Ch.138The Road to Belfort City (3)

“What a fucking terrible terrain.”

“Ho ho ho. Is it proper for a knight to use such coarse language?”

“But what can I do when it’s actually fucking terrible!”

Indeed.

The path before us had cliffs on both sides, which were, coincidentally, perfectly positioned for ambushing anyone traveling on the road below.

“Is there no way around?”

“No. If we force a detour, it would take at least another week.”

“Damn it…”

I let out a sigh at the supervisor’s words.

A week is not a short time.

People die after just three days without water, so where are the extra food and supplies for another week supposed to come from? Will the Sun drop them down for us?

Clop-clop! Clop-clop!

While I was pondering this, I saw six horsemen—three on each side—riding out from our temporarily halted caravan toward the cliffs.

“Who are they?”

“My most favored men. I personally promoted them. They can’t use Aura, but at least one out of three should make it back.”

“Hmm.”

Judging by how they rode, they certainly weren’t inexperienced novices.

As I stood watching them with my arms crossed, I felt almost like a general.

How strange. Me, a general? I’m not even in charge of this caravan…

“Have you traveled this road before?”

“I’ve been through here about three or four times. Each time we scouted like this. We never encountered anything, so there were no ambushes.”

“A wise approach.”

Reconnaissance was quite simple.

Send soldiers to places where you don’t know what’s there to find out what’s there.

If they don’t return, it means there are people or monsters, and at least you know they exceed your scouts’ combat ability. If they do return, you get valuable information about the terrain or enemy positions from the scouts.

Even I, when I was smashing street gangs, always pulled my hood down low and tried to hide as close as possible to the enemy’s base to gather information. It was common sense, yet strangely, there seemed to be many generals who lost winnable battles by neglecting this basic step.

“Were you in the military, by chance?”

“How did you know? I retired as a captain in the city defense force’s army.”

“A captain… That makes sense.”

A captain is the highest rank among junior officers.

A position responsible for commanding a company of hundreds of men in perfect order—running this caravan must be second nature to him.

Partzipal, being a prestigious city, maintained its own military force and occasionally held military parades through the city streets on special occasions.

Back then, I would watch with shining eyes at the uniforms of the soldiers and the cloaks and coats of the officers.

“Have you completed your military service, my lord?”

“No? I’m still a minor.”

“Pardon?”

“Why? Is that so surprising?”

When I spoke in a slightly teasing tone, the supervisor laughed awkwardly and replied.

“Well… you’re married, and you’re quite large, so…”

Street children with poor nutrition were typically smaller and weaker than their peers.

I was fortunate enough to have Aileen, a mother-like figure, who irregularly provided me with meat, allowing me to handle intense labor.

When I set out on my adventure, the combination of hard work and excellent nutrition caused me to grow rapidly. Having exercised (with those damned water jugs!) since childhood, my physique now could overwhelm most peers.

“I’ve been strong-boned since birth. My growth plates haven’t closed yet.”

“Haha! I envy that. Your mother must have had a difficult time giving birth to you.”

“I’m an orphan.”

“Oh.”

*

After about an hour, thankfully all the scouts returned safely.

“What did you find?”

“No signs of monsters, but there were traces of butchered monsters or beasts, cooking sites, and tent marks. Judging by the scale, it seems to be a group of at least several dozen to several hundred people… We thoroughly searched the area but found no signs of an ambush.”

“Several dozen to several hundred…? Then they’re certainly not adventurers…”

“Military training perhaps?”

“That’s unlikely. There’s no force in this area that could mobilize such numbers. So it’s most likely bandits or mercenaries…”

“But since there’s no sign of an ambush, we can’t be certain?”

The supervisor nodded gravely.

It was clear that something had been there, but not knowing what that “something” was is enough to drive a person mad.

Were there bandits? A mercenary company? Or was there nothing to worry about at all?

“Lord Victor, may I ask a favor of the mage in your party? I’m feeling a bit uneasy.”

“Simon…?”

“Yes. He’s a sage, so he must know some magic or method to resolve this uncertain situation.”

“Hmm…”

I stroked my chin.

Feeling the roughness of my newly grown beard, I decided after some deliberation to call for Simon.

“Simon!”

At my shout, Simon rode over from a distance.

“What is it?”

I told him what the scouts had seen and the supervisor’s concerns.

After pondering for a moment, Simon adjusted his staff as if he had thought of an appropriate spell.

“An area detection spell should do, right?”

“I think that would be sufficient. What do you think?”

I asked for the supervisor’s opinion.

“I believe that would be enough.”

“Good. Then please proceed.”

“Very well.”

With our agreement, Simon held his staff out and chanted a spell.

“Infesaner!”

As the four-syllable incantation was spoken, concentric circles of blue light spread out from where we stood, and soon the light particles from these circles began to react to the surrounding environment.

Crack! Crack-crack!

And then…

“Simon.”

“…”

“What are these red dots?”

“Enemies!”

We discovered that we had been surrounded all along.

“Ambush! Prepare for battle!”

The red dots were gradually squirming and approaching us, changing from points to lines, and from lines to surfaces, becoming increasingly complex in form.

“What are those things?!”

“I don’t know!”

“Form up, you maggots! Vanguard to the front! Rear guard to the back!”

“Mages, prepare your incantations!”

A long oval battle line formed around the wagons, and hundreds of guards and adventurers drew their weapons, forming a defensive line against the unidentified red entities.

The red entities continued to transform more complexly, now resembling humans so closely they could be called people.

“What the hell are those?! Slimes?”

“I’ve never heard of or seen slimes like that!”

“Then what are they?!”

“I don’t know either!”

Fear of the unknown is the most powerful fear.

Even I, with my twin swords drawn, felt cold sweat running down my spine. The regular adventurers and guards who weren’t Aura users must have been close to panic.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Patabak!

“What the fuck?! The arrows aren’t hitting!”

“What the hell?”

To make matters worse, arrows—the backbone of our ranged firepower—were passing right through the red forms and sticking into the ground.

Thinking that if they could even pass through Aura, even I might have difficulty surviving, I combined my swords into a spear and aimed it forward.

Hesitation.

At that moment, the red forms stopped upon seeing my orichalcum twin swords, and the distance between them and us was now only about 40 meters.

Squirm, squirm…

“What the fuck?”

Then, the red entities began to swell up like boiling water…

Pop! Poooop!

“?!”

They tore themselves apart and gradually revealed their true identity.

Swords, spears, axes, and clubs emerged from within the red forms, and then the wielders of these weapons were revealed.

“Thieves…?”

“Heh… ‘Thieves’ sounds a bit harsh. Let’s call us a wealth redistribution group.”

“…”

They were bandits.

Their manner of speech, their appearance… they were the very definition of bandits, so stereotypical they could be used as textbook illustrations.

“Ah… this is all well and good, but it’s a shame we couldn’t attack either.”

“What are you talking about!”

“This thing. This.”

“That is…?”

The man who appeared to be their leader pointed to a belt around his waist, which had some kind of mechanical device attached to it.

I couldn’t tell what it was, but it seemed too valuable to be in the hands of a common bandit.

“That’s an artifact from the ancient empire! It’s a device that artificially separates dimensions to create concealment!”

“Oh~ Mr. Mage. Quite smart, aren’t you? That’s right. This is an artifact. Got it from raiding an ancient imperial storage facility. Yeah~ Imperial era items are always worth their weight, I tell you.”

“To use such a precious item for mere banditry! You should be ashamed!”

“Hehe… if I knew shame, I wouldn’t have become a bandit, would I?”

The bandit leader wiggled his finger with a sinister smile.

Then Aura began to form around the axe he was holding, and about 20 of his subordinates also began to surround their weapons with Aura.

“You know… the world turns according to what the strong desire.”

He pointed his glowing blue axe at me and shouted.

“Isn’t that right, Sir Knight?”