THE ADVENTURER OF EDEN
2.3 "Against the Bandits"

"HUH?!" Shiki and Yui were surprised to hear that.

In the Kingdom of Asteria there are three royal families who are famous as founders. Founders may not be the right thing, they are referred to as the "main pillar" of the kingdom because of what happened 400 years ago.

Although they stood on equal footing as the three royal families, it was the Blackmores who ruled the kingdom, followed by the second Romanova and the third Stardust.

"The Blackmore family has died, all of them. King George, his wife Marina, the first son of 'General' William, the third son of Ronan, the fourth son of Martin and even their fifth son who is still 4 years old Shun."

Shiki and Yui's faces were still silently listening with Alicia's explanation.

"The princes were born to three concubines as well, and the concubines were also killed by Artha."

Shiki was shocked to hear that. "It's crazy, but why did Artha kill all her brothers? Is it because he wants the throne of the kingdom?"

"The reason no one knew, as if there was no wind and no rain, he killed all his own family using the noble weapon of the Blackmore family, Caliburn's 'Victory Sword."

"Added..." Alicia was silent for a moment; "...Artha once said she never wanted a royal throne, and I still don't understand why she did such a cruel thing."

Shiki was silent, it was not surprising that Alicia knew Artha, then Reina also pondered, they both must know Artha. Judging from their faces, Shiki suspects Artha is a good man for someone who came from Blackmore and killed all his brothers, even his brother and his father's concubines are beyond reason.

"I don't know if I should be happy because the Blackmore family is gone. But..." Yui said that with a smile; ".dad would probably be happy! He won't regret his mother's death again!"

"Yui..." Shiki rubbed his sister's head to calm her down.

"So that's why you want to be king? Since Blackmore was gone, now the members of Parliament were 'lead' the country. Shouldn't your father be the king?" shiki asked with Yui still hugging her.

"Gov-san! Alicia-san's father..." Reina tries to tell, but Alicia gives her hand indicating she's the one who told her;

"My father can't be king, because he can't do anything anymore. Now I'm the one who leads the Romanova Family and that's why I need to take my rights as King." Alicia said that.

Shiki understood, and one other thing happened to the father of the Romanova family. Coupled with the disappearance of Duke Robert Stardust, it meant that the heads of the three royal families were gone and passed down directly to Alicia and Reina.

"Well, this is top secret information. So if you get caught spreading it, you're going to jail!" Alicia told Shiki and Yui that.

""Yes, yes, we understand."" the two sisters replied.

...

"Where is this Duma guy? Shouldn't he be here to see us?" shiki asked, they've been in camp for 10 more minutes with Alicia.

"So he said he wanted to take care of something, I've met him and the situation in this city has been quite clearly explained by him." Alicia.

"What is the situation in the city as per the rumors?" ask Shiki again.

"Yes, that's it. The city is still safe from the attacks of the bandits who are willing to take this city."

Alicia was willing to explain more, but a man with knight armor walked into their tent.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I have another guest now. The situation in this city is not good, but the two princesses coming here is a shocking thing" said the thin pink-haired man, he was "Captain" in the mission of Gari City, which is the main city of the city, one of the 13 Star Knights, the eleventh seat "Duma"

"My name is Duma, a Star Knight." The duma introduced himself.

The Duma saw his guests, Princess Reina who he had only seen for the first time. Then Yui's face was also the first time she had seen. And the face of Shiki...

"You! Shiki! Shiki from the Adventurers Guild!" Duma was shocked, he certainly knew Shiki from two years ago.

"Do I know you?" shiki asked, frowning her forehead.

"Of course not! But two years ago, no Star Knight knew you...!" said the Duma with his face down.

Naturally what he meant was Shiki's victory in the Star Tournament two years ago. In the final, Shiki defeated the most powerful Star Knight and in the previous round also defeated several Star Knights. That was why Shiki was hated by the Star Knights as the one who defeated 3 of them.

They're talking about their main business right now, the Duma is hearing what they're here for, about the GATE on Mount Romus.

"THE GATE... I see, and that's your purpose here. Well, I'm sure you've heard what's going on in this town." Duma understands.

"Yes, those bandits are after this town, aren't they? What is special about this city? And one question, a Star Knight like you is taking care of a bandit right now... Are they that dangerous?" Shiki asked all that.

"I didn't understand it at first either, but I was just doing my job. We defended well in this city for a month. The reason the bandits were after this town was because they wanted this city as their headquarters." The Duma told me that.

"This town is quite strategic in fact, two hours north by horse cart, you can already get to the West Area. To the south, the city of Adventurers and to the east to the Central Area. This city was also once a place for merchants to gather, so most likely that was the reason."

"Hmm, that makes sense. But if it's the bandits, it should be left to the Adventurers Guild, right?" ask Alicia.

"Yes, that's our question too. Our Guild Master is also surprised that the royal military is against them, because we usually take care of the bandits." Shiki tell the Duma. "Especially Blood Sun was immediately labeled as the strongest Bandit in the kingdom."

"Yes, we don't know what Parliament's thinking. I think this discussion makes us guess." The Duma also did not know the answer.

"Rather than dizzy discussing it... If your destination is an ancient GATE object on Mount Romus, then you need to go there and I think the choice is to help us, right?"

Shiki nodded to it. "true."

"That would be a big help. But we ourselves are actually enough to handle them. But if they launch a total attack, we'll be troubled by their numbers."

"How many bandits are there?" ask Yui curiously.

"100 is not a small amount. At least Bandit groups have members of 20 to 30 people. And again, those 100 were already half of the 200 members of the Adventurers Guild." Shiki took into account the number, and this was one of the reasons Blood Sun was called the strongest in the kingdom.

"You're right, and if you want to cooperate, we can launch an attack first if you want." The Duma told them that.

"What do you think, Reina?" shiki asked, and Duma was shocked Shiki called Reina seramah.

"Uh, I don't think there's any other choice." Reina just accepted to come up against the bandits.

"Right, it's not like we need to refuse. We have the same enemy, aniki." Yui commented there.

"And the opponent is just bandits, so it's no big deal. We can attack and resolve this quickly" Alicia added.

Shiki agreed with the three of them, then the Duma accepted this cooperation. Shiki and his three heroines will fight the Blood Sun bandits along with the royal army led by the Star Knight, the Duma.

💠💠💠

On Mount Romus, Kira sits on the wooden throne of the Blood Sun Bandit, and a man is battered there because he fought Kira.

"Gee...! Why are you.." That man is the head of the Blood Sun Bandit, Rocky.

"LADEN!" The bandits around him were worried.

"No need to worry about your injuries, bandit. I'm just testing you because you said you wanted to be one of our generals." Kira smiled; ".but your strength is lame, even you won't be able to defeat an Adventurer if it's that weak."

"You're just our collabator and you shouldn't be that arrogant." Kira throws an elixir at Rocky.

"Drink it, an Elixir. Master has already given his power to the potion. He also provided good help. He's been nice to you, I don't understand why."

Rocky drinks the Elixir that Kira gave him, and his wounds quickly heal. Rocky can stand now, and say there; "That's because I know who Master is! I was his former aide and for some unclear reason, he fired me!"

"I hate him, but he still needs me! Hehe!" Rocky grin.

"Ah, so. Makes sense now." Kira nodded in understanding, she then saw Mira coming with a cage containing 7 ferocious wolves that had an aura that they were not random wolves.

"That's a favor for you.and in that coffin there's also a weapon for you..." Kira tells him, he walks to Mira's place; "Your mission is to conquer the city of Gari from the hands of the knights..."

"...and if you succeed, your bandit group will be in our custody as one of the generals." Kira said that. "And if you become our man, it'll give you a chance to get rid of us, won't it?"

Rocky smiles at that, and for now, he's no match for Kira. But the opportunity was there to get rid of him after successfully winning the battle to capture the city of Gari.

...

Kira and Mira walk away from there, to where GATE is.

"Master took the bandits too seriously. What's the problem with his identity being spread? No one believes the bandits!" Kira doesn't understand what her boss's mind is.

"Added, we haven't made a glaring problem in this country, have we? Even though this country is our main target."

"Every Master does must have a reason, don't doubt him." Mira says that, she trusts her boss very much.

"You're this..." I'm annoyed to hear that.

"Ah, that's it..." Kira and Mira reach where GATE is; "So that thing is GATE...! The gate to open the doors of Eden and the Abyss!"

"Right and the only person who can open the GATE is Princess Reina Stardust." Mira closed her eyes.

"That means he... Ah, he's here, Mira!" Kira is excited, she can feel Shiki's magical energy residing in Gari City; "...Shiki is here!"

"Yes, with Princess Alicia and Princess Reina as well. But now is not the right time to fight them." Mira said that while touching GATE; "We're back in the lab right now, for our ultimate plan to destroy the Adventurers' town."

***

DHUAR!! The sound of an explosion rang out quite loudly in the middle of the discussion of Shiki and his three heroines in the camp.

The duma hurriedly went outside and what was it and the soldier replied; "There was a huge explosion shot into the sky from the direction of Mount Romus! Possibly from the direction of the bandit headquarters!"

"Huh?!" Shiki and the others were surprised to hear that.

...

"It's time we end this battle! We take Gari City and use it as our headquarters!!!" Rocky shouted, raising his battle axe.

"OO!" The numerous bandits raised their weapons.

Rocky sits on top of Warg, and some of his bandits are also due to the Monster wolves being controlled by him.

"Everyone, prepare the defensive formation as usual! This was a total attack from the bandits!" Shouted the Duma and the soldiers in shock; "A total assault...?!"

"Shiki, I leave the front line to you. Please reduce their numbers, Bandit Hunters!" Duma patted Shiki's shoulder asking for it, of course Shiki was comically shocked because Duma knew the nickname "stupid" it was; "Where do you know that nickname?!"

..."Chapter 2.3 "Against the Bandits" - finished...