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ILIAS VAN PAYNE

The next day while we were going around town asking for jobs and being rejected repeatedly, there was a commotion down a nearby street. Personally, I didn't care much for it and wanted to continue looking for jobs, but Jaime was nosy enough to pull me away to see what was happening.

The commotion involved three farmers and a dwarf warrior who was obviously a leader of a mercenary company. The dwarf warrior's men were nearby, watching everything unfold.

"Please, Sir," one of the farmers got on his knees. "Bandits are going to attack our village and the brigadier can't spare soldiers to protect us. We don't have much to offer, but as long as you stay with us, you can eat your share."

Why are they asking for help from a mercenary company? If food is all they can offer, they'll run out if they hire a band of mercenaries consisting of what looks to be eighty men. These farmers should be asking for help from a couple of strong warriors.

In their situation, less is more.

"Don't be a fool," the dwarf laughed. "If someone were to hire us, they'd give us food and pay us a handsome reward."

Defeated, the farmers then went off looking for other warriors. We followed suit.

"I thought we're supposed to be looking for jobs today?" Jaime questioned. "Why are we following them still? I was just curious as to what the commotion was."

"They're looking for people that can protect their village. That's a job."

"Didn't you hear them? They offer no reward but food."

"I heard them. Food and shelter are the biggest factors chipping away at our expenses. If we join them, we'll get a place to stay and food to eat until the bandits attack."

"But they said they offer no reward. We need money to pay for our fare, don't we?"

"Like I said—I heard them. Bandits raid settlements for riches and food and they bring everything they have with them. Once the bandits are defeated, we can negotiate for their things."

"That's smart. It's like the gods answered our prayers." Jaime grabbed my hand and marched towards the farmers. "Let's go introduce ourselves."

I pulled away. "No, not now. They'll think we're just trying to prank them and they won't even give us the attention to show our skills."

"So?"

"So, we'll watch them keep getting rejected and rejected. Once all hope is lost for them, we show up to offer help. It'll be the end of the day by then and at that point, they have no time to lose, so they'll be more willing to see what we can do."

Jaime understood everything. "And we'll blow them away with our skill."

"Exactly," I said as we high-fived each other.

Just then, a group of people gathered around an open part of the street. We followed the flow, but even if we didn't want to, we would've been dragged to it by the crowd.

Since Jaime and I were small, we pushed ahead of everyone to get to the front. The farmers we'd been stalking were right beside us.

A drunk man held a little boy hostage with a knife pressed against his throat. The town guards surrounded them.

"Hey, what happened?" Jaime asked one of the farmers.

The youngest one with a bow answered. "The soldiers were going to arrest the drunkard for being disruptive and he got into a fight with them. He ran away, got cornered, and took the boy hostage."

Soldiers had every exit blocked off and tried to approach the drunkard to de-escalate the situation. They had to back off when the drunkard pressed the knife against the boy's eye.

Their pistols would've been an easy solution, but the drunkard's movements were unpredictable and there were civilians in all directions.

Just then, an elf wearing well-crafted black armour with short hair and a perfectly groomed goatee approached the scene. He owned a sword, but it wasn't attached to his waist. Instead, he carried it like a bindle, letting it rest on his shoulder.

"You!" one of the soldiers called out. "What are you doing? He's going to hurt the boy if you approach him. Back away now!"

The elf ignored him and focused on the drunkard. "If you kill the boy, you'll be in bigger trouble. Just let him go."

"No," the drunkard insisted. "I let him go and these soldiers will beat me up and throw me behind bars."

"If you kill him, they'll send you to the Divot. Just deal with the consequences and don't try to escape it by risking more."

"Stop where you are. I'm not afraid to kill him." The drunkard cut the boy's throat, enough to make him bleed but not kill him.

"Mama!" the boy cried.

The mother, who was nearby, fell to her knees and began wailing. The soldiers ordered the elf to back away, but he had more control of the situation than them.

"Please, let him go," the elf asked, unsheathing his sword and throwing its scabbard aside. "Don't make me do this."

"You have to cut through the boy to get to me. Go on! Try it! I dare you!"

That was exactly what the elf did. He sliced through the boy and into the drunkard, who fell over backwards with a giant gash running across his shoulder to his hip.

The farmers murmured to each other that they wanted to ask for this elf's help.

The boy, even though the elf sliced through him, remained unharmed and had to be ushered by the elf to run towards his mother. The guards quickly surrounded the drunkard.

"He'll live," the elf reassured. "I made sure not to cut too deep. Simple healing jynx will fix him."

As the mother thanked me for using healing jynx to fix the boy's throat, we lost track of the farmers. They must've followed the soldiers taking the elf and drunkard away.

Jaime's eyes were sparkling. "Did you see that? He was so cool. He cut right through the boy, but he was unharmed. I want to learn how to do that too."

The two of us made our way to Brigadier Ishida's office where we found the trio of farmers. They were across the street, resting in the shade.

After a while, the elf was finally released.

Jaime got to him before the farmers did. "Me and my friend were there earlier when you saved that boy. How did you do it? You clearly cut through that boy, but he was unharmed. Please teach me!"

"Woah! I wasn't expecting to get any disciples," the elf chuckled. "I can't go around revealing my abilities to strangers."

She introduced us. "My name is Jaime and this is my friend, Ilias."

The elf nodded his head. "Mine is Askeladd Bauer; I'm a knight. Nice to meet you."

"There. We're not strangers anymore."

Askeladd roared a laugh and gestured towards Jaime's sword. "You're a swordsman too?"

She unsheathed a bit to show her blade.

"That looks like an expensive and well-made sword. I wasn't expecting to see a maiden elf around. How old are you?"

"We're both twelve," she answered.

"A hundred and twenty flat?"

"No, twelve. We were both born in the same year. I'm half-elf and terran."

Askeladd studied her, showing interest as he dug deep into his mind. "A half-elf girl with green hair. It can't be, are y—"

Suddenly, the farmer with the bow butted in between him and Jaime, kneeling and bowing to Askeladd's feet. "Please, Sir. We beg for your help."

Askeladd agreed to hear them out so the farmers led us to an inn they were staying at—a place we passed by yesterday. It was a rotting building where multiple people slept in the same room. The cost to stay the night was cheap, but Jaime and I didn't want to stoop that low.

While the farmer with the bow, Hanzo, explained their situation, Ritsu took out some bread and offered it to Askeladd. Even though they didn't have much food to spare, Toshi gave a piece of bread to Jaime and I when he heard our stomachs growl; much to Ritsu's dismay.

The situation was simple enough. Hanzo overheard bandits planning to raid their village after the crops were harvested—which was in two months. The villagers were relying on this year's harvest for food and money because last year's was deficient. Instead of surrendering to the bandits, they chose to fight. However, they couldn't do it alone and they had no reward to offer other than food.

Askeladd paced back and forth in the empty inn.

"Fifty bandits on horseback with three others that look even more dangerous," Askeladd laid out the board. "It's not possible."

"Please, Ser," Hanzo begged. "We'll fight alongside you. All we need is someone who knows how to fight to lead us."

"During wars, the winning side is always attacking and the losing side is always defending. Do you know why? Defence is harder than offence. One kink in chainmail is all it takes to kill a soldier."

The farmers didn't respond. They knew he was right.

Askeladd went to the map of the farmers' village. "A road that cuts through the hills in the south, a lake labyrinth north, the fields are east, and a forest west. The village is vulnerable to a mounted attack in all directions."

The elf warrior was right. There were no natural structures to make the attack harder. The village was on low ground. Not to mention the hills would favour the bandits.

"Four warriors to guard each direction and two others to act as reserves," Askeladd turned to the farmers. "We need at least seven, including me."

The farmers' faces lit up.

"Seven?" Hanzo said to the others. "Seven is a good number."

"But can we afford to feed seven?" Ritsu questioned. "We might be able to get away three. Maybe four."

"Ser Askeladd said at least seven. He's offering us his help and he said seven. Why are you throwing it away, you fool?"

"Hold on," the elf knight interrupted. "I was only speculating. In this situation, less is more. Choosing a few trustworthy warriors is preferred. That's difficult to come by already and all you offer is food."

Askeladd stood where he was for a very long time without talking. After a while, the farmers bent their heads and began weeping.

Who could blame them? Their entire lives were on the line, but to most, it wasn't even worth three meals a day.

"Farmers have it the hardest," Askeladd went on. "They are the foundations of this country and the rich can't eat without them. But they are the lowliest of everyone. I bet the bread you offered was made from the last grains of wheat you have. How many others took the bread and ran?"

The farmers were trying to keep it together, holding in their cries and wiping away their tears.

"How much have you sacrificed?" Askeladd asked as he pulled away a blanket. Hidden under it was a box. "You eat millet and acorns to feed me bread because it's all you have to offer."

Jaime was about to explode into anger, but I held her back.

"I understand," Askeladd said. He tore off a piece of the bread given to him that had remained untouched, eating it. "I accept your sacrifice and won't let this go to waste."

What's next on Rebellion?

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Thanks for reading this far and don't forget to comment and vote as it would help push this story out a lot.

How does it feel to have Ilias and Jaime back?

This entire volume will focus on this bandit and farmer plot, how do you feel about it?

Did this chapter feel like a return to form?

What do you think of Askeladd (yes, he's named after the best character in Vinland Saga)?

What do you think of the farmers?

This is the first volume to have a prologue, what did you think of it?

Any thoughts or ideas of what the seven will be made up of?

Fun Fact: This volume is heavily inspired by my favourite live-action movie, Seven Samurai, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean. This chapter's title is the ending song for the part 6 anime.

In the original draft, this chapter was supposed to be Jaime's introduction. She would still be from Gilead and teleported with Ilias, but she and Ilias would never have had any interactions prior as she would just be some random girl at the orphanage--though she would know him because of his reputation. She would've approached Ilias here with knowledge of who he is. But as I developed the plot more and more, I slowly started having her show up earlier and earlier until the version you now know-- Jaime is Camaro's adopted daughter and childhood friends with Ilias. She was also never supposed to be connected to Scar until my friend suggested that since she's an orphan, it would be cool if her parents were killed by him (which I thank him for because it adds so much depth to her and, in hindsight, was genius).