Chapter 218: We Were Supposed to Quietly Whittle Down the Bandits

I slipped down from the roof to the ground with a soft shuu. Whether word had spread that the bandits had entered the village, every house had extinguished its lights. Were they holding their breath and sensing the presence outside? The village was filled with an air of unnatural silence and tension.

From an alley I watched the bandits. The guard came again. Carrying lamps and talking in loud voices as if afraid of the bandits, they walked timidly. It had become like a children’s test of courage. They seemed to be hoping that if they made a racket the bandits would avoid them, that the bandits would notice their conversation and flee. I also wished it would be so, yet these bandits were not that soft.

Against several members of the guard the bandits surrounded them all at once and killed them without letting them raise their voices. Amazing — the expression "skilled hands" fits perfectly.

The bandits began advancing toward the center of the village. That place is our lodging? Besides us there are also wealthy merchants nearby. They passed our lodging and the leaders advanced deeper in.

Using Divine Legs to the full, I leapt from behind onto the man at the rear of the bandits, put a knife to his throat, and slit it sideways. A whistling sound came and the bandit stretched out his hands forward. I covered the pitiful victim’s mouth with the cloth I held. The bandit’s knees buckled and he toppled forward. Leaving him as he was I hid in the alley. I thought we would be noticed, yet the bandits continued advancing as they were.

Again I approached from behind, covered the mouth with cloth, and thrust once into the heart from behind. The tip of the sword came out from the chest. Without a moment’s delay I twisted the sword and pulled it out. Goboh blood came out. I toppled him backward just like that.

From that man’s body a water flask, a bag, a short sword, a bow, and a quiver of arrows came flying out. This fellow had a mana bag!? I caught the quiver in mid-air. There were also arrows that were not straight but had a slight curve, yet one cannot be picky.

When I showed the quiver to Lily she also nodded. It meant it was all right to use them.

"Lily, do you have poison?"

"Yes, with this."

Lily took out a small bottle, removed the lid, and held it out. I touched a bit of poison to the arrowhead and shot with a shuu. It stuck in the area of the waist of the man who had been at the rear of the bandits, and the man collapsed.

"Oi! What happened!?"

The man who had been walking beside him noticed and shouted. I aimed at that fellow and shot an arrow. The arrow stuck in his cheek. The man collapsed just like that.

"Amazing, this poison!"

And what is also amazing is the skill with the bow. It has become a level of skill I cannot believe is the same as myself. Is this because it transferred from that man? Even with these flimsy arrows it hits miraculously.

"Robby-sama, that is amazing. I was also surprised at the time on top of the hut in the forest, yet now I feel your skill with the bow has risen even further than at that time."

"You think so too? I feel it myself as well."

Because I am the type that grows when praised, I am frankly happy!

"Yes. It is truly so."

When I continued shooting arrows the men at the rear of the bandits fell one after another. At last the bandits noticed.

"Oi! We’re being hit!"

"Enemy attack!"

"Prepare!!"

The bandits turned this way and tried to form ranks. Yet because they did not carry shields the arrows passed through.

"Uwah!"

"Gyah!!"

"Hide!"

"Uh!"

"Be careful!"

Voices rose, yet just being careful will not let one avoid arrows, you know. It is night, and from the bandits’ side I am probably not visible. The bandits must have thought they were hiding in the shadows, yet I move to match them. "That way!" "From the shadow over there!"

I moved from the direction the bandits were pointing to a place that could almost be called directly beside them. Is Concealment this effective? I am surprised myself. Against the three men right in front of me I loosed arrows. From one of them a sword, a short sword, and a bag came flying out. Unfortunately there were no arrows. Mana-bag holders are surprisingly numerous. Is the capacity simply small, or do they not put much inside?

Ban!!

Together with a loud sound a dazzling ball of light arose from the center of the bandits. It felt as if the skins covering my body were being peeled off one by one. Concealment was being peeled away.

"Something!?"

"Uoh!!"

"What is that!"

Apparently I had become visible to the bandits, so I returned to Lily’s side.

"It disappeared?"

"An illusion?"

The bandits raised voices as they pleased, yet weren’t you fellows supposed to be acting stealthily?

"Robby-sama, that is amazing! I cannot see you! My eyes cannot keep up with your movements!!"

Lily cried in a small voice. She gripped my arm tightly and shook it. She is quite excited.

"Then is it all right if I cut them down?"

"You must not! That is no good!! Please do not make yourself conspicuous!"

I was firmly nailed down with all her strength...

"There are no more arrows, though?"

"It cannot be helped. Let us refrain from anything more conspicuous than this."

"Even if you say that..."

While we were talking about such things it seemed the guard had launched an attack on the bandits; voices rose and the sound of swords clashing could be heard.

"It has begun."

"So it seems."

"Shall we watch the situation for a while?"

While we were talking a man came from the depths of the alley and said,

"U-um, if arrows are all right please use them,"

and held out a quiver. Because we were talking with Lily I had released Concealment. Even so, finding us lurking in the pitch darkness is amazing. Does this man also possess something?

"Is it all right?"

"Please use them! Please exterminate those fellows."

"Then I’ll use them."

I received the arrows and went out into the street.

Over there the bandits were fighting the guard. It felt as if they were evenly matched. When I tried to shoot an arrow I realized. Once they became mixed together I could not tell which were the bandits and which were the guard. The guard was not wearing uniforms. Saying "the ferocious ones" does not mean one can distinguish them. On the street the lamps the guard had brought shone brightly. Calling it daytime would be a stretch, yet it had become bright enough that one could make out people’s faces.

Troubled, I climbed onto the roof to change my viewpoint, yet I still could not tell which were the bandits. If one said the dirtier ones were the bandits, everyone was dirty.

"What is the matter?"

Lily asked, so I answered,

"I cannot tell friend from foe."

"My, I can tell, so please shoot the ones I point to."

"Understood."

I do not really understand, yet here I will believe what Lily says.

Lily held my head against her chest and stretched out her arm. Her finger moved toward a moving man. That one. Hyu!

The arrow struck the man’s abdomen. While the man clutched his abdomen the man he had been facing cut him down.

"Next, that one!"

As Lily pointed I shot! She pointed, I shot! She pointed, I shot! I do not know how many times I repeated it. I shot with an empty mind. It became the last arrow. Captain Jobson was fighting a man who seemed to be the bandits’ boss. I aimed at him and shot! The man noticed my arrow, twisted his body, and knocked it down with his sword. Not missing that opening, Captain Jobson cut off the man’s arm. As expected!

They were still fighting, yet the general trend should have been decided.

"Is that enough already? The rest the guard will somehow manage, so shall we return to the room?"

"Yes. With this much it will probably only amount to someone helping from the shadows."

Uuun, will such a rough categorization really settle it? In that case it also feels as if it would not have changed even if I had cut them from the beginning.

"So, Lily. There is one thing I want to ask. How were you able to distinguish the guard from the bandits?"

"Ah, that is because I can distinguish friend from foe."

"Eh! Really?"

"Yes. To be precise, it is that I can distinguish the side whose sins are heavier. The bandits appeared dyed red, and the members of the guard appeared dyed blue. Of course Captain Jobson is also blue."

"Amazing. I didn’t know you had such an ability."

"I had not said so."

"If you had told me, couldn’t we have lived more easily up to now? Even when coming from the margrave’s territory to the checkpoint."

"That is impossible. This ability is something I received from Stevie."

What!

"Why didn’t Stevie use it?"

"That child perhaps did not know how to use it? I do not understand well either, yet it may not be that absolute evil or the weight of sin is visible, but that it can be seen relatively; or perhaps if it had been Stevie the colors would appear according to people she likes and people she dislikes. Besides, when one is looking it is quite tiring. It uses an enormous amount of mana. Because Stevie had less mana than I, I think she had rarely used it. I still do not understand it well either."

While thinking "Is it all right to use something like that?" I said,

"I see. Certainly one wonders who decides absolute evil and such. Even sin differs according to the viewpoints of men and women."

"Robby-sama, you say difficult things. For example, what sort of thing?"

"Uuun, for example, suppose some prince holds another person’s wife; from the prince’s perspective there is zero sense of guilt, yet from the wife’s husband’s perspective the prince is a sinner? Something like that, right?"

"Haa— I do not know about some prince, yet I think that is only the prince’s sense of guilt being paralyzed. Now, let us return."

"Yes, yes. Lily, actually my blood is boiling..."

"You must not. Come now, please endure a little longer."

In the end I was scolded.

I returned to the room, changed into pajamas, and entered the bed. While feeling restless, how many times did I toss and turn?

Kon, kon, kon — the window glass was knocked. Looking, Lily was there.

When I opened the window Lily entered the room.

"What is it, Lily?"

"Good evening, Robby-sama♡"

Eh? Good evening?