Swords, magic, and martial arts

That night, Rod practiced the Divine Illumination Technique all night long. Since he started practicing the Divine Illumination Technique yesterday, the red and black grime on his body had not appeared.

The night passed peacefully, and after having breakfast and paying, the four of them set off again.

After buying horses and other miscellaneous items, Rhodes had only a little over two hundred gold coins left out of his one thousand. Baron took them to keep safe for Rhodes, while Rhodes kept only five on his person for backup.

Rod's riding posture was much better today than yesterday. He was able to sit upright on the horse, unlike yesterday when he was completely lying on the horse's back.

It is said that even ordinary people in the Anu royal court on the grasslands could ride horses, shoot arrows, and sleep.

Rhodes had seen a mercenary from the Anu Kingdom, but he had never seen him on horseback.

As he was walking, an arrow shot out and struck Rhodes's dragon scale armor, bouncing off the hard armor and onto the ground.

Rhodes took the two-handed sword off his back and held it in his hand. Another arrow flew from not far away, but Webber blocked it with his short sword.

Hammer and Baron rode their horses toward the direction from which the arrows had come. At that moment, Rhodes saw clearly where the arrows had come from: a group of people lying in ambush in the roadside bushes.

Baron realized something midway through, squeezed his legs together and pulled up the reins, causing his horse to leap up. Hammer's horse was still carrying him, but then it tripped and fell to the ground, letting out a painful whimper. Hammer, on its back, also fell to the ground, crushing a large patch of grass.

Rhodes and Webber also rode forward. Rhodes stopped his horse before it hit the tripwire and walked over himself. He didn't have Baron's riding skills; he had no idea how to get the horse to jump.

In the distance, Baron and the roadblocks not far away had already begun their battle. The roadblocks were well-coordinated, and they were all wearing tattered Roman Empire-style leather armor, making them look like a defeated and chaotic army.

If it were Rhodes dealing with them, he would have some trouble and might not even be able to defeat them. But against Baron, those roadblocks would soon be completely crushed. Their shields were no match for Baron's giant axe; every time they tried to block with their shields, the shields shattered and the men were knocked to the ground.

Weber checked Hammer's injury. He had dismounted from the stirrups and tried to jump off the traveling horse before it fell, but he had injured his shoulder with the warhammer on his back. However, the injury was not serious. He stood up, moved his shoulder, and was able to pick up the warhammer again.

Rhodes joined the battle on Baron's side, making the fighting even more one-sided.

The two of them rendered the eleven bandits unable to resist, and Baron dealt with all the rest before Rhodes could even take care of one of them.

"All of you, get down on the ground and throw your weapons in front of me!" Baron roared, holding his giant axe.

The bandits who blocked his way obeyed his orders.

"Don't kill us," one of them pleaded, kneeling down.

"Who are you?" Hammer asked as he walked over, rubbing his shoulder.

"We were just ordinary farmers before, but our lord, Earl Milanson, forcibly conscripted us into the army. He only trained us for a few months, gave us weapons and equipment, and then sent us to the battlefield. Later, we were defeated and trapped here. Nord troops were on both the south and the north sides, and we were forced to resort to robbery on the road," the man said, wiping away tears.

"Why don't you take off your leather armor, put down your weapons, and pretend to be civilians?" Weber asked. "It's said that civilians who are willing to stay in this area can be allocated a large piece of land."

South of the Winterfell Fortress, built against the mountainside of the Kingdom of Nord, and north of the Glorious Fortress of the Roman Empire, lies a vast plain sparsely populated due to frequent wars between the two nations. Long ago, the King of Nord decreed that this land belonged to the farmers who cultivated it, regardless of how much they could cultivate; all that they could cultivate belonged to them.

The man who had just been feigning helplessness fell silent. He had prepared his words before he even began his robbery career, but he hadn't yet thought about how to answer Weber's question.

A person next to him also started pretending to cry, wiping his eyes that weren't actually crying as he replied, "We have no idea how to cultivate the land, so we can only rob it."

The next moment he realized he had said the wrong thing. The roadblock thief who had been pretending to cry turned around and glared at him. Baron laughed when he saw this.

"If you're going to lie, at least make it believable. I don't want to kill you either," Baron said, bending down to pick up the weapons the bandits had just thrown at him.

The bandits who were blocking the road breathed a sigh of relief after hearing what Baron said.

"However, I've confiscated your weapons, so you won't be able to rob anymore. I know you must have gotten some money from your robberies, so take this money and go home," Baron added.

Robbery is not a capital offense in Nord, as long as no one is killed or committed other evil deeds during the robbery. The reason Baron was able to forgive them was because he had also committed robbery once before, but he was forced to do so, and no one except Rhodes knew about it.

The bandits, instead, began to complain that Baron had stolen their weapons. "You took all our weapons, how are we supposed to survive here?" one of them cried out loudly.

"I think what you're doing is really wrong. What about my injuries and my broken horse? Just let me personally send them back to their hometown." Hammer angrily took the warhammer off his back and walked towards the bandits blocking the road.

The thief who was squatting on the ground was so frightened by the sight that he took a few steps back.

"Don't do that," Weber stopped Hammer.

"Let's have them take us to their lair first, and then we can make a decision. Who knows how many weapons they have in their lair, or maybe some things from people we've never seen before," Rhodes suggested.

The bandits who were blocking the road wanted to argue after hearing this, but the first person to beg for mercy stopped them with a look. He was about to speak when he was interrupted by Baron's words, "I think Rod is right. Let's go, lead the way." Baron said.

Several bandits who had blocked the road turned and ran after hearing what Baron said, but Rhodes used a spellball to catch them and brought them back. He then picked up a dagger and stabbed each of them in the thigh, twisting the hilt of the dagger to make them scream in pain.

He pointed at those who dared to run away and said to the other bandits, "If you run away again, I won't just stab your thighs."

After they escaped, everyone guessed that the bandits' hideout must contain something shady.

After seeing Rhodes's actions, Baron patted him on the shoulder approvingly and said, "You've finally grown up a bit."

None of the bandits wanted to lead the way; they just squatted on the ground, motionless. Hammer stepped forward and kicked one of them over, preparing to interrogate him, but Webber stopped him. Hammer sighed helplessly.

Rhodes used a spell orb, a small, purplish-black ball appearing in his hand. He made all the roadblocks float up and then slam them to the ground, saying, "If you don't lead the way, I'll forcibly read your memories. Don't blame me if you go crazy. However, reading memories will have some effects on my body. If anyone voluntarily leads the way, I promise I won't kill them." Although he didn't know the magic of reading memories.

Upon hearing Rhodes' words, the first person to beg for mercy immediately rushed forward and knelt at Rhodes' feet, saying, "I'll lead the way, I'll lead the way, as long as you swear you won't kill me."

"I swear to the Holy Spirit August, I will not kill you." Rhodes raised his hand and swore to the heavens.

"Follow me." The man breathed a sigh of relief and began to lead the way. Baron and Hammer pushed aside the remaining bandits, all of whom had been wailing and looking miserable, and followed...