episode_0135

– Jjareureung, jjareureung, jjarung….

The eerie sound that abruptly cut off the peaceful conversation in front of the campfire, making Edan’s expression momentarily stiffen.

Just like me, Edan’s face froze as he heard the sound of the security device being activated.

In that state, we exchanged opinions with each other, meeting each other’s eyes for a moment.

“Lilith, just now that….”

“…Wait a moment, Edan. There’s one more thing I need to confirm.”

-Nod.

Edan quietly nodded his head in response to my warning, covering his mouth with his finger.

I listened intently for a few seconds, hoping that the bell might ring again, but after the initial sound, there was no more ringing from the security device tied to the bell.

The good news was that the intruders were not a group of monsters.

…The bad news was that the possibility of them not being monsters became more likely.

If they were monsters, they should have sensed our presence and come running towards us, but in the darkness, there was no sign of any monster cries or footsteps.

It seemed that giving up on sleeping peacefully was our inevitable fate.

-Zzub…. Zzub….

The deliberate sound of slow footsteps, clearly intending to be quiet.

Seeing how suspicious they looked, I quietly spoke to Edan in a low voice.

“There seem to be about six people approaching.”

“Thieves?”

“It’s possible, but it’s still better to keep them at a distance. We have Isabelle with us, after all.”

“…Yes. We have Lilith and Isabelle.”

Even in the darkness, the flickering light of the campfire and the faint moonlight were enough to guess their positions.

When the group approached within about 10 meters of our campsite, Edan drew his knife from his waist and warned them as he pushed them into the darkness.

“That’s far enough. Do not come any closer.”

“……”

“If you’ve taken the wrong path, we’ll send you back to where you came from. This is our campsite, and we cannot allow you to come any closer.”

A slight murmuring could be felt in the darkness. It was a scene of unidentified individuals conversing with each other.

Although I couldn’t understand what they were talking about, I could tell that they were trying to coordinate their words to each other.

“Oh my~. You’re so harsh, could you please put away that black thing?”

“I am not your ‘nari,’ and we plan to use this place until tomorrow morning, so disappear to another place.”

“Well~. We climbed the mountain during the day and accidentally took the wrong path. Somehow, we managed to come down from the mountain in the dead of night, but it’s so dark that we can’t figure out where we are.”

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

“Oh, ‘nari~.’ Instead of saying that, could you please consider our situation? We’ll leave as soon as the sun rises tomorrow.”

“……”

Among the group of about six people, a man with a slightly dejected look stepped forward to persuade Edan.

The rest of them remained hidden in the darkness, but we were already getting a sense of who they were and where they were heading.

Edan cautiously glanced in my direction as if seeking my opinion.

“……”

-Shiver.

“……”

-Nod.

After a brief moment of locking eyes, we confirmed our intentions through subtle body language.

Edan, still pointing his sword at the group, continued with his earlier statement.

“I don’t know. If they take another step forward, I won’t hesitate to use force.”

“Oh my~. Why are you being so cruel, my dear~? How can you ask me to go back in this dark night?”

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

The man at the front stiffened his expression, and the tension between me and Edan grew stronger.

As soon as the negotiation or trickery seemed to be faltering, one by one, the rest of the group began to reveal their identities in the darkness.

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

“You said we could borrow a torch? Why is the story still dragging on?”

Including the man at the front, there were six visible opponents.

Except for the man with a somewhat sullen expression who had first pushed his face forward, the rest of the guys had a sword hanging from their waist, either an Aming sword or a broadsword.

Judging by the scars and knife marks, their appearances weren’t that great either, and the moment when the possibility of being a ‘lost traveler’ completely disappeared was 1%.

“Damn. I had a feeling it would turn out like this.”

Regardless of whether I had just woken up or not, I had to assess whether I could handle the opponents with Edan’s help.

First of all, I can’t use my magic arrows. With the already trashy accuracy, it was impossible to aim in this darkness.

Mana Blast had too long of a casting time, and above all, using it consecutively would strain my body since I had used it recently. It was a large-scale magic, and there was a possibility of accidentally involving Edan.

Using a blurred light in the dark was also impossible, so it meant I had to engage in close combat with a dagger. Of course, I wasn’t thrilled about it.

Setting aside Edan’s exact capabilities for now, I was assessing what I could do, and one of the thieves who had belatedly pushed his face forward shouted at Edan.

“Hyung, let’s share the torch! If we freeze to death in this darkness, you’ll be responsible, right?”

“I don’t feel obligated to take responsibility for that. If you feel wronged, go argue with the sun after freezing to death.”

“Oh, look! The tent looks spacious enough for the six of us! And there are two of them!”

“If there are two tents, ten people can fit in! Isn’t that right?”

The thieves approached with shameless conversation.

Edan pulled out a second sword to face those guys, and he was ready for a full-fledged battle.

“I told you not to come any closer.”

“Oh my~. Scary. The young master not only has one sword but two~!”

“But what should we do? They have only two, but we have more in number.”

“Two? Oh, is that lady also fighting? What can that timid lady do?”

“What are you talking about, you idiot? Of course, I’m talking about that lady and the maid inside the tent. I saw it earlier, so there’s no mistake.”

…What?

What the hell are these bastards muttering about now?

“Oh~. Right, it might be a bit difficult for the two ladies to handle all of us!”

“I found this place, so the black-haired lady is mine. If you want to use her, you have to go through me first…um…”

The words of one of the shameless thieves who fixed his gaze on me with a bold expression didn’t reach the end.

Because Edan’s sword had already fallen accurately from above the guy’s head to his neck.

“What, what?!”

When the confused thieves realized what had happened, Edan was already wielding his dual swords with a fierce look in his eyes at the center of the guys.

In a flash, three heads fell to the ground, including the guy whose throat had been cut at first.

“Hey, hey! Let’s kill that bastard!”

“Damn it! Who the hell is this guy trying to mess with us here?”

“He just got killed, you idiot!”

Only two out of the remaining three finally came to their senses and started resisting Edan with their Aming swords.

The last one, who seemed the most cowardly, immediately started running towards me.

“You son of a b*tch, drop the sword! I don’t want to see that b*tch die…”

“…What the hell is this b*stard talking about?”

-Clang!

“…Huh?”

The guy, who looked momentarily confused seeing his Aming sword bounce off the dagger, was an easy target with so many openings.

-Slash!

“Uh, uh…”

My dagger pierced through his neck, breaking his spine and turning his head into a limp mess, just like in a wizard movie.

“…Ah.”

Oh, sh*t. I just realized this is a Luke dagger.

I just grabbed it in a hurry and it seemed to cut well for some reason.

As I had a useless thought in my mind, I could hear the miserable groans of the two guys on Edan’s side.

Of course, amidst their painful voices, Edan’s voice was absent.

“G-guh….”

“Crazy… there were six of them…”

The last guy muttered stupidly before collapsing.

What’s the point of having six people? If a group of bandits or raiders gathers, it’s not six but twenty or thirty who will come and all get killed.

In fact, even without me, Edan alone could have easily taken down ten people.

In situations like just now, there was a possibility that I could be a hindrance. Dealing with one or two thieves would be easy for me, but if three or four rushed at me, it would be difficult for me to handle them.

Edan’s quick judgment to swing his sword first was the right answer in many ways… although it may have seemed a bit reckless for a moment.

“Lilith, are you okay?!”

“Yes, as you can see, I’m fine, Edan-nim.”

“Are you hurt?! Did that scumbag hurt you…?!”

“Thank you for worrying, but could you please lower your voice a bit?”

“…Ah, okay.”

When Lilith pointed towards the tent where Isabelle was sleeping and spoke, Edan nodded quietly and lowered his voice.

Just in case, I put my ear to the side of the tent and only heard Isabelle’s unique shallow breathing while she was asleep.

“Fortunately, it seems she didn’t wake up in the chaos.”

“…Yeah.”

“It doesn’t seem like a pleasant sight for Isabelle to wake up to in the morning, so it would be better to go a bit further and bury them for now.”

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

“…Understood, Edan-nim.”

Well, even if I offered to help move the bodies here, Edan’s serious refusal seemed to be shown for a moment.

After rebuilding the damaged security devices that the thieves had broken, we roughly covered the bloodstains on the ground with dirt.

When it came to removing traces of objects or rocks, we had to use Clean Magic, but creating a burial site for six bandits naturally took quite a bit of time.

It was almost three in the morning when we finally finished everything and entered the tent, only to be greeted by Isabelle peacefully asleep, unaware of everything.

‘I’m glad she’s asleep and doesn’t know.’

As long as Isabelle was safe and sound, that was enough.

Feeling like I might have forgotten something for a moment, but with my head full of exhaustion after dealing with the aftermath of the surprise attack, it was quite difficult to recall it again.

Amidst the sudden accumulation of fatigue, my body remained motionless, sinking into the sleeping bag.

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