The first thing I did was open one of the boxes and grab a sword. I had that hidden dagger, but in a fight like this, I would need a better weapon.
Not only that, but I grabbed one of the bows as well. I had practiced archery a lot to improve my hunting, so I was confident with that type of weapon.
As for Julie, well, she took her wooden staff. I had a good feeling about this encounter with the bandits.
Yula grabbed two swords! That was a bit impressive, and more and more I saw her as some kind of assassin.
We got out of the carriage, and the bandits were looking at us with malicious smiles. "The boss never said we'd have to rob two beautiful women like these, hehe."
The look they had was a bit disgusting, but we avoided talking about it. I was the first to say something after we got down.
"Are you working with Lucius?" I asked.
I got straight to the point. At that kind of moment, when the bandits were confident they would emerge victorious, well, these were the best times to get answers.
There was a bandit who seemed to be the leader, and he was surprised when I mentioned Lucius' name. Just from his expression, I could already be sure that he was indeed working with him.
And of course, the bandit wasn't trying to hide it. "And how do you know that?" he said, then laughed, "Not that it changes anything."
They wanted more than just to steal our things. I was sure of that. They were giving off a 'we're here to kill you' vibe and that made me a little worried.
I wasn't that strong yet. But I could tell that the bandits weren't very strong either, and I had help to face them.
Before I could say anything else, Julie took the lead. She looked at the bandits coldly and said, "If you leave now, I might consider letting you live."
She didn't seem to be joking when she said that, but the bandits laughed just the same. To them, Julie posed no threat.
"What's that? You think you can intimidate us with that?"
They all burst out laughing, and it was at that moment that I could see the power of magic.
Julie's silver hair started to move as if a strong wind was blowing on it, but there was no wind of that magnitude at that moment.
She was holding the wooden staff in her hands, and it was the channeling of her mana that was creating that powerful wind near her body.
Then a symbol appeared in the air, right in front of her staff. It was a kind of glyph that shone brightly, and a strong mana emanated from the glyph.
The bandits weren't stupid. They knew magic, and they realized that Julie was channeling.
"We have to stop her! Let's go!" the bandit leader shouted.
But as soon as they moved, Julie finished channeling her magic. A huge fireball appeared in the air and flew directly at the bandits.
That was scary. The fireball caught 5 bandits, burning them alive. They screamed in pain as their bodies caught fire, but nothing could be done. They died right there.
With just one spell from Julie, the number of bandits drastically decreased. There were eight in total, but after five died, only three remained.
That calmed my mind. The fight that seemed difficult for us completely changed.
But even knowing they were bandits and wanted to kill us, seeing those men burn with Julie's fire magic was a bit disturbing.
It was the first time I was seeing something like that, and I believe anyone would feel shaken at first.
I looked to the side and noticed that Julie seemed a little tired, panting. It was clear that the spell had consumed some of her strength.
Yula also noticed and stepped forward. Now, Yula and I would have to continue the fight. Julie needed to rest.
The bandit leader was in shock. He couldn't believe his partners in crime had died like that.
Years and years together, robbing and doing worse things. There was a kind of camaraderie between them.
"Damn, damn, damn," the bandit leader shouted, "You're going to pay for this, you're going to pay!"
The leader got off his horse, drew his sword, and came towards us. On the way, he said, "Let's finish them off."
The speech was directed at the other two bandits who were still alive, but to the leader's surprise, those two bandits had fled!
Right after Julie's spell, they decided to flee using their horses. The bandit leader was so focused on revenge that he hadn't even noticed he had been abandoned.
When he realized it, an even greater hatred took over his body. I wasn't stupid. I took advantage of the moment he looked back to shoot an arrow at him!
My movements were quick, and the arrow went straight to his right shoulder. That affected his movement, and it would be much more difficult to use the sword in combat.
"Aggr, shit," said the bandit.
He knew he couldn't win the fight anymore. Alone, with a wounded shoulder against three of us? Impossible.
Yula ran up to him. Her movements were quick and agile. It was as if she was dancing on the battlefield.
She easily disarmed the bandit and used one of her swords to cut his leg. The bandit fell to his knees, surrendering.
"Are you going to kill him?" I asked.
Yula smiled, "Not before getting some answers. Could you go back to the carriage, please?"
That was scary, but Yula had already become a friend of mine, so I did what she said and trusted her judgment.
From inside the carriage, I could hear the bandit's screams. She was torturing him for answers. After about 5 minutes she returned to our carriage.
"Lucius is sending some of his soldiers who will disguise themselves as members of the tribe to fight us. According to the bandit, he will send about 30 soldiers and 5 professional assassins."
"Shit," I cursed.
I was expecting a smaller number. That was a huge reinforcement that would definitely make our lives a living hell.
But none of us were going to give up. We continued our journey and decided to go as fast as possible. We needed to warn the Steward about the situation and prepare for the worst.