Chapter 470: Chapter 470 - Bandits
"Huh, there’s a couple of carriages passing through the forest. They’re not headed this way, though, so I don’t think it’s anyone looking for you," I remarked, as I spotted some movement in the display of my World Map and zoomed in.
I was looking for animals that we could hunt for some meat, we’ve mostly been eating berries, fruits and fish.
Most Monsters run away as soon as I get close, and it’s the same with regular animals too. It’s easier with fish, since all I need to do is blast the water with my flames and boil them to death.
But I’ve been really craving some meat, and Celestia was on the same page, so I figured I’d try to find some animals to get said meat from and then send her to hunt them once located.
"Hm? Let me see...oh, pretty sure those are bandits," Responded Celestia, as she glanced over my shoulder.
"Bandits, huh? Think they’ve got any meat in those carriages?"
"Possibly. They’ll definitely have weapons, though. Maybe I can get some new blades to use with my Electromagnetism Spell," She grinned with a gleam in her eyes.
It’s been a couple of weeks since she first figured out how to use electromagnetism, and she’s been making pretty steady progress.
Also, I guess we’re going to attack these bandits. She seems pretty deadset on it, and I have no qualms. Well, that is, assuming that they’re actually bad people...
"Hm...I don’t know. I mean, if they’re evil, then sure, I have no problem with killing them. But if they’re not, then I’d rather not. After all, bandits are likely Commoners, right? So, it could be that they only turned to crime because they felt they had no choice...like, maybe they only target Nobles. Or maybe-..."
"Yeah, there are a fair number of criminal groups like that, but I’m pretty sure these people aren’t. See that emblem on the sides of the carriages, the black skull and dagger? That’s the mark of the biggest and most wanted bandit group in the nation, The Marauders. They’ve been operating for about a decade now, and they’re pretty awful people. They don’t just rob, they murder, rape and kidnap too, and not just Nobles, but Commoners as well," She informed me.
"Oh. Well, in that case, I see no reason to hold back. Let’s head out."
"Sure, lead the way!"
She looks really giddy, I wonder why? Maybe she’s just excited about getting some new blades?
The two of them headed out, following the map and making our way through the forest, steadily inching closer and closer towards the bandits.
"Perfect, looks like they’re stopping to take a break," I remarked, as the carriages came to a halt by a stream, the bandits disembarking.
"Looks like there’s ten-...no, eleven...-of them," She replied, as she glanced at the screen.
"They should be within sight soon...there we go, right on cue. They look pretty relaxed, don’t they? Let’s have a look at what we’re dealing with here...," I muttered, using Appraisal as we hid behind a row of bushes and peered out, before adding, "Alright, seven of them are on par with B-Ranks. The remaining four are A-Rank."
"Got it. Hm...I kinda wanna yell while activating my Electro-Velocity Spell."
"What? Why? Don’t do that, you’ll waste our element of surprise," I responded in bemusement.
"Yeah, but...I have long blonde hair and lightning sparks around me when I use that Spell, I wanna say ’and now, to go even further beyond’, and then yell and transform."
"...let’s just hurry up and kill them."
"Man, you’re no fun. Fine, let’s get this over with," She sighed wistfully.
I then split and extended out my tail, sending them slithering across the grass towards the bandits, steadily closing in on them as Celestia got ready to activate her Spell.
As my tails got within reach, I swiftly sent them shooting out and whipped them across powerfully, decapitating four of the bandits, two with each tail, right as Celestia unleashed her Electro-Velocity and raced out of the bushes.
"What the...?!"
"The hell just happened?!"
"Shit, we’ve got incoming!"
She slashed one of her blades across as she closed in on one of the bandits, slicing his throat open, choked gasps ringing out, followed by a thud as he collapsed onto his knees and fell over.
"Damn, you...!" Exclaimed one of the remaining bandits, charging up a swirling mass of wind in his hands and taking aim at Celestia.
Before he could fire, I unleashed a roaring blast of blue flames towards him, his body stiffening as he saw it coming in his peripheral, turning his gaze this way and starting to try and scramble out of the way, but he was too slow to react.
A sharp yell of pain rang out as my blast slammed onto his right side, streaks of black smoke billowing out as he entire body got set ablaze, his screams fading as his now-charred body went limp and flopped onto the ground.
I then flew out of the bushes and swooped down towards one of the bandits, who frantically fired off a barrage of ice projectiles up towards me.
I weaved across the air, evading them with ease, before I tranformed my right hand and swung the blade across as I closed in on him, slicing off the top of his head and killing him instantly.
"You have no idea who you’re fucking with, you bastard!" Exclaimed one of the bandits, as he charged in towards me with a large warhammer.
He swung it at my left side as he closed in, before his eyes widened in horror as I stopped the swing of the hammer with my hand, the head of the weapon thudding against my palm and coming to an abrupt halt, before I lunged towards him and plunged my tranformed right hand into the left side of his chest, giving it a sharp twist as I pulled it back out.
A thud then echoed out from a few meters away, followed by silence. I turned my gaze that way, to see Celestia walking over while stretching her arms up, having finished off the last of the bandits.
"Ow...even if I deactivate Electro-Velocity before I reach the time limit, it still takes a bit of a toll, I feel kinda sore. That was barely even thirty seconds," She sighed with an exasperated look on her face.
"Well, the only way to deal with that is to keep using it until your body gets used to it and builds up a tolerance to the side effects," I pointed out, before adding, "Now, then, what do you say we raid the carriages and see what kind of haul we’ve got?"
"Sounds good to me! But first, the blades," She grinned, glancing around at the corpses before skipping over towards one of them.
Most of them had Elemental Magic and didn’t carry any weapons, four of them were Physical Magic users, but one only had that warhammer, and another was carrying an axe.
But the other two had blades, much to her delight. One was carrying a pair of daggers, and the other had throwing knives on him.
Once she’d finished looting them, I let her put her new weapons in my Item Box, before we headed over to one of the carriages and peered in.
"They’ve got a lot of money and jewelry. Not that we need any of those," She sighed in disappointment.
"True, but I’ll put them in my Item Box anyway, they could prove useful further down the line," I reasoned, as she continued searching.
"Hey, these are some pretty nice clothes...the fabric feels really soft and comfy, and they all look brand new too," She remarked, as she opened a crate and pulled out the contents.
"Thought you didn’t care about fashion."
"I mean, yeah, I don’t. But it’s not like I’m opposed to the idea of wearing pretty dresses and stuff. I can live without, sure, and I never put any serious thought into it since good clothes like these are really expensive. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to try on outfits like these...I doubt they’ll suit me, but I’ve got nothing to lose by trying them on," She shrugged with a sheepish smile.
"Hey, you don’t need to justify it. If you want to try them on, by all means, go for it. And in my opinion, I think they’ll suit you just fine...you are pretty cute and attractive, after all," I pointed out.
"H-Huh? Oh, um...thanks, Larrk, that’s nice of you to say."
"Hm? Heh, did that get you flustered?" I smirked teasingly.
"N-No, it just caught me off-guard, that’s all! A-Anyway...ahem, let’s get back to looking through these crates, there’s still a lot left."
"Sure. I’ll play along with your half-assed attempt to change the subject."
"You suck..."
We then continued going through the valuables stored in the carriage, the bandits had gathered up quite a haul.
There were crates with fancy cutlery and utensils, extravagant ornaments, fancy paintings, and other lavish items. Most of it was of no real practical use, but I bet we can use them to spruce up the cave, at least.
Celestia was pretty visibly disappointed, looks like she was hoping we’d find more useful stuff in here.
"Hey, chin up, it’s too soon to get disappointed yet. Let’s go check out the other carriage," I suggested as I patted her shoulder.
"Yeah, okay..."
