NOVEL NEXT C32
C32: The Battle Begins
After the strategy meeting, we narrowed it down to a few places where the bandits could be found, and we left before the sun went down completely.
There were eight members in total: myself, Brunnhilde, Lucia, and five troop leader knights. Seven of us would be fighting. Of course, I wouldn’t be participating in the battle, but I would be using Holacty to search the area.
The place where the bandits are holed up is called the Ruins Zone, and unlike the ruins near the Kingdom of Ostrode and the Ledar town, it seems to be a collection of small stone buildings. They are about one or two floors underground, with weak monsters and no particular treasures. Archaeologists have determined that they have no historical value.
However, even if it has no historical value, it is a good place to hide. The ruins area is so big that a large town can easily fit in it, and once you’re hiding there, you’ll never be found. Moreover, it’s like a garden for “Night is my Garden”, where they hide the goods they robbed from the villages and the money and goods they got from attacking the merchants.
It seems that the organization has been expanding its power recently, and the neighboring villages have pooled their money together to ask the adventurer’s guild to take it down, but the scale is too large for an adventurer’s group to handle. So that’s where the knights come in.
“…………”
“Hey, bro, don’t get drunk!”
“Yes, sir.”
I was being carried on my back by Gron, the skinhead black knight. The reason for this is simple: my physical strength is not enough to keep up with these seven people.
In addition to Brünnhilde, Lucia and the five knights are almost running as fast as they can, but instead of losing their breath, they are dashing without changing their expression.
Gron’s running with me on his back. The reason for this is that they didn’t want to be detected by the bandits too soon.
“Oh, um, if I’m too heavy, I’ll run by myself…….”
“Gah-hah! Your weight is just like a twig in my hands! My cheat is ‘muscle man’, so don’t worry about it!”
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[Name] Gron, the Black Knight.
Cheat: “Muscle Man” Level 25
Physical Strength Level 23
Increased strength level 30
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Gron shows me the cheat screen and dashes forward again. This is the first time I’ve seen a non-student cheat screen, but there aren’t many items. And there are no unique weapons.
“Um, what’s your weapon?”
“What? Unique weapon? Gah-hah! Only a select few of the ring bearers can have a unique weapon, just like my commander!”
“……is that right?”
“What’s the matter, brother? Didn’t you ask when you got the ring?”
“Yeah, yeah……yes.”
I didn’t know that. I can’t believe that a unique weapon can only be produced by a few chosen ring bearers……If that’s the case, then all the students are chosen ones. You’re chosen when you’re summoned to another world…….Hey, by that logic, what about me?
We had been running for an hour without resting at all and Lucia says in a voice that doesn’t sound tired at all.
“We’re almost at our destination. Sage, I need you to do a spot check.”
“All right, I’m on it.”
We arrived at the designated point. It is a house that looks like a storage shed built with bricks, which has not yet been raided by bandits in the ruins area.
Brünnhilde said.
“………Zero enemy bio-signs. There are no hostile monsters or humans within a 300 meter radius.”
Lucia and the others nodded their heads, but I trusted the information she gave me. Ratz, the knight with glasses, and Yura, the knight with short brown hair, drew their knives and jumped into the brick building without a door, alert. And in an instant they……put down their knives.
“Captain, it looks like there are no enemies.”
“Thank you, Ratz. Yura, stay on alert. Tomo and Arato, scout a 100 meter radius from this point.”
“Yes, sir! Captain Lucia!”
“Yes, sir.”
“——Copy that.”
Yura, who answered cheerfully, was scolded for being too loud and received a severe beating, the female knight Tomo giggled, and knight Arato left in silence.
Ratz and Gron stood by the window, while Brunnhilde stood next to me.
“So, Sage. Please.”
“Yeah. Come on out, Holacty.”
I give the order, and suddenly a mecha owl appears on my shoulder.
“Oh, a unique weapon.”
“Wow, I never thought I’d see someone other than the Commander.”
“You’re not bad at all, brother.”
Hmmm, he thinks the Holacty is a unique weapon. It’s good that they think this way. In a way, this guy is more useful than ‘Repair’, and it’s no exaggeration to say that he’s my other cheat.
“Holacty, search a 20-kilometer radius from your current location, and mark the map if you find any humans.”
With that, Holacty flew away silently. I manipulated the band and brought up a high-resolution aerial image of a 20-kilometer radius. Then the two male knights who were watching behind me peered into the aerial projection display.
“Holy crap———I never thought I’d see such a clear picture.”
“Beautiful——as expected from an ‘unreasonable force’.”
Incidentally, it is now dark, but the image is as clear as daylight.
“Oh, here they are——Sixteen kilometers northwest of where we are. And 18 kilometers southwest of our current location——–50, 60, 70——–Really?”
The number of people displayed on the map, indicated by red dots, kept increasing. There were groups of at least ten people, and these groups were displayed all over the map, moving rapidly. Hey, that’s a lot of people.
I tell Lucia about this.
“That’s convenient. The whole group of bandits is probably on the move. This is our chance to round them up.”
“But there’s only 7 of us.”
“Whoa brother, each of us only needs to eliminate 10 of them.”
“That’s the way it is, isn’t it, Brünnhilde?”
“My mission is to protect you, sensei.” Gron and Ratz seemed to have no problem with it. Then Yura, Tomo and Arato came back and I told them the situation.
“What are you so scared of? Each of us only needs to eliminate 10 of them right?”
“—–Yura, you’re saying the same thing as Gron.”
“Haha. Yura, you’re just like Gron.”
What? Don’t put me with this kid.”
“That’s my reply, you muscle head!”
“———giggle, giggle.”
The five black knights were laughing for some reason.
When I was taken aback, Lucia said.
“It’s settled. Brünnhilde, are you okay with that?”
“Yes, I will protect you, Sensei.”
“Good. Sage, tell Brünnhilde to fight as well. The closest place from here will be fine.”
“Okay, okay.”
I showed everyone the map and told them the location of the bandits. The map was high quality, so everyone knew where they were just by showing them the location.
“Take them alive if you can, kill them if you can’t.”
Lucia said, and pulled out her black sword. Then, the five knights also drew their pitch-black swords and raised them in a circle.
“Our sword is the sword of the dark night. For Nachtigal, Queen of the Night.”
Lucia and the five knights went into battle. Oh man, knights are so cool.
“———”
“Brünnhilde, you too, please.”
“I will protect you, Sensei.”
No, I’m fine. I’ll wait here for you, Brünnhilde. Come back after you’ve killed the bad bandits.”
“———I understand. The total travel time and defeat time will be 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Sensei’s permission has been granted. I’m temporarily leaving Sensei.”
Brünnhilde walked steadily out of the house.
“Temporarily separated from Sensei. The “Maiden of War Type Android Code04 Brunnhilde” will now begin to act alone. The “Maiden God Sword Excalibur” is deployed. It is now in armor form.
“What?⁉”
To my surprise, Brunnhilde summoned a gory mechanical greatsword, had it disassembled, and docked it to her own armor. This is the style in which she defeated the bandits in Ledo’s village, isn’t it?
“Proceed to destination. Eradicate as quickly as possible.”
Brünnhilde launched the booster on her back and instantly turned into the wind. Seriously——acting alone is going to lift the restrictions, too?
◇◇◇◇◇◇
I was left alone, so I decided to observe each of the knights and Brunnhilde using the camera function of Holacty.
First, Brunnhilde.
She is running across the ground at an incredible speed. It seems that the booster is not a function of flying, but rather an acceleration device using a jet. It’s not that she can’t fly, but her air time is short. She glides across the ground with her maiden sword Excalibur in her right hand and her goddess sword Caliburn in her left. In less than a minute, she had traveled 10 kilometers and arrived at her destination.
“Bandits in sight. Target multi-lock-on. Fire the Pendragon.”
The bandits were carrying crates they had stolen from a warehouse in a nearby town. One of them noticed a beautiful light cutting through the darkness, but it was already too late. An out-of-this-world laser beam incinerated the bandits from the neck up.
The bandits, who were unloading their goods in groups of about ten, passed away painlessly.
“Annihilation complete. Biological reaction stopped. Returning to Sensei.”
Brünnhilde fired the booster again.