Chapter 16
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Warlock (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"I was just getting hungry. Perfect timing."
"What do you want...!"
Peter, who had shouted at the leader, glanced over at Yutenia.
This was the same Yutenia who had single-handedly wiped out an entire village.
Peter seemed curious about how she would handle the bandits.
Seeing Peter glance her way, Yutenia simply offered a faint smile.
With no other choice, Peter had to face the bandit leader again.
"Everything."
"...What did you say?"
"Hand over everything you have! We'll sell you off as slaves, and we'll make good use of the food in that carriage."
The leader's stance was even more uncompromising than they had expected.
There was no offer to let them go peacefully if they just handed over their goods.
The food was theirs for the taking, and the people were to be captured and sold into slaverythat was the bandits' plan.
Faced with a dead-end conversation, Peter sighed.
He then turned his head completely to look at the smiling Yutenia.
Yutenia was still calmly hugging her book.
"They don't seem willing to let us go. What should we do?"
Peter asked Yutenia in a troubled voice.
A quick glance told him the number of bandits before them was far more than he could count on both hands.
There was no way Peter could drive them off alone.
It was only natural for him to hope for Yutenia's help.
Srrk.
Stroking the book's cover with her slender fingers, Yutenia spoke to Peter.
"Wouldn't it be better to talk with them a little more?"
"They're bandits."
"Have you considered that they might be rehabilitated?"
"...If they were that kind of people, they wouldn't be talking about slaves."
It was a perfectly sensible answer.
As Peter's troubled expression lingered, Yutenia, who had been watching him, reluctantly nodded.
Still hugging her book, Yutenia rose from her seat in the back of the carriage.
The hem of the tunic she wore fluttered slightly in the mountain breeze.
"You seem to be in a bind, so I suppose I should help a little."
Having stood up, Yutenia's gaze shifted to the bandits blocking the road.
The bandits were still looking at the carriage with condescending eyes.
They had the numerical advantage.
They must have felt that a naive-looking young man and a girl clutching a book were no threat at all.
In an ordinary situation, that wouldn't have been an entirely wrong assessment.
Except the Yutenia standing before them was a being far removed from the ordinary.
"Hello, everyone."
"Hahaha...! This time a pretty little lady has stepped up in place of the coward."
"My name is Yutenia Hi-Lost. I am an Apostle who serves a Great One."
"Apostle? What in the world is that?"
Hearing the title 'Apostle', the leader looked at her with a bored expression and asked.
An Apostle of a god.
It was not a concept used in the six temples of Crossbridge.
They officially had a Saintess and a Holy Emperor, but they did not recognize any other apostles beneath them.
A title that didn't even exist in the six most widespread temples was hardly something a backwater bandit would understand.
Yutenia kindly replied to the puzzled leader.
"An Apostle is one who serves the Great One from the closest of positions."
"What! After all that complicated talk, you're just a priestess!"
"To all of you here, have you any intention of devoting yourselves to the Great One?"
Facing the bandits, Yutenia invited them to join her faith.
But the bandits who heard her only scoffed.
There was even a bandit who made a vulgar gesture at her.
One of the bandits standing behind the leader shouted at Yutenia in an agitated voice.
"Hmph, I've hated those who peddle gods since I was a kid. If there was a god, I wouldn't have ended up like this!"
"Is that so?"
Thud. Crackle.
No sooner had Yutenia's words ended than a bizarre sound echoed from behind the leader.
It sounded like something interlocking being forced out of place.
The leader's gaze slowly moved toward the source of the sound.
When his head had fully turned, he saw something and let out a scream.
"Ugh, uwaaaah...!"
"Boss? What's wrong?"
"Jack is dead!"
What the leader found was the sight of his comrade, twisted in a grotesque direction.
At the sight that had unfolded in an instant, the leader's jaw dropped as he stared at Yutenia.
There was only one person at the scene who could be the suspect.
Despite the horrific tragedy unfolding before her, Yutenia remained unfazed, still hugging her book with a smile.
Seeing Yutenia's serene appearance, the leader shouted at her.
"Did you... did you do this?"
"What a shame. If only he had served the Great One, he wouldn't have met such an end."
"That woman is a mage! Kill her now!"
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the bandit leader was the first to act.
He raised his sword and gave the order, targeting Yutenia.
In battle, mages were the greatest threat.
Therefore, the leader's plan was to eliminate Yutenia first.
However, despite his command, the waiting bandits did not move.
Seeing no reaction from his men, he turned his head again to check behind him.
"You lot, what are you doing..."
"Gyaaaaaah!"
"B-Boss... help me!"
"Uwaaaaaaaah...!"
Hands stretching out from the shadows on the ground were swarming the bandits.
Some caught by the shadows screamed, while others who saw the shadows fled.
For those caught by the shadows, the result was generally the same.
Snap. Crackle.
With a sickening sound, their bodies were twisted and crushed by the shadowy hands until they died.
The leader cursed, flustered by the explosive flood of shadows.
"This is... insane...!"
Being the leader of the bandits did not make him an exception to the shadows' assault.
Hands shot out from the ground, aiming for him.
The leader swung his sword in a panic.
Clang! Kang!
With a heavy sound, the hands aiming for the leader were knocked away.
But those were not the only shadows targeting him.
The leader bit his lip as he faced the seemingly endless wave of shadows.
"Keuk...!"
"Repent for your sins, and return to His side."
Yutenia's gentle voice echoed.
The leader tried to resist, continuously striking at the shadows, but there was a limit to the number of hands he could handle.
Countless hands began to stretch out from beyond the shadows.
The leader's own hands began to lose their strength, and at some point, he dropped the sword he was holding.
Thud.
The leader's sword clattered to the ground.
In an instant, shadowy hands shot out and bound his arms and legs.
"W-Wait!"
"...?"
"Just wait a minute!"
As the leader was completely restrained, shadowy hands reached for him from all directions.
Seeing the hands moving toward his head, he shouted desperately at Yutenia.
It was a final, desperate plea to stop the attack for just a moment.
At the leader's sudden, absurd demand, Yutenia stared at him with cold eyes and asked.
"What is it?"
"Among our comrades who aren't here, there's a warlock!"
"A warlock...?"
"If you kill me, he won't let you get away with it!"
The words that came from the leader's mouth were a threat directed at Yutenia.
It was something most people would have ignored.
But Yutenia stopped the shadowy hands that were moving toward the leader.
It wasn't because she was afraid of his threat.
It was simply that one word from his mouth had piqued her interest.
"A mage... now that's a little interesting."
A warlock.
Hearing that word, Yutenia withdrew all the shadowy hands.
The hands that had filled the air vanished in an instant.
As the shadows that had dominated the area disappeared, the bandits who had been restrained by them were freed.
Of the more than ten bandits, only three had survived.
It was a rather pathetic outcome for those who had so arrogantly threatened Yutenia.
"Hah, haah..."
The leader gasped for breath after confirming the number of surviving bandits, including himself.
A cold sweat trickled down his forehead, a mixture of relief and fear.
The other bandits were equally relieved.
They picked up their dropped weapons and watched Yutenia warily as she counted the dead.
Peter looked at Yutenia with an uncomprehending gaze, baffled by her sudden decision to let the bandits go.
It was nothing more than a threat from mere thugs.
The so-called warlock was probably nothing special either.
Yet, the fact that Yutenia had spared them was something Peter couldn't understand.
"Why did you do that?"
"Because I want to see a mage."
"Pardon...?"
Hearing Yutenia's answer, Peter wore a blank expression.
She hadn't withdrawn the shadows because she was afraid of the bandits' threats.
The reason Yutenia had stopped her attack was simply because she wanted to see a mage.
Ever since receiving the grimoire from her master, Yutenia had been fascinated by magic.
The grimoires and magical theories a warlock might possess.
And the power of the magic used by other mages.
She thought this was a perfect opportunity to encounter a variety of magics.
Tap. Tap.
Yutenia's footsteps approached the leader, who was slumped in the middle of the mountain path.
With each step Yutenia took, the leader's body flinched.
When she was right in front of the trembling bandit, Yutenia looked down at him and asked.
"You said there was a mage?"
"Y-Yes! Among our comrades is a fearsome warlock! He even uses people as sacrifices!"
The leader was still trying to exaggerate the warlock's power.
But such things were meaningless to Yutenia.
Hugging her book, Yutenia met the leader's eyes with the kindest smile in the world.
Then, in a soft, sweet tone, she made a request.
"Then, would you be so kind as to guide me there yourself?"