04 – An Incident in the Fores (1/2)
The clashing sound of the sword is violent.
I hang the birds I caught on my hips and run towards the sound.
I hope it is nothing serious, but I want to help if someone is actually in trouble.
I suppress my magic to hide my presence before approaching closer.
At a distance of about thirty meters away from the source of the sound, I come to a halt.
One is a girl wearing a black triangle hat with a wide collar robe and black clothes, an old-fashioned witch costume it seems.
And there is a middle-aged man who is covering the girl.
In opposition of the two, there are three masked man.
There are also nine men collapsed in the vicinity.
「I will not be defeated so easily」
「……..」
The middle-aged man is pointing the tip of his sword at the masked men, even though he is covered in wounds.
The masked men don’t speak. They carefully await an opening.
Apparently the middle-aged man is quite capable, there are no openings.
Guess he really can’t be taken down that easily.
However, judging from the clothes, the nine collapsed men appear to be allies of the middle-aged man.
What seems to have started as 10 vs 3 has now come down to 1 vs 3.
It is only a matter of time before the middle-aged man is also defeated.
「Please leave this to me and escape from here」
The middle-aged man shouts. He seems to be trying to get the girl behind him to escape.
The girl donning the robe readies her cane while trembling and stare down at the masked ones.
「If I don’t heal everyone with healing magic, they will die!」
「That is their aim! That’s why they didn’t deal the killing blow」
Apparently, the nine men are not dead.
It is likely they were not dealt the killing blow to prevent the middle-aged man and the girl from escaping.
「Even if it is so, if I don’t cast healing magic, they’re still going to die」
I can very much understand the girl’s feelings.
Even if it is what the enemy wants, she can’t save her companions without casting healing magic.
That is exactly why they cannot escape.
However, the middle-aged man yells in a demanding tone.
「The Royal Capital is right there! Escape and call for help!」
「I can’t afford to escape alone」
「That’s the best chance of survival for everyone! Please escape if you wish to help me」
Strongly said as such, the girl reluctantly starts running. However, one of the masked men turns towards her.
「You’ll have to get past me」
The middle-aged man moves in a way to cover the girl, but that seems to have been the aim of the masked ones.
Another masked man slashes the middle-aged man from his back.
「Tch!」
The middle-aged man swings the sword sharply behind, but the masked men dodge back a few steps.
「Ooh…」
The girl’s legs seem to have been dealt shallow cuts in a series of battles. It is not fatal but it will be difficult to run.
I understood the basic strategy of the masked men.
The middle-aged man will be able to fight on equal terms if he abandons his allies and concentrates on defeating the masked men.
That’s how high the abilities of the middle-aged man are.
The nine men were left alive to burden the middle-aged man into protecting them.
The middle-aged man is forced to respond with a simple feint aimed towards his fallen companions.
And the masked men cleverly jump at this opportunity and attack.
Though the wound is shallow, the middle-aged man is slowly weakening.
If the middle-aged man tries to kill one enemy at a time, the one who is targeted puts a large distance between them and the middle-aged man cannot chase them.
If he leaves that place, the fallen men and the girl will be susceptible to attacks.
In this state, the middle-aged man will soon be defeated.
Then, the girl and the nine men will die.
「I see. It’s like a pack of skilled wolf hunting a bear」
Therefore, I approach slowly while revealing my presence.
「……」
The masked men without uttering a word look towards me vigilantly.
I ignore them and talk to the middle-aged man with a smile. I smile as not to alert him.
「I don’t know the circumstances, but I’ll assist you」
「And you are?」
The middle-aged man looks at me suspiciously.
「Just an eight-year old child passing through」
And I call out to the girl.
「You’re a healer aren’t you? Concentrate on the treatment」
「But…」
The girl looks at me with a perplexed expression. I understand her puzzled feeling.
If she tried to use healing magic, the masked men would interfere.
「Don’t worry, I won’t let them interf—」
In the middle of the conversation, one of the masked men attacks me with his right hand dagger from behind.
It is quite a sharp attack and he is also quite good at erasing his presence; probably a skilled assassin.
「But it is still slow」
Without turning back, I grabbed the masked man’s right hand behind me with my left hand.
「–!」
The masked man displays his surprise without a sound.
「If you get surprised during battle, then you’re still second rate」
I swung the arm of the masked men with full force and throw him towards another masked man.
At the same time, I close the distance to the third masked-man.
「I’ll start with you」
I hit the masked man’s face with my knee.