“You’ve got a terrifying look on your face,” Shemel said with a smile from the seat directly in front of me on the airboard Bela was driving.
“I bet I do.”
That was about all I could say in response. I couldn’t keep my cool at all. I’d killed tons of soldiers on the battlefield before. I’d seen all kinds of grisly sights. But what I saw today was entirely different.
There were people cut down from behind while trying to flee.
People who must’ve died trying to protect someone else, arms outstretched, bodies cleaved into from the front.
There was a mother holding her child, both impaled from behind.
I’d killed a lot, but usually it was only in response to those who directed their bloodlust toward me. I fought back at people who came for me, and even then I warned them first, to give them a chance.
But what I saw today was something else entirely. These were innocent, powerless people who were massacred, and I was pissed.
Even if they were raiding the pioneers for supplies, there was no need to kill everyone. If they’d taken out the guards first, the rest should’ve been powerless pioneers. There should have been no reason to massacre them.
But they did anyway. They made sure everyone died.
And that pissed me off.
“You have a difficult expression,” Grande said, looking up at me from where she was resting on my knees.
I’d been complacent.
What I was doing was selfish revenge. It wasn’t as if my own family had been murdered; this was just righteous indignation. I was a selfish man who believed I was on the right side of justice, bringing down my blade of judgment on those I decided were in the wrong.
Maybe those bandits had a justifiable reason for raiding the pioneers.
Maybe they only did what they had to because of what we, what the Liberation Army, the New Kingdom of Merinard had done.
Maybe they’d lost their status, their positions, their friends and family because of us, and this was their revenge.
But in the end, everything we did—everything Sylphy and the others did—was in response to the Holy Kingdom’s invasion twenty years ago. They were getting revenge for what had been done to them. If this incident came from that, then it was just another sick cycle of vengeance.
Was it really right to selfishly seek revenge? The thought crossed my mind, but—
“Revenge sure does feel good,” I said.
“Aye!”
“Feels good bringing down the blade of judgment on bandits when you know you’re in the right,” I continued.
“Aye!”
“Then we’re all good!”
“Seriously…?” Tozume asked, narrowing her gaze at me, but I ignored her.
“Either way, if we leave these guys alone, they could attack another group of pioneers or even a village. Fortunately, we got the strength to stop them, so it’s fine if we step in. No more sweating the details.”
“Agreed. That’s how you gotta be when it comes to dealin’ with bandits. Makes it easier when you think of ’em like monsters with a little bit of intelligence.”
“There’s a great mage who once said that bandits ain’t got no human rights.”
“Talk about a brutal mage… Not that I disagree.”
From what I’d heard, that mage was so brutal they could easily blow away an entire mountain and might’ve even been stronger than Grande. Actually, they definitely were.
Honestly, this world was pretty peaceful just for the fact that they weren’t in it anymore. Though, thinking about it, maybe I was in their place causing all the trouble now.
“Sooo, what’s the plan?”
“First, our harpies are gonna keep an eye on things from the sky, while I use my golem soldiers and Grande to draw them out from the front,” I began. “If they’ve got hostages or prisoners, you girls will slip in from another direction while we distract them, grab the people, and retreat. I’ll equip our harpies with bombing gear, so if the bandits try to chase you, we’ll blow the shit out of them from the air.”
“What if there are too many prisoners to fit on the airboard?”
“Protect them and hold your ground as best you can. Once Grande and the golem soldiers get moving, the bandits won’t be able to split their forces. Judging by what Bela’s scoping, their strike team isn’t huge. It won’t take long to annihilate them.”
After investigating the scene of the crime, Bela concluded that we were dealing with roughly thirty attackers. Even if that was only their strike force and the main force waited elsewhere, we were probably looking at fifty men, maybe a hundred at most. One heavy-armed golem could wipe them out.
“Well, I’d say that’s a plenty good plan for havin’ to come up with it on the spot. We’ve got a route out, and the support to make it happen.”
“I’ll give you guys a large airboard in case there are lots of prisoners.”
I pulled a prototype troop-transport airboard from my inventory. It was called a prototype, but it was fully tested and functional. In other words, it was good to go.
“Master, I’ve located what appears to be a bandit camp.”
After working out the details of the plan with Shemel, one of the harpies scouting ahead called in on the communicator.
“Well done. Get close and keep an eye on them without being seen.”
“Understood.”
All that was left was to get the job done.
✦ ✦ ✦
I saw no point in offering the bandits a chance to surrender, so we decided to attack their camp outright.
“Before we start, one last check,” I declared from a spot out of sight of the bandit camp.
Even a rough plan needs everyone on the same page, especially since we were splitting into two groups.
“Aye.”
According to our harpies overhead, I learned the camp sat on a relatively tall hill near a patch of forest. The forest showed signs of having trees cut down, and the bandits had thrown up a log wall with abatis for extra protection.
“They got gates on the west and east sides.” Egret reported. She was the white-feathered harpy coordinating the rest of the harpies.
I sketched some of the gates on the dirt map with a stick. It was crude but clear enough. They’d built a wall of logs encircling their camp. The west gate opened toward the woods, and it was likely their resource route, used to haul resources they’d gathered from the forest and into the camp. According to Egret, that gate looked seldom used; it was shut tight.
“For transporting resources, then. Think you can break through it?” I asked.
“That would be the easiest and fastest way in.”
“It’s just logs, after all. One swing of my axe and it’s done for!” Bela said, holding up the mithril alloy axe I’d given her.
“I’m fine with breaking down the gate. Our shortest route is definitely through here.”
Egret pointed out a small cabin likely to hold the prisoners. Bandits without armor drifted in and out; it was easy to imagine what was going on inside. Those pieces of shit.
“Me and Tozume will smash the abatis, Bela can break down the wall, and then we’ll go inside to check the cabin, grab the prisoners, and run. Nice and simple,” Shemel said. Her trusty metal club gleamed and Tozume’s mithril hammer was already in hand. The abatis looked built for small monsters like goblins, so one solid blow would destroy it.
“And while you two get the prisoners out, Kousuke and I will crush the enemy head-on,” Grande said. “Quite simple indeed!”
“I’ll cover the retreat!”
I nodded in response to Grande and Egret. It was a laughably straightforward plan, but it fit the situation. We weren’t exactly pros at putting this sort of stuff together, so I felt it was more than adequate.
I’d already fitted the harpies with bombing gear. Once everyone was in position and Egret gave the sign, the mission would begin.
“All right, let’s do this.”
It was time to give these bastards their just deserts for what they’d done.
And even if our actions had set some chain of events in motion, that did not excuse massacring helpless people. We wouldn’t let them walk away.