Chapter 60: Enemy

“A bunch of kids and two expensive-looking horses? Where are the parents? Come on now, this is way too careless...”

“There are so many kids here, they can’t have anything to do with that brat we’re looking for, right?”

“Damn, guess not...”

“I totally thought it’d be the brat we were told to find when I saw the fire between the trees some ways off from the camping lot...”

Ah... So they saw my cooking fire...

I had positioned the furnace with the direction of the wind in mind, which ended up making the fire easily visible from the road. I messed up... I had even read that one ninja manga that says, “Positioning yourself downwind was your blunder!” so many times...

Damn it!

And it seemed that these guys were the ones after Lucy after all. But since they didn’t have a photo or drawing to reference, they had probably only been told about her hair color and were looking for a ragged-looking seven-year-old walking along the road by herself. I mean, it was highly unlikely that they’d find anyone like that other than Lucy.

In any case, even though one of the eight kids on the ground happened to have the same hair color as Lucy, they wouldn’t think it’s actually her. Six of the eight were between the ages of six and ten, after all... Of course, they probably figured me and Reiko were about twelve or thirteen too. It made no sense for a bunch of children like us to be traveling by ourselves, so they would naturally assume we were only temporarily separated from the adults.

“What the...the hell is up with you lot...”

That sounded awfully close to what I had said several times in the past few days. I wondered why the words came out of the thug’s mouth.

“A bunch of strange men approach you at night, and you all look completely unfazed! Shouldn’t you be more scared or cautious?! And you! Why are you still grilling meat and vegetables as if nothing’s happening?!”

Oh, me? I mean, a hooligan or four don’t actually pose any threat...

We had Reiko’s barrier and offensive magic, my nitroglycerin-like material, the ability to create poison in their bodies, and more. I didn’t fare well against enemies who could swiftly ambush me, but I could easily handle humans who weren’t moving around. That said, they hadn’t attacked us yet, so I wasn’t going to do anything yet either.

As for Lucy, these guys only accepted the job and intended to carry it out, but that didn’t necessarily mean we had to strike first, even if they had accepted a job from outside official guild channels.

If these guys only intended to capture Lucy and hand her over to their client, it would mean they had just accepted a request to capture a servant who had run away before paying off her dues, and accepting that job wasn’t illegal in itself. The only illicit activity here was the fake request that had been submitted by the merchant.

Even though the conditions stated to bring her back dead or alive, they probably wouldn’t go out of their way to kill a girl they had captured alive, and it was unlikely that they would need to kill her out of necessity upon catching her. The conditions of the job could simply be interpreted as, “You’ll get paid even if you find her corpse,” so that part wasn’t all too strange.

Anyway, did that guy call himself and his group “a bunch of strange men”? I guess he is self-aware...

“...Hey, give us that food.”

What? Give you the food? Like all of it? Are you stupid?

“No, thanks!”

“Get lost.”

“Inferior creatures...”

Me, Reiko, and Leia delivered a triple combo Jet Stream Attack.

“What!”

“Fuckin’ brats!”

“You think this is a joke?”

The only joke here is you clowns...

“Hey, how about we forget about the request and take them instead? Eight brats and two fine horses. They’ll fetch a good price. Much better than the one kid we were asked to find,” the fourth man said, as if he had just come up with a great idea.

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” his fellow thugs replied at once.

Oh boy...

I had given them the benefit of the doubt and interpreted their actions as being from ordinary people who just happened to accept a request to find a servant who ran away, but they had just leveled up to being obvious criminals guilty of serious crimes like human trafficking and child kidnapping.

Or maybe it should be considered “leveled down” instead of “leveled up.”

“Then let’s get this over with before their parents get back. Not that it’ll matter as long as we take them hostage. They only have themselves to blame for leaving kids all by themselves. Ha ha, this is gonna get us a much bigger payday compared to catching just one kid! That brat must have gone into the forest, seeing as she wasn’t on the road, but there’s no way she’d survive a few days in there alone. Probably ended up getting eaten by monsters already. Let’s forget about that runt and make a killing with this haul! These two horses and the rest will give us enough money to live like kings for a while!”

“Sounds good to me! Ha ha ha!”

Although he said they could take us hostage if the adults arrived, he would prefer not to deal with that at all. No parent would just watch and do nothing as their children were being taken away. They might resist on the spot, follow the kidnappers in secret, report the incident to some nearby guards, or any number of other things. It was highly likely that they would try to get this over with quickly.

These men were clearly enemies. The moment they tried to lay hands on us, they would be condemned as guilty. Reiko was already lecturing the kids on safety measures, so they wouldn’t be in any danger. I watched to see what our opponents would do...

“How about we tie them up, eat the cooked meat real quick, and get on outta here?”

“Let’s go with that!”

They should prioritize leaving this place as soon as possible, but they wanted to eat first? Were they that hungry? Oh, but if they had been searching for Lucy over several days, they must have only had portable rations to eat. They could refill their water at a nearby stream or spring, but...

“All right, you all better stay quiet and... Ow!”

The man who seemed to be the leader among the four approached us with his right hand outstretched, then slammed his finger painfully into an invisible force.

“Wh-What? What did I just run into? Huh? Th-There’s something here?”

Yes, he had just run into the invisible barrier, courtesy of Reiko.

“What’s happened?”

“Stop fucking around!”

The others moved in closer, then...

“Ow!”

“Agh!”

“Th-The hell?!”

As expected, the same thing happened again.

“Confirmed: The declaration of an intent to commit a crime and an attempt to put it into action,” Reiko stated in a flat, emotionless tone.

“The prerequisites for the rules of engagement have been cleared. Attack at will,” I followed in a similarly flat tone of voice.

Yup, they had stepped over the line first. We had no reason to hold back now. I mean, it wasn’t like we were going to kill them or anything, but...

“I can kill ‘em on my own!”

Wait, shaddap!

“What is this thing?!”

“It’s some...invisible...wall...”

The four rowdy men suddenly quieted down at once. Then...

“...I-It wasn’t me. I don’t have anything to do with this.”

“Me neither. I was just looking for a lost kid because Eilas asked me to help. That’s all I know! Really!”

“M-Me too! I was just helping because Eilas asked me! I don’t know anything!”

“Y-You bastards...”

The man who had first approached us was apparently called Eilas, and he went pale with fear at the sudden betrayal, then red with anger. I mean, they had just run into some kids who were protected by an invisible wall. That could only mean they were purehearted children under the protection of the Goddess, like in the fairy tales, or it was the work of some mage.

And if a mage was responsible... There were mages who stood for justice and mages who did evil in the world. According to common knowledge among the general population, that is. But it didn’t really matter which one it was, since you’d be in trouble either way if a mage became your enemy. The only thing that awaited a mage’s enemy was death and destruction. According to common knowledge among the general population, that is.

And if the invisible force was a blessing from the Goddess... The Goddess here was the Celes. Everyone knew that if you got on her bad side, you should abandon all hope. It was no wonder the thugs immediately tried to blame someone else and retreat...

“Damn it! No wonder the kids were left alone here with magic like this... Hey, I know, we’ll be fine as long as we get outta here before the parents get back! It’s not like these brats have any power, and we can grab them as soon as they step out from behind the wall. That means they can’t come after us to go get their parents. I mean, there’s a chance we could just pretend to run away and wait to ambush them as soon as they move away from the wall...”

Ah, so they’re taking the psychological approach. Nice try. But too bad!

“Minor Lightning Strike!”

Zap!

The leader-looking man, Eilas, went stiff as a board as he was struck by Reiko’s lightning magic, then fell to the ground. There was dirt and grass here, so he wouldn’t get hurt too badly by the impact.

“What?! It’s not just the parents that are mages, but the kids too...?”

“No, if their parents are mages, of course they’d teach their kids magic. Nothing weird about that!”

“Good! We’re lucky this has nothing to do with the Goddess!”

Ah, that last guy did kind of have a point...

Reiko’s magic was very convenient for times like these. In my case, it was hard for me to hold back my powers. The nitroglycerin-like material was a bit extreme, and it was hard to use it to pacify people without blowing up their heads...

And I was hesitant to use anesthetics unless it was against bandits or people who no one would miss if they died, since I may end up accidentally stopping their hearts or their breathing. These guys may be thugs and criminals, but I wasn’t sure if they had gone as far as murdering people before.

Anyway...

“Minor Lightning Strike!”

“Gyaaaaaa!”

We decided to capture them.

“Barrier off!”

Having defeated all the thugs, Reiko dispelled her barrier. Now we just had to tie them up...but would they be cooperative and walk to the city with us?

I want to hand them over to the guards after crossing the border, but even the closest city is...wait, duh! If we use two carriage...wait, we only have two horses, and all the carriages need two horses to draw them! Damn...

Reiko took the ropes that had been removed from the Item Box, and the kids approached the downed thugs. It seemed Leia wanted to watch, since she also walked closer to them. Neither Reiko nor I had the skill to tie up grown men in such a way that they couldn’t undo the rope.

But these kids... Ha ha ha... Just what did the original director want these kids to be?

“Ah!”

Huh?

I had let the rope-tying professionals (the kids) do their work and began preparing the barbecue, while Reiko checked inside the Item Box for some dessert.

And when I turned around to the sound of the kids screaming... I saw the leader of the group, Eilas, charging directly toward Leia with a dagger in hand.

Reiko had cast Minor Lightning Strike on him before, but it seemed she had held back too much to avoid killing him, he had some resistance to electricity, or he had just endured it through sheer willpower. I glanced at Reiko, but her reaction was delayed due to being preoccupied with the Item Box before she noticed him. My potions couldn’t do anything in time, and I wouldn’t be able to accurately spawn them on a quickly moving target.

But there was no need to panic. He must have seen that Leia was exceptionally pretty among the group, the only one dressed like a noble girl, with beautiful, long hair that reached her waist, which was impossible for poor children to maintain due to money and time constraints. Considering this, he must have assumed she was clearly the child of the mage and the one who cast the attack magic from earlier. Reiko had vocalized the spell name, but she said it quietly, so they may not have heard her from that far away.

So he must have thought that by getting Leia under control, he would not only render the rest of the kids powerless, but he could use her as a hostage against her magic-casting parents, and even sell her off if he successfully kidnapped her.

But that girl is...you know, the same type as Celes.

She probably wouldn’t use her powers, so as to not be found by Celes, but even if her body wasn’t made of steel or anything, her dynamic visual acuity, physical speed, strength, and other aspects should be far beyond those of a human.

There was nothing to worry about. Leia herself was standing there looking unconcerned. She would probably catch the blade between two fingers with ease, or take him down in one hit...

“Move!”

Fsh!

“What...?” For a moment, I had no idea what had happened.

The thug Eilas had leapt out with a dagger in hand, and Mine stood in his path. Eilas slashed her with his weapon to get rid of the obstacle in his way. The thought that he had to stop and kick Mine’s body away to remove the weapon if he had stabbed her, so the sideways swipe was the correct choice, instantly crossed my mind, though it was completely pointless.

My mind must have refocused itself on something trivial, not able to comprehend the reality of the situation. It had all happened in an instant.

“Mine!”

By the time I came to and shouted her name, Eilas was already rolling on the ground, having been rocked by Leia’s punch.

“Why...?”

Leia stood there after punching Eilas, staring with wide-eyed disbelief. This shouldn’t have affected her at all. She had simply swatted an insect away, and a lower being she had just met got injured. There was no way she would be concerned. Or so I thought...

“Why...?” Leia repeated the same question again.

“Ah!”

Leia finally seemed to snap out of it and ran toward the fallen Mine. She crouched down to place her hand on Mine, but I ran up and grabbed her by the hand to stop her.

“What are you doing?! I need to heal her...”

I was happy to hear that coming from Leia, but I couldn’t let her do that.

“That’s my job as her employer and the one who planned out this quest. And you don’t want to be found by Celes, do you?”

“I don’t care about that!!!”

Leia had lost her composure for some reason, but I already had a potion I had created on the sprint here in my left hand. It was faster to make a new one rather than getting one out of the Item Box, and it could be used right away because I created it without a lid in the first place.

So I ignored Leia and poured the contents of the bottle onto Mine’s wound, put the empty bottle into the Item Box, then cradled Mine’s head as I made her drink the potion I had created in my right hand. I had to relieve Mine of her pain as soon as possible.

“Why did you do something so stupid?!” I shouted, and Mine struggled to keep her eyes open as she replied weakly.

“I-If I let a friend of yours get injured in our presence, I wouldn’t be able to face the other orphans... We are counting on you to help many more orphans moving forward... L-Lady Kaoru... Lady Reiko... P-Please...take care of Aral...and the other orphans... Ah... I don’t feel any pain anymore... It has been a short while, but our time together was like a lovely dream. Thank you... Now... I’ll see you again by the Goddess’s side...”

Smack!

“Ouch!” Mine yelped in pain as I let go of her head, dropping it onto the ground.

“Remember what my occupation is. Of course a mage can cast healing magic!”

“What...?”

Yeah, let’s just keep it at that. I mean, she already saw me heal Lucy’s foot injury...

“Whaaaaaat?!”

Mine felt around her body, shocked that her blade wound had disappeared. Then...

“Ahhhhhh! M-My clothes! My precious clothes that Lady Kaoru bought me!!!”

Ah, I couldn’t fix that with my potion. I didn’t realize she cared so much about the clothes I bought her...

“Why...?”

Oh... Leia was still asking that question.

“Why did you do that?! I wasn’t in any danger! You die after just a few decades, and you’re still a juvenile that has barely had a chance to live! So why...?”

She seemed really shaken by all this. What was going on...? I figured we were like fleas to her, so whether one of us lived or died shouldn’t have concerned her at all...

“What’s wrong, Leia? You need to calm down!”

“I had a thought,” she said after a brief pause.

Huh?

“I thought, ‘I don’t want to disappear’...”

“I mean, I don’t think anyone does. That’s completely normal.”

Maybe not for someone like Leia, though.

“No, it’s not... Maybe for lower beings, but we never have thoughts like that... I wouldn’t disappear just due to a physical phenomenon like earlier, but if I did for whatever reason, I’m just an offspring that branched off far down the line from my core, so it wouldn’t affect my main body. And since my memories and experiences will be retrieved at the closest divergence and become a part of the network, my existence won’t go to waste. So if I do disappear, it’s not a problem.”

Leia continued speaking, almost to herself.

“But...when that man came charging at me... Even though I knew that piece of metal wasn’t going to do anything... And even though I knew it would be fine if this body was damaged or if I vanished from existence... For a moment...just a moment, I thought...I didn’t want to disappear. I’ve experienced so many things for the first time... Eating, drinking, playing... And those pointless conversations with the lower beings, like the employees at the inn and the other guests... They were... They were...”

Ah...so she had fun.

“So why...? You only live for such a short amount of time. You can die so easily. And unlike us, all of your information disappears with you. Everything you learn, the fact that you existed at all, and the meaning behind it, they all vanish from this world. You risked it all just for me, someone you only met a few times and who has nothing to do with you...”

Leia was way too shaken by this. It wasn’t like her. More importantly, she was giving out way too much info! Sure, the kids probably couldn’t understand any of it... But I couldn’t let my guard down, not with those kids...

While we were talking about all this, the children had tied up the thug...no, he had attempted to murder someone, so he was officially a dangerous criminal. I still had to figure out what to do with these guys...

Even Hang and Scary couldn’t pull Merkava and Panzer on their own, and even though Penelope seemed light enough for one of them, it only accommodated two riders, so that wouldn’t work either. Besides, that would leave no usable carriage for the remaining horse.

Honestly, I didn’t feel like making a twelve-person carriage just for this occasion... Even though eight of the twelve were small, light children...including us...it would still be rough with such a height difference and a bumpy road ahead, even if I made the carriage extra light.

“Reiko, what should we...wait, what the hell is that?!”

“What...is that...?”

Reiko didn’t seem to know either. A mysterious object floated in the sky.

Yup...that’s a UFO.

How could I be so sure? I mean, a UFO is just an unidentified flying object, so that’s literally what it was. It wasn’t like an alien had to be driving the thing for it to qualify as a UFO.

“So what do you think it is...?”

The metallic-looking orb floated dozens of meters in the air. Actually, maybe it was more like several hundred meters. It was hard to determine its height in the night sky with no frame of reference, but it seemed to be decently big. Maybe a few dozen meters in diameter? It was clearly out of place in civilization, given its level of development. That’s why I had decided to ask for Reiko’s opinion, as the one who had the most life experience.

“It could possibly be from another planet, underground, beneath the ocean, the Mu empire, or another dimension entirely. Or maybe it’s an AI, a vehicle of the Goddess, or someone who didn’t hold back at all when requesting cheat powers,” Reiko replied rather sincerely to the question I had asked in my dazed state.

...Wait, but that last one is you.

Celes’s duty was to prevent the destruction of the dimensional fabric, so everything else was probably just her killing time. That included the times she warned humans about great disasters or messed with us on a whim. As such, she probably wouldn’t be too bothered if aliens or a subterranean species made an appearance. If it was unrelated to her mission, it didn’t matter. Celes would never descend in a vehicle like that.

Yeah, it seemed this didn’t have anything to do with her. Even so, that thing’s appearance here and now couldn’t just be a coincidence. Maybe it had detected some energy, wave, or a tremor in time and space that had been emitted by Reiko’s earlier electric magic. It was better to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

And so, I decided that it was possible that that thing meant us harm and acted accordingly. Even so, I wanted to avoid misreading the situation and I definitely didn’t want to attack first when it wasn’t even hostile to us, so I gave an order to protect us from sudden attacks without triggering a response...

“Reiko, I need you to put up a barrier at max power. Have some magic beams and blasts ready to go. Can you reflect enemy attacks back at them? Like in Operation Rearview Mirror, where they bounced Calamity and Rainbow Death Ray with a giant reflective device...”

“What are we dealing with here, Barugon?! And no, I can’t!”

“Roger that. Then I guess I’ll dump a potion that melts anything and everything on it...”

“Wouldn’t that melt through to the other side of the planet when it hits the ground...?” Reiko said, pointing out a trope that was common for this sort of thing.

I gave her the expected response.

“Of course not!”

“I figured...”

“It would only melt through to the center of this planet!”

“Then it’ll slowly melt through the planet from the inside...”

“Ah ha ha ha!” we laughed together.

We were being our familiar selves again. Our banter had a tendency to get worse as a situation grew more dire. In other words, our caution and nerves were at their peak.

We did have Leia as our ace in the hole. But unlike Celes, Leia had to reason to help us. It was entirely possible that she would just stare at us emotionlessly as we died... But no, we still had value to her as a source of money! That said, I didn’t know whether Leia had any intention of getting directly involved with us like that, and she was acting a bit strange right now.

All right, if you want it, bring it! We’re ready to take down that UFO!