(Edit: never mind I understand what's going on now.)

Can they be done without reloading a save?

I started playing the game last night, and entered the starting village this morning. I took Blade lady's quest to deal with the bandits, and since they hadn't killed anybody thus far I decided against killing them off. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get her to agree with the bandits' terms, so I went out to level up. I got my Leadership from 2 to 4 and went back to try again, but the only thing I can say is that she should bide her time and attack them all later, which involves a lot more killing than...not doing that.

I'd like to avoid reloading and clearing out the school again if it can be helped.