With the leader's head rolling on the ground, the bandit extermination was complete.

Ryu swiftly stored all the scattered bandit corpses into his subspace. It was the same method he used to store dungeon monsters, a process that took only a moment.

He planned to check with the guard force if there were any bounty hunters among them. Once that was done, he could just transfer all the corpses to the dungeon.

In the dungeon, human and animal (monster) corpses would be absorbed and disappear after being left for a few days. It was a very convenient way to dispose of bodies.

As Ryu returned to the village, he saw a large crowd of villagers gathered at the gate. They were all armed, some even holding hoes and sickles - farming tools.

An elderly man, presumably the village chief, approached Ryu.

"You're the adventurer Sera brought, right? We need your help. Please take the women and children and escape with them."

"No, if they're bandits…" Ryu started to say.

"We've decided to fight the bandits! We can't let Marin sacrifice herself to save our lives," a villager shouted.

"Even if we survive today, we'll all starve to death," another villager added.

"We've decided to stand together, all of us, and fight them!" a third villager exclaimed.

"No, I already took care of the bandits," Ryu stated, baffled.

Just then, Marin appeared behind the villagers, looking pale and shaky.

"Everyone… but it's no use! We'll all be killed…"

"Marin and Sera must escape the village! While we fight the bandits! The village is doomed, but even if we can't win, we must fight back, even if it's just a little!" the village chief declared.

"No, I'm telling you, the bandits…" Ryu tried to explain.

"No, if I go with the bandits, they will retreat for today," Marin insisted.

"I told you!" Ryu shouted, exasperated.

Ryu retrieved the bandit corpses from his subspace and displayed them in front of the villagers.

"I told you, I took care of the bandits already!"

…

…

…

The villagers stared at the towering pile of corpses with wide eyes. But when Ryu lifted the leader's head, they finally understood the situation. A sigh of relief and joy slowly filled the air.

Marin finally fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

Ryu glanced at the house. It seemed Marin and Sera didn't have any parents. The sisters must have been living on their own. It was understandable that they would cry after the tension was released.

Just then, Sera came up to Marin and stroked her head. Maybe Sera was always the one who received head pats from Marin.

"This… we… how can we thank you enough… thank you," the village chief said, bowing deeply. A few villagers bowed with him.

"I was just completing a request as an adventurer. There's no need for thanks," Ryu replied.

"Oh, yes, the reward... We need to offer something, but unfortunately, our village is poor, and the bandits took all our food and valuables. Please wait a little longer. We will surely pay you back…" the village chief pleaded.

"I already received my payment from the client. I don't need anything more," Ryu said, showing the pouch he had received from Sera.

"That… thank you, thank you…" The village chief bowed again. He bent down so low that his head hit the ground. It wasn't quite a seiza (formal kneeling position), as he remained on his knees but bowed so deeply that his forehead touched the ground. Then, he collapsed to the side.

Villagers rushed to his side. Apparently, the village chief had only been drinking water for days, and with the situation resolved, he had passed out from relief.

Honestly, Ryu hadn't expected things to be that bad. They seemed to be feeding the women and children, but the adult men and elderly had been starving.

Once again, Ryu stored the bandit corpses in his subspace and then, displayed a large quantity of food he had stored there. His subspace still contained a mountain of monster materials that he hadn't sold yet.

The villagers rejoiced and started butchering and preparing the food. They would not have to worry about food for some time.

Ryu thought it wasn't a good idea to give away things for free, but he couldn't just leave them in such a desperate situation.

Ryu and Catherine watched the villagers from a distance as they lined up to receive their food rations.

Catherine spoke casually.

"You even provided food. You said adventurers work for profit, but aren't you in a huge deficit?"

"Not really. Reward isn’t always just money," Ryu replied.

At that moment, Marin spotted Ryu and ran towards him.

"Ryu! Thank you for saving us!"

She bowed deeply to him.

"If you want to thank someone, thank Sera. I just completed a request for a reward," Ryu said.

"But…" Marin insisted.

"If you really want to thank me, I will come and visit this village again. Let me stay and feed me next time," Ryu said, stroking Sera's head.

"Alright! Please come visit anytime. We’ll be waiting!" Marin replied.

"Reward is a smile? You're too showy," Catherine commented.

But Ryu said to Catherine,

"It won't be a loss. Maybe there was a bounty hunter mixed in?"

"You mean that?" Catherine asked.

"And..."

"?" Catherine looked curious.

"I'm going to the bandits' hideout now. They probably have a lot of treasure stashed away, right?" Ryu said.

"Wait, you know where it is?" Catherine asked.

"I got the information earlier," Ryu replied.

Actually, he didn’t get it from anyone. He had read the mind of one of the bandits using his Divine Eye, and had learned the location of their hideout.

Ryu was about to go to the bandit hideout by himself, but Catherine grabbed his arm and wouldn’t let go. It seemed she wanted to go with him.

Although he could teleport away with Catherine still grabbing his arm, Ryu decided to take her along.

The bandits’ hideout was a cave deep in the forest.

"Wait! Wait!" Catherine cried out, running after Ryu, who was already entering the cave.

"What if there are still bandits inside? Oh, wait, you're so strong, it's probably no problem…"

Actually, Ryu had already confirmed with his Divine Eye that there were no bandits left.

He also knew that several people were being held captive in a corridor deeper inside the cave. As he went further in, he found, as expected, young women who had been kidnapped.

Ryu asked the women, and learned that they had been kidnapped from various places, not just Gobo Village. Some of them were even from Mimul.

Ryu told Catherine to go back to the guild and prepare to receive the women. However, Catherine had no idea where they were, because they had been transported by teleportation.

Suddenly, a magic circle appeared at Catherine's feet, and she was forcibly teleported to the Mimul Adventurer's Guild training ground.

Realizing she was back at the guild, Catherine hurriedly began to prepare for the arrival of the women.

Normally, it would be the guard force’s responsibility to take in crime victims, but it was fine for the Adventurer's Guild to temporarily receive them. Catherine sent a messenger to the guard force, and at the same time, gave instructions for the guild staff to prepare to receive the women.

…

…

…

Ryu stored the weapons, gold, and food found in the cave in his subspace. He then sent the women who wanted to return to Gobo Village back there, while the rest were sent to the Mimul Adventurer's Guild.

He left the treasure the bandits had amassed at the Gobo Village chief’s house. It was probably taken from the village, so the village chief would know what to do with it. The villagers, despite being starving, had shared the food without arguing, giving it to women and children first. It seemed that he could leave the treasure in their care without worrying about it being misused.

He left the women in the care of the guild staff who were waiting as per Catherine’s instructions, and then teleported to the guard force headquarters.

He needed to have them check if there were any bounty hunters among the bandits he had killed.

It turned out that the only bounty hunter was the leader, Glir, with a bounty of 100G.

Ryu presented his guild card and had them verify that Glir was a bounty hunter by checking his “Magic Mark.” In Earth, they would use fingerprints or other biometric data to identify someone. In this world, it seemed that they could use a similar method, by confirming the magical wave emitted by someone.

They said that the reward would be deposited into his guild card later. Ryu wished it could be paid in cash, but there was nothing he could do about it.

There was always a possibility that his guild card would be cancelled if the guild went bankrupt or if the guild master decided to make his life difficult, as the previous guild master had done. Ryu didn't trust the guild’s banking system either. He decided to withdraw the bounty as cash once it was deposited, just to be on the safe side.

Since Ryu had access to unlimited subspace storage, there was no problem with receiving the money in cash. He didn’t have to worry about it being stolen. However, he didn't know what would happen to the items stored in his subspace if he died.

Ryu didn’t really care about what happened after he died.

…

…

…

Now, about the bandits who attacked the village. It seemed that the bandit leader wasn't really interested in young girls. It appeared that someone had instructed the bandits to gather and bring them young girls.

Ryu had seen this in the bandit leader's mind using his Divine Eye, and the mastermind behind it was Git, the lord of the neighboring town (Ryu had learned what Git looked like from the information he had read in the leader's mind).

He had only glanced at the bandit leader's mind for a moment, so he couldn't get a lot of details. But it seemed that Git was a womanizer, and he had been getting women from all over, as tributes. He seemed to prefer them as young as possible.

Well, it was something that happened in this world, so Ryu wasn’t surprised to find a mastermind behind the bandits.

However, he wondered what kind of a person would just leave the bandits to attack a village in their own territory.

He remembered what Golan, the guard captain, had said. He had said that Git was a terrible viscount, with a bad reputation for not caring about the people.

It was only natural to feel bad when hearing stories about such cruel people.

However, Ryu thought that right and wrong were ultimately just human constructs, and values could change with the times. He had no intention of wielding justice in this world.

Ryu had no intention of saving the world. He didn't feel the need to go out and punish criminals simply because they existed.

But he felt a premonition that he would somehow be involved with this viscount in the future. Ryu’s precognitive ability was sending him a warning.

Ryu’s precognitive ability could almost always predict the future when it involved a direct threat to him, but it became more vague when it came to the distant future.

After all, the future was an uncertain thing. Even a small, impulsive human action or choice could drastically change the future.

A tiny action could have a huge impact on the outcome.

Ryu realized that, due to his precognitive ability, the future was uncertain, but at the same time, it could be changed by his own choices and actions.

He may or may not be involved with Git in the future.

Ryu decided to stop thinking about the uncertain future. There was no point in worrying about it.