When I opened my eyes, I discovered myself clinging to Mei’s body. Sheep’s wool is a truly mysterious thing. It’s warm during the winter and cool during the summer. For a while, I enjoyed the feeling as I stroked her hair. I wanted to enjoy it longer but it wasn’t possible today. After a great struggle, I got up from the bed.

I tasted the breakfast prepared by Peris. Ferris seems to have a good learning ability and already mastered several dishes. She can prepare magnificent omelets. I’m looking forward to the future.

When breakfast was over, Mei handed me a sword.

「My husband doesn’t like to kill people very much. I made a light yet hard sword for you. Please try it if you have an opportunity」 [¹]

It looked like a Japanese sword and was similar to 「Onigiri」. When I pulled it out of the sheath, a jet-black sword appeared before me. It was as light as a branch. However, it was harder that a lump of iron. I named it「Kurogatana」. [²] From now on, I think of putting「Onigiri」and「Kurogatana」on my hips, and strapping 「Holy Sword」on my back.

I take the sword and teleport back with the same members as yesterday. I listened to the report about yesterday, fortunately, nothing serious happened. I have no idea where they got it but the imperial knights have been drinking until late at night.

In the afternoon, Baron Jiono came into the room where we were staying at.

「It seems that you don’t have any particular questions, so I’m going to return to the capital. Farewell」

「Be careful on your way back」

With a grin, Jiono went out of the room and, together with the imperial knights, left the mansion. After I saw him off, I gathered everyone in the stables.

「Everyone are to be prepared for a battle. Pius, Paltan, Popia, Nokita, and Aga, follow me. The rest of you lot should guard the mansion. Rico and Kuena are on standby in the mansion. Also, Ferris, you are staying home too. If the bandits attack this mansion, you are to protect everyone. Got it? 」

「Yes! Leave it to me! 」

「10 harpies are to guard the mansion. The rest will follow me」

Pyi, the harpies flew into the sky.

「What is happening, Rinos?」

Asked Rico with a worried face.

「If I was the bandit’s boss, I would have aimed at the opening when the knights have retreated. In most of the cases, the secure atmosphere of the mansion makes people relax their guard after the tiresome journey. Besides, the retreating battle is difficult. I don’t think that they are this proficient. [³] The bandits should be aware of this too. It is easy to win if you are able to ambush the retreating troops from the forest and successfully break their formation. But that’s when we will appear on the stage. The bandits probably don’t doubt the success of their plan. This is their weakness. If we hit there, we can win even with small numbers」

According to the map, the bandits moved through the forest in full numbers. I immediately ordered to depart and straddled Irimo.

I stationed the harpies in a point where they could overlook the forest and the highway. I also put a barrier on everyone present. It didn’t end at this, I also colored them. With this, they shouldn’t die from swords or magic. The bandits engaged the knights. The imperial knights, who were interrupted during the march, descended into chaos. I created a dense fog around the battlefield as I surveyed the surroundings.

Due to the dense fog, both the imperial knights and the bandits became confused. I used this opening to circle around to their back. After that, I dispelled the fog,

「Charge!」

The harpies and those guys attacked the bandits. Some of them were incapacitated by the harpies, some of them were cut by the guys.

The bandit’s equipment was all over the place. Some of them wore simple clothes, while some of them donned the knight’s armor.

The imperial knights reformed their ranks and the bandits ended up completely surrounded. Even still, there were plenty that tried to break through and escape. I immediately smacked them with「Kurogatana」until they became incapacitated.

「Uwa!」
「Guwa!」

I heard a scream from the side of the imperial knights. At this moment, a small group separated from the rest of the knights. I chased after them. While running, I hit two of them with「Kurogatana」until they fainted. Three men were still running in front of me. A few harpies landed ahead of them.

「Kuh, damn it」
「Chief!」
「…….」

The smallest of them seemed to be their leader. As I approached them

「It seems that you rampaged quite a bit recently. Where did you get the balls to destroy a city? 」

「This country is about to be destroyed! Since it is going to be destroyed, I will do whatever I want before I die!!」

「We, the farmers, are starving, yet the fishermen’s stomach are always with filled to the brim. We belong to the same country, yet the country has abandoned us! There is nothing wrong with killing them!!」

Seems like an important problem. That being said, slaughtering a whole city is an overkill.

「…..Enough. We can’t return as long as they are here. Let’s use that」

The leader took something out of his bag. The other two did the same and swallowed it.

「「「Guh, GAAAAAAAAAA!!!!」」」

The three’s bodies rapidly expanded until they turned into 3-meter tall bear-like monsters. An evil aura radiated from them. I appraised the leader.

Rukiata (Demon, 21 years old) LV44
HP: 266
MP: 220
Sword Arts LV4
Body Strengthening LV4
Wind Magic LV2
Evasion LV4
Curse LV3

His MP and HP aren’t worth mentioning. Nevertheless, his skill levels are pretty high. It’s on the level of Madoisen, who was able to overwhelm teacher Falco and Eril. I would be better take it seriously. I sheathed「Kurogatana」and pulled out the Holy Sword. With this as a sign, the three attacked me.

The leader came straight at me with his sword. The other two attacked the harpies. The harpies were pushed back at first, but they gradually dominated the opponents with their teamwork. Very soon, the two’s eyes received a hit from the harpies resulting in their defeat and death.

On the other hand, right after I stopped his thrust, the leader swung his sword towards my arm. I dodged it and swung my sword. The sword hit his thigh and his right leg became stained in blood. However, the leader didn’t bat an eyelid and kept attacking me. It seems that he doesn’t feel any pain because of the body strengthening. Forget about pain, he even utilized wind magic to manipulate the fallen leaves to obstruct my vision.

Most people wouldn’t have been able to cope with it, but it didn’t have any meaning before me, who had presence detection LV5. I’m aware of his every movement. He quietly circled behind me and made a thrust. I dodged and countered with a stab in his throat.

「How does being defeated by your own technique feel?」

However, the leader ignored my sword in his throat and swung his sword again. This unexpected attack did manage to surprise. I subconsciously pulled out my sword and took some distance. Even with blood pouring out of his throat, the leader took a stance with his sword and produced a thrust of the same power as before. It seems that he truly doesn’t feel any pain.

I evaded this thrust and cut towards the leader. The leader has been split in two and finally stopped moving.

「Could it be the medicine made by Merias?」

「Yeah, it might be. Maybe it has an effect of raising the skills」

After a while, the guys and Oshe, together with his knights, arrived at the scene.

「Are they the last?」

「It seems that the guy that is split in two was the bandits’ leader. What about the corpses? Are we going to collect them? 」

「No, we don’t have so much free time. We will leave them here. The monsters will eat them until there is nothing left. Ah, I am giving you their gear. That being said, it’s not that great」

「You sure know a lot. Are you acquainted? 」

Oshe glared at me, and then he turned around and left. I examined the corpse and found nothing important except for 500G. I don’t know if it is wise to leave the corpses, so I incinerated them.

I saw the knights as I left the forest. They were throwing the dead bodies into the forest. It seems that they also executed the captured bandits, no questions asked.

「Are you not going to bring them to the capital?」

「We don’t have any spare energy for that. Killing the bandits as soon as they are discovered is the common sense even amongst the adventurers」

「But you aren’t an adventurer, Vice Leader Oshe」

Oshe clenched his teeth so hard that I could almost hear the sound. Looking closely, the bodies of the people wearing the knight’s armor were lined up nearby. About 40 of them. The number of injured people is quite a bit. In essence, about 30% of the knights were either dead or injured. This could be considered as a great loss for them.

「Are you going to dispose of these bodies too? They should have their families in the capital」

「The knights, who were defeated by something like bandits, won’t receive an honorable treatment. As such, we will leave them here」

「They died because of the incompetent commander. Without me striking from the back, you definitely would have been annihilated. Oshe, under a competent leader, it wouldn’t have escalated to such an extent. Nevertheless, you were ambushed by the bandits, panicked, and fell into chaos. Am I right? 」

「…..」

Oshe looked at the corpses as he trembled.

「……Take care of the dead. The capital isn’t too far. If you split the load, you can easily bring them back」

Oshe canceled the order and returned to his troops.

「Honorary marquis, thank you for the reinforcements!」

When the troops were ready to depart, Baron Jiono appeared out of nowhere, waved his hand, and joined the knights.

I turned around without responding to him and returned to the mansion.