by Funa
Well, not like I minded. She could keep a diary if she wanted.
...But I wouldn’t let her publish it! But I didn’t think to name it...
Hmm...
When you knock on it with your hand, it feels and sounds rigid.
And when you pour the medicine on it, it erases time and only leaves the result, like King Crimson.
You go “kon” with your hand (te), and it becomes King Crimson...
Te goes kon, into kincri...
Tekkon, kincree...
“Tekkonkinkreet, a.k.a. Tekkon!”
Yes, the Nagase Clan’s horrible naming sensibilities were still alive and well...
＊ ＊
“...Bring me the village mayor.”
Two bandits had come to visit. This time, they stayed outside of the entrance of the fence and made their demands from there. They must have found it suspicious that the three men they had sent previously hadn’t returned yet.
...Well, they’d have been idiots if they hadn’t.
Francette and I were hiding in the shack near the entrance, listening to their exchange. This shack was where the people on night watch duty took turns resting during periods of danger, like when monsters came to attack. The only furnishings were a couple of chairs and a table that looked like reused junk, but it was better than nothing.
The young men who had responded to the bandits yelling at the entrance called the mayor over.
“Yes, how can I help you...?”
The mayor was a pretty good actor. Must have been the wisdom that came with age.
“Our men should have come by yesterday! Where are they?!”
Yep, of course they came to check. And the mayor’s reply...
“Indeed, the three of them did pay us a visit.”
“Well? Where are they?!”
The bandits aren’t in a very good mood. That was to be expected, I suppose...
“Oh? They left right after. They said they were acting on their leader’s orders, and we gave them all the money we had, plenty of non-perishable food, water in a leather bag, and three of the best-looking young girls in the village...”
“Huh?”
The two bandits seemed dumbfounded. Then, the mayor’s words finally seemed to sink in.
“Wh-What?!”
“We only did as we were told by your messengers... Their words were their leader’s words, or that’s what we’ve been told...”
The bandits look troubled! What will they do now...?
“...Damn it! We’ll be back!”
Ah, they’d retreated to get new orders from their leader. Not like they had any other option, really.
They thought their men had betrayed them and ran off with the money, food, and girls. They couldn’t let the villagers realize this, or they’d expose their lack of solidarity and make themselves look bad. Of course they’d try to hide that. And, to make sure others didn’t follow suit, they had to catch and make an example out of the deserters. Now, they’d waste days trying to punish traitors who didn’t exist. During that time, we would continue our preparations.
The reason we hadn’t made a move on the visitors today was, of course, because we thought they might have suspected their previous messengers could have been attacked, and may even have stationed other bandits to keep watch on us from afar. That, or they could have already suspected the previous messengers had betrayed them, and had someone keeping watch on their own men. Either way, it was too dangerous to make a move this time. That was all.
“All right, let’s keep working, then!”
“Yeeeah!!!” the villagers all shouted at once.
The village was becoming much more cheerful. But they were still just doing as they were told, and all their work was without risk, so far. When it came down to it, would they be able to break out of their shells as herbivores? Could they stand up to their carnivorous oppressors?
Would they flee, or would they give up their own lives to deliver a sting, like the honeybee does? I remembered a manga I had bought at a used book store long ago. In that story, all the old people had willingly stayed to shoot at their enemies, buying time for the younger generation to get on a ship and fly off to space...
Did the old people of this village have that same resolve? A famous line from a certain title came to mind. “Why do you think tigers are strong? Because they’re strong by nature!” Tigers don’t lift weights or train to learn special moves. But they’re strong. That’s because they were born as tigers.
But the bandits were no tigers. They were nothing but stray dogs, trying to make themselves look big with weapons and violence. These men lacked the talent to become hunters, the discipline to become soldiers, the diligence to become merchants, the skills to become craftsmen, and the endurance to become farmers. What would be exposed from under their bravado when their desperate attempt at intimidation failed and the villagers they looked down on retaliated...?
＊ ＊
A few days later, the villagers had already formed their rural village defense organization, Arc Path.
Farming was an occupation that cultivated life through the creation of crops. A farmer who planned to kill other people was a farmer who had lost their way. But, this time, they had no choice. So, they hadn’t completely fallen off of their path, but it was more like they had deviated from it in an arc, which was how they had gotten their name.
...I named them, of course.
What? I thought it sounded cool!
There had been a lot of progress on the upgrades for the palisade since the first messengers had arrived. Using the extra time we had bought, the palisade had been completely reinforced. We had even set various traps around it and in the surrounding woods, as well as the bushes where the bandits might set up camp.
The traps ranged from highly advanced ones to cheap tricks. Some of them were literally made by the village kids, and might not even trigger properly. But with there being deadly traps in the mix, the bandits had to deal with each one as if it was highly dangerous. This restricted their actions and narrowed their range of options. And so...
“They’re here!”
The lookout alerted us as Francette and I were waiting at the shack on standby. From there, we could hear any conversations at the entrance. Roland and Emile were at a nearby house, while Belle and Layette were waiting in a house further away.
After some time, two bandits appeared. They called for the mayor like last time, to talk... or, rather, to intimidate the villagers.
“Heh, we’re back. Now, I’ll need you to give us money, food, and women, like we mentioned...”
It seemed they had given up on finding the “traitors that had run away.”
“What? We already gave you all of our money, food, and young girls. What are you talking about?”
“Urgh... Whatever. That’s not important, damn it!”
Unable to come up with a retort, the bandit yelled and tried to cover it up. But the mayor didn’t let up.
“You claim not to have received what we have already given you, and now you demand more? What kind of agreement is this?! Besides, are you truly even the same bandits who came here last time? I find it suspicious that you claim you haven’t gotten what we’ve handed over already! The person we gave everything to was definitely from the same group as the first visit. Some of us remember their faces. But we don’t recognize any of you...”
“Wh-What are you...”
They didn’t want us to know that they allegedly had a traitor. And even if they confessed, that wouldn’t be reason enough for the villagers to want to pay them again. That left the bandits with limited options.
The conversation came to a deadlock and the bandits seemed rather troubled, but then the mayor brought up a suggestion.
“If someone who we recognize...not the leader, but someone who’s distinct enough that they stood out, like that bald man with a wound on his cheek...and that silver-haired man who looked a bit frail to be a bandit... If those tw
o were here, we would know that they were definitely messengers from your leader. Then we would be open for negotiations...”
The two messengers cursed at the mayor, then left. Their next visit would be when we made our move.
＊ ＊
“I’m the boss’s second, Deyles, and this here’s Exdel, his advisor. We’re here, just like you wanted! Now, you’d better...”
The baldy and the slender guy had come with two others, making a total of four bandits. The mayor and villagers waited some distance away from the entrance, further inside the palisade, so the bandits moved forward and took a few steps toward them. Then...
“Wha...”
The entrance suddenly slammed shut, and several villagers sprang out of hiding and charged, each of them gripping a bamboo spear in their hands.
“Y-You bastards!”
Wham! Wham!
The bamboo spears were thrust into each of the bandits in quick succession. The bandits were definitely not masters of the sword, and there was no way that they could have parried so many attacks at once.
In a desperate battle between amateurs with no experience in martial arts, the difference in fighting abilities tends to be rather insignificant. And in cases where there was just a slight difference in power, that disadvantage could be overcome with superior reach and numbers. The four bandits couldn’t do anything against an ambush with so many long bamboo spears coming at them all at once.
Why had the villagers gone through so much trouble to set this up instead of just killing the messengers last time? Since they only had one chance to conduct an ambush, it was obviously better to use that chance to its maximum possible effect. That was why we had baited out the highest priority targets available.
Since the bandit leader was unlikely to come himself, they wanted to take out the second-in-command and the advisor, the latter of whom was the reason that the bandits were able to maneuver relatively well in the first place. According to the three bandits the villagers had captured, those two were the brains of the operation. The leader may have been strong and charismatic, but apparently he had muscles for brains...
Now, the bandit group had fallen from being formidable and cunning foes into just another pack of meatheads. Not only that, but the bandits would be blind with rage from losing their key members. When they did invade, they’d meet a counterattack carried out by Roland, Francette, myself, and the members of Arc Path, who had been taught how to fight without mercy. The preparations to defeat the bandits were complete!
But Roland and Francette...
I didn’t know you two were capable of torture and teaching people how to fight dirty...
I didn’t think knights and royals did that kind of stuff.
“They’ll probably come first thing tomorrow morning...”
Once they got the shocking news, it would be like a bolt from the blue, and they’d be left dumbfounded for some time, then go wild with rage. It would be near sundown by the time they made preparations and mobilized, so they’d probably come early tomorrow morning.
Well, that was assuming there was someone watching from afar who reported the incident right away, but judging by how no one had come to see what was happening after their second had been gone for so long, they were likely aware of what was going on.
In any case, I decided I would try to get some sleep tonight. Some of the villagers were standing watch in case the bandits tried to sneak in and take the girls and children hostage. And, of course, we weren’t part of the guard duty rotation. So, we would rest up for tomorrow.
＊ ＊
The next morning arrived.
It went without saying that I had woken up early, had some food, and washed my face in preparation for the bandits. Though it went against their usual routine, I had instructed the villagers to each have a light meal, too. It would’ve been bad if they were to get stabbed in the stomach when it was full, but I figured it would be worse if things went south when they still hadn’t eaten since last night, causing them to run out of energy.
Well, I did have potions for if they got stabbed in the stomach.
And so, their group arrived. There were about twenty of them, so it was probably everyone they had left. Twenty-nine minus three minus four makes twenty-two. ...Yeah, it was right around that number.
Francette and I were hiding in the nearby shack again.
The bandits stopped at a spot some distance away, far enough that even arrows wouldn’t reach, then sent a grunt over to the closed gate. The runner stopped in front of the gate.
“Bring out your mayor! Your...”
Wham!
“Huh...?” He looked rather confused for a moment, then looked down at the “feathered accessory” sprouting from his chest with a surprised expression, then fell to the floor, never to rise again.
The hunters shot rabbits and birds on a regular basis. There was no way they would miss a stationary target from such a short distance.
Twenty-one left.
“You bastaaards!!!”
The one shouting seemed to be their leader.
Shooting down their runner without hearing him out meant that the villagers denied them completely... in fact, it was a declaration of war. They had no intention of talking, now. Well, that should have been clear from the way the villagers had taken out their second-in-command last time, but they had decided to try to talk it out anyway, and ended up letting another one of their men die for nothing.
Rest in peace...
We do not negotiate with criminals and terrorists. Bargaining and tricking the opponent are all fine, though. No need to diligently follow the rules when your opponents clearly don’t. We should use all the trickery and traps we’ve got, instead.
Oh, and we hadn’t killed the three bandits that had come by earlier. Once we tied them up and gave them a weakening potion, there was no risk of them helping the enemy side, even if they managed to get rescued. Unlike muscle relaxants, weakening potions were safe to take, so no worries there. If you were to drink it, it would just render you unable to move your limbs, without affecting your breathing, heart, or other organs. And even if those bandits we captured did get away, they were just some peons, so they wouldn’t have made much of a difference.
But that wasn’t the case for the second-in-command. If he had escaped, it would’ve been a big blow to us. Nothing’s harder to deal with than a cunning villain. Also, I had to give the villagers some confidence before the main battle. They had to see for themselves that, while bandits may act tough, they were really nothing to fear.
Yes, bandits are weak. Not once have I seen or heard of bandits who spent every day training in martial arts. Though, I guess it’s possible that a few such bandits exist...
In any case, the majority of bandits haven’t received real training in any official capacity, and didn’t practice to improve themselves each day. They were merely ordinary men who were feared because they flashed weapons at defenseless, unarmed people, and were prepared to use violence on harmless folk. In fact, farmers, miners, hunters, and woodcutters could beat them easily in a straight-up fight.
Besides, if they really were strong, they would have gotten into an actual, legitimate profession and become hunters, mercenaries, contract bodyguards, or other security personnel. They wouldn’t have been here, debasing themselves by being bandits.
So, what would happen if the villagers all came at them with the intent to kill, without holding back and without regard for their own lives? We intended to show the bandits just that.
“Get ’em, men!”
Wham!
An arrow landed on another bandit, but it hit a reinforced part of his armor, so it was unfortunately rather ineffective. The bandits arrived at the gate before the next arrow was fired, but when they tried to open it...
Slam!
“Gyaaaaaa!”
Bam! Thud! Fwip!
The gate wasn’t just a board, but another obstacle, with open slits like the rest of the p
alisade. It was made so it could be moved from the side to block the gate section, and bamboo spears could be thrust out from the spaces around the gate.
Two bandits carelessly approached the gate to move it to the side and open it, and spears were thrust into them. The villagers holding the spears had been hiding until it was their time to strike. Even the bandits wouldn’t have been dumb enough to heedlessly walk up to villagers holding spears out in front of them.
...Now there were nineteen left.
“D-Damn it! Forget the gate, attack from all sides!”
Most of the bandits were equipped with swords. Maybe they thought swords were cooler, or that swords were somehow better for bandits, or that long spears got in the way when moving through the forest. Regardless, none of them were holding a spear, for whatever reason. They didn’t have any bows, either. Maybe arrows were hard to come by for bandits, or bladed weapons were better for intimidating villagers, or it was harder to look tough with a bow when arguments broke out...
Anyway, they seemed to realize that they were at a disadvantage fighting over the palisade and the gate without any spears or bows, so they decided to prioritize getting past the undefended sections. They had observed during their last visit that the structures were designed in such a way that regular people could easily get through them. It seemed that the bandit leader wasn’t the boss for nothing, as he wasted no time in giving out orders, despite having lost his second.
The time for direct confrontation had finally come. The villagers grew tense, but they were past the point of getting cold feet, and they stood tall with bamboo spears and their familiar farming tools in hand. Those who were in hiding had revealed themselves, and everyone, including me and Francette, was now out in the open. Though, the bandits wouldn’t care about some unarmed girl.
...Except maybe to take as a hostage, anyway. But it was unlikely that they would be taking hostages at this point.
If word got out that they’d needed to take hostages from a bunch of villagers, they’d be done for. No one would be afraid of a gang of bandits with such a terrible reputation. They could still go for it, if they got desperate enough, but with Francette being right next to me, I wasn’t really worried. Besides, once the fighting really kicked into gear, Roland and Emile would come flying out of hiding. I had ordered Belle to protect Layette, who was hiding in a house in the center of the village. Not in the mayor’s residence, which the bandits might try to take over, but in an ordinary house.