KoushaRyouri ~C13

 

Chapter 13: The pride of a knight

 

 

I bury the deceased respectfully.

 

Actually, I should give the body to his family. Unfortunately, I can't find them.

 

I have been away from the outside world for 300 years, so I have no way to find them.

 

After praying, I walk around the empty, burned-out area.

 

There is no sign of movement around me.

 

No doubt the bandits here had been wiped out.

 

I got the "Dragon Raging Fire" skill from a Crimson Dragon. It is a super high-temperature flame that can reduce human bones to ashes.

 

The power was so great the nearby forest was wiped out too.

 

"I did a bad thing to living things in this forest......"

 

While reflecting on my actions, I turn my head toward the mountain where Fletty and the others are sleeping.

 

If possible, I don't want to leave any traces for Fletty and the others that there were bandits here.

 

Other than the bandits, I am the only one who knows that Fletty and the others were chased.

 

If the bandits' corpses were left in the bushes, it would lead to unnecessary speculation.

 

They would probably assume that someone had accidentally killed them, but the possibility of me being suspected is not zero.

 

A child...... who wipes out a bunch of bandits.

 

I'm scared just thinking about what Fletty and the others would think if they found out about this.

 

I don't want to see these kind people's paranoid eyes looking at me.

 

I have to keep what I did a secret ...

 

So, I eliminated the whole forest together with those bandits.

 

"Now..."

 

This is not the only thing I have to do.

 

Fletty and the others who went down to the bottom of the mountain only have one mission.

 

They must retrieve the family treasure. In other words, they must raid the bandits' hideout again.

 

Even though their numbers were reduced, Fletty is still at a disadvantage.

 

There were about 30 people here.

 

To be able to send that many people out to chase after their enemy, their numbers must be quite a lot.

 

Unless the leader is very smart, I assume that as many or more bandits are in their hideout.

 

The first thing I do is use my presence detection skill.

 

It seems that there is nothing that looks like a hideout within my search range.

 

"If that's the case......"

 

I'm going to use my nose.

 

I'm confident in my smelling sense.

 

The whole area smelled of burning, but there was a strong scent of human body odor heading south along the road.

 

If I look closely, I can see some new footprints.

 

There are several other scents, but this scent is still fresh.

 

Considering the number of footprints, I'm pretty sure these belonged to the bandits.

 

Relying on the scent and footprints, I decided to search for the bandits' hideout.

 

 

 

10 minutes later, .......

 

I arrive at the bandits' hideout.

 

There is a small hill near the road, and there is a cave on the steep slope. The cave is big enough for a person to pass through.

 

Two guards are standing at the entrance.

 

Both of them look sleepy. They must not be used to working at night.

 

I guess they are just hurriedly placed on night duty right after Fletty's team attacked.

 

I use my Skill again.

 

Structure analysis.

 

It's a skill I got from a big bat called Meijibaton.

 

Bats are everyday food in the Tristan family's territory, to the point where edible bats are sold in the market.

 

Actually, I don't like it. That's why I cooked it slightly sweeter, and it was quite delicious.

 

The meat part is not that much, so I don't eat it eagerly, but this skill is quite useful.

 

Just by concentrating, I can grasp the invisible structure of the cave.

 

"It's quite complicated."

 

It is a natural cave that has been modified by human hands.

 

It looks like a maze, but it's actually a straight path. It's not that difficult to get to the Bandits Leader's room in the back.

 

I took out some fragrant wood from my magic bag.

 

I rolled it towards the hideout entrance.

 

"What is this?"

 

Of course, the two guards noticed it, but .......

 

"Hanya...."

 

"Funya....."

 

They immediately fell asleep with their nose holes puffed up.

 

I come out of the bushes where I had been observing and pick up the fragrant wood on the ground.

 

This is the branch of a Sleeping Forest.

 

It is a magical tree that puts people and even demons to sleep simply by being near them and grows by absorbing their magical power.

 

The frightening thing about this tree is that the scent that puts people to sleep is almost tasteless and odorless.

 

As you can see, it has an incredible effect on putting people to sleep, and even giant monsters can fall asleep instantly.

 

However, in my case, my resistance to the "sleep" abnormal condition is high, so any hypnotic effect from the outside will not work on me.

 

Now, I throw the branch of Sleeping Forest into the hideout.

 

After waiting for a while, the bandits' snoring sounded louder than ever.

 

"That went well."

 

I made my way into their hideout easily.

 

Most of the remaining bandits in the hideout are sound asleep. It's nighttime now, so I guess it's only natural that they're asleep.

 

It would be easy to defeat them one by one like this.

 

After that, I can slowly search for the family treasure that Fletty and the others are looking for.

 

However, my goal is neither the destruction of the bandits nor the retrieval of the family treasure.

 

It's simply to observe the enemy.

 

If I defeat the bandits and bring back the family treasure, Fletty and the others will probably be happy (but in that case, they'll know that I'm not an ordinary child).

 

But that would hurt Fletty, who has a strong sense of responsibility.

 

The family treasure that he was supposed to retrieve had been retrieved by a child.

 

As a former member of a military family, I can understand Fletty's mentality.

 

A knight who is loyal to his master would want to retrieve it by his own strength.

 

It's also bad for Fletty's reputation.

 

"A family treasure was stolen from them and then rescued by a child?..."

 

There is also a possibility that retrieving the family treasure may be nothing more than meddling.

 

Fletty and his team are the only ones who must destroy this hideout and take back the family treasure.

 

However, judging from the number of people, they would die in vain.

 

That is why I came.

 

To save those kind people...

 

I arrived at the back of the hideout.

 

In the end, I couldn't find anything that looked like a family treasure.

 

I just realized that I should have asked what the family treasure is.

 

"Who, who's there...?"

 

I suddenly heard a voice.

 

Impressive.

 

Someone who can resist the Sleeping Forest's scent is among these bandits.

 

At the back of the hideout, I see a man holding his head and staring at me.

 

"A kid......?

 

He looks at me with his sanpaku eyes (eyes with visible white between the iris and the lower eyelid).

 

He is holding a bright red sword.

 

No doubt, this man is their leader.