| Author: Tsunose Bun | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 3024 characters |
| Translator: Jiro | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1547 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
Merc swung her wooden stick horizontally after closing the distance between herself and the bearded man in an instant.
She didn’t put too much power into her swing.
She didn’t want to kill the man. Instead, she swung her stick at his neck with just enough force to break his cervical vertebrae.
This won’t kill him, but it will certainly make his everyday life more difficult.
Merc thought as she swung her wooden stick. That, however, was an unneeded assumption on her behalf. That was because the bearded man managed to dodge Merc’s attack.
“What?”
The man raised one of his legs and kicked the ground with his remaining leg, somersaulting backwards and evading Merc’s wooden stick. After witnessing the man’s dexterous and swift motions, Merc was taken aback for a moment.
“T-That was close… W-Who in the world are you?!”
However, it wasn’t just Merc who was shocked.
The bearded man took up his sword and, unlike earlier, adopted a proper stance after landing.
Merc deduced from his stance that he was a swordsman who only wielded one sword.
“Good grief. If I wasn’t careful just now I would’ve died, missy.”
The man said while slowly walking backwards. Merc, on the other hand, stared at him, without lowering her guard or her wooden stick.
Merc deduced that the man was certainly powerful based on how he evaded Merc’s attack from an imperfect stance and now from his posture.
After inspecting the man’s mana, Merc found that he had concentrated it in his eyes, exactly as Brega had done at the Adventurers’ Guild.
It also gave him the ability to see in the dark. The fact that he was the only one in their group who didn’t carry a torch highlighted this.
In other words, I shouldn’t assume that I have an advantage due to my eyes.
“Right back at you? What are you doing playing bandit with those skills?”
Merc asked while at the same time looking for gaps in the man’s defense. However, she had also asked since she was a little interested as well.
She reasoned that a man with his talents could make a lot of money without the need to fall so low as to become a bandit.
He could do it if only he became an adventurer.
However, the man merely smiled and responded, showing no signs of lowering his guard.
“Who am I? That’s something that I should be asking you. To think that you were a swordsman1… I was tricked2.”
“Tricked? What do you mean?”
Merc had been holding on to her wooden stick since the start.
It wasn’t the kind of weapon a real swordsman would carry, but no one would mistake her for a magician or a spear user. Most of the people would think that she was using the wooden stick in place of a sword.
Which is why the man’s remark seemed so off to Merc.
All at the same, an arrow aiming at Merc was shot from behind the man.
However, before Merc could do anything, the bearded man turned and slashed the arrows in half.
The bearded man then turned around towards the place from whence the arrow was shot and yelled, “You dimwit! What do you think you’re doing?! Do you want to die?!”
Immediately after that, he returned his gaze to Merc. He did all of this while leaving no room for Merc to strike.
“But, Zal…”
“You idiot! I told you to call me boss!”
The bearded man roared at his subordinate who had fired the arrow for the second time. After that he pointed at Merc with his chin and said,
“I’m sorry but there’s a change in plans. We aren’t doing that. Rather, we can’t.”
“Za… Boss, just what do you mean?”
“We’re leaving! Order a retreat!”
“Huh? O-Okay! Retreat! Everyone, retreat!”
Following the bearded man’s instructions, the mob that had been surrounding Merc and Totoara up until now began to pull back.
Merc couldn’t figure out what they were up to, but she felt it wouldn’t be right to let them go. After all, there wasn’t a guarantee that the men wouldn’t come back to attack them again.
“Wait!”
Merc yelled and dashed for one of the men who was fleeing. The bearded man appeared between Merc and his subordinate just before she was about to attack him.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you. I promise that we won’t attack you again so let us go.”
While aiming his blade towards Merc, the bearded man remarked. He’d most likely done it because he still felt Merc wouldn’t let them go. And, of course, Merc had no intention of letting them go.
“Answer me! What is your aim?!”
“Hmph. My aim huh… That’s simple. It’s money… No, wait. Naturally it’s to guard the mountains.”
In a boastful tone, the man stated. Based on the man’s comical statement that they were here to protect the mountains, it was clear that their group was looking for money.
Even if it did seem feasible, it didn’t make sense to Merc.
“If your aim is money then why are you backing away so easily?”
“Beats me.”
After taking a glance around, the man replied. He then carefully withdrew his sword.
“Thanks for chatting with me. Thanks to this my men were able to run away safely.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be satisfied with just you. Besides, everyone else, but you, are small fry, aren’t they?”
“You’re rather energetic, aren’t you? If everything goes smoothly you might as well be a jackpot.”
“What?”
Merc asked while furrowing her brows. The bearded man, on the other hand, merely grinned and remarked,
“I’m going to make an exception for you. I’ll show you something nice. This is my sword’s special skill!”
Special skill? Can this sword be from a dungeon as well?
Merc instantly turned her attention to the man’s sword.
The sword in the man’s hand suddenly flashed with white light as she did so.
“What the?!”
The sudden burst of light surprised Merc and she quickly used her hands to cover her face.
In normal situations this would be a perfect chance. Of course, the opponent would not pass up such an opportunity.
To think that he had something like this… Still, this works in my favor!
Merc had already covered her body with hardened mana before launching the initial attack. Even if the man attacked now, she wouldn’t suffer any damage.
Rather, she would trample on the opponent after making him believe he had discovered a golden opportunity. The instant Merc lost sight; she began to search for the bearded man’s mana.
Huh? He’s running away?!
To Merc’s surprise the man was really running away. He’d fled without seizing the excellent opportunity to strike.
If his goal was truly to make money, he would not have passed up an opportunity like this. Furthermore, if his goal had been money, he would not have proposed such an absurd figure as ten gold coins.
If he truly wanted the money, he would have given a more reasonable figure.
“I can still catch up to him…”
After finding the man’s mana Merc prepared to go after him. She intended to apprehend him and interview him about the actual aim of the assault.
“Wait!”
However, just as Merc was about to go, Totoara appeared next to her and grabbed her sleeve.
“Totoara?”
“You shouldn’t chase them. In any case, we’re leaving the mountains tomorrow. They’re unlikely to come after us again.”
“But…”
“What are we here for? Aren’t we aiming to get to Logholt as fast as possible? It’s better to preserve your time and energy for tomorrow rather than waste them today.”
“I guess you’re right…”
What Totoara said was true.
Even if Merc was intrigued by the assault, it would be better to abandon it at this stage.
“Hm? Totoara what happened to your arm?”
“What?”
Merc’s eyes were drawn to Totoara’s arm, which was clutching her sleeve. Merc deduced that Totoara had been cut by a sharp weapon based on how her arm was bleeding and her cut up sleeve.
“Oh, this. I tried to catch one of the weaker-looking guys as they were running away, but ended up getting hurt myself…”
Totoara expressed her displeasure while pressing against her arm. She was most likely attempting to stop the bleeding, but it showed no indications of stopping.
“Heal!”
Merc immediately cast Heal on Totoara3.
Ganan’s death had been caused by a loss of blood after all. He’d died because they hadn’t been able to stop the bleeding on time.
And currently the amount of blood gushing out of Totoara’s arm was not something Merc could ignore.
“This…”
Totoara was utterly taken aback by what Merc had just done. She quickly regained consciousness and examined her arm, only to discover that the cut had healed entirely.
“You may think it was needless, but I’m an aspiring Healer, after all. I can’t ignore my travel companion getting hurt.”
Merc scratched her face and averted her gaze from Totoara, who seemed to want to scold her for it. Totoara, on the other hand, simply smiled and nodded.
“Thank you. To think you’d be able to utilize the genuine version of Heal… This is an unexpected development4.”
