[651] The Way They Live (4)
The woman in ragged clothes looked genuinely awful in the winter cold.
"Are you all right? Come inside for now."
When Shirone offered, she nodded submissively and stepped into the carriage.
"Hmph, young people these days…"
Ostin muttered as he snuffed out the small flame clinging to his hand.
Despite a few scars, the woman had a sensual figure and a face anyone could call beautiful.
She was an obvious target for bandits — and the real problem was that she could easily deceive hotheaded youths like Shirone and Rian.
"Thank you. Really… I was so scared."
Once Shirone got into the carriage, the woman hurried over, grabbed his arm, and began to cry.
"You'd be shocked if you knew what happened to me. The bandits—"
Shirone patted her back.
"You don't have to tell me. What I want to ask is—"
"Wait, Shirone."
Rian called from outside.
"I'd prefer this woman not sit next to you. Unless you object."
Helping someone in danger was one thing, but when it came to protecting Shirone, Rian wouldn't concede an inch.
Sensing Ostin and Rian's cold attitude, the woman clung even tighter to Shirone's arm — he'd been the only one kind to her.
"Sit opposite us. The carriage is wide enough."
"Oh, yes."
At Ostin's words, Shirone said the same, and the woman moved to the wall and sat across from them.
"Ouch!"
She discreetly loosened some clothing and rubbed at sore skin, but Shirone and Rian didn't even bother to feign surprise.
'Are these really men? Usually when a woman comes on this strong, guys put up a show and then cave in,' she thought. If they'd been that gullible, she wouldn't even have been allowed on the carriage. Better to say they were extremely wary.
'Well, she did say she's a fairly strong mage despite her age.'
Only after the carriage set off, with the coachman's-side window left open, did Shirone ask how it had happened.
The woman, who introduced herself as Mari, said she had been captured by bandits while traveling from the capital with friends.
"How many of them?"
"I don't know for sure. But it's over a hundred."
Ostin jerked his head in disbelief.
"What? Over a hundred?"
If the number reached the hundreds, it meant a very powerful bandit organization. What worried them most was the likelihood the group included mages.
"Where are they now?"
Mari pointed to the side of the carriage.
"If they don't know we escaped yet, they'll be beyond the mountain. They came straight down the pass."
'We'll encounter them on the way.'
Avoiding them would be best, but Ostin, the seasoned veteran, remained cautious.
"What will you do? If we're going to avoid the bandits, we need to decide now."
Shirone asked Mari.
"Is it possible they don't know we got away?"
"There were a lot of people captured besides me. And my friends…"
Mari broke down in tears, and Shirone paused to consider.
Avoid battle, or rescue the hostages?
"Let's go. We have to rescue the people taken."
"Huh?"
Mari's eyes widened.
No matter how strong a mage she claimed to be, it made no sense for just three people to charge a force of over a hundred.
"We'll rescue your friends, Mari. Don't worry. We're not taking you with us."
"No, it's about rescuing my friends…"
Mari's initial surprise had another cause, but she hurriedly shifted into a conscientious posture.
"Don't worry. I'll help get your friends back."
Shirone thought those who needed worry weren't some unseen friends but themselves, yet his face showed no sign of tension.
'Can he really be that strong? He's younger than me…'
Mari stared at Shirone's profile as he looked out the window.
* * *
On the ridge of the Jijeo Mountains, eighty-nine members of the notorious Red Blade bandits had set up camp after coming from the capital.
"Why haven't they arrived yet? Did you mess this up?"
"We've got a report!"
A messenger rode up.
"The carriage with Arian Shirone is approaching the alliance rendezvous!"
Coldpark, captain of the Red Blade, scowled.
"Tch, worthless."
As the mastermind who'd even used his favored, Mari, as bait, he'd missed the chance to claim the whole fortune.
"Turn back. We'll join the alliance."
Just their mounts hinted at the Red Blade's scale. As they rode the mountain path, Banker, a mage and strategist, steered his horse to Coldpark's side.
"If that carriage is heading for the alliance, they intend to fight. It seems, as rumored, they have a powerful mage."
Whether Shirone chose battle or evasion, the bandits controlled both routes.
That was possible because many bandit groups had joined the operation, not just the Red Blade. They'd briefly hoped to monopolize the spoils if Mari scared Shirone's party into diverting here, but Shirone's decision to fight ruined that plan.
Alphasa, the deputy captain, approached Coldpark's left flank.
With a huge double-headed axe strapped to his back, he rode using only his thigh strength, arms crossed.
"I heard he's an Ivory Tower candidate. Even with an alliance, isn't this dangerous?"
Even among the Tormia Kingdom's three major bandit groups—composed of Skima's experts—this could mean total annihilation.
"Our business has been good even without taking on something this big. My men aren't convinced otherwise," Coldpark said.
The Red Blade's pride rivaled that of an army. If Alphasa himself was doubtful, there was no point for the others to argue.
"Banker, tell us why we must fight."
Banker unfurled a scroll compiling information from various guilds.
"Arian Shirone. Confirmed graduate of the Alpheas School of Magic. Suspected to possess an object called Armand. Rumored to have received it from the Kazra royal family. Market value suspected to be at least six billion gold."
"Six billion gold…"
Alphasa and the others' eyes changed at once.
"See? That's money we couldn't earn even if we were reborn as thieves. Rumor says the Ivory Tower sells to royalty, but organization aside—if we can't even cut off the finger of some twenty-year-old, what kind of thieves are we?"
Putting the pieces together, they suspected Shirone's Armand might be inside something called Kubrick.
Coldpark bellowed.
"You who live for money, women, and pleasure! Since when did we sneak around to save our hides? If you don't want to make a killing, get out now!"
Thud-thud-thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Among the ground-shaking hoofbeats there was no sound of anyone breaking ranks.
From the ridge top where he'd halted his mount, Coldpark grinned down at the forces arrayed on the slopes below.
"This will be the greatest battle in Red Blade history."
Jijeo's Ear, Beast Lynx, Spear and Death, Blood Vial.
Four renowned bandit groups near Vashka had allied; two hundred thirty-seven men were camped below the ridge.
"Come on, boys! Six billion gold awaits!"
* * *
As the carriage neared the rendezvous point, Mari closed her tired eyes.
'This is where we have to finish it…'
She'd loosened her clothes as a honey trap, but it was also meant to make the guards drop their guard. No sane man would volunteer to search the body of a nearly naked woman.
If she released sleep gas, arrows fitted with magical shells would pulverize the carriage. That was why Coldpark might think he could monopolize the object.
'How about this, nothing like it before, right?'
Having risen on the merits of her looks, she knew exactly how ordinary dullards would react, even with her eyes closed.
'Heh. As expected…'
Startled slightly by the carriage's vibration, she cracked her eyelids and saw Shirone, chin on his hand, looking out the window exactly as before.
'Typical rookie type. His consideration is nice, but if he misses this chance he'll regret it for the rest of his life, won't he?'
Mari stifled a laugh, pretended to fall asleep again, and turned her body to the other side.
'Time to start…'
Then, seeing Rian watching her without changing expression, her heart dropped.
'What's this? A coincidence?'
Needing to confirm, she opened her eyes properly, but Rian's gaze didn't move.
'He's watching. Damn it.'
Years of training had made her movements reliable, but facing Shirone's confident eyes, her breath faltered.
'Damn! I missed a beat. He saw through it.'
She squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly twisted, and leapt out through the coachman's window.
'Four seconds! Three seconds!'
Even as Mari hurled herself from the carriage, Ostin frowned but looked to the sky rather than scold.
Glider-borne archers were descending from beyond the mountain ridge.
"Ambush! Take cover—!"
By the time he turned and shouted, the passenger compartment was already empty.
'Two seconds. One second.'
As dozens of arrows rained down, Shirone kicked off the carriage and leapt, grabbing hold of Ostin's back.
At the same instant, Rian, exiting through the opposite door, sliced Mari's throat with breathtaking speed.
KABOOM!
The carriage struck by the bombardment of magical shells exploded.
"Ugh!"
The blast flung Shirone and Ostin toward the mountainside; the thud of hooves rolled into their ears.
Dozens of cavalry thundered along the mountain path.
"Begin the attack! Kill them all!"
Ostin, grumbling as he readied a fireball, spat, "Tch! So it was a trap, after all?"
"At least no one was taken," Shirone said.
"Is that something to be grateful for…!"
No sooner had Ostin complained than dozens from the Spear and Death bandits leapt down the slope with spears leveled.
"Six billion is ours!"
"Watch out!"
As Ostin thrust out a hand, hundreds of eyes flared across Shirone's robe.
Akamai — Full Bloom.
"Ugh! What is—!"
The spearmen, their will to act stripped away by Antithesis, collapsed like puppets with cut strings, tumbling to the ground.