To leave the castle of Highwand and enter the castle town, there was only one gate that could be used. That outer gate was already open.
Soldiers stood in formation, keeping watch to prevent suspicious individuals from slipping in.
In the mornings, many knights either came into the castle for their duties or went out on missions, so the gate was apparently kept open during this time.
There were a few other knights heading out on assignments besides Abel and Ise.
Each was accompanied by three to five squires.
It was common for squires to walk.
Some carried spears; others bore large shields or carried luggage on their backs.
There were even some mounted individuals, but they appeared to be junior knights, which was a rank higher than squires.
Not a single knight was riding double with someone.
Perhaps because of that, many people gave them curious or suspicious glances.
One knight even openly sneered at them.
—A knight and their squire riding double is really that funny?
Look at them, mocking us…
Abel thought such things to himself.
Beyond the outer gate lay an open plaza.
It was bustling, with many street vendors.
There was also a building belonging to the merchant guild, and people of all kinds bustled through the area.
A merchant wearing a wool hat, a laborer in worn-out work clothes, and even jesters performing songs and dances could be seen… these were entertainers of a kind that would never be seen in the countryside village of Tenana.
Abel looked around for Rick…and there he was.
He was carrying a barrel in front of an inn, so it seemed he had already found work.
When Rick spotted Abel, his squashed potato-like face twisted in shock.
“Abel! Abel!”
“I hear you.”
“What happened last night? You never came back!”
“I couldn’t get out of the castle… sorry.”
“Why are you on a horse? And that person… is she a non-human?”
“She’s the knight I serve. If you’ve got a problem with that, even you won’t get a pass.”
Rick seemed to realize that the situation was far from ideal, and his expression turned hopeless.
“Rick. Just try to get by with day labor for a while. When I get the chance, I’ll ask someone if you can get a job in the castle. If you need me, let’s meet at the gate.”
The horse picked up speed.
Rick’s figure, clearly reluctant to part, receded into the distance.
“Well then, Rick. Hang in there!”
There was no way he could bring Rick along.
They might end up in a life-or-death fight after all.
***
The horse left Porto, a city where people of many trades worked.
They passed numerous carts loaded with harvested goods.
“Lady Ise, where are we headed now?”
“If we ride until evening, we’ll reach a town called Reka. I lie in wait there regularly. Why? Because the number of knights there is small for a town of its size. And Reka has a nearby jade mine, so there are a lot of jade merchants. In short, it’s a wealthy town. An easy target.”
“I see. But in that case, couldn’t the count send soldiers or knights?”
“Commander Berle’s deployment is coming up. We’re severely short on knights and soldiers. And besides, the threat to Reka is based only on my own intuition and information.”
“What kind of information?”
“Recently, I dealt with some highwaymen on a small road. One of the scum said there’s a group planning to hit Reka.”
“Lady Ise, if that’s the case, couldn’t you ask other knights to go with you?”
“Even if I asked, few would agree to fight alongside me. Not none, but very few.”
“Is that because you’re of non-human blood?”
“Well, that’s probably part of it. There’s no benefit to associating with me…”
Ise’s expression as she said this was something Abel, seated behind her, couldn’t see.
Around noon, in a small unfamiliar town, they bought some bread, smoked pork, and cheese for a light meal.
They also gave Nana water and hay.
After a short break, they set off again.
The mare, Nana, was a sturdy horse.
She didn’t seem especially fast, but she kept walking tirelessly.
Because Ise was the quiet type, they traveled with almost no conversation.
Abel simply clung silently to her back.
A faint, sweet scent came from her black hair but he kept that to himself.
He couldn’t predict how she’d react if he said anything.
About an hour before sunset, they arrived at Reka.
Instead of entering the town, Ise guided the horse up a hill from where they could look down on it.
Nana’s strong legs handled the slope with ease.
“You’re not going into town?”
“I want to keep watch in case someone tries to sneak in after dark. This is the best spot for that.”
“Can you see with just the moonlight? I don’t think you can see much at night.”
This world had two moons.
On a double full moon…on nights when both were full, it was bright enough to walk without a torch.
But tonight wasn’t one of those nights.
“My night vision is good.”
“Night vision… You mean you can see like it’s daytime?”
“Not quite. It’s more like everything looks a bit dim.”
It seemed to be a trait from her demon race.
Abel looked at the town of Reka, bathed in the glow of the setting sun.
It was considerably larger than Tenana.
The population was probably around five thousand. Maybe more.
The town was surrounded by something like a fence.
However, it wasn’t so tall that it would be impossible to climb over.
“The bandits will probably break in around midnight, target a merchant house they’ve already scouted, and leave town by dawn.”
“We’re going to ambush them on their way out?”
“No, if they escape from the other side of town, we won’t catch them. We’ll fight them where they break in.”
Ise laid out a cloth on the grass and lay down.
It seemed they were taking a short rest.
It was bold, considering they might be going into a life-or-death fight soon.
Abel, understandably, was getting nervous.
He found himself hoping the bandits wouldn’t come.
And usually, when you hope for something, the opposite happens.
In the middle of the night, while Abel was shivering from the cold, Ise spoke to him.
“They’re here! Cast Light!”
“They might see the light.”
“The road is too dark and narrow. It’s dangerous even on horseback. Besides, they’re already inside the town. They probably won’t notice.”
Apparently, horses could see fairly well at night.
But for Abel, this was his first time riding one in the middle of the night.
He had no choice but to follow Ise’s lead.
Abel and Ise leapt onto the mare, Nana.
They lit the mountain path with the Light spell.
Ise urged Nana to move faster.
The entrance to the town was shut off by a wooden fence.
The surrounding area was the same.
They tied Nana’s reins to the fence and left her there.
Then they climbed over the wooden fence.
“There must be more than one merchant house, right?”
“I’m going to the biggest one in town. The bandits are after money. That makes it the most suspicious.”
Ise ran through the night streets without hesitation.
All the houses had their wooden doors tightly shut.
Not a soul in sight.
Eventually, Ise stopped at an intersection.
She quietly observed the area.
In her line of sight stood a large stone building.
“Turn off Light.”
Abel did as he was told and released the spell.
Ise approached the building with barely a sound.
Abel strained his ears.
He could faintly hear the sound of something being moved inside the building.
Strange for this time of night.
No, clearly something was wrong.
Abel gave Ise a nod.
The merchant house was surrounded by a stone wall, with a garden inside, and the building beyond that.
Abel placed his hands on the wall. Ise used his back to swiftly climb up.
She unstrapped the large sword from her back and held it out in front of Abel.
“Grab on.”
Abel grabbed the sheathed sword, and Ise pulled with force, lifting his whole body upward.
He got up onto the wall.
Then they dropped down into the garden.
The back door of the merchant house was open.
A faint light leaked out.
Someone was standing there, blocking the doorway.
They seemed to have noticed them too.
“Are you bandits?”
Ise’s question was far too direct.
The man didn’t answer.
Instead, an eerie presence filled the air as more men began pouring out of the building.
There were four of them.
Each one held a sword or dagger.
Their faces were covered with cloth.
Abel felt like his head was going to explode from the tension and adrenaline.
Right in front of him stood enemies who were clearly after his life.
It was a situation that felt almost unreal.
But what scared him the most was that none of them said a word.
There was no room for negotiation.
With trembling hands, he gripped his sword’s hilt and awkwardly drew it.
Without even a shout, Ise suddenly stepped in and brought her sword down on the man in front.
Sparks flew.
The bandit’s sword, raised in defense, broke with ease.
A wet slicing sound as flesh was cut clean through.
No scream followed.
That single strike had twisted the man’s body in an unnatural way.
His spine was completely severed.
Instant death.
A heavy weight settled in Abel’s gut.
Though it was dark, he didn’t use Light.
Ise could see in the dark.
No need for unnecessary actions.
Abel moved to a position where he could help keep the bandits in check.
Then Ise thrust her sword forward, so fast it was almost invisible.
The tip of the blade—
—pierced into a bandit’s stomach.
“Guuueeeaaagh!!”
A scream of agony.
The remaining two began moving to flank Ise.
Anticipating where the bandit would step, Abel used mineral magic called “Earthen Shift” to raise the ground beneath his feet.
“Wha—!”
The bandit tripped over the sudden rise, stumbling forward and losing his balance.
Abel swung his sword down onto the back of the man’s exposed head.
There was a hard crack as something broke.
The bandit collapsed to the ground.
His body twitched like a fish.
Cold sweat broke out all over Abel.
He didn’t need to check. He could feel the certainty of what he’d done in his hands.
Ise finished the last one with a single swing.
The slash nearly cleaved the bandit clean in half.
His guts spilled out like ropes.
Ise’s greatsword had terrifying power.
It was impossible to block with something like a dagger.
Four corpses now lay on the ground.
Pools of blood spread beneath them.
Abel stared, struggling to believe what he was seeing.
Ise boldly and without hesitation stepped into the house.
Abel hurried to follow.
His legs tangled awkwardly beneath him, and though all he was doing was walking, he couldn’t do it properly.
Inside, candles were lit.
Several people lay bound in straw mats, tossed onto the floor.
There had been at least five bandits.
But one of them stood out from the rest.
He was a werewolf.
He had dog-like ears, and his face was covered in fur.
Roughly eighty percent beast, with just a trace or maybe twenty percent of human features.
He was wearing tattered clothes, at least.
—That’s a werewolf!
As Abel stood stunned, two of the bandits lunged forward with daggers in hand.
One charged at Ise.
The other came straight at Abel.
—Shit, he’s coming this way!
On instinct, Abel triggered his fire magic.
He flung it at the bandit’s face.
It didn’t do any real damage, but it served as a distraction.
Caught off guard, the bandit flinched and scowled.
A perfect opening. He was exposed.
Abel told himself he just had to do it like he’d practiced.
He brought his sword down from above, driven by desperation.
Abel shocked even himself.
The clean stroke of the blade sliced the bandit’s arm off with ease.
He hadn’t expected it to cut so cleanly.
The arm, still gripping the dagger, dropped heavily to the floor.
“Uaaahhhhhh!”
The bandit clutched his shoulder and collapsed to his knees.
Blood gushed out.
It made a splattering sound, like water being thrown on the ground.
Abel aimed a kick at his jaw.
He felt it land solidly.
The bandit toppled over and didn’t move again.
Abel stood trembling, panting hard.
Over on Ise’s side, the enraged bandit charged wildly, slashing his dagger in all directions.
Ise rammed straight into him.
Thanks to her magically enhanced strength, the larger bandit was sent flying.
He slammed into the wall and crumpled to the ground.
He was out cold.
“Graaaaaaaaah!”
A deafening roar.
Abel flinched without thinking.
The werewolf snarled and wrinkles formed on his snout.
His fangs were bared. The sheer intensity was overwhelming.
The next instant, the werewolf leapt. Far beyond what Abel could have anticipated.
He kicked off the wall, flipped in the air, and launched a surprise attack from directly above Ise.
It was the kind of move no normal person could react to.
But Ise blocked it with ease.
Her greatsword moved effortlessly, as if it had no weight at all.
The two clashed in a furious exchange of blows.
There was no way to get involved in that kind of fight.
Given the situation, Abel turned his attention to the two remaining bandits.
Their eyes met his.
One of the bandits tore off his mask, as if to say Abel was in the way.
A bearded face.
Rough, savage, and filled with killing intent.
It looked like he’d entered full kill mode.
No need to hide anymore.
Abel used his usual trick.
He tried to bind the enemy’s legs using Earth Shift.
But the bandit sensed it and leapt up.
The floor melted away into a hole, but the attack was dodged.
“This brat’s no beginner mage!”
“You killed our buddy, you little shit! I’m not letting you die easily! I’ll cut out your tongue and gouge out your eyes!”
The enraged bandits threatened him as they slowly closed in.
The short swords in their hands gleamed ominously.
Abel fought the urge to turn and run.
If he showed his back now, he’d definitely get stabbed.
Still, the fear that he’d be killed two-on-one rose in his mind.
Every time the enemies looked like they were about to move in, he desperately used Earth Shift to collapse the floor.
There was no way to instantly make a hole big enough for a person to fall into.
So instead, he kept opening a series of small holes.
They weren’t much of an obstacle, but enough to make the enemies cautious and stop them from charging in.
Desperately, he looked for any weakness in the two bandits.
Unfortunately, they were wearing armor on their torsos.
With that, even slashing them with a blade would only deliver a blunt impact.
Abel tried to recall a spell.
There was a spell called Ice Spear.
A third-rank water magic that, with a strong enough image and a verbal chant, shoots out a spear of ice.
But it probably didn’t have the power to pierce iron armor.
He wasn’t confident he could hit the faster-moving bandit in the head, either.
And using explosive fire magic indoors was out of the question.
He’d end up catching himself and the hostage in the blast.
Doubt and hesitation only grew.
“Guaaaaaaaaah!”
A werewolf’s roar.
The fight on Ise’s side was reaching its climax.
The werewolf seemed to rely on a style that combined daggers and swift close-quarters combat, but he was being overwhelmed by Ise’s unnaturally fast sword and raw strength.
Suddenly, Ise crouched low to the ground and swung her sword in a wide arc.
Caught off guard by the unexpected move, the werewolf barely managed to leap backward… but Abel didn’t miss the opportunity.
He created a hole at the werewolf’s feet as he was cornered in the room.
When the foot slipped in, he immediately closed and hardened it.
“Ugh! Wha—?”
Ise’s sword struck the werewolf in the shoulder.
She seemed to have held back on purpose. It wasn’t a fatal blow.
But it was still deep enough.
The collarbone was severed.
The werewolf collapsed on the spot, blood dripping.
Abel shouted:
“Drop your weapons! You wanna die too?!”
It was a child’s voice, so it lacked force, but the situation made it clear the threat was real.
The remaining bandits bit their lips.
There was hesitation on their faces.
Abel softened his tone just a bit.
“You might not get the death penalty, you know? No need to die today.”
There was no real logic behind it, just empty persuasion…. but it broke the tension.
And the psychological blow of losing their strongest fighter, the werewolf, must’ve been significant too.
The bandits dropped their weapons.
They collapsed to the floor.
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