Chapter 7: Bandits

The horse carriage rhythmically goes forward to our destination. For now, there’s no problem. It’s just the movements of the man before me that piques my interest. Looking out of the window, he looks to be sending some signals. I’d rather nothing happens like this, though.

“Neiiiigh!”

But that kind of thought is naive. The horse is neighing, shaking the carriage wildly.

“Give me Ginsen!”

I shouted instantly, but the man ignored my shout and jumped out of the carriage with Ginsen in tow.

I see, so that’s his aim.

“Tina, wait for me inside the carriage.”

“Kurt-sama, please stay safe.” Tina squeezes my hand while looking at me. Her face tells me that she wants to go out there with me, but she knows she’ll just be a burden. She seems to swallow the words back down.

I ruffle her hair and speak, “Yeah, I’ll be back soon.”

Let’s finish this up real quick so she won’t be worried.

☘

When I went out, a bandit-like group already surrounded the carriage. The man who held Ginsen ran straight towards the bandits’ direction.

“The easiest trap to notice is heavy, huh?” I laugh wryly. From the start, that guy has been the bandits’ accomplice.

I’m assessing the situation. The coachman is crouching from the arrow on his leg, the horse is dead. Nearly every bandit is equipped with arrows, and the moment they saw me, they strained the bow strings.

“Fire! He’s unarmed. Even if he’s an Arnold, without a spear he’s just a normal man!” the guy holding Ginsen shouts.

I see, he knows that much.

The Arnolds are somewhat famous for displaying a greater strength than an average man, but only when fighting with a spear. However, that’s not the information that should’ve been known to a common bandit. Someone must have been pulling the strings.

The bandits fire the arrows. They pour down like rain.

I take out and hold the cake knife from my coat’s inner pocket. However, I don’t take off the protective cloth wrap from it.

It’s the tool to make the pastries that will make people happy. I must not taint it with blood.

My brain is accelerating. My strength overflows. Sword Ability III has manifested. Yeah, displaying the ability is already sufficient.

My powered up brain and reflexes show the arrows’ trajectories. Then, with my empty left hand, I chop and deflect the direct hits only. I avoid the arrowheads, my deflecting hand doesn’t hurt at all. All the bandit men’s jaws are dropping.

“No way, isn’t he just a normal man without a spear!?”

“My bad, I’m not a normal Arnold.”

I step in with full strength. In that split second, I kick off with my foot, denting the ground’s surface with a thunderous roar as I jump off like a rocket. Fusing the strengthening from mana and ability equals an overwhelming physical strength. This is exactly my full strength. The power that I gained from my special training with Volg.

The power of my former self can’t hold a candle to my current power. I close in upon one of the bandits. Striking his jaw with my left palm, I reap his consciousness instantly. He didn’t even have time to scream.

After toppling one of the bandits, those who remain finally notice my movements. Our time axis are different. They can’t even perceive my movements. I strike at many bandits. With me running past the gap, they fall unconscious one after another. Aiming to palm strike or hand chop their jaws or napes, I barely use up my strength.

“Oi, I didn’t hear about this. As long as his spear is gone, he’s supposed to be a normal dude.”

“This isn’t human speed.”

“What the hell is happening?”

The screams are mingled. Every scream is reaped. And then, not a minute after, they’re all annihilated except for two men remaining. They are the guy holding Ginsen and a single bandit.

“Now then, I should listen to your story now. That’s why I didn’t knock you out.” I turn around at the last bandit, intimidating him. From his equipment and the way he moves, I figured he was the bandits’ leader.

“Bastard, making fun of me, eh!?”

“I wouldn’t do such a thing.”

I flip over the rushing, raging bandit, then I hold him against the ground, dislocating both of his shoulders and knee joints, rendering him utterly powerless. I don’t give a damn to his shriek. There should be no problem if he can still speak.

“And you, don’t you run away. You’re the bandits’ comrade, right?”

I grin towards Marquis Fernandes’ servant.

“Yo-you’re mistaken.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“It’s true, I have nothing to do with this, nothing at all. Believe me, please believe me.”

He’s tearing up, obstinately insisting with both his hands clutching and begging. However, I don’t buy it. I tug Marquis Fernandes’ servant’s shoulder and forcibly dislocate the joint.

“Gya-gyaaaaaaaaaaa!” He screams like a pig to his surroundings.

“Say, aren’t you underestimating me? Who’ll buy that kind of lie? You knew about the Arnolds’ power. Because you knew, you attempted to separate me and Ginsen. You thought I’d be an ordinary man without Ginsen. Such an obvious attempt, even an idiot would’ve noticed.”

This guy was pushy and sloppy. Most likely, he really was underestimating me, a low bottom aristocrat from a rural village.

“Moreover, I knew you kept signaling to the outside after I entrusted Ginsen to you. I intentionally faked ignorance. Afterwards, the bandits did come. Coincidence much?”

I grab his left shoulder too. However, there’s one thing that still makes me calm. This incident isn’t related to Marquis Fernandes himself. The marquis didn’t know that my aptitude lies in swords instead of spears, but he knew I could wield mana. This level of manpower contending against a mana wielder is unthinkable. This ambush was designed under the assumption of opposing a mere spear ability wielder. Therefore, Marquis Fernandes is clean. If he betrays me, I’ll lose my ability to trust other people.

“Ee, eek, wr, wro, wrong!”

“Which part am I wrong?” I noncommittally ask.

“Really, I, it’s wrong. I’ve nothing to do, nothing to do with this.”

“Then let’s confirm it.” I walk towards the bandits.

Tucking back the cake knife to my coat, I pick up a twig around the place and snap it off to sharpen the edge.

“You bandit over there, is this man your comrade or just someone who cooperated with you? I’ll gouge your eyes out if you lie.”

The bandit pisses in his pants. Even if he wants to retaliate, his arms and legs are immobile, turning him into a mush. “Ye, yes, you’re right. After he took your spear, we needed to assault you. He told us that, you, you’re just an ordinary guy without your spear, we could get money from attacking you. That man is an accomplice.”

“Th, that’s a lie! He’s just spouting nonsense!”

Marquis Fernandes’ servant makes a fuss.

“So? Is that man lying? Then I’m gouging your eyes out now.”

“It’s true! W, we received some money……” The bandit repeatedly begs to be believed.

Oh, well, seems like it. It’s easy to see with my own eyes whether they’re telling the truth or not.

“It’s just as it looks like. Seeing his desperation, I can figure out that he’s not lying. But, what about you? If you’re still planning to lie, I’ve no other option but to let you see hell. If you tell me the truth here, I’ll spare your life.”

With me flashing around the twig, that man started to spill them all out, one at a time.

☘

From that point, I tied a rope around the bandits’ leader and the servant who cooperated with the bandits, loaded them onto the carriage, and departing once again to Eclaba, where Marquis Fernandes resides.

I can gain more valuable information from these two. The remaining bandits are a hindrance, so I have them tied up around trees. What is going to happen to them, I’ll leave that to Marquis Fernandes.

The injured coachman is an unrelated victim, so I treated his wounds in that place before resting inside the carriage with Tina.

I push the horse to run. I’m borrowing the bandits’ horse to replace the dead one. The one they have is actually not bad. I’ll make sure to take it back with me to the village.

☘

Rushing while being guided by the coachman, we finally arrived at Marquis Fernandes’ mansion. When we arrived, the servants cheerfully went out to greet us. However, after I quickly explained to them about that servant’s betrayal and the ambush by the bandits, the servants hurried to return to the mansion. After only a short while, a servant shows up and brings Marquis Fernandes with him.

“You’ve done well to reach this place. Kurt-kun. ……For bringing trouble to you, I deeply apologize.” Even though he has a very lofty position, Marquis Fernandes bowed his head deeply to me. This man is truly capable. He’s not haughty like a normal noble.

“Please don’t bow to me. Marquis Fernandes is also a victim here as well. I let your coachman get injured, even a horse died, so.”

“I’ve heard about the bandits’ ambush only until Rasse’s hand in that. I wish to hear about the details from you.”

Rasse is that servant’s name, the one who betrayed us.

“Yes. As far as I know, the man called Rasse admitted to being a certain noble’s errand man and received some huge amount of cash to assassinate me. There’s some indication that the noble isn’t too happy with my engagement to Faruno-sama, or so it seems.”

“This is a serious situation. Still, though, recklessly picking a fight with you is just not treasuring their lives.”

“They won’t fear an Arnold like me once I don’t have my spear. After scheming to take the spear, they must have bragged to the bandit that I can die in the raid.”

“A real fool…… The person who meant to assault you and Rasse too, accepting the scheme for some money.”

This incident comes from a noble’s jealousy. A third-rate noble’s son like me, who obtained Marquis Fernandes’ backing and even the beautiful Faruno, must have been a source of envy. Most probably, that person aims to replace me.

“Since I have no plan to blow this incident up, I will leave it to you, Marquis, for the aftermath. The man who seems to be the bandits’ leader and Rasse are both left alive, so feel free to do as you please.”

In other words, control the information to follow the dirty money. Someone like Marquis Fernandes will want to protect his dignity while finding the mastermind.

“Absolutely. Leave it to me. I’ll tie up the loose ends.”

From now on, it’s their part. I have nothing else to say.

“Kurt-kun, let me properly compensate you. It still doesn’t change the fact that my servant has caused you problems. I’ll arrange it before you return home.”

“Please accept my deepest gratitude.”

Declining here will simply smear mud in Marquis Fernandes’s face, the Arnolds are probably unlikely to receive any expression of apology either.

So, I obediently took advantage of the marquis’ favor.

Isecai’s Notes:

Gotta thank Jorg’s bullying, it makes Kurt decisive. I’m really tempted to use some xianxia phrases like “they don’t know they’ve kicked an iron wall this time” lol.