Night deepened. All that remained was the winter chill and the sound of the wind rustling through the trees chosen as the caravan’s campsite. Aside from that, the only sounds were the snores and sleep-muttering drifting from the merchants' tents.
Taenia, Phabel, and Luido—each wrapped in robes and coats layered for maximum warmth—kept watch by the campfire. Near the three of them, Set lay sprawled out by the flames. Luido, who was supposed to be on lookout duty, cast longing glances at the creature every few moments. Taenia and Phabel kept up a conversation to stave off their drowsiness, occasionally stopping Luido as she tried to wander over and hug the Gryphon.
Naturally, their weapons were close at hand, ensuring they could strike back the moment any bandits or monsters attacked.
"We’ve been traveling together for two days now... What do you think of Rei?" Phabel suddenly asked, bringing a cup of tea to her lips to wake herself up.
"What do I think? Well, he’s certainly skilled. He proved that during the fight with the Icebirds, didn't he?"
"Yeah, I know that. But don't you think it’s strange? That a boy that small has the ability of a C-Rank adventurer."
"Small? He’s not much shorter than you," Taenia muttered in exasperation. She held back the drifting Luido with one hand while drinking her own tea with the other.
"Hey, wait! I’m taller! Much taller!"
Phabel was about 166cm, making her just a tiny bit taller than Rei. Even a single centimeter was a victory in her eyes. It was a line she refused to concede, and she made her claim while pulling off the impressive feat of shouting in a whisper.
For comparison, Taenia stood at 172cm, while Luido was surprisingly the tallest of the Beautiful Drops at 175cm.
"Yes, yes. You’re definitely bigger, Phabel... So, what about Rei?"
"Hmph. I feel like you're being dismissive. Anyway, don't you think being a C-Rank at that age is a bit abnormal? Not to mention he's accompanied by such an incredible creature."
"Guru?"
Sensing Phabel’s gaze, Set opened its eyes and tilted its head with a soft trill.
Under normal circumstances, having a Gryphon nearby without Rei present would have inspired nothing but terror. However, excluding the obsessed Luido, even Taenia and Phabel felt almost no fear toward Set after it had saved them from the Icebirds. The caravan merchants felt the same. Unlike the residents of the City of Gilm, who had been given time to grow accustomed to its presence, these people had accepted the creature almost immediately.
"That might be true, but you hear stories about that kind of exceptional talent once in a while, right? Besides—"
Taenia was interrupted. Set, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly fixed its gaze on the depths of the forest and growled.
"Gurururu."
Even without having known Set for long, Taenia recognized the sound as a warning. It was easy to guess why the creature would be on guard now that they were away from the frontier. After all, Rei had seen a bandit scout with his own eyes earlier that day.
"...Phabel, go wake Rei. Luido, stop staring at Set and get ready to intercept!"
"Understood."
"Roger that~"
While Phabel rushed toward Rei's tent, Taenia gripped her favorite halberd. Luido reached for her bow, ready to notch an arrow at a moment's notice. And then...
"Guru!"
Set, who had been resting just a second ago, used its incredible explosive power to leap from the ground. It blurred in front of Taenia in an instant, swinging its front claws in a wide arc.
Clang-clang-clang!
The sharp ring of metal echoed as several objects struck the ground. Taenia reflexively looked down to see five knives and an arrow that had been snapped in half.
(They’re seriously trying to kill us!?)
Taenia caught her breath.
She was well aware that she was reasonably attractive, as were Phabel and Luido. She didn't flatter herself by thinking they were such peerless beauties that every man would turn to stare, but she had enough confidence to believe that at least one or two out of ten people would find her beautiful. She also knew that for bandits, the first priority was gold and cargo, and the second was women. She understood that being captured would mean the ultimate humiliation, but as long as she lived, there would be a chance for revenge. For them to try and kill women like them without even a single word of warning was truly unexpected.
"Luido, fire!"
"Roger~"
At Taenia’s command, Luido loosed an arrow into the forest. However, because she had been staring at the campfire until a moment ago, her eyes weren't adjusted to the darkness. Her shot flew wide.
(But that’s fine. Even if she missed, they know we have long-range weapons now. Which means...)
Just as Taenia predicted, the pressure of the attack from the forest wavered for a split second.
"Fireball!"
At that shout, a fireball roughly thirty centimeters in diameter flew from behind them, instantly illuminating the forest.
"Aaaagh!"
"Magic! Put it out, put it out! They can see our position!"
One of the men had been hit directly by the spell. He rolled on the ground enveloped in flames while another man desperately tried to throw damp dirt and wet snow onto him. As one of the bandits had shouted, the fire dispelled the darkness, revealing their positions in the flickering light. Simultaneously, several spears whistled through the air, their rusted tips burying themselves in the bandits' flesh.
"Rei!?"
Recognizing the voice that had cast the magic, Taenia shouted as Rei appeared beside her. He held his Death Scythe in his left hand and a spear with a rusted tip in his right.
"At least we know where they are now. What’s the move? Fight or run? Though those heavy carriages will make running difficult."
His voice was almost provocative. Taenia gave a wry smile and made an immediate judgment.
"We fight, of course. That's what we were hired for. Based on our individual strengths, we’ll guard the caravan! Rei, you and Set head into the forest and attack the bandits!"
Following the order, Luido retreated toward the carriages. As a long-range fighter, she could still fire her bow from the rear, and she unleashed a volley at the silhouettes revealed by Rei’s magic.
Phabel and Taenia stayed close to protect Luido, while the merchants who had scrambled out of their tents huddled near the carriages behind them.
"Set, circle around behind them from the air!"
"Gurururu!"
With a roar, Rei threw the last of his spears. The weapon punched through a bandit’s stomach, pinning him to a tree trunk behind him. The impact was so great that the fragile shaft snapped in half.
In the next heartbeat, Set cried out in response to Rei's command, took a few running steps, and soared into the night sky.
The bandits reflexively tracked its movement with their eyes, but...
"Looking away while facing me? You're quite overconfident!"
Rei closed the distance instantly. A single swing of the Death Scythe bisected several men at the waist. Blood and internal organs were scattered across the forest floor, and the heat from the still-burning flames caused the blood to evaporate, filling the air with the scent of rusted iron.
(I'm grateful for Taenia’s judgment. Even with the light, it’s still dim out here. If she had sent anyone else into the forest with me, they probably would have been caught in the crossfire.)
While inwardly admiring Taenia's tactical sense, Rei continued to swing the scythe. The massive blade tore through men, the shaft crushed the bones of those it struck, and those hit by the butt end of the shaft suffered fatal, piercing wounds to their torsos.
The attacking force numbered over thirty, but they were facing Rei’s overwhelming physical ability and a massive scythe that didn't chip or dull even after reaping multiple bodies at once. Terror finally took hold as their numbers dwindled at an agonizing rate. Just as they turned to flee back into the woods...
"Gururururu!"
Something descended like a blade cutting through the night, landing directly in front of the man leading the retreat.
It was Set, who had circled behind them on Rei's orders.
The sight of its massive form dropping from the sky was the very image of a Death God of the Sky. Using the momentum of its descent, Set delivered a crushing blow with its front paw. The first man to try and escape was sent flying five meters sideways; he slammed into a tree and died instantly from a snapped spine.
"Guru."
The bandits froze as their comrade met such a brutal end. A second later, the reaper they had just turned their backs on swung his scythe again, harvesting their torsos like common weeds.
The Grim Reaper's blade fell with total indifference. It didn't matter if the target was a man or a woman, young or old; it granted death to all equally.
If they tried to flee, they faced an A-Rank monster. If they stood their ground, they were cut down without hesitation by a reaper who seemed to place no value on human life. The bandits were left with only two choices: flee to the sides where the path was still open, or drop their weapons and surrender to a hopeless situation.
"I-I-I give up! Please, don't kill me!"
"Me too! I'll do anything! I'll never do anything bad again, just don't kill me!"
"I surrender! L-Look, I have a pretty good body. You can have me, just let me live!"
Only three bandits remained. Considering that only about five had managed to escape to the sides, the lives of nearly thirty men had been extinguished in a matter of minutes.
"Did you... spare the people who begged for their lives like that?" Rei asked, his Death Scythe raised high.
Seeing a glimmer of hope in his words, the two men and the woman nodded frantically.
"Of course! We don't kill people who surrender. Right? Tell him!"
"Yes, obviously! We always help those we can!"
"We’re good bandits, I swear!"
The bandits pleaded desperately for their lives. Hearing them, a smile played across Rei’s lips.
We’re going to live. Just as relief flooded their hearts, they noticed the Death Scythe was still poised to strike.
The blade of condemnation shone with a brilliance that was almost seductive, despite having tasted the blood of nearly thirty people. There was not a single chip on its edge.
By the time they realized that the smile on Rei’s face was a cold sneer rather than an expression of mercy, it was too late. The Grim Reaper's Great Scythe began its descent—
"Rei, wait!"
Taenia’s voice rang out from behind him, and the Death Scythe stopped instantly. If she had been a fraction of a second later, the head of the bandit on the right would have been severed. The blade was held a hair’s breadth from his neck.
"Why stop me?"
"You can kill them whenever you want, but we can only get information from them now... Listen, you three. If you answer my questions honestly, I’ll let you go. What do you say?"
The man in the middle and the woman on the left nodded without hesitation.
Taenia glanced at the man on the right, worried by his silence, but he had fainted with his eyes rolled back, frothing at the mouth from pure terror. The dark stain on his crotch made it clear he hadn't been able to handle the proximity of death.
(...I suppose that’s fair.)
Having literally seen the reaper's blade at his throat, she couldn't blame him for losing consciousness. Taenia turned her attention back to the other two.
"Why are you active at this time of year? Ordinarily, merchants don't travel this route during the winter, do they?"
"We... we don't know. The Boss got word about you guys and decided to strike."
"How many of you are there in total?"
"About fifty? But after what that guy did today, I think there are less than twenty of us left."
"Where is your hideout?"
"In a cave just past this forest."
The two bandits answered every question immediately. They showed no hesitation and clearly felt no loyalty toward their comrades. They were perfectly willing to sell out their own kind to save their own skins. This display of cowardice only proved the low caliber of the group, and Rei knit his brows in disgust as he listened.
After five minutes of questioning, Taenia decided she had heard enough. She gave a small nod and turned away.
"That’s enough. As promised, you’re free to go."
"...Hey?"
Rei’s question was pointed—was she really letting them go? Taenia gave him a subtle wink that only he could see, signaling him to stay quiet.
"R-Really!? Thank you!"
"We won't forget this!"
Overjoyed at their survival, the two bandits prepared to flee.
"Take that unconscious one with you," Taenia added. "It’ll be a hassle if you leave him here."
The bandits hurriedly hoisted their comrade up and disappeared into the depths of the forest.