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***
New level obtained!
Waving away the notification, I continued interrogating the bandit, but to my surprise, the bandit died of blood loss right during the interrogation. The next bandit died after him. The other two looked at me and shook their heads, begging me not to kill them. The girls squealed in disgust at their cries.
'What are they doing? I didn't even touch them and they're shaking their heads?'
Wildly... the next speech surprised me a bit. They've been plundering and slave-trading here for six months now, well, as in slave-trading. It's more like taking girls from each other and using them as a group.
The question and subsequent answer as to where they got the girls from nearly took their lives. But everything seemed to be over, and one bandit sprinkled his voice and blood on the ground, holding his knee shot by an arrow. Definitely, now he's going to become a guard and make a legend that he was once a slave trader....
Well... now I see what this is all about. It turns out that I killed the local boss who kept these scum in line, and when he was gone, the bandits lost their brakes.
- Arien-sama, there's a fire in the village and I can hear screams... - Aquina brought me out of my thoughts, looking at the fire in the village.
That's right, they were talking about retreating and some kind of fire. But should we save them? They're nothing to me, and the villagers are to blame. I'm the only one who thought so.
- Sir... there are people there, we can help them, right? - Elvina suddenly said, and the other girls supported her with a nod of approval.
'Okay, there seem to be more bandits frolicking around... I guess it's experience after all, and there's a lot of experience there, as many as thirty bandits for the whole village, if not more!'
In the end, I agreed with the girls, finishing off two bandits by beheading them.
Experience +300
The subsequent actions can be described as follows: came, killed, defeated.
When we got to the scene of the action, we saw an unsightly picture. Everywhere lay the dismembered corpses of villagers - old men, girls, men and some teenagers.
Particularly unsightly were some bandits who were leaning over the corpses of girls, making rhythmic movements with their thighs. Before I could do anything about it, they died after being shot in the head with an arrow.
Experience +40
Noting the small amount of experience I had gained, I looked round: Vivi was clutching her bow so tightly that it began to crack. Her eyes were blazing with rage, and I wasn't the only one who felt the urge to kill.
- Vivi-chan... - Elvina put her hand on her friend's shoulder, and she quickly calmed down and clenched the hilt of her sword.
- It's okay, I'm sorry to bother you... it's just that...
- Unacceptable! - Aqui finished angrily, 'we have to end this chaos!
All the girls nodded with a serious face, agreeing. Even I didn't try to change their minds, and experience is something that comes with experience. All I had to do was nod approvingly:
- Good, don't choke on the smoke.....
That was the end of it. In the meantime, we put out some of the fires with water magic.
The further we travelled, the more corpses we saw. There were quite a few looters along the way too.
Some of them were chasing children with mad laughter, we counted nine of them, and all of them were killed by Vivi and Aquina's arrows.
Experience +540.
The children we rescued, on the other hand, ran from us even faster and hid from our sight. I didn't really care, and I had more important things to do than to save and convince them. The fire was getting hotter and hotter, and the mana was dwindling faster and faster.
But there was no one to save. The adults had been brutally murdered before we arrived, and the children had been left to entertain themselves. They were the ones we rescued, but they ran away from us as soon as they saw us. There were some who didn't run away, and now they were coming with us. But it was hard to keep track of them all. Three, if not more, children from 10 to 16 years old were too frightened and sometimes ran away from fear during the next clash between us and the bandits. Or for some other reason.
Experience +140
Next we decided to split up in twos. I was with Vivi, and Aquina and Elvina were together. Having divided the search area into two parts, we agreed to meet at the entrance to the village. By then, the children had scattered. Vivi wanted to stop them, but I wouldn't let her. Let them run, maybe they'll survive and save their friends.
Meanwhile, the fire was getting bigger and bigger and threatened to burn the village completely. Vivi and I could put out some of the flames, but we decided to conserve our strength and only put out the most dangerous ones.
- Hero-san! Have you seen my mum? - A white-haired girl of about fourteen or more, with a very cute, grimy face, who was covered in blood and soot, asked. Her once-white dress was bloodstained and torn in some places, and her slightly naive scarlet eyes were drilling into my helmet. She was, by the way, the bravest of the children we met, or she just didn't realise what was going on. We saved her from being raped while searching for survivors, well experience - bandits.
Experience +100
'Oh, the girls are in!'
Though, how rescued, more like helped. She had fought back quite normally before we arrived and had hit the bandit several times with a rock on the head and was about to finish the loser off, looming over him, holding a rock the size of her own head in her hands.
*Breath* The rock fell on the loser's head and the girl wiped off her sweat and stood up from it. I even thought it was the guy who was about to be raped, but, the girl's clothes torn in some places said otherwise.
- If you want to survive, come with us, - I said in a muffled voice. To which the girl turned around sharply and her eyes widened in surprise.
- Hero-san? - Her eyes glittered. - Have you come to save us? - The girl tilted her head innocently, and considering some of the bloodstains on her face, she looked creepy. Like something out of a horror film....
Her words made me wonder. I'm the hero? I don't mind such a title, of course, but I'm definitely not one. I can be called a dark hero that lifts his left heel for the sake of future prospects and benefits for himself, of course. Naturally, I won't pass by if a girl is raped or a child is beaten in front of my eyes, but I haven't seen such a thing... yet.
- I don't think I'm a hero, but close to it,' I said with a grin, and the girl got excited and quickly ran towards us.
Experience +40
- Hero-san! Have you seen my mum? - She asked a question, with her eyes glistening with moisture.
I stopped on the spot, causing me to receive a perplexed look from Vivi. For some reason, the girl's words made my heart clench and whimper with pain....
Strange feelings... my heart ached at the mere sight of the girl. It was only worth it to turn away as my heart quietly fluttered with adrenaline and joy again.
'What the... stuff? Have maternal feelings suddenly awakened in me? Or... is it a hidden lolicon man in me smelling his prey?' - I mentally chuckled to myself.
- Hero-san? Hero-san! - She yanked me by my cloak with such force that I almost fell on my back! It was only the reinforcement used in time that kept me from falling.
'Who is this girl? Since she almost fell me with such ease?' - I looked at the innocent girl with pain in my heart. I wanted to cuddle her and hug her... to say all sorts of stupid things....
- Master, this girl, she's a...
- Aunty! Aunty! Who are you? - she shifted her gaze to her, which made Vivi feel very uncomfortable and she lowered her gaze to the ground, faltered and didn't finish.
'What the fuck! We're already wasting too much time standing around with this girl! Time to call it a day!'
- I'm sorry, girl, I haven't seen your mum...' the words came hard to me, like a lump in my throat, each word I said with hoarseness.
The girl slumped her shoulders, her whole body trembling, she lifted her face with tears on her cheeks.
Experience +140
- W-why... hero-san, you're... a hero, aren't you? - She looked at me with such a pleading look that my heart clenched like a vise and seemed to stop beating.
It was hard to breathe. I wanted to hug her... to hold her fragile body against me and not let go... my hands were about to reach for her when I was struck by a flash of red hair and the lovely face of my 'first'.
'Elvina! My favourite!' - after the sudden realisation, the urge was gone.
- I'm sorry, but I really don't know where your mother is... maybe if you come with us we'll meet her,' though that's unlikely. All the adults have been killed.
- N-no,' she shuddered, taking a step back from me, 'she must be here somewhere! I don't believe you! - She shook her head negatively and started running, quickly disappearing behind the wooden houses.
'Strange girl... but I tried to save her, and there's no fire here yet. Maybe she really will find her mother?' - With those thoughts, we moved on in search of bandits and survivors.
***
The search was a success. During our search, we came across a dozen bandits, all of whom I killed myself! That's 1,500 experience! I also raised my strength by two points, along with a one-point boost due to overuse. Of course, Vivi was not happy, because she wanted to participate in the battle and show me her swordsmanship. But I told her to put out the fire, and the children we found would be less afraid.
It wasn't that I was worried about them, but that white-haired girl kept flashing before my eyes, and my heart clenched again with a kind of despondency and heartache. It's too much in my head.
But Vivi told me an interesting story.
There are special children with a great destiny. They're called 'Child of Light', 'Marked by the Gods', 'New Heroes'. Children who are destined by fate to become heroes and defeat the demon lord, who, alas, I don't know about...and neither does Vivi. He just is or exists and the heroes just have to defeat him. So that's what I understood about the beaver and the donkey.
And canon doesn't help me here. I don't remember him very well. And I only remembered it because of Goblin Killer. Without it, I'd think of this world as just a fantasy world and live a normal life.
- Master, there are no more enemies. We should get to the exit...' Vivi shook me by the shoulders as the last bandit fell from my sword.
Experience +190
Two-handed sword skill increased.
Wow, really. I've been thinking. It's time to do the honours.
- Mister... - a grimy kid ran up to us, - we're in a group, as you asked....
So, there are no more than a dozen children... - I noted, looking at them. Well, we saved everyone we could. Now we can leave... It's a pity, though, that we didn't meet those people who collected the looted goods in the cart. Apparently, there's only a few sick surplus people left here. Oh, they didn't even leave a single horse, they took them all away and killed the ones they didn't take!
Those bastards.
- All right, now...' I was struck by a sudden thought.
Staggering from the sudden aching pain in my head, I gritted my teeth. My heart was whimpering with excitement and driving me somewhere!
- Master! - Vivi clung to me, more just trying to keep me from falling,' Are you alright? - she said excitedly.
- Yes... just, I remembered a case... Vivi, you can get to the exit without me, can't you? - I asked hopefully.
- M-master... this
- This is an order as your master! And yes, pass it on to the others too. I don't want to have to look for you later! It's too dangerous, okay?
The girl hesitated, not daring to say anything to me. The kids were listening to us curiously.
'Heh, I don't know why, but she didn't obstruct me anymore,' a thought ran through my head, "I should ask about the contract later and why she calls me "master' after all. For now, I need to save one more person.....
I thanked Vivi and noted that I was a little short of level 15, some 750 experience! Just a little bit!
Trouble is, well, maybe I'll get lucky and come across a bandit who accidentally got lost and survived? - my own thoughts made me laugh. The desire to evolve was much stronger. However, the only path I had now was the mini map. Hopefully, I would make it in time.
'Soon... there's only a little bit left! I'll replenish my strength at the same time!' - I stopped near the bandit's corpse and touched it, quickly draining it and turning it into a skeleton covered in skin.
The satiety was low, but hunger had ceased to plague me so much since my battle. Are there a dozen more corpses like this left to devour, or less? I don't know, but there's a lot of them. I wonder if I could eat enough. - With that motive, I touched the corpses and devoured them.
Scavenger skill boosted!
Already on the third corpse, the skill increased and I was a bit full, which couldn't help but make me happy. True, the fire was getting hotter and hotter, and the danger of poisoning was starting to make me nervous. However, the strength was there, and I went forward, checking on the minicart, clearing a passage with water magic.
The skill omnivorous increased!
Skill resistance to poisons increased!
Skill resistance to disease increased!
Acute sniffing skill enhanced!
Oh... that was so sudden. I should be in a hurry... although, I'm tempted to raise my resistance this way! When else would I be able to raise my skill level like this? - But I didn't stop and kept running, hoping that there was still time.
And I'll raise my skills anyway....
***
Same time, Elvina.
Saving innocent children is the duty of every adventurer!
It is the duty of every adventurer to kill the guilty and the bad!
Honour is nothing before the just truth!
Destroying monsters is our duty.
However, when you meet 'the one', they are nothing before his will!
Those were the words of my father. The words of my teacher and mentor. A man who was once a royal guard... - while parrying the bandit's lunge, I stabbed his heart and watched the disbelief in his gaze, and then his eyes dimmed and he collapsed.
'Haa, why didn't master take me with him?' - I complained as I quickly moved along the road, 'Mister, I hope you're alright! However, it's so stuffy... huh, Aquinah-dono, when will you use your water magic and put out the fire? The heat is just unbearable!' - I moaned, looking back at the running elven woman.
- There's not much left, Elvina...' she blurted out, catching my gaze.
I don't know if he really thought so, and I thought he was a little crazy because of the illness that had taken hold of him. The vague instructions and the strange 'the one'... the one my father didn't even explain! He'd forgotten what he was talking about, and it was useless to ask him again. He'd forgotten, that's all. Good thing we had useful books at home, and I didn't have to ask the neighbourhood boys about honour, adventurers and that one! True, the books didn't explain that one either - and why, I don't know....
'And why should I need 'the one'? When I already have a gentleman to whom I have devoted everything!' - warmth, strange. At the mention of the lord, my heart starts beating faster and I feel warm and cosy - 'I can't wait to finish here and get back to the lord!'
I was so lost in my reverie that I didn't realise I was speeding up.
- Elvina! Wait, don't run so fast! I'm using water magic! - came the disgruntled voice of Aqui from behind me.
'Oh! Aquina-dono is finally going to use magic! And it's beautiful,' I noted to myself, stopping in place and watching the magic.
***
After a while.
- How is it that Arien-sama is still in the village! - Aquina yelled angrily at the shrinking Vivi. The blue-haired girl now completely slumped her shoulders and stared at the ground.
- Master... ordered us to...' she forced herself to utter dejectedly. Her shoulders were shaking finely and she sat on the ground.
- Vivi-chan... how could this be... - with unclear feelings to herself, Elvina looked at her. Resentment burned in her for her friend and her lord and many other things she couldn't make sense of.
- We must go after him! - Aqui said firmly, looking at Vivi and Elvina with heavy eyes.
- Aquina-dono... can you use your magic and put out the fire? - Elvina asked hopefully.
She nodded confidently.
- I can do it, but I'll need Vivi's help!
- Vivi-chan? - She turned her gaze to the shrinking and trembling elf.
Even the gathered children looked at the girls anxiously, speculating what would happen to them next. Only one thing was clear to them - they would not be able to return to their previous lives....