The Tales of Draconic Warlock

I quickly woke up from my sleep feeling that something was wrong. I hope nothing is wrong or my sleep time is over.

I quickly scanned the surroundings to see why my brain jolted me awake in the middle of the night. Soon, I saw the reason why it did that.

There are movements around the camp and those movements don\'t belong to the campers. They are human but I can say that they are not of the campers because of the way they walked towards the camp. Also, why would so many people would appear around the camp at the same time and sneak around like that?

They are all bandits, that I am very sure about.

It was a good thing that I reached Tier-6. If I was still at Tier-2 or something like that, there was no way that my senses would have recognized danger that far away.

With them too far away, I can prepare for the inevitable battle.

Hmm, let\'s see how many are there.

One, two, three..., fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine and sixty. Wow, a lot of them appeared here. Were they not afraid of the guards that came with the travellers to the camp?

If they are unawakened or below Tier-3, I can easily eliminate them, but if there is anyone whose rank is Tier-4 and above, they could cause damage to others. I may not be a saint, but if I could help save lives without causing me future problems, then I would.

Moreover, battles are the best place to make a few trustful friends.

---

I quickly and silently climbed down the tree and went to find the guards of my group. The coach I came with hired a few guards, who looked powerful enough but I don\'t know their ranks as I lack the skills that can identify or analyse things.

If they are powerful, then there would be casualties, which I can alone can\'t prevent. Moreover, I can\'t let others know how powerful I am.

This was because, people gossip, a lot.

If they see my prowess, then when we reach Endis Town, then everyone there would know about my prowess. It means whoever was behind the disappearance of those two merchants would get alerted.

There are no indications as of now that other humans were responsible for that, but I need to be careful, or else my first mission this year will fail.

No matter what, I have to complete the mission.

As I said, I am not a saint. I won\'t help others if helping them could cause losses to me.

I am already on my way to alert the guards and they can take from there. After all, that\'s what they were paid for. In a way, if I clear those bandits without much help from the guards, it would be considered as if I am taking over their jobs and incomes.

Give support and remain in the background unless the situation is dire enough.

Though it won\'t be as I will eliminate a few of these bandits which would definitely reduce the burden on their shoulders.

I walked towards one of the guards who was still awake and kept watch. It was like he didn\'t detect the bandits as of yet.

\'Do you know that there are bandits around us?" I spoke when I was a few feet away from the guard.

The guard was startled when he heard my voice and turned around to see who sneaked upon him. He only calmed down after seeing me. As a guard, they have to remember who the passengers are in case of an attack.

"Man, you startled me and what do you mean bandits?" the guard asked.

"The ones that are currently surrounding the camp", I said.

"What? I don\'t see any", he said as he strained his eyes to see if there were any movements.

"I have a high-end skill that would alert me and I sense that there are about sixty bandits, maybe even more", I said and walked away.

I know that the guards wouldn\'t trust others easily. So I have to say that I can sense them because of my skill. Whether he believes me or not, I can\'t do anything about that.

I already warned them about the impending doom. Whether they believe or not has nothing to do with me.

If they did, the casualties may be confined to a minimum number, even zero. If they don\'t, then that\'s their problem. As I said, I am not a saint who was born to solve the world\'s problems.

---

I don\'t know what the guard did with the information that I provided him with. I on the other hand found a good place to ambush those bastards.

Now because of them, my sleep was disturbed.

I am someone who wouldn\'t wake up in the middle of my sleep. If I did, then that would be the end of the sleep for the day.

Even though I am awakened and my body can take on one night without sleep, it was something that was part of my life.

As a Tier-6 ranker even if I don\'t eat or sleep for a few days, I would be totally fine. Of course, there would reduction in prowess because the body needs sustenance to survive and sleep to work better.

Without them, problems would arise.

I want my body to be at its peak state, no matter the time. I should work as it should. These bastards arrived and disturbed that routine.

---

The bandits slowly crept into the camp, thinking that no one was the wiser. When the first one crossed my place, unaware of my presence, I didn\'t act and let him enter, for I knew another behind that one.

If I act on this one, then that would give an easy chance for the other one to attack me from behind. So I waited till the second one crossed my position.

Once they were in sight, I acted. Just one skill and both were down.

Once they were down, I searched their bodies. It was not like I was alone. If there are any valuables, others would pick them up if I go now to attack others thinking that the items can be collected later.

Loots are always a problem, no matter where unless you are alone. Everyone would claim that the loot belongs to them and that would cause clashes among the people.

While I was looting, fights broke out throughout the camp.

I already defeated two of those bandits. It means that I did more than I should. Now they have to work and earn the right to live for now.

Many would think that it was wrong and should help the people but I say the opposite.

Help should be given when asked. If you help every time when others are in difficulty, they will never learn to rise out of those difficulties. They would become so used to being saved and in the absence of such help, what awaits them was their downfall.

What the goody two shoes have to learn is when they should help others and when they shouldn\'t.

Not helping others is also a form of helping them.

---

Ha, ha, that\'s the end of the bandits.

Now because of those bandits the entire camp is awake but the movement has to be postponed as the guards are too tired to provide protection during the travel.

This was not the unique situation of the group I was travelling with but of the entire camp. There are others who were staying here for the night and they too decided to move a bit late so that the guards wouldn\'t be too tired.

After all, if the guards are too tired, then it would become disastrous to the entire group in minutes.

The bandits nearby may have been dealt with but there are other bandit groups or even the group that attacked us may not be the entire bandit group. Moreover, there are monsters in the forests which are a threat to people.

The delay in starting means that our arrival at Endis Town would be delayed too.

Well, there was nothing to do much anyway. Those two merchants would most likely be dead. So there would be no rescuing them, at least that was my opinion. If they were, the bandits are not idiots to keep hot commodities for long.

They should have sold them to slavers a long time ago. There is no saving them now.

After I reach Endis Town, what I could do was to take revenge for the fallen. It was the only thing for me to do. Thinking that they were still alive, is stupid, though I can\'t say that to others.

I would be considered rude and I don\'t want others to think that I am heartless. I care but only for certain people and no one else.

Anyway, now that my sleep was gone, let\'s see if there was a good book to read. It would be some time before they move.