Loraine stood firmly in place, her hands ready at her sides as she wasn’t afraid of using them this time around. The leader of the large group of bandits stepped forward, a cocky stride in the way he walked, his eyes glancing at her with a grin.

"Oh hello there, beautiful~" The bandit cackled with a smile, his eyes wandering over her form with an approving stare. "What’s a fine lady such as yourself doing around these-!" He stopped his speech for a moment, the words dying in the back of his throat as he glanced at the unconscious body of Jack lying on the ground, unconscious and in bad shape.

’What the hell!? What’s going on!?’ The leader thought, his senses immediately screaming danger as he glanced back at Loraine, the maid already assuming a battle stance as she prepared herself for confrontation.

’Did she do this, a maid...?’ He thought, his hands instinctively wrapping around the hilt of his machete, he couldn’t believe it.

"You...did you do this?" He asked cautiously, the men at the back already drawing their weapons as they immediately prepared for the worst. The shift in the air was immediate, as if the power dynamics were immediately flipped and the humble maid before them was an immediate threat.

A threat they couldn’t possible ignore.

"Oh, him?" Loraine jerked her thumb behind her, motioning towards the unconscious body of Jack. "Oh no, I just happened to have found him lying there." She joked with a grin.

The scene immediately drifted to silence, with neither party saying a word as they were locked in place with a silent, but deadly tension. Loraine’s eyes were locked onto the bandits, the numbers in their forces were truly immense, but she wasn’t afraid of them, using her [Eyes Of Appraisal] Skill, she deduced that these bandits weren’t all that powerful individually.

’Their leader’s only level 10, and Jack was around 24. Are these his men? I guess I did cut him off before he could finish speaking.’ She thought, a bit bummed out.

The leader’s eyes drifted to Jacob, noticing him standing a few paces to the right, his eyes locking onto the kid’s as he noticed the pouches of money in his hand.

’There’s no way they could’ve actually beat him, a maid and a [Scarlet Thief] against this district’s gang leader? This is unheard of!’ He thought, his eyes widening as realization struck him.

"That ring..." The leader spoke, noticing the [Ring Of Storage] on Loraine’s finger. His eyes widened with fear as soon as he saw it, a great mortifying expression settling on his face as he immediately withdrew his machete, flicking the blade as it gleamed menacingly in the moonlight, its edges sharp enough to cut through the tension.

"Look woman, I don’t know who you are, or how you managed to take down our boss over there, but that ring isn’t something you should be wearing." The bandit warned, his eyes turning serious and full of malice. "I’m gonna have to ask you to return it to us nicely, there’s a lot of important stuff in there, and we can’t let you go out of here without returning it."

Loraine blinked, glancing at the [Ring Of Storage] on her finger. "Tch, I knew there was no way in hell a mere bandit could’ve been in possession of a Legendary Item, there’s obviously something big going on here." She said with a sigh.

’Still though, there’s no way in hell I’m just gonna go ahead and give a Legendary Item back to them. Especially not back in the hands of these criminals.’ She thought, radiating an aura of determination.

"You there," The leader spoke with a click of his tongue, gesturing to Jacob. "Get over here! What are you doing just standing there!?" He asked, visibly annoyed.

Jacob didn’t meet his words however, as the moment he gestured for Jacob to return to the gang, Jacob glanced at Loraine, remembering how she had saved him and inspired him to change for the better.

"No, I’m not coming back with you." Jacob said vehemently, tugging at his robe as he took if off, discarding the fabric to the side as he stood his ground, his eyes shining with a newfound determination and courage.

Loraine smiled upon seeing the development, a strange sense of pride blooming in her chest as she watched Jacob quickly scurry to hide behind her, hiding himself from the bandits pissed off expressions.

"You heard the kid, he’s not coming with you." She said, raising her hand in the air as she flashed the ring at the group of bandits, "And neither is this ring, this thing is mine." Loraine said firmly.

Jacob smiled happily as he watched Loraine stand in front of him like a shield, her arm coming up behind her to cover him as if he were her own, a delighted giggle escaping his lips as he hid behind her, already knowing of the strength this seemingly ordinary maid possessed.

’This fool...she doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into.’ The bandit thought with a vein popping at the side of his head, his teeth grit as he seethed with a wrathful anger.

’If the boss finds out we lost this ring, then we’re all dead.’

"Fine then, have it your way." The bandit leader snarled, "It doesn’t matter whether you give us the ring or the boy, we’ll just take them both over your dead corpse when we’re done with you." The leader said, raising his blade as the machete began to glow in a bright light.

"You’re gonna have to try really hard if you want to make that a reality." She retorded with a smirk, getting into a combat stance as she closed her eyes, her damaged maid uniform fluttering as the wind pressure around her rapidly began to intensify, her body being surrounded in a bright golden glow as [Aura Of Haste] was activated, the wind shattering around her as dust and debris were immediately blown back.

"Kill her!"

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you!"