“Ah, gah, gagaah…”

The man screamed in agony and after some twitching and struggling, he stopped moving. It’s only inevitable with a knife lodged so deep into his head.

“Wha, you bastards, what the, guaaaahhh!!”

Sylia jerked her head up at the bandit’s screaming. There, she found a suspicious, hooded person slashing deep wounds into one of the thieves.

“Wha-What is this?!” one of the other bandits cried. “Fuck, hey, kill ‘em!”

As those words, the thieves pulled themselves together, but it was for nothing.

Perhaps because they didn’t know if there was an unknown number of assailants or just one person slashing at them, or because they were still considering taking the passengers as hostages, the bandits started falling, the assailant wiped the blood off their blade as the men hit the dirt.

“Guuuh, what is this, wha-what is going on?!!”

The bandits had already been halved in number. All the work of one person. Even then, they didn’t even seem to be out of breath. That no one could see their face for how deeply it was hidden in their hood only added to their eerie aura.

Now then, what was Sylia doing in the meantime? She had a dagger in her hand. The bandits were turning their backs to her.

(Go…) she thought.

She didn’t mean to be an assisting fighter or anything like it. However, her body was hot and she was excited by the battle. It was the first time she had ever killed a person, she thought it was just justice and shook off the thoughts in her mind, the realization of what she’d done sent a surge of adrenaline coursing through her brain, she was in a battle trance.

She started walking forward with her hips low so she wouldn’t make any noise. The passengers notice her, but they couldn’t even speak about this unusual sight.

(Go…!) Sylia thought.

She wanted to be close enough to pounce and stab her dagger around their necks. When she reached that point, she tried to step forward.

She felt a shock erupting by her feet and the moment she realized what had happened, Sylia started hyperventilating.

“Hah… hah… hii.”

There was a sword stuck between her legs, they rapidly turned to jelly. It belonged to the mysterious person who stepped in between Sylia and the bandits. One more step forward, it would have certainly pierced Sylia.

As Sylia’s battle trance transformed completely into fear, her body began to shake like before.

“Wha, Wha…?” Sylia stammered.

The bandits got back up to their feet without realizing what just happened. They still don’t know anything about the person before them. On the contrary, the mystery had only deepened. Why did she intercept Sylia? And when the bandits finally realized their opponent had thrown away her weapon…

“You fucking idiot! You shouldn’t have tossed your weapon!”

The bandits immediately regained morale. They charge in as they please. Sylia was just staring at the scene before her. No matter how strong you are, without a weapon, only death awaited you.

She desperately tried to restrain her body as it began to shake again, she frantically tried to pull out the sword embedded in the ground. However, it was not easy to do it because it was jammed in too deeply.

And then, a man screamed.

“…!!”

Sylia looked up. And her eyes went wide at the sight before her.

The bandits are flying through the air.

“Guh, ooh…!”

“Gyah, ooh…!?”

When each of the airborne thieves screamed, they were slashed and exploded in sprays of blood. And when they crash back down to the ground, some writhe, others stop moving.

“No way, for there to be a witch in a place like this…”

“Run, run for it!!”

The bandits who still could run off fast and far. The robed figure walked over to Sylia and looked her up and down.

“………”

At having seen magic cast for the first time, Sylia stood stunned, her hands still grasping the sword stabbed in the ground. And as she stared at the person who walked up before her, she heard a quiet voice,

“That’s mine.”

“Heh…?” Sylia asked.

The voice was dignified, low, and intimidating. They took the hood off.

“Eh, ehh…?” Sylia gasped.

Beautiful, long black hair spreads out and falls behind them. They look stately and beautiful.

“A, a woman?” Sylia muttered.

As Sylia spoke the words, the woman replied, “Aren’t I?” She effortlessly pulled the sword out of the ground, swung it around several times before she put it back in its scabbard. Then, she walked over to the carriage owner.

“Is this carriage headed to Longma?” she asked.

“… Ye, yee, what about it?” the owner stammered.

“Perfect,” the woman replied. “Can you take me there? As a thank you for helping you with the bandits.”

After she finished speaking, the carriage owner threw himself down to the ground in humility and accepted her request.

Then, perhaps it finally registered that they’d also been saved, the passengers started cheering and thanking the woman. She seemed a bit annoyed by it all, but seemed to oblige them with a “Yes, yes.”

However, Sylia was the only one of them stand. And when she falls back to her knees…

“Uh, ah, eeh…” she retched, vomit shooting up her throat and out her mouth.

Everyone was surprised and stiffened up, but only the robed woman slowly approached Sylia and put a hand on her back.

“You just killed someone…” the woman said.

“Uh, uguh… no, I didn’t….” Sylia muttered.

After she vomited, her tears began to overflow. It took a long time for her to calm down, but the woman was much more caring and gently stroked Sylia’s back.