My Wife and I Became Sages in Another World
Chapter 109: Bandit’s Favor

Chapter 109: Bandit’s Favor

After we captured and interrogated two of the members of the Crimson Scorpions, we realized they had been cursed with something that didn’t allow them to speak of their gang.

Thankfully, the holy panacea removed the curse, and they explained that the gang’s leader was keeping thugs outside their family homes as a threat to them to keep working.

Since we removed their curse, the mark on their neck that looked like a black flower disappeared, making the two bandits nervous about their leader noticing.

I asked them to tell me where their homes were so that I could bring their families to safety, but they were hesitant at first.

It was understandable for them not to trust me, but come on. I just healed them from their curse, and they were still acting wary around me.

It took a few minutes of persuasion, but after I released them from their binds and gave them a bowl of food, they calmed down and told me their addresses.

The closest one was Nisa’s little brother. Their house was in one of the districts for commoners, but its facade was much nicer than the rundown area we were hiding in.

Telling Gina and Yoru to take care of the two bandits in the abandoned building, I quickly made my way to Nisa’s home.

I asked Vespera to hide in my shadow since her beauty attracted a lot of attention sometimes and walked along the road until I found a small house with two men sitting outside.

’Those must be the thugs tasked with killing the boy if Nisa screws them over...’ I thought.

They were both tall and buff, but I couldn’t see the little scorpion pin that they all supposedly wore.

’They probably don’t wear it but just keep it hidden to recognize each other. Nisa and Tony had it somewhat hidden...’ I pondered while glaring at the men.

I didn’t see any black flower tattoo on their neck, which led me to believe that a curse wasn’t threatening them.

We had to be quick in knocking them out and taking the boy to safety before any other member of their gang could notice, so we decided to wait for a few hours until the streets were a bit cleared of people.

One man stood by the front door and the other by the window, which made it easier for Vespera and I to land on their heads from the roof and knock them out in an instant.

Vespera quickly rolled their bodies in fabric, covering them completely to make them look like some sort of cargo.

When I knocked on the door, a little boy opened it slightly with a nervous expression and peeked from the side.

"W-Who is it?" said the kid.

"Hey there, I’m a friend of your sister Nisa. She sent to me check up on you." I replied with a smile.

The boy’s eyes lit up with joy.

"Really!? Sister sent you?" He asked, fully opening the door.

"Yeah. Is it alright if we come in for a moment?" I asked the boy, showing Vespera behind me, who was holding on top of her shoulders the two thugs fully wrapped in her fabric so they weren’t visible.

Giving us permission to enter, Vespera dropped the two "cargo" we had on the side of the room while I pulled out a food bowl and some chocolate desserts for the kid.

His name was Polo, he was ten years old, and only after I talked to the kid did I notice how much he resembled his sister.

After downing the food with joy, he politely thanked us while giving us a small bow, which I thought was pretty funny, but I still asked him not to do that.

He responded by saying that he thought I was a noble and that he wanted to show proper respect, but I explained to him that I wasn’t even from their country. Nonetheless, it made me wonder why a commoner kid knew nobles’ etiquette.

"Do you get a lot of noble visitors?" I asked.

"Hmmm, not a lot. There is one. My sister’s boss comes here sometimes to talk!" he said, seemingly not knowing the man’s real identity.

"I see. What was his name?" I continued.

"Mr. Lapis!" the boy responded with enthusiasm.

From what he said, this supposed "Mr. Lapis" would visit him occasionally and give him food and water, but I didn’t know if that was a fake name that Romanov was using or if it was a real person.

After feeding the kid and getting more information, we asked him to come with us and gave him a cloak with a hood to cover his face while we walked to the abandoned building in the other district.

When we arrived, we left the two unconscious thugs next to the other three who had tried to help Nisa and Tony when we first captured them.

Polo ran to hug his sister, who was untied and talking with Gina, and I could see a little tear coming from her eye after hugging her brother.

Honestly, it made me happy and angry. It was good that they could see each other again, but I was mad at the fact that the boy was under a death threat to make Nisa work for them.

Tony asked about his mother, but I reassured him that I would be picking her up next. However, I wanted to leave them in a better place since the abandoned building was starting to feel a little cramped with so many people.

Using some nature and earth magic, I cleaned the debris and dust from the area, made a few chairs and a table, repaired the broken windows, and added a light and environment enchantment to keep the place at a decent temperature.

The weather wasn’t super cold or anything, but I wanted them to be comfortable in there since it seemed like we would be using the abandoned building for a bit.

After leaving them with food and bedding made by Vespera, we went to another district where Tony’s mother lived.

Just like Nisa’s home, the place had two big thugs standing outside guarding the area, so we quickly knocked them out for Vespera to roll them in fabric before anyone noticed.

When I knocked on the door, a middle-aged woman wearing a nightgown opened the door with fear in her eyes.

"Y-yes?" the woman asked, holding onto the side of the door with apprehension.

"Hi there. I’m a friend of your son, Tony." I said with a smile, but the lady looked suspiciously at me.

I explained it would be fast, and the woman hesitantly let us inside.

"Am I going to be killed now?" the woman asked with a sad tone, looking at the floor.

"What? No, that’s not why we are here. On the contrary..." I told the woman, trying to calm her from our presence.

Tony told me that his mother was unaware he was being extorted, but the lady explained that she had found out a few weeks ago after one of the thugs standing outside her house blurted out the truth to her.

The woman wished for his son to escape and leave her to die, but Tony refused to let that happen.

’I can relate to that...’ I thought.

Giving the woman a chocolate to calm her nerves, I asked her to come with us so we could keep her safe.

Surprised at our words, she agreed after concluding that the two rolls of fabric we were carrying were, in fact, the two thugs that were threatening her before.

After Tony reunited with his mom at the abandoned house, the three bandits that we had knocked out during the day started to regain consciousness.

I took a peek at all of their necks and realized that they weren’t cursed.

"These guys don’t have the tattoo, so it’s safe to say they joined the gang out of their own volition. In other words, we don’t really need to hear them..." I said, prompting Vespera to use her fabric weaving skills to make a mouth gag for the bandits.

Now that both Nisa and Tony were reunited with their families, they seemed to trust me a bit more as they approached me to give me more information.

They told me that some of the kidnapped people were sent to Romanov’s house, where he had an underground dungeon. However, the man himself wasn’t in the capital at the moment.

Romanov and his right-hand man were on their way to a port town, where they would send enslaved villagers to the Northern Empire and the Guanghua Kingdom, believing that most of the victims were being sent there.

Nonetheless, they told me that some of them were still being kept in Romanov’s dungeon.

’If he isn’t even here, that just makes it easier...’ I thought, placing a finger on my chin as I devised a plan.

The best way to take down a noble was through the royal family, but I needed to learn about the Empress and her subordinates.

For all I knew, she could have been in on it, but that wouldn’t have made much sense, considering the war was threatening her directly.

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