“Rena, just in case, take the children and evacuate outside.”
“…Understood.”
Elena nodded with a solemn expression, understanding what I meant by “outside.”
The wounded Dark Elf boy, Noi, had been treated with Elena’s Light Magic. The reason we waited for him to wake up was because even the inn we were in was no longer safe.
A simple base had been set up outside the town for emergencies. There was a small amount of food, so it should be fine for a few days. When Noi woke up and heard that Chako had been kidnapped, he said he would go to rescue her too, but—
“You’d be dead weight.”
“B-but I—”
A look of anxiety appeared on Noi’s face. He probably felt responsible as a surrogate older brother to the younger children, and to save the surrogate older sister. But that’s not it.
“Your responsibility is to protect those children. Don’t make a mistake about what you should risk your life for.”
“…Understood.”
Even if the children were born with the will to resist, their anxiety wouldn’t disappear. Seeing the little children desperately holding onto his clothes, trying to hold back their tears, Noi nodded firmly.
I watched Elena and Noi leave with the children, and then turned to the other person who remained.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“You…!”
He must have tried to escape, because his position was slightly off. The tiger-striped man, his right knee and wrist bones shattered, was lying on the ground, but still growled like a threatening tiger as I approached, kicking out with his remaining left leg.
In terms of combat ability, he’s probably in the lower ranks of Rank 3. It’s admirable that he still has the will to fight with those injuries, so I’ll respond accordingly.
I kicked up the foot that was trying to kick my right leg, and then stomped on his ankle, putting my full weight on it.
“Gugyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
“Where did you take Chako?”
I asked, showing neither anger nor hatred, just radiating intimidation. For the first time, the man’s face contorted with something other than pain.
“Y-you bitch…”
“You were planning to guide me from the start, right? And who told you that we cured the disease?”
“Doing this to the Munza Society, in this town—gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?”
“I didn’t ask about that.”
I stomped on his crushed ankle, and when I kicked and shattered the man’s left knee with my heel, because he still wouldn’t open his mouth, fearing the private punishment from the Munza Society, the killing intent gradually dissipated from the man.
“Gugagagaga… S-stop… I don’t know… the young boss…”
“Someone came to visit, right?”
When his only unharmed left wrist was crushed, the tiger-striped man finally broke.
After extracting the necessary information, I considered that there might be inaccuracies in the information, so I kept the man alive, grabbed him by the collar, and started walking towards the town.
“Aria!”
As I approached the town, I heard a voice calling my name from a figure running towards me.
Only a limited number of people in this town call me by my name, and even fewer people walk the road to that cottage.
“Camille and Ron?”
Camille was showing his face, but the other person, who was hiding his face with a hood, was probably Ron. The two who ran up to me widened their eyes slightly when they saw me and the tiger-striped beastkin with his limbs crushed.
“We heard that the Munza Society went to Chako’s cottage!”
“Could it be that this man—?”
The two of them seemed to have rushed over after learning that Chako and the others were in danger.
According to them, the Munza Society’s underlings had also attacked them, but one of the defeated underlings hinted at the attack on Chako and the others, mocking them.
“We were able to protect the children, but Chako was kidnapped.”
“Chako was… then I’ll go.”
“Wait, Camille.”
Ron, who had stopped Camille from jumping out by grabbing his shoulder, took off his hood and looked at me with serious eyes.
“Aria… was it? Thank you. I heard about you from Camille. But why are you going so far for unknown children?”
Certainly, Ron’s question was reasonable. Even I suspected that there was something behind their uncompensated aid to the orphans. But—
“Are you the ones saying that?”
“…You’re right. Sorry.”
Ron honestly lowered his head, comparing what they had done to us.
There’s no reason. I could decorate it with beautiful words, but if I were to put such subtle, unquantifiable emotions into words, it would simply be that I couldn’t ignore what I had seen. —That’s all.
“Rena… if she’s there, then the other children should be safe for the time being. Also, we have some information. We’ve been crushing the Munza Society’s jobs and are hostile to them, but it seems that the Killri Company is involved this time.”
“That matches our information. That’s probably our case. I think they believe that the cure for the disease is due to the effects of the potions we make.”
I thought that Jed, the Killri Company’s manager, was a slightly smarter merchant, but if he prioritized emotions over profits, then he was just a thug in this town after all.
…No, considering the profits and emotional benefits, he came to the idea of “taking everything,” which is typical of this town. Many powerful people are cautious, but some are foolish enough to mistake the power of the organization for their own.
It was the right decision to avoid returning to the inn under the Killri Company’s umbrella, just in case.
“I’m going to get Chako back now.”
“Understood, Aria. We’ll also…”
“No, there’s something I want to ask you two to do instead.”
The Slum District of the Desert Town Cutlass. The entire town is like a slum, but this area, where the poor live, is truly a lawless zone ruled only by violence.
“…Ugh… aah…”
Occasionally, groans leaked from the tiger-striped man with shattered limbs, who was regaining consciousness and fainting repeatedly.
Under the scorching sun, from the half-collapsed buildings made of earth and stone that lined the area, several gazes were directed at me, who was dragging the man and walking down the center of the road, as if I were a prey.
Even if I didn’t intimidate them, no one would attack. They probably realized that the tiger-striped man I was dragging was a member of the Munza Society, and were hesitant to gauge my strength, since I had half-killed him.
Ignoring the killing intent mixed in with the heat in the air, I proceeded, and a large stone mansion that was different from the surrounding buildings came into view.
That must be the residence of the local boss who controls this area within the Munza Society.
In the initial plan, I was going to attack from the back and take Chako back, but I decided to go head-on. Perhaps because of the killing intent in the air, the two Cat Beastkin and Dog Beastkin guards who were guarding the gate pointed their spears at me as I approached, dragging the man.
“Who the hell are you!”
“Do you know that this is Batil-sama’s residence… Brother!?”
One of the gatekeepers, who realized who the dragged man was, raised his voice, and the tiger-striped man, who had regained consciousness at that voice, lit up with hope in his eyes and shouted as if crying out.
“…T-this is the woman! Tell the young boss! Gyahaha, this is the end for you too, woman! How many people do you think are here—”
“Shut up.”
“Goooh!”
I crushed the man’s throat with my Demon Iron-toed heel. Your usefulness is over.
“You!!”
Seeing the tiger-striped man spitting blood, I noticed that the Cat Beastkin, who had called him brother earlier, was charging at me with his spear. I instantly used Body Enhancement focused on strength and threw the tiger-striped man onto the trajectory of the spear.
“What!?”
“――――!!”
The gatekeeper’s spear pierced the man’s heart from behind, and the Cat Beastkin, who was momentarily stiffened by that, was grabbed by the head and slammed into the parched earth.
“—E-enemy attack!!”
The other gatekeeper, who had been spared because he couldn’t move, howled with a voice that tore his throat.
A flurry of noises and a killing intent swelled up from inside the mansion. Dog and Cat Beastkin holding spears and swords burst out as if kicking down the door of the mansion, and bared their fangs at me in my coat, standing next to the two corpses.
“What do you think you’re doing!!”
“Brother said she’s the woman!”
“Don’t screw with us! Don’t think you can die easily by defying the Munza Society!”
“I’ll tear your guts out!”
“Wait!!!”
A voice filled with intimidation stopped the beastkin who were about to attack.
From the second-floor terrace facing us, a black panther-like Cat Beastkin man, embracing the shoulders of semi-naked beastkin women who seemed to be mistresses, appeared.
The Cat Beastkin in his mid-thirties, with a slender but toned body, came forward bare-chested, showing off his bulging muscles, and glared at me with silver eyes.
“Young Boss! This bitch—”
“Shut up! Hmph, so you’re the woman? Since you’ve come this far, it seems you’ve received the message properly.”
The Black Panther Beastkin grinned as he looked at the dead man’s face. Though the distance made it uncertain, he was probably a Rank 4 with a combat strength of around 1200.
If he’s a lieutenant, then is this Batil, one of the figureheads who leads the Munza Society’s thugs?
“Oh, oh, to have two die just to lure you out alone, that’s quite a price. What happened to the other two you had on him?”
“I killed them.”
Batil slightly raised an eyebrow at my casual reply.
“In that case, I’ll have to get their share from the Killri Company. You look like you’ve got some skill, but are you okay with what happens to that girl (kid)?”
“I only came to settle the score for this man’s attack.”
“You’re okay with what happens to the girl (kid)?”
“Either way, the result won’t change. If I lose, I’ll suffer the same fate, and if I win, that’s the end of the story.”
“Heh, no different, huh?”
A tense killing intent filled the space between Batil and me, and I felt the temperature drop slightly.
After glaring at each other for a while, Batil grinned, baring his fangs, and called out to his subordinates.
“You guys, bring that woman here with her arms and legs broken. Killing her won’t get us any money. Women, bring chairs and sake. This is my private viewing box. For watching the deaths of crazy bastards like you.”
The mistresses moved away from Batil to get the sake and chairs, and he turned his back to me to head to his VIP seat.
“Do it.”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”
At that moment, the Beastkin surrounding me roared and charged.
While dodging the Beastkin’s serious slashes as if recoiling, as if they had forgotten the order not to kill, I slashed the ankles of three approaching men with my spinning Slashing Style Pendulum, and thrust a Black Dagger into the eye of a nearby Wolf Beastkin.
One down.
“You—”
I deliberately pulled out the Dagger as if gouging, and slit the throat of the man whose vision was obscured by the splatter of blood with a Knife. The general-purpose Pendulum released from the Shadow of my cloak, which spread out as if rotating, pierced the throat of a Dog Beastkin who had stopped moving after having his ankles slashed.
Three down.
“Gaaaaah!”
One aimed for my neck with a longsword, and another thrust at my feet with a Spear.
My heel stomped on the tip of the Spear, which was a moment faster due to the difference in distance, and as I ran up the Spear, dodging the sword, I tore the swordsman’s neck with a Blade Scythe Style Pendulum.
As I kicked out the other man’s chin with the Blade on my toe, using him as a stepping stone to jump over, I swung down the Ball-Shaped Pendulum I was holding short at the Cat Beastkin who was further away, crushing his skull.
Six down.
“Hiiyaaaa!”
I knocked aside the gatekeeper’s axe, which was swung down while screaming like a shriek, with a hand chop from the side, and as I slipped into his chest, I caved in his face with an elbow strike, and kicked up the still-powerful axe with my ankle, sending it flying towards Batil, who had turned his back.
With a roar! The axe approached Batil.
At the moment the Blade attacked Batil, he grabbed a chair that a mistress had brought and intercepted the flying axe.
“…Tch.”
Batil’s face twisted with irritation for the first time as he stood among the corpses, more than half of whom had been killed in the few seconds since he had turned his back.
“Not bad, woman. If you’re going that far, there’s no way I can let you live.”
“Can you do it?”
“I never said I’d kill you directly, did I?”
Batil clapped his hands!
As if waiting for that sound, the killing intent in the atmosphere intensified, and residents rose up from every hut in the street, from the alleys, from the shadows on the roadside.
An old man who looked like a beggar stood up with a Blade, a well-built middle-aged woman held a kitchen knife, and a boy who didn’t even look like he was an adult yet grinned with gleaming eyes, holding a rusty Hatchet.
Beastkin with weapons in their hands. A wave of people, young and old, surrounding me.
The number, just from what I could see, was roughly over two hundred—
“Did you think the people here were just residents or family members of the members? The Munza Society is a Beastkin ‘pack.’ Whether it’s a woman or a kid, if they’re in the pack, they’re all ‘Munza Society.'”
“…………”
…I see. So, it’s like beasts.
Even if they’re Rank 1, even if they don’t have Combat Skills, the violence of numbers overwhelms everything.
I quietly readied my Blade at the slowly approaching wave of people with weapons, and Batil sat down on a new chair that a mistress had brought, drinking sake straight from the bottle.
“Don’t think you can escape, woman. Don’t die easily until I finish drinking this sake. Come on, struggle. The real show starts now!”
At Batil’s voice, the wave of people took a step forward.
But at that moment, the faint sound of a flute echoed from afar.
Beastkin with good ears, including Batil, looked up slightly at the sky.
Noticing the sound, I faintly smiled mischievously, just with my mouth.
I had Ron keep an eye on the Killri Company’s movements, and I asked Camille to rescue Chako.
I went in head-on to buy time for them, but that’s not the only reason.
If the Munza Society only had a few hundred people, I could just assassinate them one by one from above, like the Assassin Guild. But with an organization of this scale, simple assassination would only incite anger, and there was a risk of retaliation against unknown children.
I felt that I needed to make the Munza Society aware of the pointlessness of fighting me, just like the Assassin Guild and the Thieves’ Guild.
The problem was that even if I could rescue Chako, there was a possibility that she would be targeted when they realized I was a threat, but there were no longer any “shackles” binding me.
If you think about it with common sense, there’s no way an individual can win against this number.
But beyond overcoming that, there is the true “strength” I seek.
I threw off my cloak, which had become heavy with blood splatter, and the sound of the approaching wave of people faltered slightly at the sight of my pink-gold hair, shimmering in the sunlight.
The real show starts now? Those are my lines.
“Become my nourishment.”
How will Aria fight against two hundred enemies?
Next time, Desert Rose
Beautiful roses have thorns.