Hou Dong stared at the leader of the bandits that was kneeling in front of him on the ground and narrowed his eyes. Just to think that this person had dared to try and force Kanuen … He felt like beating him up all over again.

Well, if he did, it wouldn’t change anything. Still, they couldn’t just leave these guys be. Obviously, they weren’t citizens of the Sou kingdom. They had come from another country and had probably already escaped the law. Even if they handed them over to the authorities, they couldn’t be sure that these bandits wouldn’t escape again and then come back to make trouble.

He couldn’t risk that. For one, he wasn’t sure if he and his men would be in this town in the future. If they weren’t, then wouldn’t Kanuen’s family and friends be in danger once again? And even if they were, wouldn’t they want to lead a normal life then? Not as warriors but as normal townspeople? In that case, he wouldn’t want to be on the lookout for any attack that might happen. No, an enemy like this couldn’t be left alive.

Hou Dong tightened his lips and then raised his chin. "You attacked the wrong town. In your next life, better think twice before you choose to become bandits again." He didn’t give them any time. His sword struck, the blade drawing blood. The bandit fell to the ground, twisting once before he lay there motionlessly.

Hou Dong’s men furrowed their brows but also got rid of the other bandits. They understood his meaning. There was no way they could let these people off.

When the last bandit had fallen, Shen Lei went over to Hou Dong. "What now? Should we go and get Kanuen? Or should we first inform the people that they can come out?"

Hou Dong shook his head. "First, get these guys out of here. Neither Kanuen nor his family should have to see something like this. Let’s hope the people won’t come out on their own until we’re finished." He sighed and shook his head, grabbing the leader of the bandits by the scruff of his neck and dragging him to the closest street.

He had already committed the map of the town to memory so he had no trouble taking the shortest route. The other men did the same and picked up the people they had fought, following their Master to discard the bodies.

The silence stretched on and the people in the houses were getting impatient. Just what had happened? Had they been saved from those bandits? Or had the people that had tried to help them all been killed in the process?

They were holding each other by the hand and waiting with bated breath. The only one who couldn’t take it any longer was Piul. He cursed and then rushed out of the corner where he had been hiding. He smashed the door open, hurried out and looked down the street in both directions. He furrowed his brows when he couldn’t see anybody and then went northward where Sun Jin had disappeared with the bandits.

He hurried as fast as he could, glancing at the bodies lying to both sides of the street. This man … Despite seeming like an idiot yesterday and like an even bigger idiot this morning, he had managed to take out several men even though they had ganged up on him. It seemed he really was a strong warrior.

Piul’s brows drew further together. Well, even if that idiot was strong, who knew if he would be able to fight off all of them? If he wasn’t wrong, then there had been five men following him and that was after he had fought against another one already. He should be exhausted. Even if he managed to run ahead and thus didn’t have to fight against all five of them at the same time, that would also consume his strength. In that condition, would he really be able to win?

Piul shook his head and sped up. Most likely, nothing had happened to him. Wasn’t it said that nothing ever happened to idiots? An idiot had an idiot’s luck after all. Yes, he would certainly be alright.

He rushed ahead only to find himself on the other side of the town. What now? Where had that idiot gone?

"What are you doing here?"

Piul whirled around and came face to face with the person he had been looking for. "You …" He looked at Sun Jin from head to toe and furrowed his brows. "What are you doing here?"

Sun Jin straightened up and shook his head. "I asked first! And you were supposed to stay in one of the houses. I was supposed to go drive off the bandits so I should be here."

"You were. So …" Piul looked around but couldn’t see any of them. Don’t tell him this guy had really managed to kill off these five men? He looked back at Sun Jin’s face, having trouble to imagine it. Even though he had seen from the house how Sun Jin killed the first one on the marketplace and then saw how the five had run after him and finally found those bodies, he couldn’t equate this stupid-looking face with a ferocious warrior. He just … looked like a fool. A complete and utter fool.

Sun Jin also glanced around as if he was expecting any of the men to jump out. "So … There only were five, weren’t there?" He scratched his head and pondered. It had really only been five men. There shouldn’t have been any more following him. "My Master and the others should have taken care of the rest. Haven’t you seen them?"

Piul shook his head. "There was nobody there. The whole marketplace seemed to be empty. There was some blood though."

Sun Jin raised his brows. "Really?"

He was granted another kick to his shin as thanks for that question. "You think I’m making things up? Then go and take a look for yourself!" He scoffed and turned around, striding down the street again. Why had he even worried about this dumb ass? This guy didn’t deserve his concern at all! Anyway, he had only been sent by his Master. So the good person was his Master. This guy was really just a stupid idiot. The bandits would have done the world a favor if they took him down with them. Hmph!

Sun Jin looked at the furious beauty and scratched his head. Had he really said something wrong now? But hadn’t it only been one word? Well, whatever, he should just go and look where his Master and the others were.

Thus two people walked down the street, one quite a bit behind the other. Sun Jin didn’t dare to get any closer to Kanuen’s brother lest he would be kicked again. This little beauty was really too fierce! Whoever married him in the future might not have even one calm day in their life.

Thankfully, he was smart enough to keep that thought to himself.

When they arrived at the marketplace, Hou Dong and the others just returned. Sun Jin perked up and rushed over. "Master! I did well, didn’t I?"

Hou Dong gave a slight smile and nodded. "Mn, we managed to get all of them and nobody was hurt. You did well with warning everyone and drawing them out."

Sun Jin beamed and turned to Kanuen’s brother with eager eyes, waiting for him to admit that he had been right all along.

Piul didn’t bother about him though. He looked at the man in front of him and gave him a once-over. So this was that idiot’s Master? He didn’t look quite as frivolous. Instead, he seemed like a decent guy. Although … his smile was a little too charming. He wouldn’t be the type that liked to play around, would he?

Hou Dong also took a look at the person in front of him. He shook inwardly when he did though. He had thought that Kanuen had joked when he said that his brother was more beautiful than him but … Well, if he tried to be objective, then this person was indeed more beautiful than him. It really made him wonder just what kind of place the kingdom of Sou really was. It couldn’t be that all the people here would look like this, could it?

Well, that wasn’t the point now. He inwardly shook his head and then smiled at Kanuen’s brother. "You should be Piul. Your brother has told me about you. I’m Hou Dong. Maybe Sun Jin already told you but we found your brother in the desert and he told us about what had happened to your town. Unfortunately, we had some other obligations that we needed to take care of first so we couldn’t come here immediately to help. I hope nobody needed to suffer too much because of that."

Piul gave a hum. They couldn’t expect these men to let go of everything they did just to go and save people they didn’t know. And taking care of one’s obligations was what a man should do. It was also good that he was so honest to admit to that instead of trying to lie his way through. It seemed the person that had found his brother was indeed quite decent. "It’s nothing much. I guess that quite a bit of time had passed until you found him anyway. Where is my brother now? Is he hurt?"

Hou Dong shook his head. "We left him outside since we didn’t know what exactly the situation would be. I’ll go and get him as soon as we’ve made sure that we’ve really gotten all the bandits and that the people here are safe." He took in the way Piul’s eyes dimmed for a moment. Well, it wasn’t a wonder. He hadn’t seen his brother for several weeks and had certainly worried about him. He pondered and finally nodded toward Sun Jin. "Well, you could also go and get him together with Sun Jin while we make sure that everyone is alright. I’m sure he’d love to see you again. He was very worried about his family."

Piul’s eyes sparkled with appreciation. This man was really very good! "If that doesn’t make any trouble … I wouldn’t want to get in your way by being willful."

Sun Jin looked at the fierce beauty that suddenly seemed rather docile and wondered what he was doing wrong. How come these beautiful people treated his Master that well while he had to hear mean things and get attacked? This wasn’t fair at all!

Hou Dong nodded. "It wouldn’t be a problem. It would be great if you could first get one of the people from the town to come out. They can help us with telling the others to gather in the marketplace so we can check whether any of the bandits are still hiding in the town or if anybody of the townspeople is missing. Would you mind doing that?"

Piul’s eyes glimmered. Really very good! This man had a nice face but his head was also working very well. He had thought of everything to make sure that their people were safe! Ah, his brother really was blessed to be able to be found by such a person. It almost made him envious.