Chapter 41

Chapter 41: The Forest Brotherhood (2)

There were three main methods of ascetic training, including the way to become a god.

Cheoncheon—receiving divinity from a god and reaching the heavens. Yeokcheon—devouring people to steal the blessings of the gods. And Jacheon—reaching the heavens by one's own strength.

Of these, the most common and orthodox method was Cheoncheon. The most immoral and sinful method was Yeokcheon. And the most aberrant and enigmatic method was Jacheon.

Unlike Cheoncheon, which involved being chosen by a god at Delphi Temple, and Yeokcheon, which involved eating people, the method of Jacheon itself was not known in any concrete detail.

This was why the Ascetics Master and Anagin had met were skeptical of Jacheon.

Climbing to the heavens with one's own conviction as a compass was less a concrete method and more a handful of clouds……

And yet, Paia—a mere bandit, or more precisely, Lanky Baldy—had said he would teach it.

"Unshakeable values! And the drive to act on them consistently! That's the first step of the Jacheon ascetic method. Killing hypocritical Ascetics, or gathering wealth by any means necessary, that kind of thing!"

Paia led the way, doling out bits and pieces about Jacheon as they walked.

Walking alongside Sphinx, Anagin followed and asked.

"How did you come to know about this?"

"What, you follow me and then you don't believe me?"

Paia grinned as he looked at Anagin, who had claimed no interest in the Forest Brotherhood yet had come along anyway. He seemed to be genuinely enjoying the process of persuading Anagin and bringing him here.

"I didn't say I don't believe you. I'm curious how you found out."

It wasn't an idle question.

The words themselves were quite convincing.

Both Cheoncheon and Yeokcheon had rules. A god's blessing, the theft of that blessing. All rules that could be understood and accepted. Even if Jacheon was aberrant and unknown, it too would have such rules. From that perspective, what Paia described was fairly plausible. It even aligned to some degree with the vague talk of climbing to the heavens with one's conviction as a compass.

What Anagin was curious about was the source of that information.

No matter how he thought about it, it wasn't the kind of information a bandit should have access to.

Paia thought for a moment, then spoke.

"…I'll tell you later. Trying to stuff yourself on the first spoonful—that's just being a greedy thief, isn't it?"

It wasn't an answer he liked, but Anagin accepted it.

It didn't seem likely he'd hear it just by pressing. And he probably could hear it once he met Lanky Baldy.

It was a hassle, but for now, Anagin decided to go along with the Forest Brotherhood's wishes. It wasn't as though he had anything urgent to do.

"Do you believe him?"

Sphinx, who had been walking beside him, drew close to Anagin and whispered.

Anagin shrugged.

"For now."

"Hmm……."

"What is it?"

"It feels like things keep getting bigger. If anyone saw you right now, what would they think?"

"'There's a man working hard to become a great Ascetic'?"

"Please, give me an answer with some sanity in it."

"'The Ascetic killer is in bed with the Forest Brotherhood'?"

"That's right! Are you doing this on purpose to piss me off?"

"You only just noticed?"

Sphinx glared at Anagin from beneath her robe with those golden eyes. Judging by how her characteristic vertical pupils flashed like blades, she seemed quite riled up.

It was a rather amusing sight, but he decided to stop there.

"All right, all right. So what's the problem with it? Being in bed with the Forest Brotherhood."

"…If things go wrong, the bad reputation could spread not just here but everywhere else."

When Sphinx had first heard the moniker "Ascetic killer," she hadn't been particularly alarmed. She'd judged it wasn't a big deal.

And with good reason—plenty of Ascetics caused trouble in one region and started fresh in another.

It wasn't especially strange. Frankly, how many of the people who set out to become Ascetics were the docile sort? It was more strange when such people didn't cause trouble.

So there were cases of leaving a region and starting anew, and society didn't make a big issue of it either.

With the reasoning that "they caused trouble there, not here."

But there were exceptions. And that exception was the Forest Brotherhood.

The Forest Brotherhood, an alliance of countless bandits, had spread across all of Hellas and made enemies of every kingdom and free city. Getting tangled up with them was a fairly dangerous business.

Like deliberately picking one color to wear in a village split between red shirts and blue shirts, fighting each other.

"Especially if you're seen with the ones who cut down the Aoi family—it'll give people confidence in the rumors. That you pick out Ascetics and kill them."

"That's strange. You didn't object much when I was heading to the Aoi family, did you? Even though you thought I was going to fight."

"That was… I figured I could persuade you when we got there. Something like, 'Do a bit and then we leave for somewhere else.' I didn't think it would turn out like this, at least."

"You don't like it?"

Sphinx looked around. Bandits surrounded Anagin's group on all sides.

"I don't like it. The danger aside, being tangled up with bandits at all isn't great."

"Coming from you, that's odd."

Sphinx's eyes flashed. Fiercer than anything before, by far. She seemed to wonder if he was bringing up her origins as a monster.

But when her eyes met Anagin's, Sphinx quickly calmed. She realized that wasn't what he meant.

"…I've done a fair bit of traveling, and I've seen plenty of what bandits get up to. It's hard to like them."

"I haven't seen it, and I don't care much. Not right now, at least… More than anything, these guys have something they need from me. No reason not to go along."

"You mean the ascetic method? Honestly, I know a thing or two myself. Why not just ask me? I'd teach you if you'd just take me off cooking duty."

"There's a difference between being taught and finding it yourself."

At Anagin's firm tone, Sphinx couldn't retort.

He certainly wasn't wrong. Even the same story carried different weight when someone told it to you easily versus when you sought it out yourself.

'He's a strange person. His actions are simple, but sometimes he has a knack for leaving people speechless.'

Sphinx thought as she looked at Anagin.

Then Anagin added one more thing.

"Well, it's not necessarily all there is to it…."

An enigmatic line.

Sphinx wanted to ask what he meant, but unfortunately, she had no time to.

They had arrived at Paia's bandit camp.

"Here it is—our forward outpost! Isn't it magnificent?"

The hulking Paia spread his muscle-packed arms and bellowed.

It was impressive, certainly. Though it looked closer to a village than an outpost.

"Boss, you've returned?!" "Kyaa! He's back!"

Inside the wooden palisade built from felled trees, huts were arranged in a fairly systematic way, and there were quite a few women there alongside the bandits.

The moment Paia arrived, they all rushed over to greet him.

"Boss. Did you have a good time out there?"

Instead of answering, Paia pulled out the heads strung together like a necklace from beneath his boar-hide cloak, just as he had for Anagin.

At the sight of the heads, everyone erupted in cheers of "Waaaaaah!!" chanting Paia's name.

Paia savored the cheers and shouted.

"Every village under the Aoi family has agreed to cooperate with us! Our grand plan has taken its first step, you bastards!!"

No one could tell what the grand plan was, but everyone joined in, cheering loudly.

Having fully enjoyed the cheers, Paia ordered a feast to be prepared.

"A feast?"

"Yes! A feast! We have guests, after all."

Paia grinned and pointed at Anagin and Sphinx.

"We can't look like a bunch of cheapskates, can we?! Right!!"

"Ah, wise words indeed. Then we'll slaughter a pig and bring out the alcohol."

"Yes, yes! You bastards! We can always get more booze from other villages, so don't hold back!"

"Exactly! Exactly!"

The bandits nodded at Paia's words and immediately set about preparing the feast.

Watching them, Anagin recalled what had happened that morning in Pond Village.

The young bandit who had brazenly brought a severed head to threaten him.

"Um, excuse me…"

Just then, the young bandit approached Anagin and spoke cautiously.

"Hehe, the boss told me to look after you all… Would you like me to show you to your quarters?"

---

Having realized his position from the exchange between Anagin and Paia, the young bandit abandoned his earlier bravado and adopted an almost servile posture.

"Here it is! Right here! The best room besides the boss's own quarters!"

He'd used his head, in his own way.

Given how things were unfolding, Anagin joining the Forest Brotherhood was all but certain. The question was how high he'd rise.

The young bandit judged that Anagin would at least become a boss leading one bandit camp, or a fixer.

That was because Paia, a boss himself, hadn't attacked upon hearing of a subordinate's provocation—he'd tried to persuade with words instead.

This was a fairly serious matter.

Paia, ferocious as a boar, was prideful, and was aggressive enough to take insults to his subordinates as insults to himself.

And yet he hadn't attacked but had persuaded with words? That meant Anagin was no ordinary man.

So the young bandit decided to change his stance. Better than letting pointless pride get him into trouble later.

Anagin read that thought and decided to use it.

"Hey."

"Yes, yessir! Is—is something not to your liking?"

"What's the grand plan?"

Anagin cut straight to the point and asked what the "grand plan" Paia had been spouting about was. It had been nagging at him oddly.

"The grand plan? Why do you…?"

"Because I'm curious. If you don't want to say, don't."

A pointed remark.

The young bandit shook his head immediately.

In case he'd be retaliated against later.

"No, no. I'll tell you. I'll… it's not even a secret, anyway."

Whether it truly wasn't a secret or not, the young bandit explained what the grand plan was.

"We're going to found a nation. In Anapic. A nation of the Forest Brotherhood."

"……." "……."

Neither Anagin nor Sphinx could say anything.

Anagin because he wasn't particularly moved, and Sphinx because she was dumbfounded.

"Just out of curiosity—is founding a nation an easy thing to do?"

"Of course not. Are you seriously asking that?"

"I'm only repeating what I heard. Miss."

The young bandit, slippery as an eel, called Sphinx "miss." Normally she'd have snapped at him, but there was a more pressing topic, so she let it slide.

"No wonder it felt off. I should have realized when they raided the Ascetic Family…."

Sphinx lamented her own foolishness.

Bandits occasionally raided Ascetic Families for wealth, rare magic tools, or divine weapons, but it wasn't a common occurrence.

It was far too dangerous. Considering the safety-first nature of bandits, it was excessively aggressive.

But if they had raided an Ascetic Family, there had to be a commensurate reason. A reason bigger than any ordinary treasure.

"And yet, to think it's some absurd story about founding a nation…."

"It's not necessarily so absurd. Miss. Our boss is incredibly sharp, you know… He judged it was worth doing and joined up."

Having chosen his side, the young bandit acted decisively.

He behaved deferentially to score points, while also explaining the grand plan well so as to score points with his boss as well.

"Anapic is masterless land, after all, isn't it? If our Forest Brotherhood puts up a figurehead, and we protect them from behind the scenes and collect taxes, then that's practically a nation, isn't it?"

According to the young bandit's explanation, it didn't seem to be a nation in the ordinary sense. But precisely because of that, it sounded all the more plausible. A nation ruled from the shadows—it did seem to suit the Forest Brotherhood……

Anagin raised his hand.

"I have a question."

"Ah, go ahead!"

"You said the boss joined because he judged it was worth doing?"

"Yes!"

"So that means there are some who didn't join?"

Anagin, who had been listening quietly, immediately found the flaw in the story and prodded at it.

As Anagin said, the plan to found a nation in Anapic wasn't the plan of the entire Forest Brotherhood. It was the plan of a faction. Of certain regions adjacent to Anapic.

Thinking about it, that was only natural.

The Forest Brotherhood was a massive organization spanning all of Hellas. But at its root, it was an alliance of bandits.

Of course, even that was an astonishing feat. Uniting 108 bandit groups across that vast land was realistically impossible.

If not for "one strange figure" and an "unknown source of funding," the Forest Brotherhood could never have been born……

Regardless, the point was that the Forest Brotherhood was just that massive a group, and because of that, decisions made by the alliance as a whole rarely happened.

For the most part, each group did its own thing and cooperated only when necessary.

That was the part Anagin had picked out from the young bandit's words.

"Yes, that's right. Still, there are quite a lot of us."

"Still, wouldn't it be a burden? Anapic has Ascetics and Ascetic Families too."

"No need to worry! You saw it this morning, didn't you? Ascetic Families are nothing special, really. Like the boss said, they're all weaklings."

The young bandit spoke confidently. Anagin couldn't deny it either. The Dolos family had mostly been weaklings too……

At best, only the Head and Spanichi were worth anything. And even those two were no match for Anagin.

"If the one called the Ascetic killer, Anagin, joins us, it'll be even easier."

"I haven't said I'd join yet."

"Ah…"

"And it's the Ascetic Families that are weaklings. The Ascetics themselves might not be, right?"

"Haha! There aren't many Ascetics worth mentioning in Anapic! Well, recently a troublesome one did show up, but that's been taken care of. Just some doddering old man…"

"…Old man?"

Anagin echoed back, a bad feeling creeping over him.

For some reason, a certain someone came to mind.

Perhaps interpreting his reaction differently, the young bandit chimed in.

"Yes! Some old man came at us saying he couldn't stand it anymore, and the boss took care of him! We burned the village down, and now we're looking for that old man's grandson and granddaughter."

"Grandson and granddaughter…?"

"Yes! What were their names again…?"

As the young bandit pondered, voices and laughter drifted in from outside.

The young bandit went outside to see what was going on.

"What's the matter?"

"They caught the little brats! The grandson and granddaughter of that fearless old man who gave us trouble!"

"Ah, is that so? Doesn't sound like much. Sir Anagin, it was nothing. Just some kids. The ones I mentioned earlier."

"…The old man's grandson and granddaughter?"

"Yes, nothing seri—"

"—Take me to them."

"Pardon?"

"I said take me to them. I want to see their faces."