Everyone woke up early the next day. They were packing up the tents. Madison saw Leo resting on the ground next to the horse and quickly rushed to him.
"Leo! What are you doing? I thought you were in a tent. Why did you just sleep outside?" She asked.
He smiled. "I don't mind at all. I actually prefer the breeze." He said.
Madison didn't know how to refute that. At this time, the caravan members successfully packed everything up. They were all ready to leave. Joshua called everyone to the remnants of the fire they lit the previous night.
"Okay, we are going to count everyone to make sure we have everyone we started with." He said.
He quickly counted the numbers and made sure they added up. After that, he quickly sent everyone to their positions and started moving again. The caravan began its second day of travel.
The second day was a little interesting because they were also carrying remnants of the food they cooked the previous day. When the sun reached its highest point and it was noon, they distributed the food around and ate it while still traveling.
Leo was very impressed by the efficiency of the caravan. Merchant groups were truly different in this regard.
As they traveled through the day, he still had the same interesting conversation with Madison about what her life was like. The rest of the day passed very quickly and night fell. They did the same thing as the previous day. This was going to be the last night of travel since they were supposed to reach the city before nightfall the next day. He was happy since he was getting closer to the city.
Leo did the same thing that he did the previous night and rested by leaning onto the horse. He was prepared to just train the entire night. However, he noticed something that made him frown. He opened his eyes and looked into the distance.
Around a kilometer away, a group of bandits were slowly approaching the camping merchants. They had noticed the fire from a distance and were waiting for it to go off before approaching it.
Leo looked around and saw a stone the size of a fingernail on the ground. He picked it up and waited. He waited for the bandits to get closer. Eventually, they all got to 50 meters away from the camp.
He flicked the stone with all his power at one of the Apprentice Aura Knights among the bandits. The group had a single 2nd Circle Aura Knight and a dozen 1st Circle Aura Knights. The rest of them were just Apprentice Aura Knights that didn't pose a threat.
However, the difference was that they were attacking when no one expected them to. However, the stone dug deep into the abdomen of the bandit that Leo picked, causing him to make a loud noise. It was very short and the bandit controlled himself before he could make any more noise, but that was enough.
The patrolling guards heard the noise and immediately woke up from their previous half-awake state. They quickly shouted, waking everyone up.
"ENEMIES!" They shouted. Everyone reacted immediately. Leo saw one of the tents fly open and all the guards in it took out weapons and quickly surrounded the tents, looking out for enemies.
Everyone else reacted a little slower, but it was fast enough before the bandits got there. Meanwhile, the person who made the sound was having a very bad time.
The leader of the bandits was looking at him furiously.
"What happened?" He asked with a voice that was trying its best to suppress his rage.
The bandit moved his hands and showed his new wound. There was a stone embedded into his abdomen causing it to bleed heavily. The wound might seem small, but it was definitely strong. If it wasn't controlled, the bleeding would kill him.
The leader of the bandits immediately became serious. He looked at the cause of the pain and knew that it wasn't an accident. Someone was able to aim the stone at the bandit and fling it with such force that it was able to hurt him this much.
He stood up and slowly approached the caravan.
"You guys caught us!" The leader said while approaching them with his hands up. "Haha. This is very awkward."
The head guard stepped forward. "Yes, it is. How about you guys retreat and we won't engage you at all."
The leader chuckled. "I wish that's how the world works, but I have to feed my brothers here. So how about we reach a compromise? I can leave if… if we receive just 100000 Starcoins."
The guard chuckled. "How about we give you a sword into your guts?"
The bandit frowned. "The only reason I am being so polite is because of the master who discovered us. Otherwise, we don't settle so low." He said. He looked around for a person who looked pretty strong, but the only person who seemed like the leader was the 2nd Circle Aura Knight in front of him.
"And I don't seem to find that person. You know what? Brothers! Come forward!" The leader shouted.
All the bandits surrounding them stood up. They numbered almost 50 people. Even though most of them were only Apprentice Aura Knights or even just normal people, they outnumbered the caravan by more than double.
"As you can see, I have a lot of brothers. How about another 0? I only need 1 million Starcoins to let you guys leave safely." He said.
The head guard frowned. He saw that they were vastly overnumbered. He had a total of 9 1st Circle Aura Knights under him, all over the Middle Stage. But they would only be able to take care of the 1st Circle and 2nd Circle Aura Knights. The overwhelming number of bandits was a huge problem to take care of though.
But it was his job to try. He was hired to make sure that they could take care of situations like these.
"I am sorry, but I cannot accept that offer. We are going to have to fight." He said. He pulled out his weapon.
Leo, who was on the side shook his head. He took out his dagger and quickly disappeared into the shadows. He wasn't using magic though. He didn't even need to. Against the Apprentice Aura Knights and 1st Circle Aura Knights, his aura was more than enough to deal with them.
Meanwhile, everyone got ready for battle. The bandits looked menacing with their huge blades out.
"Are you sure your boss isn't ready for some discussion?" The leader of the bandits asked.
Joshua who was already listening to the conversation shook his head. He didn't have 1 million Starcoins and couldn't take a loss that huge.
"Fine. We don't have a choice then. Brothers! The usual! Keep any interesting goods alive!" He shouted.
All the bandits roared loudly and charged at the caravan. The people who were inside the encirclement of the guards were scared by the shouts. They were very unfamiliar with the situation they faced. The normal bandit groups that attacked them were only 10-20 people large.
