Return of the Former Hero - Chapter 135

Chapter 135

Chapter 135 . Former Hero・Enters the Territory

Tatatatata………
Three people ran through Aria city’s street under the the guise of dusk .

The city was constructed along the mountain . We are currently at the foot of the mountain, which was on a slightly higher elevation than the rest of the city .

Although there weren’t that many bandits around here, I actually preferred to be able to march undisturbed like this .
But once inside, I had a feeling that we would be presented with lots of bandits .

[……]

A little further away from the city hall, I stopped, and motioned Rithina and Mina to stop as well .

[What’s wrong?]

Rithina whispered in question .

I immediately raised a silent field, so that our voice won’t leak out no matter how loud we speak… . then I said in normal volume .

[There are two guards at the gate . ]

I pointed toward the gate by moving my chin .
Rithina and Mina also confirmed the situation and waited by my side .

I planned to observe the bandits’ habits first .
Being bandits, they’re quite laid back over there .
Is it really just because of that or there is another reason?

Perhaps they weren’t trained enough .

The two guards leaned against the wall and sat down; watching them was so dull that it’s like we’re wasting time here .

[What should we do?]

[Well, just leave this to me . ]

I smiled at Rithina’s question .

Nihil . Am I right? No, that’s not it .

Anyways, let’s check the wristwatch first .

It’s been 15 minutes since we started .
Have the knights moved according to plan?

This would be the best timing .

Conjuring imaging magic, I tried to probe the city hall’s interior using Search .

… . . there are 3 more men behind the gate at the front door .

They were also lazing around as expected from bandit guards .

If by chance something went wrong, then I would only feel sorry for myself .
Well, let’s just smoke the bandits out of their hideout .
There should be employees inside being forced to continue working . Although they aren’t bandits, I might’ve to take them down too, I thought .

As long as they don’t die outright, I can still heal them with healing magic .

Anyways, where are they gathering… . nn?

While I was using magic to explore the interior, I found something worrying .
The city hall’s top floor is strangely similar to how the boss mostly dwells at the highest part of a dungeon in many games .

No, I mean, it’s strange, since the flow of magic is disturbed when I tried to probe there, thus I had no idea what is inside .


Although I didn’t notice it at first, I realized when I probed the area right under it .

How?

Well, this was originally where the city lord stayed so there might be some mechanism that impeded magic to ascertain their safety .
Although it’s a bit worrying, I’ll just have to go there directly and see .

Well, let’s begin right away .

I opened up with fireball magic .

The no-chant fireball magic I released went in between the two guards, straight toward the entrance of the building inside .

While the two guards were distracted by the fireball that went past in between them, it flew straight to the front door . .

Yosh, it’s on now .

The fireball landed, causing a flashy and loud explosion at the city hall’s front door .

In combination, I released another magic .

Earth Restraint – Bind

Ivy grew out from under them and restrained them . They were too distracted to break out .
I made sure to block their mouth as well .

[Uwa, amazing . ]

Rithina leaked out a compliment as she witnessed my actions .

Right?

No, no, no, that’s not important right now .

[Rithina, you handle that guy over there . ]

[Y-yes!]

Rithina replied to my order .

Rithina and I rushed to the restrained guards . The first one met my fist, while the second had the back of his neck struck by Rithina .

Hoo, impressive .
Rithina’s action looked smart .
Really cool, ain’t she?

The two guards fell unconscious without too much noise . We then entered the city hall through the entrance after being joined by Mina .

The entrance door had already been blown away by the fireball and two of the bandits standing guard around it were sprawling on the ground among the rubbles .

[H-halt!]

The remaining bandit who by chance managed to survive the blast tried to apprehend us . But well, it doesn’t really work that way .
But he was met with the swing of my sword before he could do anything .

Normally, his body would’ve split in two, but I suppressed myself with magic just now .

[Guha!]

The armor the bandit wore shattered as he was blown away by the attack . He crashed into the wall behind him and crumpled down on the floor .

Umu .

While we are still at it, it was such a precise power adjustment there .

[What’s going on there!]

Beyond the entrance, on the city hall’s main hall, the bandits who heard the explosion promptly gathered while shouting .

Just like my last attack, I suppressed myself with magic and started hacking my way in .
Shockwave was released from my sword strikes, knocking more bandits in its path and laying waste to the surroundings .

The city hall might suffer some damage, but I surmise it’ll still remain standing .
Actually, I don’t really care even if it collapse completely .

After repeating my attack for several times more, the bandits finally gave way .
With the situation under our control, I began to wonder if they really set any real countermeasure .

Let’s do a headcount first, erm… . . 1, 2, 3, 4… . . 19 . 19, huh?

At present, there were 19 bandits lying on the floor of the city hall’s main hall .
That’s a fairly good catch there .

[Rithina, Mina . Confiscate their weapons . Some of them might still be conscious so be careful . ]

[Yes . ]

Receiving my instruction, the two started working .
Meanwhile, I conjured up another magic .

Earth Restraint – Bind .

I manipulated the soil in the garden and let it in through the blasted entrance .
Then restrained the fallen bandits so that they couldn’t move .

That’s it .

Looking outside, I saw lights began to lit up across the previously sleeping city .
The knights seemed to have entered the city safely .

[Alright, let’s proceed . ]

We can go to the first floor via the stairs in the main hall, but we are here to subjugate the bandits .
When I used search once more, I detected that there are still more people on the ground floor .
Let’s clean up the ground floor first .

We went straight to the people I’ve detected one by one .
After some checking, turns out they were servants working in the town hall, so I instructed them to evacuate .

According to the info I could glean out from them, they would only enter the first floor if specifically ordered to .

This was fortunate .

In other words, the people staying on the first floor and beyond could be regarded as bandits .
However, some of the servants were called in tonight . They went up to the first floor and hadn’t returned yet as of now .

The reason why… . let’s not bother with it for now .

Once the evacuation was over, we went upstairs .
The stairs continues on to the second floor, but let’s first clean up the first floor .

No, before that, there people lying in ambush from the second floor . There were five of them .

Fuu .

Their position couldn’t normally be seen, but they couldn’t escape my Search .

There .

I launched a fireball from the first floor to the top of the stairs, where the ambushers were hiding .

The magic exploded, causing noise and a bit of smoke .
I adjusted the magic so that the fire won’t spread that much, but there is a limit to that .

Better clean up the first floor quickly before the fire spreads .
But after seeing the wall, I knew immediately that it won’t burn easily as it’s made of stone .

Anyways, we must proceed quickly .

The first floor was a long passageway with rooms on each side .

As I walked through the aisle, magic came flying from behind .
So there are mages among the bandits after all .

It’ll be slightly difficult to handle them in this long passageway .
However, if I try to dodge, the 2 girls behind me will be in danger .

So I had no choice but to deflect the magic with my sword .

The destruction force of the magic is ultimately based on the caster’s magic power .

This sword that Kagura-san had forged contained large amount of my magic power .

Since it’s a sword that contains the enormous magic of a former hero, the bandit’s magic was nothing against it .

Moreover, he needs to cast his magic so the rate of fire is slow .
They cycled around in launching their magic, but I could still afford to block them all .

While shielding Rithina and Mina, I slowly advanced through the passageway .

While doing so, knowing there are bandits staying in the rooms we passed, I preemptively shot fireball at each rooms .
Although I have to be careful since there might be the summoned maidservants inside, the one holding weapons are unmistakably the bandits .

And then, as I kept going forward while hitting the bandits appearing on my left and right, a bandit appeared with a maidservant as hostage .

[You are thugs sent by the kingdom, eh!?I warn you, if you don’t want this girl to die then throw your weapon away . ]

That bandit shouted in a loud voice .

Really now, can he see that I’ve been using magic to fight back up until now? Ditching my weapon would be meaningless for me .

Whatever .

Ignoring the bandit’s warning, I used magic .

Air Bullet – Air Shot

A mass of compressed air raced toward the bandit .

[Ora! What the hell!? Aren’t you ally of justice? Shouldn’t you be bothered with this girl’s safety!]

The bandit was scared . Typical . But unfortunately for you, I’m no ally of justice .

Since Air Bullet – Air Shot is made by compressing air, being struck by it would be hurt a lot .
Alternatively, if this bandit is good at sensing magic power, he’ll be able to detect the Air Bullet – Air Shot .

However, that’s not the case . The bandit didn’t notice my Air Bullet – Air Shot .

And then, when he’s about to press his sword to the captive maidservant, it hit the hand that was holding the sword .

[Guoo!?]

Due to the sudden shock, the bandit let go of both his sword and the maid .

[Kuh . ]

But the bandit still reached out to grab the maid .
That’s futile though .

For I had already launched another Air Bullet – Air Shot at him .

The Air Bullet – Air Shot struck him on the face, making him flinch backward .

I closed the distance in the meantime, brushing past the maid, straight to the fallen bandit .
And then, I kicked him in the nuts .

[Gyaaah!?]

Irreversible damage .

Amen .

[T-thank you very much… . !]

The maidservant said in a trembling voice .
Umu . It’s always pleasant to be thanked by a woman .

Then, the maid rushed toward Rithina .

Oi!
It’s me who did the rescuing, you know?

Oh well, I guess in this circumstance, going for the same gender is more reassuring .

Jokes aside, I immediately chased after the maid .
I didn’t see any weapon on her person, nor killing intent .
I supposed I was worried for nothing, but there is always a chance that she’s a disguised bandit .

She could choke Rithine with her bare hands and I’ll be a bit slow in reacting to that .

But my worry was unfounded . She’s really just a regular maid .

Afterward, after several similar hostage situations, while shooting down the mages in the distance, we finally cleaned up the first floor .

[That’s it for the first floor, right?]

It’ll be troublesome to keep the number in check, but I think I had incapacitated at least 50 .
We also rescued 4 maidservants from this floor .

There were 100 bandits in this city and we had at least 50 up until now .
Thinking about it… . There will only be a small amount of them left scattering around the city .

Returning to the main hall, while escorting the rescued maids back, Rithina cried out .

[I knew Haru-kun is amazingly strong, but to think it’s to this extent . ]

Eh? Yes?
Eee .

Apparently, she was really worried at the beginning, but up until now, there was no danger coming even close to both Rithina and Mina who followed behind me .

[Did that make you fall for me all over again?]

Right then, I tried to tease her a bit .

[Ee? … . really now… . . But, perhaps I did . After all, Haruto is a wonderful man . ]

Kyuunn

Rithina fidgeting a little at my teasing .

No please, that’s too motivating .

This is a four storey building .
Just a little bit left to do .