed. "While you were all fretting over how impossible this is, I already thought of a way to do it. Simple, efficient, and...effective."

The three of them stared at him, disbelief and awe written in their eyes. They had been wrestling with the problem in their heads, weighed down by the impossibility of it, and here Cassius was, speaking like the solution was already in his pocket...