CH 3

As soon as Ted arrived at the location, the surroundings were filled with the thick stench of blood.

「Robbery」 (Ardis)

With only a glance, Ardis could see the situation.

There were two carriages on the highway.

About twenty rough, dirty and armed men were closing in on them.

Beside one of the carriages was a fallen mercenary with blood running down his body.

It seems they weren’t careless, it could not be predicted that such a large bandit group would appear on this highway.

By the time Ardis had arrived, the winner and the loser was already decided.

Perhaps the owner of these carriages was a peddler? There was no way to know as these corpses won’t ever speak.

「Tch, we didn’t make it in time」 (Ted)

Ted clicked his tongue.

It seems the bandits had killed everyone already.

Although Ardis had no intention of intervening, it wouldn’t be possible to just say 「well then, goodbye」 once the bandits had seen them.

In the excitement of battle, the bandits had in fact noticed Ardis’ group and immediately shot arrows without warning.

「Damn it! I guess they’re not going to listen to us!」 (Norris)

「That’s right! They probably think we’re here to steal their loot!」 (Ted)

Ted shouted whilst knocking down an arrow with his sword.

On the other side, Norris was fiercely firing his own arrows towards the bandits.

「Ardis stay close, I like shooting with a bow, but I don’t like getting shot」 (Norris)

「I don’t think anyone would disagree with that」 (Ardis)

Responding with a joke, Ardis cut down arrows in front of Norris with the two shortswords.

The shortswords floating in the air were the best defense against these arrows.

There was no need to worry about an unprotected hand holding the sword and there was no need to worry about blocking Norris’ view.

Arrows were continously fired towards them.

Fortunately the bandit’s equipment seems to be of bad quality, or perhaps their shooting arms were bad, most of the arrows missed Norris and struck into the ground around him.

About one in five arrows headed accurately towards Norris, but they were all knocked down by the floating shortswords.

The shooting continued for a while, but thanks to Ardis none of the arrows hit.

Conversely, the arrows shot by Norris were reducing the number of bandits slowly.

The bandits who saw how ineffective their bow were decided to lead the group into a close fight.

「I’ll suppress the swordsman! Attack the magician and archer!」 (Bandit Leader)

A man who seemed to be the bandit leader addressed his companions.

All the bandits raised their swords and responded to their leader’s voice, other than the several that had been killed by Norris.

「I’m not a magician…」 (Ardis)

Ardis muttered, however his voice naturally did not reach the bandits.

Since he no longer had to prevent the flying arrows, he sent his floating shortswords towards the bandit group heading towards him.

At that moment, offense and defense was reversed.

The shortswords creeped around the back of the bandits and attacked them from their blindspots.

One of the shortswords pierced a bandit from behind.

Since he was running, he wasn’t paying attention to his back at all. He collapsed to the ground spurting blood without really knowing what had happened.

The other shortsword slit the throat of a bandit moving quickly towards Ardis, he immediately fell face first to the ground.

One of the shortswords was then immediately shot through the heart of one of the bandits within the group of bandits rushing towards them.

They could not deal with the surprise attacks from behind. The slaughter of the bandits continued, with the number of living people in the area dwindling.

One after another, their lives were taken by the two shortswords.

As the shortswords passed by them, strength would leave their bodies and they would collapse onto the ground without realizing what had happened.

On the other side, the bandit who seemed to be the leader slashed at Ted and raised his voice.

「Fuck! I’ll suppress this guy! Capture the women alive!」 (Bandit Leader)

However no-one answered his cry.

「Hey, old man」 (Ted)

A trace of pity floated in Ted’s eyes.

「Just so you know, you’re the last one alive」 (Ted)

The bandit leader could not understand Ted’s words until he looked around.

「…!」 (Bandit Leader)

In his eyes appeared the figures of his companions submersed in pools of blood.

He had finally noticed that he was the last one standing.

「St, stupid! For such a thing to happen…!」 (Bandit Leader)

「Sorry about that」 (Ted)

With such words, Ted slashed his sword at the bandit leaders head.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After clearing up the bandits, Ardis was searching for survivors.

「Wow, this was a massacre」 (Norris)

Norris spoke up.

The carriage driver, an escort mercernary and a man who seemed to be a merchant had breathed their last breaths here.

They had stab wounds in their neck and chests. The bandits had dealt quick and fatal blows.

「What should we do? The horses have already ran off, should we take the carriage?」 (Norris)

「It would be a waste to leave the carriage, but we’ll have to. It’s too big and bulky…If only we could find out this merchants identity…」 (Ted)

「Well then, me and Ardis will check the other carriage. Ted will you check out this one?」 (Norris)

「No problem」 (Ted)

In order to investigate the carriage’s goods, Norris and Ardis approached the carriage that had been damaged the least.

Since there were two carriages, the amount of goods should be quite large.

It’s unknown what type of goods the merchant traded in, hopefully there is enough for four people to easily carry.

「I hope we can find some jewelry or spices」 (Norris)

Norris leaked his own desire.

Even with the same weight and size, there are differences in value depending on the item.

As Norris said, if it is jewelry or spices, you can sell it for a reasonable price and four people can carry it without issue.

However, bulky items like art and low cost items like food, there is a limit to the amount that can be carried.

In some cases, you can only collect the money and leave the rest.

Norris approached the carriage from the back and put his hands on the door.

He slowly opened the it and looked inside, instantly his body turned rigid.

Covering his face with his hand, he looked up to the sky and muttered 「damn」

「What’s wrong Norris?」 (Ardis)

Ardis peeked from his back.

「Nn?」 (Ardis)

What was reflected in his eyes were two scared little girls surrounded by numerous baskets of goods.