The effects of Dark Mist must have worn off. One of the two men who had been watching us began to move away from us. He’s in quite a hurry, but it looks like they’re finally on the move. Most likely, they finally realized that they had been deceived.

「Shea-san」
「Hmm」

With a pat on the cheek and a call of her name, Shea-san pulls herself up.

「Morning」
「It’s still early in the morning, though. They’re on the move」
「Un」

I think they know that I am a magician. I used magic to deceive the two people watching us, and I hope they’ll think I’m a good magician and retreat… but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

「They’re all gathering here」
「Surprisingly many」

We can see how the blue dots, which represent humans, gather around us through sensing magic. There were roughly 20 of them. With just the blue dot, it’s hard to tell if it’s an enemy or not, so I’ll have to improve it by combining it with danger detection magic.

「■■■■■■■■■」

The bandits had stopped hiding and revealed themselves.

「■■■■■■■■■」

One of them is saying something to us…… I forgot about it. The soundproofing seemed to have prevented his voice from reaching us.

「Ah, I’m sorry. Did you say something?」
「Huh? Didn’t you hear me? I said drop your weapons!」

I didn’t hear you. I don’t think I can honestly say that. I’m afraid it might make him even angrier.

「Um, for what?」
「That is, if you don’t want to get hurt」

The large man who spoke to us, probably the head of the bandits, smirked at us.
By the way, I don’t have any weapons, so I can’t throw any away. I do have at least a knife in my storage, though.

「But how are you gonna kill us? You can’t even get close enough」

The bandits are still surrounding us. They’re just surrounding us. Because they can’t get inside with my defensive magic.

「That’s…」
「By the way, we can attack, you know?」

It’s not very powerful, but I send out a ball of light. If it hits, it can at least scare them.

「Ow!」
「See?」

It’s a way to show that I can attack one-sidedly. If they don’t find out that I’m not good at offensive magic, that is.

「But the magic will wear off at some point. We can take turns hiding and waiting for the magic to wear off」

If it’s an endurance battle, I don’t think I can lose as long as I have enough food. If I sleep, I can recover my magic power, and I can continue to deploy defensive magic while sleeping. But it’s a pain.

「Purpose?」
「That’s right. If you resist, we’ll hurt you. If you don’t resist, we’ll drop you nicely to slavery」
「Slaves?」
「If you were a merchant, we’d take your money’s worth, but we can sell people like you for a lot of money as slaves」

It’s sickening to grin. Apparently, the bandits’ goal is to capture us and turn us into slaves to be sold.

「Slavery is forbidden, except for criminal slavery」
「On the surface, yes. But on the streets of Tanza, they sell」
「The lord won’t stay quiet about that」
「Idiot. That’s what that lord asked me to do!」

Which one of us is the idiot? Which one of us is the fool for blabbing such information? But now we know why bandits are able to operate in this forest without being defeated. The mastermind behind this is the Lord of Tanza.

「Thanks for the information」
「Ah, if you can say that after you’ve been reduced to slaves」

Apparently, they have no doubt about their overwhelming advantage. That seems to be why they blabbered out the information. And also, it may have the purpose of discouraging us with the threat that there is no one for us to rely on, though.

「Hey, Cap’n. Let’s have a turn before we reduce them to slaves」
「Huh? Then we won’t be able to sell them at a higher price!」
「But the little one over there is definitely a fresh girl, you know?」

One of the men pointed at me and looked at me with a kind of lecherous gaze. He looked at me from my feet to my head, and I shuddered in disgust.

「There’s no doubt about that reaction. She’s shaking with fear」

Wrong!
It’s just disgusting!

「If you look at Yuan any longer with that gaze, I’ll kill you」

Shea-san is very angry!
She’s about to burst!

「No, you can’t. It’s obvious that its Shea-san’s first time」

I pretend to be natural and entwine my arms around Shea-san. At the same time as keeping Shea-san under control, I’m going to secretly plan a strategy.

「Y- yuan?」

Apparently, I was able to keep her from bursting out. So, let’s have a whispered strategy meeting.

「Is this your… first time, Shea-san? For me, it’s my first time」
「Eh…… ?」

I’ve never killed anyone. I became an adventurer and expected to experience it at some point, but I never had the opportunity until today. After all, the Imperial Capital was very safe and there were no bandits. This is one of the reasons why they didn’t emphasize the magic of danger detection to humans. I would have preferred not to kill people if I could help it, but they were bandits, and I had to fight for those who were robbed by the bandits, their friends, families, and lovers… and for those whose future was closed to them.

「That… I too, no, experience」

What a surprise, this is also the first time for Shea-san. She’s blushing, but I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of.

「Oh, I see, I’m glad my first time is with you, Shea-san」
「U- un. I thought it would be nice… if Yuan is my first」

As I thought, it’s good to have friends, isn’t it?

「I’m sure you’ll be fine, Shea-san」
「I, too, can take care of Yuan」
「I’m not good enough to deal with a lot of them, though」
「A- a lot of them! ?」
「Yes, I think there is a limit of one person you can deal with at a time. I think we can hold them off at the same time, though」

Offensive magic is not very effective, so it’s better to use auxiliary magic to restrain the opponent’s movements.

「No, Yuan doesn’t have to deal with this」
「I can’t let you carry this burden alone, Shea-san」
「I’m not going to let you do that. I won’t let them touch Yuan」
「But at some point, I have to go through it. It’s just that today is the day」
「If it’s experience you want, I can…」
「No, you can’t. I can’t let Shea-san get hurt. Besides, there’s a difference between practice and actual combat」
「I hear it hurts the first time, so that’s not a problem」
「No, I can’t. Shea-san… we’re friends. I can heal wounds with practice, but I can’t kill them and bring them back to life」
「Kill me?」

Shea-san tilted her head. I don’t think my determination has been conveyed yet.

「Yes, if I’m going to live as an adventurer, I’m prepared to have the experience of killing people… bad people」

Shea-san froze. Was my resolve too heavy? However, after thinking about it for a while, she began to shake her head.

「Yes. D- definitely necessary」
「This is my first time, so I don’t know if my body will move well, but Shea-san is also new to killing people, so let’s help each other!」
「U- un」
「I’ll blind them, and you can cut them down while I do it」
「I understand …I’ll never forgive them… for the misunderstanding they’ve caused me!」

Misunderstanding? I don’t know what she’s talking about, but Shea-san seems to be motivated. On the other hand, I’m a little worried, though. I don’t have a strategy that seems like a strategy, but I think that’s enough for Shea-san and I.

「Oi! How long are you two going to keep flirting───」

A flash of light spreads around me. It doesn’t do any damage, but it does create some shock waves, so the bandits are halted by the light and shock waves.

「This is all your fault」

Some were stabbed in the chest, others crumpled to the ground with fresh blood spurting from their necks. Shea-san, who had received my Physical Enhancement・Boost Magic, ran past me, and that was all it took to turn five of them into corpses. The thick smell of blood immediately spreads.

「Wha…t?」

The bandits, recovering from their blindness, shouted in surprise, but in the meantime, Shea-san moved among the bandits, and their numbers dwindled in an instant.

「That smell… it’s hard to get used to」

The smell of human and monster blood is different. People may not be able to tell the difference, but as a Beastman, I am sensitive to smells and can tell the slightest difference. Since I use recovery magic, I thought I was used to the smell of blood spilled by people, but I guess I wasn’t. And it’s even more so when I think that it’s the blood that was spilled by us. However, even as I was saying this, the number of bandits was decreasing one by one by Shea-san’s hand. At this rate, I’ll have to do it too, since it seems like I’m forcing only Shea-san to do all the dirty work. I take out a knife from storage, run towards one of the baffled men, who has been overwhelmed by Shea-san, and hold out a knife.

「Tei!」
「O tto! You!」

I was easily avoided. The surprise attack failed and I was forced to face the bandit one-on-one.

「A knife instead of magic, you must have a lot of magic left in you!」
「That’s not true, all right? A knife will do just fine」

I actually have a lot of magic power to spare. I’m just not very good at offensive magic.

「Ha! Don’t think you can beat a professional. I ain’t no slave. I’ll kill you!」

Fast─── …… not.
I think they’ve been fighting in numbers, because as far as I could see, each one of them moved slowly, and none of them seemed to be skilled.
I followed the approaching knife with my eyes, and thrust out my own knife to match.

「Ga… H- how?」

The bandit’s knife swung down towards my head, but I blocked it with defensive magic, and my knife plunged into the bandit’s heart instead. And a stab to the heart should be fatal. But it would not be an immediate death.

「At least you won’t suffer…」

I took out another knife from my storage and slashed at the neck of the bandit who had stopped moving. Blood spurts out of his neck and splatters on me. The bandit fell to his knees and lay there, never to rise again.