Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Chapter 5 - Lilia
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The group, sipping soup made from Jogres meat and salt for breakfast, suddenly snapped their heads up.
The sound was quite distant, but it was unmistakably a human scream.
[It seems to be a woman's scream.]
[It's coming from the northwest direction.]
At Integra's words, Luther jumped to his feet and turned to Karen and Max.
"The northwest direction. I'll go check it out first, so pack up and get ready to move."
A single scream didn't reveal the situation or the level of threat.
At Luther's words, Max and Karen set down their remaining meat soup and began packing.
"Integra, how far is it?"
[Approximately 200 meters, I'd estimate.]
It was closer than expected.
Luther leaped forward, recalling the map he'd seen the night before.
'Northwest about 200 meters... that's almost the edge.'
Where the forest ended and connected to the road.
[It's down the slope.]
[I recommend hiding your body in the sloped area first.]
Sound advice.
Covering 200 meters in one breath, Luther didn't reveal himself on the slope leading down. Instead, he crouched nearby and raised his right arm.
"Integra, drone."
[Activating the drone.]
With a gentle voice, the drone attached to his wrist extended its propellers and took flight.
'Oh.'
This was future tech.
Drones existed in Luther's era too, but this one was no ordinary drone.
It could even project a beautiful maid hologram—
'No, that's not it.'
Far more importantly.
"Integra, share vision."
[Sharing vision with Master. Please close your eyes.]
Following Integra's instruction, Luther closed his eyes, and an image appeared in his mind.
It was the world from the drone's perspective.
'Feels like I'm a bird.'
The view while floating gently felt a bit different from usual.
In any case, the drone silently flew down the slope, and its camera captured the scene.
"Hic, sob...."
A terrified blonde woman sat on the ground, sniffling, while three men closed in on her like predators.
The men with swords were clearly adventurers at a glance.
Mismatched partial plate armor, leather clothing, accessories made from monster teeth and claws, and so on.
In contrast, the blonde woman, who looked about twenty, had no adventurer vibe at all.
Her travel clothes were obviously high-end, with clear signs of ornate detailing.
Above all, her refined appearance didn't scream adventurer.
'Over half the adventurers in Dragon Hunter Origin were trash.'
Adventurers sounded noble, but in reality, they were little different from wandering mercenaries.
Their main job was handling tasks requiring blades in areas beyond the military's reach.
Such areas often lacked law and order, breeding crime.
'They can turn into criminals at the drop of a hat.'
There was even a saying in Dragon Hunter Origin: 'Adventurers can sometimes be synonymous with bandits, rapists, and murderers.'
Of course, not all adventurers were like that—Karen and Max proved it—but the tendency grew stronger near untamed frontiers.
"Wh-why... why...."
As the blonde woman trembled and asked, the adventurers glanced at each other and burst into laughter.
"Simple math. Complete the escort job, get one gold coin. But smack her on the head in a deserted spot, grab the wallet, and you pocket at least thirty gold plus some fun. Which would you pick? You shouldn't flash your money like that, miss."
The red-haired adventurer, who seemed like the leader and was fairly handsome, rubbed his hands as he spoke. The other two grinned lewdly.
From the looks of it, the hired escorts had turned bandit.
They must have spotted her wallet during the escort and changed their minds.
"Heh, shall we have some fun now?"
At the red-haired man's words, the other two leered and approached the blonde woman.
Completely terrified, she looked around and cried out.
"Help! Someone, please help!"
It was a desperate plea, but the adventurers just laughed as if it were amusing.
The red-haired one teased her.
"Forgot where we are? Scream all you want—no one's coming."
True enough.
It was the primitive beast forest, sparse on people. Even if someone heard, screams were usually ignored.
Evidence of trouble.
'But there's always an exception.'
Having made up his mind, Luther opened his eyes, ending the vision share, and spoke in a low voice.
"Integra, set the energy gun to stun shot power."
[Adjusting energy gun power to stun shot.]
[Executing aiming assist.]
Luther nodded instead of replying, leaped to the top of the slope, and extended his right hand.
-Papapap!
A perfect ambush.
The bald man and the brown-haired one, focused on the blonde woman, took hits to the back of their heads and collapsed without a chance to react.
The red-haired adventurer dodged the first shot with surprising reflexes, but it didn't change much.
Luther could just fire again.
-Pap!
"Gah!"
He took one to the forehead and one to the chest instead, tumbling forward.
[Acquired a tiny bit of combat data.]
[See? Easy, right?]
"Yeah."
One-shotting ragtag adventurers was a given.
Glancing at his right arm housing the energy gun, Luther clenched his fist once, then descended the slope.
To comfort the blonde woman who'd just been on the verge of rape.
[But Master, she seems to have passed out.]
Integra was right.
The woman who'd been screaming moments ago now leaned against a tree, unconscious.
[She was extremely tense, then saw the men collapse suddenly and fainted from shock.]
[She seems very frail-hearted.]
A bit awkward, but understandable.
From her perspective, it was a life-or-death crisis.
"Integra, just to be safe, check her condition."
[Understood.]
Nodding at Integra's response, Luther approached the blonde woman cautiously and took her wrist.
[She's completely unconscious.]
[But no health issues apparent.]
[How about leaving her here before she becomes a heroine?]
He thought he'd misheard for a second, but shook his head and examined her again.
'Amazing.'
The blonde woman was stunningly beautiful.
Pale, long hair and a delicate, somewhat melancholic face.
But no specific name came to mind.
'Like Karen, too pretty to be a nobody.'
The idea that 'pretty = important character' was a stretch, but not entirely wrong.
'Dragon Hunter series characters were all hotties above a certain level.'
Rare beauties were treasures, so not every looker was in the series, but worth suspecting.
"Hmm, well... we'll know when she wakes up."
Discarding any hesitation, Luther turned to the fallen adventurers.
But just then.
"Lord Luther?"
Karen and Max appeared atop the slope.
They'd followed out of worry since he hadn't returned.
"Lord Luther, what on earth happened?"
Three men sprawled haphazardly, one woman unconscious.
Luther pointed to the red-haired man.
"Three men tried to rape and kill her, then rob her. I took them down and saved her, but she fainted from relief."
His speech was still a bit stiff for longer sentences.
Perfect fluency would take time.
"Hmm... I get the gist."
Max looked around at Luther's words, nodded, and continued.
"The escorts turned bandit. Pretty common on the frontier."
Karen nodded in agreement.
Luther knew the Dragon Hunter world was gritty from the game, but their casual reactions felt odd.
[Master, from Karen and Max's reactions, this seems routine on this planet.]
[The fainted woman must be very naive or sheltered to fall victim.]
"Yeah."
Luther glanced at Karen and said,
"Anyway, we can't just leave her. Let's take her with us."
"Yes, even if she wakes, she probably can't make it alone. At least escort her to the village."
A thoughtful response, typical of Karen.
Luther smiled faintly, and Max asked about the fallen adventurers.
"What about these guys?"
"Strip their gear first."
Max nodded immediately at Luther's answer.
He'd planned the same.
"Karen, look after her."
"Yes, Lord Luther."
While Karen tended to the blonde woman, Luther stripped the adventurers' equipment and frowned.
"Hmm... nothing useful, huh?"
[I agree with Master.]
[Mostly poor quality, poorly maintained.]
They might fetch some coin, but with Jogres parts already weighing them down, they took only weapons and discarded the rest.
Ten minutes or so later.
Luther shouldered the still-unconscious blonde woman and stood.
Midway, Max dragged the adventurers off to "finish them," but Luther didn't ask details.
They would've raped and killed her if he hadn't intervened.
Whatever Max did, Luther stayed out of it.
"Let's head out."
Led by the lightly burdened Karen, the group exited the primitive beast forest and followed the road.
About twenty minutes in.
[Master, six life signs approaching from the opposite corner.]
[Estimated human.]
Luther halted Max and Karen with a hand signal at Integra's warning.
"Lord Luther?"
"Someone's coming."
Right after Luther's low words.
People approached from around the bend, just as Integra said.
But something was off.
Five men in clear adventurer gear, one carrying an unconscious woman over his shoulder like luggage.
They flinched like Luther's group, but the apparent leader—a bald man—spotted the blonde on Luther's shoulder and grinned.
[They think you're a fellow trader.]
[Reasonable assumption.]
Group with fainted woman like baggage, looking like slavers who'd been adventurers.
Karen and Max tensed similarly, and Luther narrowed his eyes.
He knew it was lawless, but the frontier's chaos still shocked.
A few seconds of tense standoff.
The bald man nodded and winked at Luther.
[Probably means 'go our separate ways.']
You got yours, I got mine—pretend we didn't see.
After brief thought, Luther nodded. Karen and Max peeked nervously but said nothing.
"Alright then."
The bald man passed with his group.
But right after.
The moment the groups crossed.
"Attack!"
"Integra!"
The bald man and Luther shouted almost simultaneously, turning as the fight began.