Shortly before the carriage blew up.
On the trade route connecting Liselka and Tsiknok, two women stood in the way.
The woman with long hair the color of sunset wore knight’s armor and a sword at her waist. There was no visible crest indicating her lineage.
Beside her was a woman in clerical attire with hair the pale blue of a winter morning.
“You didn’t have to come along, Kairi.”
“Yes, yes. I’m happy you’re worried about me, but I’m just as worried about you. We’re even in this situation, Asha.”
Asha and Kairi were adventurers.
They wore holy symbols and plain identification tags (Tags) around their necks.
An adventurer’s rank is determined by the color of their tag.
Theirs were yellow—the second rank from the bottom.
It was a rank between a rookie and a full-fledged adventurer. Normally, it would be laughably inadequate for targeting a bounty-head.
However, there was no fear or tension on their faces.
Though they might be “immature” as adventurers, they were trained by the educational branch of the Sigil Sanctum (Kokuin Seidou)—a religious and academic organization that teaches the pursuit of knowledge. They were elites. They wouldn’t be intimidated by low-life human traffickers.
Above all, they had a reason for doing this.
The carriage headed toward them.
The coachman had been told to run over anyone in the way, but seeing two young women standing there, he reflexively stopped. Even if Sajet lacked it, the coachman had a shred of humanity left.
“Run away. I don’t intend to take your life,”
Asha said, sounding every bit like a knight, as she leveled her sword.
The coachman couldn’t just say “Okay.” He had stopped, but he knew Sajet would kill him if he fled now.
“You won’t run. …Very well.”
She slowly took a stance.
“《My will is a blade, a formless sword that never binds》—!”
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Her voice, like a recited poem, echoed with the resonance of a magic incantation.
Simultaneously, a sound like a maiden’s scream—a sharp, air-rending whistle—erupted. The lead carriage’s cargo bed was struck from below, shattering into the air as it was launched upward.
This was a technique that only a few elites trained at the Sigil Sanctum could acquire.
A type of Formless Sword (Mukei-ken) known as Blaze, which creates a non-material blade.
Mastering it requires innate talent and tireless effort. Asha was an elite among elites who had achieved it.
“H-Hieeeeee!!”
Unable to grasp what had happened, the coachman tumbled from his seat and ran away at full speed.
He might not immediately understand that Asha had spared his life, but eventually, he would come to know her mercy.
However, some would not receive that mercy.
From the second carriage—now the lead—a well-dressed man emerged, followed by a swarm of guards from the third. Ten men in total. Bringing an excessive number of guards for such situations was a hallmark of a human trafficker’s preparation.
“Of course there are guards,”
“I thought they might be defenseless since they weren’t in the lead vehicle, but I guess things are never that easy,”
Kairi, the girl standing beside Asha, said. She possessed a Petition that could detect the presence of life within a short range.
They had planned to destroy the carriage to stop the convoy, but they had to make sure the “merchandise” wasn’t in that specific carriage.
They couldn’t risk creating innocent victims with their own hands.
Because of the detection range, they hadn’t known exactly how many guards were inside.
But to them, it didn’t matter.
Even if the number of guards were doubled, they wouldn’t flinch. They had spent years in rigorous training and study to prepare for this.
“A holy symbol… Why are people from the Sigil Sanctum here…?”
The Sigil Sanctum. Just as magic requires a teacher to learn, there is a method for obtaining Petitions.
By touching what are called Relics (Ibutsu), one can gain the ability to use a Petition. However, not everyone can get one. There must be an affinity between the person, the Relic, and the resulting Petition.
The Sigil Sanctum holds and manages many of these Relics. Study is required to become a person worthy of wielding a Petition, and the Sanctuary integrates that academic pursuit into its core doctrine.
Using a Petition almost always means one is affiliated with the Sigil Sanctum. Hurting someone wearing a holy symbol might bring retaliation from the Sanctuary. Might… but—
“What’s with these believers? Hey, you lot! You clearly don’t know who you’ve stopped in the road, so let me tell you. I am a merchant quite well-known in these parts—”
At the very least, the group hired by the shady merchant didn’t seem like the type to care about such things.
“We know who you are. Sajet, the lowest scum of a shady merchant, famous in these parts.
We can’t let someone like you set foot in our home. You’ll disappear right here.”
Even with a blade pointed at him, Sajet spoke with an air of complete composure.
“People of Liselka? …Even so, what’s the point now? That city has already reached the point of no return. Your precious home is destined to become a feeding ground ravaged by men like us.
But first, I’ll let my men trample you! Do it!”
He barked the order to his guards.
Watching this situation from the shadows was Naumani.
“Didn’t think there’d be guests here first, but this is turning out quite convenient. Once the merchant’s guard count drops, we’re going in for the ‘Fisherman’s Profit.'”
To play the Fisherman—in other words, the strategy of the ‘Fisherman’s Profit’—is one of the few tactics a pack inferior in power and skill can use to grasp victory.
The fact that none of the bandits rushed ahead was thanks to the power Naumani had demonstrated just moments ago.
We held our breath and waited for the opportunity.
The two adventurers were scattering the enemies with overwhelming force, but the tide wasn’t necessarily in their favor.
Just as about half of the guards were whittled down, Naumani stood up.
“Alright, now! Let’s go for the spoils!”
The adventurers trying to protect their home, Liselka.
The shady merchant trying to prey upon the city of Liselka.
The pack of bandits viewing them both as prey.
The curtain rose on a chaotic melee that had reached its peak.
✘✘✘
Anyway, that’s how I ended up in a brawl just by going with the flow.
It’s no fun if I die too easily, so I decided to distance myself from the main group and put on a show of a “less-than-trivial” fight with a weak-looking guard.
I say “put on a show,” but with my actual skill level, it doesn’t really look much different even if I’m trying my hardest.
While I was moving around, keeping my ears sharp to stay aware of the situation, the voices of the two girls who had been fighting earlier reached me.
“To think bandits would intrude as well…”
“What should we do, Asha-san?”
“The shady merchant’s escape route has narrowed, so—”
Mid-sentence, she slammed her greatsword into a bandit who had lunged at her, splitting him open like a [Dried Fish]. She continued:
“Let’s look at it positively! How about you, Kairi?”
“I’m of the same mind.”
The girl who looked like a priest nodded with a small smile.
Judging by her clothes, she was likely associated with the Sigil Sanctum. The rumors that they have many “martial types” seem to be true.
On the other hand, the shady merchant Sajet was muttering spitefully.
“Those guards… I paid them a fortune, yet they’re useless! Push harder! What we are carrying is a treasure that might be one of only two in this world—the [Fragment of Dalhaps]! This isn’t some common enchantment; it’s said to be the crystallized ink spilled at a destroyed site. It possesses power equal to an enchantment and is said to have the skills or magic of its former owner sealed within. Rumor has it that before it became a fragment, the owner was a terrifying villain who could manipulate corpses at will. Even if it doesn’t actually hold that power, the sheer hype is enough to find a buyer. Well, it’s actually already sold, but that’s beside the point. You might not understand, but as a merchant, this is a truly magnificent plan, and my own shrewdness—”
It seems he’s doing business in things other than buying and selling people. Given that this guy, who is knee-deep in vice, is the one carrying it, it probably isn’t anything good. His talkativeness and rapid-fire speech, born from a massive ego, continued until…
“There it goes, Sajet-san’s fast-talking… Once he’s like that, he doesn’t hear a word we say.”
“Except for insults.” “Is it really that important of an item?”
“If it’s so important, maybe we shouldn’t have formed such a conspicuous caravan.”
While maintaining their stance to protect themselves and Sajet, the guards voiced their complaints one after another.
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