Not a barbarian warrior.

Finally, the day to leave Carlisle arrived. Lorena, having handed over even the house keys, plopped down next to the driver’s seat where Eugene was sitting.

Eugene waited silently while Lorena stared wordlessly at her former nest where she had stayed. After a moment, she said to Eugene:

“L-Let’s depart now…”

As Eugene nodded and gripped the reins, someone came running towards the carriage waving their hand. It turned out to be Clea.

“Wait a moment-!”

“Clea?”

She had rushed over so hurriedly that Clea was still panting even after arriving in front of the carriage. When Eugene got down from the driver’s seat and asked what was wrong, she abruptly thrust a sword at his chest. Eugene asked with wide eyes:

“What’s this…?”

“…My arm’s getting tired so hurry up and take it.”

Eugene accepted the sword she held out. It was an unexpected gift. As Eugene looked at her with moved eyes, she turned her head to avoid his gaze.

“Clea… Thank you. I’ll use it well.”

“If you’re thankful… Send a letter or something later…”

Although their first meeting hadn’t been smooth, she had grown fond of Eugene by now. Though she always grumbled and acted rough, looking closely, she had such a warm side. Even asking for a letter was out of concern for his well-being.

Eugene smiled at her kindness and said:

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll send letters often.”

“Geez… Who said I was worried? Enough, just go already.”

“Alright, I’ll be going now.”

Eugene climbed back onto the driver’s seat. As he shook the reins, the carriage slowly started moving with the sound of horse hooves. Clea watched the departing carriage and muttered quietly:

“That jerk… Leaving without even looking back once…”

The next day. Before the sun had even fully risen, Dietrich’s group finished their overnight stay and prepared to depart again. Lorena looked better than yesterday, but still wasn’t in good condition. It seemed she would need more time for her motion sickness to improve.

Before the carriage departed, when Dietrich came to check on her condition, Eugene said apologetically:

“I’m sorry for showing this kind of appearance.”

“It’s alright. Nothing has happened yet, right? She’ll get better soon.”

Dietrich readily understood her situation. Though Eugene apologized to him, he didn’t feel at ease.

Having finished preparations to depart again, Dietrich’s group set out along the road towards their destination. After traveling for hours without rest until the sun rose high in the sky, something happened that Dietrich had mentioned.

They were moving along a road that bypassed the forest. A log was lying fallen in the middle. When the escort at the front stopped, some guys suddenly jumped out from a low hill beside the road.

“Oh my! My lords, lightning struck last night and this log fell like this, you see? We were in the middle of trying to clear these away when you appeared!”

The cut end of the log was too neat. It looked like a shape that could only be made by someone chopping with an axe. The escort at the front of the carriage asked:

“So what do you want?”

“Well, it looks like it will take quite a long time to clear away that log. If my lords could show us just a tiny bit of sincerity, we might find the strength… Hehe…”

“Oh come on…”

The guys blocking the road had poor equipment and their numbers were barely ten. The escort was about to tell them to shut up and just clear away the log, when suddenly.

Countless figures emerged from the hill. They all looked equally shabby. Guys with just a gambeson and a clenched weapon. But their numbers were overwhelming. Roughly estimating, there were over forty.

“What the… They’re not goblins, where did all these bastards come from… Wait a moment.”

The escort who spat out curses went back to his employer.

“What should we do?”

“…Hmm, how much are they demanding?”

“It seems we’ll need to give them about a fistful of silver coins.”

“Hmm…”

Dietrich and the other merchants gathered to discuss for a moment. They soon reached a conclusion.

“Tell them we’ll give sufficient payment, so hurry and clear the road.”

“Understood.”

They were clearly naive guys. They didn’t seem to know what was loaded in the carriages.

However, the merchants judged that they couldn’t afford to waste strength in a place like this when they still had a long way to go. They chose the method of paying some silver coins to get through unscathed.

The escort returned to the front and conveyed his employer’s opinion. But the guys’ greed was greater than expected.

“My lord, that amount isn’t enough for us to find strength. As you can see, we have quite a lot of mouths to feed…”

“You crazy bastards! There’s a limit to greed! If my employer wasn’t such a merciful person, you’d all be dead by sword already!”

“My lord, please calm down and look at our numbers. We’re all men with nothing to lose. Whether we die this way or that, what do we have to fear at this point?”

“Shall we see if you can still say that when I pull out your guts?”

“Just relay the message to your employer first… We’re not asking for much. About three silver coins per person would do.”

“You idiotic bastards… You’ll regret this soon. Go to hell.”

“Living is already hell. Hehe…”

The escort returned and relayed their demands again. The merchants’ expressions darkened. Pay over a hundred silver coins? They couldn’t pay that much in tolls to these kinds of guys.

“…It seems we can’t pass quietly. I’m afraid you’ll have to work hard.”

“Understood.”

As they spoke gravely, Eugene calmly put on his helmet beside them. Before lowering his visor, he checked Lorena’s condition. Having barely regained consciousness, she still looked pale.

“Lorena, will you be alright?”

“I-I can’t just lie here after taking money…”

“Stay back for now.”

“Don’t push yourself because of me…”

“This much isn’t pushing myself.”

He leisurely lowered his visor and approached Dietrich, his employer, saying:

“Then I’ll be going. Those guys won’t even reach the carriages here.”

Dietrich glanced at the trembling Lorena, then said to Eugene:

“Ugh… The magician doesn’t seem to be in good condition, so I’ll only send three escorts.”

“You can send even fewer.”

“I’ll send three escorts. Then I leave it to you.”

“You won’t regret the silver coins you promised me, at least.”

Eugene said that and turned his back. He drew the sword Clea had gifted him and walked forward with the escorts.

Knowing negotiations had broken down, the bandit guys glared at Eugene’s group, each gripping their weapons.

In the silent air, Eugene was the first to charge towards the bandits.

In this goddamn world, entire villages would often be razed to the ground overnight for all sorts of reasons.

Overwhelming monster attacks, bandits targeting the village, plagues, droughts, exploitation by lords, wars… The reasons were endless.

Villagers who lost their homes had to seek other ways to survive. And among those ways was becoming bandits themselves.

The bandits who attacked Eugene’s group this time had been quite lucky so far.

The forest they used as a base, evading the eyes of lords, had no particularly threatening monsters. At most there were only goblins or wolves. They were able to make a cozy den deep in the forest.

Moreover, merchants rarely chose other routes besides the road near this forest. If not this road, they had to take a huge detour elsewhere. The bandits had been robbing merchants who looked easy targets by overwhelming them with numbers.

There was only one reason they had been able to successfully rob repeatedly without much trouble despite their poor skills. They didn’t get too greedy.

At first, they didn’t demand much payment. They were satisfied with a few silver coins mixed with some copper coins, and would clear away the log.

However, as the situation continued where merchants quickly paid up just from being intimidated by numbers, they gradually increased the amount they demanded.

They gained unfounded confidence in this banditry. As they became more arrogant, they started demanding more money.

Though they had almost no real fighting experience, today’s bandits acted slick as if they were experienced robbers who had been through it all.

And this was the end of their luck.

The escorts of the merchant they encountered this time had suspicious equipment from the start, and even gave off an unusual aura, but they failed to properly notice even that.

Relying only on luck without real skill, and indulging in excessive greed, only destruction awaited them in the end.

“Charge-!”

Eugene let out a battle cry filled with killing intent as he rushed in.

The bandit guys who had looked relaxed all turned pale. Trembling and unable to control their shrinking muscles, they could only watch the approaching death.