Chapter 118

Chapter 118

Mistake

Soon, the bandit group and the first-year students of Innocence Academy clashed.

All around, the clashing of metal rang out, and the sounds of magic flying through the air could be heard.

The bandit group was large enough to attack a procession of carriages.

But it was simply unfortunate that, among all those countless bandits, not one recognized the academy’s uniform.

A fierce charge with nothing one could call strategy.

The students received the surging wave of bandits with indifference.

The difference in level was extreme.

It was a simple story.

Innocence Academy, where talented young people from across the continent gathered, had no gentle competition rate. Compared to ordinary people, each and every student had to be considered superhuman.

So no matter how many of them there were, these were no more than “a mere bandit group,” and they could not possibly be a match.

—Slice.

“...I was half-asleep.”

After cutting down the neck of a bandit running toward me, I muttered those words for no reason.

[ Disciple, if you intend to say such a thing, perhaps you should put at least a little effort into acting... ]

Sierra, watching me from the air, trailed off.

It was true that I had been half-asleep, but in a large-scale battle like this, capturing people alive with only one sword was exceedingly difficult, so I was simply cutting down the ones I could see.

The reason Edward had asked us to capture them alive was, to the end, because he did not want to force the students to kill.

If anything, Edward’s style was the kind that did not leave evildoers alive.

Because of the experience penalty from the level difference, killing many did not bring in much experience anyway, and more importantly...

“...Chain.”

Over there, I saw Yuri, red hair fluttering, binding a bandit with chains.

For someone, this could be their first actual combat against humans without any protective gear, so it was also an important kind of experience.

—Boom!!!

Then a roar came from ahead, and when I turned my head, I saw a whole cluster of bandits lifted into the air.

—Crackle!!!

Lightning surged immediately afterward.

“I misfired my magic, Instructor.”

Eisel looked at Edward and spoke in an indifferent voice.

Edward, who had been moving swiftly through the middle of the battlefield and helping students who looked like they might be hit by dangerous attacks, turned his head to look at Eisel and grinned.

“For Student Eisel to make a mistake... Your condition must not be good.”

“Yes, well...”

Eisel, who answered Edward’s sly words coldly, met my eyes.

Ah, to be precise, rather than saying our eyes met, perhaps I should say our heads were turned toward each other.

““...””

“I am certain he said capturing them alive would be best...”

Yuri, watching this from over there, murmured softly.

“...I told you, it was a mistake.”

Eisel said this and turned her head.

Soon, Sierra clicked her tongue and grumbled about what they were doing in a battle where life and death were at stake.

...She was not wrong. In any case, the students were dealing with the bandits in their own ways.

Suddenly, from among the bandit group, a woman who was noticeably tall and heavily muscled pointed at me and shouted.

“The one with bandages around his eyes is mine, so do not touch him—!!”

...For some reason, it seemed I had become the target of someone who looked, at a glance, like the leader.

“A handsome blind man... I shall make sure you become my plaything! Kihihit—!!”

The leader spouted such words and let out a vile laugh as she charged toward me. At that moment, from behind me, Perception conveyed that Eisel’s head was turning with a creak.

Flames erupted from beneath the charging leader’s feet, and an enormous pillar of fire surged fiercely upward.

“Kyaaaaaaagh—!!!”

Soon, the leader’s entire body burned, and she screamed.

This was... Yuri Clementine’s main spell, “Pillar of Fire.”

The scream of the struggling bandit leader tore through the forest. I had heard that having one’s body burn alive was an extremely painful thing.

With her index finger raised upward, Yuri stared at the pillar of fire, and her eyes seemed to blaze.

In the end, the enormous pillar of fire that had risen among the enemies only subsided with a hiss after the leader had burned until nothing but bone dust remained.

The bandits could not hide their horror as they stared at what had once been their leader, now reduced to powder.

The bandits’ hands trembled, and they gradually began dropping their weapons. Before overwhelming power, the bandits’ morale had broken in an instant.

“...”

Yuri silently looked at me.

Her eyes held me wholly, without the slightest tremor.

I did not know what she was thinking while looking at me, but she did not seem to have any shock or impression from killing a person for the first time.

Soon, Eisel approached Yuri and spoke to her.

“That just now was also a mistake, yes?”

“...Yes, I made a mistake.”

Yuri shrugged as if she could not win and looked elsewhere.

“By the way, that power was considerable...”

The armguard of her ancestor, obtained from the armory, which could be called Yuri’s exclusive weapon, and even the Red Dragon’s Orb.

She had not yet found the proper method to use the orb, but if it was her, I had no doubt she would quickly become able to handle the orb’s power.

“Though there will be side effects...”

After all, among dragons, red dragons were deeply connected to “anger.”

Still, it was not bad growth.

Even among the people of the four elemental families, Yuri’s potential stood out.

If only inner growth were added now, it would be perfect, but it still seemed there was not enough of a trigger.

The bandits, having lost the central axis called their “leader,” quickly fell apart as an organization.

As the battle was coming to an end that way.

I slowly looked around.

By rough estimation, about half had died, and about half had been successfully captured alive.

Surprisingly, the person who captured the most bandits alive was Amon. Earth Prison, which bound an opponent’s body with clods of earth, could restrain the movements of many enemies at once.

I will not bother mentioning who killed the most. She still looked stiff-faced, as if her anger had not subsided.

Handling the bandits’ corpses and handing the captured ones over to the guard unit of a nearby city would be handled by the instructors.

Perhaps having lost rock-paper-scissors again, Instructor Reina, full of irritation, mounted a horse and immediately left to call the guards.

The students, who had to wait in the forest for a while, lit campfires here and there, sat around them, and chatted while boasting of their exploits.

Lucia, whom I had briefly checked on, was still lying in the carriage asleep. It must have been quite noisy, yet she was sleeping soundly without even stirring.

It seemed better not to wake Lucia in many ways. If she saw blood splattered everywhere and a person burning alive, she might faint.

Sitting by the campfire, I fed Shady his “meal” while organizing the things that would happen from now on.

“The first event passed smoothly...”

Various things would happen while we were in the desert, but what I was especially looking forward to was, as expected, the ancient ruins.

I would probably go there at night...

“...Will I be able to enter?”

It was a place that had not been implemented in the game, so it would not be strange no matter what happened.

In any case, it seemed best to prepare thoroughly.

***

“And... the otherworld species we will go defeat are very dangerous creatures...!”

Lucia said this with bright, clear eyes.

She was talking about the otherworld species that appeared only in the desert.

Our destination was Delgrad, a beautiful city spread around a great oasis in the desert. It was also Lucia’s “main house.”

The ones governing the city were Lucia’s Windless family.

Outside the window spread the desert, with countless golden sands. The carriages carrying the students were now crossing the desert.

Perhaps because Lucia had many things she wanted to tell us, who had never been to the desert, she continued speaking in an excited voice.

“Otherworld species appear through otherworld portals called gates. Basically, they have a strong tendency to try to hurt people. They are very bad creatures...! But do not worry. Huhuhu... In our Delgrad, there are strong warriors who face only otherworld species!”

“Ho... What do those otherworld species look like? Are there any monsters that resemble them?”

Amon, sitting beside Lucia, asked.

Although they belonged to the same four elemental families, perhaps they had never held a gathering in the desert, because Yuri and Amon had also never been there.

“Mmm...”

At Amon’s question, Lucia groaned.

It was a rather difficult question.

Lucia’s lips twitched, and in the end, she opened her mouth.

“So they are these ‘machines’ with scrap metal stuck all over them... Mmmm... and they make a droning sound too...”

“...Are they really monsters?”

At Lucia’s strange explanation, Yuri voiced doubt.

Explaining robots, mechanics, and the like in a fantasy world was not easy.

“Does droning mean the sound of an engine?”

Just as Lucia had fallen into such a difficult situation, unable to continue explaining, Eisel, who had been looking out the window, saved her.

“Over there. I guess that is what she means.”

At Eisel’s indifferent voice as she pointed out the window, everyone’s eyes gathered on one side of the carriage window.

It would be strange for even me to look out the window, so I sat still.

“...For a monster...”

“...it looks very strange.”

Those looking at the otherworld species each threw out a word.

“B-but... I think that thing is running toward our carriage...?!”

“It seems so.”

At Lucia’s frightened voice, Eisel answered indifferently.

Lucia kept hitting the wall toward the coachman’s seat, saying we had to stop the carriage quickly.

“Please stop... hrrr...”

Lucia, who kept knocking on the wall, looked tearful.

There seemed to be no need for that.

Perception had touched the presence of someone moving at high speed across the desert toward the otherworld species.

The coachman, who could examine the outside in more detail, seemed to have recognized the situation as well.

Soon, something charged swiftly toward our carriage from the window on the opposite side of the otherworld species, kicking up sand, then leapt into the air.

—Thud.

Then that something stepped on the carriage as it passed by, making the carriage shake slightly.

Everyone inside the carriage looked up at the ceiling, then back toward the direction where the otherworld species could be seen.

On her back, wrapped tightly in robes and such, a large, wide greatsword could be seen.

“M-Miss Ishmir...?”

Lucia, recognizing her, shouted.

One of the warriors who specialized in hunting the otherworld species Lucia had explained just a moment ago, and an experienced warrior who would teach the students otherworld species hunting during this field trip.

“Long time no see.”

She was one of the key figures of this episode.

And...

[ Ishmir, did you say...? ]

Sierra, hanging on my shoulder, was startled upon hearing her name.

...She was also Sierra’s old friend.