“This outfit doesn’t really fit me.” Garnet complained as we started walking into the cave.

“It’s fine, just stay back in the darkness, and let me do all the talking,” I responded, looking at the entrance. “I wish I had earth manipulation at Terra’s level. I never really practiced it. I know some fire, wind, and even a bit of water, but earth I have no strength in. Even with magician, I wouldn’t be able to block the entrance.”

“You want to seal us in with them?”

“It’d be nice” I shrugged. “Whatever, we need to get moving.”

“Y-yes!”

The pair of us disappeared into the darkness of the cave, which appeared just slightly darker than it should thanks to filling it for three hours with miasma. At the moment, it was probably as thick as any normal dungeon I’d been in. The people inside might be feeling a bit worn down. Light from torches didn’t seem to push as far into the darkness. Of course, my white mage light always seemed to ignore this rule. We descended into the tunnel and quickly started to hear the sound of people.

Voices were talking in the dark, and the occasional cough, or the sound of footsteps as someone moved around. Furthermore, Life Sense began to pick up redder, and I started to see a group of nearly a hundred bandits. This was a number far larger than I had expected.

Thinking about it, I realized that fighting our way through or killing them all seemed impossible. Even if I could spend another ten hours dumping miasma into this cave, it’d not be dark enough that we could wipe out such a large group. Even if high power mobs started to appear in that darkness, it also seemed impossible.

That left us with one other option. Since I was sneaking into the bandit cave, then I should be able to act as the bandits did. If I could get to the metal, I could stash it in my inventory and then run. Stealing from the bandits was always an option. No one would guess I was a hero who had Inventory.

“Hagger? What’s going on topside?” A voice came from the darkness.

I nearly jumped, but just managed to keep my cool. A man came out from the darkness. My Sense Life hadn’t seen him until he spoke. He had managed to hide his life force from me. He wasn’t the first I had seen that was able to do this, but I hadn’t expected to run into anyone that capable here. Behind me, Garnet kept her head low, and her face covered.

“Nothing,” I said, allowing my mimic abilities to take effect. “Just a passing monster.”

I didn’t try to change my voice or act differently, but I used the mimic abilities to pretend to be this guy named Hagger. Garnet jerked when I spoke, which told me that how I was talking and behaving must have surprised her, but I didn’t notice any difference myself.

“I see…” The assassin who came from nowhere nodded and then seemed to melt away before my eyes. “In that case, the bandit hero would like to see you.”

“Huh?” I said, unable to stop myself.

“Boss wants to talk!”

Boss… he was the Bandit Hero?