October 27th, year 787 of the Imperial calendar
It have been more than 2 weeks since we joined the caravan as escorts. Even Bronze ranked adventurers could take on escort missions travelling between Feler and Leiast city since the route connecting the two was relatively safe.
And safe it was. No monsters even showed up during our trip. We were basically getting paid 2 silvers a day for loitering around all day and occasionally playing around with the merchants' children. Well, one person didn't seem to enjoy the laid-back trip, and it was Krista.
"So boring! Why didn't anything happen in the last 2 weeks? There has to be at least a bandit attack or something like in those novels!"
"I don't think the merchants will appreciate you saying that. So just go play with the kids or somet—"
BOOOM—!
"BANDITS!!!"
Chop—!
"Ack! what was that for?" Krista squealed as I chopped the top of her head with my hand.
"For jinxing us. Now get ready, we're getting paid an extra 50 silvers for this"
We grabbed our equipment and jumped out of our cart. The caravan was on a mountain trail, with bandit archers flanking us atop a cliff on one side and the steep edge of the mountain on the other. The path ahead of us was blocked by dozens of bandits. Although there were nothing blocking the path behind us, no one tried to escape as the archers would just turn them into pincushions if they did.
The other escorts seemed to have reacted faster than us, as they were already in formations by the time we got out. However, they were being pushed back. The carts were not big enough to cover them all from the archers' assault. Several carriages were blown apart, while others were set aflame. Looked like the sound earlier was caused by explosives.
Assessing the situation, I decided that it was for the best that I keep the archers occupied while Krista sneak away to find a way up the cliffs. After discussing for a short while, we sprang into action.
I took out my handgun, aiming at the archers who were unaware of me.
Bzzzzt—! BANG—!
I shot a [Railgun]. The bullet with a pale white trail pierced through an archer's skull.
'Good, only 5 left' I thought as the other archers turned their attention and started aiming their bows at me.
I ducked behind a cart, the cart shook violently as rains of poison-coated arrows rammed into it, trying to break it apart but to no avail. After all, the cart was made from Ice wood.
We exchanged shots, with them constantly firing arrows at me, and me hiding behind the cart while occasionally returning fire.
This lasted for a good 2 minutes, before two loud thuds could be heard on the other side of the cart. They were archers, dead. One with a throwing knife piercing this throat, while the other had a clean cut to his heart.
'Krista must have succeeded'
I then began my assault in earnest.
Bzzzzt—! BANG—! BANG—! BANG—!...
I fired multiple shots, killing 2 more archers before Krista eliminated the final one.
As the archers were dealt with, I turned my gaze towards the front of the caravan for the first time in 2 minutes. The escorts were still being pushed back as the bandits had the advantage of numbers. Thanks to me distracting the archers earlier, the escorts were still in relatively good shape.
'That's the least you could do as Bronze ranked adventurers'
I jumped on top of a carriage and fired a barrage of [Railgun] at the bandits. However, I missed nearly all my shots.
'Dammit, I knew I should have practiced shooting'
Just as I finished cursing my past self, a loud shout can be heard from the escorts.
"F RANK MAGE! RUN!"
Their formation was then broken as they started to run in the opposite direction frantically. Since the archers were already killed, they judged that it was safe to retreat. The merchants and their families stared at the back of the fleeing escorts in despair. However, I still decided to stay behind.
I would just die if I turned my back on an F ranked melee fighter, let alone a mage. Thus, I stood my grounds.
The mage, however, seemed to have wanted to end things quickly, not caring about looting all the goods the caravan had.
[Water canon], he chanted. A ball of water the size of two whole carriages came flying towards the caravan.
Gritting my teeth, I conjured up the largest [Lightning spear] I could, sending it towards the ball of water. The spear of lightning pierced the water ball, evaporating it as soon as they made contact. Unfortunately for me, the bandits were just outside of my range. Thus, the [Lightning spear] dispersed before hitting anyone.
"FUCK! AREN'T LIGHTNING MAGES SUPPOSED TO BE WEAK?" a bandit cursed.
"I'm a swordsman though" I said, but they were too far away to hear my retort.
After that, I fired as many [Railgun] as I could. But each time, the mage would counter it with walls of water. Feeling my mana running out, I was about to consider fleeing when I heard a familiar voice.
[Void skewer], a chant rang out from atop the cliffs.
Pitch black lances manifested in the shadow of the cliffs, before instantly impaling dozens of bandits.
As a result, only 4 were left in the battlefield. Me and Krista - the one that had just killed tens of bandits in less than a second, and 2 other bandits, including the mage.
Seeing no use in fighting ranged, I unsheathed my sword, picked up a piece of the broken Ice wood cart as a shield, and charged towards the remaining 2 enemies.
I could have easily killed the sword-wielding bandit using the opening that my [C - Magic eyes of fear] occasionally created, but the mage was assisting him from behind, conjuring up [Water wall] whenever I was about to get a good hit on the bandit, and firing [Water ball] at me whenever he could.
'How much mana does that bastard have?'
I was getting pushed back. So much so that I fell down on my bottom. Seeing this, the bandit brought his sword down, aiming to instantly kill me. He... missed. Not just that, he was constantly striking the ground right beside me, while sprouting profanities.
"BASTARD! DIE! DIE! THIS IS FOR JOHN!"
He screamed as he attacked the innocent soil. Not waiting for him to snap out of whatever it was, I thrusted my sword into his abdomen and kicked him off the cliff.
The mage, who were in a daze after witnessing his friend sparing the enemy to attack literally nothing, regained his focus as I kicked the bandit down the cliff. He continued shooting [Water ball] at me, which were getting pretty old very fast. I continued straight towards him, blocking any balls of water that came my way with the mana-coated piece of wood.
It didn't take long for me to get close to him and slice his arms off.
"YOU BASTARD! THAT SPELL FROM BEFORE, YOU'RE WORKING WITH THE VOID FIENDS AREN'T YA?" The mage shouted with bloodshot eyes.
"GO AHEAD, KILL ME, YOU FIEND. YOU'LL INCUR THE WRATH OF THE RED SKUL—"
Not wanting to hear any of his cliché bullshit, I immediately decapitated him.
I heaved a sigh of relieve and sat down on the ground to catch my breath.
***
As I was resting, the merchants came out of their hiding and thanked me. I guessed that they judged that the battle was over since they didn't hear any more sounds. Fortunately, they didn't seem to have seen the spell Krista casted nor heard what the mage was shouting. It would be very troublesome to explain things and gain their trust if they did.
I smiled politely and waved them away. After all, this was the first time I've killed people while not under the effects of [F - Emotionless]. Although I was aware that I needed to get used to killing people, I had to admit that this was a bad time to do so. After all, things could have gone really bad this time if I had let my emotions took over me.
'Strange though, why did that bandit not attack me? Was he under an illusion? Or was it whatever mental illnesses he had acting up?'
It was then that a wave of nausea hit me.
'Yep, this is the normal reaction to killing people'
After about 10 minutes, the feelings of nausea and guilt calmed down. I looked around, several the merchants were recovering the carts, while some consoled their children as they had just probably seen the traumatizing scene. But I had a feeling that I forgot about something.
'That's right! Krista!'
I hastily got up to find Krista. I got on top of the cliffs, finding her lying on the ground with a pale face, waving at me as she sensed my presence. Seemed like she used quite a lot of her mana, which was to be expected. After all, it would take a lot out of an F- rank to instantly kill dozens of G ranks.
'Well, at least she's fine. She still had that stupid grin on her face and there's a little girl tied up next to her, just like normal.'
As I was about to carry her over to the carts, I suddenly halted my steps. There was definitely something wrong.
"Who's that girl?" I put my hand on the gun's trigger, raising my vigilance to the extreme. It might be a bit too excessive since the girl looked no older than 8 and was all tied up, but I wasn't taking any chances.
"Oh, her? I found her being bound to a rock after I killed the archers. Apparently she was just captured by the bandits"
"Are you sure that she isn't part of the bandits?"
"Come on, look at her, she's so cute"
The little girl in question was looking at my gun with a frightened gaze. She had pink hair and azure eyes. Her hair color was definitely unique, even in the Empire.
I could see why bandits wanted to capture her. She was indeed, cute like Krista said. They could sell her to a slave trader for a good price. After all, there were many nobles with tastes for 'oddities' as they liked to call people like her. Hell, some even illegally enslaved Void fiends for sexual purposes. I didn't know how much kinkier nobles could get.
Leaving that aside, I put my gun away as I sensed no animosity from her and made my way towards Krista, carrying her on my back. I then walked to the little girl and untied her.
"Can you walk?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Okay then, would you want to accompany us to Leiast city?"
She nodded again. After all, a little kid like her couldn't survive alone here especially considering that we were a whole week away from the city.
We got down from the cliff and reached the caravan. Krista asked a merchant to let the girl join us, to which he agreed rather easily. After all, he was grateful that we saved his life, regardless of whether it was our job or not.
The other escorts still haven't returned but the merchants decided to continue to journey since it would be bad if more bandits came. And there's no telling if the escorts had already made their way out of the mountain range. Since they abandoned their mission in a critical situation, the merchants will surely report this to the Adventurer guild and have the escorts demoted. Me and Krista on the other hand, were promised to be given the share of the other escorts' pay, which were around 700 silvers in total.
The trip continued, and this time it was truly uneventful. After we got out of the mountain trail, there were only grass plains until we get to Leiast city. So there was no chance of an ambush happening anytime soon.
Krista and the little girl, whose name was Alicia, had gotten closer only after 3 days. Alicia was still somewhat terrified of me though. I guessed that pointing a gun to others' faces wasn't the best first impression.
Thanks to Krista vouching for me, she didn't seem that scared of me anymore. In fact, she even laughed when Krista teased me. Apparently, we were now close enough to have a chat over a campfire.
"Alicia, what's your surname?" I asked.
"I don't have one" She replied.
"She's probably a commoner then" Krista said.
"Commoners don't have surnames?" I was confused.
"Of course they don't" Krista looked at me like I was the biggest idiot
"Then how come I had a surname when I was a commoner?"
"Your mom probably bought a last name"
You learn something new everyday.
***
"Krista, you know when I was about to get killed but then the bandit suddenly attacked the ground? What's up with that?"
"Oh that? You have to thank Alicia then"
"Her?" I was skeptical.
"Yeah, she's an Illusionist apparently"
"..."
"What are you looking at me for" Krista asked.
"You do realize that she looks no older than 8, right?"
"So?"
"She couldn't have awakened her Status"
"..."
"..."
"M- maybe she's just smaller for her age" Krista stuttered.
I turned to Alicia and asked.
"Hey, how old are you?"
"Eight" She replied, not being aware of our earlier conversation.
'It can't be, right?' I was doubtful. After all, having a Status before even going through the coming-of-age ceremony could only mean one thing.
"Alicia, do you happen to know a place called the 'Hall of Divinity'?"
"!"
Alicia's eyes widened at the mention of the Hall of Divinity. Her mana surged, it was an unusually large amount of mana for an 8-year-old.
"Calm down, it's not like I'm going to tell that to everyone I meet. Even if I did, I doubt they would even know what it is"
She then slowly calmed down and retracted her mana, before realizing her blunder.
"N- no, I don't know such places"
"Uh uh, nice try. So you do know it"
"..."
"Can you tell me where it is?" I asked.
"..."
She pouted, clearly not expecting the conversation to go this way. After sulking for a few minutes, she heaved a sigh unbefitting of an 8-year-old and spoke.
"I can, only if you agree to my request"
"And what is it?"
"I escaped from those bandits' main base but my parents were still being held there. I want you to rescue them"
I went silent and pondered over the request. After quite some time, I agreed to it since surely clearing out a bandit camp was easier than spending months on the Kaiera range looking for an old building.
"Alright then, we will depart as soon as we reach the city"
***
'Hall of Divinity' was the cheat I was looking for. It was a building dedicated to worshipping every gods and goddesses there are. As such, it was and still is the place on the continent that have the closest connection to the Gods.
When the hall was still in its prime, it was overflowed with people wanting to make a bond with Celestials and Gods. This was also the place where one could awaken their Status without having to wait until they turn 10 and go through the coming-of-age ceremony. Although, they only did so because they were once so desperate that they had to use 5-year-old kids as soldiers.
However, due to several big victories against the Void fiends and the ever-decreasing public sentiment of sending their children to the battlefield, the Empire forbade the use of the hall. As such, people of the continent, even the current Imperial family, have forgotten about this sacred place.
That was, until the protagonist stumbled upon the hall by dumb luck in the novel about a few months from now. Normally, you'd make a bond with a Celestial representing a God. No one, not even Arthur Vritious the previous hero, have ever made a bond with a God directly. Well, no one but the current Hero of Light, the protagonist that is.
As I was not going anywhere close to the room containing the statue of the Goddess of Light Lumaria, I wouldn't be affecting the storyline at all.
Since the Krista route of the novel was 'accidently' messed up by definitely-not-me, it wouldn't do any harm to help her make a bond too.
However, the location of the hall was not described in great details. Thus, I had to trust Alicia lest I wanted to spend months looking for it on the Kaiera range.
Alicia was definitely mysterious. Someone as unique as her should have been a heroine, a villain or at least a side character in the novel. But there was no mention of her whatsoever. However, I stopped thinking more about it and did what I did best: Leaving the matters for my future self to handle.
***
4 days later, we arrived at Leiast city. After receiving our pay and buying necessary equipment, we immediately departed for the Kaiera mountain range with Alicia leading the way.
It took us a full day but we have arrived a distance away from the bandit base. The base was relatively big, as it was a literal abandoned castle. The only good thing about the situation was that the castle walls were destroyed and they had to use wooden stakes as makeshift walls, and that it was located at the bottom of 3 different hill slopes.
As we were basically sieging a castle with only 3 people, no, maybe 2 and a deadweight, we had to come up with a plan, a good one at that. Or else we would just be heading to our own deaths. I was tempted to call viscount Nightshade over but she would take to long to get here and Alicia's parents might have became rotting corpses by then.
"Alicia, how did you escape from there?" I asked.
"I got out through an old passage way that only me and my parents know about"
"I see..."
"Do you perhaps know their numbers?" I continued asking her.
"Oh, they have around 50 or so. But their boss was especially strong"
"..."
"Why don't we ask the city guards to subjugate the bandits?" Krista interjected.
"That won't work" Alicia said.
"The governor of the city was bribed by the bandits. Plus, they wouldn't trust the words of kids that have just entered the city yesterday" she continued.
We did not have the advantage of numbers, nor do we have any exceptionally strong individuals. Even the bandits that were patrolling around the base were at least G+ rank according to Krista. I didn't even want to imagine how strong their boss would be. Thus, we have only one option: Secure Alicia's parents and bolt out of there.
Krista was to infiltrate the castle with Alicia through the passageway to rescue Alicia's parents, and I would divert the bandits' attention as they did so. The plan was... extremely risky. But we couldn't come up with any other ideas.
It was nighttime when we sprang into action. Under the moonless sky, Krista's rank rose to F. As such, she would have a better chance of getting out of there alive. I ran to my position as Krista got out of sight.
I took out the sniper rifle that I had just bought in the city as I was lying prone on top of a small hill. The sniper rifle, with its long barrel, would increase the range of my [Railgun] by a lot.
I loaded the rifle with bullets. Not silver bullets that I normally use, but Magic bullets, fire-type ones.
==
[Fire attribute magic bullet] (Grade - G artificial artifact)
A bullet made by the wonders of Mana engineering. It will burst into flames upon impact.
==
Just like 'Earth', guns exist in my world. However, they were regarded as a useless luxury that nobles had as their destructive powers are overshadowed by literally any other types of weapons. Even a mana-coated fork was stronger than a handgun since infusing bullets with mana before firing did nothing to improve its firepower. Well, that didn't apply to me since guns were exactly what I needed to activate [Railgun].
However, for the first couple of shots, I wouldn't be using [Railgun]. Instead, I aimed to burn their makeshift walls with these magic bullets. I didn't need to worry about them having a water mage since according to Alicia's information, the mage that I've killed was their only mage.
BANG—! BANG—! BANG—! BANG—!...
I fired multiple shots in succession, the wooden walls catching fire after only a short while.
The base was in chaos, bandits running around the castle grounds to either put out the fire or find me. However, I've hidden myself quite well so it would be a while before they could find me. Now all I had to do was wait and pray that Krista succeeds.
Just as I was about to put my rifle away, however, my instincts screamed at me to move. And move I did. I jumped back a couple of meters, only to find a huge axe pulverizing the rifle that I didn't take with me when I moved out of the way.
"Well well, the little rat have good instincts" A burly man spoke as he retrieved the axe.
"My name is Josh, leader of the Red skull bandits. Etch it into your heart, as I will be the one sending you to hell!" The E- ranked bandit leader continued.
My eyes turn cold as I activated [F - Emotionless] and unsheathed my long sword.
'That costed 800 silvers god dammit!'