Why would you help me? [Skeptical. Not hostile. Not challenging -- for the moment, at least. Just skeptical, in the sort of way that indicates he would probably be folding his arms right now were he not wielding a sword at the ready.]

I am not one of your people. I am not an ally to your nation. And if your claims of rank be true, then you have prior allegiances. For what reason would you turn away from your present duties to offer me your aid?

[A bandit might not think to ask such a thing, but for him the answer the mage has for him is significant. Loyalty and duty mean much to Bennet, and if this mage is truly sworn to a unit of his own, then he wants a very good reason as to why said mage would offer to turn away from his unit to help what, to him, amounts to an outlaw, no better than these vagabonds he just slew.]