Chapter 54 Lil ⑤
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The horse-drawn wagon jolted as it pushed further along the mountain pass. The road was a raw, unpaved mess of earth, sending the carriage leaping over ruts and stones.
”Ugh… I think… I’m going to be sick,” Lil groaned.
”Papa! It jumped again! It went bang! That was so much fun!” Leki cried out.
Lil let out a low moan from the back of the wagon. Himezaki Honoka hovered over her, doing her best to play nurse, while Leki bounced on my lap in a state of pure, childish excitement.
”Master, I know you aren’t used to this, but can’t you do something about the swaying?” Honoka asked.
”My bad…” I muttered.
I could only hang my head at Honoka’s sharp protest. I was currently the one gripping the reins. Normally, Logan-san would be handling the driving, but I’d been stubborn and asked him to let me take over. If I was going to survive what was coming next, I needed to master the basics of travel. I’d spent the first part of the trip watching Logan-san’s every move before trying it myself, but…
”This is actually a lot harder than it looks,” I said.
”Haha, well, it’s only natural for a beginner. You’ll develop a feel for it soon enough. I was the same way when I started,” Logan-san said with a wry, sympathetic smile. He seemed remarkably unfazed by the bumps-likely a testament to years of the same.
It had been a few days since we’d left the elven settlement. Now, alongside Himezaki-san and the others, we were bound for Foxia, the capital of Greedia. Before we’d parted ways with the elves, I’d asked if they had anything to help me conceal my identity. They’d given me a mask-the kind that covered the eyes and the upper half of the face.
According to village lore, when a demon had attacked their home long ago, a masked figure had appeared to drive the beast back. This mask was a replica of the one from the legend, used nowadays during festivals for performing ritual Kagura ². Since this one was a spare made from common local materials, they told me it was no trouble to replace. I’d accepted it gratefully and was wearing it even now.
Still, I had to admit, traveling by wagon was far from comfortable. Lil, in particular, was suffering from a brutal case of motion sickness. The poor condition of the road and my own clumsy driving were partly to blame, but the wagon’s lack of suspension was the real culprit. During our previous training trip to the Forest of the Greedy Fool, the carriage ride had been smooth as silk. The construction quality must have been on an entirely different level.
Curiously, neither Himezaki-san nor Honoka seemed bothered by the swaying at all. When I asked them how they managed it, they simply shrugged.
”I’ve simply grown accustomed to it,” Himezaki-san said.
”I’ve just never been the type to get motion sickness, I guess!” Honoka added.
Lil shot Honoka a look of pure envy at that. Fortunately, I didn’t have much of a stomach for motion sickness either, but it was a glaring weakness for Lil. I wanted to help her overcome it somehow, but…
”Ugh… if I knew it would be like this… I would’ve just turned back into a wolf and run alongside the wagon…” Lil said, before stifling a wet retch.
Wait. Please. Just don’t do it inside the wagon!
* * *
”Ugh… I’m so sorry. I keep causing so much trouble,” Lil whispered.
”Don’t worry about it. You just have to get used to it at your own pace,” I replied.
We’d pulled the wagon over to take a break-our third one so far. I stayed by Lil’s side, rubbing her back. She looked pale, and though she seemed a bit more relaxed after finally emptying her stomach, it was clear she couldn’t push herself much further.
”Hmm. The sun is still high, but perhaps we should call it a day and make camp here?” Logan-san suggested.
”I’m really sorry about this, Logan-san…” I said.
”Now, now, don’t mention it. Being able to travel with such beautiful ladies is a merchant’s ultimate privilege! It’s the highlight of the trade!” Logan-san said, letting out a hearty laugh. I suppose from his perspective, it was quite the perk.
”Just so we’re clear… if you lay a single finger on Lil, you’re a dead man. She’s my wife,” I said coldly.
”H-hah… no, of course! I understand perfectly. I’m not in any hurry to meet my maker, believe me,” Logan-san replied.
I let a sliver of my killing intent bleed out, and Logan-san immediately broke into a cold sweat. That should be enough of a warning to keep his hands off her-though, in truth, I didn’t think he actually had those kinds of intentions.
With Lil still feeling under the weather, the rest of us began preparing the camp. We were in a barren area-not a single tree in sight-and I’d been worried about finding fuel until Himezaki-san produced a supply of firewood. Apparently, seasoned wood and torches are staples in any city shop, so she always kept a stock ready. Ordinarily, such things are too bulky to carry, so most travelers forage on-site, but having an Item Box ¹ changed the game.
I couldn’t help but think back to Akiyama and his group. When I’d preyed upon them and taken their Item Boxes, I hadn’t found a single stick of wood or a spare torch. Honestly, you’d think they’d have prepared for the basics.
As for shelter, we set up a magic tent. I didn’t plan on using it myself; Himezaki-san and Logan-san usually took turns sleeping in the wagon. I learned that Logan-san had actually been a Monster Hunter in the past, which explained why he was so comfortable in the wilderness. Looking closer, I noticed the sword strapped to his hip. He clearly had some confidence in his ability to defend himself. It made sense now why Himezaki-san was his only hired guard.
Still, I wondered why he’d never tried anything with her.
”Doing something like that would mean losing my credibility as a merchant,” Logan-san explained. “Besides, I’m a married man.”
He added that she was around the age of his own daughter, and the very idea of touching her was repulsive to him. It seemed he truly valued his family. Maybe I didn’t need to threaten him after all-but then again, temptation can be a powerful thing. A little warning never hurt anyone.
In this world, just like my old one, certain crimes are still crimes. But that was a thought for another time.
”Hey, Papa,” Leki said.
Leki, who had been helping Honoka and the others, walked over to me with a look of concern on her face.
”What is it, Leki?” I asked.
”Something is coming. A lot of somethings,” she whispered.
Like Lil, Leki was a wolf at heart. Her senses of smell and hearing were far beyond any human’s.
”Is it a pack of monsters?” I asked.
”No… I don’t think so. But they smell bad,” she replied.
Monsters were supposed to be rare in this area. We hadn’t even run into a stray Goblin yet.
”Hmm, perhaps fellow merchants? Or else…” Logan-san mused.
”Or else what?” I asked.
”Bandits, most likely,” he said.
”I’d bet on the latter,” Logan-san continued, his eyes narrowing as he looked in the direction Leki had indicated. Honoka and Himezaki-san had already shifted into a defensive stance.
Sure enough, a group emerged.
”Heh, look at that. Only the top-shelf stuff today,” a voice called out.
”Hah! You’re not kidding,” another replied.
A gang of men in filthy, tattered clothes stepped into view. There were about thirty of them in total, all wearing the kind of nauseating smirks that made it clear they weren’t honest citizens.
”Yo, travelers. Road’s closed today. If you want to keep breathing, you’re gonna leave every scrap of your luggage and every one of these women right here. Do that, and maybe we’ll let you walk away,” the leader said. He was a burly man with an eyepatch and a greasy grin.
”Yeah, that’s right. We’re gonna take real good care of ’em. Nice and ‘lovingly,’ see?” one of the thugs added.
”Don’t make this hard on yourselves. Just drop the girls and the goods and get lost,” another shouted.
They erupted into a chorus of gutteral, crude laughter.
It was so perfectly “textbook” that I almost wanted to laugh. This was the classic bandit encounter-the bottom-feeders of any fantasy world. But one thing bothered me. From the way they were talking, they’d been watching us for a while, yet neither Lil nor Leki had sensed them until they were close. That meant someone in their group knew how to mask their presence.
The bandits ignored me entirely, their eyes crawling over Lil and the others like they were pieces of meat at a market.
”Damn, they’re all high-quality. Especially the one with the freakish ears! She’s incredible. I’m claiming her for myself,” the man declared.
”That’s not fair-ssu, Zorge-san! Tradition says the boss gets first pick, right?” his lackey complained.
”Shut up. As long as we don’t tell him, he’ll never know,” Zorge-san replied.
”Heh, I guess you’re right-ssu,” the lackey snickered.
It seemed that the man in the eye patch-Zorge-was indeed the leader. Regardless, they were a repulsive lot.
”Himezaki-san, I have a question,” I said.
”What is it?” Himezaki-san asked.
”How should I handle trash like this? Is there any issue if I just kill them?”
”Dealing with humans is usually the Guild Mercenary’s jurisdiction,” Himezaki-san replied. “But since it’s ‘Dead or Alive,’ it’s fine. If you bring in their heads as proof, you’ll even get a bounty. I recall there being one on Zorge’s head specifically.”
I see. That’s good to know. As I used Appraisal³ on them one by one, I found a man with the Presence Erasure⁴ skill. I’ll make sure to steal that with Snatch⁵ later. While I was calculating my moves, Zorge’s irritation boiled over.
”Hey! Don’t you ignore me! Fine… I’m done. Kill the man! Take the goods! The women are yours to use as you please!” Zorge roared.
”Hell yeah! I’ve been waiting for this!” a bandit shouted.
”If you’d just surrendered, I might have spared your lives,” another sneered.
”Die!”
They were an impatient bunch. The bandits charged us all at once.
”I’m taking the first head! Die!”
A bandit lunged at me with a twisted grin. He was slow. So slow I felt like yawning. I gripped a sword in each hand and unleashed a single, diagonal flash.
”Huh?” the man muttered.
The man who had attacked me was cleaved from his left shoulder down to his right flank. His body slid apart, and half of him thudded onto the dirt. He died with a vacant, stupid look on his face, likely never realizing what had happened. The others quickly fell prey to my Dual Wield⁶. Some were hacked in half; others had their heads taken clean off.
It wasn’t just those coming for me. The bandits must have looked down on Leki because of her size, but they were sorely mistaken. Those who rushed her were met with a horizontal sweep of her great axe, permanently separating their upper and lower bodies. Logan-san was equally impressive. Despite his portly frame, his movements were a blur as he mowed them down like stalks of grain.
”Incredible swordsmanship. Perhaps you could teach me later?” Logan-san asked.
”Certainly. I wouldn’t mind at all,” I replied.
We had enough breathing room to maintain a conversation. Himezaki-san was the surprise. She didn’t look accustomed to killing, yet she drove her trident into a man’s face without hesitation. The tips erupted from the back of his skull. He was dead before he hit the ground.
”I actually killed someone… ugh, I feel sick,” Himezaki-san whispered, her face turning pale.
”Himezaki-san, don’t push yourself. Logan-san, Leki, and I can finish this,” I said.
”No! I accepted this request as your guard. I have to see this through!” Himezaki-san shouted.
She swung her trident again. In that moment, she looked like a Valkyrie delivering judgment.
”What is wrong with these people?! They’re too strong!” a bandit screamed.
”Shut up! We have the numbers! Don’t back down!” Zorge yelled.
Zorge’s crew tried to overwhelm us, but the gap in ability was too wide. Their numbers steadily dwindled.
”Dammit! At least let me have that stacked brat!” a man yelled, lunging at Honoka.
”Who are you calling a brat?! Wind Cutter⁷!” Honoka snapped.
The man was sliced perfectly in half from the crown of his head to his crotch. His LP must have been low. Honoka stood there dazed, apparently not expecting to actually kill a man with her own hands. It was a grisly sight-even messier than the men Leki had turned into mincemeat. It looked like a finishing move from a violent fighting game.
”Gah! They have a sorcerer?! Fine… you, look over here!” Zorge barked.
I turned toward the voice. Zorge had used his surprising speed to get behind Lil, pinning his axe blade against her throat as a shield.
”Drop your weapons if you value her life!” Zorge threatened.
It was a cliché line. Himezaki-san and Logan-san looked shaken, but I remained calm.
”Mama!” Leki cried out, stopping her advance. Honoka remained stunned by her first kill.
”Hurry up and drop them!” Zorge demanded.
”You know… I really can’t forgive you for taking my wife hostage,” I said.
”Heh, the masked freak’s wife, is she? Well then, suck your thumb and watch while this bitch takes my ‘sword’ in her lower mouth!” Zorge sneered.
”I really want to butcher you right now. But I’ll give you one warning: let her go,” I said quietly.
”What? What are you-AAGGGHH!”
Zorge let out a guttural scream. Lil had simply latched onto his arm and torn a chunk of flesh away with her teeth. Screaming in agony, Zorge released her and fell to the ground.
”Gah! This bitch! My arm! My arm!” Zorge shrieked.
”I’ve eaten quite a lot in my time, but this tastes awful,” Lil said, spitting the meat aside.
”Now then… who was going to do what to whom?”
Lil approached the writhing Zorge. Her expression was blank, and her beauty only made her more terrifying.
”Monster! You’re a monster!” Zorge cried.
”How rude. My husband loves me very much, you know,” Lil replied.
Zorge scrambled backward until he hit my boots.
”I told you so,” I said.
”Wait! Stop! I’m sorry! I’ll apologize! Please, let me go!” Zorge begged.
”Haa…” I sighed.
I was tired of the clichés. I decided to give him the standard response.
”Tell me… have you ever let someone go just because they apologized and begged for their life?” I asked.
”Huh? I… uh…”
”That’s what I thought. Just die.”
I took his head off. The moment he touched Lil, his fate had been sealed.
”Zorge-sama is dead!”
”Run! Get out of here!”
The survivors scattered like baby spiders. We picked them off one by one-some with Wind Cutter, others with Fire Arrow. We left only one alive: the man with the Presence Erasure skill. Naturally, I had already used Snatch to take that skill for myself.
”Why did you let that one go?” Himezaki-san asked.
”I thought they might have more comrades. There might be a hideout nearby, and I’d like him to show us the way. Besides…”
I let a smirk play across my face. It was a staple of the genre-bandits always have a hoard of treasure tucked away somewhere.
—
Summary:
The party continues their journey toward Foxia in Logan-san’s wagon. Lil suffers from severe motion sickness, prompting a camp break. During the rest, a group of thirty bandits led by Zorge-san ambushes them, targeting the women and goods.
Natsumi’s group is ambushed by Zorge and his bandits. The group effortlessly retaliates with high-level skills, including Honoka’s lethal wind magic and Lil’s brutal biting counter-attack. Natsumi executes Zorge after the bandit takes Lil hostage, sparing one witness to track back to their hideout.
—
Trivia:
- The protagonist is wearing a ceremonial mask that covers the upper half of his face.
- Logan-san is a former Monster Hunter, making him more capable than a typical merchant.
- The protagonist explicitly threatened Logan-san with killing intent early in the chapter.
- The bandits were able to approach undetected by wolf-kin senses, implying a hidden stealth expert in their ranks.
- The protagonist previously ‘preyed upon’ (consumed) Akiyama’s group to gain their Item Boxes
- Natsumi specifically targeted a bandit with ‘Presence Erasure’ to steal the skill.
- Honoka’s ‘Wind Cutter’ was far more lethal than she intended, effectively bisecting an opponent.
- Lil consumed a piece of Zorge’s arm flesh during the scuffle.
- Himezaki-san is struggling with the moral weight of killing humans for the first time.
- Natsumi spared a survivor intentionally as a guide to the bandit treasure
—
Character Insight:
The protagonist’s protective nature toward Lil has escalated to him openly claiming her as his wife and threatening allies. Lil, usually powerful, is humanized through a mundane weakness like motion sickness.
—
Behind the Scenes:
The ‘textbook’ bandit encounter is a self-aware nod by the author to common Isekai tropes.
—
TL Notes:
Notes:
• Lil – One of the heroines. Height 166 cm, B-W-H: 90-56-90. She is a top-tier beauty with long indigo hair down to her waist, a large scar on her abdomen and sharp golden eyes. She has wolf ears and a tail.
• Leki – Lil’s daughter. Height: 140 cm, B-W-H: 70, 54, 69. She looks more like a Siberian Husky puppy than a wolf. Honestly, she just looks like a stuffed toy, recently transformed into a human form. Now use great axe as weapon.
• Honoka – A member of the relief team with healing magic. Despite her cute, short, ‘transistor glamour’ appearance, she is cold-hearted and mocks Sasaki, now a bound slave to him.
• Logan – A merchant and former Monster Hunter who owns the wagon. He is a married man with a daughter.
• Zorge – Leader of a bandit group with a burly build and an eyepatch.
• Natsumi – The protagonist. Height 168 to 171 cm, weight 57 to 59 kg. He has a baby face, but he hides his eyes with his bangs. He was bullied by the Sugita gang just because his name sounded like a girl’s name.
• Shin – A level 18 greatsword user and Hunter from Rubia. Jade rank.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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