Jingle jingle jingle.

 

An ominous sound forcibly interrupted our peaceful conversation in front of the campfire.

Like me, Ethan’s expression instantly hardened as he heard the security device activate.

In that state, he briefly made eye contact with me, and we exchanged opinions in quiet voices.

 

“Lilith, that sound just now….”

“…One moment, Young Master Ethan. There’s one more thing I need to confirm.”

Nod.

 

Ethan quietly nodded as I covered my mouth with my finger and whispered instructions to him.

Thinking that the bell might ring once more, I listened for a few seconds, but after the first ring, the sound of the bell tied to the security device didn’t come again.

The good news is that the opponent isn’t a group of monsters. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

…The bad news is that the possibility of the trespasser not being a monster has increased.

If it were monsters, they should have rushed in by now after sensing our presence, but I couldn’t hear anything in the darkness that sounded like monster cries or footsteps.

It seemed we were destined to give up on sleeping peacefully.

 

Squish… Squish…

 

It was the sound of slow footsteps that clearly showed an intention to lower their sound.

As my suspicion increased, I quietly whispered to Ethan.

 

“It’s people, and there seem to be about five or six of them.”

“Thieves?”

“Maybe not, but I think it’s better not to let them approach. We have Isabel with us, after all.”

“…Right. We have Isabel with us.”

 

Although it was dark, the flickering light of the campfire and the faint moonlight were enough to guess their positions.

When they approached about ten meters from the campsite, Ethan drew the sword at his waist, thrust it into the darkness, and warned:

 

“That’s far enough. Don’t come any closer.”

“……”

“If you’ve lost your way, I’ll let you go, so return the way you came. This is our campsite, and we can’t let you come any closer.”

 

A slight murmur could be heard from the darkness. It seemed the unidentified individuals were discussing among themselves.

I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I could sense that they were trying to match their stories.

 

“Oh my~, sir. That’s so frightening, couldn’t you put that sword away?”

“I’m not your ‘sir,’ and we intend to use this place until tomorrow morning, so disappear and go elsewhere.”

“You see~, we accidentally took a wrong turn while hiking during the day~. We somehow managed to come down the mountain only by this late hour, but it’s so dark we can’t tell where we are~.”

“That’s a sad story, but it has nothing to do with us.”

“Oh, sir~. Can’t you be a bit more understanding and help us out~? We’ll leave as soon as the sun rises tomorrow morning~.”

“……”

 

From the group of five or six, a man with a somewhat friendly appearance came forward to persuade Ethan.

The rest of them remained in the darkness without revealing themselves, and by this point, we had a pretty good idea of who these guys were.

Ethan carefully glanced in my direction as if seeking my opinion.

 

“……”

Shake shake.

“……”

Nod.

 

After our eyes met briefly, we confirmed each other’s intentions through some quick gestures and body language.

Ethan, still pointing his sword at them, repeated what he had just said.

 

“It’s none of my business. If you take one more step forward, I won’t hesitate to use force.”

“Oh my~. Why are you being so harsh, sir~? How do you expect us to navigate through this pitch-dark night~?”

“You can go back the same way you came. If necessary, I’ll give you a torch.”

“……”

 

The expression of the man in the lead hardened, and my and Ethan’s wariness intensified.

As soon as it seemed like the negotiation, or rather the scheme, was stalling, the rest of the group began to reveal themselves from the darkness one by one.

 

“What’s taking so long? How long are you going to make us wait?”

“Didn’t you say you could borrow their campfire? Why are you still talking?”

 

Including the man in the lead, there were six sturdy men visible.

Except for the friendly-looking man who had first shown his face, the rest all had swords that looked like arming swords *1 or broadswords hanging at their waists.

Judging from the scars and signs of sword wounds on their bodies, their appearances couldn’t be described as pleasant.

That was the moment when even the 1% possibility of them being ‘lost travelers’ completely disappeared.

 

‘Shit. I had a feeling this would be the case.’

 

Setting aside the fact that we wouldn’t be getting any sleep, we first had to assess whether Ethan and I could handle them with our current strength.

First off, I can’t use my Magic Arrows. With their already terrible accuracy, it would be impossible to hit anything in this darkness.

Mana Blast takes too long to cast, and above all, since I used it recently, using it again would put too much strain on my body. Since it’s a large-scale AoE spell, there was also a chance I could hurt Ethan if I messed up. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

It’s impossible to use Blurred Light when it’s dark, which meant I’d have to engage in close combat using a dagger. Naturally, I wasn’t keen on the idea.

As I was assessing what I could do, setting aside Ethan’s actual combat ability for now, one of 

the thieves who had belatedly shown his face shouted at Ethan.

 

“Brother, don’t be like that; let’s share the campfire! Are you going to take responsibility if we freeze to death in this darkness?”

“I don’t see why I should be responsible for that. If you feel wronged, go complain to the sun after you freeze to death.”

“Oh, come on! The tent looks quite spacious, surely it can fit the six of us! Besides, you have two of them!”

“With two tents, there’d be room even if ten people slept in them! Right?”

 

The group of thieves approached us one or two steps at a time while having this brazen conversation.

Facing them, Ethan drew his second sword, completing his preparation for a real fight.

 

Shing.

“I told you not to come any closer.”

“Oh my~. How scary. The young master has drawn not one, but TWO swords~!”

“But what can you do? There are only two of you, and we have quite a few more.”

“Two? Oh, is that girl going to fight too? What can such a skinny girl do?”

“What are you talking about, idiot? Of course, he means that woman and the maid inside the tent. I saw her earlier, so I’m sure.”

 

……What?

What the hell are these bastards babbling about?

 

“Ah~. Well, it would be a bit difficult for two girls to handle all of us!”

“I found this place, so that black-haired girl is mine. If you want to use her, it’ll be after I’m do…ne…”

 

The words of the thief, who had been fixing his gaze on me with a brazen expression, didn’t quite make it to the end.

The sword energy wielded by Ethan’s right hand had already accurately dropped the bastard’s head from above his neck.

 

“…Huh?”

“Wh-What?!”

 

When the confused group of thieves regained their senses, not knowing what had happened, Ethan was already in the center of them, swinging his dual swords with a fierce look in his eyes.

Including the one whose head had fallen off first, the heads of three of them fell to the ground in quick succession.

 

“Hey, hey! Kill that bastard!”

“Fuck! Who’s the bastard who said we should rob this place!”

“He just died, you idiot!”

 

Of the remaining three who belatedly came to their senses, two began to resist by swinging their arming swords at Ethan.

The last one, who looked the weakest, immediately started running towards me.

 

“You son of a bitch, put down that sword! I don’t want to see this bitch di…”

“…You’re talking shit, you fucking bastard.”

 

Clang!

 

“……Huh?”

 

The guy looked confused for a moment as his arming sword, swung with all his might, was deflected by my dagger.

It wasn’t too difficult to stab my dagger into the neck of such a guy full of openings.

 

Slash!

 

“Uck, ughhhhh…”

 

My dagger, which had penetrated the center of his windpipe, cut through his cervical spine, turning the bastard’s head into something like those nearly-decapitated ghosts or zombies you might see in fictional movies.

 

“…Ah.”

 

Ah, shit. Now that I look at it, this is Luke’s dagger.

I had just grabbed whatever was at hand in the urgency, but no wonder it cut so well.

As that useless thought flashed through my mind, miserable groans from two more people could be heard from Ethan’s direction.

Naturally, Ethan’s voice wasn’t among those painful cries.

 

“Urgh…”

“Y-You crazy… There were… six of us…”

 

The last one collapsed, uttering some moronic last words.

What does it matter if there were six of them? When trash who attack camping carriages gather, whether it’s six or ten or twenty, they all end up dead.

In fact, even without me, Ethan could have easily sliced through about ten of them on his own.

In a situation like just now, I might have even been a hindrance. I could probably handle one or two thieves easily enough, but if three or four rushed at me, it would be difficult to deal with them easily with this body. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Ethan’s judgment to quickly assess the situation and swing his sword first was correct in many ways. …Although it looked a bit reckless for a moment.

 

“Lilith, are you okay?!”

“Yes, as you can see, I’m fine, Young Master Ethan.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?! Did that piece of shit injure you…?!”

“I appreciate your concern, but could you lower your voice a bit?”

“…Ah, yes.”

 

Ethan nodded quietly and lowered his voice as I pointed toward the tent where Isabel was sleeping.

Just in case, I put my ear to the side of the tent to listen for any signs that she was awake, but all I could hear was Isabel’s characteristic shallow breathing when she slept.

 

“Fortunately, it seems she didn’t wake up despite all this commotion.”

“…I see.”

“It wouldn’t be a pleasant sight for Isabel to see when she wakes up in the morning, so I think it would be best to bury them a bit far away for now.”

“…I’ll take care of that, so Lilith, could you set up the security devices again, for now?”

“…Understood, Young Master Ethan.”

 

Well, I had a feeling that if I had offered to help carry and move the bodies here, Ethan would have refused with a serious face. 

I set up the security devices again that the thieves had damaged while breaking in and roughly covered the bloodstains on the ground with dirt.

I had to use Clean to remove bloodstains on objects or rocks.

Of course, it took quite a bit of time to create a burial site for six buff men.

When we finally finished everything and entered the tent at almost three in the morning, what we saw was the sight of Isabel sleeping soundly, oblivious to everything.

 

‘It’s fortunate she slept through it all, unaware of what had happened.’

 

It was enough that Isabel was safe and sound.

I had a momentary feeling that I had forgotten something, but with my head full of fatigue after finishing the night watch and dealing with the attack, it was quite difficult to recall.

In the midst of the sudden exhaustion, my body collapsed right into the sleeping bag.

…Well, if it was really important, I’ll probably remember it by tomorrow morning.