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SPONSORED CHAPTER

Now that I had successfully shown off my wealth to the roaring cheers of the tavern goers, my next stop was to rush off to the location of Nicole’s task. Fortunately, all of us had a mount to ride so our speed was definitely going to be faster than Nicole’s.

Her mission was in the small mountain village of Lyon, located roughly 25km from where we were. It was said that people often went missing in this village, only to be found later as a corpse drained of its blood.

Normally, such a case would be attributed to Vampires, but Vampires were often more discreet in their dealings, given their obvious weakness to sunlight and fire. Because of this weakness, their normal methods were to raise Blood Ghouls as a source of blood and as protection during the day.

(TL: I’m assuming the author meant to say that the vampires didn’t usually kill their victims or leave them lying around. The original text was quite disjointed.)

Lyon was a large village of over a thousand villagers. Had it not been for the remoteness of the village restricting merchant trade, such a village would have already evolved into a town.

By convention, only settlements that were at least a town could apply to the headquarters of the Demon Hunters to have a branch office set up in their settlement. In other words, Lyon did not qualify for a Demon Hunter branch and could only rely on outside help to solve their troubles. Which would not have been a problem, if the Humans were more proficient in dimensional magic like the Elves. Basically speaking, there weren’t many teleportation arrays in the Human kingdoms, and those that existed were all in the hands of the elite or required exorbitant amounts of gold to use.

For the villagers of Lyon to issue a request for help, a large amount of time was required. By the time help arrived, a portion of the villagers had already begun migrating away. However, a large majority still chose to stay behind because moving away wasn’t a good option either. The living conditions in the Western Human Realms weren’t high in general, so even if they moved away, they did not stand a good chance of surviving. Rather than starve to death in the wilderness, it would make more sense to take a chance in one’s home.

Under the leadership of Jill, we quickly reached the outskirts of Lyon, about ten kilometers away from the entrance. As luck would have it, we encountered a band of bandits on the road. They were roughly one hundred strong, decked out in patchwork leather armor and armed to the teeth with a hodgepodge of weapons.

Amongst them stood what had to be the most stereotypical bandit I had ever seen. He was a burly man, roughly 180 cm tall. He wielded a battered but massive iron blade which he swung around a couple of times in what looked like an attempt at intimidating us. Finally, he yelled, “These roads are opened with my blessing, these trees are planted with my hands. If you wish to cross, you must pay a toll!”

Unfortunately for the man, his otherwise impressive opening was quickly blotted out by his underlings. “A robbery! This is a robbery! Hand over your coins right now!”

I just knew that bandits were all cut off the same cloth, no matter what world we are talking about…

“Master… they are…” As always, our resident timid girl was ready and waiting in my arms, shivering away in fright. In contrast, Mo Ning was more annoyed than scared as she stomped on the grounds a couple of times in irritation.

Being at the head of the pack, Reyage and the remaining guards all hopped off their horses while Zurnalin, who was riding beside me just now, got off and shielded me from the front.

It was then that Jill rode up to me and whispered, “Lady Mo Ke, I think that bandit leader is at least Four-star, how about we…”

“Don’t worry, just leave this to Zurnalin and Reyage.”

“But their numbers… and we have horses on our side. There’s no chance at all that they can catch up to us. We can always regroup and attack them later.” Still unfamiliar with our strength, it was only understandable that she was worried right now.

However, her words were picked up by the leader who immediately said, “Hah! You think you can get away just because you have horses?!” At that point, he waved his hand and a couple dozen bandits stepped out of the crowd, each wielding a hunting bow, nocked and aimed right at us. “We only want your coins, not your bodies. As long as you hand over the toll, we will let you pass unharmed. Otherwise… our arrows are more than ready to make your acquaintance.”

A few seconds and nothing happened. Seeing that we weren’t reacting at all, the bandit leader tried to intimidate us once more. Yet just as he was planning to do so, his eyes came to rest upon me. His lips curled into a smirk and his eyes ogled me for a good long while before, finally, he said, “Hey, you there, the smug-looking woman. You and your maid had better surrender right now or else. In fact, if you do not wish to suffer a fate worse than death, you had better serve me well.”

Am I hearing things right? A soon-to-be-dead bandit is trying to perform the act of unsanctioned fornication on me?! I see now. Just because I don’t lose my temper often, a bunch of small fries think they can step on me!

I gently ruffled Jezsere’s hair then sneered at them. “A fate worse than death? What exactly do you have in mind?”

“That will depend on you. If you serve me well, then that’s it. Otherwise, I will have to have you practise with my underlings as well.” The bandit leader then broke out into a boisterous laugh. “Hahaha. Make your choice: me or them?”

“Of course she’s going to choose us, boss. Just look at her, she’s not going to be satisfied with just you.”

“Boss. Boss. Don’t forget about us once you’ve had your fun! This is one’s a looker, she is. My body is just aching thinking about how I’m going to feel her up and down. Too bad about that chest though. But I guess flatness has its advantages too.”

“That’s right, Boss, remember to let us have the leftovers once you’re down. I don’t being giving up a year of my life for her!”

“I’ll give up ten!”

“I’m willing to die if you let me have her first!”

Man… never would I have dreamt that I would one day be harassed by a bunch of hoodlums…

“Hahahaha… fools.” I coldly laughed, my anger barely hidden under my frosty tone.

“Boss, I think that woman has gone insane from fright.”

“Maybe she’s just too excited about spending time with our meat clubs?”

“You dogs, don’t go scaring our little flower before we even start!” The bandit leader exclaimed while wringing his hands. He stared lavisciously at me before finally giving the order, “Grab her, she’s mine now! Well, what are you lot waiting for? Get to it!”

“Got it, boss!”

Bit by bit, the bandits began to stir, like a pack of wolves that had just spotted a choice cut of meat… Oh you foolish potatoes, you have no idea what’s coming to you…

“Hmph, everyone has to be responsible for their own actions.” I raised my eyebrows then said to Reyage and Zurnalin, “If someone’s dead set on seeking death, it’s not our place to stop them. Especially not when they are a bunch of bandits; their deaths would only serve to make the world a cleaner place. Kill them, but leave a few behind.

“Understood, master.” The two of them promptly replied, both already incensed beyond belief by the bandits’ actions.

A second later, Reyage disappeared from their very eyes. The next time he appeared, he was already behind the bandit leader. He struck first with his left fist and sent the man’s head spinning to the side before he even realised he was struck. Then with the momentum of his initial strike, he sent a spinning kick to another bandit who was still stunned from the sudden turn of events. Finally, he threw out a pair of black daggers, landing squarely in the forehead of an unsuspecting bandit…

Had it not been for the fact that Reyage held back with his punch, that bandit leader would have been dead already.

Yet this was nothing compared to Zurnalin whose strength was above Reyage’s. Normally, she would be found riding atop a Blood Drake. However, that did not mean that she wasn’t strong on foot. In order to qualify as a Blood Drake Rider, one had to be a powerful warrior both mounted and on foot. This was even more so for Zurnalin who was their interim leader.

Zurnalin opened up with a vicious slash to the waists of a dozen bandits in front of her, bifurcating them in a gory display of blood and organs. The pungent smell of raw flesh scattered about the ground was a scene straight out of hell.

“Ahhh…” Jezsere almost fainted right there and then. I quickly caught her and started patting her on the back to comfort her. As I did that, I also threw a look at Zurnalin. “Don’t cause such a ruckus. Also, those bandits are noisy.”

Being split in half along the waist did not immediately kill off the bandits. Thanks to that, there were a bunch of them writhing about in pain and screaming in a manner that could only be described as unholy.

Zurnalin wasn’t all too happy about the fact that I was hugging Jezsere, but she did not show it right now. Instead, she directed her anger back towards the poor bandits. The next time she swung her sword, those writhing bandits were all silenced forever, at which point she charged towards the bandits fighting with Reyage…

The leader of these bandits was at most a Four-star. In contrast, his stronger bandits were One-stars or Two-stars, with only a few being Three-star. Over half of them were normal people without much power. Under the combined attacks of Zurnalin and Reyage, the bandits were quickly routed in seconds. Faced with two bloodthirsty grim reapers, the bandits could only turn tail and run. Unfortunately, their previous words had not only angered me but Zurnalin and Reyage as well.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.