Chapter 25 - Stunning Entrance
In Zwei's opinion, the soldiers' equipment was no different from that of the goblin charger. They were basically nothing in his eyes. However, it was a different story for the villagers, who possessed even worse equipment than the soldiers.
Even if these soldiers were deserters, they could still be regarded as battlefield veterans. In terms of psychology and combat experience, they were far superior to the villagers.
Although the deserters were at a numerical disadvantage, in an actual fight, the village farmers and hunters would most likely fall in the first exchange.
Furthermore, the soldiers had claimed to be tax officials, and they seemed to be here only for the money. As civilians, the villagers might have the courage to confront bandits, but when dealing with public authorities, such as the local lord, their courage would shrink significantly. Hence, the villagers wouldn't actually fight for their lives. Instead, they would try to buy peace by letting the soldiers plunder. After all, they themselves didn't have anything valuable to plunder. The losers in this exchange would only be the village's several wealthy families.
Meanwhile, when the villagers saw the soldiers ready to take action, their resolve visibly weakened. Some of the more timid villagers had even slunk to the back. However, as Zwei still hadn't found a single clue pertaining to the soldiers' ulterior motive, he agonized whether he should step forward to chase those soldiers away. Just then, an unexpected development occurred.
"Stop!" A familiar set of golden pigtails inserted itself between the two groups.
Currently, Alyssa wore a look of anxiety on her face. If one observed the girl closely, one would also notice her legs shaking slightly.
Even so, Alyssa planted herself firmly before the soldiers. "Even if you're tax officials, you can't just rob the villagers of their money! They depend on it to live!"
Upon Alyssa's appearance, Zwei felt that something was amiss.
The moment the impatient soldiers saw Alyssa, their expressions sharpened as if they had found their target.
Based on the previous conversation, Zwei initially thought that the soldiers wanted Alyssa as a slave. However, he quickly found a flaw in his conjecture.
There were two kinds of slaves that were popular in this world: young and strong laborers and beautiful female slaves.
Alyssa definitely wasn't one of the former. She was also too young to be a female slave. If only one or two of the soldiers showed interest in Alyssa, Zwei could still chalk it up to them being pedophiles. However, all five of them being pedophiles was simply too much of a coincidence.
"Is their true goal Alyssa?" Zwei squinted his eyes.
Alyssa was an obedient child, so she wouldn't take the initiative to get into trouble. Moreover, during this period, she had constantly been learning magic from Zwei, so she had almost no opportunity to visit other places. In that case, why did the soldiers come looking for her?
Not knowing an opponent's motive was a real problem.
While Zwei was pondering the soldiers' motives, the soldiers in question had already revealed disgusting smiles. Ignoring the male villagers, they closed in on Alyssa.
"Little thing, it seems no one has taught you how to respect important people like us!" The big soldier grinned, exposing his yellow teeth. He then squeezed his spear and tapped it on the slate pavement.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to control her fear, Alyssa gritted her teeth and drew the magic sword slung by her waist.
As soon as the exquisite short sword was unsheathed, it immediately shocked the surrounding crowd. Judging from the villagers' reactions, Zwei deemed that Alyssa hadn't told anyone he had gifted her such a precious sword. In contrast, the five soldiers seemed to have long known about it, as they simply stared at the weapon with greedy eyes.
At this point, even Zwei had prepared himself to send the several scumbags flying with a Mage Hand. However, just as everyone thought the battle would start, the big soldier suddenly opened his mouth.
"How about this? Little thing, so long as you hand over that weapon, we'll consider this month's tax settled. How about it?"
At this proposal, all the villagers' eyes fell on Alyssa's hand. However, the little girl shook her head and said, "This sword belongs to my teacher. I cannot give it to you without his consent!"
Sure enough, the problem really lies with the Seablue Shortsword. Zwei frowned as he realized the soldiers' motives. As a side note, although Alyssa's response made him feel very good, if he were absent today, the little girl would definitely suffer. It seemed he would have to teach her how to be flexible and adapt to situations.
As for those soldiers, it was impossible for them to detect that the Seablue Shortsword was a magic weapon, so a mastermind was probably pulling strings behind the scenes. However, judging from the current situation, Zwei could discover nothing more from the soldiers.
Hence, he decided to make his entrance. Otherwise, Alyssa would get injured, which wouldn't be a laughing matter.
"Is that so? What a shame." Ignorant of the catastrophe looming over him, the big soldier shrugged and said, "In that case, we have no choice but to perform our official duties!"
After saying so, the big soldier gestured to his four companions to capture Alyssa.
From the information they received, they knew that this little girl had just started to learn magic. So long as they struck her before she could start chanting, everything would be fine. In any case, their objective was only the short sword. They weren't trying to abduct the girl.
However, before the big soldier could do anything, a voice that struck fear in him suddenly came from his upper-right direction.
"You people, what are you trying to do to my student?" At this moment, a black-robed figure flew across the sky and landed on a nearby rooftop. Although this new arrival wasn't very tall, his elevated position and cold gaze applied powerful pressure on everyone present.
The people below had varying reactions to Zwei's sudden appearance.
In Alyssa's case, pure joy flooded her heart. As for the villagers, guilt was mixed in with their feelings of joy. After all, when the girl was in trouble, none of them had stepped forward to help her. Several of the village women had even held back the girl's mother from charging to the rescue.
As for the soldiers, their faces initially betrayed shock and fear. However, after they exchanged glances, a hint of ruthlessness appeared in their eyes.
With how young Zwei looked, they believed he would still need to chant his spells. Meanwhile, if they took this opportunity to strike, they still had a high chance of killing him. Not to mention, the spears they wielded could be thrown like javelins!
However, Zwei's subsequent actions immediately shattered the soldiers' fantasies.
When Zwei jumped off the roof, he did not fall to the ground. Instead, he hovered in the air with nothing supporting his feet, and he looked down at the soldiers indifferently.
He did not chant any spells or make any gestures. He didn't even brandish a magic device. He simply stood in midair like a god.
As soldiers who had been on the battlefield only a few times, they did not know what it meant to be able to cast the Levitate spell instantly without a chant. However, what they did know was that they shouldn't, under any circumstances, offend the magician before them.
"I'm not interested in crushing ants, so get lost." Zwei's emotionless words made the soldiers feel as if they had just survived a disaster. "Don't appear before me ever again."