The Tales of Draconic Warlock

(3rd PoV)

The commander was able to instil fear and morale in the troops that were on the wall.

Many were considering to desert but they knew that if they did so now, they would be branded as deserters and no one would hire them in the future. Even if they did, that would be for a dirt cheap price.

Once they were branded as deserters, no guilds would be interested in buying their hunt either. So they have to sell that for cheap too.

There is another choice for them though. In fact, there are many choices.

They can sell in the black market, which was not regulated by the kingdom or any guild that operates in the open. Though it is illegal, many turn a blind eye to the operations. It was said that the black market was run by some powerful nobles, which is why it has survived to this day.

The problem was that no one would be willing to partner up with deserters, as they would be afraid. Adventuring means fighting with monsters most of the time. If that person deserts them when they are in the middle of a fight, the chances of losing their lives would be higher.

So no one would dare to trust their lives to such a person.

So the blacklisted deserter would have no choice but to hunt solo and sell what he can hunt.

If that is hard, they can become bandits though that would put them not just on the black list but on the death list. There are a lot of bandit groups that roam the wilds. Though the kingdom tries to put them down, there would always be one or two new bandit groups sprouting every now and then.

Most of the bandit groups consist of common people. They are usually farmers who lost their lands and couldn't make a living. There would be awakened too but their numbers are usually low.

Most awakened can make a lot based on their strength. Unlike other professions, as the number of awakeners is lower and the demand is higher, they would make money.

The ones who become bandits among the awakened are either evil or lost everything to someone powerful and wants revenge, or something along the line.

If there are awakened among the bandits, they would be the leaders. If they are not, then there is already a leader who is awakened.

As a bandit, one can just pillage everything from travellers. If what they pillage is useful they can use it or sell it in the black market.

Once you get blacklisted, everything comes back to the black market. Whatever you wanted to do would lead you to the black market.

The problem would if you became a bandit, you would make it into the wanted list of the kingdom. Everyone would be on the lookout to hunt you for the bounty. So you can't enter a town or the city if you are wanted.

If you can't enter a city, then you can't access the black market.

Though it was called a black market, it still operates in a city, not in the wild. So to access it you have to enter a city. To make sure that they were not recognized, some would wear masks when they were out on banditry.

If no one knows that they are bandits, then they can easily come and go to the cities and sell their items in the black market. This is something that happened more than a few times and still happening.

This is why it became difficult to deal with these bandits.

When they used to openly attack others, their faces were recorded and would be hunted when they were identified but they are not idiots. they too learned with time and learned to mask their faces and any other identification details as much as possible.
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They are also becoming very strategic. They would never attack a large caravan, no matter how enticing the goods are. This was because there were many times that the kingdom eradicated bandits using such a "large caravan with treasures" strategy.

Sure there are many greedy ones that still fall for such schemes, but the intelligent ones wouldn't.

Even if they are intelligent, they are doing something that they shouldn't do and would slip up one way or another. Once that happens, they would get caught and executed. There is no way out if you become a bandit.

---

There are many ways to survive even if you are branded as a deserter and are blacklisted and banditry is just one of the such ways.

Though that may be the case, they don't want to do it but some have ideas about how to make sure that they get away and not end up on the blacklist. They were just waiting for the right time but the words of the commander stopped those thoughts.

If they are blacklisted by chance, then no one would be willing to help their families too. It would not just be them who would be an outcast but their families would have to face the humiliation too.

So when the time comes when they would need help, no one would be willing to help them.

Though the commander couldn't say everything, everyone understood what would happen if they desert. This made most give up their options of running away but there are still a few who are looking to escape a certain death.

To them, it doesn't matter whether they are blacklisted or not. Life is all that matters. The future is for the future. There is no reason to get stressed about that now.

What happens would happen.

---

"Long Range combatants, get ready, the monsters are upon us. Once they were in range, attack them as you wish, but don't waste your energy", the commander ordered the troops out loud.

The first to engage the monsters would be the archers, mages and every other long-range attacker. Even though they would be the last to come face to face with the monsters, they would engage first because their attacks can reach the monsters when they are at a distance.

Their attacks are mainly not to kill but to disrupt them. This is to make it easier for the close-range combatants to not get overwhelmed by the monsters.

Magnus is about to begin his first monster tide battle and as a long-range attacker, his position is on the wall with other long-range attackers.