Since it was a named NPC that I was dealing with, I didn't let myself be careless at all.
Since it was a named NPC, there was no doubt that it would be a hard fight.
Or it would be if I didn't know what the weakness of this named NPC was.
I knew that there was an easier way to deal with this named NPC and the bandit group that he led. And since there was an easier way to deal with it, I would naturally make use of this easier method.
I might be the one that was destined to be the King of Barbarians one day, but that didn't mean that I didn't use my head.
In fact, being the king meant that I had to use my head more than others.
There were plenty of people that would be willing to backstab you in this wilderness, so one had to be careful of them.
So instead of heading out of the town right away, I went to pick up a few things.
After arriving in this town, the one thing that I did other than take bounties was create connections. The bar wasn't just a place for me to get bounties, but also a place to build all kinds of connections with the people of this town.
After all, the best place to meet people was the place where everyone got drunk.
Life was hard, but alcohol made it easier.
At the same time, alcohol made lips and minds loose which made it easier to befriend people.
Alcohol made people let their guards down, which made it much easier for someone that they didn't know to approach them.
With these connections, I was able to get quite a few things in town.
"Thanks, I really didn't know who else to turn to with this request."
"Ha, ha, ha, no problem. Because of you taking care of my pest problem, I can operate my business much more freely. I even feel like I'm helping you too little with just this, so make sure that you come back more often when you need help. I need to at least pay off my bar tab with you."
There were similar conversations that happened all over town.
That was the power that came from having a bit of power and using it to help these people.
In a sense, it could be said that I had already conquered this place.
In the future, there was no doubt that there would be many supporters to my future regime as the Barbarian King that came from this place.
At the same time, I knew that there were some special NPCs that came from this place.
That was why I made sure to treat the people of this town well.
It would all pay off in the future when I needed their help.
After getting all the things that I needed, I headed off into the wilderness.
I knew exactly where I was going since I had already done this promotion quest several times before.
If one didn't know where they were going, they would have to spend quite a bit of time gathering information about the hideout of Shaka the Butcher. At the same time, they would have to face a few of the informants that Shaka the Butcher had left behind to cover his tracks.
As a named NPC, it was only natural that he would have the intelligence to think of things like this.
The one benefit of bypassing all of these informants was being able to sneak up on his hideout without alerting him.
Since he had prepared all of this, it was only natural that no one in Shaka's band of bandits would think that someone would be able to sneak up on them. It gave them a false sense of security since they thought that no one would be able to find them.
But then again, it wasn't as if it was a false sense of security.
The place that he was hidden really was one of the best places to hide when it came to this wilderness.
This wilderness was named this way because it was filled with barren land.
Barren land didn't have the cover that other places had, so it was quite easy to spot anything from a distance.
So to hide properly, one had to go to a place where no one could see them.
"So this is the entrance." I said as I looked down at the hole in front of me.
In a place where there wasn't a place to hide, one had to create one for themselves.
That was why the base of these bandits was underground.
Though I had found the entrance to their underground base, I didn't head in right away.
Instead, I just left a few things here by the entrance before heading off in a different direction.
It didn't take me long to find another entrance into the underground base.
Someone with his level of intelligence wouldn't just have a single entrance to the underground base. It was only natural that there would be multiple entrances that were hidden all over the place.
Though he certainly would never have thought that someone would have memorized the location of all those entrances.
Once I found that second entrance, I did the same thing where I left a few things there before heading off in another direction.
From my memories of the game, I knew that there were a total of five entrances to this underground base. For my plan to work, I had to make sure that all of them were tampered with before starting anything.
Though there was also one last thing to take care of.
"He really doesn't trust his people that he hides a secret exit from them." I said as I messed with the sixth entrance that was in front of me.
Once that was done, the only thing left was to put my plan in order.
But before that…
"Let's see what the situation inside is like."