78 - Episode 4: The Girl Named Shannon Ilmelta and the Bandits ~They're Coming from Above! Watch Out!~
The story goes back a little.
There was a merchant caravan traveling relatively leisurely along the Lillet Highway, which serves as the main artery of the Kingdom of Albestein. This was because the next stop and supply point, Marl Village, was not far. At this speed, they would arrive by early afternoon. Conversely, beyond that point, they would pass through an uninhabited area for about a full day, so unless they were in a hurry, they would always stay there.
Therefore, the Morgus Company caravan was proceeding slowly, without pushing the horses too hard.
"Morgus-san, is this slow speed really okay?"
In the center of the caravan, sitting on the driver's seat of a first-class, high-quality carriage that rattled and shook, was a refined middle-aged man, Morgus. Hearing the voice called out from the cargo area, he felt a sense of exasperation in his heart, thinking, Here we go again.
"Shannon-sama. It is true that Marl Village is close, and if we felt like it, we could arrive in about an hour. However, there is no sign of human habitation for a while beyond that. We will inevitably be delayed at least once. If that is the case, I want to preserve the horses' strength."
"I-is that how it works...?"
"That is how it works. I have heard that you wish to go to the Radock Border Territory. I told you at the start that we could get there in a week at the fastest without any problems, did I not?"
"I-I understand..."
At the slightly intimidated reaction thrown over the shoulder, Morgus looked back, wondering if he had said too much, and there stood a girl in traveling clothes.
She was a girl with long, tawny hair tied back. Her age was around fifteen. She had flawless white skin and a slender build. Her features were well-proportioned, and based on her raw materials alone, she was high quality... no, from that alone, one could tell she was from the upper class.
After all, while her estimated age was older than Morgus's daughter, she was ignorant of the ways of the world, and in a sense, more sheltered than his daughter, who was also a merchant's child. Over the past few days, he had held his head in his hands many times, wondering just what kind of sheltered environment she had been raised in.
It was a few days ago that he met this girl, Shannon. Shortly before reaching the city of Add, he had picked her up while she was collapsed on the highway. He could have ignored her, but her attire at the time caught his attention.
It was because she was wearing silver light armor. It was far too luxurious for an ordinary adventurer, and a skilled adventurer capable of wearing such gear would likely not end up collapsed on the road. Furthermore, in this country, silver armor immediately indicated the First Imperial Knights. Although no insignia indicating her unit was visible, a girl collapsed with a spear and armor far too luxurious for her status was clearly related to that organization, no matter how one looked at it.
(She hasn't revealed her family name, but... the name Shannon, and that blue spear... she is probably the daughter of the House of Duke Ilmelta...)
The Morgus Company was not a particularly large firm, but they traveled throughout the kingdom as peddlers. Their volume of information was not inferior to the large firms... no, in terms of speed and accuracy alone, he prided himself on being superior to other large firms.
Based on that information, he was convinced she was the Imperial Guard knight attached to Lumiria El Albestein, the last member of the royal family in this country, the Maiden of the Magic Spear, Shannon Ilmelta.
A mere merchant could not possibly gain a connection with an Imperial Guard knight attached to the princess, so normally, Morgus would have helped her without hesitation.
However, in this particular instance, he had hesitated quite a bit. After all, the domestic situation was far too unstable. According to rumors, the Prime Minister's faction had already seized actual power in the royal capital, and Princess Lumiria had been stripped of all authority. Furthermore, information was flying around that she had fled, and the fact that Shannon, the Imperial Guard knight attached to the princess, was here meant that things were likely as suspected.
(There is the option of handing her over to the executive branch...)
In fact, fellow merchants had already curried favor with the Prime Minister's faction. Since the Prime Minister's faction would certainly handle the next national administration, it was inevitable that merchants, who are influenced by political conditions, would flatter them.
But it was also true that there was little profit in doing the same thing as everyone else. Moreover, as a merchant, Morgus was at best middle-class. If he wanted to aim higher from here, he needed to be prepared for danger and pluck the eyes from a living horse.
That move was to shelter Shannon, but...
"Chief! Bandits!!"
Receiving the report of an attack from the carriage ahead, Morgus held his head, thinking that perhaps this choice had been a mistake after all.
●
Upon receiving the report of the bandit attack, Shannon immediately stepped out of the carriage and climbed onto the roof to secure her field of vision.
Her heart was in turmoil.
(Honestly, I don't even know where Lumiria-sama is...!!)
Shannon and Lumiria, who had shaken off the pursuit of Richter Centaur, the commander of the First Imperial Knights and Shannon's master who had sided with the Prime Minister's faction, had been separated while being tossed about by the torrents of a mountain stream. Just before being swallowed by the waves and disappearing, she had believed Lumiria's words, 'Let us reunite at the Radock Margrave's place!', and had been heading toward the Radock Border Territory while searching for her.
That said, Shannon herself was a noble, and from a ducal house at that. She possessed no survival skills for when one is stranded, and she had quickly collapsed. That was when she was picked up by the Morgus Company, and she obtained immediate funds by selling the light armor she was wearing. Additionally, she offered her services as a guard, hitching a ride with Morgus, who was heading toward the Radock Border Territory. She had hoped that she might reunite with Lumiria along the way, but...
(Really... nothing at all is going well!!)
It had always been like that. No matter what happened, she had the bad luck of surviving, but no good fortune. The symbol of this was the blue spear in her hand.
The magic spear Bartholomew, said to be a Blue Magic Gear, which had been presented to the royal family by a suspicious organization called the Delgamiride Cult. From the day she became involved with it, her life had been in constant chaos. But even with such a cursed history, she accepted it if it could become a power to fight, a power to protect Lumiria.
Climbing onto the roof of the carriage, she saw arrows being shot toward the caravan through the gaps in the forest trees. Bandits had already attached themselves to the carriage in front, and the adventurer guards hired by Morgus were fighting hard. Bandits were approaching from the rear in the same way. They were sandwiched... no, that must have been the plan. It seemed the bandits were also moving in an orderly fashion. Shannon saw that there was a competent commander.
If so, she thought that crushing the head would solve things, but finally, arrows began to reach this carriage situated in the center of the caravan.
"Kuh...!"
"Shannon-sama!!"
"Stay down! I'll handle this!!"
Cutting them down with her spear, Shannon braced the spear in her hand before the rain of arrows further approaching.
"...Inversion...!"
Immediately after speaking the activation phrase, blue light overflowed from the magic spear in her hand, forming a dome that enveloped the carriage. The rain of arrows reached it, but whatever physical law was at work, they stopped dead in their tracks. After a momentary pause, they returned to the place from which they were fired. With their arrowheads pointed toward their masters.
"Gyaaa!?"
As expected, it was too much to ask them to anticipate a situation where the arrows they fired would turn back and bare their fangs, and the bandits became flustered.
"Why are the arrows!?"
"Is it some kind of magic!? But we can't back down now... Charge!!"
However, their fighting spirit was still intact, and they discarded their bows and charged this time with swords and axes.
Got you, Shannon's lips curled. Although she had a slender body, she was a spear technician who had mastered the Centaur style up to the level of complete transmission. Rather than intercepting them bit by bit from a distance, it was easier to create a chance of victory by swinging her spear at close range.
Swinging the spear in her hand and knocking down several bandits, she could see the level of the opponents. Even from Shannon's perspective, they were low-level thugs who had not been particularly trained. This would be no problem.
All that was left was to find the enemy boss while she was rampaging and crush the head to break their fighting spirit... it was just as she thought that.
"Guh!?"
A muffled voice was heard behind her, and when she looked back, Morgus was being restrained from behind by one of the bandits, with a large knife pressed against his neck.
"...Drop that dangerous weapon, little girl. Hey! You lot too!!"
"As expected of the Boss! Just like the plan!"
It seemed the strategy of aiming for the head was the same for the opponent, and moreover, the head himself had gone to target it. Indeed, he was different in nature from the other bandits. He had a large, sun-burnt physique and was one-eyed, showing how many battlefields he had survived.
"Kuh... are you satisfied with this?"
Since their employer had been taken hostage, there was nothing they could do, and the adventurer guards discarded their weapons one after another, and eventually, Shannon also resigned herself and let go of her spear.
"I ain't gonna kill ya. As long as you give me the valuables and food."
"...A prospector, huh."
Looking at the sun-burnt skin and muscular physique, Shannon guessed. Looking around, the bandits who were restraining the adventurers were the same. Rather than being evenly trained through martial arts, they had bodies that were locally and naturally trained through physical labor.
"Used to be, yeah. Thanks to some pathetic royalty, my meal ticket ran out, and even if I want to work, nowhere'll hire me in this recession."
Picking up Shannon's mutter, the bandit called the Boss snorted ironically.
Indeed, the number of people who lost their jobs increased due to the failure of the ritual several years ago. If magic stones could not be mined, it would not be strange for prospectors like them to be left stranded and turn to banditry.
"Even so, doing something like this..."
"Even if I have to do something like this! ...I gotta feed these guys. I know we're the ones who can see the end coming. Even so, we're living desperately for the now. Don't look at me with eyes of pity."
"..."
Probably, this bandit did not truly wish for this either. The fact that he did not take lives made his true feelings transparent. Then, who made him do it, a whisper echoed in Shannon's mind, and she looked down. Though not directly, Shannon was not innocent either. Those who brought this country to ruin were the royalty... and the nobles who supported them.
As one of the nobles... as one who had grown up receiving those benefits, Shannon had no right to say anything.
Yes. She had no right to say anything, but...
"That's all well and good, but Marie-chan Kick!!"
"Guboh!?"
A figure descended from above the head of the man called the Boss, and while stomping on his head, she grabbed Morgus by the collar and recovered him.
"W-who are you!?"
"Honestly, making a beautiful girl disarm and then letting her be killed, how enviable... mmph mmph...! What scandalous people! You lolicon scum!!"
Whether Shannon could say anything or not... the idiot Marianne, who didn't give a damn about such things, arrived suddenly.
From above.
●
The beautiful girl... or rather, Marianne, who had intervened to rescue the attacked caravan, glanced around.
(Hmm... I don't quite understand the circumstances, but... I'm being noticed by a girl!)
Or rather, she only cared about Shannon's gaze. For the time being, she had recovered the troublesome hostage, but the captured adventurers and other bandits were completely out of her sight. Furthermore, the rescued Morgus was bluntly tossed aside by Marianne and stood there dazed. The reason he was tossed aside was undoubtedly because he was not a beautiful girl.
This woman was, as always, faithful to her own desires.
(In that case, I shall meet those expectations... oh, come to think of it, were those children [Shadow Beasts] in self-imposed seal?)
"It can't be helped," Marianne muttered, then deployed storage magic and rummaged through the inside. And what she took out from there was...
"Heave-ho."
What was placed on the ground with a thud was a hammer.
"H-hey?"
The bandit boss, who had been stepped on and had recovered from the shock, called out in confusion. And for good reason. The handle part was shining silver, and the head part was red, the color of blood. Well, that was still fine. However, its size was slightly different from existing ones.
Since they were originally prospectors, hammers were work tools for the bandits. That was exactly why they knew. What is that, they couldn't help but retort.
After all, the handle part was seven meters. The area of the head part was the size of a hut, a ridiculous thing. And what are you, carrying that without any effort.
Then, new intruders arrived. Geoglyph and Later, who had arrived late.
"You rushed ahead too much, Marie. Wait, what's that? The kind that becomes light?"
"It's been a while since I've seen a Piko-Piko Hammer. Want to hit it and wear it?"
"It's a slight application of alchemy. I used mithril for the handle and engraved magic formulas, so for the user, it feels like a slightly heavy hammer, but..."
With a light movement, Marianne carelessly slammed it into the ground, and with a vibration as if a direct-hit earthquake had occurred, it shook the internal organs of those around her.
"The mass of the head is 100 tons."
"A real 100-ton hammer!? Scary!!"
At that retort from Geoglyph and Later, not only the bandits but also Shannon and Morgus were chilled and recoiled.
What was this idiot thinking, creating a real-spec 100-ton hammer instead of a gag-spec 100-ton hammer.
If using Earth, their previous life, as an example, a weight class of a train was being swung around. It was not hard to imagine that if it hit directly, the human body would not even become a lump of meat, but would scatter flat as something red, like a crushed tomato.
"Since those children [Shadow Beasts] are in self-imposed seal, it can't be helped. Aside from those children, this is the only attack I have for dealing with many. It's literally area suppression. Now, let's do this!!"
Marianne swung it around, whoosh whoosh, to psych herself up.
"Well, I won't show mercy to bandits. ...You're gonna die, everyone who sees my form is gonna die!"
Geoglyph swung the scythe of light in his hand, whoosh whoosh, while reciting a meme.
"Ah, Sensei is indulging himself again by filling his todo list of lines he wants to try saying. Well, with Beam Scissors, that's how it goes. I mean, we're all big things in the vanguard. Then, I'll join in... how about 'that was truly a lump of iron'?"
Joining the two, Later created an oversized sword [Dragon Slayer] that exceeded his height using the Rig Veda and also swung it around, whoosh whoosh.
Every time they swung their weapons, the swirling wind hit the skin of the bandits, and it was just like the winds of hell.
Now, the action the bandits took in front of these Three Idiots was...
"WE ARE SORRY!!"
A prompt dogeza was, in this case, an inevitable conclusion.
To be continued next week.