Chapter 57: Chapter 57

Anton was watching an anime, one of the new ones that was just released and had glowing reviews when he heard his father talking to his sister.

“Anna wake up your brother. There are bandits ahead,” Anders said loud enough for Anton to hear it so he immediately closed the browser, opened the game, and minimized it.

“I’m awake father. How did you know that there are bandits ahead?”

“There’s a fallen tree blocking the road and Lucas signaled that he saw some people creeping amongst the trees.”

“Father, can you invite Nermina and Lunelle inside the carriage?”

“I already did.”

Anton then saw the carriage door opening and Nermina and Lunelle entered. Before anything else, he made sure that everyone was added to his party system so everyone would be affected by the Prayer Aura. He then activated the aura to make sure that if anyone were injured they would be healed almost immediately. He wanted to hunt for the runeword weapon Insight since its Meditation Aura was a higher level compared to the mercenary’s Prayer Aura it meant that the healing property would be stronger, and since his mercenary would have the Prayer Aura, there would be two auras that would be active and that would heal him and his allies greatly and it would also regenerate his mana.

Anton walked outside the carriage and saw Anders, Lucas, and Devon spread out guarding the carriage. They had their swords unsheathed and they looked valiant with their new weapons and new armor. He walked behind his father and waited.

Six men walked out from the woods in front of the fallen tree. Their leader was a very huge man with a full beard and dirty countenance typical of story bandits which almost made Anton laugh. His father told him that a lot more men were hiding among the trees.

“Leave your valuables and we will allow you to pass without harm.” The huge bandit that looked like their leader shouted but Anton saw that the bandit was wearing a cunning expression. From what he had read in the stories, bandits like these especially if they thought themselves invincible due to their numbers wouldn’t let someone like their group get away.

“Don’t believe him, son. They saw Nermina and Lunelle so they would kill us and take the women,” Anders whispered.

“Should I attack Father? I can teleport behind them and unleash a Frost Nova spell freezing all of them.”

Suddenly someone shot an arrow at Devon and he was hit in his left arm. Anton didn’t wait for his father’s answer and immediately teleported behind the six-bandit group. He was sure that his father and the two guards would be able to handle anyone who would attack them. He even saw the arrow pop out from Devon’s arm and the wound healed immediately which invigorated the young man.

Anton appeared behind the bandit leader and he cast Frost Nova instantly freezing the six men. He then heard somebody shouting in the trees that there was a wizard and that everybody should run.

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They saw that nobody else attacked them and all of the other bandits were scared by Anton's show of magic.

Anton walked back towards his father.

“Should we chase after them, father?”

“No, they could be anywhere in these woods. Are the group there dead?”

“No. I controlled my magic and they would thaw out a bit. You can interrogate them.”

“Father, is everything okay now?” Anna shouted from within the carriage.

“Yes but don’t get out yet since some could still be around and could shoot arrows.”

Lucas and Devon were still vigilant while Anders and Anton went near the bandits who fell after they thawed out. They could see the six men shivering.

Anton noticed that his father wasn’t holding a sword but was holding the magic wand.

When the bandits saw his Father wielding a wand instead of a sword they even became more afraid thinking that there were two wizards instead of just Anton.

“Please don’t kill us, sir wizards, we just want to survive in these hard times!” The bandit leader said while stuttering from the cold.

“Hard times! It's spring and the forest is full of bounty! How many are you in your group? Answer me or I’ll turn you into a lizard and slice your limbs one by one and feed it to my pet snake!” Anders said while waving his wand.

“There are more than twenty of us but since everyone has seen your magic, I’m sure that all of them have run away already,” The bandit leader said.

“What are we going to do Father? Should we go to their hideout and find their belongings?”

“It’s dangerous. Our family is here and they’re our priority. We should be on our way. Are you okay with disposing of them,” Anders whispered to his son.

“I haven’t killed real people before just monsters and the undead. Should I do it so I’ll get used to it?”

Anders looked conflicted and Anton could understand why. He guessed that his father wanted to protect his innocence and give him more time to grow up before he faced these kinds of decisions.

Lucas then arrived and told him and his father to let them handle the bandits.

“Anton you will face this decision sooner or later but for now let me and my son handle it for you. This is one of the reasons why your father hired us.”

“Thank you. I will let you handle it then,” Anton said to his guard and he left the bandits to his father and Lucas and went back to the carriage.

Devon was still studying the surroundings making sure that nobody would surprise them. He saw that the wound on the young guard’s arm was already healed.

“Sir, thank you for healing me,” Devon said respectfully when he saw that Anton was back. He just nodded and didn’t correct the young man again about calling him “sir.”

After a few minutes, Lucas and Anders came back from where they brought the bandits.

“We should leave now,” Anders said.

“Father we should let Nermina and Lunell stay in the carriage for now. I will drive their cart. I wanted to learn how to do it by myself anyway.”

“No sir. You should go inside the carriage for your protection!” Devon said.

“My son is right Anton. You're our client and must be protected,” Lucas added.

“Father, can you show them please?” Anton immediately cast Energy Shield which made his father understand what he meant. Anders then unsheathed his sword and hit his son with it hard and they all saw a magical shield appear blocking the attack.

“Even if an arrow attacks me, my magic will block it. Even if this spell is not cast I have an innate spell that would activate with any attack that I received,” Anton was talking about the runeword armor that he was wearing in the game that gave him a huge amount of defense so in a sense there was magic that was protecting him all the time.

Lucas and Devon were looking at him in awe.

“You don’t really need guards when you’re this powerful!” Devon said.

“I mentioned it when we hired you. We need guards for night shift duty and to be on the lookout. For our defense, yes we have magic. I even have a magic wand myself and it’s all powerful since it doesn’t run out of magic,” Anders uncharacteristically boasted indicating that the two men were growing on him and already earned his trust.