LEGEND

Chapter 54

「……What do you want, you.」

The bandit leader couldn’t believe what he had seen with his own eyes.

What the leader saw in front of his eyes was a kid in his mid teens, that was the only thing that made sense though.

Running through the air, even though the leader had spent a long time as a bandit in the underworld, this was the first time he had seen such a thing.

「Well, what do I want to do, is it. Anyway, I’m here to stop you from running away.」

Holding the Death Scythe in his hands while the magic shield followed him, he looked at the bandit leader and his two aides.

「First of all, making their subordinates fight and running away by himself……how does such a person lead a group of bandits?」

「Sh-shut up!　The only bandit that needs to survive is me!　Hey, you. Attack him together!　We’ll be able to escape if we take him out.」

Shouting to his aides, the leader readied his huge battle axe.

「Heh~, you still want to do it. ……Well, the purpose is to exterminate all the bandits, surrendering, escaping or dying a honourable death, the result doesn’t change.」

「So noisy!　Do you think we’re scared just because you can fly in air for a while!?　Hey, go!」

「Ah.」

「Tch, do we have no choice.」

The two aides held a long sword and a spear in their hands, they both attacked Rei at the same time.

The man with the spear took advantage of the range of his spear to stab at Rei’s body without interfering with his companions’ attacks.

The other man swung his sword at Rei’s legs from the right.

Finally, the bandit leader swung his battle axe down, aiming to split Rei’s head with his prided physical strength.

「Your cooperation is insufficient.」

Stopping the spear stab with the magic boosted Death Scythe, he cut off the spear head before instantly shifting the handle of the Death Scythe to block the sword aimed at his feet. The leader’s battle axe, that was aimed at Rei’s head, was blocked by the magic shield.

「What!?」

He gave cry in stunned voice. However, Rei didn’t care and used the Death Scythe to cut off the head of the man who held the sword before taking a quick step forward and slashing down at the head of the man with the spear, splitting him left and right.

The man with the sword fell to the ground while spewing blood from his neck. The body of the man with the spear fell to the left and right, offal and blood spilling onto the ground.

「Wh-what did you do!?」

As the leader of the bandits said that, he immediately retreated and brandished his battle axe, more shocked that his attack was blocked than the fact that both his aides were dead.

Though the organs and blood of the man with the spear was spilled at his feet, the leader desperately searched for a chance to escape from Rei without minding that.

「Well, what did I do indeed.」

Muttering, Rei saw the magic shield disappear into mist.

He wanted to create another magic shield again but the leader would notice that it was some sort of magic if he did that. Flicking the blood off the Death Scythe, he pointed the tip of the blade at the leader.

「Guh~, damn, damn, damn this asshole!　We had been doing well up until you interfered. Why did you guys have to come!」

The leader ran towards him brandishing his large battle axe while shouting. Maybe knowing that he couldn’t escape, he seemed to have lost his temper.

Seeing such a leader, Rei was amazed.

「To begin with, if you hated being subjugated, you should have just worked honestly. Is it okay if you kill people and bad if you are killed?」

「Shut up you brat!　Speaking like that to your seniors!　Get out of the way now!」

He swung down the battle axe while shouting. However, the attack wasn’t fast, neither was it powerful or skillful. It was just an attack with nothing but his physical strength.

「……It’s unsightly, you have been caught and punished for your own crimes……die.」

The attack of the battle axe was caught by the handle of the Death Scythe, parrying it. With one strike, the blade slashed out, cutting off the leader’s head and sending it flying.

A few seconds later, the headless body of the bandit leader fell to the ground, spewing blood.

Confirming that, Rei turned to where the melee had been going. It had already finished, all the bandits had been turned into corpses.

「Now then. It seems it’s time to clean up, somehow.」

Swinging the Death Scythe once, he flicked the blood off the blade.

Though if the enemies were monsters, they would have started dismantling them, as expected, there were no materials to strip from humans and doing so would be be in bad taste.

(Well, I wonder if I can dismantle Orc without feeling anything because they are demi-humans.)

「That’s right. I never thought we’d be able to take out 30 people……so, what do we do now?」

Supervia asked while moving closer to Rei.

「That’s right, collect the corpses to the center of the hall.」

「Huh? Why do we have to do something that time consuming?」

At Rei’s words, Arogan interjected, saying it would be really troublesome.

From his appearance, the impact he had received after his first kill in combat could not be seen.

(No, it’s because he’s still in a state of excitement from the battle. Perhaps tonight was too intense.)

Accepting that he could kill people or not. If he could, he would be able to continue as an adventurer, if not, he would not be able to progress as an adventurer.

「Are you sure? What do you think will happen if you left 30 corpses here. 」

「Then, well, they would rot.」

「……That’s why I was saying.」

「Huh?　So what were you saying?」

In place of Rei, who sighed as if there was no hope, Scola explained to Arogan.

「If you leave corpses in that state, although it’s only a possibility, they could become undeads like Zombies and Skeletons……didn’t you know?　In addition, rotting corpses also spread diseases. Though it’s probably okay as this place is 2 days away from Gilm, it would be bad if a strange disease spreads around.」

「Seriously, I get it. I’ll gather the corpses. So, what next after they’re gathered?」

Storing the Death Scythe into the Misty Ring, Rei answered while pulling the corpse of the leader.

「A simple story. I’ll burn them. I won’t leave even bones.」

「!? ……I understand.」

Overwhelmed by the pressure he saw in Rei’s eyes, Arogan half dragged the body of one of the leader’s aides to the center of the hall.

Scola, Supervia and Firuma also saw that and began to gather the bandit corpses to the center of the hall in silence.

Meanwhile, Rei called out to Scola, who’s face was flushed as he pulled a corpse, due to his lack of strength.

「Scola, please inform Gran and Culotte that the bandit subjugation has been completed. At the same time, check the supply area with Culotte.」

「Ah, okay. I understand.」

Scola was a pure mage, he wasn’t good at physical labour. And more importantly, Scola was moving the corpses of the people he had killed. Arogan was the same, Rei didn’t know what would happen once the excitement from battle died down.

「Aren’t you nice.」

Firuma whispered into Rei’s ear.

Rei shook his head with a wry smile at the situation.

「Not really. In the first place, he’s a pure mage and is not suited to do physical labour. Even if he isn’t here, the work efficiency doesn’t change.」

「……Just saying, I’m also a back line person.」

「Since you use a bow as a ranger, don’t you have more physical strength than Scola?」

In compensation for hurting a girl’s feelings with his words, Firuma got Rei to promise to give her some freshly baked cookies when they returned to the city of Gilm.

「It’s become quiet inside the cave.」

Outside the cave, Culotte muttered from the shadows of the lookout building.

「Culotte-san, is the wound on your arm okay?」

An man in his twenties, who was hiding at the back, whispered anxiously.

Culottes right arm had been scratched by a dagger, first aid had been applied by wrapping a cloth around it. Though she originally wanted to heal it with a potion, Culotte had only prepared one potion this time and a merchant that had been caught by the bandits had suffered a serious injury.

Therefore, the potion had been used there. She was only able to stop the bleeding from the wounds she had received from fighting the bandits while guarding the merchants.

「I’m sorry, there are potions in our belongings that were stolen from us, but.」

「Seriously. We owe you, young miss. Getting your help, saving us from the bandits, and giving us your potion. We will return the favour by all means.」

The behind the first man who had whispered earlier, another person called out to Culotte. The man had an atmosphere of a stubborn father and was in his mid forties. Though there was a large amount of blood on his clothes, he didn’t seem to have a pained appearance. This was the merchant Culottes had used her potion on, the reason for the blood was his injury.

There were two people next to her. Because she was appointed by Rei, who was the party leader, to guard to the merchants, Culotte was able to shelve her feeling of guilt and fear from killing the enemies that had been guarding the merchants.

And, as a thief, when Culotte heard footsteps coming close, she reflexively held up her dagger.

The two merchants saw that and hid back into the shadows of the lookout building so as to not interfere with her. But……

「What.」

Then, noticing that the footsteps were from someone she knew, she lowered her guard while exhaling in relief.

「Culotte-san?」

「Young miss?」

As the two people she was guarding called out to her, she nodded with a smile.

「 It’s all right. It’s my companion.」

Culotte’s words were proven at once. Scola poked his head out from the inside of the cave to check the safety of the surroundings.

「Scola, over here.」

「Ah, Culotte. It’s good you’re safe……no, you’ve been injured. Give me a moment.」

Scola noticed that she had a cloth tied to her right arm to stop the bleeding and hurriedly moved to Culotte with his cane.

「Please. As expected, I was a little nervous.」

「It seems to be so, Culotte. Here it goes.」

They looked at each other with a bitter smile. After the two had experienced killing someone for the first time, because they had known each other for a long time, they both smiled to tell the other not to worry.

Scola erased his bitter smile immediately as he focused on Culotte’s arm and began an incantation to a spell.

『Water, be merciful and bestow healing to the person.』

According to Scola’s spell, a blue light gathered on the tip of his cane, eventually moving to Culotte’s right arm.

『Aqua Healing』

At the same time the magic was cast, the blue light entered the wound……the pain that Culotte had felt naturally subsided.

Exhaling in relief, she undid the cloth that had been tied to stop the bleeding. There wasn’t a single scar, just the original, beautiful, skin.

「Heh~, a mage that can use healing magic. Not bad……」

To the middle aged man’s compliment, Scola’s cheeks grew red from embarrassment. Different from her previous wry smile, Culotte spoke up with a real smile.

「So, what are you here for?」

「Ah, oh yeah. Instructions from Rei. We have to go check the storage area.」

「Hmm. The the bandits have been dealt with?」

「Yes. Really, everyone was awesome. In particular, Rei used some sort of magic item and ran through the air.」

「……As usual, he’s not normal. Well, I understand what happened. You’re coming with me just in case. You two come as well. You want to get back your belongings?」

At Culotte’s words, the merchants involuntarily opened their eyes wide. Generally speaking, if their belongings were stolen by bandits, it was normal to have to pay a corresponding amount of money to have it returned.

However, Culotte asked them to freely enter the cave.

「The party leader, Rei, isn’t stingy enough to complain about this. ……Ah, Arogan might complain though.」

「Fufu~, that may certainly be so. But, Arogan won’t go against Rei.」

「That’s probably true. There shouldn’t be any problems. Come with me.」

In this way, the two merchants followed Culotte back into the cave nervously.

For the sake of precaution, while being cautious of possible remaining bandits, Scola followed at the back .

(……I understand her feelings but that’s a small demerit. Even if she returned their belongings, at least it should be after confirming it with Rei, who is the party leader.)

Gran, who had erased his signs and heard the previous conversation, chased after them while dropping Culotte’s mark in his mind by a little bit.

(Well, if you look at exchanging it with the merchants, the demerit isn’t too big.)

Leaving aside the evaluation of the fight between the thief and the prison guards, Gran had a good impression from when she rescued the merchants that had been captured.