Holding a spear in his right hand, Rei had gone quite deep into the forest.
More than one hour had already pa.s.sed since the time he opened his eyes. The sun that could be seen through the forest"s foliage was gradually rising higher and higher.
I don"t know how to guess the time by looking at the sun but since the sun is still rising, morning probably hasn"t ended yet. Spending a night in this forest isn"t something I"m eager about . . . I really have to find someone. Maybe a town or something . . .
If he were to meet a traveler in this appearance, they"d probably be quite suspicious. He was worried about whether or not they"d even believe his story. However, the thing that he was even more worried about was how he was the only person in the forest so far. It stirred feelings of impatience in him.
Rei tried thinking about his current situation as he continued to wander.
It felt extremely painful when he had tripped on the roots of the trees and fallen down. With this, he acquired a conviction that his wasn"t a dream.
If this isn"t a dream, then how did I end up in this world? A time warp or something? I don"t know how much this equipment I"m wearing is worth but I"m pretty much fully armed . . . with this, if my words don"t get through and they absolutely don"t believe me, then the worst thing that could happen is that I get killed . . . even if this is a dream, falling down was extremely painful. In that case, when I get killed it will be even more painful . . .
It was still difficult for him to accept the situation he was in as reality. Even though he believed that he should be taking things more seriously, he still didn"t completely throw away the possibility that everything was a dream. Nevertheless, he knew that it would become dangerous for him if the situation didn"t change. He desperately tried to think of what he had to do but couldn"t come up with any kind of solution.
Rei dove deeper into the forest.
It had been impossible to even find a road, much less a town. The only sounds he could hear around him were the rustling of trees from the wind, the chirping of birds and occasionally the growling and snarling of various animals.
The trunk of the tree a while ago had sharp claw marks on it. The animal that made the mark was on at the very least on par with a brown bear . . . the only time I"ve faced wild animals was when I visited the zoo in my childhood. What am I going to do . . . my throat is also getting thirsty. I sure hope I find water soon.
Although he had found a small pool of water a while ago, as one would expect, it was impossible to drink the water. He had searched for a clean source of water, like a small stream. However, it looks like he might have walked in the wrong direction. There wasn"t even a single trace of water now.
And so Rei continued to walk in this way, occasionally taking breaks whenever he became exhausted.
He never realized how abnormal it was. Being able to walk for more than 3 hours through the rough terrain of the forest. And he was wearing heavy equipment.
In the previous world, Rei had possessed a weak body since a young age. His const.i.tution caused him to miss school quite frequently and this continued up until he entered junior high. Because his worried parents didn"t want him to push himself too hard, he almost never went outside to play or partic.i.p.ate in sports with his friends. As a result of that, he never did become used to moving his body around and rarely walked for long periods of time.
Maybe the strangeness of the situation caused him to not notice how much his body had changed. Or maybe his subconscious simply didn"t want to acknowledge reality.
After walking for another short while, Rei could hear the screams of several people. It seemed like the wind had carried the sound a considerable distance.
If this really is a different world then meeting travelers who are being attacked by robbers or monsters is a really common trope. Even if it is a trope, what should I do? It would be a big problem if I get attacked after approaching them carelessly . . .
Rei considered ignoring the screams but the fear of continuing to wander alone in the forest won him over. He came up with a good excuse and then decided to approach the voices.
By listening to them, I might be able to figure out if it"s possible for us to communicate with each other. I"ll have to approach them carefully if I don"t want them to notice me. Good thing my armor doesn"t make much noise even though it"s made of metal. Unless a make a serious blunder, they shouldn"t be able to notice me . . .
As he approached cautiously, he could hear screams also vulgar laughter coming from multiple different men. The voices steadily grew louder and more distinct, allowing him to catch their words.
"Hahaha! You should surrender already. I"ll give you plenty of love~"
The men cackled as the voice of a young woman screamed back. Rei couldn"t see her from his position.
"Watch your words! Touch me and I"ll kill you! I"d rather die than allow myself to be dirtied by the likes of you!"
Ray peered out from the shadow of a tree he was hiding in. In front of him, he saw an immobilized carriage laying atop a crude unpaved road. The road had been naturally created by the countless people who treaded down the same path.
Nearly twenty men equipped in leather armor surrounded the carriage. At their feet lay several knights clad in metal armor who had collapsed in pools of their own blood.
I didn"t expect this . . . it"s pretty obvious those guys are bandits. What am I going to do . . .
Rei"s legs shook in fear. Suddenly, moving even an inch felt like it would alert the bandits. He couldn"t tear his eyes from the carriage. If he looked away, he would have no idea when the bandits might get closer to him.
A girl in the middle of her teens was violently dragged out from the amongst the bandits. She had blonde hair and wore a blue dress. The echoes of her screams mixed in with the vulgar voices of the men. It was a voice that didn"t belong to the previous woman. It felt younger, much younger.
A girl in the middle of her teens was violently dragged out from the amongst the bandits. She had blonde hair and wore a blue dress. The echoes of her screams mixed in with the vulgar voices of the men. It was a voice that didn"t belong to the previous woman. It felt younger, much younger.
"Aaah! Let go of me! Father! Help me!"
The yells of a man who seemed to be her father resounded in response to the desperate plea for help,
"Please give back my daughter! I will hand over all the money I have . . . so please . . . give back Oliena . . . I beg of you . . ."
One of the bandits lifted up the girl"s chin and floated a vulgar smile,
"Be quiet old man! This cute lady is going to be accompanying us. We"re not killing her. After she"s been given enough love, we"ll sell her off somewhere. Be grateful! Hahaha!"
The girl faced the carriage as she cried and screamed. From the carriage, the pleading voice of the father continued to ring out.
Aaah, I can"t do anything . . . for some reason . . . it feels like I"ve gone through this before. Abandoning someone. No! There"s no way I can abandon them!
As Rei observed the scene carried out in front of him, he noticed that someone else"s memories were inside his head. His eyes suddenly began to quiver in despair and fierce emotions stirred within him. The vulgarly laughing bandits and the screaming girl were reflected inside eyes. And suddenly, it all matched up. The bandits" figures morphed into the shapes of demons and the figure of the girl was overlaid with an image of the sweetheart he cherished.
At that moment, Rei"s consciousness faded away into a pure white and his memories were cut off there.
Rei continued to be unconscious as he took a stance with his spear and fiercely charged at the gang of bandits.
Before anyone could react, the spear in his left hand had formed a streak of white light 1.5 meters long and 3 centimeters thick. The instant he swung the light, it pierced into the chest of the man who was restraining the girl.
The man who didn"t notice the sudden attack gurgled like a frog that had been stepped on and then died without knowing what had happened to him.
The bandits froze. They prepared to flee but once they realized that their attacker consisted of merely one person, they immediately regained their calm.
A large man who seemed to be the bandits" chief shouted, "What? Who the h.e.l.l are you!" and then ordered, "We don"t need to worry about him! Kill him!" The bandits remained vigilant against the silver knight who had prepared another spear of light as they moved to surround him.
Two bandits carrying bows appeared from behind them. They aimed at the chest of the knight who was approaching them defenselessly and fired their arrows. They flew straight towards his chest. It seemed obvious that he was going to be killed. However, both of the arrows were struck down by the spear in his right hand. It was like nothing had happened. In response, he materialized two magic arrows in his left hand and released them towards the two archers. The arrows accurately penetrated into the archers" throats, severed their necks in half and then pierced into the large tree behind them.
"Don"t let him use magic! Surround him and chop him up!"
Once the chief ordered the bandits to surround knight, the bandits who heard his command rushed towards him.
The bandits gathered around him in an instant.
Grabbing his spear with both hands, the knight attacked the bandits by swinging his spear in a way that looked like he was mowing them down.
The tip of his spear suddenly began to shine a bright orange color. Leather armor was completely ineffective against the power that was concealed by the light. The unfortunate bandits who entered within the spear"s range had their throats and arms torn apart and their chests punctured. The way in which they had been killed was much too sudden. Too simple.
"I-impossible! H-he"s a monster! Aaaaah!"
One young bandit lost his will to fight and tried to flee.
However, like lightning, the devil clad in white dashed between the bandits and reached the fleeing bandit. Even as the bandit tried to beg for his life in tears, the white devil mercilessly killed him without showing any kind of emotion. It didn"t end there. Blood spurted wherever he ran and the bandits were eliminated one after the other.
The bandit chief sensed that there was no way he was going to be able to win directly and shouted, "Drop your weapons and don"t move! The lives of these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are in my hands!" He thrusted his sword in front of the girl and a middle aged man who was dressed in elaborate clothing. However, the knight"s expression didn"t budge an inch. He instead materialized a thin disk of light that had a diameter of around 50 centimeters in his right hand and hurled it towards the chief.
The thoughts of the chief paused for an instant due to the knight"s completely unexpected behavior. That short instant of time was fatal. With no time to evade the disk, a hole was made in the chief"s torso. An expression of surprise remained frozen on his face.
Having lost their chief, the bandits began to flee in disorder.
The knight pursued the scattered bandits and unhesitantly killed them one after the other with magic in his left hand and a spear in his right hand. Crying and screaming in face of the merciless slaughter, the bandits begged for their lives. Their efforts were futile.
Once all of the bandits were annihilated, the knight"s body was smeared in fresh blood and his white equipment was dyed a dark crimson color.
The knight mumbled in a small voice, "Captain . . . everyone . . . I"ve done it properly this time . . . this time . . ." and then collapsed onto the ground like a puppet who had its thread cut.
◆ ◆ ◆
Ashley Makat wore metal armor and wielded a large two handed sword. She was a relatively well-known female mercenary adventurer around these parts. Her father, Hamish Makat, leaded one of the strongest mercenary bands in the Laks Kingdom. She learned how to fight from a young age and devoted herself to activities such as sword fighting. For seven years, starting from the age of 15, she stood on the battlefield as a mercenary.
She separated from her father"s mercenary band roughly a year ago and moved alone as a mercenary adventurer. This time, she was requested to escort the Baron Atelier to the the Saltooth Kingdom"s capital city, Laurus. The baron placed particular emphasis on the protection of his daughter.
The journey to Laurus was entirely peaceful. The start of the return trip was also uneventful but that changed once they left the borders of Laurus. Two days ago, the Baron Atelier"s territorial knights mysteriously succ.u.mbed to a disease of unknown cause, reducing the number of knights in the escort party to a mere five. Since the party would now be unable to respond against even weak demons, they hired ten mercenaries from a nearby town. There was only a short distance left before they would enter the Baron Atelier"s territory.
The area they were in had a dense forest and demons who would frequently appear. However, as long as the carriage was guarded by a dozen or so escorts, it was expected that they would safely leave the forest. However, that was true only under the a.s.sumption that the mercenaries wouldn"t betray them. It was the mercenaries they hired who became their worst enemy.
Usually, mercenaries were hired through the mercenary guild. It was highly unlikely for these types of mercenaries to betray the client on an escort mission. Unless it was due to confusion on the battlefield, if a mercenary deliberately violated their escort contract the guild would track them down.
It was natural for the baron who didn"t have any combat experience to be careless about such a thing. However, even the knights who had been entrusted with guarding him had been careless. The mercenaries guided the bandits into the forest when it seemed like the forest was empty of people.
When Ashley noticed the bandits it was already too late. Taken by surprise, the escorting knights had been either killed or mortally wounded. Soon after, bandits appeared one after the other from inside the forest. They surrounded the carriage and then dragged the baron and his daughter out.
A l.u.s.tful man who seemed to be the bandit chief demanded for Ashley to surrender. However, she decided to resist since should would be violated and killed anyway.
Even the bandits were aware of Ashley"s skill as a swordsman. Several of them hesitated to repress her struggle. n.o.body wanted to become that "unlucky person" when they were in such an overwhelmingly advantageous situation. Therefore, there wasn"t a single person who tried to approach her of their own volition.
In an attempt to break that kind of stalemate, the bandits decided to violate the baron"s daughter, Oliena. At that moment, a knight who was clad in silver armor a.s.saulted the bandits" rear. At first, Ashley was glad to see help arrive but her emotions quickly cooled down once no one appeared after the knight. She felt despair once again as the lone figure of the knight rushed in to attack alone, without any kind of plan.
It"s hopeless . . . I don"t know how much self-confidence he has but jumping in without a plan when there"s such a large difference in numbers is . . .
However, Ashley became astonished when the knight began to gather magic into his left hand.
Is he one of the rumored Holy Knights of Rooks!? Rooks claims that each of their holy knights can match with a thousand men but in the end, what can a single knight possibly do?
Her question was immediately answered.
The knight hurled a spear of light towards the bandits, obliterating two in the blink of an eye.
Possibly feeling that the knight was dangerous, the bandit chief decided to rely on the power of numbers and ordered the bandits to surround the knight. This time, magical power seemed to flood into the the cross-shaped tip of the spear as it began shine a brilliant orange. Every time the knight swung his spear, the bandits collapsed one after the other like wooden dolls. Although the bandits weren"t exactly thorough in maintaining their leather armor, their equipment was by no means inadequate. Nevertheless, in front of the knight"s spear, their utilitarian equipment was rendered completely ineffective.
What is that spear? Is it a G.o.d Spear? Or is the skill of the knight just that amazing? It"s as if a hero"s come out of a myth . . .
The figure that was clad in gleaming silver armor and wielding a shining spear seemed worthy of being called a warrior of G.o.d.
If this is what a Holy Knight is truly like, then those religious fanatics who keep proclaiming the invincibility of their so-called divine messengers aren"t necessarily spreading unfounded rumors . . .
The number of bandit corpses increased every time the knight swung his spear. This caused the moral of the bandits to plunge. The bandit close to Ashley also wavered.
Although Ashley was unable to tear her eyes away from the rampaging knight, she recognized that this was an extremely rare chance. She stabbed the bandit in front of her and then began to approach the baron.
However, at that instant, the bandit chief took the baron and his daughter hostage and then ordered the knight to drop his weapons.
d.a.m.n it! I couldn"t make it in time. What is that knight going to do . . . as a holy knight, I guess he would surrender his weapons?
Her expectations were completely betrayed. As if to say he didn"t care about the hostages, the knight invoked his light magic once again.
This time, his magic took the form of a disk made of light. Due to the knight"s instantaneous and unexpected behavior, even Ashley couldn"t budge her body an inch. During the time she remained frozen, the disk of light literally cut a large hole through the bandit chief"s body.
No hesitation whatsoever. He is trying to help us right?
Ashley was wary of the knight but decided to focus on the more immediate threat as she brought down the bandit in front her.
If that knight decides to attack us, there"s no way we would be able to defend against him. Since he"s not turning his attacks on us, at the very least it"s safe to think that he"s not our enemy . . .
By the time everything ended, the silver knight was completely smeared in the dark crimson blood of the bandits.
The baron next to Ashley stiffened with a complex expression of astonishment and fear on his face. Fortunately, his daughter had already fainted a long time ago and didn"t have to witness the knight"s gruesome appearance. If the girl had remained to see him, it wouldn"t be surprising for her to suffer a severe mental trauma.
Roughly ten minutes had pa.s.sed since the knight appeared. In that short amount of time, the group of bandits had been utterly annihilated.
Ashley had no idea what was going to happen next and became increasingly vigilant. The knight mumbled something in a small voice and then finally collapsed face down.
While remaining wary of her surroundings, Ashley peered at the condition of the knight. She wondered what her employer, the Baron Atelier, wanted to do with him.
"What do we do about the knight? To be honest, I don"t want to even come near him . . ."
The baron had still not recovered from the commotion but hearing her words, he immediately regained his composure and said,
"We definitely owe our lives to him. I don"t know who he is but we can"t just abandon him here. Besides, we only have half a day left before we reach Molton. Accepting him as an escort would be quite rea.s.suring, wouldn"t it?
Ashley nodded but inside, she really didn"t feel too eager about it. Wouldn"t it be fine if we left him here she thought. However, seeing that there were no flaws in her employer"s reasoning, she had no choice but to approach the fallen knight.