episode_0171

There was no benefit to staying in the village for too long, so we set out again as soon as we finished breakfast.

And two days later.

“The traveler over there, I would like to ask you something.”

People who were walking on the other side of the road came up to us and started talking to us.

A well-trained warhorse and white-painted armor. The cloak covering her back had the symbol of the Goddess Church embroidered on it.

‘Paladin?’

The sword of the Goddess Church.

Knights of the Goddess who combine the talents of priests with those of warriors, and were raised as weapons to destroy the enemies of the Church.

You can often meet them in dungeons with a medium or deeper level, but it is rare to run into them by chance like you do now.

“What happened?”

Friede, who was in my arms, quietly opened her mouth in place of me, who had kept her mouth shut to maintain the recognition-impairing effect.

“Excuse me. I am Polsven, a servant of the goddess Elianel.”

The paladin who came closest raised his helmet, bowed politely, and introduced himself.

“Homage to Elianel’s sword.”

Friede nodded and greeted me. Unlike Polsven, he did not reveal his name, but in a polite manner that did not violate the church’s etiquette.

“So, what’s going on?”

“Looking at your outfit, you seem to be an adventurer. Then, have you ever heard of a monster called ‘Braum’s Nightmare’?”

“…Braum’s nightmare?”

Friede asked back hesitantly.

“Ah, I heard it was originally called the monster of Pinwood Forest.”

Are these gentlemen also living a nightmare?

I wondered what the paladin had come all the way here for, but it seemed like he believed the rumor to be true and was dispatched to subdue it.

“If you know anything about that monster, please let me know. This is to spread Elianel’s grace more widely, so if you help me, I will generously reward you.”

Any information about the monsters of Pinwood Forest is okay.

I’m sure they’re not expecting useful information from street travelers… Are you just asking with the hope that you’ll get lucky and get one?

Well, I wonder if the goddess was bowing or something, and I was able to save one with that kind of investigation.

Because it was no one else, but ‘Braum’s Nightmare’ himself, who was right in front of them.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I heard a rumor that even the knights were attacked, but other than that, I don’t know anything….”

“…Really? That’s a bit…unfortunate.”

Of course, all we could say to him were obvious things that everyone else knew.

Unless I have a hobby of committing suicide, I can’t reveal to the paladins who came to subdue me that I am the person behind the rumor.

“Anyway, thank you for your cooperation. May the Goddess protect you.”

After saying those words, Paladin Polsven returned to the group of other Paladins and went in the opposite direction from us to subdue a monster that was not there.

“Uh…it seems like the rumors are spreading endlessly.”

“That’s right. At first glance, those paladins seem to have quite good skills.”

The momentum that easily surpassed the Paladins of Vespian who had a hard time against the weakest Abyss Priest, Hug Casval.

There were over 10 Holy Knights with that kind of momentum, so it was probably too much for a force dispatched to catch just one monster.

Considering that he would be scouring the forests and fields to subdue a monster that had no such experience, there was no need to waste time like this.

Well, it’s not just paladins who waste time.

Since the rumor spread that Baron Braum was gathering adventurers to subdue monsters, many adventurers have followed this path to Pinwood Forest.

The number of adventurers I encountered over the past two days was over 40 years old. From my perspective, it was truly a funny skit.

◆◆

It wasn’t a skit.

Should I rather call it a comedy?

This was more of a slasher comedy for minors, full of happy tree friends.

What does it mean?

“Don’t move! If you don’t want to die, give everything you have!”

This is exactly what it means.

As we were walking along the road like always, a group of men came out of the bushes threatening to shoot arrows at us.

“ha….”

“Again? Are thieves really doing something spontaneous?”

“Iknow, right….”

Now I’m so used to it that I’m sick of it.

It was an attack by a band of thieves.

◆◆

Just as a blonde-tanned gangster always appears in a club with a lot of women, as the floating population increases, there are bound to be guys targeting that floating population as well.

The road back to Bainen was full of looters targeting adventurers. There were also many cases where adventurers temporarily changed their jobs to looters.

okay. As long as your face and name are not revealed, you can have a good meal and go back to being an adventurer.

It was a wise but trash decision.

Anyway, there was some security around the city, but there were so many thieves everywhere that if you went more than half a day from the city, you would be immediately attacked.

On severe days, there were times when they attacked as many as ten times a day, like polling calls just before election season.

Thanks to this, I had to go to a nearby city or village whenever I slept.

Sleeping out in a forest infested with thieves was like begging them to rob us because they wouldn’t resist.

For that reason, time continued to lag, and before we knew it, we had missed our scheduled arrival date by five days. Even so, we had not even reached Bainen yet.

“Okay, get off your horse first! Put down your weapons…!”

“ha….”

A sigh escapes me.

Anyway, this damn world is a world where it is difficult to live with only monsters, and there are too many murderers, robbers and rapists.

The goddess, who punishes sin and evil and protects goodness, is sleeping like a beautiful woman, but there is no action taken against this.

So what can I do?

-Seung.

Our warrior party has no choice but to personally carry out justice on behalf of the sleeping goddess.

Of course, in a way that cannot be shown to growing children.

“What are you doing? Drop the knife!”

“I told you not to move!”

When Friede and I got off our horses and drew our swords, the bandits surrounding us frowned and pointed their crude spears and swords at us.

“Don’t move? That’s funny. That’s what I would say.”

A knight uses his sword rather than words to express his intentions. I laughed and stomped my feet and rushed towards them like a thunderbolt.

After a while.

“…If you don’t want to die, give everything you have.”

“I’ll give it to you! Please, just give me your life!”

Same threat as before.

The men, who were cut here and there and unable to move, hurriedly searched their arms and held up their money bags.

“I do not need.”

I shook my head as I took the property they donated.

“Yes, yes…? What is that….”

The thieves were groaning in pain but looking up at me with puzzled faces.

It was as if he was looking at a madman whose words and actions were completely opposite.

“Hey, I heard you don’t need it…?”

The thief, who was still fine despite the shallow cut, stuttered and asked a question.

“What? Oh, not this.”

I guess you misunderstood what I said. When I say I don’t need it, I don’t mean this money.

I gathered the money bags together and handed them to Friede, then slightly raised my long sword and shook my head.

“Yeah…? Then what…”

What can it be? Of course… .

“Your lives. Isn’t that necessary?”

These guys will only commit robbery if they survive. Is there any trash that is more unnecessary to the world than this?

“And you guys, you didn’t even give everything you had. Then you should die.”

“no-”

– Suddenly!

Before the kneeling thieves could react, I swung my sword horizontally and cut off both of their heads at the same time, laughing.

“What, what crazy…!”

The other thieves were very frightened and jumped to their feet at the sight of their colleagues who had suddenly become Dullahan candidates.

“Aaaah! Save me, save me-!”

“I don’t want to grant that request.”

He steps on the back of a thief who is trying to escape by crawling on the floor and cuts off the back of the neck, then stands up and cuts off the thigh of another thief who is swinging his sword.

“Aren’t you sure you haven’t listened to it either?”

“Aaaah! Legs! My legs!”

A scream accompanied by blood erupted, and the thief with his severed leg lost his balance and fell forward.

“Sssswp! Kkkk…! You bitch! Surrender, if you surrender, they say you’ll live!”

The thief, clutching his severed leg, jumped around like a live fish and screamed in an evil voice.

That one voice is amazing. Judging by the amount of blood loss, I’m already halfway through the Samdo River.

“Did I do that? I don’t think so. What do you think?”

I turned my head to look at Friede and asked.

“Well, since victory or defeat has been decided, I just told you to surrender and not resist!”

Friede, who was strengthening this bandit with the great sword he had captured from the last bandit, smiled brightly and shook his head.

Is that okay?

They told me to kill him in as normal a way as possible to avoid being misunderstood as a monster.

hmm… Looking at it, the body was not completely blown up, but at most it was chopped up with a blade.

I guess it’s okay to leave it alone at that level.

Feeling relieved, I put my head back to its original position and looked down at the thief with his severed leg.

“Off….”

This kid is still alive.

I wonder why Myeongjul is so tough. Wasn’t there any family from beyond Samdocheon who would beckon you to come?

Well, just looking at it, it doesn’t seem like it’s there.

“Did you hear? You shouldn’t be mistaken and accuse others of being liars.”

“Kwaaah…what…what bullshit…!”

“Woof woof.”

I slashed the guy’s eyeball with the tip of the knife while making a dog barking sound.

As expected, the thief couldn’t hold out until then, as he convulsed loudly and fell limp.

The peculiar smell of excrement from the dead stung my nose and was a little unpleasant.

Well, just like that, Friede and I headed to Bainen, plundering the lives and property of the looters.

I think it went on like that for about a week.

“at las….”

We finally arrived in Bainen. Although it took more than ten days than expected.

It was a long and tiring journey. In many ways.