Zoro only fights around the carriage where the kids and their mother are. He is entrusted to protect them by the one hiring him, so he'll stay there even if the mercenary leader orders him to fight elsewhere.
His Observation Haki is also not strong enough yet, so he needs to be close to the carriage to make sure no enemy gets closer to it.
But even when he just stays around the carriage, he still fights quite a lot of bandits. 13 bandits already died by his swords, which is quite a lot of people targeting a carriage.
Other carriages only get attacked by at most 5 bandits.
Zoro thinks that it's strange, not realizing that he is the main reason this happens.
He killed the bandits too fast, so the other bandits keep coming here to take him down. Also, the bandits start to think that this carriage is where the merchants keep the most valuable stuff because it is protected by someone this strong.
So the bandits start putting more attention to this carriage and their members that still hide are targeting it now.
Zoro can't afford to hold back his power, so he uses all his 3 swords and uses his chakra on them. He concentrates to keep using Observation Haki while fighting the bandits.
Small fries keep coming from different sides, so he needs to move back and forth to cover the carriage because the other mercenaries can't defeat the bandits as fast as him.
It's getting annoying, so he chooses to stay above the carriage and sends flying energy blades to attack the incoming bandits instead of running around to switch sides all the time.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOT DOING? ARE YOU SO WEAK YOU CAN'T DEFEAT THESE SMALL FRIES QUICKLY? HIGH RANKING MERCENARIES MY ASS! YOU CAN'T EVEN DEFEAT THESE NOBODIES AS FAST AS A 2 STAR LIKE ME."
The mercenaries are irritating him. They are fighting like amateurs, even the leader. Zoro doesn't know how they could even get their 4 star ranks with this level of skill.
He doesn't realize that most of the mercenaries are self-taught. They are far below the level of real samurais. These guys don't even know how to control their chakra, even if they are high-ranking mercenaries.
Furthermore, the thick snow is hindering their movements. But it's still true that their skills are not that good.
"Tch! You, protect this carriage! I will finish them all."
Without any other choice, Zoro decides to finish this whole thing himself. He attacks the nearby bandits that are fighting the mercenaries after ordering a mercenary that stands close to him.
Zoro easily defeats the bandits and tells the freed mercenaries to guard the carriages. Then like a God of Death, he runs around the battlefield, taking the bandits' lives one by one.
The snow doesn't hinder his moves that much because he uses chakra on his feet like when ninjas walk on water. He can also walk on water now. This skill really helps him walk better on the snow.
Blood splattered on his body, but he doesn't care and keeps moving. Killing the bandits is easy with his chakra-covered blades.
The number of bandits reduces rapidly and finally they decide to retreat. Some mercenaries manage to kill the bandits that try to run away as they show their backs.
Zoro only looks at the running bandits before cleaning the blood on his swords with a dead bandit's clothes. Then he sheaths his swords as he returns to the kids' carriage.
"Are they alright?"
Zoro asks the mercenary that guards the carriage as he asked before. The man checks inside and reports that they are fine, so Zoro sighs in relief.
Then he sees the merchant leader run to this carriage with a panic expression. He was in the front before and couldn't come here because the others held him, worried that he would get killed if he got out of the carriage.
"Old man, is there any water I can use to wash myself?"
Zoro asks the man who feels very relieved knowing his wife and sons are fine. He has wiped his body with snow, but it's still not that clean, so he needs water.
"Ah, there is a small stream ahead, so everyone can wash themselves there."
"Alright, good."
Zoro doesn't enter the carriage because he is covered in blood. He doesn't want to scare the kids and dirty the carriage.
The mercenaries then throw the dead bandits' bodies to the forest. They don't have any other method to dispose of the bodies now. Digging graves will take too much time and burning them will need a lot of dry firewood which they don't have.
So they throw the bodies into the forest for the animals to eat. They make sure to throw the bodies far enough from the road. This way, the animals that will eat the bodies won't endanger people that use the road because it's quite far.
But while disposing of the bodies, they also check if there are those with bounties. There are 2 dead bandits that have some prices on their heads. So the mercenaries cut the 2 bandits' heads and put them in a sack they tie at the most back carriage.
Zoro was the one killing those 2, so he will get the biggest share from their bounties. He talks about it with the mercenary leader and they agree to split the rewards in half.
Zoro will get half and the other half will be distributed equally to other mercenaries. He kills most of the bandits, after all, so it won't be strange if he gets more. But the other mercenaries also worked hard, so taking more doesn't feel right to him.
Furthermore, there are 9 mercenaries who got killed by the bandits too. He wants to give some more rewards to be given to their families. But he also needs money, so he just reduces his share.
The dead mercenaries are being carried on the most back carriage that has been emptied from its luggage to carry these dead bodies. It's a normal procedure if there are deaths during escort jobs, so the dead can be given proper burial by their families.
After disposing the dead bandits, the caravan continues to move. They decide to rest in the small stream that the merchant leader mentioned.
While the mercenaries wash themselves after breaking the ice on the stream, the merchant group people prepare food and drinks for the tired mercenaries.
Zoro changes his clothes after cleaning himself and then he gets some meals. The little twins are clinging to him as he eats while asking a lot of questions again. They even ask to be taught swordsmanship because they saw how he fought those bandits.
"You saw?"
"Yeah, you were so cool."
"How did you make your swords blue?"
The kids are not terrified even though they saw him kill people. But now that he thinks about it, they must've seen this kind of thing a few times because he doubts this is the first time their merchant group got attacked.
Besides, this world is just that dangerous. Criminals being killed is normal here. No one will protest the country while shouting human rights. It's kill or be killed in this world.
"Well, if you want to learn swordsmanship, then better learn it in the samurai academy."
"But you aren't a samurai, so why do you want us to be samurais?"
"I just like freedom. Being a samurai will tie me to this country. I don't want to be ordered around. But it's difficult to be strong without proper education. I was found and taught by my master, but finding a great master like him out of the country system is not easy. It's better to just learn it in the academy."
"Can't you be our master?"
"Hahaha, me? I'm not qualified to teach anyone yet. I still have a long way to go before I can even get my master's acknowledgement."
"He still doesn't acknowledge you even though you are this strong?"
"How strict."
"His standard is just too high. He is a very great swordsman, after all."
The group continues their way after resting for 2 hours. Luckily, there's no other dangerous thing that happens to them until they arrive at their destination, the Capital city after 5 more days.
This city is bigger than any place Zoro has visited in this world. But it's still smaller than the big cities in his previous world.
They report the bandit attack to the officials and get the bounty rewards. Then after splitting the job reward too, Zoro goes to find an inn to stay. He really wants to rest as quickly as possible because he has a lot of things to do here.
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Chapter 39. Sealing The Fox
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