Inside the Blackrock bandit stronghold, a handsome young man named Caelan lounged in a folding chair, completely absorbed in the highly delicate task of clipping his fingernails.
Snip.
Snip.
He paused, lowering the clippers.
“Huh?” The heavy wooden doors of the main hall suddenly burst open, followed immediately by a breathless, frantic voice.
“Boss!
Boss!
It’s bad!
Pant, pant…” The young man in the chair offered a lazy glance toward his panicking subordinate.
“Rook, how many times have I told you?
Knock before you enter.” Caelan sighed, gesturing vaguely at the heavy wood.
“Our stronghold isn’t exactly rolling in Jewel.
We just replaced those doors, and I was hoping they’d last a few more years.
Got it?
The repair fee is coming out of your cut this month.” Rook gasped for air, waving his hands wildly.
“Oh, Boss, who cares about the door right now?!
We messed with the wrong guy!
Someone’s fighting their way up the mountain, and we absolutely cannot stop him!” Caelan stood up at a leisurely pace and casually brushed the nail clippings off his shirt.
“Alright, alright, calm down.
I already sensed him.” He stretched his arms with a confident smirk.
“We’ve been running this racket for a while now, and it looks like we finally caught a big fish.
Come on—let’s go greet our new client.” Outside the stronghold gates stood a heavily muscled middle-aged man.
He had slicked-back orange hair, a light layer of stubble, and wore a dark green cloak draped over shoulder armor.
A dark tank top, a wide belt, dark blue trousers, and heavy brown boots completed the look.
He was smiling easily at the lone bandit standing opposite him.
After glancing around the empty clearing, the man spoke up.
“Listen, kid, if you don’t want to get hurt, it’d be best if you stepped aside.
I’m not here for you.
Why don’t you just call your boss out and save me the trouble?” Finn bristled at the wizard’s casual arrogance.
“You?
Fight our boss?
Don’t make me laugh!
Do you have any idea how many stuck-up Mages we’ve taken down lately?!
You’re just another one on the pile!” He drew his weapon, puffing out his chest.
“Hand over all your cash right now, and I might just let you walk away with your dignity.
The last guy who talked this big got stripped naked by the boss and hung from a tree for days!
Hahaha!” To Finn’s surprise, the middle-aged wizard burst into hearty laughter alongside him.
“Hahaha!
Man, you guys really go too far, don’t you?
But if you’re planning on hanging me up, I’m just not sure your ‘boss’ has what it takes.” The wizard rubbed his chin, looking genuinely puzzled.
“By the way, is this bandit camp completely empty?
You’re the only guy I’ve run into all the way up the mountain.
Wait, no—counting the one who just ran inside crying for help, that makes two of you.
Are you guys actually bandits?” Finn scoffed, eyeing Gildarts with total disdain.
“Tch, what do you know?
The boss always says quality beats quantity!
With me and Rook here—the twin tactical geniuses of this mountain—we’re worth a hundred thousand men!” He tilted his head back, his eyes shining with absolute, unearned pride.
“Uh…” Gildarts stared at him, momentarily speechless.
He didn’t know what kind of ‘geniuses’ these idiots were supposed to be, but something told him it wasn’t exactly a compliment.
He scratched the back of his head, his amused smile fading into something much heavier.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, kid.
But if you’ve chosen to play bandit, you better be prepared for the consequences.” Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of Magic Power erupted from the man.
It crashed down like a physical weight.
Finn’s knees buckled instantly.
His body and mind simply weren’t strong enough to withstand that kind of suffocating pressure, and he collapsed into the dirt, trembling.
Just as Gildarts prepared to make his move, a brilliant flash of light streaked down from the higher cliffs.
Fwip!
“Crash.” The beam of light shattered into glowing particles in midair, completely neutralized before it could even touch him.
Gildarts narrowed his eyes at the space ahead.
Standing there, seemingly out of nowhere, was a young man.
The moment Finn spotted that familiar silhouette, his courage came flooding back.
He scrambled off the ground and darted behind the youth.
“Boss!
You finally made it!
This wizard is way too cocky—let’s strip him and hang him from the tree!” Caelan looked at his subordinate, who was still chattering away without taking a breath.
Without a word, he planted his palm flat against Finn’s face.
The bandit immediately clamped his mouth shut.
“G-gentle…
please be gentle,” he muffled.
With a casual shove, Caelan sent Finn tumbling away into the grass.
“You’re too damn loud, Finn.
I’m right here, aren’t I?” Finn quickly scrambled back to his feet, scurried behind his boss, and kept his mouth firmly shut.
Caelan turned his attention back to the terribly familiar middle-aged man standing before him.
“Red-Haired…
Shanks?” he muttered, blinking.
“No, wait.
You must be Gildarts!” Gildarts raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise.
He hadn’t expected this bandit leader to be so young, let alone recognize him on sight.
“Hahaha!
Am I really that famous now?
What, are you a fan?” He flashed a cocky grin.
“Tell you what.
When I beat you up in a minute, I might just consider going a little easier on you.” ‘So scary~,’ Caelan drawled, his tone dripping with lazy sarcasm.
“That Magic Power you were throwing around just now felt like a total monster, old man.
Truly terrifying~.” Gildarts frowned, feeling vaguely irritated by the kid’s weird, mocking tone.
“You know, brat, you have a really punchable way of talking.
I take back what I said earlier.
I’m definitely going to have to teach you a hard lesson.” The moment the words left his mouth, Gildarts raised his right hand.
A complex Magic Circle flared to life in his palm.
“Crash.” Blinding white grid lines instantly lit up the earth beneath Caelan’s feet.
In a split second, the solid ground shattered into a deep crater of crushed rock.
“Waaah!
What is this?!” Finn shrieked as the floor vanished beneath him, sending him tumbling down into the newly formed pit in a cascade of rubble.
At that exact moment, Rook came sprinting out of the stronghold.
He didn’t even notice the massive sinkhole in time, stepped right off the edge, and plummeted.
“Holy crap!
What kind of degenerate digs a hole in the middle of the road?!” But Caelan was already gone.
The instant Gildarts had moved, the young bandit leader dissolved into a streak of brilliant golden light, rematerializing right beside Gildarts in the blink of an eye.
“Speed is weight,” Caelan murmured, his leg already glowing with blinding power.
“Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?” Light Speed Kick!
“Crash!” BOOM!
A deafening shockwave ripped through the clearing, completely swallowing Gildarts in a massive cloud of dust and debris.
Inside the thick smoke, Gildarts’s instincts screamed at him.
‘Not good.’ Another blinding light flared through the haze.
Without hesitating, he channeled his strength into his legs and vaulted out of the dust cloud just as a second explosion detonated right behind him.
KABOOM!
As the smoke slowly cleared, a violently scorched crater—at least ten meters across—sat right where Gildarts had been standing just a second prior.
“Close one,” Gildarts whistled, though his easygoing smile had completely vanished.
He stared at the young man, his eyes narrowing into a serious, assessing glare.
“What’s your name, kid?
Having that kind of power at your age…
I’ve gotta admit, it’s pretty surprising.” Gildarts crossed his arms, his sharp gaze cutting through the tension.
“I thought this was just a standard subjugation quest.
The old man practically forced me to take it.
But listening to you and your men talk, I’m starting to get a different picture.” He tilted his head, calculating.
“After all, setting up a bandit camp on a mountain this close to Magnolia—right in the backyard of an official wizard guild—is a pretty bold move.
Anyone doing that either has absolute confidence in their strength, or they’re hiding some kind of secret.” Gildarts’s eyes locked onto Caelan.
“Don’t tell me…
Did you guys post the subjugation request yourselves?”