Chapter 10
928words
Single Thread Sky Canyon lived up to its name—a narrow gash through the mountains. Steep cliffs rose on both sides, with only a dirt path barely thirty feet wide running between them.
This sole passage was now blocked by burning carriage wreckage.
More than twenty bandits with curved blades surrounded a small merchant caravan. Despite their mismatched clothing and disorganized appearance, each bandit's eyes gleamed with cruel greed.
"Hand over those magic crystals you got from that godforsaken place!" The bandit leader—a burly, one-eyed man with a fleshy face—laughed wildly, resting a bloodstained cleaver on his shoulder.
"Otherwise, this becomes your graveyard tonight!"
The caravan guards stood back-to-back in a defensive circle, protecting their manager and a golden-haired girl who appeared no older than seventeen. All were wounded and breathing heavily, clearly having endured fierce fighting already.
"We're a legitimate trading company from neutral Aruba!" the caravan manager shouted with false bravado. "Don't you fear the consequences of attacking us?"
"Consequences? Ha!" The one-eyed leader laughed as if hearing a great joke. "In this wasteland, who cares if you live or die? Once we take your valuables and cross into human territory, even the Demon Lord can't touch us!"
The blonde girl bit her lip hard; though terrified, she maintained composure. This was Emily, daughter of Dorn Trading Company's president. Her first caravan journey for experience had turned into a nightmare.
"Father... I'm sorry..." She closed her eyes in despair.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened!
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Several objects cut through the air from the canyon walls.
Several bandits about to attack couldn't even scream before black crossbow bolts—nearly invisible in the darkness—precisely pierced their throats, killing them instantly!
"Who's there?!"
The one-eyed leader startled, looking up toward the cliff faces.
Figures had appeared on both canyon walls without warning. They wore matching black leather armor, held unusual repeating hand crossbows, and wore masks revealing only their eyes.
These were Iron Fang Mei and his patrol team from Green Leaf Village.
Their weapons were "new equipment" I'd commissioned from the village's best craftsmen based on memories from my previous life—enchanted repeating crossbows. Though not particularly powerful, they fired rapidly, and their bolts carried a plant toxin concocted by Kikyo that instantly paralyzed nerves.
For untrained rabble like these bandits, they were perfect harvesting tools.
"Bastards! Charge! Shoot them down!" The one-eyed leader shouted in shock and rage.
But his orders came too late.
"Fire!"
At Iron Fang's command, another volley of arrows rained down. Bandits wailed in agony, dropping like flies—nearly half their number fallen in moments.
"What's happening?" The merchant guards stared in disbelief.
"Reinforcements! We're saved!" Emily's eyes widened with hope.
"Cowards who only dare shoot from above!" The one-eyed leader, seeing the tide turning, grabbed a hostage and pressed a knife to his throat. "Everyone stop! Or I'll kill him!"
His threat was met not with compromise but with a cold voice that seemed to emanate from the netherworld itself.
"Using hostages? How predictably pathetic."
The voice resonated directly in everyone's mind—not loud, yet crystal clear, sending shivers down spines.
The one-eyed leader's hair stood on end as cold dread crawled up his spine. He whirled around, pupils contracting in terror.
A figure had appeared behind him.
A mysterious silhouette in pitch-black attire wearing a silver mask stood silently, as if having been there all along, one with the darkness.
No one had seen how he appeared.
"Who are you?!" The one-eyed leader felt unprecedented fear—the primal terror of facing a superior predator.
"Me?" Beneath the mask, I smiled coldly. "You may call me the Shadow Arbiter."
Before my words faded, my form dispersed like smoke, without disturbing the air.
"Too slow."
When my voice sounded again, I stood behind the one-eyed leader. In my hand, a black short blade of pure Shadow Magic pressed against his throat.
The one-eyed leader froze completely, unable to move a finger. He knew that with the slightest pressure, that eerie blade would slice through his neck like butter.
"You... you want the magic crystals too? Take them! Just don't kill me!" he begged, trembling.
"I have no interest in such trinkets," I replied icily. "I'm here merely to establish a rule."
"From today forward, this trade route is under my protection."
"Any fool who brings violence here will face my judgment."
With that, I struck the back of his neck with the flat of my blade. The one-eyed leader collapsed without a sound.
The remaining bandits, seeing their leader fall so effortlessly, threw down their weapons and dropped to their knees.
"Mercy, sir! We won't ever return!"
Iron Fang's patrol team had already descended from the cliffs, surrounding them completely.
The battle was over.
I ignored the prisoners and walked toward Emily.
She watched me with a complex expression mixing admiration, curiosity, and awe.
"Thank you for saving us, Lord Arbiter," she curtsied formally, lifting her dress hem.
"It was nothing," I maintained my cold persona. "I saved you merely to demonstrate my rules are effective."
"Take these prisoners and their goods to base," I instructed Iron Fang through Soul Resonance. "Ando will handle the rest."
Then I vanished into the night as suddenly as I'd appeared, leaving no trace of my presence.
Behind me remained only bewildered caravan members and a golden-haired girl staring after me.
"Shadow Arbiter..."
Emily whispered the name, her eyes sparkling with admiration.
She knew this experience would become her most treasured memory. And this mysterious name would, from tonight onward, spread through the underworld of neutral Aruba.
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