Mysterious Ring

After Duke sheathed his longsword, Leo went limp and collapsed to the ground. His armor struck the rocks, the sound echoing continuously through the cave.

After a moment of silence in the cave, a bandit standing behind Duke silently crept forward with a dagger, aiming it straight at Duke's neck.

Without even turning his head, Duke reached out and seized the bandit's neck as easily as grabbing a chick. Then he suddenly exerted force, and the sound of bones shattering rang out.

The bandit died instantly. Duke casually tossed the corpse aside without sparing it another glance.

The other bandits exchanged looks and immediately reached an understanding. They turned and ran for the cave entrance.

Duke watched them run toward the entrance but did not pursue. The moment two bandits reached it, several arrows shot them full of holes. The men behind them abruptly stopped in their tracks.

There are people outside! And quite a few of them!

Duke stood behind them, watching with an expressionless face.

The bandits looked outside, then at the cold-faced Duke behind them. They immediately made the wisest choice and dropped to their knees.

"Spare us!"

Zorn soon led the soldiers inside and tied up the remaining seven bandits.

Because they were short on manpower and wanted to prevent the bandits from getting any ideas, they dislocated all their arms, leaving every one of them unable to use them.

There was no such thing as human rights in this era, much less humane treatment for bandits.

With their arms dislocated, the bandits immediately lost the ability to resist and became much easier to control.

One thing Zorn said did ease their thoughts of resistance: the territory had recently been short on manpower, so these bandits would probably not be executed but made into slaves.

To the bandits, as long as they were not sent to the gallows, everything else was negotiable.

Being slaves was better than dying. Some of them had been slaves to begin with, so this was practically a return to their old trade.

Wood was naturally rescued as well and immediately received some emergency treatment.

Although Zorn and the others had few men, they had prepared some basic medicine.

After an examination, it turned out that Wood had no fatal injuries, but he was covered in countless minor wounds.

If not for the physique of a Mid-Tier Knight Squire, an ordinary person would have been tortured to death long ago.

While Zorn treated Wood's injuries, Duke stripped the suit of silver-white armor from Leo's body.

Before the corpse stiffened, it was easier to remove it now.

Duke took another lap around the cave and discovered an exquisite little box. Its surface was carved with extraordinarily intricate patterns that made him feel dizzy after just one look.

According to the bandits, the box was Leo's treasure. No one else was allowed to touch it, and they did not know what was inside.

After examining it carefully, Duke discovered that the box was actually made of gold and Mithril.

The box alone was probably worth over a thousand gold coins.

If its possible historical value was included, its price might be much higher still.

Duke could not tell what kind of box it was. His knowledge of this world's history was practically nonexistent.

He only knew that something should be hidden inside it.

After some thought, Duke decided not to open it here. He would deal with its contents after settling Wood down.

After briefly treating Wood's injuries, Duke carried him out of the forest overnight and rode back to Enderland Town.

There was a priest in town who usually treated the surrounding residents. With medicine, he gave Wood's injuries more thorough treatment.

Wood had remained conscious until then, yet after returning to Enderland Town, he instead fell unconscious.

Duke checked him as well. There was nothing wrong with his heartbeat or anything else; his body was simply too exhausted, and once he reached a safe environment, he fell into a deep sleep.

After Wood's condition stabilized, Duke temporarily stayed in Enderland Town, lodging in a small wooden house beside the training grounds.

Only after closing the door did Duke take out the exquisite box. It had no lock, relying instead on an extremely unusual internal mechanism.

After studying it for a while, he pressed a sunflower on the top of the box, and the lid opened automatically.

By then, Duke had put on the confiscated full-body armor and fully armed himself, in case poisoned needles or something similar flew out of the box.

None of the expected dangers appeared. Aside from several layers of gold coins, an ancient-looking Brass Ring lay on top inside the box.

Duke paid little attention to the gold coins and instead picked up the Brass Ring.

The Brass Ring looked extremely simple, like an ordinary brass band, with nothing remarkable about it.

Yet Duke's attention was involuntarily drawn to it. He turned the ring for a while and discovered that some words seemed to be engraved on it.

Why hadn't I seen these words just now...? Duke thought.

The words seemed to appear on their own. More accurately, they appeared whenever Duke looked at them.

Whenever Duke looked away, the words automatically sank back into the ring.

This strange sight piqued Duke's interest. The writing on the ring was peculiar, a script he had never seen before.

With great patience, Duke examined every character clearly, memorizing every stroke and structure.

The moment he remembered every word on the ring, a piece of information surfaced in his mind.

"Amokoyelensa..."

Duke was instantly startled. He realized that the information had come from the ring.

And in that instant, he discovered that although he did not understand the writing on the ring, he understood its meaning.

It means a skin-adhering film used to defend against attacks of elemental energy... Duke roughly understood the sentence.

But he became even more confused. Why could he suddenly understand the meaning of these unfamiliar words?

Duke suddenly thought, Mental power...

He realized that this might be a method of directly transmitting information through mental power.

All languages and writing were carriers of information, methods of transmitting it.

Mental power, however, seemed to be a more effective method of information transfer. It required no explanation through language or writing, yet allowed the other party to directly comprehend everything being conveyed.

Holding the Brass Ring, Duke repeatedly rubbed it as he looked at the words appearing on it. He thought of a group he had heard about before: Wizards.

On a sudden whim, he spoke the words on the ring aloud, "Amokoyelensa!"

The next moment, a wave of exhaustion rose from the depths of his mind. Duke's vision went black, and he nearly passed out on the spot.