Simply letting the bandits go is hardly ideal, at least in Lady Douve’s estimation, but our most important priority is keeping her and Lain safe. From that sensible perspective, having them withdraw is best.
“The carriage belongs to Lady Douve, daughter of House Sepaeda! One of the Four Great Houses of the Arcana Kingdom! Recognize you are committing a grave crime simply by surrounding this carriage!”
Blois, who is roaring her warning next to me, has grown in height over the last five years to the point where she’s taller than I am. The difference isn’t that pronounced; she’s a bit taller, but not so much as to completely tower over me. At the very least, she’s probably a little shorter than your average adult male.
“Leave now and you may go unpunished! However, if you choose to continue your insults... I, Blois, bodyguard of Lady Douve Sepaeda and—!”
“I, Sansui Shirokuro, bodyguard of Lady Douve Sepaeda, will be your opponent.”
While Lady Douve has her dressed in men’s clothing, it’s obvious to the most casual observer that Blois is a woman. As for me, while the fabric and design is a bit better, I’m still dressed in a simple kimono with sandals and carrying a wooden sword.
I suppose it’s to be expected, but the pair of us shouting out and trying to intimidate people was only ever going to draw derisive laughter.
“Blois, I’m sure you’ve noticed, but they’re not backing down.”
“Then the time for words is done. House Sepaeda is an accomplished martial House. To draw a blade against its crest... Kill them all!”
Twenty combat-tested and armed adult men, attacking a pair of children. It’s an excessive amount of force to use on a single carriage with such a small escort, but with such an advantage in numbers, choosing to attack is fairly sensible.
“Raaaaaaaaah!”
Two children trying to muster a show of force. Easy enough to break that sort of escort, or so these bandits thought.
They roar as they charge toward us, weapons in one hand and torches in the other. Clad in leather armor and brandishing their implements, they surround us, certain of their victory.
The horses drawing the carriage shy and look ready to bolt, but Blois casts a spell to stop them.
“Tornado Wall!”
That’s a wind spell, the kind Blois favors. The spell fires as Blois raises her rapier, generating a gale with the carriage at its center. Gusts of wind send the torch flames dancing.
“Th-The hell?! A mage?!”
“Not a surprise from a Sepaeda lackey!”
“Ain’t nothing to be afraid of!”
This wind spell doesn’t have much in the way of offensive or defensive power. Instead, she cast it to force the bandits surrounding the carriage to pause in their approach.
Magic itself isn’t particularly rare in this world. Neither, for that matter, are relatively powerful wind magic users.
Putting it in an Earth-like context, the threat level was about the same as an evidently defenseless civilian having a concealed handgun. More than enough to make the bandits stop to rethink their plan.
Blois is a wind magic prodigy. Her wind spells are substantially more dangerous than a handgun.
“Wind Slicer!”
First, Blois confirms the bandits have been stopped. Once she’s sure, she creates a blade of wind.
This is a textbook example of wind magic, the sort of thing I’d dreamed of when I was in Japan. My partner casually weaves together the spell. Spreading around her, it begins to slash through the air in front of her faster than the eye can track.
The spell is far beyond something that might simply hurt or maim the target. Her magic wind has enough force to effortlessly slice a human body in two.
The bandits in front of her that were cowering from the sudden gale die instantly as they’re effortlessly bisected. The wind easily cuts through not just their leather armor, but also their steel weapons.
Five of the bandits are cut down by the spell in an instant. That means a quarter of the bandits are already dead. The dead men’s weapons and torches fall to the ground, setting fire to flammable objects nearby, though the “material” leaking from the corpses soon puts the little blazes out.
“You have badly underestimated us as the bodyguards of a daughter of House Sepaeda! You will pay for that mistake with your lives!” Blois shouts, in a display of her power.
It may seem a bit redundant at this point, but by now the assumptions the bandits had previously held were thoroughly crushed. Blois alone is capable of killing several of them without any effort. That depressing knowledge is enough to send a shiver of fear through the remaining bandits. The word ‘retreat’ flickers across their minds.
“Now...fall before my winds!”
A blast of wind erupts from her feet.
Force to support a person, precision to control a person’s position, the endurance and concentration necessary to maintain them... Blois was equipped with more than enough of all of that, allowing her to fly effortlessly above the carriage. Looking down upon the torchlit bandits, she began raining wind blades down on them without mercy.
“A-Ahhhh! Screw this! Can’t win against a mage that can fly!”
“Bring out the bows and arrows!”
“Don’t be an idiot! Arrows won’t work on a wind mage strong enough to float!”
“Forget her, target the carriage! Take the occupants hostage!”
Well, it’s a moderately more intelligent decision to ignore the flying Blois and focus their attention on the carriage, since it’s still in range. After all, Blois can’t afford to hit the carriage, so targeting anyone near it is a dicey proposition.
The bandits turn their attention back to the seemingly defenseless vehicle with much greater resolve than previously shown.
“OUT OF THE WAY!”
The bandits charge toward me. They’re heading toward me, not for wealth, but to avoid death. That’s fine, I suppose, but it means they don’t even regard me as an obstacle.
“That stings a little.”
The Immortal Art that I use is ‘Ki Infusion,’ a technique that strengthens the weapon in hand. Wooden swords are more than capable of killing on their own, but I reinforce it further before striking my opponent’s skull.
I could feel the vibration of the impact through the sword and into my hand, and with a loud thud, his skull caves in. Confirming it’s a lethal blow, I then grab the next bandit’s head with my hand, blasting him away from me.
The technique ‘Ki Wave’ sends a pulse of force into an object I’m touching. If you grab a person’s head and use it to blast them back, the effect is similar to hitting them in the head with a large hammer, which usually sends them tumbling. With this level of force, however, it doesn’t simply push them over. The bandit is dead before he even hits the ground.
“D-Damned brat’s a Rare Arts user!”
“D-Damn it! Circle them! Circle around them!”
These bandits are irritatingly smart. If there’s only two of us, even with one of us in the air, there are angles we can’t cover. If they can circle around behind the carriage, they can try to carve open an entrance with their weapons, thus getting inside without using the door.