Karma
Karma
It was a wide open plain with nothing to obstruct sight, and the only visible lights were the encampment and the lanterns on quite a few wagons, so it wasn't that difficult to track their movements.
But aside from that, because those customer bastards stuck around until late, we had to just sit around chewing grass during a boring wait.
"If we throw down the torch from that watchtower over there, Eldi can handle it for us."
"Then I'll start by taking out that one... and the two torches in the tent below."
Of course, we hadn't literally just sat around chewing grass doing nothing. We spent the time fleshing out the plan—examining the camp layout to guess what might be where, figuring out how much ground we could cover if we seized the watchtowers they'd temporarily set up and used them as sniping points, and so on.
Roughly speaking, there looked to be about ten sleeping tents alone, so the camp probably held at least around forty people, and based on the layout, we could guess which area was most likely being used to hold the slaves, and so on.
But that only took a few dozen minutes. Because their business dragged on considerably longer than we'd expected, we ended up enduring the chill night wind with the spirits' help and observing for about another hour before the last wagon finally began to leave the encampment.
"Looks like that's the last one. Let's go, big sis."
The objective was simple. Grab as many documented pieces of evidence as we could carry and rescue the slaves.
If it were up to me, I'd have just purified the whole place with fire, but I figured the camp needed to stay somewhat intact so that the people who'd be dispatched from the capital later could investigate more easily, so I decided to hold back.
I didn't rush. It always took time for the day's work to end, personal maintenance to begin, and the atmosphere to loosen. Wouldn't the slave merchant bastards get to experience a bit of the karma they'd piled up if we waited until a sense of relief that the day was truly over took hold in the camp, then struck and shattered their routine?
As soon as we were close enough, I didn't even need to ask Asilie, who was drawing her bow. I raised my Magic Power and sprinted at full speed toward their palisade.
The palisade was nothing more than a fence that came up to about my waist. Even with sharpened stakes meant to stop beasts and monsters jutting out here and there, I could just jump right over something like that.
With physical ability that let me cover more than half of a roughly two-hundred-meter stretch in under five seconds, that kind of obstacle was child's play. I could even tell my movements were far lighter than before, thanks to the improvements in my Magic Power control that had been especially pronounced since the incident in the Empire.
My footsteps were so light that I made barely any sound as I charged in. The man who spotted me—who looked like a mercenary stretching out a yawn in the watchtower—only noticed me when I was right at the edge of the area lit by the torch hanging beside him.
We made definite eye contact at a distance where we could clearly make out each other's expressions, but before he had a chance to register the anomaly, Asilie's arrow flew in and pierced his throat, pinning his body to the watchtower post.
-Thunk!
With the arrow that had turned him into a corpse-hanger as my signal, I vaulted the palisade like a hurdle jumper and landed inside. I paused to listen for a moment, but I didn't hear any sounds of alarm.
All I could see was one poor bastard obliviously washing his face with enthusiasm. And because he was going through the noisiest old-man face-washing routine imaginable, he apparently hadn’t even heard the arrow strike.
"Talk about rotten luck."
"Huh? Who—"
-Shk!
At any other time, I might have found him a bit pitiful and let him live to pump him for information, but since he was in league with the slave traders, this time I drew my sword and took his head without mercy.
Anyway, I just had to kill them all and then find the stuff. It wasn't like they'd have buried the important documents in the ground.
I peeked into the tent right next to me and found two of them asleep, so I cleanly cut their throats, then used the water bucket the face-washing bastard had been using to douse the torch in front of the tent. Asilie followed behind me and jumped into the encampment as well.
"It's my first time seeing Eldi fight—you're really clean about it. I'd heard beheading a person is never easy."
"You pick up a knack for it, surprisingly. Ah, the bastard up top—if he's wearing a sword, toss that down too, will you? This one was in the middle of washing so he's got nothing."
"A sword? Even a dagger?"
"If he's got one, that'd be good."
I'd once heard on Earth that cutting the throat of a motionless person wasn't easy either, but against a body thoroughly trained with Magic Power, those stories from ordinary people didn't mean a damn thing. Asilie scaled the watchtower as quickly as a squirrel climbing a tree; I used the water bucket to put out even the torch she dropped down to me, then waited a moment. Two daggers and a short sword, belt and all, came falling down.
At a glance I could tell they weren't great quality, but the blades weren't chipped and they hadn't been neglected, so I slung them over my shoulder, kept my back as bent as possible, and began moving through the spaces where the light didn't reach, mindful of any signs of life.
Even with all that caution, my hulking body made it hard to feel any psychological comfort. Infiltration suits my temperament well, as a proper cultist of the ambush, but physically it doesn't match at all—suddenly I felt a little sad.
"Ha, only a few days left of this shit."
"Didn't they say we'd get to rest for about a week this time?"
"That's what they said. And they said they'd throw in a fat bonus, so I'm planning to live in the brothel for three days straight."
Since I'd been checking every tent I could get my hands on as I passed, this time too I had been about to lift the flap without a thought when I heard voices from inside it.
"Kid. How long do you think you can keep making a living off this gig? Save your money diligently, dammit."
"Bullshit. I'm gonna milk this for another ten years at least. With income this sweet, you think anyone's gonna notice if I drop a bit at the whorehouse?"
"When the boss gives you the goods to use, what are you going and spending money at the brothel for? I just can't fucking understand you."
"I'd rather cut it off than do that with a slave."
"That's why I'm saying, you're a guy I really can't understand."
I counted three voices. A lantern lit up inside the tent just then, meaning we really had only missed crossing paths by a hair's breadth. Judging by the shadows moving in the lantern light, they were just now taking off their gear and changing clothes.
If I wanted to quietly take down all three at once, this was clearly the best shot. I checked that there were no other bastards roaming around, then drew a dagger in each hand and strode right into the tent entrance.
"Huh? What's this?"
"No duty today... who are you?"
Seeing the three of them each minding their own business, standing at perfect angles for a dagger throw, I figured today was a really lucky day. I hurled a dagger toward the forehead of each of the two bastards who were just taking off their leather armor, then lunged at the last one, who had his back to me, and slammed my elbow right into the back of his skull. The inside of the tent was tidied up just like that.
-Crunch!
"Ughk!"
"Whoops."
Well, except for the fact that the last one died.
Since I'm confident in my throwing skills too, I had zero doubt the two would die, but I hadn't expected a single elbow strike to snap a neck bone and kill a man...
"Has my power gone up without me noticing...?"
By the feel of it, at least one cervical vertebra had been completely shattered.
Honestly, I'd meant to get the slaves' location out of him before killing him this time, so I was a little flustered, but what could I do? Spilled water is spilled water, so I just looted their pouches and weapons and put out the lantern.
The night was long anyway. We'd probably find them after a few more times around.
◈
As soon as she climbed onto the watchtower, Asilie identified the sentries on the other towers and finished sniping them. She tracked Eldmia's movements and tilted her head in puzzlement.
She'd never specifically taught him this sort of thing, but he was oddly proficient. On top of that, it was going smoothly.
"Has he been getting by on assassination contracts instead of adventurer work...?"
Even knowing full well that couldn't possibly be the case, Eldmia's actions were so clean she couldn't dismiss the question. He expertly put out fires, and he clearly registered movements even at a distance, moving with awareness of every sound.
He had already dealt with the fourth tent, his rapid-fire actions continuing without a moment's hesitation, so Asilie was starting to feel that she didn't even need to provide covering fire anymore.
Since she'd never once seen him directly fight before this, she had expected a lot of complex thoughts to come up. Surprising herself with how unexpectedly calm she felt about it, Asilie decided to move to a different watchtower just in case anything happened. Nearly half the personnel in the encampment had already been dealt with, but letting her guard down was out of the question.
The encampment she moved through, descending silently like a cat and slipping along, had already been swept once by Eldmia, so she sensed no sign of life at all. The only thing she sensed was the faint, rising smell of blood.
But the emotion Asilie felt within that was relief.
Because the fact that Eldmia, still only fifteen, was this multi-talented and proficient meant the likelihood of him safely achieving his revenge was also high.
Filled with a strange sense of elation and hoping the remaining enemies would be dealt with just as cleanly, she climbed the second watchtower and checked Eldmia's position—right at that moment.
"Aaaaagh!"
A piercing scream tore through the silence that had settled over the encampment.