Complete Victory

After the thief fell, Drew left him alone. Next up was the nearest Shield Warrior.

By the time Drew had put the thief down, the Shield Warrior had charged into range of Frost Nova, but the magic had already dissipated.

Drew gave him a casual glance, then ignored him and continued firing Arcane Missiles at the two ranged fighters, disrupting their attacks.

The Shield Warrior immediately felt insulted.

Though his class was said to have only one percent of the attack power, he was still no one to be casually ignored.

The Shield Warrior let out a furious roar, and then—then he fell into a pit.

Did you think Drew had chosen this spot at random? He'd planned it out long ago.

Drew was standing right behind a trap, waiting for someone to come close and fall in.

Luckily, Drew hadn't put any spikes or anything like that at the bottom. He'd only put in a few bottles of Sleeping Potion.

The Shield Warrior landed in a daze, then inhaled some Superior-quality Sleeping Potion in that state.

Then he lay down in the pit and fell asleep. The fight had barely begun, and they'd already lost two people.

Kuang Tu's rage meter filled up completely and was about to overflow.

He gave a shout and used Leaping Slash. He'd made sure there weren't any traps where Drew was standing.

He used Leaping Slash at once, leaping to where Drew stood. Even if he missed, he'd still land on solid ground.

Drew saw Kuang Tu's move and simply stepped back. Having drunk a Lightness Potion, he floated down like an immortal.

While still in midair, he fired an Arcane Missile at the ground where he'd been standing.

Kuang Tu brought his powerful leaping strike down on the ground where the Arcane Missile had hit. The earth immediately gave way beneath him.

Drew's former position was right at the edge of the rise. The slope behind it was at least seventy degrees, and Kuang Tu slid down it in a sorry heap.

The slope blocked the two ranged fighters' view.

Kuang Tu found himself face-to-face with Drew, one-on-one. At least they were already close enough to touch.

Seeing Drew right in front of him, Kuang Tu immediately swung his weapon at him.

But he'd forgotten how Drew had run them ragged earlier. His axe came down, but it didn't even hit Drew's shadow.

After missing with his first swing, Kuang Tu looked up. Drew had already run far away.

What the hell? Wasn't he just a short-legged mage? Even thieves weren't this fast!

With his high attack but low resistance, the berserker was left without support and got toyed with by a mage who moved faster than a thief and had far more magical firepower than other mages of the same rank.

It was a sorry sight. Drew simply kited him, never letting Kuang Tu land a single hit.

By the time the two ranged fighters climbed back up the slope, all they saw was a battered Kuang Tu clutching his axe and crying.

Then they saw Drew's ridiculously fast movement and turned to run.

The underlings behind them saw their bosses fleeing. The quick-witted ones ran after them.

In the end, Drew followed the principle of never entering a forest in pursuit and didn't chase the fleeing men.

The others had probably been beaten to tears this time. They wouldn't come back even if you killed them.

If they met again, their group leader—a high-rank professional—would surely be the one to show up.

But that wouldn't happen now. The task at hand was to capture prisoners.

After all, these men were wanted criminals. They could be sold for money.

In the end, they captured three intermediate-rank professionals, no low-rank professionals, and eleven apprentice-rank professionals.

The apprentices didn't seem to be skilled enough to make the wanted list, so they weren't worth anything. Maybe they could be kept as laborers. There were nothing but mages here, and no one who could handle hard physical work.

These bandits were mostly physical fighters, so they were well suited for manual labor.

They decided to sell the low-rank professionals and above, and keep the apprentices as laborers.

Next, they put shackles on all the captives and fed them potions that suppressed their strength.

They dragged them back to town like slaves. When the townsfolk saw Drew and the others leading a group of people into town, they came over to watch.

When they learned that the captives were bandits from the Hurricane Bandits, they were astonished.

They were even more amazed when they heard that Drew's group had wiped out an entire company of the Hurricane Bandits.

It sounded like some incredible, unbelievable tale. But when they saw the captives—especially that conspicuous bald man—they began to think it might be true. Later, a few people went to see the place where Drew had wiped out most of the bandits. The shock that spread through town when they returned with the news was another story.

The mayor was the only person in town who knew they'd gone to deal with the Hurricane Bandits, but even he hadn't expected them to accomplish so much.

When he first learned how strong the Hurricane Bandits were and compared them with the town's own strength, he hadn't been confident they could even drive them off. He'd been especially anxious.

Fortunately, Drew had repeatedly assured him they could handle it, and had confidently claimed they could even deal with a high-rank professional. The high-rank professional still hadn't appeared.

The mayor had only dared to hope they could drive the bandits away.

Instead, Drew and his group had wiped them all out. Well, a few had escaped, but that was close enough.

The mayor was astonished. The result didn't match the difference in strength at all.

But the mayor didn't say much. Drew had done them a real favor by solving the major problem posed by the Hurricane Bandits.

The mayor took care of all the follow-up arrangements.

Drew organized the apprentice-rank bandits into a work crew.

He placed a few restrictions on each of them to keep them from escaping, then handed them over to the mayor.

The mayor would decide whether they'd do construction work for the town or be sent elsewhere to take outside jobs and earn money.

The mayor would also contact a large town about selling the captives who were worth money.

He would announce that the threat from the Hurricane Bandits had been eliminated and that the trade routes could reopen.

He would also find a merchant caravan to transport the prisoners.

After all, someone had to be willing to buy the captives. A small town like Lincoln Town certainly didn't have an agency for that.

Only a large market town had a dedicated royal office, a garrison office that served as a kind of police department. They would verify the prisoners' identities, and once that was done, Drew's group could collect the bounty from them. The mayor would handle all the arrangements.

Three days later, Drew received a bounty of four gold coins and twenty silver coins.

It wasn't much money, but collecting the bounty confirmed their identities.

It also proved that Drew and his group had really wiped out this band of the Hurricane Bandits. The news quickly spread to the surrounding area. Whatever else anyone thought, Drew's strength and Lincoln Town's strength were now recognized—and other towns were wary of them.

Drew's reputation in the surrounding towns rose rapidly. Those who had been watching his academy from the sidelines began to grow restless again.

After all, recognition of the headmaster's strength also meant recognition of the academy's strength.