No Honor Among Thieves

Objective

 * "A gang of bandits has tightened its grip on the southlands. Appease them or risk perilous travel in the region."

Details
The bandit leader has offered two tasks: or
 * Vanquish rival thieves to the west
 * Dispose of a deserter from their gang

Walkthrough
Talk to Maul in the Ruins Of Aernst Castle. He will ask you to: or
 * Vanquish rival thieves to the west
 * Dispose of a deserter from their gang (called Pike ).

Vanquish rival thieves to the west
The thieves Maul is referring to are members of the all-female bandits to the far northwest of Gransys, who are led by Ophis. Killing any ten of the random members should work; they are plentiful along the path leading northwest to the fort where their leader lives. Note that you do not actually have to invade the fort or kill Ophis to complete this objective.

(If you are a wanderer like myself, you may have come into this problem as I did. I went to the place where all the female bandits were, and killed every single one of them on my way through. When I decided to do this quest I went back to see if they respawned and they did not. The only way around this that I saw was the few bandits that are on the hill leading up to the forte will respawn when killed. Very time consuming to kill them and have to travel to a camp to rest and travel back, but you will get lots of experience from fighting the cyclops a couple times. [I went through it once and killed 5 bandits so going twice should be enough])

Dispose of a deserter from their gang
Pike can be found in Cassardis. He will ask you what he should do.
 * Choice 1: "Return to Maul's hold and offer up your life"
 * Choice 2: "Leave the village and run far away."