Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, parents always said that games desensitize people to violence and death--well I did play a lot of games--even the world I am in is a lot like a game, and I am a little desensitized to death--maybe there is something to that fear-mongering lie parents tell so they don’t have to get games for their kids.”

It seems that the thieves forced the knights from their horses using a thrown rope net, before attacking them. When the knights enter our view, they’re desperately struggling to fight back, causing the net to tighten around them.

The net looks rather easy to cut with a sword--are they amateurs?

However, the thieves are also rather frantic with their attacks, since the knights have thick armour--their attacks aren’t causing much damage at all.

Since there are three archers among the thieves, Pochi and I split from the wagon and ambush them--they’re in the trees--why do archers always seem to hide up a tree?

The thieves noticed us fairly quickly, and quite a few of them are coming towards us, the others are keeping the knights pinned down--however, around half of their number have already been incapacitated, since Arisa used her Mind Magic.

Rushing forward, the Beastkin girls disarmed the incapacitated thieves--I still didn’t want them to kill yet, unless necessary; I felt that I should shield them for as long as I could--I could be a little protective.

Lulu is staying in the wagon, while I cast a Shield to protect Nana and ask her to protect her.

Seeing that my preparations seem adequate, I head over to the main battlefield, along with the Beastkin girls.

I cut the net restraining the knights, while the Beastkin girls are keeping the thieves company.

“You did well, traveler! You damn thieves, become food for my sword!” One of the knights shout and runs towards the thieves--the other knight silently nods to be; before the two of them begin slaughtering the thieves, even the ones knocked out by Arisa’s Magic.

“Oops, sir knight--you better stop right there!” A big, big bearded man came out of the forest.

From my guess, he was the leader of the thieves, judging from his level and better equipment--the minion by his side is holding a woman hostage, the woman is tied up with rope.

“Hmm, a hostage huh?”

What’s this, my Danger Sense seems to be tingling--is there an ambush?

Or is Arisa staring intently at me again?

I quickly glance at the carriage--Arisa is watching situation.

So, it’s something in the surroundings.

No.

It’s coming from one of the knights, the one called Eral.

Eral is going to stab the hostage together with the man behind her--I quickly throw the dagger in my hand and deflect the his sword. He stops in place and stares at me, so do the people around us.

Uh oh, seems that Liza is starting to let off some serious bloodlust,

While I make sure that the woman is okay, I avoid the attack of a thief that had tried to ambush me from behind--who gets his head smashed by the butt of Liza’s spear--nearly shattering his skull.

It seems that Eral can’t decide if he should attack me, or the thieves.

Does he have a mission to subtly kill the woman?

The bearded man starts jeering, “Haha, you don’t care about the hostages, huh, are you really a knight?”

Eral makes up his mind and attacks the bearded man--who easily wards off the sword with a massive axe.

The other knight takes the chance and ambushes the man who is holding the hostage, cutting him from behind.

“Toruma!” The hostage screams.

What’s this?

Is the man not one of the thieves?

The knight, who hears the hostage scream out the name of the man, seems to have judged the woman as a thief as well--he raises his sword towards her; dashing forwards, I place myself between them, Shield separating me from the knight’s sword.

“Knight, you’re attacking the wrong opponent, she isn’t a thief.”

Taking a look into my eyes, and then a second look at the expression of the woman, the knight believes me and leaves the woman alone.

Eral’s battle with the bearded thief ended very quickly once the silent knight, joined him.

Seeing that their leader was going to lose, the few surviving thieves move as though they’re going to make a run for it. But Pochi and Tama quickly round them up.

“You coward.” The bearded thief shouts, irritated that the knights are now ganging up on him.

“Fool. It’s not cowardice for honourable knights to fall for the taunting of mere thieves, to fight them alone when they know they will lose. Together, Knights are strong! Good grief, no matter how many we kill, more thieves always appear.” Eral laughed at the thief’s words.

After they finish off the leader, and the thieves immobilized by Tama and Pochi, they make sure that there are no survivors--since they were interrupted last time.

“I thank you for your assistance, you should feel honoured; I’ll leave the equipment, it’ll be good for you to sell.” Eral said in a haughty tone, leaving with the taciturn knight following along.

By the way, the man called Toruma is alive--since he didn’t instantly die, I gave the woman a Health Potion to give to him, and he was healed. This immediate effect is still strange, even after seeing it a few times, this world really is fantasy; his breathing is steady, but he is unconscious--which is why I had the woman administer the Potion--I didn’t wish to give mouth-to-mouth to some unknown man. She didn’t have any qualms when I told her what she needed to do, so his life was saved.

After saving Toruma, the woman who was held hostage, begins to explain--her name is Hayuna, and that their baby is being kept in the thieves’ hideout in the forest; they couldn’t go against the leader’s orders because of the fear for their child.

Hayuna wants to go with us to the hideout--well, wants is an understatement, she is almost hysterical--so I ask Arisa to knock her out with Mind Magic.

***

Mia, Arisa and I are going to take down the hideout.

I wanted to go alone, but Arisa wanted to come--and Mia, who was feeling sick because of the almost overpowering scent of blood, took the opportunity to tag along.

So, it was decided, we’re going together.

The hideout is only around one hundred meters away from the highway--I wonder how they managed to keep it from knight patrols, unless the knights are idiots.

I quickly kill all of the thieves that guard the outside, and we can leisurely save Hayuna’s baby.

“Alright, baby rescue mission, clear!” Oops, it seems I said that out loud instead of thinking it--Mia is looking at me, with an amused smile; her lips curl up a little at the corners.

“Nn.” She nods at me.

I pass the baby over to her.

Her face seems to soften, her eyes going wide as she very carefully cradles the baby to her chest, beginning to softly hum in a comforting tune.

Tearing my gaze away from her, I go to Arisa, who is calling to me.

“You saw it right? That baby has a gift--which is quite rare.” Arisa looks into my eyes.

She is correct, the baby has an unusual skill, ‘Oracle’.

“So, what kind of skill is it?” I know the name, but I can’t really figure out what it’s good for--well, I can guess--if Oracles in this world are similar to the ancient myths from Earth.

“The skill allows the user to receive an Oracle from the Gods, which is the same effect as what priests and priestesses can get--with a massive gathering and hours, and hours, of prayer.”

“That’s rather convenient.”

Arisa nods with a smile, before her expression sobers, “However, if you thoughtlessly use it too much--it can kill you by causing your brain to melt--A mortal will have difficulty talking directly to a god.”

Finishing the conversation, Arisa and I begin the job of looting the thieves’ hideout.

“Ooh, I found some treasures!”

At first, I thought that it might be some kind of erotic item, because of the way Arisa sounded--but it was just a normal-looking necklace.

The necklace as a jewel that looks like a Lapis Lazuli embedded in a setting, which is attached to it by a short silver chain.

“It’s an amulet--more than likely stolen, but it seems to be quite a good Magic Item--I’m unsure of the type though.” Arisa speaks with a proud grin and a praise-me aura.

When I receive the presented Amulet, I stroke Arisa’s hair--causing her to let out a pleased sound--before the both of us go back to exploring.

The search is soon over, and our loot is quite good: not only are there normal swords, but armour, daggers, bows and arrows, amongst various other things; as well as food--and alcohol.

We were about to leave when I checked the map and found that there’s a storehouse hidden behind one of the walls in the room belonging to the leader.

Checking inside, I find assorted jewelry and coins, the total value of which is around 5 gold; there is also a lot of high-grade liquor, and several books.

“Tada! Look at these!” Arisa says from next to me, presenting the two scrolls she found--they are Shelter, and Remote Arrow--unfortunately, Shelter has already been used.

“What, you’re only seeing the scrolls? Notice the cloth too--” Arisa rolls her eyes as she shakes the cloth at me.

I use Appraisal on the presented cloth--and see that it’s a kind of Magic Tool, one which I can actually read a fairly large part of the description, unfortunately not all of it though--I really need to figure out how to fix that.

Anyway, the cloth is created from a material called Yuriha, which I haven’t heard of before, which has a high defence against both physical and Magical attacks. If it doesn’t have any strange effects, I think I will ask Arisa to make Lulu clothing from it.

“Well, it looks like it has Magical properties, huh. Since I can’t quite read all of the effects, let’s put a hold on making equipment from it.” I say to Arisa, who looks a little disappointed.

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t want it if it’s cursed and can’t be taken off or something--even though it’s a waste, it can’t be helped,” Arisa rolls her eyes.

I place the scrolls and cloth into my storage.

In a nearby shed, there are three horses--though only one has a harness and saddle. I put the harness onto the horse which looks like it is a different breed from the others.

“Wow, they sure were some prosperous thieves.”

“Looks like it, there’s only one saddle, you know.”

“I’ll ride.” Mia gets on one of the horses, riding it without a saddle--it seems that she’s used to playing with wild horses around the Bornean Forest.

Learning from Mia, I also mount a horse; it’s the one with the saddle--I put my foot on one of the stirrups and get onto the saddle in one movement--I only manage this because of my high DEX, I would have failed otherwise.

 

>>Skill: Horse-Riding Acquired.

>>Skill: Riding Acquired.

 

Hmm?

What’s that second one?

From the description, it seems that it’s a skill for riding things other than horses.

Since it’s pitiful to let only Arisa walk, I pull her up in front of me--she leans back against me, which is fine--then begins rubbing her butt against me; which is very distracting.

Ignoring her antics, or at least trying to, I wrap my arms around her waist and hold grip the reins, holding Arisa tightly--she is holding the baby, which is why I put her in front of me, not behind.

When we get to the wagon, while Arisa is still cuddling the baby, we see that the thieves’ corpses have been lined up and their equipment successfully retrieved.

“Master, I was waiting for your advice--should I cut off the thieves’ heads to be used as proof?” Liza asks, slowly spinning her spear.

“It’s fine. I don’t require the money that urgently, and it’s still two days before we get to the next town--they will start to smell if we take them.”

“Yes, Master.” Liza nods, and walks back to the wagon, leaving the corpses to be eaten by Monsters or rot in the sun.

I also definitely do not want to journey with thirty severed heads.