—3RD Person—
"Are you sure they'll come?" Karna asked as they sat at the front of the wooden cart, steering the horse through the forest, now dressed as a merchant with his weapons stored in his spatial storage.
"Yes, they'll think we're just some merchants," Shizue replied, wearing a dark grey cloak that covered her entire body except for her head. She also hadn't put on her mask.
"I guess we could wait for them," Karna muttered to himself as they moved forward.
"But a single gold coin for this cart and the horse? That's way too expensive!" he suddenly burst out, feigning outrage, throwing a tantrum about how the merchant had ripped them off.
"Hehe, I guess it is. But then again, the mission reward is fifty gold coins. We still have 18 left from the last mission." Shizue reminded him as she giggled to herself at karna's antics.
"What's that smell?" Karna's eyes suddenly narrowed as he caught a sweet scent that had suddenly filled the air.
"It seems they're here," Shizue muttered, using magicules to spot small purplish-pink particles spreading through the atmosphere.
"Well, isn't this a surprise?" Karna remarked as he stopped the horse and jumped out of the cart, sensing they were surrounded with his ‹magic sense›.
"Yeah, fifty people. Ten of them are majins as well," she noted, as the cloak she wore vanished into nothingness with a blue light.
"Yeah, these guys are obviously an organized bunch. But let's see how long they'll last," Karna said with a smile, as a golden light enveloped him, leaving him in his adventurer's gear along with his bow in hand.
"You guys can struggle all you want! We'll be taking you along with your goods!" a majin with gray hair called out, holding a magic staff topped with a glowing purple orb.
"Oh yeah! We should have some fun before selling that chick!" another voice chimed in. Karna glanced to the side and saw a human with a silver sabre on his hip, grinning at Shizue with an unmistakable look of lust.
"Ooh! That's a plan, boss!" The crowd surrounding them began to cheer, voicing their agreement.
"You know, I hate guys like these," Karna muttered to Shizue as he raised his bow with his left hand, pulling the string. A golden arrow appeared, its spearhead glowing red.
"I agree," Shizue responded, unsheathing her katana and slashing it through the air. A fiery arc shot upwards, exploding fifty meters above and creating a barrier that sealed off the area, blocking all escape routes for the bandits.
"Magic barrier!"
In the next moment, the bandit leader-the majin with gray hair and wrinkles on his face-stabbed his staff into the ground with force, raising a green magic barrier that enveloped him and his followers. The circular barrier surrounded every bandit near the cart.
Swish.
The sound of an arrow releasing, followed by the shattering of glass, echoed through the air, accompanied by the screams of the bandits as they all burst into flames.
The barrier magic was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of magicules in the arrow, which swiftly shattered it.
Without giving them much time, the bandits' bodies were reduced to ash, leaving only forty-nine heads on the ground.
"You didn't have to do that, you know?" Shizue said, staring at the carnage caused by Karna's arrow.
"Their vile intentions were clear from the start, and they likely would have acted on them," he replied, his eyes showing no guilt or compassion as he looked at the lone survivor.
It was the leader of the bandits—the majin who had erected the magic barrier that had done nothing to help his comrades.
"Please! Please spare my life! I'll give you anything!" he cried out in agony, clutching his now charred leg, which was still smoking.
"No," Karna said as he walked closer, the bow vanishing to be replaced by a katana firmly held in his hand.
"Please! I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you!" he begged, tears streaming down his now ugly, snot-stained face.
"Disgusting," Karna muttered, a bit too loudly, deliberately wanting the majin to hear.
"Karna, that's enough," Shizue intervened, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Now, tell us everything. And I mean everything—unless you want me to step back and leave you to him."
"W-we ambush carts in the middle of the forest," he stuttered, his teeth chattering with fear as he spoke.
"A-an—"
"Speak clearly, unless you want your tongue cut out," Karna's cold voice cut through the air, silencing him. The bandit looked up slowly, meeting Karna's piercing blue eyes that seemed to penetrate his very soul.
He looked toward Shizue, hoping for some semblance of gentleness from the woman who had intervened to stop the madman from killing him.
But he saw nothing that offered hope; if anything, her gaze mirrored Karna's coldness, if not colder.
"Yes! Yes! We ambush people and loot their belongings! Then we sell the valuables to make money! After that, we sell the people to the black market, where they'll be shipped off to various nations as slaves or laborers!"
He shouted in one breath, terrified that Karna would fulfill his threat if he paused for even a second.
"Now then," Karna said, taking a step forward and kneeling on one knee, his handsome face drawing closer to the old majin. "Tell us where your base of operations is."
His voice sent shivers down the majin's spine, causing him to straighten in fear. "I'll tell you! I have a map! Here! Take it! And please spare my li—"
His voice was cut off as Karna's sword sliced through his neck, severing his head. The majin's eyes remained wide open in fear.
"Now then." Karna flicked the blood off his sword and sheathed it in its red scabbard.
Looking back, he saw Shizue watching him with a complicated expression.
"Did I go too far?" he asked, meeting her gaze—those eyes that looked at him as if he were a child in need of scolding.
"I don't know," she replied, walking up to the severed head and placing her hand on top of it. It vanished as she stored it away.
"But you could've been gentler," she added as she stood up and snapped her fingers, causing the barrier around them to crumble at her gesture.
"Take the map; we're going to take down this organization once and for all." Shizue could see the joy in Karna's eyes as she said that.
"Now you're talking!" he exclaimed, standing up with the map and walking beside her. "Come on! Let's go already!"