This was bad.
Bad, bad, bad, bad.
How did it even come to this?
My name is Astra. I’m the leader of a somewhat well-known bandit group.
To be honest, I was currently being threatened by a completely unknown party.
They had been kind enough to explain why: a blunder by one of my subordinates. Apparently, the idiot had gone and stolen something from a certain adventurer. It was a common enough occurrence in our line of work, and frankly, I wished they had taken it up with the perpetrator instead of me.
What did they expect me to do about it? Fix the mistake? If we were following our usual code of conduct, I’d just kick the moron out of the group and call it a day, but... that wasn't what they were looking for.
I understood the situation.
My subordinate—actually, calling him a subordinate just made me angry, so I’ll call him the Idiot—had sold the stolen goods to a Merchant. If the blackmailer was just asking for the money, that would have been easy, but this mysterious individual wanted the actual item back.
How troublesome.
To make matters worse, the Merchant who bought it was on his way to an auction in some city and had already left. My anonymous threatener ordered us to chase him down and recover the item.
It sounded nearly impossible, but I had no choice. If I didn't do it, I’d be a cold corpse on the spot. I knew exactly how strong this person was; they had already wiped out over a hundred of my men without breaking a sweat.
Still, if they wanted me to recover the goods, they could have shown a little more restraint with the manpower. Was I dealing with someone who didn't think things through? That made them even more dangerous.
I had to give it my all. After all, the target was just a Merchant. I’d find a way.
Let’s see... the ones who could still move... were about thirty people. I left half of them behind to look after the injured and set out.
Our target was heading for the auction, but since he was doing business along the way, his route was unpredictable. With our numbers so low, we couldn't afford a haphazard search. However, we knew where the auction was being held. We could get there first.
The only problem was the distance. Travel expenses were nothing to sneeze at, either. Normally, if we ran out of money, we’d just do some bandit work, but we were outside our territory and I wanted to avoid that. If we played our cards wrong, we’d turn the local bandits into enemies, and then we'd be living a fugitive lifestyle where we couldn't even sleep.
That would be a disaster. So, we scrimped and saved, occasionally taking on odd jobs as temporary laborers as we made our way toward the auction site.
It was a grueling two-month journey. When we finally reached the city, I almost cried from a bizarre sense of achievement. But our goal wasn't just getting there; it was retrieving the item from the Merchant.
First, I’d try to negotiate. If that failed, then unfortunately, I’d have to steal it. A large-scale heist would anger the local criminals, but we were only robbing a merchant from our own territory. They’d probably look the other way.
Regardless, we settled in to wait for the merchant's arrival.
...
The auction wasn't scheduled for another month.
To cover our living expenses, we looked for day labor. We scouted the auction venue, plotted our theft, befriended our fellow laborers, and just as we were getting used to the local food, shocking news arrived.
The auction had been moved to a different city.
All our preparations were flushed down the drain. For a moment, my world went dark, but I quickly regained my composure. In the bandit business, targets acting unexpectedly was par for the course. If I stayed calm and handled it coolly, we’d manage. We always had before.
...
The new venue was City Five. It was only a day's travel from Shashato City, where we were currently staying. I’d even done some labor work near there before. It would be fine.
However, the schedule had also changed. The auction was in one week. We had no time. Well, we could have made it if we left immediately, but we couldn't. I had already booked several day labor shifts thinking the auction was still a month away. Even for a bandit, keeping one’s word is important.
...
To be honest, we were broke, so we couldn't even afford to move.
Dammit, it was all because the food at Maruura was too delicious!
"You lot, stop eating! We’re saving up travel funds!" I yelled.
"One last meal?" they pleaded.
...
Fine! But today is the absolute last time we eat at Maruura!
We managed to scramble into City Five on the actual day of the auction. The entry inspection was unexpectedly strict. While they ignored the weapons we carried openly, they confiscated every hidden blade and concealed tool they found. What was with this place? Well, it didn't matter; we didn't plan on using hidden weapons this time anyway.
More importantly, the auction venue...
I spotted it instantly. I was grateful for that much. However, I couldn't approach it carelessly. First, I needed information.
Ramen Street?
...
Well, food was important.
I was startled when a group of girls who looked like noble daughters sat down next to us, but I focused on my bowl. This was a dish eaten with chopsticks. Having been trained at Maruura, we were experts. They had several chopstick dishes there besides the Curry you eat with a Spoon.
As I showed the noble-looking girls at the next table how to handle their chopsticks... well, I told them there was no shame in using a Fork if they had to.
I truly enjoyed that ramen. It was fantastic.
I’d like to believe it wasn't because we spent too much time eating, but things took a turn for the worse. We successfully contacted the target Merchant, and it seemed like we could have negotiated the item's return, but...
As it turned out, the Merchant had already entered the item into the auction. It was no longer in his possession.
This was a disaster. If it didn't sell, it would go back to him, but if some other rich person bought it, recovery might become impossible. I had no choice. I threatened the Merchant and ordered him to bid on the item himself and buy it back if it looked like it was going to sell. He knew my reputation, so he nodded obediently. I felt relieved for a moment.
It was no use.
Apparently, some wealthy individual put in a bid that was simply out of his league. You’d think that since he was recovering it for himself, he could just keep raising the price, but it wasn't that simple. If an exhibitor was allowed to bid on their own items to buy them back, they could artificially drive up the price. Therefore, exhibitors were strictly forbidden from bidding on their own listings.
There was a loophole, of course: have someone else do it. The Merchant had given a lump sum of money to an acquaintance and asked him to win the bid. Naturally, that acquaintance only bid up to the amount he was given. If he forced a win and couldn't pay, he’d lose all professional credit. The Merchant tried to get more money to him, but the gavel fell before he could make it in time.
Hmm. It couldn't be helped. I wanted to avoid it, but it was time for our last resort.
The guards were keeping a sharp eye on the inside of the venue. We would wait outside. We’d ambush the buyer the moment they left, snatch the item, and vanish. I really wanted to eat ramen one more time, but... I couldn't afford to make an enemy of that mysterious blackmailer. I had to do this.
"Hey, Merchant. What did the buyer look like? Give me some descriptions. Names don't mean anything to me."
"A group with a girl sitting on a man's shoulders?" I repeated. "He carries her the whole time? Even while they're walking? They must be a very close father and daughter."
Well, fine. I’d tell the men to be careful not to kill them. I hoped they’d forgive a few scratches.
...
After waiting for a while, the man with the girl on his shoulders appeared with his group. There were a lot of them, but... about half were women. We could take them. My subordinates signaled they were ready.
Alright, let's go!
I stepped forward to launch the attack.
And then, we were the ones who were ambushed by the local residents.
...
Wait, what?
Why?
And just like that, we were captured.