In the forest south-west of the farm, a group of individuals have gathered. Although they’re armed with weapons, they are neither the kingdom’s military nor adventurers; they are bandits.

“Boss, you sure this is a good idea?” One of the henchmen asked.

“Are you doubting me? Huh?!?” The boss of the bandits growled.

“N-no but, we’ve never been able to beat that monster and I don’t want to lose my gears again.” The henchmen nervously argued.

“Ha! That’s because all we’ve done is charged at him! We’ve never thought about a good strategy to fight him… but this time we do!” The boss replied.

“W-we do???” The henchmen was surprised.

“MEN!!! Listen up!” The boss shouted, calling every bandit, a total of twenty, he'd brought.

“I know we’ve been defeated in the past by that monster…”

“But this time will be different! We will no longer be bandits who will attack without a proper plan! We will now become SMART BANDITS!” The boss shouted, raising his men’s morale.

“SMART BANDITS!” They all shouted.

“In a fight against numbers, we have the upperhand! He will no longer be a monster for us but just a NORMAL FARMER!”

“NORMAL FARMER!” They all shouted once more.

“We will divide in two groups, the first will engage the farmer while the other will take back every piece of equipment he has stolen from us…”

“Ever since he took my cloak, our raids have become unsuccessful… and we are now starving because of that….” The boss, clenching his fist, wailed.

“MEN! THIS WILL BE THE DAY THAT WE TAKE BACK OUR GLORY! WE WILL BECOME STRONGER THAN EVER!” The boss raised his sword up in the air with his henchmens doing as well.

“TAKE EVERYTHING FROM HIM!” With high morale and bloodlust, the boss led the charge to invade the farm but…

“For a bunch of bandits shouting how smart they are, you all sure are stupid to let your targets know that you’re coming for them…” The orc chieftain commented as he approached the incoming bandits.

“A talking orc?!” The bandit boss was surprised.

“Wait, have these orcs taken over the farm already?!” He wondered.

“So, do you need something from our boss?” The chieftain asked while brandishing his ax, showing how much more of a threat they are than the unwanted guests. The bandit boss was taken aback as he did not expect to be fighting a small army; his plans are now messed up.

“The second group is probably inside the house by now… Seeing how there’s no big fuss happening right now means that they’re still not caught by these orcs…” The bandit boss carefully analyzes the current situation. He knew that fighting orcs head on with the equipment they have right now is just suicide, but with the equipment the farmer took from them may give them a fighting chance.

“I need to stall some time!” He said to himself.

“You!” The bandit boss called, pointing at the orc chieftain.

“You are the master, correct?” He could tell that the orc chieftain was different due to the adornments in his armor, but he got one thing wrong.

“I am the leader of my tribe, correct. But I am not the master of this place, if that’s what you’re asking.” The orc chieftain replied.

“Then where is the master?! I want to fight him!” The bandit boss demanded, infuriating the other orc warriors.

“Hoho, unfortunately the master isn’t here right now… but then again, if you want to fight him then you’ll first have to go through me.” The orc chieftain lets out an intimidating aura.

“F-Fine! But we’ll settle this with fists only!” The bandit boss replied, trying to suppress his fear.

“Very well, the master suggested the same to me when he subjugated me!” The orc chieftain handed his enormous ax to one of the orc warriors.

“Wait!” The bandit boss shouted.

“Aren’t you gonna give me a handicap?” He continued.

“Huh? What for?” The orc chieftain asked.

“What do you mean what for?! It’s common knowledge that an orc is physically superior to humans!” The bandit boss cried.

“And yet you’re the one who challenged me to a fist fight, I don’t know what do you want?” The orc chieftain argued back.

“Like I said! A handicap!” The bandit boss shouted.

“Even though my master, a human like you, never asked for such nonsense… I’ll grant you your request.” The orc chieftain replied.

“How about this… We’ll take turns throwing punches, you can throw up to five punches in your turn, and I’ll throw one in my turn.” He offered.

“Very well!” The bandit boss, without wasting another second, threw five consecutive punches. Alternating between left and right, with the orc chieftain standing there just taking the beating.

“Is that it?” The orc chieftain, without even showing signs of being hurt, mockingly asked. The bandit boss looked shocked, though he knew full well that a punch or two would not do any significant damage, he did not expect that even five consecutive full-forced punches would do no damage.

“My turn!” The orc chieftain uttered in a very threatening voice, yet the bandit boss seemed calm.

“While I agreed that we’ll take turns throwing punches, with me throwing up to five while him just once, there was nothing said about dodging… meaning I can just dodge his punch!” The bandit smirked as he scheme. 

“With his muscle bound body, there’s no way that–” Before he could even react, the bandit boss was sent flying with the orc chieftain’s jab. It was a weak light attack but was quick enough that the bandit boss couldn’t defend himself.

“You know, our master strictly forbade us from killing humans… I’m trying to hold back as best as I can so can you at least put up a decent guard?” The orc chieftain said as the bandit boss scrambled to get back on his feet.

“Shit!” The bandit boss uttered as he spat out a pint of blood.

“Boss!” His henchmens looked worried and they were about to approach him when the boss held up his hand, stopping them.

“This is nothing!” He gritted his teeth, enduring the pain he’s feeling while pretending to be tough for his men.

“Although stalling time is my original goal, I was hoping that my fast barrage could’ve done some damage. If so, then we’d fight these monsters to the death… but since that’s not the case, I’ll have to follow the original plan.” The bandit boss walked towards the orc chieftain, slowly regaining his composure.

He enters into a martial arts stance; he extends his left arm towards the orc chieftain to measure the distance while his right arm retracts at his waist level. Concentrating everything to a single point, he lets out a full-forced straight punch to the orc chieftain’s abdomen. 

It was a punishing technique for the bandit boss as he could feel his stamina drain after throwing a single punch, but to him it was worth it; while it didn’t do any significant damage, he felt the orc chieftain staggered a bit.

“Ho ho! That was a good one!” The orc chieftain said while rubbing the part where he was punched.

“You ready to take four more of those?” The bandit boss, whilst breathing heavily, confidently said. The orc chieftain grinned menacingly before opening his guard even more.

“Then what are you waiting for?” The orc chieftain howled. The bandit boss took his time regaining his stamina, focusing on gathering his strength before letting another powerful attack; but with each punch he threw, he could feel his strength sapping away, until he threw a measly jab for the last punch of his turn.

“Pathetic!” The orc chieftain blurted.

“And here I was thinking we could enjoy this until the master comes back.” He added.

“Boss!” One of the orc warriors shouted.

“We found rats sneaking all over the farm!” He continued.

“Good! Bring them all here.” The orc chieftain replied.

The bandit boss’ eyes widened as soon as another group of orc warriors came carrying something on their shoulders. They were the second group, badly beaten but still alive.

“I assume that these are your men, right?” The orc chieftain asked, referring to the badly beaten bandits.

“Now I don’t really know what your plan is but I suggest you stop now while you still have the chance.” The orc chieftain continued.

“You bastard!” The bandit boss shouted as he drew his sword before charging at the orc chieftain; his henchmen, though looked terrified, soon followed. 

With just their bare hands and brute force, the orcs were able to suppress the bandits in a one-sided beat down. Fortunately for the bandits, the orcs are under their master’s strict rule of not killing humans and so they were stripped off of their weapons and thrown into the road.

A few days after the incident, night time.

A strange light emanated from the inside of the main house. The orc chieftain, upon noticing this, made his way towards the front of the house, waiting for whoever was inside to come out; the other orcs soon followed.

“You seem to be doing a good job at handling this place.” The farmer remarked as he walked outside the house and looked at his farm now becoming a stronghold.

“Yes, master. We had an incident a few days ago but we were able to handle it.” The orc chieftain, with his head bowed down, reported. 

“Good, I need you to prepare a few things for me.” The farmer replied.