Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: First Party (4)
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In a surprisingly good atmosphere, we were finishing off the remaining Brutal Scorpions and collecting their stingers.
-Ding-a-ling
"Someone's coming."
True to her rogue instincts, Katel—who had set up a simple bell trap in the rear—noticed the disturbance first.
At her words, Lude, who had been harvesting stingers alongside her, went on high alert. I drew my sword and watched the rear, while Bram readied his hammer.
"What is it? A false alarm?"
The newcomers were a group of seven. Unlike our well-balanced party with varied roles, all seven of them wielded swords. A mix of humans and beastkin.
Seeing them, we raised our weapons even higher.
"Whoa, whoa. No need to be that on guard. We're here on a commission too, hunting those monsters you left lying around."
The man at the front—a sleazy-looking guy with red hair—spoke up first.
I scanned his companions. All swordsmen. None had proper gear; they wore light, shabby clothes. Hard to believe they were labyrinth adventurers with such poor equipment.
"...You guys haven't been in the labyrinth much, have you?"
My party members just kept their weapons trained on them without a word, so I had no choice but to respond.
"What's that? You picking a fight?"
"You're the one picking it. The basic rule for adventurers in the labyrinth is not to approach others—especially not right after a hunt when they're collecting loot. Since you can't even follow that, you must be newbies who just arrived."
"So?"
"Get lost."
As we talked, we exchanged hand signals. Fortunately, the others knew them too and silently signaled back with one hand.
'Any more?'
'That's all of them.'
Even Lude, who had been hunting barehanded until now, unslung the bow from his back. Frost gathered on Bram's hammer. Katel... was just loosening her joints.
"Ha, you little shit. Who the hell do you think you are, telling us to fuck off?"
Despite his angry words, the redhead and his cronies snickered lowly, gripping their weapons as they took a step toward us.
I'd expected it from how they approached without disarming... but these guys were straight out of a cliché villain illustration.
"We were pissed already because you took all the monsters we were gonna hunt. All seven of us hit a total blank. That's no small loss..."
Emphasizing their numbers, they closed the distance a bit more. One more step, and they'd be in sword range.
"Leave some of that stuff behind. Must be heavy carrying it all, right? We'll take some off your hands."
"I'll say it one more time. Get lost."
"You don't get it, huh? Let me make it simple..."
"Filthy scum."
Interrupting our exchange, Katel—who had been stretching—stepped forward. Only then did they seem to notice her, their momentum faltering as they hesitated.
"What the...? That orc...?"
"Hey, wasn't it supposed to be three?"
"I ain't never seen a bitch like that...?"
...No way. Had Katel been stealthed? She popped out during every fight, but since I was up front, I hadn't realized she was hiding from them.
And her stealth must have been top-notch, because they acted like they'd just spotted her for the first time. Especially intimidated by her muscles.
"F-Fuck. So what? We got seven, they got four."
"Yeah, you bastards. No more talk—just hand over everything..."
"Burntar!!!!"
With a sudden roar, Katel charged forward and swung her fist. The redhead at the front took it full to the face and went flying sideways.
Momentarily stunned, the thugs stared blankly before rallying and rushing us with their swords drawn.
"You fucking orc bitch!! Die!"
One exploited his reach to thrust at Katel's side as she punched barehanded.
-Clang!
"Get lost!"
She deflected his sword with the guard strapped to her left arm. She'd tried using a shield but ditched it for being too pricey and unwieldy, buying this instead from Miranda—at a heavy discount, suspiciously cheap.
Sweeping her left arm to smack his blade aside, she thrust her right-hand sword in.
"!! Gurk..."
A sickening sensation ran through my hand, like severing something. Blood sprayed across my face, blurring my vision. Not goblin green, but human red—with that familiar metallic tang piercing my lungs.
I'd reflexively gone from defense to thrust without thinking, but a week's worth of drilled moves and skills zeroed in on his throat, piercing it cleanly.
"You bastard!"
As I paused for a split second, another thug followed up with a dagger swing. My sword was lodged too deep to pull, so I dropped it and dodged back.
-Whoosh!
"Gah! Gaaah..."
The moment I stepped back, an arrow from the rear nailed the thug's eye. Right in front of me, a man thrashed with an arrow through his socket before dying.
'Urp...'
Something rose in my gut, but another thug charged wildly, face twisted in terror, swinging his sword haphazardly.
Katel swept his legs, stopping him. I swallowed the vomit forcefully and grabbed my sword hilt again.
-Crunch
The blade wouldn't budge easily. Stomping the downed man's throat with one foot, I yanked hard. Something snapped, and foul clumps came free as the sword pulled out.
"H-Hiiik!"
What a sight that must've been. I didn't look down, but it wasn't pretty—the charging thug dropped his sword and turned to flee.
"Frozen Ball!!"
Bram chanted at the runner's back. A blue orb formed, which he then smashed with his hammer.
"Frozen Ball!!"
⟨ Frozen Ball ⟩
-Kwang!!
With a crisp sound, the blue sphere rocketed into the runner's skull. He tumbled head over heels, and the remaining thugs dropped their weapons, hunching low.
"S-Surrender! Spare us!"
"Hiiik! Please, just our lives!"
One stabbed by my sword, one shot dead by arrow, one felled by ice orb, one launched by Katel at the start, and another she'd snapped in half at the waist—the rest cried out in surrender.
Seeing them trembling face-down, flattened as much as possible, the scene finally sank in.
Lude casually yanked an arrow from a corpse like it was routine. Katel returned with an impassive face. Bram stowed his hammer.
"........."
Just moments ago, I'd been savoring the romantic isekai party life I'd dreamed of. But in a mere two hours, I'd committed murder...
Ha, guess I still had some Earth water left in me. I'd thought I'd shed most of it. I'd steeled myself for killing, slain plenty of goblins... but the reality shook me.
The difference? Nausea hit during the kill, but now... nothing. Corpses still turned my stomach, but...
"...Haha..."
"H-Hiiik..."
I laughed without realizing. Not a pleasant one, judging by how the surrendered trash shivered.
But yeah. This is me. Right now, I just think it looks bad. Am I the wrong one?
Brilliant combat in real battle. [Swordsmanship] skill level has risen to 2.
Who knows. This world's no picnic anyway.
We took a moment to heal and regroup. Surprisingly, Lude's healing was excellent. He fully mended Katel's numerous cuts from barehanded fighting. She was the only one hurt.
We looted the dead for their adventurer tags and confiscated the survivors' weapons. Then Katel approached me.
"First kill?"
Was it that obvious? I felt numb, but maybe it showed.
"Yes."
"Regrets?"
"No."
"Good enough."
Was that all? She returned to her position. Her way of comforting me, I guess?
With Katel gone, I asked Bram nearby.
"First time dealing with this. What happens in adventurer-on-adventurer fights like this?"
Alensia had taught me how to fight them, but not the aftermath.
"Take their tags to the guild counter. With witnesses here, bring these guys along to testify."
"That's it?"
"They approached first and started shit. No blowback."
Bonus: Report the dead guys' gear and loot, then split it.
The survivors confessed: They were bandits from outside the labyrinth city. Busted in their old haunt, they fled here. But the city's other districts were too safe, and the east side too dangerous for small fry like them.
So the redhead suggested hitting the labyrinth like old times. Sell stolen gear from entrants for profit. They targeted solos or duos, and low-floor gatherers.
Robbed about three adventurer parties, got cocky, and tried a trio—which was us, and not even three.
"With all the monsters in the labyrinth city... you think small-timers like you can run wild?"
"A sword's a sword, ain't it...?"
These idiots have no clue. Even I, an otherworlder, know how strong the city's monsters are. Alensia alone took my sword swings barehanded. Mana involved, sure, but...
"I'm beat..."
Too much in too short a time.