LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 34: First Time Hero.
Chapter 34: First Time Hero.
*Celia’s POV*
With my sword in hand, I continued to run towards the scream that I heard just a few seconds ago. After running for around thirty minutes, I arrived at an interesting scene…
There were two women, that were stuck in a very expensive carriage. Said carriage was tangling off of a cliff. Both of them were screaming for help. The doors on the carriage seemed to have been sealed shut, so they weren’t able to escape at all.
Knights were defending the carriage from bandits, so they couldn’t stop the carriage from falling over if it does fall. This might be my first time being in such a situation, but the bandits did not seem like normal brigands.
They fought with the same kind of cohesion that the defending knights are fighting like. The two women were clearly nobles of some kind, so this might be an assassination disguised as a robbery by desperate bandits. Frankly, the only reason why those two women haven’t fallen to their untimely deaths yet, is due to the lone knight holding the carriage from falling down.
But she was not strong enough to pull up the carriage by herself. All she could do is hold on to the carriage in desperation, as the two women look out of the small window of the back of the carriage at this whole event play out.
How this situation occurred, I have no real idea. But going how the “bandits” have well over a twenty people on their side, while there are only eight knights, could explain how this event got so dangerous for the two noble girls.
As much as I would love to be the one to directly save the two women, I needed at least two more people to help me pull up the carriage. As such, I decided to deal with their opposition first, while they deal with the whole carriage situation.
Rushing over, since none of them have noticed me yet, I was able to get off a sneak attack on a few of them. Fighting with expertise that, I didn’t realize I knew, I quickly killed off five of the so called bandits.
Thankfully, this was more than enough to get their attention. But not enough for them to divert all of their troops to deal with me. So, I had to cause just a little bit more chaos first. If I can’t distract them via murder, then I can do it with words instead.
Celia: “It is very funny how you all are dressed like bandits, but fight like veteran knights. So, I do wonder what knightly order that you’re from?” I ask with a haughty tone.
Like what I said was some grand reveal, three of the “bandits” lunged at me with absolute intent to kill. I parried one of them with my sword, which caused his sword to fly away. Taking the chance that I just opened up for myself, I slashed down the man’s torso. Thus spilling out his guts onto the ground.
Seeing this, the other two got more cautious with how they fought me. Which was a problem for me, even with the Swordsmanship Skill, fighting more than one human opponent, is far more difficult than stupid Primal Goblins. I could still defend myself from their attacks, though. As such, we were at a standstill.
Celia: “You knights! What are you doing standing there gawking at the fight for!? Save the ones that you serve! I shall deal with these fake bandits!” I yell with a confident tone.
What I said caused the two bandits that were fighting me, to turn their attention back to the knights, thus giving me a perfect shot at killing them. And I did just that. The first one, I decapitated with a shocking ease, the other, I stabbed right in the heart, killing him probably instantly. Wait… the one I decapitated, should have died instantly, the one I stabbed in the heart most likely suffered before he finally died. Oh well. Not my problem.
The knights, seeing how I dealt with the bandits, turned their back on the fight, and went over to help the lone knight with the carriage. Not even bothering with those knights, the rest of the bandits all started to fight me all at the same time. Rather than order the bandits to stop the knights, the person who I assume is the commander of the bandit group, let out an interesting order.
“Bandit” Commander: “Everyone stand down! That is an order!” He yelled.
The bandits then all stopped fighting me, which kinda confused me. Why stop the fight? Sure, I actually haven’t been wounded at all yet. But they could probably still kill me if they all attacked at once. Even with just dealing with them for a few seconds, I was very close to getting hurt.
Celia: “Aww, look at how orderly they went with your words. How very unbandit like indeed.” I say with a haughty tone once again, after shaking the blood off of my sword.
“Bandit” Commander: “Miss, are you a knight? If so, what order do you hail from?” He asked with a polite but serious tone.
Celia: “I am not a knight, and at the moment, I am just a wanderer.” I answer honestly.
“Bandit” Commander: “If you’re not a knight, then perhaps that we could strike a deal?” He offered.
Celia: “Depends on what kind of deal.” I reply with a head tilt.
“Bandit” Commander: “I cannot say which order we come from, but we were ordered by a very powerful noble family to assassinate these two women.” He explained.
Celia: “For what purpose?” I ask.
“Bandit” Commander: “That I cannot say. We just followed orders, as always. Once the deed was to be done, we were to be paid enough Celestium to live wealthy for the rest of our lives. Of course, we would have had to flee to at least a few kingdoms over.” He answered.
Celia: “How much Celestium?” I ask with a sigh.
“Bandit” Commander: “So you’re willing to make a deal?” He said with a happy tone.
Celia: “Make no mistake. I only consider making a deal with you, since your men haven’t killed anyone yet. I prefer to avoid unnecessary bloodshed as well.” I reply with an annoyed tone.
“Bandit” Commander: “I understand that you’re a very powerful woman, how could easily kill us all, so I will only ask for half of the payment.” He said.
Powerful woman? Aren’t you sucking up to me too much? Ah, maybe I just left that good of an impression on them? Or maybe he is trying to trick me? Only one way to find out.
Celia: “Get to the point before I lose my temper.” I say with a fed up tone, while pointing my sword at the man.
“Bandit” Commander: “Originally, it was ten Platinum Celestium per person, but I shall only ask for five per person.” He answered.
With fourteen of them left, that would come out to around seventy Platinum Celestium in total. The only problem now is, I actually have no money. I should have really asked for money before I left Yona’s side…
Celia: “And do you think that I would carry that much Celestium around with me?” I ask with a sigh.
“Bandit” Commander: “Surely not, but that sword of yours is worth far more than just that little amount of Celestium.” He said with a laugh.
Hey! Why the fuck are you laughing in a situation like this? You know, I am not a knight, so I do not have to care about honor at all. The carriage has already been saved, as have the women; now the knights are just guarding them. We could easily finish you all off! Though, I am surprised to hear that Yona gifted me such a pricey sword.
Celia: “The sword is a gift, so I cannot part with it. However, I happen to be in possession of a large stockpile of Mana Crystals, would a few of them suffice?” I ask.
“Bandit” Commander: “Unless you have a few thousand Mana Crystals, then no.” He replied with a grim tone.
Heh. I actually do! Not like I will say that, though. Frankly, this asshole has pissed me off, so I really want to kill him. Which is something that I never thought that I would say. When did I become so blood thirsty!?… I don’t even regret, or feel bad about killing those other people either… Oh well, that is something for me to worry about later!