Chapter 84: Poetic Justice (4)

Shwoooong──

The moment Ibi released the bowstring she had drawn back with all her might, the 「Fire Arrow」 she had nocked flew in a beautiful arc.

Towards the campsite── or more precisely, towards the 「Gunpowder Barrel」.

And.

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang──!!

A huge explosion erupted with a deafening roar.

A large flame shot up into the sky, and debris from the carriage that had been carrying the 「Gunpowder Barrel」 flew in all directions.

“Wow──”

It was a magnificent sight.

So much so that I let out a gasp of admiration without even realizing it.

An hour ago.

“The 「Bandits' Stronghold」 is practically a fortress. If we attack it on our own, we won't stand a chance.”

As we began to seriously set up the ‘campsite’, I explained this operation to my companions.

“So── first, let’s lure them out.”

In fact, I had deliberately sent Jude away.

Because I already knew that after parting with us, he would go to the 「Bandits' Stronghold」 alone and try to sell us out to the bandits.

So, I used it to my advantage.

To lure them not to their sturdy fortress, but to our ‘campsite’.

“Wait.”

At that, Ibi, who was listening to my plan, held up her hand to stop me.

“How did you know that merchant guy was going to sell us out?”

“Well, he was suspicious from the beginning. He was clearly a swindler.”

I answered with a grin.

“He kept glancing at you with interest. And then when he got caught by me, he said he was looking at you because you were pretty.”

“……? Hey, wait a minute. Are you saying that bastard is a swindler because he said I was pretty?”

Ibi crossed her arms in disbelief, and then, as if the more she thought about it, the more pissed off she got, she glared at me.

“…You wanna die, you bastard?”

“No, that’s not it.”

I immediately waved my hands and corrected the misunderstanding.

“That guy, he acted like he was completely smitten with you, but when you got hurt from bumping into something, he didn’t even care. ──In other words, it was a lie.”

He just, recognized you.

I immediately added.

“That you are the half-dark elf Don Paulo is looking for.”

“…….”

For Ibi, who was still staring at me with a disgruntled expression as if she couldn't be convinced, I gave a little more explanation.

“He said, ‘there are a lot of unusual items, so it’s quite profitable to just buy them as cheaply as possible and sell them in other cities’. It means that he had already been doing business back and forth to Tiaria like that several times.”

“…So?”

“So, it wouldn’t be too strange if he had seen the wanted poster for you that Don Paulo had distributed.”

“Then why would he go to the bandits instead of running straight to Tiaria and telling that old geezer directly?”

“Because he's a coward. You saw it, didn't you? That guy is a coward.”

Not just saw, but even laughed at him, so she would surely remember.

“He must have thought it was better to strike first rather than risk getting caught on the way. And well, he probably also intended to make sure he got the reward by catching us before we got away.”

Of course, it was all made up.

So, the reason Ibi had been staring at me with a dissatisfied expression from a while ago might be because she had [Intuited] that it was all just a plausible excuse.

He had been waiting for us in just the right place, at just the right time.

Because it was a set event to meet Jude at that bridge.

It wasn't a random encounter, but a fixed ‘event’.

One that triggered the sub-quest ‘Poetic Justice’.

So, from the moment I met him, I knew everything about why he was there and why he was trying to lure us in.

Including, of course, his true identity.

Anyway.

For that reason, after finishing our meal and rest a little early in another place, we came near the 「Bandits' Stronghold」 and deliberately set up a ‘campsite’ for all to see.

And to lure them, I handed the ring that had recorded my [Performance] to Rine.

Rine, wearing it, would hide in a suitable place using 「Presence Erasure」.

Then, if we succeeded in luring the band of thieves to the ‘campsite’ using the 「Advanced Projection」 of my ring, Rine would immediately escape from that place through 「Windstride」.

And when Rine had secured a safe distance, Ibi, who was waiting in a high position, would shoot a 「Fire Arrow」.

Kaboom──!

To blow up the 「Gunpowder Barrel」 we had left at the ‘campsite’.

This was our plan.

Hee-hee-hing!

The neighs of startled horses echoed.

After the explosion, the few bandits who had barely survived thanks to being on the far side of the 「Gunpowder Barrel」.

“Th-This bastard…!”

Along with the 「Bandit Boss」, who, although he had lost his band of thieves in an instant, was still a boss and had somehow endured the damage despite being caught in the explosion, hurriedly began to flee.

Naturally, towards the 「Bandits' Stronghold」.

But that place was no longer a fortress that was hard to break through.

It was just a shelter, where the remnants with little numbers and stamina had fled to.

“Alright, let’s go too.”

We followed the fleeing guys to the 「Bandits' Stronghold」.

Normally, as soon as the 「Bandit Lookout」 on top of the tower saw us, he would have immediately beaten a drum or blown a horn to gather reinforcements.

Then those guys would have come up to the fortress walls and shot arrows, thrown rocks, or shot fire at us.

But as you can see, the watchtower was empty.

And even if there had been someone, there were no reinforcements to call anyway.

Why?

Because they all blew up earlier.

The reason the 「Bandits' Stronghold」 was a troublesome and difficult dungeon was because the ‘fortress’ gimmick was annoying, not because the guys inside were a problem.

Once they were out of the fortress, whether they were ‘lookouts’, ‘archers’, ‘mages’, or whatever, they were all just the same, not particularly tricky trash mob bandits.

Above all, they were no match for a 「Gunpowder Barrel」.

But even though the guys who attacked us from the unreachable fortress walls were gone, the fortress gimmick itself didn't disappear.

Sure enough, a thick fortress gate that had been firmly shut just in the nick of time was blocking our way.

But, in the end, if there was no one to guard it, it was just a gate.

One that could be broken down.

Of course, we didn't have a catapult to throw something like a ‘flaming rock’.

『Burn!』

But we had Rine.

Hwareureureuk──!!

As if a ‘meteor’ were falling from the sky, three huge 4th-circle 「Fireballs」── ‘flaming rocks’── summoned simultaneously by 「Delayed Casting」, flew towards the fortress gate all at once.

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang──!!

The moment they collided with the gate, they exploded, and the wooden fortress, which was weak to fire, began to burn fiercely.

The gate, of course, was blown off.

Thus, we succeeded in breaking through the fortress gate.

“Wh-What are those guys──”

The bandits who were flustered to see us, had not yet properly treated the wounds they had received after being caught in the explosion.

In other words, they were in a so-called ‘near-death’ state.

『Nice final spurt, you near-death bastards!』

“Kraaak!”

“Ugh!?”

It meant that I could shatter their minds all at once with 「Multiple Vicious Mockeries」 without even having to take off my mask.

But not all the bandits were in that state.

Not all the bandits in the stronghold had come to the ‘campsite’.

Like the 「Bandit Guards」 who had rushed out of that building── the ‘prison’── the personnel who were at least monitoring the locked-up slaves had remained here, so they had not been caught in the explosion and were still fine.

“Uaaah──!”

One of them shouted and rushed towards Miki, who was just getting off his horse.

It was just as he was getting off his horse, before he had even had a chance to grab the shield on his back.

So the guy must have thought he had found an opening.

However, the guy didn't know.

As I said before, he was a guy who hadn't been caught in the explosion.

That we had just taken care of dozens of bandits all at once.

And as we did, we had earned a huge amount of ‘experience points’ all at once.

This, in other words──

“──Hap!”

Meant that Miki, having leveled up, had finally awakened his aptitude as a ‘fighter’.

Papapak──!!

Miki quickly threw his fists and landed a 「Triple Strike」.

As the technique he had been hit with the most by Mistral, it was naturally the first to come out.

“──Keoheok!”

Thus, Miki, who had been rushed at, subdued the bandit in an instant not with his shield, but with his ‘fist (gauntlet)’.

The 「Bandit Guard」, who had been hit in the head, chest, and stomach in an instant, exhaled and collapsed on the spot.

Then, Toric, who had followed him off his horse, swung the axe in both hands with force and knocked down another 「Bandit Guard」.

Kwajik!

Although he hadn't pierced the armor, he had knocked him down as if to break the armor itself.

In the meantime, on the other side, a 「Bandit Guard」 rushed towards Lily.

But before he could even get close, he was hit by Lily's 「Gale」 and sent flying, and the ‘fallen’ him was immediately stabbed in the chest and had his throat cut by Ibi who had rushed over.

Ibi didn't stop there and, with 「Sleight of Hand」, took up a bow, quickly nocked an arrow, and drew the string.

──Swish!

And the arrow that flew, struck the back of the leg of a bandit who was trying to escape into the prison.

“Aak!”

It was the 「Bandit Boss」.

He, who had started to limp with an arrow in his leg, was flustered and raised his weapon, but.

『Kneel!』

My 「Word Command」 forbade that act.

In the end, when he knelt.

“B-Boss!?”

The remaining two 「Bandit Guards」, who seemed to have taken it as a sign of surrender, finally lost their will to fight and began to flee.

Of course, we had no intention of letting them.

Miki threw the shield he was carrying on his back, and Toric 「Charged」.

“Ugh!?”

Kaang!

One of them, who was hit in the back of the head by Miki's flying shield, collapsed on the floor.

Almost simultaneously, Toric, who had flown in, slammed into the other one and knocked him down as well.

“N-No…!”

Towards the ‘fallen’ 「Bandit Guard」, Toric mercilessly brought down his axe.

The bandit who had been knocked down by the shield, seeing the scene, hurriedly got up, afraid that he would be next, but.

“C-Crazy──”

──Thud!

A dagger was embedded in his forehead.

Shwiik!

The dagger that had been pulled out of his forehead immediately returned to the hand of Ibi, who had thrown it.

And with that, the only bandit left in this fortress was the 「Bandit Boss」.

“Wh-What…!”

The guy was trembling on his knees, as if he couldn't believe the current situation where his fortress had been captured in an instant.

“You guys, who the hell…”

“Are we?”

I slowly approached the boss, and first, I lightly swept back my hair that had been disheveled from riding the horse.

“Have you ever heard of ‘poetic justice’?”

Similar words are ‘the triumph of good over evil’, or ‘karma’.

This person was a villain.

“Yeah, that's right.”

A piece of trash who had captured innocent people indiscriminately, deprived them of their freedom, and made them slaves.

So.

“We are the ‘poetic justice’ that has come for you.”

It was now time to pay the price.