We’ve been walking around these ruins for hours and haven’t seen a single soul. Where the hell did everyone go? I must’ve killed about a hundred of them the other day but there were so many there’s no way the rest could’ve just disappeared. At this rate I’ll never get to show off my fighting skills and get the nomads approval and that means no p**sy. 

We did stop by all of the abandoned camps scattered throughout the ruins. The way the camps were set up varied a lot. Some were set up like the compound we found the other day. Others were set up completely in large buildings that resembled Greek temples and bathhouses. We even managed to find another underground setup down in the sewers. 

The nomads rummaged through all the stuff the bandits left behind. The nomads left their flimsy old spears made of sticks and sharpened rocks from the wilderness and exchanged them for more sturdy weaponry. They also grabbed up some armor of various types and now they actually looked like a force to be reckoned with. They managed to gather plenty of food too. 

They thanked me for escorting them through the ruins, but I still wanna show off my fighting skills so they know their daughter will be safe with me. 

I decided to start following a pair of footprints I found. I’m no tracking expert but they look relatively new compared to other prints around here. Eventually, we came across a person. They were all alone. I told the nomads to hang back while I moved in closer. As I crept up towards him, he started to look familiar. I got too close and he noticed me.

“Master!?” He called out. He came running over to me and gave me a big hug and yelled out, “I so happy me found you!”

“Uhhh…” I have no idea how to react to this.

“So you are working with bandits! Quick! Slay the elf!” One of the nomads shouted.

“Hold on! I don’t know this guy!” I shouted.

“What you mean you don’t know me?” The bandit asked.

I remembered where I recognized him from now, this is the guy whose d**k I shot off on the first night I first came here.

“You better explain yourself! Quickly!” The nomad shouted.

“I helped this guy out a couple days ago, I haven’t seen him since I swear!” I told them.

“You’d better be telling the truth! Robertha! Keep your bow drawn and trained on the elf!”

Ro kept her bow aimed at the kid with a cold look on her face. I’ve seen that look before, back in prison the most of the murderers had that same expression. 

I saw another nomad use a staff and a faint purple light swirled around the tip but nothing appeared to happen. That nomad then went and whispered something to their leader. 

“You can put the bow down Robertha. We’re safe.” The leader said.

I don’t know what just happened but at least the kid isn’t in danger anymore. 

The bandit asked me, “What you doing here?”

I said, “We’re looking for bandits to kill, what’re you doing here?”

He said, “I looking for new friends! Me lost old buddies, me hear there lots of people here but can’t find any.”

I told him, “Yeah same, I was just here the other day and this place was packed with bandits.”

He asked me, “You kill all of them?”

I said, “Nah but I did kill a lot of them, even the guys that were running this place.”

Then he yelled, “Wow you amazing master! Me think the rest get scared and run away.”

I said, “Yeah that’s probably what happened.” Why does this guy keep calling me master?

“What you do now?” He asked.

“I dunno, Do you know where any old bandit hideouts are?” I asked.

“The prison.” He said.

“I’ve already been there.” I told him.

He replied quietly, “Oh yeah…”

He placed his hand on his chin and postured himself in a somewhat stoic thinking position. If he wasn’t dressed like a clown I’d probably take him seriously.

“Hmm… MINE!” He screamed.

“Huh? What’s yours?” I said.

Then he yelled, “No, mine! Like diggy hole.” while making a shoveling motion with his hands.

I asked him, “Oh is there a bandit camp in the mine?”

He mumbled back, “Mhm.”

Then I asked, “Sweet where is it?”

He screamed and pointed, “That way!”

“Alright thanks.” I started to walk off with the nomads but he followed us.

I asked him, “Where’re you going?”

He replied, “With you.”

“Oh…” I wasn’t expecting him to follow me.

“Do you trust this man?” The nomads asked me.

I don’t wanna have to deal with this cuckoo head, but he is the only bandit that hasn’t been hostile since I got here. 

“I mean… I just met the guy, but he hasn’t given me a reason not to trust him.” I told the nomads.

“Alright then, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on both of you.” The nomads replied. 

We all started walking towards the direction of the mine. The vibe felt more tense than before and the silence was too awkward for me to handle.

“So uh… What’s your name?” I asked the bandit.

He said, “Me name Killer, it mean person who kills in me native language.”

Who the hell named their kid Killer? And wait a minute, did it auto translate his name? I wonder if that happened with Voyd too. “Uhh nice to meet you, my name’s Jeff.”

We kept walking and talking but the conversation was a little weird. He kept asking me things like how many people I’ve killed and robbed. I’m having second thoughts about taking him with me, this guy is not normal! I tried my best to steer the conversation away from death and destruction.

I asked him, “Where’d you get that mask from? I haven’t seen any like it around here.”

He said, “I find it at the beach!”

“Really?” I said.

“Yeah!” He replied.

If he found that gas mask washed up on shore then that means there must be some modern society out there somewhere. I wonder if it’s on that other continent the goddess mentioned or if it’s one of the Islands. But why haven’t they come here? I know it’s dangerous but if they have gas masks and kevlar then technology wise they should be at least up to the level of our world during WWI. All I have is a gun and I’ve been just fine out here, if they had tanks they could take over this place easily so why haven’t they done it yet? I thought hard but couldn’t come up with an answer for that.

We eventually made it to the outskirts of the ruins. A couple of miles from where the old buildings started to end there was a large cave entrance with a small number of bandits standing outside it. We arrived just as the sun was starting to set. 

Our group was so large that the bandits standing guard outside saw us from a distance and called the rest of their gang outside. 

Most of them charged at us while a few of them stood back and fired arrows from afar. Voyd used her wind magic to knock the arrows off course and protect the nomads, while I flipped my switch and gunned down the ones trying to get into melee range. 

Once they were all down, I flipped back to semi auto mode and tried shooting at the archers. They were super far away though, and I had trouble landing my shots. 

Ro however, was able to land her shots and she started taking the archers down slowly. Killed rushed in on his own, wielding a flail with a spiked ball on both sides of the chain. He closed the gap while dodging the arrows that were flying at him and he swung his flail with more coordination than I anticipated. He’s an extremely skilled fighter, which shouldn’t be surprising considering he was able to survive a few days on his own.

After the battle was over, the nomad leader tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and saw him bowing down on his knees with his face in the dirt.

“Please forgive our rudeness to you earlier. We understand now that you could’ve easily killed us at any moment with that weapon of yours. The elf is a very talented mage as well and she kept my people protected. You have our full trust going forward.” He said.

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it. I’m just glad that now we’re all on the same page.” I told him.

“Thank you for your forgiveness, now let’s go have a look in this mine shall we?”

We went inside the cave and looked around. The entrance was a large common area with a kitchen and dining table. The fireplace in the corner even had a small chimney above it for ventilation. These bandits really pimped this place out and made it suitable for living.

Down the mineshaft was another room that was used for sleeping. Dozens of bedrolls made of animal skin and fur scattered the ground and there were weapon racks and armor stands lining the walls.

We followed the mine cart tracks until we got to another room. This room was a massive mushroom farm. It probably wasn’t enough to keep all those bandits fed but it definitely helped with their food situation. 

The nomads mentioned they can’t stay in one place for too long but this could be the solution to that. There’s only one entrance so if they could defend that they’d be able to live in the cave no problem. I brainstormed ways to keep bandits out of the cave then it hit me, we could set up some kind of doorway that can only be opened from the inside. And when the nomads come back from gathering supplies they could use a secret knock or passcode. As long as one person stays inside the cave at all times they should be fine. 

I told them about the one way door idea and suggested they stay here. I also said that I could bring Ro back to visit if we knew where to find them at. They were all for it and we got started setting up immediately. Half of the nomads unpacked the wagon while the other half got the cave set up for living. 

The nomads said we could take a break after all the fighting we did, so the four us sat in the common room while the rest of the nomads continued working.

“Hey Ro, did you learn any warding magic from your old group?” Voyd asked.

“I only learned basic wards, I wasn’t there very long.” Ro replied. 

“Could you teach us? Even a basic ward could save our lives if we run into magic users.” Voyd said.

“Sure, I don’t know if I’ll be a good teacher though.” 

Ro lectured us on the basics of warding magic. In order to place a ward on yourself, you have to use your clothes or armor as the catalyst, and the ward will be placed right on top of them. A staff can also be used to place a ward on other objects or in the air to create a force field like effect.

We practiced placing wards on ourselves and Voyd used a light amount of wind magic to test to see if they’re working. My ward broke almost instantly, Killers ward never even activated, and Voyd tried to use her staff to create a ward in the air in front of her.

I placed my hand gently where she said the ward was and a bright blue barrier stopped my hand from passing through. 

“Try hitting it.” Voyd told me.

I punched the barrier and it shattered like glass.

“A little practice will make the wards stronger.” Ro said.

“Got it.”

We spent the rest of the night practicing our wards. Each of us improved a little bit, except for Killer who couldn’t even get a single ward set up. But they still aren’t strong enough to really protect us in a fight.

When it was time for bed, we went to the back room with the bandits' old bedrolls. None of the nomads wanted Killer sleeping near them, which isn’t surprising. I told him to sleep by himself in the common room and he seemed like he was completely fine with it. I was worried he might get upset and go roid rage mode. 

The bedrolls were actually super comfortable. They felt better than old stiff mattresses we had back in prison. It was the best night of sleep I’ve had in years.