Chapter 8
Bandit Hunting (2)
We quickly descended from the watchtower.
The inferno had begun. I had one job to do.
“Mr. Jack.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s join the assault team.”
Safely rejoining the main force and surviving.
That was a hundred times better than trying to be a hero, chasing after the leader for extra reward, and getting stabbed by the bandits gathered there.
Jack seemed to agree, as he chuckled and said,
“I thought you were going to suggest we go after the leader, and I was getting nervous. Why are you being so serious? You’re scaring me.”
“Heh, if I wanted to commit suicide, I would have jumped headfirst from the watchtower earlier. I want to live.”
Screams filled the air. Our conversation, which didn’t need to be hushed, returned to a somewhat normal volume.
Clang, clang, clang.
Jack, who had drawn his arming sword, struck his shield a few times with the flat of the blade and asked as he stepped forward,
“Did we get any archers?”
“One at the first watchtower, and maybe one more on the way here?”
“Three of them. At least we won’t get our limbs skewered all at once. Ase, cover us with your bow if you see any enemies.”
I nodded and tied my quarterstaff to my back with a cord.
Then, I grabbed my longbow, took two arrows, nocked one on the string, held the other between my index and middle fingers, and said,
“Lead the way.”
“Ugh, making an old man walk in front of arrows. Young people these days are scary.”
It was embarrassing to hear that from someone who wasn’t that much older than me, but I decided to let it slide for now.
Tada-da-dak!
“Hurry! This way!”
We heard shouts and the sound of running coming towards us from a corner in the distance.
“More than two.”
His voice lowered again.
Judging by the distance to the corner, I would have to draw my dagger after shooting three arrows.
“Should we avoid them?”
“No, we can’t. The alleys are all blocked.”
Jack said firmly.
I took another arrow from my waist and stuck it in the ground next to me. I wouldn’t be able to use more than that at this distance.
Moments later, the enemies came into view.
“Damn it.”
Jack muttered under his breath.
Six of them.
This was the worst.
There was no sign of anyone crazy enough to bring a woman along.
In other words, they were all sane madmen.
But we were sane too, so let’s make a more rational decision-
I said,
“Mr. Jack, are you good at running and jumping?”
“You want to ditch them and run?”
He asked.
“What the hell are those guys!!”
“Run!!!”
To our right, we saw something we could climb on in front of a burning log cabin.
I told Jack the plan.
“I’ll shoot one arrow. Climb up there right away.”
They didn’t hear us. I prepared to intercept them.
The tension of the longbow wasn’t easy to handle for a quick shot.
So I placed the arrow on the left side of the bow, adjusted my stance,
Leaned forward, straightened my left leg, bent my right leg outward, and pulled the string with three fingers.
With a swoosh, my vision slowly, very slowly, narrowed.
And the other obstacles between me and the target disappeared.
“Whoa, that guy has a bow!”
“Idiot! There are mercenaries swarming behind us, what’s one archer going to-“
I held my breath.
“Ase! Hurry up-“
Only one man was visible.
―Thwang!
A piece of wood, rooted in the ground for its entire life, was horizontally liberated from the world it lived in.
The arrow, tearing through the air like lightning, appeared to move very slowly to me.
As the bandit’s blurry features became even more blurred, I heard a ripping sound from afar.
―Thud!
“Ugh!”
The armor worn by the bandits was predictably subpar.
The arrow, piercing cleanly through his chest, created the miracle of slightly lifting the target.
Thud!
Twelfth one down.
“-Jayrn!!”
“That bastard killed Jayrn!”
We heard one of his comrades cry out.
The next arrow was already ready between my fingers.
I nocked another arrow on the string.
“Ase!! Get your ass up here!”
Jack shouted from atop the burning log cabin.
One side of the cabin he was standing on collapsed forward with a creak.
Crackle.
I pulled the bowstring again. It was going according to plan.
“Block it!!”
One bandit shouted.
Another shouted,
“Shoot again!!”
So I chose the one on the far left, the one who had just shouted, as my next target.
They were running so closely together that there was nowhere for him to dodge to the right.
He was flinching slightly and running a bit slower, giving me an opening.
I adjusted my aim slightly to the left, anticipating his movement. Even if I missed, I would still hit his arm.
The distance closed. The target grew larger.
“Heh.”
This was good.
Thwoom!
The bowstring grazed my ear with a twang.
The whistling sound of the arrow echoed through the air,
And the fletching at the tail of the arrow rapidly shrunk and then wobbled.
The guy who had dared me to shoot dodged slightly to the left.
And then everything stopped.
Thirteenth one down.
“Gah!”
A small tombstone made of feathers was erected on the fur-clad bandit’s chest.
He must have wanted to become a bird.
May he fly freely in the afterlife.
“Ase!!!”
My hand, which had repeatedly pulled the string, was numb. My ears were ringing as well.
The ominous cracking sound of the collapsing cabin grew louder.
“Mr. Jack, jump in a bit.”
“What the hell are you talking about! You want to leave me behind?”
He asked incredulously.
“If you stay there, you’ll become charcoal. I’ll shoot one more arrow, and then you jump down to safety. Even if it looks dangerous, just jump.”
I didn’t wait for his answer.
I grabbed the arrow I had stuck in the ground next to me. My gloves prevented any mishaps like my fingertips getting sliced.
I nocked the arrow and shouted,
“Come closer, you goddamn idiots!!”
The bandits stopped. I saw a glimpse of something silver in the alley behind them.
I didn’t miss it and said,
“You’ll just become skewers for my arrows if you come any closer!”
“You’re alone, and there are four of us!!”
The bandit with the axe shouted. I didn’t bother remembering his face.
“What do you mean alone? Just because you grew up without parents, you think everyone else is alone too, you rootless bastard!!”
The man on the burning roof, still untouched by the flames, shouted. The logs were almost completely burned.
“Hey, bandits. I have something to say.”
He should be jumping soon.
“I want to live. I don’t want wealth, glory, or to be a hero.”
I secured the arrow on the bow with my left thumb and slowly moved my right hand towards my waist.
“Oh yeah? Then come over here. We’ll take you with us.”
The one who looked like the leader stepped forward and said arrogantly. He was fat and plump, a rare sight of a “piggy” in this world.
“Those guys will be pleased to have a skilled person like you.”
I felt something long between my gloves.
“Heh, that doesn’t make sense. Why don’t you surrender instead?”
I only took one arrow.
It filled the gap between my index and middle fingers. The bandit’s chubby face contorted even further.
“Negotiations are over. Get them!”
I quickly drew another arrow from my waist and held it in my hand.
He charged recklessly. But whether it was because of his weight or fatigue, he was very slow.
The arrowheads in the alley started to gleam again. I was the target.
Five targets,
Two arrows,
One bow.
I couldn’t shoot two arrows at once.
It was time for selective focus again.
I pulled the bowstring, and my vision narrowed.
There was no time to regret my choice.
Thud.
The beginning that marked someone’s end sounded dull.
―Thwang!
The process was light and swift. The curved trajectory, piercing through a person, freely cut through the air.
But the result was far from light.
Thud!
Fourteenth one down.
Thump, thud. Thump.
Someone, I didn’t know who, collapsed slowly, very slowly.
Something flew towards me, and I dodged it instinctively.
It was a silver arrowhead, a desperate shot that the archer had taken along with his life.
And he had bought himself time.
“Die!!!”
The pig-like bandit appeared before me.
His shoulders were pulled back so far that his balance was off. But it didn’t affect his ability to swing the axe-
“Heh heh!!”
I saw something sinister in his eyes, and my body froze for a moment.
The axe swung down vertically.
Suddenly, his eyes flickered. My body regained its freedom.
A dagger bounced off his right arm. It was Jack’s.
“Hey! Give that back!!”
Jack disappeared, leaving behind a debt of one dagger.
At the same time, the bandit’s axe was still coming down vertically.
Selective focus was still in effect.
I lost my longbow with a crack.
He gained an arrow in his temple.
I might have been able to read something in his fading, fish-like eyes, but I forgot it all.
Fifteenth one down.
The cracking and crackling sounds grew louder. Jack had long since escaped. A wise decision.
The remaining three bandits were closing in.
But the outcome I had hoped for didn’t happen, and it was time to prepare.
I picked up Jack’s dagger first, then looted the pig-like bandit.
The deceased bandit bequeathed me an axe, and I gladly became its heir.
“Lovely.”
I thought of the old Northerner.
It was time to show the battlefield something new.
This hatchet, as thick as its previous owner’s belly fat, would surely create the outcome I desired.
I scanned the partially burned pillars.
The clueless bandits were walking towards me with their own limbs.
I prepared to swing the axe horizontally with both hands.
“Hey! Hey, stop!”
“That crazy bastard!!!”
They finally realized my intention, but it was too late.
The log cabin was quite large. Even before it caught fire, it was big enough to crush three adult men.
I might get caught in it too, but what choice did I have?
According to my original plan, Jack should have been struggling frantically, causing the cabin to collapse towards me, but that didn’t happen.
So this was the most reliable method for now.
“Haaaaaaa-Haaaa!!”
“Stoooooop!!!!!!!!”
Crack!
***
“So, you’re saying the guy I killed was the bandit leader?”
“That’s right.”
Jack, who had me seated in front of the carriage, explained.
Reims had said that the axe I was holding belonged to the bandit leader, and the village headman confirmed it.
Fortunately, unlike the bandits, I hadn’t been crushed or burned to death. I had only been knocked unconscious by debris.
“But you should have told me about that plan. I thought you were going to escape across the roof.”
Jack, who had his dagger back in perfect condition, said nonchalantly. I replied firmly,
“Tanner told me there was an escape hole right behind me. If we had escaped then, we would have failed the mission.”
“Wow, how righteous.”
“Hey, if we’re going to get paid, we have to do it properly, right? Mr. Jack, you waited until I could escape, even threw me your dagger. I saw you calling for help too.”
“I did that to get my dagger back, kid. Now that I have my knife, I’m going back.”
Jack left, and this time, squad leader Tanner came over, listened to the details, and nodded.
He said we would receive an additional reward for catching the leader.
But what good was that when I had to pay for the broken longbow, arrows, and everything else?
Before he left, I asked something that suddenly came to mind.
“By the way, why did the bandit leader kidnap that boy?”
“I don’t know. They said he was wearing strange clothes. The village headman took him.”
Strange clothes?
Damn, I almost cursed.
I decided not to ask any more questions for the sake of my own sanity.
***
A short while later, Tanner, who had received the village headman’s signature, approached. It was a joyful announcement of our return.
“Alright, let’s head back. Gather your things.”
“Thank you so much!”
“Thank you!!”
“……”
“Ah. Ah. Ah…”
The carriage departed, receiving thanks from the village headman and villagers, their eyes filled with hope, and the victims, their eyes devoid of any light.
Our story with them was over.
They would figure it out, and so would I.
Nice epic bandit killing