Demon Lord's Reincarnation

On the journey back to New Grenton Ren and Silika had been attacked more frequently by bandits. This might be attributed to Silika remaining in her humanoid form. 

"Surrender everything you have and give us the woman and you'll be able to leave here alive." The leader of the bandit group spoke. At first, he was just going to rob them of everything they had but at gazing upon Silika's beauty a primal lust came over him. It wasn't only him most of his subordinates were feeling the same thing. 

They wanted to ravage the woman in front of them so badly. At this point, they didn't really care about whatever material possessions Ren had with him, as long as he hands over the woman. The bandits then brandished their weapons trying to intimidate Ren. 

The person in question looked at the bandits as if they were some sort of performers and didn't feel intimidated at all. 

"Hey, how many times is that?" Ren asked Silika. 

"That's the third time. Two times it was, kill the man, capture the woman. Four times it was take everything, and only once it was, there's no need for the woman just capture the man," Silika answered.

"The last one was the most dangerous one," Ren replied a bit shaken when he remembered the look of the last bandits they faced. 

While the two were having their little discussion uncaring about the surrounding bandits, the bandits in question were thoroughly incense. Their prey were acting as if they weren't there. 

"WHAT ARE-" the leader of the bandits started to shout something, but before he could say anything of use Ren appeared before him and gripped his neck. 

"How rude of you shouting like that. Can't you see we were talking." Ren smiled at the bandit leader that was now struggling to breathe. The surrounding bandits that saw how fast Ren moved, were surprised and at the same time fearful. The others knew that they messed with someone they shouldn't mess with.

Knowing immediately that they were no match for Ren some of the bandits decided to use Silika as a hostage. But the moment they got close to Silika they were all cut into pieces. Seeing what happened to their companions the bandits stopped moving. 

"M-" The Bandit leader was trying to say something but Ren couldn't hear it. 

"What did you say?" Ren loosened his grip a tiny bit so that the bandit leader could speak. The now frightened bandit leader coughed a bit as he suddenly was able to breathe again.

"M-m-m....mer...cy. Mer... Cy... Pl...ease." The bandit leader begged and spoke even though it was difficult for him. When Ren heard what the bandit leader said, he released his grip and kicked the bandit leader aside. The kick wasn't powerful enough to kill the bandit leader but it injured him greatly making him unable to move. 

"Silika did you hear that? This weakling was begging for mercy. I have no issue about bandits trying to steal and kill. But even as bandits you guys must have some sort of pride. You guys chose to live this way, so walk the path you have chosen until the end. Even the other bandits fought until the bitter end, and I can't hate them for that. But you guys, asking for mercy? Fine I will grant you mercy."

The moment Ren said that he would grant the bandits mercy, the group felt relieved. But the next moment they saw Ren wield a scythe and that was the last thing most of them saw. The surrounding bandits were sliced into pieces and their mana absorbed by the scythe. 

"I thought... You would grant us mercy." The leader of the group of bandits was the only one left and he still couldn't move as he witnessed the casual massacre that happened before his very eyes.

"I granted your men the mercy of death. As for you, I want you to tell me where your hideout is." 

"Why?" 

"I'm going to steal back everything you stole. Well, now that I think about it, those things aren't yours so I'm not stealing from you, just picking up random objects I found."

"Why would I tell you anything, you're going to kill me either way."

"What if I say that if you tell me where your hideout is I won't kill you." 

The bandit leader knowing that death was imminent wasn't as scared at Ren as he was before so he became a bit braver as he answered.

"I would be a fool if I believed you." The bandit leader who was sitting on the ground his mouth bleeding answered with a smile. 

"Well, you would be a fool if you believed me, and you would be a fool if you don't. Either way, you are a fool." 

"At least if I don't believe you, I would be a fool that didn't give you anything." Hearing the bandit leader's answer, Ren looked a bit bewildered at first then he started laughing and once he was done laughing he showed a very vicious smile at the bandit leader. The moment the bandit leader saw that smile he felt something ominous was about to happen.

"That's great, I thought you were going to be a coward until the end. Turns out you do have some sort of backbone. It's a shame that you're going to die. Not only will you die, but you're going to die while telling me where your hideout is."

"And how are you going to do that? Threatening me with death seems silly at this point since even if you don't do anything, the internal injuries you gave me is going to kill me eventually." 

"Oh, you seem to think death is the worst that could happen. Let me tell you, there are far worse things than dying." Ren came closer to the bandit leader and whispered something in his ear. Silika who was watching at the side saw the complexion of the bandit leader going from bad to worse. By the end of it, the bandit leader started to cry. 

"PLEASE SHOW MERCY! I WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! Please just grant me a swift death." The bandit leader was now in tears as he asked for the mercy of a swift death. 

"Very well, I shall grant you that mercy." The bandit leader hearing what Ren said happily gave the information of where his hideout was. After hearing what he wanted to hear Ren swiped the scythe quickly beheading the bandit leader. 

"Hey, Silika how about we raid all the nearby bandit hideouts." Ren happily smiled as he spoke to Silika. 

"What about New Grenton? Shouldn't we head back now?" 

"Don't worry I trust Valdel and the others can handle things for a while. If they can't even handle this little thing then the trials going forward would be impossible. Better they die now than suffer later." Ren nonchalantly replied. 

Hearing Ren's answer made Silka sigh softly. She already had a feeling that Ren was slowing his pace as they got nearer to New Grenton. It was now obvious to Silika that Ren was simply using the bandits as an excuse not to head back as quickly as possible. Knowing Ren, this might be part of a bigger plan, or simply a whim of his. Even someone like Silika who knew a bit of Ren's past incarnations had no clue which of the two it was. 

"Very well, do as you wish." Ren's smile grew even wider when he heard Silika's confirmation.