Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang looked at the first poster.

He recognized the person in it.

It was one of the bandits that he had killed.

Why did he have a missing poster?

Wasn't he supposed to be a bandit?

The officer noticed that Shang hadn't said anything in several seconds. "The local bandits mainly get their recruits from the beggars and rebellious children," the officer explained.

"People that have stepped onto the path to power are not lacking money, which is why a lot of them don't need to become bandits. Of course, there are still some that enjoy that lifestyle of freedom and doing whatever they want, but most of them don't want to deal with being hunted by society."

"However, the normal people often need money for multiple reasons. Some need to take care of their family. Some want to take care of their friends. Some need money to survive themselves."

"Others don't care about the money but want to do something else other than overtaking their family's business, shop, farm, or whatever. Some of them only want adventure. However, they all will run into the problem of money and power again."

"When you have power, making money is easy. When you don't have power, making money is difficult. However, to make money, you either need to be outstanding in a specific field or power, and to become powerful, you need money."

"You need medicine, tutoring, equipment, supplements, and many other things to become significantly more powerful than the average person."

"Most people can't step onto the path of power due to their minuscule finances."

"That's where the bandits come into play."

"They scout out these troubled individuals and entice them with resources. That's how they get their recruits."

"Of course, the bandits aren't directly handing them the resources to become powerful. What they do is to give them an opportunity to make big money, which would, in turn, allow them to start their journey to power."

"Nearly all recruits start with Rat Raids. That's when a group of normal people charges at something valuable and bank on the possibility that the owner of these things doesn't have the conviction to kill a bunch of unarmored, normal humans."

"These raids are called Rat Raids because, like rats, the group mindlessly charges forward to gorge themselves on wealth. They know that some of them will die, and they will most certainly get injured, but they are betting on the possibility that they won't be the ones that will get killed."

"After they plundered the valuables, the new recruits will give them to the bandits, who, in turn, will teach the recruits about training and how to become more powerful. They are also willing to trade in supplements and medicine for outstanding contributions."

The officer leaned forward and put her right index finger on the top missing poster.

"Most of these missing people should be recruits for the bandits," she said slowly as she looked into Shang's eyes. "The bandits force them to abandon their old life for fear of someone leaking out their camps and locations. They can't allow any of these recruits to come into contact with their loved ones."

"They are only allowed to return when they have proven themselves."

"Most of them will never reach that stage."

officer leaned

Some of them are genuinely missing, and some of them are recruits. According to what I've heard, some of them have already

They might not be a danger now, but they will become a danger in the future

you recognize," the officer said

words entered Shang's

but Shang

money to start

didn't have

things from the God, but the only thing of value

wanted to become powerful without any money, they could just get some wood and some stones. With that, they could easily make some spears, which they could use

some basic survival gear, clothes, and maybe

even need supplements

powerful even before he

meditation, training,

couple of weeks, the people would already be strong enough to take on the weakest beasts. Even more, they could also

said these words to explain the way the bandits worked to Shang. She wanted

he shouldn't feel guilty

they still had families. They had their

only accomplished the

easier alternative to power and one that was less

had had the opportunity

Yet, they didn't.

own life on the line in hunting

didn't need the person to be courageous

he had feared that the

been a major regret Shang had

turned out that these bandits

no other option, Shang could

did have another

didn't

suppressed guilt was reduced by quite

have relaxed,

like her words

at the first missing poster and put it to

"Dead," he said.

out a pen and a piece of paper to write down what Shang had

How did you

some others, broke the cage on my sled wagon. He was one of the ones that ran with my Ice

officer nodded. "That was the right choice. Even if he was already running, his