Alex was just a normal bandit scout who was part of a group that operated in the area between the Kingdoms of Eldinor and Lanthanor.
After the news of the alliance had broken, they had been making lots of profits as there were many more merchants who had started to go between these two kingdoms in the hopes of getting better prices than elsewhere.
So far, in two days, they had already waylaid four merchant groups, killed 89 people and stolen away goods worth 300 Ether Blocks, which was something that they used to need months to pull off, typically.
He was currently hiding under a small, common bush that was found everywhere in this arid land between the two Kingdoms. Most of his body was buried in the earth, with only his eyes exposed outside so that he could look around and spot anyone that might be coming in this direction.
This was very hard work, as he had to be still for the most part, but over the years, he had gotten used to it and he was even proud that he had spotted more merchant groups than anyone else in his bandit group.
Also, he had developed a knack which allowed him to sense the vibrations in the earth and find out the size of the group which was coming. Right now, his face was filled with excitement as he could feel tremors the size of which he had never felt before, which meant that a massive group must definitely be passing the area.
In these cases, they would usually unite with other bandit groups in the area to bring down these large merchant convoys, and even if they didn't manage to gather enough forces in the span of time before the convoy passed, they would stand in its way anywhere and demand a fee, which would usually be paid as it was much better than engaging and becoming a target to other groups that might enter the fray on seeing the fat, juicy sheep in the middle.
This was work with high-risk, but also very high rewards, and with the right leadership, there were many dream cases where a bandit group managed to earn enough to retire to some or the other Kingdom where they could set up their own mansion and live comfortably with a harem of beautiful women.
These were the daydreams that he often indulged in, and, right now, as he waited for this group's approach, he was thinking of that even more, hoping that this might be the one which would allow him and his buddies to retire, finally.
Only, a few moments later, he felt a tap on his back which made him freeze.
Er… It must just be a lizard who had seen something amiss. It would go away, right?
As he prayed in this way inwardly, the tap was felt again, which made Alex grasp the knife in his hands even harder.
He was always prepared in case his location was found out, but he could never have guessed that someone could walk up to him in this way without alerting him in the slightest.
If he had known that this someone had flown down from the air, he would definitely have understood before making an attempt to run away.
Yet, as he felt the third tap, Alex gritted his teeth and screamed before lunging out with the dagger.
In the next moment, he felt a strong fist tighter around his neck and lift him into the air, cutting off his breath completely and leaving his arms flailing in an attempt to cut his opponent.
Yet, his blade seemed to be deflected by an invisible force, which immediately made him understand who he was up against.
"M - Mage!", He sputtered, which made Daneel feel mused.
Why were all of these bandits always so surprised to see a mage sneak up on them so easily?
Oh, yes. How could typical mages have the ability to detect those around them in a radius of a kilometer instantly, like him?
Chuckling to himself, Daneel repeated what he had said to the four bandit scouts he had met so far today.
"Take me to your leader."
Initially, the scout was about to spit in his face in defiance, but, the next moment, the Mind Control kicked into effect, making him nod after which Daneel let him go and drop to the ground, coughing and gasping for air.
A few minutes later, Daneel was standing inside a cave with dead bodies all around him.
Hanging by the throat in front of him was another man, but this one was stressed in luxurious clothes.
He was the head of the bandit group, who had recently massacred a merchant family transporting a convoy of expensive fabrics between Lanthanor and Eldinor.
"Give me the locations of other bandit groups."
"I don't know any!"
As Daneel heard this, he sighed before squeezing, which resulted in the man's neck breaking before he fell to the ground and twitched in pain.
All of these were animals who hadn't hesitated to kill even woman and children who had been traveling to Eldinor to search for opportunities. There was no reason to show any mercy to them, and the only reason he had bothered to talk was to see if he could find any information about other bandit groups that they might be encountering on the way.
This problem of bandits was something that he had known about for a long time, but was honestly helpless in tackling at his current level.
In fact, Lanthanor had even been attacked when it was under his command by bandits at one point as a distraction, but, even then, he had only been able to watch as they left to their secret hideouts.
Well, it was something that generations of Kingdoms in the Central Continent had been unable to snuff out despite several efforts, so he doubted that he could find a solution instantly.
Shaking his head, Daneel made his way back to the large team of Mages that was actively doing something that hadn't been seen, ever, in the known history of the Central Continent.
They were building a massive highway between the two Kingdoms of Eldinor and Lanthanor.
This highway was made by digging two feet into the earth, filling it with stone bricks, using fire to flatten the tops, and laying smooth, stone tiles, which would be made to stay in place by using the residual heat to meld the bottoms of the tiles and the base together.
Behind the team of Mages stretched a caravan of Ether-driven carriages which contained all of the stone tiles and blocks that were required in this process.
They had been able to put this together in the short span of a few hours after Daneel had made his decision known to the Council in the Kingdom of the Elves. It had always been his dream to build something like this between Lanthanor and the Black Raven Kingdom, but through fate's will, it turned out to be the case that the first trade highway would be built between these two kingdoms that had been on opposite sides of the fence for quite a long time.
Highway construction wasn't something that was very hard, especially when all the resources of two Kingdoms were being thrown at the task.
Hence, it barely took the span of two days to finish building a massive road on which ten people could stand side to side.
The important part was how it would be given protection so that bandits couldn't repeatedly assault those who were traveling on it.
According to statistics, every year, at least 10% of all trade was disrupted by these bandits.
That was simply a massive number.
Currently, the matter of protection was being handled manually by dedicated sets of guards comprised of those from both kingdoms, who regularly patrolled the lengths of this path and made sure that if anyone needed help, they would be there to save them.
Of course, this wasn't very feasible in the long run.
Thankfully, there was a plan that Daneel came up with after a little bit of thought.
When Daneel had revealed the trinket needed for his plan to the elves, he had been target to a lot of staring and shock, as they couldn't understand how someone like him who must be dedicating all his time to training could also have the skill to design trinkets.
The solution was a simple alert system that could be activated by anyone on the highway the moment they saw someone approaching to assault them.
The moment an alert was sent, a team that was standing by would receive the coordinates and teleport to that exact location to save whoever was being attacked.
The alert could be sent by voice, with the merchant or traveler screaming out a specific phrase, or touch, with the use of special buttons that were placed on the sides of the highway at equal intervals, or even with special trinkets that would be given for a price to all who were traveling that could be activated at a moment's notice.
All in all, it was both robust and simple, and as they saw it, there was no way to circumvent this unless the bandits attacked multiple spots at once, leaving the security forces helpless as to which ones they had to respond to.
For now, until a better system was planned, this was the best they could do.
So, it was implemented immediately, following which the highway was opened with much pomp.
This event was even displayed on the Network of Angaria, with many onlookers wishing that such roads could exist between the Kingdom's they traveled to, too, so they would have a much easier time if there ever had to make the journey.
As for the changes this brought to the two Kingdoms, they were numerous.
Roads would always have their place even if trains existed, and they could be implemented in a much easier manner. That was why Daneel had berated himself so much.
For one thing, many more workers could take their goods to a different Kingdom to sell where they would definitely get better prices, where before they would have to either settle with selling where they were or entrusting their wares to merchants who might or might not be ambushed on the way.
As things that were scarce before were available much more easily, prices of many items went down, much to the delight of the citizens.
Lanthanor's and Eldinor's main imports and exports were mainly food and trinkets, and as these two flowed freely between the two kingdoms, development also sped up, as trinkets were much more readily available to even poorer farmers, and there was increased demand for trinkets in Eldinor which led to more people entering this business and earning well.
Of course, all the earnings benefited the two kingdoms, too, as all the money would be either put into developing infrastructure which was good for the Kingdoms, or expanding businesses that would bring in more tax.
All in all, the two kingdoms entered into a rush of integration and co-development that saw the elves and humans mixing together in ways that would never have been construed before.
The elves had already lost most of their prejudice against humans after the brilliant display of the Mages of Lanthanor, and although there were still a few detractors, most of them welcomed the humans with open arms.
As for the humans, they had always actually been awed by elves, so there was no problem with them accepting this species as their friends.
Approval for Daneel rose steadily, and the King of Lanthanor had a smile on his face as he saw all of this and continued doing more and more.
His next goal was to implement the train system between the Kingdoms as well as between the towns and cities inside a Kingdom.
He prioritized the former, as this would only hasten the development that was had already started.
Only, this was where Daneel met his first roadblock.
That roadblock… Came in the form of something else, just like the First Alliance, that had never been seen in the known history of the Central Continent.
In the 2nd Year of the Reign of King Daneel Anivron, the first Bandit Alliance in history came into being.