I opened up a Portal and walked through. I portaled as close to our target as I could manage. We still would end up having to walk nearly an hour to get there. That wasn’t too bad. I could waste another Portal by climbing a tree and getting there faster, but I wasn’t in the mood for that. I had the girl’s move quickly. Unfortunately, my poor physique quickly got the better of me. I was panting with some difficulty and I couldn’t keep up. Even Miki could easily outdistance me, and she was usually the slowest one.

“Master, if you can’t do this…”

“My body won’t get stronger unless I train it.” I made up an excuse on the spot. “Just, for now, carry me?”

I found myself being carried the remainder of the way to the first location. Apparently, according to the village head, these people had survived by hiding. A certain tassel tied to a trunk using a certain knot was supposed to be the mark they used to identify they were there. The entire area had adopted this code. That would be anyone resisting and hiding from the Bandit’s presence. It only took us a few moments of looking, as the girls had really good eyes and I had a really good Map complete with Sense Life.

“You’ll be safer if you go to my town. It has walls and everything.”

I wasn’t the smoothest talker, but I did manage to convince the group to leave. Rather than waste another Portal, I instead pointed the way. The Bandits had been removed around the city, so as long as they were careful, they wouldn’t run into any Bandits along the way.

We continued on our way, sweeping all the closest groups, before portaling to the next location. We remained away from the main area of the Bandit activity, only skirting along the edge. Any place deeper we considered lost or otherwise unreachable. It went surprisingly well, and a few hours later, we sent the last group on their way. It was about fifteen groups in all, and not a single group was over ten people.

We also informed them that anyone who had died over the last month we would resurrect. So, we might be able to double that number if we’re lucky. I had also considered the possibility that a Bandit spy would be mixed among one of the groups, so I did make sure to check all their jobs before sending them on their way. After a long night of working, we had finished up. To be fair, Deeksville had already been clearing things out for the last two weeks, so we were just sweeping up what was left.

“Now, where are we going to go, Master?” Miki asked.

“There is just one more group of people that we’ll need to collect.” I explained. “Ah… this one is really going to be difficult too.”

“Huh? Didn’t we get them all?” Lydia frowned, taking a look at the map I had quickly sketched so the girls had a visual based on my own superior Map.

“No, we still have Regency.”

The last standing city in the west, Regency. We needed to clear it out. We’d take the entire city.