North x Northwest

“That’s right. It would’ve been very easy for them to sneak in as merchants. This might be a small town, but there are so many people coming and going on a regular basis that a few unfamiliar faces are usually not considered suspicious.”

“But weren’t bandits becoming more rampant recently? Why were they so negligent?”

“This place is still relatively close to Roahn. One could reach the city in just a few hours on horseback. On the Great Trade Route, the closer a village is to a big city, the better security it has. So normally, one wouldn’t have guessed that bandits would come all the way here. In fact, bandits are expected to target rich merchants who camp on the road. They wouldn’t come and loot a humble village. This is actually the first time that this village has been plundered.”

“If they really started this from inside the village, it’s unbelievably bold and meticulous of them. Plus, they would’ve known that we came here yesterday.”

Ed slowed down and moved next to Lil before he opened his mouth.

“So, it’s one of two things, either they didn’t actually infiltrate the village in advance, or they had infiltrated but were unable to get in touch with their base. But it’s strange if it’s the latter… Assuming that they had infiltrated in advance, we’ve been out of the village for quite some time to hunt, but they didn’t take advantage of that time and the way they caused havoc tonight was sloppy rather than meticulous…”

“But even if it wasn’t through advanced infiltration, that still leaves us with a lot of questions. I heard that all the luggage at the Paradis Inn has disappeared. How on earth did they move it? They couldn’t have carried it with a cart, much less moved it by horse or donkey. Assuming they moved the luggage all the way to the Risch Mountains, they needed at least a few dozen men. Since no one knew that that many people had gone into hiding, it’s best to assume that they’re still hiding somewhere in the village with the stolen goods.”

“We’re still in the middle of the investigation, that would mean that those people are bold enough to think they’ll be able to get out of any identification or interrogation process. If that’s true, they truly are something else. Now I understand how they have dodged being caught for months.”

“According to the reports, their methods and scale are becoming increasingly bolder compared to the beginning. And in any case, people who believe the culprits to be bandits aren’t going to look into their fellow neighbour’s houses for stolen goods.”

Their party came out of the forest and headed towards the Great Trade Route next. Even while they were on the move, soldiers on horseback kept coming and going to give them updates.

It was now clear that there were six wounded in the whole village so far. And because the terrain was unfamiliar to the group of vigilantes and their opponents were so quick that they missed any traces of them, the vigilantes and soldiers decided to split the group and climb the Risch Mountains as they couldn’t wait until daylight.

By the time they discussed whether it would be better to hunt down and interrogate the possible remaining assailants in the village or set an accurate route to climb the mountain, Linhardt came up from behind them, galloping at high speed.

He shook his head after calming down his stressed horse.

“It’s still too dark.”

Lil asked, moving her horse aside for him.

“What about Levi?”

“She insisted she would see patients at the mansion. She said she want continue to provide treatment, so I assigned her an escort.”

“…”

When Lil nodded her head in understanding, Linhardt stuck his head between her and Ed to attempt to further his opinion. His courser’s mane ran across the side of the Lil, shining with lustre.

“The village is a mess. The vigilantes are doing their best, but the merchants who have lost their luggage are growing extremely anxious. They even tried to force the remaining vigilantes to climb the mountain as well. In the meantime, rumours are spreading. It’s been said that they’re among the villages’ visitors, that it will be too late if we wait for the imperial army till daylight and that the military can be unreliable, too. They’re also doubting the investigation; ‘If they had caught even just one person, there wouldn’t be this much chaos, but how is it possible that even just a single assailant wasn’t caught?’ That’s what they’re saying.”

“What about the interrogation of visitors?”

“The backlash is too strong. The village’s lord is said to be away, so a governor or another highly-ranked person needs to step in to resolve the issue but it appears that Sir Picard doesn’t have enough authority to make the upper-ranking officials of the merchant top compliant.”

“That doesn’t sound good. Our sweep on the other hand isn’t fruitful either… No, wait.”

At the same time as Ed spoke, Lil spotted shadows snooping at the entrance to the trade route. Three figures riding donkeys were gathered together under the thin glimmer of the moon. It appeared they were having a chat.

Lil consciously tightened her grip on the reins.

For a moment, the shadows stopped and looked back at them.

Shail spoke from within earshot.

“We’re patrolling the village. Get off your donkeys and identify yourself.”

“…”

Their opponent didn’t answer. There wasn’t even a bit of movement from them, as if they weren’t breathing.

With the strangely silent surroundings, only the waves beyond the cliff could be heard.

“I repeat…”

At that time, an unnatural noise passed behind them. It wasn’t the sound of the wind moving through the trees, but more like the sound of a person walking through the forest. It was so obvious that no one could not have noticed it. Shail closed his mouth and slowly raised his hand to his waist. Lil did the same.

But then, out of nowhere, a tree branch broke behind them.

‘We’re surrounded!’

Everyone kicked their stirrups in unison. Shail fell back whereas Lil and Linhardt moved forward.

– Bang! –

As soon as Shail’s gunfire broke out, a flock of birds flew in haste, and the leaves that were ruffled by their wings buzzed.

Lil pulled out her gun and aimed it at the fleeing donkeys.

– Bang! Bang! –

As the two running donkeys collapsed helplessly, their riders fell forward as well. Linhardt, who was ahead of Lil, chose to capture the two fallen men rather than to chase the third one. After seeing both opponents injured, Lil, who had stopped next to them, quickly deemed that Linhardt alone would be enough to deal with them and proceeded to take the reins to change her direction. But the moment she did, she saw an arrow splitting the air next to her ear.

“Shit!”

While instinctively dodging the arrow, Lil lost her balance and fell from her horse. After hitting the ground, she tried to crouch behind Lumiere, but the startled beast began to struggle, making it difficult for her to hide. She eventually managed to grab the reins and skilfully steer Lumiere to the other side.

Lil quickly hid behind a thin tree and loaded her crossbow when Ed caught up with his horse. She grabbed his outstretched hand in a hurry and leapt up behind him. Lil then attempted to take aim in her current position but found it impossible as she had to keep one hand wrapped around Ed’s waist. Giving up on her crossbow, she groped Ed’s arms for a gun and fortunately for her, there was one left.

Shail rode towards them while shouting.

“Backup is on the way!”

The sound of horses’ hooves hitting the ground from the forest resonated like thunder. Roahn’s flags and torches closed in at an alarming speed. As if noticing the incoming support, all attacks stopped at once.

Finally having the time to take a breather, Ed muttered.

“…It’s suspicious…”

“What is?”

“I thought the attackers would’ve wanted to save their companions over there, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Indeed, as Ed said, there were no arrows fired towards Linhardt’s side, who had been capturing the men.

Lil reflexively looked back at the forest and muttered.

“…Then… am I the target?”

Lil’s thoughts were unconsciously spoken out loud, but it was enough for Shail to reflexively use his body to block off any potential attacks. Ed handed Lil the reins while digesting the situation for a while and came down from his horse.

“Shail, take her.”

“Yes.”

The soldiers who arrived just in time began scavenging through the forest in an instant, filling the air with threatening shouts and blades cutting branches. Some of the men rushed towards them in order to provide escort.

‘As the attack hasn’t yet resumed, if we wanted to make a move, it has to be now.’

Lil couldn’t think of a reason to delay any further.

Ed looked briefly up at her as she shifted in her seat and sat on the saddle. But before she could say anything, Ed expertly struck the side of her horse, prompting the horse to take off against her will.

“..!”

Lil tightened her feet’s grip on the stirrups, feeling uneasy about potentially missing something…

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