The soldier took us to the front of their battalion, where their commander was. Their commander was a tall man, probably standing around 195cm. Complementing his height was an incredibly large build; he was the kind of person you would imagine lift a boulder with a single hand. However, despite the brute stereotype, his face was youthful and has a gentle tone to it.
"My name is Jonah, the commander of this assembly of soldiers. May I ask who the two of you are?"
"My name is Eria, an adventurer."
"My shorter name is Finral Edrich," Fin introduced himself. As he said, the name he gave was actually just a short portion of his full name.
"And what is a member of the esteemed Edrich noble family doing here without a single guard?"
"Nothing that concerns you."
"I see, if you don't want to provide me an answer, then I shall not question you any further about it," Jonah bowed, a gesture of apology. "I did not wish to bother you, but only to warn you about the deadly bandits we were sent to hunt down in the direction of this path."
"Bandits?"
"Indeed, they have pillaged many things and have kidnapped several women already, and now, they have attacked and killed a nobleman's son. And so, me and my soldiers were dispatched."
"I can't believe they have the courage to do that to a noble," Fin murmured in shock.
Fin's reaction was justified. Even if those group of bandits stole a mountain of gold coins, or killed and kidnapped a dozen of villagers, an army won't move to subjugate them. Only adventurers will be sent to deal with them no matter what crime they did to commoners. Now that they have victimized a noble, they won't be given mercy anymore.
"Still, to have this many soldiers..."
"It was apparently a band of bandits that has more than 40 or so members. As a precaution, I brought a total of 80 soldiers with me," Jonah answered the question that was going through Fin's mind.
"40? That's a large number of bandits..."
"Indeed, miss elf," Jonah turned towards me and replied, "That's why, I'm suggesting we guide you until we reach the enemy encampment. I want to make sure you wouldn't encounter any bandit before we do on this path ahead."
"That won't be necessary," Fin hurriedly said.
"Hm? Seeing you're a noble, I merely want to see you protected."
"I don't need your protection. Besides, Eria-sama is with me. No mere bandits can stand against her. I'm sure you heard of her, the - !"
Before Fin could continue, I sealed off his mouth. I don't really mind other people figuring out who I was, hence I don't hide my name, but I feel awkward when my status as a legend was directly revealed to anyone...
"Hm? I know it does not relate to the matter at hand, but may I ask what kind of relationship the two of you have?" Jonah asked in confusion as he sees me cover Fin's mouth, a noble.
"Well, he's kind of my student... aren't you, Fin?"
"Yes! I'm definitely Eria-sama's student!" Fin nodded and said with his mouth free.
"I see, so you hired an elf, aversed in magic, to teach you," Jonah murmurs, then his eyes stumbled on the sword on my waists, "But you have such a fine sword on you, does that mean you're a swordswoman and not a mage?"
"I'm both."
"Interesting, a magic swordswoman - it's such an uncommon thing to encounter," Jonah showed a curious smile. "I would love to see what you can do... but I can't have that for now. Finral-sama, I know this is rude of me, but I truly need you to come with me. If somehow, anyhow, you got caught in this matter with the bandits, most blame would point at me," he said as he bowed his head for the last time.
"But that's not really my..."
"I see... Then, miss Eria, if I may ask of you," realizing that it was really me who decides the final say, he asked me instead.
"We're going to the same direction anyway, so we might as well, right?" I reluctantly said.
"If you say so, Eria-sama," Fin nodded.
"Then it's decided."