I couldn’t simply stand by and watch. But to save these women, I’d have to take on six bandits, and I’d already seen them kill without hesitation. It wasn’t like I could just walk on up and tell them to cut it out.
Assuming I had the same strength and abilities that I did in-game, I was sure I could take them on in a straight fight. But I had no idea if I was stronger—or possibly even weaker—than I was in the game. If I was weaker, well, it could all be over for me the moment I entered the fray. Either way, if I wanted to ensure my victory, I would need to make a plan and get the drop on them.
First off, I needed to take out as many bandits as possible in my initial strike. I hoped the odds were in my favor. After all, attacks made right after Dimensional Step were a nearly instant deathblow; in the game, at least.
The most basic step in any good strategy was to take out the most powerful enemy first. My target was the hulking man currently pulling down his pants. His backside was facing toward me, and he was right in my line of sight.
I pulled my sword out of its sheath. Though I may not have been able to use it with finesse, the mythical-class Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg shouldn’t have a problem performing here, especially considering the power it had shown earlier when it cleaved through that tree with a single slash.
No, I couldn’t worry about things like finesse right now. Those luxuries were reserved for seasoned soldiers.
I took a deep breath and squeezed the sword tightly in my hand. These people were murderers. There was no need to hesitate. Still not totally believing the situation I’d found myself in, I tilted my head to the side, and I focused my gaze on the hulking man.
In the next instant, I used Dimensional Step transportation spell to teleport myself behind the group of bandits and swung my sword at their unprotected backs.
The surprise strike was a massive success. Overpowering, even.
Before they were even aware of my presence, four of the bandits had already been taken out of the fight. As the remaining two attempted to run, I finished them off effortlessly. I hadn’t originally intended to kill the escaping bandits, but as I got swept up in the flow of battle and saw the men turn and run, my body moved before my mind had a chance to catch up.
You often hear that showing your back to a bear will entice it to attack you, but this experience made me wonder whether the phenomenon was limited to bears. Until today, I couldn’t have imagined actually striking a man down with the Wyvern Slash. Still, I didn’t feel any strong emotional or physical reaction to having taken human lives. It was, after all, for the sake of saving the women.
Was this due to my new form?
I felt as if I was on the brink of catching a glimpse of some deep and bottomless emotion lurking within me, only for it to be replaced by an emotion equally lacking in significance. I couldn’t tell what the hidden emotion was, but it was hardly the time for introspection. Now that I’d dealt with the bandits, I needed to help the women. Hopefully, they could show me to the nearest town.
I turned my gaze to them. They both looked as if they’d seen better days, so I decided to say something to put them at ease.
“Are you all right?” I spoke just as I would have in the game.
That’s right. Just as if this were all a game.
The way I spoke when I played this character came out naturally, like a long-formed habit. Whenever I typed out in-game conversations in front of my PC, I’d mutter the words aloud to myself. Maybe that’s why it didn’t feel strange when I spoke the words here.
According to my character’s backstory, he was an all-around nice guy in his early forties who’d been certified as a Sacred Knight before a curse was placed on him, turning him into a skeleton. He was now on a journey to wander the land in search of a cure.
The two women—actually, the one with the chestnut-colored hair was still a young girl—gazed ahead blankly, drenched in the bright red blood of the bandits.
They must have been through a lot.
The girl in chambermaid clothing looked to be in her twenties and wore her curly, red hair short, cut off at the nape of her neck. Her strong, determined, green eyes stared back at me. She held an arm across her chest, where her clothing had been. She’d somehow avoided much of the blood spatter.
“You should go get washed up at the river. I’ll stay behind and take care of any remaining bandits.”
“Th-thank you… Come with me, madam.”
The chambermaid responded to my suggestion with a slight bow before running over to the carriage and pulling out a large cloth from their bags. She walked over to the girl—the one she referred to as “madam”—and wrapped the girl in the cloth, then escorted the little madam toward the river.
After seeing them off, I surveyed my surroundings.
In all, there were nine dead bandits and six more bodies that appeared to have been guards. It was a gruesome scene.
In addition to the four horses hitched to the carriage, there were another twelve in the vicinity. Judging by the gear the horses carried, six of them had belonged to the bandits. Horses were probably a luxury in this place, akin to a passenger car in my own world.
Since I was trapped in a world I knew nothing about, I figured money was the first thing I needed to take care of. No matter what time period—or world—we were talking about, money was a universal necessity to life. Whether I planned on heading into town with the women or just wandering the lands as a vagabond, I’d need to get some other resources together as well.
First, I decided to take the bandits’ horses and sell them in town. That would hopefully give me a fair amount of coin. I could probably take the weapons from the dead bandits and sell those too. I’d guess that blades in particular were pretty expensive in this time period, seeing as they were big chunks of metal.