By the time Ted and the others reached the spot, the smell of sweltering blood was all around them.

'A burglar?'

　Aldis didn't need to say anything to see the situation.

　Two carriages on the street.
　Surrounding them were roughly around twenty armed and dirty looking men.
　A figure that looked like a mercenary lying on the ground beside the carriage, bleeding, could be seen.
　They may not have been caught off guard by any means, but there is no way they could have predicted that such a large scale of wild thieves would appear along the roadway.

　When Aldis and the others arrived, they had already won or lost.
　The owner of the carriage is probably a peddler. It's a good idea to be able to have a look at a few of these people and see which one is the owner.

"Oh, I'm too late!

　Ted clicks his tongue.
　It seems that all of them are after being finished off by the wild thieves by the looks of it.

　It's no longer meaningful for Ardis and the others to intervene in this situation, but now that they've been exposed to the wild thieves, they can't just say "goodbye then".
　The wild thieves, who were in a state of excitement after the battle, shot arrows at Ardis and the others without question as soon as they confirmed their appearance.

''d*mn!　It doesn't matter now, they won't listen to me even if they do!

Of course you do!　I think they think you're just the rest of the guards, or a wildlife thief looking to intercept them!

　Ted shouted as he swept away the arrows being shot at him with his sword, and Orphelia calmly analyzed them.
　At the side, Norris is returning fire by shooting arrows at the enemy in a nonchalant manner.

The first thing you need to do is to protect yourself. I like shooting with a bow, but I don't like to be shot through.

I mean, who wouldn't?

　Responding to the silly joke with a fuming look, Aldis floated two shortswords to the front of Norris and cut off the arrows.
　The shortswords floating in the air were the best protection against flying arrows.
　There was no need to worry about the sword's handle being shot or blocking Norris' vision.

　Arrows would be flying continuously from the wild thieves.
　Fortunately, whether it was the quality of the bows and arrows or the archers' skill, most of the arrows deflected off Norris and pierced into misplaced places.
　About one in five arrows came towards Norris or Ardis, but they were all knocked down by swords in the air.

　Such an exchange of arrows continued for a while, but not a single arrow from the wild thief hit Ardis and the others, although there were many of them.
　On the contrary, the arrows fired by Norris are certainly reducing the number of wild thieves.
　The burglars, desperate for an effective bow and arrow attack, were surprised to find that Ted was the only vanguard of Ardis and his friends, and they all came together to challenge the burglars to a close battle.

Once that burly swordsman is subdued, it's only the mages and archers that are left!　Shove it in!

　A man who looked like the head of a wild thief stirred up his friends.
　With the exception of a few people who had been shot through by Norris and stopped moving, all of them drew their swords and responded to the head's voice.

''That's why you're not a sorcerer. ......

　Naturally, Aldis' blurbs can't reach the burglars.
　Ardis, who no longer needs to block the flying arrows, shoots two shortswords at the burglars who come in a battle cry.

　At that moment, the offense and defense were reversed.
　The handleless shortswords creep noiselessly from the burglars' blind spots.

　One of the short swords stabs the rearmost burglar from behind.
　The wild thief, who had been running at the back of the line and hadn't been watching his back at all, fell to the ground, bleeding profusely, not knowing what had happened.

　The other shortsword passes over the fallen burglar on the ground and instantly slices the neck of the burglar running towards Ardis and the others.
　It also pierced the heart from the side of the thief who was lined up next to him.
　A surprise attack from behind that shouldn't be there. Moreover, the carnage by inorganic substances that showed no signs of life was unfolding.

　One by one, the thieves were taking their lives with Aldis' shortsword.
　They fall to the ground, tangling their legs and falling to the ground, unable to understand what has happened.
　Eventually the head burglar leading the way slashed at Ted and raised his voice.

'Bastards!　We're gonna hold him off while you get the rest of this shit done!　Let the woman live!

　But there was no one to answer the call.

'Hey, old man,'

　A hint of pity comes into Ted's eyes.

'I'm telling you, you're the last one standing,'

　It's not easy to understand those words, and the head of the wildebeest looked around quizzically.

''Nah......!

　The thief's eyes see the body of his companion sinking into a pool of blood.
　He finally realizes that he is no longer the only one standing.

''Bah, that's ridiculous!　That's what I'm talking about: ......!

It's bad luck for you.

　With those words, Ted's sword was swung down on the heads of the wild thieves.





　After clearing out all the wild thieves, Aldis and the others split up to look for the survivors.

''Aha, we're all wiped out, isn't this?''

　Norris was right.
　The carriage attendant, the escorting mercenary, and the merchant-like man who seemed to be his employer. All of them had already died out.
　The visible stab wounds on their necks and chests told me that the wild thieves had politely gone around to finish them off.

'What do we do now?　The horses look like they've been hit too, do you want to take as much as you can carry on your back?

It would be a shame to leave the carriage behind, but I guess we'll just have to do it. The only way to do that is to give up anything that is too bulky. Now we just need to go to ...... and find something that will give us the identity of the merchant. ......

So, me and Aldis will look at the carriage over there, and Ted and the others will look at it?

Okay.

　Dividing into two groups to examine the carriage's cargo, Norris and Aldis approached the carriage with relatively little damage.

　For two carriages, the luggage would probably be quite large.
　I don't know what kind of goods the owner's merchants were dealing with, but the amount of goods that four people can carry is negligible.

''I hope it was jewelry or spices.

　Norris uttered a selfish wish.
　It is true that even if they are of the same weight and size, the value of each item is very different.
　If you are right about the jewels and spices, as Norris says, they could be sold for a considerable amount of money, even if it's only four people carrying them.

　However, there is a limit to the amount of bulky items like works of art and cheap items like foodstuffs that can be carried around.
　In some cases, you have to think about just collecting the cash and giving up the rest.

　Norris approaches from the rear of the carriage and puts his hand on the top.
　He slowly flips the top up and peers inside, and Norris stiffens for a moment.
　Then he covered his face with one hand and looked up at the heavens, saying, "Aha!

'What's up, Norris?'

　Aldis peeks in from behind to see what's going on.

'Huh?'

　Then Aldis saw the tars and baskets that seemed to contain the goods, and the two frightened girls cowering beside them.