3-19 Wonted

EnroItzal

The journey of the trio continued on with similar events transpiring one after the other. Bandits were abundant and the trio were nubile ladies to these malevolent eyes and hands. The trio could fetch a high price if they were sold as slaves. The bandits could even have some fun with them before selling them off. However, many bandits underestimate the trio’s strength. Even if the bandits could deduce the trio’s strength, their greed and lust overtook their sensibility.

Once again, their cart was attacked by bandits who, again, used the same tricks as the last ones. The bandits put their most feeble-looking man or woman in the cart’s path and attempted to lure them off by pretending to be pleading for aid. Of course, Erin and her companions never once fell for this old and mundane trick.

Even the tactics employed by the bandits were of no major difference to the previous ones. A bait on the road, archers in the trees or hills, and the rest waited in the dense vegetation by the roadside. The bandits’ scents were also a glaring trait of theirs to Erin and Siv. They could smell them from a considerable distance away. Aside from their smell, the bandits also left a lot of marks that pretty much spelt out their presence and activities. The only people they could probably fool were greenhorn adventurers.

Erin finished her reminiscence as she cut down two bandits who came at her from left and right with axes in their hands. They were shouting as they charged at her. Not that they would succeed in their attack if they didn’t shout. For the utmost caution, she cut off their hands before going for the fatal cut across their throats.

[Experience gained +10% - Level Progression: 35%]

“Only five per cent each? That’s low…? No, I shouldn’t think like that. I didn’t kill them for the experience,” Erin mused her disappointment in her heart but immediately reprimanded herself for her shallow perspective.

Death throes and cries came from behind her as her companions bestowed the same fate unto the other bandits. Erin set her sights on the last bandit, the leader, who was crawling away from Erin with drenched ragged trousers.

“Have mer—” the bandit’s plea for mercy was silenced by a blade through his head in between his eyes.

“Do they have nothing else to say?” Erin questioned. A cold gaze met the bandit’s corpse as she pulled her sabre out of the corpse’s head. Like always, she wiped the blood off her blade with a disposable rag.

[Experience gained +15% - Level Progression: 50%]

“In their head, they probably think they are not doing anything wrong and deserve a second chance,” Siv answered Erin’s musing. On her end, she too was ending the life of a bandit who also pleaded for mercy at the last moments of his life.

“If they could think otherwise, I doubt they would have become bandits,” Lyra chimed in as she retrieved her arrows from the bandits she shot.

Erin sighed. Just from the short amount of time from the moment she left Quinteburgh, she wagered the humans she had killed were more than the count in her past life. From her first encounter with bandits on this journey, she didn’t show it and neither did she tell Lyra and Siv but she felt terrible about killing the bandits. It felt different when she killed the various opponents she faced in a duel. They fought tooth and nail with her. They came into the duel knowingly with their lives on the line. It felt different from killing monsters. It felt different when she killed to save a life. She was in no rush to save a village like last time nor was she in a rush to save children from being sold into slavery. Time wasn’t against her. Now, she was killing to save her own life. She understood this was no delusion or premonition of hers. In her past life, she had witnessed acquaintances straying to a dark path from the countless lives they had taken. At first, they killed for good reasons but slowly, their reasons warped as they began killing purely for the sake of it. They were some of the strongest fighters and no one could stop them. It took considerable time and resources before they were put down.

At that time, Erin could not understand how people could change in those kinds of manner. However, now she knew. She convinced herself these bandits were no different than the mindless monsters and they should be culled for good reasons. She managed so far but she knew there was something dark within her who was swaying her to just let go of her guilt and enjoy the killings. Coupled with her Lust Deviant, this dark thought would surely change her into something of the most malevolent.

“Come on,” Erin said. “Let’s just keep moving.” She climbed up to the coach stand and waited for the two.

“Are we still being followed?” Lyra asked as she climbed onto the cart.

Siv followed suit. “I’m still feeling tingly. So I would say yes. If even mistress couldn’t feel their presence, safe to say their skills are at least on par with hers.”

Erin whipped the reins on the horses and they began to move. “You do know you don’t have to keep calling me mistress, don’t you?”

“It would be inappropriate to call you otherwise, mistress. Until my vengeance is over, you are my mistress.”

“How about a friend?”

“If you’re a friend, you would be a terrible one for beguiling me into this wretched path. If you’re a friend, I would want you to stop me but I don’t want to be stopped.”

Erin smiled wryly. “I suppose it would.”

“Is there a rule about friends aren’t allowed to help their friend’s vengeance?” Lyra asked.

“It is a code I decided to live by,” Siv answered. “Having a personal code keeps you from straying away from the path you meant to walk from the beginning.”

“Wow, you really are wise.”

“An advice imparted by the elders in my homeland just before I left.”

“Alright, settle down,” Erin said. “We ain’t in the clear yet. I can already smell the ones waiting for us ahead.”

“I’m surprised these bandits thrived this long with only the slightest caution,” Siv mused.

“Their bane but our blessing.”

“And we’re getting a lot of experience from this,” Lyra said. “I’m just a few bandits away from a level increment.”

“Just don’t get too excited. We’re not doing this for the experience. We’re doing this for self-preservation,” Erin reminded.

“I know. I know. It’s just that you don’t actually get this kind of opportunity,” Lyra said. A tinge of sorrow clouded her face. “After staying in the same level range for so long… it’s hard not to get excited.”

“Can’t say I understand that feeling. I’m just saying we shouldn’t get complacent. I have bested many odds that weren’t in my favour simply because the opposition became complacent with their prospects of victory.”

“Um… Sure?”

“She meant we shouldn’t get too overconfident and never underestimate our enemies,” Siv explained.

“Ah, I see. That was much more simpler.”

Erin raised an eyebrow with a light scowl. “You should read more.” Since she had her back to the two, they couldn’t see her scowl.

“I read enough. I need to fight more,” Lyra retorted.

Erin fought back another sigh incoming. She realized she had been sighing a lot and that was surely not a good sign. As she threw her head up to take in the fresh air, a hawk flew past her sight. “Huh,” she muttered.

Her mutter instantly caught the attentive Siv. “What’s wrong,” the Wolf-kin asked.

“I could be mistaken but a hawk just flew over us.”

“Is that something we should be worried about?”

“It is if it’s the same hawk for the fourth time in a row.”

“A Familiar?” Lyra suggested.

“I don’t sense any magic from the hawk,” Erin replied.

“Could be just a normal hawk but trained,” Siv said.

“Is that something probable and common for bandits?”

“Bandits in general, yes but there are hawks in certain places that just couldn’t be tamed no matter the methods used unless a spell is involved. I’m not certain about the hawks in these parts.”

“You want me to shoot the hawk down to be safe?” Lyra asked.

“Let it be,” Erin said. “If it’s just a normal hawk, then all is well. We’ll let them think vulnerable just like we have been doing. We keep our eyes open, wider than before. Have your weapons at the ready but don’t show it.”

“I know it sounds weird coming from me but… what if these bandits are different?”

“All the more reason we shouldn’t shoot the hawk. We will reveal the degree of our prowess to them if we show them we took notice of their hawk.”

Siv sniffed the air. “I smell wolves, Dire Wolves.”

“Along with humans,” Erin added. “Wolves by humans’ side. Trained wolves...”

“Then the hawks definitely must have been their scout,” Lyra concluded.

“They might have an Anima in their fray,” Siv said.

“What’s an Anima again?” Lyra asked.

“I’m surprised you do not know, Lyra.”

“I have heard about them but with everything that has happened thus far, I forgot about it.”

“I remember reading about them,” Erin said. “They used Familiars to fight or something like that.”

“Close. An Anima is a mage who uses pets or Familiars to do their biddings.” Siv explained. “The most common Innate Skill an Anima has is Beast Tongue. It allows the person to talk to animals. It makes commanding their pets or Familiars easier.”

“Well… that’s splendid...” Erin muttered. She sighed and glanced behind them, where their other trouble lay. She still couldn’t see their stalker but she was sure they were still following them. She was absolutely certain someone was on their tail but she wasn’t sure how many there were.

The horses pulled the cart closer to the point where the bandits with trained Dire Wolves lay in wait. Although Erin’s Sixth Sense was silent, she didn’t have any good inkling of what awaited them in front. She was essentially new to this world and her first-hand experiences consisted of only Maven’s Creek and Green Scar. She dreaded for her premonition to be proven true as they neared the ambush point. However, she was also looking forward to it. If the bandits weren’t as weak as the previous one, she thought maybe— just maybe, she wouldn’t feel so terrible about killing them.

“Um… Erin, you’re grinning,” Lyra pointed out, who had taken a seat beside her on the coach stand before she knew it.

“Oh, pardon me. Was I really grinning?”

Lyra nodded. “Are you beginning to enjoy this?” she asked.

“I just hope they can give me a challenge.”

“You wish for difficulties?”

“Maybe then when I kill them, it won’t make me feel like a tyrannical bully who’s just playing with the lives of the ones more inferior than me.”

“Never expect you to have so little fate for yourself.”

“I thought I knew myself… recent events have proven the contrary. I thought I was a celibate but it turns out I’m just a salacious person who was too afraid to take the first step. I thought I had learned to control my emotions but I didn’t. I have merely learned to cast them aside. Everything I knew about myself are just lies that I told myself because the truth… hurts.”

“Oh… Erin...” Lyra cupped Erin’s cheeks with her hands. “You are so… stupid!” And she yelled before bringing her forehead down on Erin’s.

The clear sound of their heads colliding drew the attention of a wide-eyed Siv who was sharpening her weapons.

“What was that for!?” Erin asked as she halted the horses.

“You know what that was for,” Lyra replied. “Whoever you were in the past, you are not that person anymore. You are Erynthea now. People change all the time. Things change all the time. Change is inevitable. I learned that when I first met you because you changed my life for the better. If you’re worried, then share those worries with me. Or do you think nothing more of me than just a night companion?”

Erin smiled, sorrowfully and warmly. “There’s no way I can think of you only as someone to share a bed with. I’m sorry I made you worried.”

“Change is terrifying and difficult but it’s all something we had to go through,” Siv said. “We will be by your side, mistress. We can face the changes together.”

“It is easier than done...” Erin mulled. “But… at least I won’t be facing it alone.”

“That’s the spirit, Erin,” Lyra cheered. The light in her eyes dimmed as she cast her glance towards the path ahead of them. “Well… it seems they have run out of patience waiting for us to come to them.”

“It appears so,” Erin said, flourishing her tails. “There goes the surprise.”

“The outcome will be the same nonetheless,” Siv declared. “Mistress, if you’ll allow me, I’ll handle the arrows that come our way.”

“If you think you can, I will trust you with this.”

“I’ll take the archers and the scouts then, like always,” Lyra said.

“Then I will take the rest.” Erin cracked her knuckles. “Now then, let’s do this.”

Erinthea - Faerie-kin: Five-Tailed Fox-kin

Level: 33 | Status Affliction: None

Might: 22 | Arcane: 41 | Finesse: 36

Magic Arts

Spirit Magic Lv. 8 | Arcane Edge Lv. 5 | Arcane Armor Lv. 10 | Lightning Magic Lv. 10 | Arcane Aegis Lv. 7 | Mystic Tail Arts Lv 1

Combat Arts

Sword Art Lv. 8 | Fleet Foot Lv. 5 | Brawler Lv. 5

Innate Skills

Appraisal Lv. Ex | Night Vision Lv. Ex | Sixth Sense Lv. Ex | Toxin Resistance Lv. 7 | Lust Deviant Lv. Ex | Mana Harvest Lv. 1 | Lightning Resistance Lv. 1

Unique Talent

Mystic Blade Lv. Ex | Revenant Lv. Ex

Level Progression: 50%

Remaining Skill Points: 6

Remaining Ability Points: 4