Silence.
It was as if time itself had stopped flowing.
With the heavy sound of Morro falling, all movement seemed to be cut off abruptly at that moment, creating an eerie sense of silence.
Bound by magic, the bandits looked on in terror as they saw the young man point a finger toward their leader's direction—the tip of his finger still crackled with electricity, quickly replacing the desire and violence in their eyes with fear.
"A-Amazing..."
Gerald muttered in awe, trembling when he saw this scene.
As a bandit leader, Morro was clearly no slouch, or else Gerald would've been able to resist.
Even though Gerald knew he wasn't exactly a great, powerful man in Elyssir Territory, his strength was considered among the best. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the chance to become a viscount's retainer.
When they came out to this territory this time, the Elyssir family had not assigned guards or knights to their precious young lady, partly because it was her request.
Simply put, she had left without her father's permission, sneaking out with only one retainer in a hurry, believing that with Gerald's strength, even if it was just him alone, he could protect her well.
However, the reality proved that both of them were overly naive.
Indeed, Gerald was among the top experts in Elyssir Territory, but that was ultimately just a viscount's territory.
What kind of experts could appear in the territory of a minor noble?
Gerald might be the tallest among the short, and if thrown into a world like Overlord, he might still become one of the few powerful humans—at the very least, he could easily achieve a status similar to Gazef or Brain. But in a world like the Akasha Continent, where even Level 5 Sword Masters could appear at any time, his strength would be considered insufficient to even become a knight of a major noble family.
For example, the knights of the Frenzel family, every single one of them, had the strength of Level 3 to Level 4. In the world of Overlord, they would undoubtedly belong to the Realm of Heroes or even be considered outliers, but in the Akasha Continent, they would only barely qualify to be part of a major noble family's knightly order.
Sadly, Gerald was not even close to that level.
Coming to this chaotic territory, it was no surprise that his fate turned out like this where he couldn't even stop a few bandits before being struck down.
Morro, as the leader of these bandits, probably had strength that could rival the knights of major noble families, and yet, he was so easily dealt with.
How could Gerald not tremble at this?
'Even Sir Marcius couldn't do that, could he?'
As Gerald thought of the Elyssir family he served, where even the viscount and many of his children addressed the strongest magician of their territory with respect, he felt that even that magician could never do something like launching a lightning strike from his fingertip to easily kill a bandit leader with strength comparable to that of a knight from a major noble family.
'Who is he?'
Gerald's mind barely had time to form this question before his eyes widened in disbelief.
Why?
It was simply because an even more unbelievable scene soon appeared before him.
"Cry of the Banshee."
After dealing with Morro, the young man retracted his electrified hand and immediately cast another magic.
It was an extremely terrifying magic, where once released, a wailing scream of women instantly swept through the area.
Upon hearing the scream, Gerald had a momentary feeling as if his heart had been crushed, his soul frozen, and his body's temperature rapidly draining away, slowly turning him into a corpse.
Fortunately, it seemed that the young man was deliberately controlling the magic's range, allowing the wailing scream to only echo within a dozen meters, missing Gerald and Lizbeth, and only affecting the surrounding bandits.
In that instant, the terrified bandits met their end.
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
With each dull thud of bodies hitting the ground, the bandits maintained their terrified expressions, one by one collapsing onto the ground, losing their lives.
"Wh-What's going on?!"
Gerald wanted to shout like this, but his instincts, clearer than his muddled thoughts, told him exactly what was going on right now.
It was actually very simple.
All the bandits were dead—all of them, without exception.
"AoE instant death magic is crazy convenient, huh..."
Standing amidst a pile of bandits' corpses, the young man talked to himself in a way no one else could understand.
"But for someone like me, who doesn't have instant death magic buffs like him, it's probably only useful against way weaker opponents... Well, it still saved me a ton of effort anyway..."
Upon hearing this, not only did Gerald not understand, but Lizbeth beside the young man also couldn't follow.
Nonetheless, that didn't stop Lizbeth from admiring the young man.
"Amazing... You seem even more powerful than before, Master..."
Lizbeth's eyes sparkled as she looked at the young man she called master, completely different from the helpless look she had earlier.
It was easy to see just how much admiration she held for the young man.
Seeing this, Gerald couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the young man, even though, in his eyes, the young man now seemed to embody the word 'terrifying'.
In response, the young man simply smiled calmly at Lizbeth, looking like he was used to being admired by such a beautiful girl, as if he didn't think much of it.
Before long, the young man turned his gaze toward Gerald, making his heart tense.
If the young man had ill intentions toward him and his young lady, they would definitely be done for.
Understanding this, Gerald couldn't help but grow anxious.
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario he imagined didn't come to pass.
"Are you injured?"
Stepping forward and approaching Gerald, the young man asked with a frown as he saw Gerald drenched in blood.
"Hmm, with injuries like these, Heal or Heavy Recover is unnecessary, right?"
Muttering to himself, the young man then extended his hand toward Gerald.
"Middle Healing."
A gentle light appeared in the young man's palm, shining on Gerald.
"Eh?"
Gerald was surprised to find that the pain in his body was quickly fading, and the bloody wounds on his body were healing at a visible rate.
Before long, his injuries were completely healed, and soon, the light in the young man's hand disappeared.
"Okay, get up."
Speaking with a calm voice and gaze, the young man made Gerald instinctively follow his command.
"Th-Thank you for your help, Sir Magician."
Gerald hurriedly bowed his head toward the young man, his tone becoming extremely respectful.
It couldn't be helped.
In front of him was someone who could easily take care of a bandit group of nearly a hundred people with just a wave of his hand and effortlessly heal injuries.
Gerald had to show respect even to the magician named Marcius in the Elyssir Territory, let alone this young magician, who was far more mysterious and powerful than Marcius. If he acted too rudely, it wouldn't be surprising if he ended up like those bandits—knocked to the ground, losing his life.
Moreover, considering the young man had saved him, all in all, Gerald had every reason to show such respect.
"No need to be so polite."
Looking at the nervous Gerald, the young man spoke with a faint smile.
"In this situation, it's pretty obvious who needs to be dealt with and who needs help, so you don't need to be so tense since I also just did it on a whim anyway."
"Besides, I also wanted to ask you a few things, if that's okay with you."
Even though not overly warm, the young man's words didn't carry any malice either, easing Gerald's tension a bit.
"If you don't mind, please allow me to be of service to you." Gerald responded with a polite smile.
If this was all it took to be saved, it was undoubtedly more than worth it.
"Good."
Nodding in satisfaction, the young man gazed at Gerald for a moment before asking a question.
"Right, what's your name?"
"My name is Gerald, a retainer of Viscount Elyssir from the neighboring territory." Gerald performed a formal knight's bow. "How should I address you, sir?"
At this, the young man answered frankly.
"Just call me Riezel."
Needless to say, the young man who appeared here with Lizbeth was, of course, Riezel, who had just returned from the dimensional travel that had ended a few days ago, coming back from the world of Overlord.
As soon as he returned, Riezel, along with Lizbeth, set off on the journey they had planned.
He had already said his goodbyes to Yuri, and the preparations for the trip had been completed during his dimensional travel, so he immediately left the royal capital with Lizbeth in a carriage without hesitation, watched by Yuri, Marilyn, Ain, Ian, Mediste, Isaac, and others.
Riezel and Lizbeth first spent a day traveling to Trantia, then took a ship from there, spending about four days and nights heading toward Sinielle's direction.
In the end, they disembarked in this chaotic territory, where they switched to a carriage.
Being the closest territory to Sinielle, this so-called chaotic territory, known as Mavros Territory, lay along Jinas's border. Beyond this territory, it was no longer part of Jinas, so anyone heading to the neutral region between Jinas and Reiburg, Sinielle, had to pass through Mavros Territory.
However, Mavros Territory was notorious for being the most chaotic and dark territory within Jinas.
As for why it was called that, the reason was simple.
"Because of the long-standing war between Jinas and Reiburg, Mavros Territory, the closest territory to Reiburg, has faced many problems."
"Over there, many refugees who suffered from the war took refuge, unable to get enough food or warmth. Many bandits also roamed freely, having turned to crime after losing their families in the war."
"Moreover, the lord of this land is the Guardian Sword Saint, who spends most of his time defending the border from foreign enemies, so his governance of the territory isn't as perfect as in other places."
"All of these combined have turned Mavros Territory into the most chaotic and extremely dangerous territory."
All of these were the things Yuri had told Riezel before he left the Frenzel residence in the royal capital.
Now, Riezel was experiencing it for himself—experiencing the chaos in this territory.