Kotori awoke Shu barking. There appeared to be a fire going on in the village. Since most houses were made of straw and wood they were very susceptible to fire. Initially, she thought it was just an average fire and was ready to have Umi put it out with her water blades.
That was until she heard the sounds of screaming and clanging metal. Amelie was also awakening and quickly put on some spare clothes
Kotori did as well and they exited their rooms. Brom and His wife and kids were huddled in there room
"What's going on Kotori asked"
"Bandit! Hide!" Brom yelled
[Bandit?] Kotori thought
She felt surprised even though she shouldn't have been. Even though she was in another world it would make sense that people would turn to a less savory way of making money.
She recalled the time she initially ran into the wood elves forest and was told to be wary of bandits.
[I guess they really do exist] she thought further
She didn't want to let the villagers die and wanting to save some karma she decided to save the village
"Stay here" she ordered Brom.
He nodded then said
"Wait, you're not going out there are you?"
"Tsch" Kotori said,
Although she was mentally an adult she was still a child physically.
Amelie saved Kotori from explaining herself and quickly lied,
"Don't worry, she won't be doing the fighting"
Brom expression seemed to relax slightly but he still looked concerned for Kotori
Brom stood up and then said
"Then, I'll go too, A man shouldn't let a child enter a battlefield"
[Yare, Yare This guy can't be serious]
Apparently, Brom felt responsible for Kotori and resolved himself to going out and keeping her safe
[Well, looks like he has resolved himself, not like I can do anything about it] Kotori thought
Amelie and Kotori were quite strong, and thus it would be unlikely that Brom would get hurt.
Exasperated Kotori left the inn with Shu, Umi, Amelie, and Brom and began to head out to face the bandits
Kotori quickly pulled out her flute and did a mana buff. She didn't use Umi's mana Flow because she wanted Umi to have some mana for her water blades.
Both Shu and Umi's bodies grew from their cute forms into their battle forms. They looked less intimidating since last time as a result of the fact that Kotori wasn't using a full power mana musician, but they were still plenty able to take down a normal human bandit. She quickly ordered Shu and Umi to go help the villagers and set off on her own to take down some bandits of her own.
Sato Kotori
Race: [Human] Age: 9
HP: 49 (+24)
Mana: 1/25
Agility: 41 (+24)
Strength: 35 (+24)
Defense: 34 (+24)
Karma: -100,009,604
Skills: [Magic Musician], [Hunter], [Desire of Monte Cristo](Removed)
Traits: [Spirit Seer], [Monte Cristo]
There was a lot of chaos in the village, but the bandits all had a red bandana on their heads. Many of them ran around with mostly wooden clubs but a few had some chipped pig iron swords. Kotori quickly checked the status of a nearby bandit.
Zagan Salle
Race: [Human] Age: 23
HP: 20
Mana: 0
Agility: 11
Strength: 12
Defense: 9
Karma: -4,321
Skills: None
Traits: None
[Kind of a trash mob isn't it?] Kotori thought
She knew that as a result of her training with the wood elves she was stronger than the average human, but still, she was surprised that there was such a gap. The bandit who she was appraising with status took a look at her and his face immediately turned towards her and gave a lecherous stare
[Pervert] Kotori thought and realized exactly what that gaze meant. Obviously, bandits would also have the lowest common denominator among them.
He walked towards her menacingly
"Hey little girlie," he said licking his lips "where's your mom"
The man struck a nerve with Kotori
She quickly raised a fist and knocked him down.
"Dead" she replied angrily
Now that Kotori was in a bad mood she didn't feel like enjoying herself
She walked around the village smashing any bandit that tried to approach her. Soon the bandits began to realize something was wrong when their numbers began to thin and they saw a spirit taking down their comrades they began to gather in the village center naturally and Kotori had them cornered.
Realizing they were surrounded the bandits began to quake in their shoes. They didn't expect any resistance especially from a village that was so far away from the capital. But now they were under attack from two extremely powerful spirits and two girls. Their attack had been turned on its head and they were now the ones who were under attack.
The bandits looked fearfully at Kotori who approached them flanked by Shu and Umi. with Amelie following closely behind them
One of them who appeared to be a leader threw his weapon down and jumped into a dogeza* towards Amelie who he thought was the leader of their group
*Look it up if you don't know what a dogeza is
"We surrender!"
Amelie looked sheepishly at the man and pointed a finger at Kotori
"Ask her first"
He turned towards Kotori in surprise and lowered his dogeza further
"Much Apologies! We'll never attack again! Lets us go"
Kotori was in a bad mood.
[Surrendering?] She looked around at the village and saw a girl who was weeping over a mother.
The image reminded Kotori of her own mother's death
[Like hell I'm going to let you surrender]
Kotori looked at Shu and Umi
And ordered
"Kill them"
The bandit's face paled
"Hiiiii! We surrender, we'll give you anything!"
Kotori looked at the man
"Can you give that child her mother back?"
The man's face paled realizing that Kotori had no intention of letting him go
He began to run until one of Umi's blades whipped through the air and decapitated him. The cut was so clean his neck took a while to bleed, the man's head sailed through the air, still alive, his face locked in an expression of surprise. His mouth gaped for a few moments before he realized his had been decapitated and then he died.
The other bandits realizing they were not able to get out this easily began to run as well and they were all cut down by Kotori.
Amelie was strangely absent.
When Kotori looked at Amelie she was stiff as a rod at the scene
She looked at Kotori
"Why" She whispered softly
"They were surrendering!" She said her voice gaining volume
Kotori looked at her with a dead fish stare
"Because trash deserve to die," she said matter of factly
Amelie looked horrified
"They gave up!"
"They wouldn't do the same to us," Kotori said curtly
Amelie began to speak again then bit her tongue. Kotori was right that in the event bandits they had begged the bandits for mercy they wouldn't have given any. Still, Amelie who was still young and who hadn't seen much of the world still had the idealism that life was sacred.
She looked at the young girl in front of her. The young girl she rescued from the forest and realized that she was not a girl but rather a merciless machiavellian who would crush people underfoot if they were inconvenient.
Kotori looked at the scene with little interest. Despite her orders, she didn't actually enjoy the act of killing. Idealism had no place in the karma system. Maybe if she had spent the time to reform the bandits she would gain even more karma than just killing. But executing criminals was still something that gave her good karma and fast in the short term.
"Activate [Hunter]" The bodies of bandits began to coalesce into a shiny ball that Kotori ate
[Mhmm tastes like roast pork] she thought as her stats once again grew.