Chapter 40:
Carriage Ride
“Pleased to make your acquaintance. We’re the Crimson Vow, the C-rank party who accepted your escort request.”
“Hello there! Pleased to meet you as well!”
Mavis, the official party leader, greeted the merchant who was their newest client. He met them with a cordial reply, blessedly showing no signs of shock that he was being greeted by a group of young girls.
On this particular day, they had taken on a job escorting a small-scale caravan, consisting of three merchants and five wagons, from a town near the national border to a town in the neighboring kingdom. Including the Crimson Vow, the three merchants, and the two extra drivers, their party totaled nine members. Naturally, three of the wagons would be driven by the merchants themselves.
This was a fairly standard setup for merchants leaving from the countryside, in contrast to the larger caravans that departed from the capital and other big cities.
The whole thing started when Reina said to the others, “Even if it’s just for the sake of appearances, I wonder if it would be better, when we first leave the kingdom, to say it’s because we ‘took on a job that took us across the border.’”
Everyone readily assented, and since guard duty would bring them a bit of pay for little work, they decided to spend the next few days killing time and making money on daily extermination and harvesting requests until a suitable escort job appeared.
So that they would not miss out on a job that perfectly fit their criteria, only three members of the party went out to work at a time during those few days, each taking a turn waiting back at the guildhall, just in case. It was Reina’s turn at the guild when the ideal job appeared. The moment it was posted to the job board, she snatched the posting with lightning speed, the likes of which might only be seen from a group of ladies when a department store marks a rack of designer clothes down to 90% off.
As soon as she finished the job-acceptance paperwork, she headed straight to the merchants’ shops to confirm that they would be leaving the next morning, and pin down any other such details, before heading back to the inn to await her companions. Since her work was finished, there was no reason for her to stay put at the guildhall all day and nothing wrong with her lazing around the inn for a while.
And now, the caravan was departing.
Naturally, rumors about the Crimson Vow had yet to make it this far. Even if there was a bit of buzz about the party around the capital, they were still but a C-rank party. The only parties who would be talked about all the way to some little town in the middle of nowhere would be S-rank or A-rank parties at the very least. Stories of B-rank parties might make it out to the neighboring towns and villages now and then, but only every so often.
Therefore, the girls chose to forget that they had a bit of renown around the capital. If a group of C-rank hunters were to introduce themselves with, “Folks know us around the capital as…” it would be laughable at best.
For now, they were going back to their roots, living humble lives as a band of no-name rookie C-rank hunters. So they had unanimously decided.
They were divided in two, with Mile and Pauline at the head wagon and Mavis and Reina at the rear. Through careful consideration, the group had decided that this arrangement yielded the optimal balance of front and back line, as well as a favorable distribution of offensive ability.
In addition, it was only natural to put Mile, with her location magic, at the head of the train. While Mile strongly disliked using magical shortcuts like that for the party’s benefit, her companions were already well aware of the existence of her location magic. Plus, they were on a guard duty job, where people’s lives were on the line, so she couldn’t afford to be such a stickler about it.
As they drove, Mile spoke only with Pauline and the driver. As always, she sat atop the canvas roof of the wagon, with Pauline sitting beside the driver on the bench. Given that they were at the head of the train, the driver of this wagon was not one of the merchants but a trained professional. Therefore, he would never do anything so insolent as to look up the skirt of a girl who was sitting behind him.
As far as this kingdom was concerned, Mile had a working knowledge only of the capital and the town where she had first registered as a hunter. Outside of those two places, she had been to a number of other towns and villages, but only as part of her job, and never for very long. Therefore, she had no particular interest in either their route or their destination. Even if she were to inquire as to the name of the highway they were on, she wouldn’t know it, and if she were to be told the names of any of the towns, she would soon forget them. A guard’s duty was nothing more than to fend off and defeat any attacking bandits or monsters. It was not their place to go poking their noses into the affairs of the merchants who had hired them. All that mattered was that they stuck together. Beyond that, there was no need to sweat the details.
Plus, this time, Reina had been the one to handle all of the paperwork and negotiations. She was a merchant’s daughter, after all, so she was no rookie when it came to travel or business. Therefore, Mile felt no reason to worry. Besides, it was more exciting to visit a new town for the first time without any prior knowledge of the place, wasn’t it?
Incidentally, Mile was the only one who was in the dark as far as their destination—Reina had filled in Mavis, who was sitting with her during their journey, and Pauline, when Mile had been off hunting for supper the previous night.
Mile’s memory was good, but it was not good enough to recall a route that she had only seen one time, over a year ago, when she was traveling the other way in quite a great hurry. And after all, the scenery, viewed from the opposite direction, was a completely different beast.
They were very close to the border now.
And so the procession marched on. Mile was riding high, blissfully unaware of what awaited her.
***
“Gee, thank you, girls…”
The merchants and drivers grinned as they stuffed their faces with grilled meats. As always, the Crimson Vow were cooking up a meal of the meat they had hunted during the trip—their treat.
“Wow! Storage magic, huh? I’ve seen mages use it before, but none of them could ever hold as much as you can. Man, must be nice…”
For a merchant, such a talent was quite enviable. That said, being able to store and remove a tent, still fully erected, had to at least be slightly unusual. Just what were the upper limits of this girl’s storage capacity?
“I mean, to be frank with you ladies, I was a little worried, seeing that you were just a group of young girls. But honestly, this is…” Another of the merchants spoke, gazing across the roaring bonfire, the mountain of logs stacked beside it, the healthy-looking workhorses, and the mounds of jackalope meat.
Mavis had gathered the firewood. Knowing that green wood would not burn easily, she chose fallen trees, chopping them up in an instant with her sword.
Reina had wordlessly raised a bonfire in the blink of an eye.
Pauline had restored the horses’ energy with her healing magic.
And Mile had produced the tent and the meat from nowhere.
Naturally, the merchants had hired escorts many times before. They were well aware of the abilities of the average C-rank hunter. Thus, they didn’t even need to see the Crismon Vow on the battlefield to grasp that they were leagues beyond that level.
They had already crossed the border hours ago, well before the sun set.
The border was not the sort of thing that was marked off by walls or barbed-wire fences. There were neither soldiers nor lookouts patrolling it. There was neither the budget nor the numbers to deploy guards all along the length of an extended perimeter that ran largely through uninhabited, undeveloped lands—and such a thing would have been meaningless anyway.
Most major cities were strongholds, with their own walls running around them. However, there was no need to waste such fortifications on towns that were not of strategic importance. The defense of such places fell to the fighting strength of the local soldiers, mercenaries, and hunters.
Truthfully, even on modern day Earth, most national borders were just as open. Of course, there were still plenty that were strictly guarded.
And obviously, the purpose of those more closely observed borders was twofold: both for the sake of turning away anyone who might dare enter and to prevent the flight of any citizens from within…
***
The following afternoon, they passed through a crossroads. They had proceeded a short way past the junction when Mile suddenly sensed a suspicious presence up ahead. She halted the caravan and gathered everyone around.
“There’s a strange formation assembled up ahead of us. There are two horses stopped on the road, with eight people beside them. There appear to be six others surrounding the group.”
“Hm? That sounds like…” Reina began.
Mile nodded.
“Yes, exactly…”
“Some bandits and a wagon they’re attacking, most likely!”
“If there’s one wagon and eight people, I don’t think they’re carrying goods. It’s probably a passenger carriage…”
Mavis and Pauline were of the same mind.
“It doesn’t look as though there are any other ambushers lying in wait… Mind if we go look?” Mile asked the merchants.
While under employ as a guard, it was against code for a hunter to leave a client waiting alone without their permission. After all, they were being paid by these merchants—not the riders of the carriage that was apparently under attack.
Furthermore, there were six attackers ahead, and they were only four young girls, two of whom did not even appear to be of age.
Should the tables turn on the girls, there was the possibility that the attackers would discover the existence of their band of travelers as well and that the merchants themselves could end up hurt. There was no way that wagons as laden with goods as theirs could possibly flee from a group of bandits.
Only a fool would risk waiting around for who knew how long, braving any danger that was to come—and these merchants were not to be taken for fools.
Their reply was immediate: “Go right ahead, please!”
Hearing this, Pauline appeared somewhat shaken, while the other three shared toothy grins. For Pauline, who was raised as a merchant, this was a wholly unexpected reply, but then suddenly, she grinned as well, as though quite pleased with their response.
“The reward for taking bandits is three gold a head. If we can bring them in alive to be sold off as slaves, that gets us a cut of at least seven gold. That’s ten coins altogether. And, there’s six of them, so… Gwehehe. Gwehehehehehe…”
Her smile was a sinister one.
The merchants grimaced, perhaps worried as to whether all of the Crimson Vow would make it back safely—or perhaps merely due to Pauline’s terrifying laugh. Still, the merchants had enough faith in their abilities to allow them to do battle, and Pauline sounded utterly certain that they would be bringing each and every one of those bandits back alive.
***
“Give it up already! Get outta there!”
The man who appeared to be the head of the bandit troop surrounding the carriage shouted his threat for the umpteenth time.
Because of the way the carriage was surrounded, even if they were to try and urge the horses on to make their escape, they would be cut down before they could even begin picking up speed. Either the reigns, the driver’s arms, or his head would be quickly severed.
Customarily, in order to avoid having an extermination force sent after them, most bandits assaulting a passenger carriage would avoid harming the driver, the horses, or the carriage itself, at least as much as possible. However, if the victims tried to run or resist, then all bets were off. Therefore, most drivers would not attempt to oppose the brigands, neither resisting nor making any move to escape.
No one could criticize them for this. Just as anyone would, the drivers valued their own lives over the lives of others.
As long as the passengers kept quiet and obeyed, it was unlikely that they would be killed, anyway. It was only their belongings that would be stolen—though trying to run or having their carriage overturned might see them lose their lives, too.
There is a chance that the thieves might try to kidnap the women , the driver thought to himself. Obviously, this would be an unfortunate turn of events. Though they wouldn’t be killed , they might still be taken to live with the bandits or sold off elsewhere. Still, even that fate was better than death.
Talking himself out of his own feelings of guilt, the driver stayed put in his seat, not saying a word.
However, the passengers were not going to stand for this.
It was only natural that they would not sit idly by while their money, their luggage, and their other valuables were taken, especially when they also knew that having their loved ones stolen away would truly be the end of the world for the families of the women and girls on board.
For their part, the bandits did not dare approach the carriage casually, remaining outside and merely ordering the passengers to disembark instead. After all, there was a possibility that a guard, soldier, or hunter might be riding among the passengers—not to mention any man willing to put his life on the line to protect his wife.
Yet in truth, there was scarcely anyone among the seven passengers inside who could hope to truly stand up to the bandits. There was a single young hunter. There was one middle-aged merchant who carried a short sword for self-defense. There was a girl of around ten years old. The rest of the group consisted of a young married couple with zero combat ability to speak of and a little girl of five or six who appeared to be their daughter, as well as one slight old man wielding a cane.
“Sorry, guys. There’s no way that I can take on six bandits on my own. We shouldn’t try to resist them,” said the young hunter.
No one could blame him. He had not been hired on as a guard, and there was no way he would be coerced into leaping to his death in a battle he had no chance of winning.
The most pressing matter for the passengers was concern over whether or not the bandits might try to take the youngest girl away.
As for her mother and the ten-year-old girl? They would definitely be stolen—there was no question about that.
Just then, however, the ten-year-old said something quite unexpected.
“With my magic, I should be able to take out at least one of them, maybe two. That way, the others will be occupied with carrying their injured allies, and they might just give up on dragging you all along with them. The likelihood of it working isn’t incredibly high, but it’s better than doing nothing.”
“Wha…?”
The married couple stared at the girl, eyes wide with shock.
“B-but if you do that, then you’ll be…”
“Considering what would happen to me if they took me away, I would rather die now,” she said with a shrug.
She spoke coolly, but her hands were trembling. She was still a little girl, after all.
“If that’s where we’re goin’, then take me along with ya.”
Everyone stared in surprise as the elder cut in.
“What? I’ve already lived a full life. I don’t have much longer in this world, but if I can squeeze in one heroic act before I leave it, that’ll get me in good in the next! Bahaha!”
“Then I’ll join, too,” added the middle-aged merchant with the short sword.
“A-and of course we’ll fight, too!” said the young married couple, though no one truly expected much of either of them.
“What the hell are you all talking about?! If you keep this up, then I’m gonna have to fight, too!” the young hunter shouted, sounding peeved, even as a grin spread across his face.
“Now then,” he continued, “it’s just like the little miss said. We don’t have to kill all of them. As long as we can wound two or three of them bad enough that they won’t be able to take the ladies away, then we’ll have won. Even if they kill us after that, nothing can take that victory away from us.
“Once the battle’s decided, it’s unlikely that they’ll try and go after the survivors on this side. If word started getting out that these guys were bandits who massacred everyone they attacked, that’d be a big problem for them. We’re the ones who chose to fight, so I’m sure they’d like to keep their reputation for not pointlessly killing those who surrender.
“Of course, if we manage to take them all down, and there’s some of us still standing, with enough juice left…”
The young hunter gave a wicked sneer.
“Then we snatch up any bandits who are still alive and drag ’em back to the capital as a trophy! And we can all split the reward!”
And so, the tactical planning began.
***
“Enough already! Get outta there! If you all don’t come down from that carriage…”
As the passengers continued to ignore his threats, the leader of the bandits grew angrier and angrier, until finally, he signaled to his subordinates with his chin.
At this, one of the underlings hoisted himself up onto the back of the carriage, pulling up the canvas in an attempt to crawl in and drag the passengers out by force. Just then…
“Gyah!!”
He tumbled to the ground.
“Gyaaaahh!! My eyes! My eyeeeees!!”
He struck the ground hard enough that his screams were not surprising, but then the man began to roll around on the ground, his hands pressed to both eyes.
“What?! What the hell did you all do?!”
There was no real point in the leader of the bandits asking this question. The answer was plain to see.
The man had been stabbed in both eyes. That was all there was to it.
He had thrust his head beneath the canopy, with both of his hands occupied. Even an infant could prevail if such a perfect target was offered up to them utterly undefended.
With this, the bandits’ fighting forces had already been reduced by one, without even knowing how much combat potential still lay within the passengers’ ranks. Furthermore, when it came time to retreat, they would be at least two men down, with one of their uninjured members having to help the now-blinded man along to safety.
“Damn it!”
The chief raged, but now, short of climbing the stairs into the cabin, which were already barricaded, there was no easy way into the carriage. They could not pull themselves up with their arms to try to squeeze in, because if they did, they would inevitably be attacked from within by the passengers’ blades.
They could torch the carriage, but doing so would mean the loss of both the valuables and the women, making this whole venture a net loss. That said, there was no way they could just pack up and go home now, either.
“Cut the canvas! If anyone inside gets hurt then it’s their own damn fault!” the chief ordered, his underlings brandishing their swords and spears as they closed in on their target.
Just then…
“Don’t take another step!”
Suddenly, four women in hunters’ garb appeared from around the bend behind them.
The bandits froze immediately in shock, but when they took a closer look, all they saw before them were two children between twelve and thirteen and a pair of young ladies around sixteen or seventeen.
A truly veteran C-rank hunter would be able to take on two bandits apiece, but with such youthful opponents, there was no way that the five bandits could possibly lose. Plus, the four girls together would fetch quite the pretty penny.
Clearly these were four idiots who thought far too much of their own strength. The chief sneered, yelling, “Forget the wagon for now! We’re takin’ these ones in alive! Try not to hurt ’em too much, though—the price’ll go down!”
***
“Is that their angle, then?” asked Mile.
“Guess we better try to take them in without killing them either. Doesn’t matter if we hurt ’em though. We can always fix them up with healing magic later, so we don’t have to worry about it diminishing their price as labor slaves,” Reina replied, with a snort.
“We don’t need all four of us to take down these guys though. Who’s gonna do it?” Mile asked.
Reina thought.
“Hm, the one who’s the best at getting it done without hurting them would be… Pauline, you’re up.”
Pauline nodded.
Mile took a running stance, steeling herself in the event that the bandits should try to take the passengers hostage. Well, even if they did do such a thing, they could deal with it.
Without uttering a sound, Pauline began incanting a spell in her head.
The bandits, assuming there was no way that such a little lady could cast an attack spell silently, figured they would be fine if they simply attacked her the moment she began speaking. Plus, even if she could attack with magic, it was unlikely to be anything more than some sad little fireball, without much power or speed. Since they were far enough away, they could easily fend off something like that.
The two little ones were nothing to speak of. The majority of the bandits’ attention was focused on Mavis. But, then…
“…Guh?”
“Ngah!!”
“Geheeeeee!!!”
The five bandits suddenly clutched their skulls and fainted in agony.
A violent, indescribable pain, like a slow burn, spread throughout their eyes, noses, mouths, and throats. And it wasn’t just in these sensitive parts but also in the exposed skin on their faces, necks, arms, and legs.
It continued to spread beneath their clothing, all the way to a certain place on their backsides, with a horrible, slow burning…
“Agh, agh, aghhhhhh!!!”
“Gyaheeeeee! Sh-she’s a devil! A deviiiiiiiil!”
The five men writhed on the ground. The sixth, who still had his hands clutched over his eyes, was outside of the effective range of her spell, but as he was already incapacitated, she left him be.
“Magic in the air, dissipate and send your powers away!”
Pauline dissolved the spicy components from the air, but what had already entered the men’s bodies and stuck to their skin remained.
“Passengers,” Mile shouted, “we are the hunting party the Crimson Vow! We have defeated these bandits, so please, be at ease!”
Surprised, perhaps, to hear the voice of a young girl, one of the passengers timidly peeked out from behind the canvas.
“Wh-what?! Goodness, it’s true! Everyone, look! Those little girl hunters just wiped out all the bandits!”
The man, who, judging from his appearance, was a merchant, shouted to the others. The top of the carriage opened up wide, and all the other passengers poked their heads out as well.
“Whoa! Whoooa!!”
“W-we’re saved! We’re saved, aren’t we, darling?”
One after another they cried out in joy and relief.
Pauline, meanwhile, muttered to herself, “Somehow, I don’t think we’re going to be able to run up too high a charge for coming to their aid…”
Mile and Mavis, who possessed the most brute strength, were left to the task of binding the bandits, who were still writhing and thrashing in pain. Naturally, they used supplies that were stored in Mile’s storage space.
For once, they used completely normal rope for this task. Anything more, AKA . “technology that was far beyond that of this world,” would be overkill in this situation.
Pauline went back to fetch their employers, while Reina was put in charge of negotiating with the carriage party.
It hadn’t been their intention to profit off of a situation like this, but they also did not work for free. Not insisting on payment would set a troublesome precedent for other hunters so, even if they only charged them a pittance, it was at least necessary to establish the fact that they had “received compensation” for their labor.
The young hunter was the first to disembark the carriage, walking all around the vehicle and inspecting it as though to ensure that its condition was still sound. Then, one by one, the other passengers stepped out. There was the middle-aged man who looked to be a merchant; a refined elderly gentleman with trim white hair and whiskers; a young married couple holding a small girl’s hands; and another girl of around ten years old, who appeared to be traveling solo.
“Wha…?”
As she saw the last passenger, Reina raised her voice in surprise. Hearing this, Mile paused what she was doing and looked toward the carriage. She let out a cry of shock as well.
“Whaaaaaat?!”
The girl, who was returning from her home in the provinces after a long vacation, was not wearing her own clothing, but rather, the uniform of her academy. It was not, incidentally, that she could not afford other clothing. Back in her home town, the fact that she had been able to enroll in an academy in the capital lent her quite a bit of status, so her parents had insisted, again and again, that she wear her school uniform as she traveled.
Reina immediately recognized that uniform. And so did Mile.
Very timidly, Mile asked, “U-uhm. Wh-wh-wh-what was the name of this kingdom again…?”
“Huh? U-um, this is the Kingdom of Brandel… Oh, I see! You’ve just come over from Tils! You’re already well past the border!”
“G…”
“Gh?”
“Gyaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
***
“…And so, I enrolled in Eckland Academy!”
The young girl, Phelis, who claimed to be a first year at Eckland Academy, happily regaled them with her tale.
After the incident with the bandits, the marching order of the caravan had been rearranged slightly. At the head was the carriage with the passengers, as well as the captured bandits inside. Pauline had laid her healing touch on the man whose eyes had been gouged, restoring his sight so that it was good as new—though it was unclear whether this was out of kindness or merely consideration for the price he would fetch when he was turned over to be sold as a laborer.
Behind the carriage was the merchants’ former first wagon, where all of the Crimson Vow rode. On the off-chance that anything should happen to the carriage, they would be able to respond immediately.
Since this new arrangement had left the carriage jam-packed, and because the bandits were likely to be a bad influence on growing young ladies, the couple and their daughter decided to take to the rear wagon, while Phelis, the little student, rode along with the Crimson Vow.
So that there would be enough space in the cart, Mile packed some of the merchants’ goods away in her storage space. Observing this, the merchants all stared at her, speechless, causing Mile to feel more than a twinge of guilt.
Reina had negotiated their reward with the passengers, but as far as “negotiations” went, it had been a lax one. The amount that she proposed to them was (to Pauline’s great displeasure) a low one, so the passengers offered no complaints. On the contrary, they happily assented. Additionally, they wished to combine their processions until they reached their intended destination. Provided that the passengers did not mind traveling in tandem with the carts, which moved far slower than their carriage, the merchants agreed to the arrangement, and so, the contract was settled.
Just a short while ago, the passengers had been on the verge of losing their possessions and their lives. If they could have a squad of unbeatable guards traveling at their side, any fee was more than justified from their perspective.
Since this would be treated as an emergency job request, contracted on-site, it would be processed after the fact. However, pending an inquiry, it would in fact be treated as an official guild assignment. So the Crimson Vow would have to pay a processing fee, but it would also net them promotion points—though because the amount Reina had asked for was low, the guild’s cut would be low as well, which might engender some bitterness…
Because these passengers did not appear especially affluent, and because they were already traveling in the same direction, the amount they had requested was a low one. Though everyone knew it was common practice to take advantage of such emergency situations to extort the hapless clients for all they were worth, the Crimson Vow’s workload was not increasing by much—and, outside of Pauline, the girls were not the kind to take advantage of someone in a moment of weakness.
And so, the Crimson Vow sat listening to young Phelis’s stories. However…
Mile could not hold back any longer. Finally, she asked the question that had been weighing on her mind since she had seen Phelis in her uniform.
“Um, so, are there any cats living around your school?”
Phelis looked a bit startled, but then answered with a big smile, “There is! Is that a common thing, then? We have one at Eckland, the honorable Lord Cricket Eater!”
“Cr-Cricket Eater???”
“Lord?”
The four all spoke up at once: Reina, Mavis, and Pauline surprised at the outlandish name and Mile at the stately title and address.
“Yes, the messenger of the Goddess, the honorable Lord Cricket Eater. He is the beloved companion of the Wonder Trio, the divine sisterhood who received the Goddess’s blessings, and he lives in their care. Now and then, he blesses the rooms of we first and second years with his presence as well, doing away with the bugs and mice on our behalf.”
“………”
Sensing how still Mile had suddenly grown, Reina looked her way, but Mile was already catatonic.
***
When it came time to make camp for the night, Phelis rejoined the other passengers.
“…Mile. This is the place, isn’t it?” asked Reina, some time after dinner.
“…It is,” Mile replied.
“You do realize that we’re heading toward the capital, don’t you? Between the merchants and the carriage, we’re contracted twice over.”
“……”
Mile was lost for words.
You knew this the moment you looked at those passengers and saw the uniform, didn’t you, Reina? Mavis wanted to ask, but even she knew that this was not the time or the place.
“So, what do you want to do?”
“…ends…”
“Hm? What was that?”
“I w-want to see my frieeeends!!” Mile wailed. “I left without even getting a chance to say goodbyyyye!!!”
Reina patted Mile on the head as tears streamed down her face.
“It’s okay, Mile. It’s okay to cry sometimes—and to think of yourself and what you want. You’re still only thirteen years old, after all. We may have been your classmates at school, but we’re all much older than you, so you can think of us as your big sisters.”
“W-weeeeeeeeh….!!”
Watching Mile wail and cling to Reina, Pauline smiled gently, while Mavis fidgeted, her hands trembling.
By the looks of it, she wanted to be in Reina’s place.
However, Reina appeared to be utterly unaware of this, or at the very least, feigned ignorance, paying Mavis no mind. Mavis’s shoulders slumped in disappointment.
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