@oculunus What's more, now he will have no excuses in the future for not realizing what the readers have. Muhahaha, foolish author, you have condemned your MC to being at least marginally observant!
Not much of a cliffhanger if they are just bandits. So, I will take the wild stab that they are old friends from his mercenary group mistaken for bandits.
Twenty chapters of getting to know a MC then they pull a genderswap nonsense. Guess they wanted to expand their market and didn't care if it annoyed people.
Remember when this manga had conflict, the MC feared for his life at points, tried to hide his identity, and wasn't just another mask for generic Japanese product appreciation like a thousand other mangas? Does it get back on track or is it just filler after filler from this point on?