Chapter 81: Poetic Justice (1)

“What’s that? A carriage?”

Two days after we came down from the mountain and started heading towards Tiaria again, we encountered a young merchant in front of a bridge.

He was momentarily wary when he saw us, but he relaxed his guard only after looking over each of us one by one.

“U-Um… are you adventurers?”

Then he immediately made this proposal.

“Are you, by any chance, interested in an escort mission…?!”

“An escort?”

He introduced himself as a rookie merchant who had just started his business.

He said that after finishing a big deal a while ago, he was happily heading towards Tiaria when he heard this from another merchant he happened to pass by.

If you're going to cross this bridge, be careful.

I heard that bandits who kidnap people are rampant in this area these days.

So he got scared and was stopped here, not knowing what to do.

But just in time, we appeared.

“U-Uh, from here to about the midpoint of Tiaria, there's a village that serves as a base where merchants often gather. Could you somehow… escort me there…?”

The young man, afraid that we might refuse, quickly continued.

“I've already sold all my goods, so all six of you can ride in the carriage.”

“…!”

At the mention of being able to get a ride in the carriage, I saw Rine suddenly flinch.

Although her emotions didn't show on her always expressionless face, she was a person who found walking more troublesome than I did.

She couldn't have just ignored it.

Although she didn't say anything, it was clear from the way she was now tugging at my sleeve.

“As for the fee, I was thinking about this much…”

“…!”

This time, Ibi flinched.

As soon as she heard the amount the young man proposed, Ibi turned her wide eyes to me and.

“What are you doing? Write the contract already!”

She soon shouted, as if nagging.

Rumble, rumble.

The carriage running on the road shook regularly.

Sometimes when we passed through a very bumpy area, my butt would lift up and then slam down, to the point where I wondered if I would get a bruise.

But despite that, everyone would probably agree that this was much better than walking this road on our own two feet.

If not, we would have never even dreamed of comfortably sitting in the luggage compartment, dozing off or even falling asleep, like now.

My companions were gathered in the luggage compartment.

“What brings you all to Tiaria?”

And I was sitting next to the young merchant── ‘Jude’── and talking with him.

“Well, it’s the city of opportunity, isn’t it? It’s also the biggest. I thought if I went there, I’d get some kind of work.”

“Ah. Right, there are a lot of incidents in Tiaria.”

Of course, there are.

To the extent that more than half of the events in the game are concentrated there.

“What about you? Continuing your business?”

“Ah, yes. Tiaria is full of unusual items that are hard to find elsewhere.”

Because it’s the largest city and a port city on the continent.

All sorts of goods gather there, coming by boat or to be shipped by boat.

“Just by buying them as cheaply as possible and selling them in other cities, you can make a good profit.”

“What do you usually sell?”

“Uh… all sorts of, junk, I guess…? Ahaha.”

At my question, Jude seemed to have a hard time answering and mumbled his words.

Then he suddenly glanced at the luggage compartment behind him.

At the end of his gaze was clearly Ibi, who was dozing off and her head was about to hit the wooden barrel next to her.

“Um, but that person is…”

“Why? Interested?”

In fact, this wasn't the first time he had glanced at Ibi.

He had been doing it since we first met, so it was impossible not to know.

“What? Ah, no! Um… it’s just, my first time seeing a half-dark elf in person.”

Of course, as soon as he heard my question, Jude hastily waved his hands and made an excuse.

But when I continued to stare at him silently with narrowed eyes, as if I could see through his lie.

“W-Well, actually…”

He finally, shyly, stroked the side of his neck and confessed his true feelings.

“Sh-She’s a very beautiful person… I thought…”

“Ha.”

At Jude's answer, I couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh.

Then, I deliberately put on a contemptuous smile and said nonchalantly.

“Well, I have no intention of letting her be taken, so don't get any ideas.”

Crash!

Suddenly, a loud noise echoed from the luggage compartment behind us.

Surprised, I turned around, and Ibi, who had been dozing off before, was now blinking her eyes and looking this way.

The wooden barrel that had been standing fine until a moment ago was now lying on its side, rolling around, so it seemed that she had finally hit her head.

In fact, one side of Ibi's face was bright red.

“…A-Are you okay, Sister?”

Miki, who had been dozing off on the opposite side, was startled and asked with concern, so she must have hit it with all her might.

Then, a moment later.

“Ah, ahh…!”

Perhaps because the pain was delayed because she had just woken up, Ibi, who had finally grabbed the reddened area, began to groan in pain.

In fact, even though it was an escort, since we were passing through a well-traveled road with a decent amount of traffic, there weren't many risk factors.

In fact, there hadn't been any monster attacks so far, and thanks to that, it had just become a journey where we got a ride in a carriage and drove along the road without any hindrance.

“Home home on the range.”

With a bit of a song, to match the atmosphere of traveling along a quiet road.

We did take breaks from time to time to let the horse rest, but when we were walking, we had to rest much more.

(It was mostly because of me, though.)

So thanks to that, it felt like we had covered a distance that would have taken two days in almost one day.

Before we knew it, the sun was starting to set.

Even if we were in a carriage, it was impossible to run without stopping until the middle of the night, so we decided to find a suitable place to camp.

Ibi muttered with a chuckle, so that Jude couldn't hear, that this was just making easy money for an escort.

Well, until now, it was true that we had made easy money.

──Clip-clop, clip-clop!

If only, as soon as Ibi had muttered this, with timing that seemed almost deliberate, the sound of horse hooves hadn't been heard from somewhere.

“No, f*ck, as soon as I said it…?!”

The timing was so exquisite that.

“Aww…”

Ibi started to tap her pursed lips, as if she thought her words had been the cause.

Well, I don't know about the cause, but strictly speaking, it was a ‘signal’.

“Yeehaw──!”

Because the start of the ‘event’ of encountering the bandits who kidnap people, who were said to be rampant in this area recently── which we had heard through rumors── always began with Ibi's ‘Did we get them?’.

“I thought we were making easy money.”

Clip-clop, clip-clop!

The sound of horse hooves gradually got closer, and before long, the ‘bandits’ appeared in front of us.

“Th-They really appeared…!”

As soon as he saw them, Jude, who was terrified, immediately hunched over and hid behind me.

In fact, if you think about it, if there was one person among us who would be completely useless to hide behind, it would surely be me.

I'm the weakest, after all.

But then again, maybe it was because I was the only one with a physique that could somewhat cover his body.

How ironic.

“Hey, fellas.”

In the meantime, the bandits stopped their horses and spoke to us.

“Can we have a word?”

“Hiiik…!”

I heard the sound of Jude swallowing a scream, terrified, from behind me.

“Why? Are you lost?”

At that, I deliberately answered in an even more sly manner.

“Or what, you want me to sing you a song?”

At that, the bandits looked at each other and started to snicker.

It was a reaction as if they found my bravado cute.

“Why are you guys acting like this when you know better.”

“There’s a place you need to go with us.”

“It’ll be easier for you if you just follow us quietly.”

“Wouldn't it be better to walk on your own two feet? Rather than being tied up and dragged along.”

It was an attitude that didn't even doubt for a moment that they would fail.

Well, it was a well-founded confidence.

Although they were called bandits, they were all level 7 powerhouses.

In this world, being level 7 meant that you were a skilled person who wouldn't be easily defeated anywhere.

So, one thing I could say for sure was that they were not ‘ordinary bandits’.

“So, what are you going to do?”

On the other hand, the confident guys were looking at us── a human bard who looked weak at a glance, an elf with no presence, a young half-elf who didn't seem to be a veteran, a halfling who was wearing armor for some reason, a quiet-looking nun who didn't seem to be able to fight at all, and a middle-aged dwarf with a protruding beer belly.

It was only natural that they would ignore us.

“W-What are you going to do…?”

Perhaps that's why Jude, who was hiding behind me, also asked in a terrified tone, as if he was afraid that we might surrender quietly.

“What do you mean, what are we going to do?”

Ibi looked at Jude as if he were pathetic and let out a hollow laugh.

“We have to earn our keep.”

The number of bandits was six.

“One for each of us is perfect.”

It was time to work.

“…Are you serious, you guys?”

“──No.”

Therefore, I slowly took off my mask.

“Just get three of them.”

Because the target of 「Multiple Vicious Mockeries」 is three.

The bandits' confidence was not unfounded.

It's just that we had already caught guys who were worse than them to get here.

──Papat!

As soon as I dealt with the three ‘charmed’ guys with 「Multiple Vicious Mockeries」, Ibi used 「Shadow Step」 to instantly get behind one of the bandits.

While she was planting a 「Backstab」 in the back of his neck, Toric, who had jumped high, swung his axe with force and knocked another guy off his horse.

At the same time, as soon as Miki threw his shield and knocked the last guy off his horse, Lily quickly approached him and cast 「Charm」 followed by 「Sleep」.

Then, the three 「Magic Arrows」 that Rine shot pierced the head, chest, and stomach of the guy who had been knocked down by Toric all at once.

Thus, after easily defeating the bandits in an instant (a turn), we woke up the guy who was still alive── the one Lily had put to sleep with 「Sleep」.

“Hey.”

Slap!

The guy, who had been woken up by Ibi's slap, looked very flustered.

Well, from his perspective, it must have been like this situation had happened in the blink of an eye.

“Wh-What the f──”

“Shh.”

I put on my mask again and slowly squatted down in front of him.

“There’s a place you need to go with us.”

Then, I raised one corner of my lips in a grin and said.

“It'll be easier for you if you just follow us quietly.”