Chapter 13 - Mountain Bandits (1/2)
“P-Please wait!! Don’t kill me! Please!!”
“……”
Syltina watched expressionlessly as the man crawled upon the ground in an unsightly manner, wearing a desperate expression as he pleaded for his life.
“P-Pl-Please!! Just my life!! P-Please, have mercy!!!!”
“Just what are you saying now that it’s come to this……?”
“Y-You’re mistaken!! We were originally just villagers!! Y-You know, from Rufhanna Village that’s up ahead!!! Because that village became tainted, people couldn’t live there anymore!! But the other villages and towns wouldn’t take us in!! That’s why!!!! We had to do this!! In order to survive!! See?! You understand!! Right!?”
With snot and tears soaking his body, the man frantically begged.
“Yes. I do understand.”
Syltina smiled at the man’s words.
Why(1), her grin was an extremely strange one.
Encircled by trees as tall as a man stood an old mansion that towered over its surroundings.
In order to explain why Syltina and co. had to come to such a place, we would need to look back to the events that occurred just a few hours ago.
******
“……this is..”
After coming back from bathing, Syltina quietly muttered as she looked at the scene before her eyes.
A campground that had been laid to waste. The figures of the people that were supposed to be there were gone. What was left was only evidence of a fight and smoke from the smouldering campfire. As well as…
“Syltina-sama.”
“Tiel. And Karen too.”
Together with his beloved horse, Karen, Alhart’s familiar, Tieltinkle, emerged from the trees.
“Could you explain what happened here?”
“Yes.”
While soothing the agitated Karen, Syltina sought out an explanation for the current situation (although she could somewhat predict what had happened). That her voice revealed a tint of exhaustion probably couldn’t be helped.
“A few minutes after Syltina-sama went to bathe, we were attacked by mountain bandits. Although the Knight and Prince returned fire, they had the tables turned on them splendidly. Then the two of them, the Saintess, Miliane-sama, Master and Kuroitsu-sama in his human form – all 6 of them were abducted.”
“Kuro and Al didn’t try to resist?”
“Master’s message to you is: ‘Ahh, these guys probably won’t do anything to us for the time being, so I’ll just get caught obediently. I’ll leave the rest to you’.”
“He just thought it was a pain, didn’t he?……well, fine. Luckily, they took everything, including the carriage; so if I follow the wheel tracks, I should be able to reach the headquarters of those mountain bandits.”
“Will we be going in with just us?”
It was reckless to make an attack without even knowing about the opponent’s numbers. Syltina laughed and stuck up her index finger, indicating the first point of her answer to Tieltinkle’s question.
“Even if reinforcements come and try to ambush us, we would definitely notice. And even if Al and I don’t notice, Kuro and Tiel would notice, right?”
“Well, yes.”
Indicating her second point, Syltina raised her middle finger.
“If this was a planned crime, they would have investigated the number of targets in the group. However, right now I’m completely unharmed. It’s possible that they purposely aimed for the time when I wasn’t around, but if they took the 6 of them without killing anyone, then the probability of them selling people off is high. It would be strange that they’d purposely overlook potential ‘merchandise’.”
At her third point, Syltina raised her ring finger.
“Normally, they’d leave behind a carriage, which could possibly reveal their location through its tracks, and just take away the food and valuable items. That’s because having to move it is a hindrance. This time, however, the mountain bandits left a beautiful set of carriage tracks. Well, there is a possibility of it being a trap, but it’s unimaginable that there was a need to specially make a trap to catch a single person. At worst, there would be a possibility that I’d bring people from the Knight’s Order from a nearby village or town after all.”
‘Based on those points’- said Syltina, as she gazed at the carriage tracks up ahead and continued talking.
“The opponent is a complete amateur that hasn’t done this before, and had absolutely no plan. No matter how many small fry group up and come at me, I know I’ll be able to handle them. That being the case, it’s plenty even if we’re the only ones that can fight.”
“That’s true. Incidentally, there were around 15 attackers. All of them were wearing fairly crude equipment that could be considered mere decorations.”
“Then, their headquarters’ defense should consist of approximately 30 people. Well, once we find their hideout, we can just sound out their numbers. Anyhow, let’s just get going.”
Tieltinkle followed after Syltina as she straddled over Karen.
They reached their target destination after about one hour.
In one section of the densely overgrown trees, within a man-made clearing, stood a towering mansion. It probably hadn’t been repaired for several years. Ivy creeped up its walls, drilling into the cracks that could be seen here and there, while the window glass was shattered. The garden was left in ruins. The door had just barely managed to remain hanging on its hinges.
It was unfit for human habitation, but as the “bandit’s” headquarters, it fit well. The carriage tracks continued into the mansion grounds.
“Tiel, can you figure out how many people are inside?”
“Yes. According to the wind spirits(2), it seems there is a total of 37 people inside. Amongst them, 12 of them are women and children and 6 of them are Master and co. The remaining 19 people are the men who abducted them. It appears that Master and co. are in the underground dungeon.”
After receiving Tieltinkle’s report while she hid near the mansion, Syltina gave her a single nod and began doing stretches as she stood up.
“Then I guess we’ll head for the dungeon. Could you guide me there?”
“I’m sure the wind spirits in the mansion will tell me if I ask. What shall we do with the bandits?”
“If they are hostile towards me and attack, then they’re ‘enemies’. We’ll turn the tables on all of them.”
“Understood. Where shall we enter from?”
“Well, of course, ‘from the entrance, fair and square’.”
Thus, Syltina and co. boldly entered the mansion from the main entrance. What greeted them there were men that were far too shabbily dressed to even be calling themselves “bandits”.
“W-Who the heck are you!? What business do you have here!?”
The men’s bodies all tensed up at once. After looking around and surveying them, Syltina glanced at Tieltinkle, who was floating next to her.
“Tiel.”
Although Syltina had only called out her name, Tieltinkle understood what she wanted, shutting her eyes as she began to concentrate her senses.