Immortal Era's Crafting Master

The twenty bandits thought long and hard about their choice. Everyone else was staring at them, each wondering what choice these bandits would make.

The five bandit leaders wanted the twenty to choose the first option to not have to experience even more pain on top of their already slow and painful execution.

The former bandits that followed Jackson wanted the twenty to join them as not only are they strong, their loyalty to their leaders was touching.

As for the players, they hoped that the twenty would choose the third option and just leave. Just like the former bandits, they too found that the loyalty of these men was worth keeping alive and that they should be free to make their own decisions on their futures.

As for the man who offered these options and the halfling lycan forcing them to make a choice, their thoughts on the matter couldn't be observed by anyone else in the area.

The twenty thought about it for a few seconds before they turned to face Kirou. Each of them had a serious expression on their faces while one of them voiced the group's thoughts, "We'll take the third option."

Upon hearing those words, Kirou nodded slightly before retracting all the thread that was still near the group. He then glanced at his group, both of which saw and made a path for the twenty to pass through.

After doing this, Kirou glanced at the group of bandits before speaking up, "You gentlemen are free to go."

Kirou then stepped aside, clearing the path for the group. The group was hesitant for a moment but one person soon took the first step. All it took was for someone to start for the rest to follow through. Soon, the group was making their way down the path provided to them.

As the group got further away, a voice suddenly sounded in their ears, "Just a reminder; should I meet you, men, with your weapons drawn against me once more, none of you will be able to escape."

After hearing those words, the group collectively felt a chill creep down their backs, prompting their steps to quicken as they fled the area.

Kirou's group watched as the twenty bandits left without a single person taking a look back. Some felt relieved at this sight while others found it to be a pity. As for Kirou and Jackson, neither showed any reactions to this behavior as they now focused their sights on the owner of the bandit stronghold that just fell, Cain.

Cain currently had hatred in his eyes as he stared at both Kirou and Jackson from the ground. With the number of restrictions currently on his body, he couldn't adjust himself properly after Jackson had unceremoniously dropped him earlier. Since then, he's been glaring at both men.

Both men could see the hatred in Cain's eyes, but they ignored it as if thinking that it wasn't important or aimed at either. A clone eventually went over to Cain and set him back on his knees as both men walked over to him.

Standing before a kneeling Cain, Kirou was the first to speak, "You seem to have a story. Would you like to share it before Jackson voices his decision on how to deal with you? Granted, his choice probably won't really change, but you'll get it off your c.h.e.s.t, at the very least."

Jackson gave a slight nod, confirming Kirou's words.

Cain could tell that they were genuinely curious, but gnashed his teeth and turned his nose up at them.

Seeing that he chose to remain silent, Kirou shrugged slightly before speaking, "Suit yourself. He's all yours, Jackson."

After saying his piece, Kirou removed a chair and small table from his inventory and sat down. Following this, he removed some items from his inventory and placed them on the table. Upon closer inspection, these items turned out to be snacks and small fruit.

While the rest, Cain included, were confused by Kirou's strange actions, Jackson walked over to Cain and once again lifted him to his feet. After doing so, he removed the bindings holding Cain captive, confusing most of those present.

Jackson then turned towards the girls and spoke, "Would you ladies give him some recovery items? I need this bastard to be at full strength for what he's about to face."

Upon hearing this, both Reya and Navi turned their heads towards Kirou, silently asking if this was fine. He nodded to them slightly, permitting them to follow through on Jackson's request.

With Kirou giving them the green light, both Reya and Navi approached Cain and placed a few vials in his hands. One vial was filled with a potion to restore one's health, while the other contained pills capable of recovering one's mana.

This act confused Cain even more, but he opened both vials and swallowed their contents. He knew that whatever he was about to face, he won't be able to deal with it in his current injured state.

Jackson patiently waited until Cain was fully recovered. As soon as he was, Jackson drew his weapon and spoke, "Cain, I never liked you, and you could say the same for me. That said, you were always looking out for our bandit group, even though your methods were twisted. It's for that reason that I am willing to give you a chance, a chance to walk away from this alive."

"What are you trying to pull here, Jackson? If you're going to kill me, just get on with it. There's no need to humiliate me further," said Cain with anger laced in his voice.

Jackson looked at him with a calm expression as he spoke, "No games, no ploy. Just you and me, man to man. If you win, you are free to go. If not, you have to go along with my idea."

"And what's that idea of yours?"

"You don't have to worry about it unless you lose. It's something I know you'll hate from the bottom of your heart. That, and it would be a waste to just kill you like this." After saying this, a strange smile formed on Jackson's face.

That smile reminded the players of someone, but none of them could figure it out at the moment. As for the former bandits, they just found that smile chilling to the bone for some reason.

Having heard Jackson's words, Cain turned his eyes towards Kirou. He could see that halfling lycan was snacking on the fruits before him, but even in that kind of state, Cain found Kirou to be giving off a dangerous vibe.

Shaking his head free of those thoughts, he spoke up, "You're okay with this, Lycan?"

"It's his choice on how to deal with you. I won't interfere with his decision on how to deal with you." After saying this, Kirou looked at Cain thoughtfully for a second before speaking towards Jackson, "It won't be much of a fight if he's unarmed. Do you have a problem if I give him back his weapon?"

"None at all, Young Master. In fact, I insist that you do," said Jackson with a confident tone.

"As you wish."

Following those words, Kirou removed a familiar-looking weapon from his inventory and threw it over to Cain. The weapon landed, blade first, into the ground before Cain's feet. The weapon was an axe, the same axe that Cain stole from Jackson's home in the former bandit settle and has been using ever since.

There was a look of nostalgia on Jackson's face as he saw Cain lifting his former axe, but that changed into determination as he saw the serious expression on Cain's face.

"Jackson, I'll ask you again: are you sure that you want to do this? If I win this fight, I'm definitely going to end your life."

"That's fine. If you can beat me, and that's a big if, my life is yours to take. That being said, I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer after I defeat you." Jackson's expression had warped back to that strange expression from earlier.

"Damnit, Jackson. Just what kind of demented idea did you come up with for your expression to be so damned warped?" Cain was starting to get chills as he stared at the warped expression on Jackson's face. He somehow found that smile eerily familiar.

"You better win, otherwise you're going to find out the hard way." Jackson released a hearty laugh after saying those words, prompting Cain to rush at him with axe in hand.

Thus, the one-on-one fight between Cain and Jackson got underway, with the group of former bandits and players surrounding the two.

While Cain did entertain the thought of escaping mid-fight for a moment, that thought disappeared as quickly as it came when he glanced in Kirou's direction. Although he could see that Kirou was still sitting, his sixth sense as a warrior kept warning him to not act on such an idea.

And like that, the fight between the two continued and went on strong while everyone else spectated with excitement and cheers. While this was going on, Kirou was busy eating his fruit, seemingly without a care in the world.

*******

Half an hour later.

Both men were covered from head to toe in wounds. Even then, the fight had come to an end and there was a clear winner between the two.

Cain was lying on the floor with a boot on his c.h.e.s.t and a sword at his throat. He wanted to slap away the blade and stand up to continue the fight, but his body refused to listen to him. He could only lie there in defeat.

He knew he lost and couldn't do anything about it, but Cain didn't want to acknowledge his loss. It wasn't for any reason like pride or him being a sore loser, but due to that warped smile on Jackson's face.

During the fight, Cain remembered where he saw that smile before. After realizing the implications of that smile, he did everything he could to defeat Jackson. Unfortunately for Cain, Jackson was always a step or two ahead of him. Even worse, Jackson made sure to punish Cain severely whenever a weakness presented itself.

With the fight now at its conclusion and the winner so clearly decided, that strange smile on Jackson's face grew in size.

Unsurprisingly, the rest of the group finally figured out where that smile originated from, prompting each to say a silent prayer for Cain. Bad guy or not, the fact that Cain was on the receiving end of that smile made everyone sympathize with him.

It was at this point that Kirou decided to speak up, "Okay, Jackson. You've beaten Cain in your duel. Would you mind sharing with the rest of us what you plan to do with him? Going by that expression on your face, I'm sure that you have an interesting idea."

As if to answer a certain unanswered question by this point, a strange smile formed on Kirou's face, eerily resembling the one on Jackson's face. With both making the same expression, everyone took a collective step back.

As for Cain, when he saw Kirou's wolfish face with that smile, all he could do was resign himself to the torture he was about to face.

"Understood, Young Master. As for what I plan to do with this one, I'm going to have him swear his loyalty to you. Although he looks like this, he is a former knight. While I don't know what happened to him that made him into a bandit, wouldn't having him serve Young Master be more severe than actually killing him?"

"Hmm, you make a good point, Jackson. But how would I be able to trust him? I don't trust people based on their words solely. How would I ensure his loyalty?"

"That's quite simple, Young Master. His oath as a knight is already an unbreakable one, but we could always use the <Blood Oath> to bind him as well."

"I like the way you think, Jackson. Why don't we write up the specifics of the oath to make sure he suffers as much as possible?"

"I agree, Young Master."

As both master and servant were blatantly plotting how to deal with Cain in the open, everyone else could only pity the man while turning their eyes away. As for the man in question, he's too tired to even move and even if he could, there were two shadow clones and three beasts standing next to him at the moment.

All Cain could do at the moment was wallow at his own ineptitude while waiting for both master and servant to finish their devious plot.