Ch.9Chapter 9 – Good Intentions (Coercion)

Several days had passed since leaving Anna’s village.

During that time, a problem arose from not using the main roads connecting villages.

“Hey there, scarface, how about you stop for a moment?”

The problem was encountering scary men with facial scars.

They were like a pack of wild dogs, either watching merchants passing along the main road before separating them from the group, or targeting lost travelers.

That’s a fancy way of saying they were just armed bandits.

Their weapons varied, but for armor, only chest guards were present, and even those were worn by just two of them.

Currently, there were about 5 of them.

On my side, just 1.

To be honest, they weren’t even that intimidating.

If that holy knight from before were here, he’d probably take care of them barehanded.

So what gave these guys the confidence to swagger around like that?

They were simply relying on their numbers.

“Put down that backpack and weapon…”

“If you don’t want to die, be on your way.”

I shot back with just one line.

As a threat, I took the mace tied to my waist and swung it lightly.

-Woong.

Thanks to its heavy weight, just swinging it made a rather threatening sound.

‘They’re not going to back down with just this.’

As I thought, the bandits had no intention of leaving.

It was expected.

They had the numerical advantage.

Plus, their expressions grew fiercer.

“Hey, get him!”

With that signal, all five bandits rushed at me at once.

The fight began with me easily dodging a thrust spear and stepping on its shaft to break it.

A moment later, except for one bandit, the remaining four were sprawled on the ground.

The survivor was the one who had shouted “get him” earlier.

“P-please… spare me…”

“I told you to be on your way if you didn’t want to die.”

I said this while wiping the blood from my mace on the clothes of a dead bandit.

Looking at the bandit I’d spared, I continued.

“Guide me.”

“What?”

“If you want to live, guide me to your hideout.”

I tapped the mace in my hand as a threat.

The bandit began rolling his eyes frantically.

He seemed to be calculating intensely, weighing various options in his mind.

Naturally, nothing is more precious than a human life.

When your life is at stake, the answer is predetermined.

“If I guide you, you’ll spare me, right?”

“Yes.”

Though I answered halfheartedly, it was enough to make the bandit very cooperative.

Following his guidance for a while, I discovered a small hut.

Inside, there were signs that five men had slept crammed together, empty bottles rolling around, and various items they had apparently collected scattered everywhere.

I slightly frowned at the unpleasant smell when I heard a voice from behind.

“Um… mister, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“You should be more careful next time.”

“What do you mean?”

I immediately turned around and swung my mace.

There was a sound of metal breaking and bones cracking, and the bandit’s body flew backward.

“I heard everything.”

I said this while looking at the broken dagger in the bandit’s hand.

There was no response.

“Why did you get greedy there?”

I had planned to take what I needed here, rest for a day, and leave.

I wonder why he tried to attack me from behind.

Of course, there was no answer from the now-dead bandit.

Actually, this wasn’t the first time I’d encountered bandits.

About two days after leaving the village, I had my first encounter with a pair of armed robbers.

They suddenly jumped out from the bushes, startling me so much that I even screamed.

I was so surprised that I immediately beat both of them with my mace without mercy.

Then I met another group, and these guys were the third.

“I’m not sure if getting used to these guys is a good thing.”

How did I end up becoming accustomed to bandits?

Sighing, I searched the corpses for anything useful.

At most, I’d take money. Since I couldn’t enter villages, there was no point in carrying unnecessary weapons or bulky items.

I opened the door wide to ventilate the hut and dragged the nearby corpses to a suitable spot to abandon them.

Then I searched the other bandits’ pockets, stole a few coins, and returned to the hut to look through the items inside.

These bandits, being a group of five, had collected quite a bit.

Thanks to that, the pouch I was using as a wallet became quite thick.

While searching for preserved food or other useful items, I discovered something covered in dust in a corner of the hut.

“A helmet?”

Perhaps it belonged to someone who had fallen victim to these bandits.

It looked similar to what knights wear, with a face guard attached—a fairly decent item.

It was good for covering the entire face when worn.

‘If they had this, they might have blocked my mace at least once.’

Wondering why the bandits hadn’t worn it, I examined it and tried it on.

Then I understood the reason.

“It can’t be secured properly.”

Something was broken, and there was no way to secure it.

It kept rattling.

Feeling disappointed, I took off the helmet.

With the face guard attached, it could hide my face.

Having seen people startled by my burn scars, I felt considerable regret.

I looked around to see if there was any way to fix it.

In the end, there was nothing suitable.

‘It’s a shame to leave it behind.’

After some deliberation, I took out a rope and tied it to my backpack.

If I get the chance, I’ll try to repair it, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll sell it.

From then on, I was able to travel without encountering even bandits.

This was despite using mountain paths rather than the main road.

Of course, the journey wasn’t entirely pleasant.

Although I still had preserved food, I needed to ration it carefully, and I had to be mindful of water.

If absolutely necessary, I could approach the main road cautiously to replenish water.

Since it was a route used by travelers and merchants, there were often places to refill water along the way.

However, since I was traveling through the mountains, I had often already passed these spots.

Still, I thought I could easily reach the border area if I continued like this.

Several days passed like that.

“Hah…”

The sight before me made me sigh involuntarily.

A massive wall stood in front of my eyes.

Hiding at a distance and eavesdropping on people’s conversations, I learned that this wall surrounded a trading city called Glaston, located a short distance from the border.

It was too large to bypass easily, and it would take an unknown amount of time.

It must be truly massive, as other people weren’t even considering going around it, only planning to pass through directly.

However, passing through wasn’t a good option for me.

Boldly heading to the main gate?

Befitting a trading city, guards at the gate were stopping each person and checking their faces.

The guards were just doing their job, but as a fugitive, I wished they’d be a little less thorough.

I don’t know if the Emiris fanatics are aware that half my face is burned, but if this is a religious state where the church has power, they’ve likely distributed wanted notices in cities like this.

If I try to push through pretending not to care, I’ll probably get caught, but going around would take so much time that trackers might catch up to me.

I pondered what to do, but couldn’t come up with a good solution.

“I thought I’d be fine if I just made it past the border…”

I admitted I had been too naive, and moved away from the main road again.

I decided to think a bit more and, if necessary, try to go around.

About two hours later, I still hadn’t come up with a good solution and decided to bypass the city.

I thought dealing with the city in front of me was more urgent than worrying about trackers who hadn’t caught up yet.

If only I could forge an identity, it would be fine.

“That’s not something I can suddenly do.”

Putting aside my regrets, I began to bypass the city.

After moving far from the city, I started going around it through the forest.

After walking for about half a day…

“I can still see the wall…”

It seemed like it would take about two days to bypass the city.

Still, I consoled myself that this was much better than wasting time standing around worrying or getting caught trying to force my way through.

It’s not just mental gymnastics.

I’d like to believe it’s not.

As I moved forward denying reality, along with the sounds of birds in the mountains, I heard the clash of weapons.

“What’s that?”

It seemed strange.

This area was near a trading city, so whether adventurers or merchants, they would use the nearby main road rather than mountain paths like I was.

Those using mountain paths were suspicious.

Were they adventurers hunting monsters?

But the sound of clashing weapons seemed odd for that.

What was going on?

Setting aside my earlier thoughts, I drew my weapon and headed toward the sound.

I wondered if trackers had already caught up and perhaps encountered bandits by chance.

That seemed unlikely, but there’s always a slim possibility.

Slowly hiding behind trees, I moved toward the source of the sound.

Four adventurers were fighting against about fifteen bandits.

Behind the adventurers were quite a few carts and four-legged beasts with lots of fur pulling them.

Looking more carefully, three of the adventurers were at the front, while one stood behind with a rapier laid out.

From the appearance of that one, I could tell they weren’t an adventurer.

Instead of wearing rugged equipment, they wore elegant yet simple clothes—a silver-haired woman.

Her silver hair fell naturally to her shoulders, and her topaz-colored eyes were strangely half-lidded, as if sleepy.

Among the adventurers in front of her, one was a woman, and they all had proper armor, with some wearing helmets.

The bandits, unlike the ragtag groups I’d fought before, were properly equipped with chest guards.

Looking more closely, about six people were rolling around bleeding.

One of them appeared to be an adventurer, who wasn’t dead yet as they were crawling to lean against a cart behind them.

It seemed that the five people, including the adventurer leaning against the cart, were on one side, and the rest were bandits.

I decided to observe the situation for a moment.

At first glance, the silver-haired woman seemed to be a merchant, the adventurer-looking people were escorts, and for some reason, they were traveling through mountain paths when they were attacked by bandits.

But there was also the possibility that the silver-haired woman’s side were criminals too.

Acting rashly isn’t always good.

‘I should watch for now.’

I didn’t want to help them only to find out they were criminals too—that would be a nasty surprise.

Currently, it seemed both sides had entered a standoff after sustaining injuries.

However, since the bandits had superior numbers, they looked ready to attack at any moment.

In this tense atmosphere, I noticed something unusual.

‘Why is she so calm?’

The silver-haired woman remained composed.

If anything, she seemed carefree.

As if she knew everything.

This might sound strange, but even from a distance, I thought the silver-haired woman was beautiful.

In that situation, if the bandits won, she must know what fate awaited her, yet I couldn’t understand why she was so calm.

Then, when one of the adventurers said something to her, she briefly took something out to look at it, then suddenly raised her head and scanned the surroundings.

And then…

The silver-haired woman pointed her rapier at the tree where I was hiding.

Thinking it might be coincidence, I carefully moved to another tree.

But her sword also moved precisely to the tree I was moving to.

Wondering what was going on, I looked at her face.

The distance was too great to hear clearly.

She didn’t seem to be shouting.

She appeared to be speaking slowly, as if I could read her lips.

As if I would understand.

‘Would you help us?’

Her face was very confident and matter-of-fact.

As if she knew I would help.

“What’s in it for me…”

For some reason, I grumbled quietly, feeling displeased.

At that moment, the tip of her rapier suddenly moved again.

“Huh.”

It was pointing precisely at the city wall I had been trying to bypass.

As if she knew exactly what I wanted.

Her lips moved again.

‘I’ll help you.’

My thoughts froze for a moment.

“…What are you?”

I blurted out in disbelief.

I wanted to believe I was just misinterpreting things.

That would be more plausible.

But the woman was quietly looking directly at me.

Sighing, I quietly put down my backpack and picked up my mace.

It seemed I had no choice but to help these people.

As if she had known I would do this all along, the silver-haired woman could be seen quietly smiling.