Chapter 98 - Volume 10 (1/2)

It was Shia who first noticed the commotion.

“Isn’t that someone being attacked ahead?”

As usual, Yue was pressed up against Hajime. Kaori tried to get between them, the aura of her dragon pressed up against Yue’s lightning aura. The result was that Hajime had to be careful driving and thus didn’t have his attention on what was in front of him.

As Shia said, there appeared to be a caravan ahead with two groups, one attacking the other. As their vehicle approached, Hajime’s “distance vision” allowed him to see two groups in the middle of a battle, one offending and the other defending. Shea’s usamimis picked up the roar of battle before Hajime could see them.

“They appear to be bandits. The bandits seem to outnumber the caravan guards over 40 to just 15. The difference in their combat potential is clear.” Hajime describes the situation to Yue and Kaori.

“… Nn, the guards are putting up a good fight,” Yue adds.

“They have a barrier spell surrounding the caravan, but it’s not going to hold out. The bandits are trying to break the wall with magic.”

“But their defense is holding for the moment.”

“Having a barrier cover the entire caravan stretches it pretty thin. It will not endure long. They’ve bought themselves some time, but it won’t hold.”

It appears like the caravan faced a surprise attack. Numerous people within the barrier were crouched down with injuries, or worse dead. They had managed to take out a few bandits, but the bandits were still proportionally more. They had managed to erect a barrier, but once it failed the people of the caravan would undoubtedly meet a gruesome end.

Hajime’s conversation was cut short as the barrier melted to nothingness. The bandits raised a shout and surged forward, breaking through the caravan’s remaining defenses with vicious grins on their faces. The escort squadron fought back desperately, but they were outgunned. One person after another fell to injuries from the bandits.

Kaori had a determined expression on her face, she turned to Hajime and requested he help rescue them in a tone that suggested she was agitated.

“Hajime-kun, please! Help them, if you can…”

Hajime didn’t respond, but accelerated his 4 wheeler instead. Since it was obvious the caravan would be wiped out if he didn’t help, he had already decided he wanted to know their story. He wanted to say that to Kaori, but didn’t.

The 4 wheeler chewed into the ground producing a “garri garri garri” sound as he accelerated with a vengeance, the car moving as if it was attached to a rocket engine.

“Hajime-kun, thank you…”

Kaori smiled happily as he began to take action. Hajime shrugged in response. Hajime was simply doing what he wanted to do. Yue tightened her seatbelt.

“Oh, that, Hajime-kun? Isn’t this a bit…”

The feeling seemed to be ruined as the four wheeler continued to accelerate moment by moment. Although she asked him to help, she knew how cars worked on earth, and the speed he was charging at them didn’t leave time to stop. Was he going to ram them with the 4 wheeler? Kaori could not help but think so.

With Haori concerned, Hajime responded clearly.

“Don’t they teach you to stomp the accelerator when you see a criminal in driving school?”

“Of course they wouldn’t teach that. Don’t twist the traffic laws to your discretion. Hey, Yue, don’t agree with him, stop nodding!”

While Kaori tsukkomi’d, Hajime ignored her, turning the vehicle towards the bandit sitting in the rear who appeared to be the leader. Hajime intended to kill the bandits by running them over without hesitation.

The bandit leader finally noticed the strange object approaching them leaving behind a cloud of dust. He issued instructions to nearby bandits, and they began to chant magic. To them, the 4 wheeler appeared to be some new kind of demon or monster. They would not have believed it was man-made, let alone operated by people.

Hajime poured magical power in to the four-wheeler, operating one of its many functions. A blade of approximately 1 meter protruded from the sides and roof. The bandits fired flame bullets at the vehicle, but they bounced harmlessly off the four-wheeler, so Hajime chose to ignore them and kept driving forward. Even though the flame bullets were striking the vehicle, its steadfast rush towards the bandits put sour expressions on their faces.

Dogoo! Baki! Squish!

Horror, despair, and embarrassment – those were the expressions on the bandit’s faces as they collided with the hood of the 4-wheeler.

As bandits flung over the roof, the blade on top ripped them to shreds. Some tried to jump to the sides to avoid the blades and were blown away instead. At 80 km/h, anyone who was lucky enough to miss the blades ended up with shattered bones and ruptured organs.

The rear group of bandits were wiped out in a moment, leaving seven dead.

After taking out the rear bandits, Hajime spins the car, putting it into a drift. The area becomes a slaughtering ground as the 4 wheelers cuts into the bandits, leaving the surviving members of the caravan staring with stunned looks. Bandits and caravan guards in close combat suddenly stop to stare at the scene.

As the bandits and caravan guards eye them cautiously, Hajime turns to Kaori as she leans forward eagerly.

“If they attack us without compassion, we must be willing to do the same. Do you understand?” Hajime explained to Kaori.

“… yes, I understand.”

Kaori understood that despite being kind, she wasn’t allowed to heal or protect the people she would call enemies. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to follow Hajime. She had made her resolve to be in his party. Hajime feared that Kaori would get in his way, but she gave him a resolute nod to alleviate his suspicions.

“I won’t get interfere. So do what you need to do.” Hajime sighed.

“Yes.” Kaori let out a smile, getting out of the four wheeler and racing to the closest injured person. She was surprised that it turned out to be a young woman. The bandits who had regained their resolved immediately approached Kaori aggressively, their faces twisted in anger over the bandits the 4 wheeler had killed.

“You whore! Die!” While raising an angry voice, one of the bandits brandished his long sword.

Kaori spared him a sideways glance and then brushed past while ignoring him. She continued at a full sprint towards the injured person while beginning her chant. A moment later there was a loud bang, and man’s head exploded, easily ending his life.

Dopan! Dopan! Dopan! Dopan! Dopan! Dopan!

The wind continuously carried the sounds of death with each crack of thunder. Each explosion resulted in the destruction of another head in a spectacle of blood. It was overwhelmingly harsh. The more than 40 bandits were reduced to half their number in a matter of seconds.

In a panic at the unbelievable sight, a few of the bandits tried to grab Shia and the other girls in an attempt to gain a hostage. One of the guards tried to shout out to the girls to give them a warning, but his worries were pointless. Shia’s superhuman growth was progressing quite nicely, and there were no openings in this combat rabbit!

Shia pulled out Doryukken from the treasure room, which appeared to the bandits like nothingness behind her. Passi! It made a satisfying sound as she swung it, the hammer stretching to size. As she swung, a circular white membrane formed on end. It was a wall of air which struck the upper bodies of three of the bandits, blowing them away in a single hit.

“Oops! Too much blood!”

Apparently, as they hadn’t fought any small fries in a while, Shia had forgotten to restrain herself when fighting a weaker enemy. She had intended to just toss the enemy back, but with her absent-minded spirit, she had sent their upper bodies flying without the lower. The sudden splattering of blood causes Shia to back up several steps in surprise.

Yue and Tio spared Shia amazed looks, even though they were in the middle of decimating the other bandits with a storm of magic.

The remaining 10 bandits were unceremoniously shot by Hajime, death immediately following without time to plead for their lives. It was pure destruction without any forgiveness.

Kaori used the recovery magic restoration to heal numerous people at once scattered across the caravan. Regrettably, many of the caravan guards who had fallen earlier had already breathed their last breath. Even reproduction magic could not help bring them back from the dead.

As Hajime approached Kaori, a person raced up to her quickly. The stranger was small-statured, their face hidden with a hood, causing them to appear suspicious. However, Hajime knew this was the person who had kept the barrier up to desperately protect the caravan. None of the caravan guards got in Hajime’s way as he approached them.

“Kaori!”

The hooded person threw out her hands and used her momentum to leap at Kaori while calling her name in a pretty voice. Kaori didn’t hide her astonishment, muttering the name of the person in the process.

“Lily (She’ll be called Riri or Ririana in the next chapter on)? After all, it is Lily? That barrier looked familiar. I didn’t think I’d find you in such a place, but I suspected…” It appeared Kaori recognized the hooded person as Lily.

—– Rather, Liliana S.B. Heilig (Hairihi), the third princess of the Heilig (Hairihi) Kingdom was the person in the hood.

Liliana hugged Kaori with relief, offering a glimpse of her big, blue eyes and apparent beauty hidden by the hood. Her eyes squeezed shut as she began to cry, speaking to Kaori quietly between sobs.

“I also did not think I’d find Kaori in this place. It is… good fortune. It seems that I haven’t exhausted my luck yet.”

“Lily? What’s wrong?”

Kaori didn’t quite get the meaning of Liliana’s words, but she noticed something was off and pulled back. Liliana put a finger on Kaori’s mouth, urging her not to use Liliana’s name.

Apparently Liliana was alone and had managed to slip into the caravan to get this far. Kaori gave a sympathetic look as she tried to emphasize with the struggle the princess must have faced.

“Kaori, are you guys done?” Hajime interrupted, oblivious to the mood.

Liliana gave Hajime a blank look. Suddenly, Liliana raised her voice and shouted “Hya!” Looking up at Hajime from within her hood, a light bulb seemed to go off in her head and she immediately began to greet Hajime.

“It’s Nagumo, isn’t it? Long time no see. We had heard about your survival after the fall. The strength and ability to survive is worthy of respect. It was good you survived. While you were missing, Kaori was a wreck.”

“Wait, Lily, we’re fine now.” Kaori spoke in a fluster.

“I heard about how Kaori confessed to Hajime from Shizuku, but you’ll have to tell me more about it later.”

Liliana was teasing Kaori in a fun tone, smiling from the back of her hood. Kaori turned bright red from embarrassment.

The princess’s smile must be very popular with the public. There was no doubt that if she aimed it at the young and old alike, they would fall for her. However, Hajime wasn’t particularly moved by her smile.

Without reading the atmosphere at all, he eyed her suspiciously and demands,”…And who exactly are you?”

“Heh?”

If Hajime didn’t interrupt them, Liliana and Kaori would undoubtedly keep talking about the status of all the other students in the kingdom. Hajime didn’t have the patience to be subtle. He wanted a direct answers.

Liliana was a princess with a great personality and who was loved by everyone she met. She was shocked to be addressed so improperly by a man who normally wouldn’t even be worthy of meeting the princess, thus she let out a goofy voice involuntarily.

The panicked Kaori immediately tried to smooth out the situation on behalf of the dazed Liliana. She spoke in a low voice so no one else could hear them.

“Hajime you… Princess! It’s the Princess! It’s the Heilig Kingdom Princess Leliana that you’re speaking to!”

“……………………………………….. Ah…”

“Gusu (sobbing), you’ve forgotten me, haven’t you? Gusu.” Leliana whined.

“Lily! Don’t cry because of that! Hajime-kun is kinda whatchamacallit. He’s special. No one normal would forget Lily. So you don’t need to cry!” Kaori attempted to smooth things out.

“Hey, can you not say those rude things so casually?” Hajime sighed.

Since Liliana’s watery eyes looked quite terrible, Kaori was desperate to comfort her. Hajime involuntarily tsukkomi’d, however Kaori gave him a dirt look that said “be quiet right now!” Meanwhile, Liliana was explaining “No, it’s okay Kaori, it just hurt my pride a little…” Across the board, the conclusion from the conversation seemed to be that Hajime was wrong for having completely forgotten who Liliana was.

With the atmosphere already delicate, a man from the caravan approached them.

“It’s been a long time…. It looks like you’re in good health…” the caravan leader stated.

“From health drinks…” Hajime responds