Slave Hunters

Nothing noteworthy happened in the week following their departure from Labyrinth City.

Drawing near a small village on their way, they asked for goods, replenishing their food stocks.

Though demons attacked a few times, even ignoring Rudolph, Matsukaze turned them into experience points with his hooves.

… Though it was questionable that a real horse could have that much fighting strength, Serge's Identify confirmed it was a horse.

"I don't think there are enough events."

Serge spoke abruptly. It was a bit dangerous for him to stand in the driver's seat.

"Events?"

Gig asked in response. He was also bored on this journey. The monsters were too weak. Most of them ran from Rudolph's presence.

As though he were suffering, Serge said in a serious tone.

"Yeah. For instance, a princess and her close friend saving a noble's carriage from an attack, that kind of event."

Aah… Carlos laughed sarcastically. He drew his horse near Serge.

"If only it were like that. If there were any problems, a traveling knight would solve them. Though following that pattern he'd be wed to the princess."

"See! We're traveling in especially remote areas, yet nothing like that's happening."

"Things like that don't actually happen. Ignoring that this area is mostly noble territory, these are just self-supporting villages. Whenever nobles travel in carriages, they'd always have guards."

Though Carlos said that, Serge gave an example that didn't refute it.

"Isn't she a princess with only a single escort? I'm talking about the exceptions!"

There were reckless royalty like Ria, but they were also trouble.

"It'd be good for you to train your magic if you have so much free time. You went to great lengths for you to get that new Skill."

Ria said while amazed. Though they couldn't train in the sword while riding, he could probably practice magic inside the wagon.

The new Skill that Serge obtained was something like Magical Power Cost Reduction. He acquired it by practicing to the limit every day. When the Skill's level increases, supposedly it would make using magic take less magical power. A coveted Skill for magicians. In fact, Lulu was envious.

Magic was definitely interesting. Especially now that he'd obtained the grimoire, Serge's status as a magician visibly rose every day.

However, training all the time was tedious. At this point, it strained his mind even though the ten-year old also had a previous life.

He may have been childish to begin with, though.

"Magic, huh… Right, I've been practicing space-time magic and magic theory…"

Probably since she struck a chord or something, Serge began to grumble to himself.

"Are you going to quiet down from that? Though we're going on horses, it's bright under the sun."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… alright."

A pale magical power extended from Serge sitting in the seat next to her on the driver's seat.

"Ah…"

Maal, who was training her spirit magic, let out a sound. Her concentration was disrupted.

But Serge was also concentrating his mind, trying to confirm the effectiveness of his magic.

Ria somehow understood what the magic was. Making the magical power as thin as possible and spreading it out as far as possible, it was probably to know what happened inside. Combining Magical Power Detection and Spacial Grasp, it was a pretty advanced magic.

"Huh?"

Serge, who had shut his eyes, suddenly opened them wide.

"Ah~, there's an army crossing the hills and forest ahead of us."

(You can see things that far away?)

Though she was impressed, the army was a problem.

"An army? How many people? Do you know their weapons?"

Ria checked. Though the area around there shouldn't be part of a nation, it might have been a tribe's troops.

"Twenty cavalry, one hundred infantry… four carriages, prisoners… no, slaves? It's like a convoy but…"

"Cordova's slave hunters!"

Maal shouted suddenly. Together with her own unpleasant memories, it corresponded to her current existence.

"Cordova… that place really isn't a good country."

Ria groaned while enduring what looked like a headache. As a militaristic nation of humans, Cordova absorbed more and more of its nearby tribes and nations. Though it was a law-abiding country, it wasn't forbidden for them to enslave people from other countries.

"What should we do?"

Carlos asked with a complicated expression. Originally, it would have been an opponent they shouldn't come in contact with.

But since Ria knew of them, he believed there wouldn't be such a simple conclusion.

"Ria-chan…"

Seeing Maal's cute and round eyes, Ria's judgement greatly erred towards emotion.

"I'll scout it out first. I'm going to go a bit ahead."

With a shout, Ria had Matsukaze gallop.

 

 

"Though I think it's going to turn into a massacre, I'm just scouting for now."

Ria had a dangerous smile when she said that. Her eyes weren't smiling.

The army was taking a short break at a watering hole, it was definitely a slave hunt. There were around fifty humans and beastkin crammed inside wood-framed cages.

"I'm going to help them, who's with me?"

Maal quickly raised her hand, followed by Serge and Gig. The two older people were reluctant, but they also raised their hands.

"You're fine with it?"

Though Ria was surprised, Lulu and Carlos exchanged glances and smiled wryly.

"Since we can't stop you, it's better to stay with you."

With that said, Ria's serious face cleared up.

Since the army was advancing towards them, they discussed how to deal with them in specifics.

"Now, there's a problem."

Ria raised a finger. Though there were several problems, she thought this was the most important one.

"Among us, has anyone killed someone?"

Right, that was it.

They were fighting against an army. In addition, this wasn't in the Immortal Labyrinth. Honestly, though it was hard to think they would sustain damage here with their levels, it wasn't likely they would be able to stop them so conveniently without killing them.

"I've exterminated a few thieves on the frontier."

Seeing that Carlos was a soldier, he had experience. No one else. Even Ria, she'd only killed people with the premise that they'd revive in Labyrinth City.

"Serge, are you okay?"

Taking his previous life's values into consideration, she called out to him in particular since she thought he would have an especially hard time killing people.

"Well, I'll be shooting magic from a distance. I'll get used to it. I'll aim at the knights and not the soldiers as much as possible."

Ten years of being reincarnated. In a world where human life was cheap, he'd have to get accustomed to it somehow.

After that, they planned their attack.

Their purpose was simply to secure the slaves. If they just released them haphazardly, it would probably be difficult for them to return to their original communities. They would take a lot of effort to send them off.

"Horses and food are absolutely necessary."

Carlos and Ria set up the strategy. Serge also made an appearance.

"We should attack at night. I don't want to hit you all on accident as much as possible."

"I want the cavalry to be dealt with as much as possible. They might have a main force somewhere."

They verified the minimum horse feed and food required.

"We'll beat those guys down in one hit."

In the case of Serge's magic, it would take one blow to kill. Though he confirmed it with the magic Identify, their highest level was thirty. They wouldn't be able to endure it.

 

 

As the sun went down, the light of campfires from inside the camp illuminated the night's darkness.

Ria stood on the hill overlooking the army camp.

There was still some time until midnight. Although there were troops standing guard, they didn't seem to be very vigilant. There were strong demons in the area, but they were careless. Probably due to their numbers.

"Alright, shall we go?"

Magic covered the warriors. Leaving the carriage and horses, Rudolph was left to guard. Already having moved around, Maal stood on the side the slaves were at.

They slowly descended the hill. They used magic on their armor so that it wouldn't give off any metallic sounds.

Counting to ten, Serge and Lulu used Exploding Fireball.

The fireballs exploded on the tents and sentry lights.

It was a one-sided slaughter.

The cavalry that tried to escape on their horses were sliced in two from Serge's space-time magic. Aiming at the groups of people that tried to band together, Lulu's Fireball burst.

Running in, Ria's group cut down the knights that attempted to take command. Though one person planned to leave, their circumstances didn't allow them to keep count.

There was the smell of blood and entrails, as well as the smell of burning flesh. Plumes of smoke filled the area, promoting chaos.

"Savage!"

The enemies shouted. They probably recognized Gig's appearance. The soldiers shouted, but Gig's warhammer turned them into lumps of meat.

Carlos moved while continuing to check the surroundings so that he didn't fall behind. Since Gig moved impulsively, he followed him.

Ria seemed to move as she pleased, choosing her opponents. Some were knocked down by her hands, the remainder being cut down.

Ria was surprised at how calm and strange she was.

Nothing here gave her elation from fighting. It was strange that she killed people like a machine.

She wondered why she didn't feel any guilt. Though she was used to killing due to the Goblins and Orcs, maybe it was the same with humans?

She suddenly noticed.

Those guys didn't treat the slaves as humans, so she didn't treat them as humans.

If this were a battlefield, rather than having feelings of guilt, it was probably better to be in high spirits to drown it all out.

The soldiers in front of her eyes also had a life, even if she thought they could have families, her katana didn't stop.

Though she could cut through their armor, she tried to hit their vitals and necks as much as possible. She didn't have a hobby of making people suffer.

Not having decent equipment, the soldiers ran. Aiming at their backs, Ria shot fire arrows without holding back.

Their opponents aimed to flee after already losing their fighting spirit. They decided to let the infantry go. Even if they ran away, they were likely to die by demon attacks without food and equipment. They didn't bother taking prisoners.

Less than an hour after beginning the attack, the battle ended.

They put an end to enemies that were suffering. They tied the two fainted knights up and left them.

The soldiers that had just fainted were lucky, they were left alone. Their objective wasn't annihilation.

Coming down from the hill, Serge vomited after seeing the devastation.

Even Lulu held her mouth, but she managed to endure it.

As expected, Carlos endured it with a solemn expression. Maybe due to his race, Gig didn't seem to have much trouble with what happened.

"Now then, it's going to be troublesome after this."

Ria muttered. There was no damage as planned. However, the problem was here.

While looking at the slaves that had been placed on the carriage, Ria sighed deeply.