“So, our goal is simple. We’re going to hit the drop off point.” I explained. “Shao has followed Drake and will mark the man he insists is involved with the drop-off. We will follow behind, trying to find the spot where they will do the currency exchange. Pretending to be bandits, we will hit them just as they bring out the money and we will hit it hard. Once we have taken all the money, we will break off and redistribute it back to the public secretly. Any questions? Salicia?”
“Any other questions?”
“I’m being serious! The entire point of this is to catch the notice of the southern bandits and get them to offer to let us join, right? Then, we need a recognizable name as well as an identifiable feature. How else will they be able to find us?”
I had to admit that Salicia’s words did make a lot of sense. There was no way that we could be contacted and asked to join if we didn’t have some means of being identified. The remainder of the day ended up dedicated to planning out our band’s information.
The band name we settled on was Reign’s End. It sounded appropriate and quickly revealed what our goals were. Plus, if it’d make Lord Reign a bit uncomfortable, that made me happy. We also decided to tie a dark red band on our sleeves so we could easily recognize each other. I didn’t want us accidentally having friendly fire, especially if we ended up fighting other Bandits down the line.
We also went so far as to discuss relationship dynamics. If I was the leader and every girl was my slave, that would certainly look suspicious. Bandits were Bandits exactly because they were trying to free themselves from oppression, supposedly. They didn’t really keep slaves. That was told to me by Salicia, and I already had come to realize the way she ran things was vastly different from how they ran things in the south. Besides, even she admitted that they would sell people into slavery if the price was right. There weren’t any fast rules for being a Bandit. They were really just the whims of the local Bandit Kings.
In the end, we decided it was best if I wasn’t the leader of the group. Instead, Ruby, who was the most physically imposing, would act like she was in charge. At first, the thought of this embarrassed her. She had mostly just been along for the ride. I wasn’t even sure if she agreed with most of our decisions, but she knew enough to not get in the way. She was a mentor and guide, assessing me for my adventure ranking. The fact that this quest had devolved into committing the very crimes we were trying to stop, well, it was best if I didn’t focus too much on that.
Soon, the night fell, and our group did our best to leave the town without drawing attention. Only once we were out of sight from Alerith did we change into our Bandit garb. At this point, I had the map in front of me, and I was following the man that Shao had marked. Since Shao marked him, not me, it wasn’t like I could see him marked on my Map, but she had pointed him out and I had more or less figured out which red dot he was in my Sense Life. As long as I kept an eye on it, I wouldn’t lose him.
With the sun setting, the band of Reign’s End headed out to start a life of banditry.