The Dao of Magic

50 - Diversion

On the road again! Things calmed down after the double failed realm advancement debacle, and I spend the rest of the night fixing error after error on my plane. I feel ashamed to say that I put the camera glitch back in. I avoided the entire issue by not caring about a sub-one percent efficiency loss. All that debug work last night, useless. Some things never change.

The small craft is now flying over the mountains, looking out for the biggest and best mountains.

So now we are on the road again, we decided to let the entire gang ride with us now. The mountains are up ahead and the number of villages has been getting sparse. Normal peasants don't seem to know shit about slave collars, so we have not come across anyone calling Angeta out on the fact that she isn't wearing one. That, or they don't want to fuck with the well-armed group of shady merchants.

"Why are there so many peasants on the road anyway?"

They all mumble something about it becoming autumn, and that I should know this already.

"So every year around this time, the entire countryside becomes empty?"

Ket decides to have mercy on my ignorant self. "The majority of people live in the cities anyway, only some foragers and hunters of rare game live outside of city walls."

Vox also chimes in. "The beast month should come in a few weeks, so a lot of people are returning to the cities to sell their wares."

Angeta tells me a different side of the story. "Pah, we beastkin fight the horde, we don't cower behind walls."

Ket's reply is immediate. "How is that working out? I heard you lose a good portion of your fighting force every year."

"Only the weak will fall, this allows us to grow stronger."

"So the humans can do some easy slave raiding when winter starts? Why is your capital the only city with walls?"

Before this discussion can get out hand, someone interrupts us.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen!"

A rough voice sounds from the bushes. I was wondering when they would make their move, we are surrounded by over a dozen people hiding in the bushes.

"Please leave all your valuable*KUCH*"

The bearded man covered in rags was just about to walk out of the foliage but gets cut off. Tess pounced on him and knocked him unconscious.

"Boss? Boss? Should we do it now?"

"Why is he silent?"

"Was this in the plan?"

"I told you, we should shoot first and ask quest*BLERK*"

The most dangerous sounding fellow is now having his face pressed into the dirt by a big cat.

"Pfff, what a bother. I want to find out where their base is, be gentle" I wave my hand around, commanding my loyal horde of disciples to act. Half a second later, all fifteen third-rate bandits are taking a nap.

"I said I wanted to find out where their base is, how can we do that when they are all unconscious?"

I look at my overly enthusiastic students. Tess has appeared again, a blunt black stick formed of her qi still in her hands. Bord used a single finger to knock a good part of them unconscious, Angeta, Ket and Selis didn't even lift a finger. I give them a glare while stepping off my big blue bear. Vox used his speed to knock the last few out.

"Interrogation is an artform. Making an enemy think that he or she needs to tell you the information you want is the ideal interrogation. Information given under torture or duress should not be trusted."