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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Silavin
They were about two thirds of the way through their journey to the royal capital, passing through several villages and towns.
Up to now, the merchant team had never been attacked by monsters because Nana had taken care of things, but this finally changed.
If it was a monster that was after the trading party, they could have left it to Nana as before, but they could not do so this time.
“…Rein-san, we have a problem.” Kousuke, who had been speaking with Kouhi and Mitsuki, told Rein, who was in the wagon.
Kousuke and the others, who had so far managed to avoid the monsters’ attacks without any difficulty, went out of their way to call it a problem, and Rein, anticipating that it must be something troublesome, let out a sigh.
“Is it difficult for Nana to deal with?”
“Oh, no. If it’s a monster of that level, we can easily subjugate them. The problem is that there are people involved… ”
Kousuke slurred his words, but Rein immediately knew what he was trying to say and raised an eyebrow.
“Are they bandits?”
“We’re too far away for me to confirm, I don’t know yet.”
“I see… ”
Saying this, Rein pondered.
If the other party was just bandits, there wouldn’t be a problem, but if it was not… it would be even more complicated.
Kousuke also knew that the cargo they were carrying this time was not something that would be carried by an ordinary merchant team, which was why he was asking Rein what to do in this situation.
It was up to Rein to decide what to do.
“For now, let’s proceed until we can determine what kind of people we are dealing with. Are you okay with that?”
Kousuke nodded, knowing what he wanted to do.
Kousuke knew that Rein wanted to get this package to the Royal Capital as quickly as possible.
However, if they were surrounded by a large number of people, it may prevent them from doing so.
If it were just bandits that they were dealing with, they could easily handle it, but if it was a well-trained opponent, it may not be so easy, Rein assumed.
Both Rein and Kousuke were expecting such opponents.
Of course, if Kouhi and Mitsuki were to get serious, they would be able to destroy any opponent with ease. But whether they would have to go that far or not had yet to be determined.
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They moved closer, advancing at their usual speed, so that the other side would think that they did not notice.
When they got close to a certain distance, Kouhi and Mitsuki, who had much better eyesight than the others, started talking about the other party.
“Apparently, they look like bandits at first glance, but other than what they are wearing, they all look too clean.”
“Exactly, they don’t look filthy enough.” Kouhi and Mitsuki said to imply that they looked too clean to be ordinary bandits.
They were obviously a suspicious group.
Kousuke relayed this information to Rein.
“…Can we get away with it, or if it comes to a fight, can we deal with this?”
“It would be possible, but are you okay with that?”
“If we end up in a battle, we have no choice.”
Rein’s decision to do so ensured that this information was conveyed to the escorts.
The faces of the adventurers were tightening up as they finally felt like their escorting duties were about to start.
The strategy was to pretend to be unaware of the attack and proceed as usual.
Meanwhile, Kouhi would approach the rear of the group and plant a trap before it could be set.
Another option was to annihilate the attackers while they were disoriented.
The most challenging part was whether Kouhi could reach the back of their opponent first.
For this reason, Kouhi was the only one who has been allowed to go ahead of the carriage.
Since she had been away for quite some time, she had time to fully observe their opponents.
The merchant team proceeded as if nothing had happened up to what appeared to be the point of attack.
It was the most jittery time, but at least the adventurers did not look impatient.
Although they had never been in direct combat during this request, Kousuke trusted them to some extent.
The number of opponents was about 20.
By simple arithmetic, one would have to defeat two of them, but that would not be possible because of Kouhi and Mitsuki.
Kousuke made sure to tell Kouhi and Mitsuki not to kill their opponents as much as possible.
This was not because we were thinking of them, but because they wanted to get information out of them.
The other side seemed to be planning to surround our trading company and attack it.
They have troops dispersed on both sides of the road so that they could surround the merchant corps.
They were aiming for a pincer attack.
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When the merchant team had made some progress, the battle began.
A high-pitched whistling sound echoed around the area. That was probably the signal for the other side to attack.
Those who had been hiding in the shadows attacked the merchant group all at once.
“We are under attack!” Kousuke called out to the group in a voice that sounded as if he deliberately noticed them for the first time.
Immediately, most of the wagons stopped in their tracks.
However, only the carriage that was moving at the front of the line increased its speed and tried to break away from the scene.
This was also the plan from the beginning.
According to Rein, if only this carriage reached the royal capital, the objective would be accomplished.
Therefore, they intentionally separated this carriage from the other carriages.
Another purpose was to determine how much information the other party had.
If the assailants were targeting the first carriage, as Rein had predicted, they would aim for the first carriage.
Meanwhile, Kouhi, who had been working separately, started to act upon Kousuke’s signal.
Kouhi had more than enough time to strike the person who seemed to be the leader of this group.
She immediately launched an attack against that person.
However, the other party was also quite capable, and at the very least, noticed that he was being targeted.
Although he was surprised, his face was concerned, he soon noticed Kouhi and pointed his weapon at her.
However, that was as far as he was able to do.
Soon Kouhi attacked him in a vital spot, causing him to drop to the ground.
At the same time, those around him were also dropped soon after.
And not more than 30 seconds had passed.
Even though Kouhi had eliminated the leader, the other side had probably anticipated this much damage to some extent, and no particular confusion seemed to have occurred when only the lead carriage sped away from the scene.
At this point, nearly half of the remaining forces came towards the lead carriage.
Since the other party was also on horseback, it was impossible for them to continue running away.
They stopped the carriage after reaching some distance away.
When they were far enough away that the other carriages could not immediately come to support them, they stopped the carriage.
“Mitsuki, time to go.”
“Okay.”
Saying that, only Mitsuki moved to a place that was some distance away from the carriage.
Nana, who was riding with Kousuke also moved in the same way.
“Noll, I’m counting on you.”
“Yes.”
As Kousuke called out, Noll put up a barrier to protect the entire carriage.
Kousuke and Rein were inside the barrier.
All that remained was for Mitsuki and Nana to destroy the marauders that were on their way.
The question was whether the attackers would be able to do something about the barrier, but even if they could, Kousuke was not particularly worried about it.
The barrier that Noll, a fairy, had put up would take even a reasonably high-ranking wizard a long time to break.
In fact, it would be impossible to break it in a short battle.
Even if there were Spirit Users on the other side, it would be the same results.
There was such a difference in power between Spirits and fairies.
Thus, there was more than enough time after covering the carriage with a barrier and for Mitsuki and Nana to deal with their attackers.
It was a simple strategy, but it was the most reliable method, and so it was put into action.
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