At the moment the atmosphere of the Quinte seemed helpless and defeated.

  The bandits have faced severe casualties, they have lost almost half their ships, their leader and the feared Serpent who had previously seemed unbeatable in their eyes.

  However, instead of feeling the urge to retreat with their tails between their legs, the greedy and vicious eyes of the bandits remained on the Quinte.

  After all, it was clear to see from their spy glasses that the Druid appeared out of the fight for good, the powerful Mage was also severely diminished and much of the Quinte defences had become depleted throughout the confrontation with the bandits.

  Perhaps if there wasn’t such a large number of them remaining they’d have retreated, but despite the heavy losses there were plenty of ships remaining compared to the lone Quinte, additionally the Quinte held a bounty higher than any of the ships they have raided before by an absolute long shot.

  And with their leader gone, wasn’t it an opportunity to snatch up all the loot for themselves?

  The bandits were prepared to take a risk and fully intended to launch an attack on the Quinte again, if the Druid or the Mage seemed capable it wouldn’t be too late to retreat, they wouldn’t be able to hunt them all down however if they were just a bunch of paper tigers right now, seeming full of strength on the surface but weak in reality, the bandits were not prepared to let this chance go.

  Becoming River Bandits who preyed on merchant ships travelling through these parts they were all a bunch of ruthless characters in the first place, after suffering such big losses despite the promise of riches how could they be satisfied with this outcome?

  At the moment several ships seemed to pursue the Quinte without hesitation, to the bandits it was now a crippled ship with limited means of defence, the previously timid bandits who witnessed the Druids might not long ago become starved wolves that hungered to tear into the wounded prey before them.

  The eyes of the sailors and remaining guards in the Quinte seemed to be filled with desperation and helplessness, fate was just too cruel, every time they were on the brink of despair they were saved by both the mysterious Mage and Druid yet now both were spent and the Quinte defences had been worn down by the relentless attacks of the bandits.

  They had come through what seemed to be insurmountable odds only to find themselves still in the same situation, it was enough to drive one crazy.

  A few men on board the ship even dared to approach the Druid in his lethargic state to scream at him to save them.

  However, these men were grabbed and shaken by the hardened guards to snap them out of it.

  They were not greenhorns and had gone through many life-and-death situations before they became guards on this ship, they knew it was not the time to lose their heads like this.

  If the Druid had anything else left he’d have long done something, it was not in their nature to ignore such things.

  Nonetheless, even these guards were unsure what to do when the previously scared nobles made an appearance, it seemed they had forgotten they were still in a life-and-death situation.

  “What is going on? Do you know who my Father is? He will have you crippled for this…” a young man in colourful clothing started screeching hysterically as he emerged on the top deck.

  The hardened guards stood by awkwardly as the noble continued shouting and screaming.

  Some of them gave him looks of contempt and outright hostility yet the young man frolicking around seemed to not notice.

  The River Bandits were swiftly moving closer and Althaea who was near Arwen who lay weakly began to grow incensed at the irritating screeching.

  Although most of her Qi reserves were depleted, she still had enough for an ordinary person without a shred of cultivation.

  Althaea hated those like the young man who completely relied on status and had no personal strength of their own.

  “Wood bind.” The incarnation was swift as the previously shouting young man quickly found his limbs coiled and tangled as he was left immobile on the ground restricted by ropes of wood.

  “We have no time for this,” Althaea muttered to the agreement of this onboard, the previously incensed nobles who came out looking to vent after the scare below deck involving Farrox quickly quietened down upon noticing everyone disregarded their status completely.

  After a moment of silence, one of the guards approached Althaea and said, “Anything we can do misses? Can we still fight them off?”

  At that moment the guard's eyes lit up with hope, after Althaea's quick display to the noble they wondered if the mysterious mage could help fight back against the bandits after all.

  Althaea eyes grew heavy as she relied, “I’m sorry, no. I have used up all of my potions already and I have already reached my max tolerance on these types of recovery potions for the time being, the best we can do is hope they just want a sum of coin that we can compensate, the leaders have been wiped out, these are just the dregs of the bandits maybe we can compromise by offering no resistance in return of some remuneration?”

  The hope from the guards, sailors and others seems to leave their eyes upon hearing her response.

  Although the bandit leader and his serpent had likely perished, these bandits were not the type to show mercy, after all, they had been leaving no survivors among the ships they had raided in the past to retain their secrecy.

  Althaea was even more concerned, after all, she and Arwen were both greatly compromised at the moment, the others may not know the bandit's target but she did, would the rest of the crew simply give up Ava in return for their safety?

  Althaea fears were soon answered when the bandits neared with eyes full of greed and malice. They suffered much at the hands of the Quinte and seemed fully intent on revealing their advantageous position at this moment in time.

  One of the boats had a particularly boisterous bandit who was loudly yelling at the others, he was one of the few of the recently deceased river bandit leaders' right-hand men who survived after many had been felled from the attack.

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  Unfortunately for Althaea, he knew about Ava and the value of her kind and with Farrox dead most of these bandits have now become desperate.

  They relied completely on the domineering Farrox and his serpent for protection over these years, otherwise they would have been executed and hunted down by the local nobles a long time ago for their exploits.

  It meant regardless of their fear of Althaea and the druid after seeing them deal with the leader they viewed as invincible, they were in a dead-end and the only way out was to retrieve Ava and trade her for sanctuary elsewhere before the nobles decided to finish them off and hang them in front of the common people to flaunt that they have finally dealt with the problem that plagued these parts for a long time.

  The bandit assuming command was smart enough to realise this which is why he was loudly yelling to the Quinte, “Now, we’re willing to compromise here. Hand over the elven brat you have onboard, and in return we’ll leave you be.”

  The other bandits tried to protest at this, their eyes already lit with greed and temptation as they eyed the riches on the Quinte, after they were practically on their last legs and the prize Farrox promised was in sight.

  “Shut up you fools. Farrox said that a child is worth more than this whole boat combined multitudes over, we can secure passage for a new life in riches or you can finish off a boat filled to the brim of people with the type of influence that will finish us off in weeks. Farrox ain't around no more, we lost that protection, so we need the child to get us an even bigger thigh to cling onto or we’ll be gone.” The bandit assuming command yelled to his men seeming to snap out of their hysterics realising just whose boat they were attacking.

  Before they had Farrox and his mighty serpent that held the type of deterrent that made the nobles hesitate at the price to deal with them. Now they held nothing to hold back them from just slaughtering them all.

  Therefore they decided to rein in their greed and let out yells of support to the bandit assuming command who had a big grin on his face satisfied his plan would work.

  The Quinte on the other hand was a burst of action as the guards stared at Arwen, and Althaea with concerned glances as she stared back fiercly as if daring them to even suggest it.

  Most of the boat seemed against the idea of sacrificing a child, even to save the lives of everyone present but the loudest voices were often those who shared the ugliest opinions.

  “Isn’t it just brat? I'll go throw her over to the bandits myself, who cares about some long-eared bastard anyways.” A haughty man said to the disgust of most present, he seemed to take no notice anyway his chin in the air condescendingly.

  Althaea was about to murmur a spell to teach the twerp a lesson but she worriedly noticed as a few burly men stepped as if to support the man, only noting now he had guards and a good view support to readily hand over Ava.

  If it was before she would not break a sweat dealing with weaklings like them, but now she was utterly spent and there were too many who rose to support who held some influence on the boat with his statue.

  The haughty man grew in confidence looking at the hesitation of those present, despite many not agreeing with him in principle their fear of his status still made them step back.

  At the same time, most of those just wanted someone like him to suggest it and his influence gave them a good excuse to sit back and watch him sacrifice a child for their skin and it delighted the haughty man to no end as he grinned merrily.

  Althaea tried to weakly protect but a man glared threateningly at her and said, “Think you can keep the old man safe at the same time lass?”

  His meaning was clear as many men lifted crossbows aimed at the unconscious body of the druid, if Althaea moved to block them, they were intent on shooting the unguarded druid.

  The guard captain was about to protect in disgust before a blonde-haired young man had enough, walking to the haughty noble who did not expect retaliation at all, mumbling “What do you want sir…”

  That was all he got out as he was socked clean by a right hand from the blonde man as he collapsed to the ground in a state from the punch.

  Wiping his fist the blonde man said, “You ain't fit for a noble. None of you are, we ain't handing over a child to a bunch of bandits, I’d rather die before that happens and none of you will get away with it when we get to shore when I tell my Father about it…”

  “But sir surely you understand the life of one child…” a man tried to protest but was hushed by the man next to him but he could not take away his words as the blonde man turned to him.

  “I will not let some bandit dictate terms in front of me. I wouldn't be able to look my Father in the eye if I backed down today, regardless of whether we fight to death or not, I ain't compromising and if you can't understand why then...” the blonde man shook his head at this and walked away not even bothering to explain.

  The haughty man who was rubbing his broken nose at this time took the moment to whimper back onto his feet murmuring under his breath, “Those Valenports… always self-righteous bastards…”

  He did not dare to even look in the blonde man's direction though and also nervously looked around after realising his error of speaking the last part a bit too loudly.

  The bandits at that time began to grow impatient and were starting to yell, “Fine if you want to fight to the last man I will gladly grant you that wish. Men…”

  That bandit didn't even manage to finish his sentence and loud shrieks were heard in the distance.

  The bandit ships who were a bit further away back ready to offer support were the first to witness what was coming.

  “SHIT WYVERNS… FUCK…” the bandits began screaming hysterically as large shapes in the distance became increasingly clear.

  Loud yells and bells started ringing from the ships as the bandits did their best to retrieve ranged weapons.

  At this moment the bandits were terrified, even if Farrox lived they would dread the opponent that was arriving now, never mind with them being greatly weakened.

  “Orgrasan Hunters…” a man murmured in a mix of fear and hope.

  “What are they doing in these parts?” another said as the Quinte didn't know whether they were saved or…

  Althaea had the most mixed feelings at the moment, especially with Arwen by her side unconscious and so vulnerable.

  “At least they are not friends with those bandits…” she said as she watched the riders from the Wyverns drop bursts of magic onto the bandit ships tearing them into smithereens.

  The River Bandits currently paled in comparison to their original force but the ease at which they were torn apart by the Orgrasan Hunters was terrifying.

  Screams and horrified shrieks were heard as the bandits were culled mercilessly to the last man, the promise of the lead bandit soon reversed as he found he and his men were the ones who were slaughtered one-sidedly, meaning the bandit group that was a thorn in this region for so long was finally put to rest.

  The occupants of the Quinte just stared on in shock watching the events realising the lauded Orgrasan Hunters did not have an unfounded reputation.

  Though it did not mean they were not dreading their next actions wondering what the fierce group would do next, not even the nobles were confident that their status would protect them from the great emperors hit squad if they wanted any of them killed.

  And soon enough the lead Wyvern of the bunch, that was by far the largest and most intimidating one she’d seen, far bigger than the Wyverns they had met in the forest seemed to slowly descent as it neared the Quinte, obviously intent for the rider disembark to meet with them.

  For the first time, Althaea felt extremely nervous, normally she always had Arwen alongside her for support, she never felt in danger since she knew he would always protect her or give the advice she needed, but now he was out for commission and she had no idea what the Orgrasan Hunters intentions are as she was sure it was not the bandits that attracted them here.

  And it had to be him of all people as she saw the man hoisted on the Wyvern was a hulking man wearing his infamous plated armour and mask that drove fear into all, since wherever he went he would leave only bodies in his wake.

  He was the Emperors finest killer. If Rake was the man who led the Orgrasan Hunters and was his best commander for his elite troops, then the man known only as the High Inquisitor was his best investigator, the one sent to weed out the traitors and had slaughtered countless groups of nobles that do not fit his emperor's ideologies, deemed incompatible for the new Empire.

  And now he was here leading Althaea to wonder if she would have preferred her chances with the bandits.