I figured from the very beginning that I could be attacked by a wildebeest, even if I was going to and from the city. It's simply that I make a good amount of money in the city, and there's also the matter of the horses.
　So the three of us had discussed and decided what we would do if we were attacked.

　Pattern A was if we were attacked by a group of bandits, including jumpers.
　Pattern B is when you are attacked by a few hoodlums.
　Pattern C is when you are attacked by a magical beast.

　And in this case, Pattern B.
　Marina's role is to call the military police if it's near the city, or Shero-san or Rebecca-san if it's near the mansion. 'Marina will also fight. It's a job to protect the Lord," he said, and didn't listen, but as it stands now, Marina is the most adept at riding horses, so I couldn't think of any other role to go call for people other than Marina.
　If Deanna's riding skills improve, she might be able to hand over that role to Deanna, but it might be difficult for Deanna, since she might be the "purpose of the bandit herself". It sounds terrible, but in that respect, the Turk's Marina is light on her feet.

　Now ....... I can keep these guys stranded until Shero-san and the others arrive, or I can just take them down .......


　I draw my sword and hold it in both hands, lightly holding it up.
　I've been feeling this since I was training with Mr. Shero, but when I hold my sword up, I feel uplifted.
　This might be a bit of a dangerous trend. Shero-san said that swordsmen with a vocation were often the first to die when they jumped out of the way, and that's what he said.

　If it comes to a battle - even if it's a wildling - I'm not prepared to kill people.
　Either these guys would give up and run away, or Marina would call Shero-san and the others, and that would be all that was needed to buy time for them to do so. I didn't want to experience combat yet, if at all possible.

'But you did a foolish thing with the wildebeest. There are elves over here too, you know?　Did you think you could handle it?

　I'll put another check on it.
　In this world, elves are apparently counted as one of the highest fighting forces. In a world where magic isn't very common, elves who can use spirit magic are a marvelous existence.
　In other words, there's no way a mere human thief wouldn't be scared of an elf opponent, so it should have a certain level of effect as a deterrent .......
　Well, ours is for a reason (・・・・).

"Oh, shit. I thought it was going to be an easy job. Hey, guys, just do the guy. Don't hurt the elf.

　But the burglar who doesn't give my line a second thought.

　Hmm?　Strange: ......?

　You're not afraid of spirit magic: ......?
　I mean, if you say don't hurt the elves, is that what Deanna is after?　There's no way these wild thieves would know that Deanna can't use spirit magic, but ....... Oh, you're so stupid you don't know that elves are strong users of spirit magic. Is that possible ......?

　Then we're really going to end up in a battle.
　The plan was for the bandits to get spooked here and buy us some time, but things don't always go as planned.


　A battle.
　There were three of us.
　I've gone through the usual rigorous training several times against Shero-san, and Shero-san has already given me his approval that "it's unlikely that I'll ever be beaten by those thieves". I've been given that but .......

　............ No, if we've come this far, we'll just have to do it.
　It's a much lighter magic sword than when we were training, and the master is Mr. Shero, who was even the deputy leader of a famous mercenary group. There's no way I'd lose to a sword from a common thug like that.

　He readies his sword and looks at his opponent.
　At the command of the leader man, two young burglars drew their swords at the same time. A nondescript one-handed sword (broadsword).

　For me, this is my first real battle.
　But strangely, I didn't feel fear.

　The burglar was completely licking his chops as he came to his position between us, and though the two of us at the same time were a nuisance, I was surprisingly calm.
　Maybe it's because the other man is smirking and I can't feel his spirit. He's completely high on the idea that I'm an irresistible merchant.

'Deanna, everything so far is as it was supposed to be. Stall, take care of things as we discussed. Don't use your secret weapon. If something goes wrong, you don't hesitate to use it.

'Leave it to me, master. You will do terrible things to him.

　Deanna's eyes were blazing and a little scary.


　From that point on, no words were needed. All that was left was to subdue them with force!





　◇◆◆◆◇





Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!　How can you, a mere merchant boy, be so mobile?　And what's that sword for?　What did you do to them?

I don't have to answer to a robbery or anything. Deanna, you strapped him in.

It's all right, mmm-hmm.

Ooh, the grass!　No!　Shit!　What's going on here, d*mn it!

'Well, it was probably just as good a substitute for training. At any rate, I've found that up to three men without a combat-type vocation can win with ease.

'You're never too careful, master. This time it's just that they were stupid and lucky.

'Well, that's true ....... We didn't have any jumpers or ambushers.

　Me and Deanna had succeeded in subduing the wild thieves unscathed. It seems like it's going too well for the first real battle, but the magic sword and spirit magic were cheats, and that's how it should be.

　As per the Pattern B meeting, Deanna supported me with spirit magic.
　Deanna is currently only able to use spirit magic in a limited way due to her 'special guidance'. But this limited is a strange thing, and according to her, she says, "I can use it to talk to the spirits and get them to cooperate a little bit.
　And that "getting a little help" was unexpectedly powerful.

　Blowing gusts of wind, accelerating combustion, digging pitfalls, grass wrapping around your body, trees walking through, dirt smoke dancing .......
　It's plain in words, but when this kind of harassment is triggered in the middle of battle, it's very effective.

　And this was unexpected, but my beloved sword, the Wet Raven's Magic Sword Heart of Blood, was too much of a cheat weapon.

　First of all, it was light. It was less than half the weight of a claymore.
　And the reason why they call a demon sword a demon sword is because of its amazing special effects. I hadn't had a chance to try out the special effects, so this was the first time I'd ever experienced them, but... this was unfair.
　I can only be thankful for the good fortune of getting a sword like this for free.


　The two young burglars cut at me at the same time.

　The man on the left (henceforth, Wild Thief A) swings down from the upper right, and the man on the right (henceforth, Wild Thief B) throws a straight thrust.
　The timing is reasonably breathtaking. It might have been a good attack, except that his movements were fatally slower than Shero's, except for the fact that he was fatally slow compared to Mr. Shero.

　He assuaged the thrust and stepped to the right. As it is, he lightly caresses the legs of the wildebeest B.
　This was only a check and an attack that was only meant to measure the distance between you and your opponent.
　It was -- it was.

　You can find a lot of people who have been in the market for a long time.
　At first I didn't understand what had happened. I didn't understand what was happening, and neither did the thief. I even wondered if the sword was coated with poison.
　However, this was the result of the magic sword's special "absorption" effect. The normally "wet crow color" blade turned bright red and pulsated eerily. And isn't that vitality, what you might call biological energy, flowing into me? It might be a good thing when I'm not feeling energetic, but when I'm energetic, it's honestly freaky. It's a good thing that you can't get away with it.
　So the name of the demon sword wasn't a great one. It's too strong of a drainage ability to suck in a person's blood just by lightly snatching it.

　The best thing about this is the fact that it's not just a matter of time before you'll be able to get your hands on it.
　However, this is dodged by flicking it with my sword, Wild thief A. I backstep to keep my distance and glance at the leader man, as if hoping for backup.

　The leader man struggles, stitched to the ground by Deanna's spirit magic. Every time Deanna smiles thinly and mumbles something, the grass becomes entangled with the leader man.
　The grass itself is easy to shred, but it's not easy to get out of it, like if your right arm is pulled out, it gets tangled in your left leg, and if your left arm is pulled out, it gets tangled in your right arm .......
　It was lucky that we were able to neutralize the leader, who was probably the highest in terms of combat power, in this way, because it's indeed dangerous in a three-on-one situation.

　The burglar A made up his mind and cut at me with a heroic cry. A monotonous attack that would not have any vocation of a combat system. It is really just a cutting blow.

　If it's a one-on-one against this guy, I don't feel like I can lose.
　Since we're here, let's have him practice with us (if a little impolite).

　I taunt him, scoop him up, flick him, and push him back.
　My opponent is sweating, but I'm not tired at all. My sword is light, and the attack of the burglar A was light as well.
　I thought he was strong to a certain extent, since he's even a field thief, but he's so weak that it's not even worth talking about at all. Maybe it would be like this if I didn't have a vocation ...... but .......

　I lightly slash the arm of the exhausted and slowed down wild thief A. 'Absorption' is activated, and the wild thief A instantly swoons.

　Now there's only the leader of the group left, but Deanna has already held it down.

　And so the battle was over.
　If you look at the result alone, you might say that the result was overwhelming. Moreover, this one has preserved all of the several types of secret weapons that were bought in Japan.


　A few minutes later, Marina returned with Shero-san and Rebecca-san.
　She tied the burglar up with a rope and contacted the military police. Later on, the burglar would be tried by the laws of the imperial capital. By the way, bandits are usually beheaded, and even a first-time burglar will have his arms cut off.

　Shero-san said something boisterous like, "You could have killed a wild thief," but as expected, killing is impossible. Absorption alone would have been freaky .......


　But ......, I really didn't know there would be a wildebeest.

　From now on, we'll be training our horses, swords and formations properly. I was lucky this time, but I can't say it's not possible to be attacked by a larger scale bandit, either. And there's no way we'd be able to get away with something like this if our opponent had a vocation in combat.
　And my equipment is still incomplete.

　As for the work, let's leave more and more of it to Etois.




　............ But the conversation didn't end there, and after handing over the burglars to the military police, Rebecca's sermon time was waiting.

'So how did you manage to get Giraud to fight?

'So, since Marina is the fastest moving and I can't run my horse, it's unavoidable. It's practically the same as not being able to run away. ......

'Then wouldn't it have been better to let Marina fight and eradicate her?　Or at least fight together.

I thought fighting was a last resort, and since Deanna is an elf, I thought it would be a deterrent. However, he's an idiot who doesn't care to challenge me. ......

Hmm. It's good, though. The opponent was weak this time, so it was manageable, but Jirou is still weak, so use your slaves properly from now on!　I've said it a million times, but that's what we're slaves for, right?　If you really want to fight yourself, come to our house and train as much as possible!

Yes ......

　The root of it was that I didn't want Marina to fight like a discarded pawn, but I kept quiet about it.
　I think I'll buy a male slave for combat after all: .......