9 – Mountain Village

The sound of the village gate opening drew the bandits outside. But they were met with armed personnel radiating Intent to Kill, intent on slaughtering them.

Caught off guard in the middle of the night, the bandits couldn’t withstand the assault from the people of Stillo Village.

“Yawwwn.”

Amel didn’t even need to step in.

The bandits were only about as strong as the Self-defense force.

Maybe even a little weaker.

Even so, the reason they were able to overwhelm the village was because the bandit leader and his second-in-command were both skilled Magicians and Expert-level fighters. The leader had the brains for strategy, and the second-in-command for tactics, making the bandit group strong.

The reason the village remained occupied by the bandits even after their main base had fallen was simply because they had already been subdued.

If they weren’t given a chance to regroup, a reversal was impossible.

But the attack by the Self-defense force members from the neighboring village prevented that. Combined with the surprise attack in the middle of the night, the bandits staying in Jemili Village were helplessly killed or captured.

That day, the village regained its peace.

Tattered and torn,

But still, an relief permeated the air, amidst the sorrow of losing family, friends, and comrades.

“Is it over?”

“Yes.”

Leki replied.

“Yawwwn. Then I’m going to sleep now. Wake me up if something happens that you guys can’t handle.”

“Yes. Sleep well.”

Amel rubbed her eyes and, guided by Leki, entered a nearby building.

Suddenly.

She sensed the presence of a Magic Fragment nearby, but being drunk, she wanted to satisfy her desire for sleep more than recover the Magic Fragment.

‘Besides, it seems like their goal is to steal the Magic Fragment from those three.’

Judging by the movement of the presence, it seemed that the will of the host possessing the Magic Fragment was stronger than the will of the Doll.

If the Doll’s will had been stronger, it would have sensed Amel’s presence and fled.

Well, a Doll is a Doll.

What will would it have?

The host of the Magic Fragment didn’t run away, but instead seemed to be hiding, waiting for a chance to strike.

‘I could catch them now if I wanted to, but…’

Too much of a hassle.

I’m sleepy.

“Yawwwn.”

She lay down on the bed,

And covered herself with the blanket.

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

‘They’ll handle it well enough on their own.’

It wasn’t just anyone, but three girls she had personally injected combat techniques into.

Amel had used Electricity to recreate the sensations she had felt while moving her own body, allowing them to use Sword Aura.

It wasn’t exactly the same,

But she manipulated it so that they could achieve similar results, appropriately adjusted to them, considering how drunk she was.

She had tried it for fun, and as a result, they had mastered Sword Aura on their own.

‘At that rate, they’ll be able to fight with a similar sense to mine for a while.’

Just how strong was she?

They wouldn’t be able to fight exactly the same,

‘But even imitating me will be impressive enough.’

Yawwwn.

She yawned sleepily.

Of course, since that experience and those sensations weren’t originally theirs, they would fade away, but for a while, those sensations would linger and make them stronger.

If they had the will, she could make them even stronger.

Amel unconsciously estimated that this was possible, and her consciousness gradually fell into Dreamland.

In her fading consciousness.

She remembered something she had forgotten.

‘Ah… I forgot to tell them.’

But it’s too much of a hassle.

Let’s just sleep.

They’ll wake me up if it gets dangerous.

“Zzz…”

“Where are the men?”

“….”

Polia asked.

Dona hesitated to answer.

“You have to listen to me.”

“…They’re dead.”

“So, there was no point in me being sold to the bandits.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Saying sorry isn’t enough. You don’t think you can be forgiven with just words, do you?”

“….”

Polia pinched both of Dona’s cheeks.

The bandits had mercilessly killed the men.

The reason was that the bandit group’s strength came from the leader and the second-in-command.

Polia, having directly faced the bandits, could feel that they were weaker than the Self-defense force members.

If they kept the Self-defense force members, mainly men, alive, they wouldn’t have the strength to suppress them if they rebelled in the absence of the leader or second-in-command.

So, they nipped it in the bud beforehand.

That’s why all the men were dead.

They were murdered.

Polia had seen and heard the leader giving those instructions directly by his side. Thinking about it made her skin crawl.

Because she had been sold off despite hiding so well, and she had been harassed by the leader, but it had all been for nothing.

She pinched both of the bad girl’s cheeks and pulled them left and right.

“Hngh…”

“You need to be punished.”

She let go of her hands.

It’s no fun.

Thinking about being sold to the bandits and what she had experienced there, she hated it, but becoming Amel-nim’s Doll in that series of events was fortunate.

A very good thing that followed a bad thing.

She met Amel-nim.

Thanks to that, she hated Dona’s decision, but she didn’t hate it anymore.

Being able to look at it calmly, she could understand why Dona had no choice but to make that decision at the time.

“It must have been hard.”

“….”

She lowered her head and sobbed.

Dona wiped away her tears.

“By the way, Polia, were you always so good at fighting?”

“Hehe.”

I was waiting for you to ask.

Polia proudly drew the sword from her waist and showed off the movements of the swordsmanship that Amel-nim had guided her with Electricity.

Just continuing the movements caused Magical Power to gather on the sword, turning it into an intangible Blade.

The feeling of moving her arms.

The feeling of moving her waist.

The feeling of moving her legs.

In all those feelings, she recalled the stimulation that Amel-nim had engraved on her and moved accordingly.

The clarity of the Sword Aura was worse than when she had caught the Demon beast and was faint, but a village woman who had never held a sword before was now wielding a sword for the first time and manifesting Sword Aura.

Polia, who had created Sword Aura without Amel’s help, left afterimages of Sword Aura in the air.

“Sword Aura?”

“Turns out I was a genius?”

“No way.”

“If I had known this would happen, I should have picked up a sword too. I wasted this precious talent.”

“If you had, you would have become a Master.”

“Whatever.”

Polia looked at Dona mockingly.

“Of course, I’m lying. This is all the grace that Amel-nim has bestowed upon me. How could someone ordinary like me use Sword Aura overnight?”

Polia looked at the house where Amel was staying with fascination.

“I am Amel-nim’s Possession.”

“…You’re talking about that pretty woman, right? You used to go around saying you didn’t want to be a man’s object, so was the problem just the gender? Huh?”

“It’s different.”

“Ah..!”

Polia approached Dona and flicked her forehead.

“Amel-nim is someone who will become incredibly amazing in the future. Do you think a normal man’s wife and a Lord’s loyal sword are the same thing? Huh?”

“Lo, Lord?”

“Yes, Lord-nim. Amel-nim will rule a Territory in the future. Even I, a mere country girl, can see that Amel-nim’s Strength is immense.”

Polia had seen Amel confront the Blade Monster and defeat the Bone Axe Monster.

Both of them boasted a power more intimidating than a Demon beast, and even with Leila and Molly’s cooperation, she couldn’t face them now.

Amel-nim had defeated such monsters alone with ease.

In the case of the Blade Monster, they had fought a battle that shook the earth.

If you knew an Expert-level fighter, you could be sure that she wasn’t at that level. If so, she would be at least a Master, so a Master is definitely at a level where they would be granted a Territory.

In fact, she might already be a Lord of somewhere and came here because of some accident.

“I will become the sword that she wields. I am Amel-nim’s Possession. Haa… What a glorious resonance this is.”

“….”

Dona looked at her as if she was fed up.

She was different from the Polia she knew.

But she understood.

It meant that the woman named Amel was an amazing person enough to captivate Polia.

She was the benefactor who had granted Polia’s request and saved the village, so she was going to treat her as politely and respectfully as possible anyway.

Thud.

“───Polia! Molly!”

“..!”

Polia, without a word, jumped out of the window as soon as she heard the call from outside.

That voice just now was the voice of a woman named Leila. Judging from the situation, she was a woman who had received Amel’s grace along with Polia.

Dona also hurriedly left the house and ran towards where Polia had gone.

But,

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Swoosh..!

It was outside the Barrier.

Polia had jumped over the Barrier, and a violent collision sound erupted.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang-!

Bang!

Swish!

The Barrier was broken.

Dona was startled when she saw it.

The Barrier had collapsed as if it had been cut, and Polia was blown into the village from the collapsed Barrier along with the Barrier debris.

“Ugh..!”

The gap in the collapsed Barrier.

A beast had entered.

A wolf covered in silver-white fur.

It was a bit different.

The fur was flat, covering its body like scales, but upon closer inspection, they were all Blades. Thin Blades covered its entire body like fur, and its tail rattled, stirring the Blades.

A wolf made of Blades.

It was a species she had never seen before.

She knew when something was dangerous.

That was more dangerous than an Ogre.

At least a Demon beast-level.

“Dona..! Evacuate everyone in this area!!”

“Shouldn’t we wake up Amel-nim?!”

Dona thought that they might be able to defeat it if Amel fought together.

“What?!”

“Huh?! Why?”

But the reaction was different from what she expected.

“There’s no way we’d bother Amel-nim for such a thing! Are you crazy?!”

“That’s right! We can defeat something like that on our own! It’s only a little stronger than the Demon beast we caught last time!”

Leila joined in, startled.

“We have to show that we are useful even without Amel-nim’s help.”

Molly also joined in late.

Molly kicked off the ground.

She sent her small body flying like an arrow and punched the Blade Wolf. With an explosion, she bounced the Blade Wolf back and pushed it out of the Barrier.

Polia and Leila also joined in, not wanting to be outdone.