บท 29: Raiding a bandit hideout
We left Pekoria and traveled north with Krev Valley as our goal. When traveling on foot, it was recommended to stay on roads. It was because monsters avoid roads since they were enchanted to ward them off. Although the strength of the magic in the roads vary from place to place, it was still good to at least know that there would be less encounters with monsters.
The only problem with traveling on roads was that there was a higher chance of encountering bandits. Pekoland may be a peaceful country but bandits lurk everywhere. They target small groups of travelers and rob them of their money and/or life.
Pekora led the way while we followed her. It was normal since she was a resident of Pekoland so she knew the way.
Our only lead is you, the person he summoned in this world, the bandaged man's words echoed in my head.
He said that my summoner, Shiroe, was in charge of their organization's greatest ambition. Then why in the world was I summoned? Judging from what the bandaged man said, I was definitely not their "greatest ambition." If I was, then they would have taken me already.
(Mikage... You okay?) Anya's voice appeared in my mind.
(Yeah... Just having some thoughts... Having no memories is hard), I replied.
(Are you worried that you might not be human and might be something else?)
(I don't really know much about myself since I lost my memories...)
(It's true that you are a weird existence. I once told you about the weird thing inside your soul. It became stronger ever since you lost control of yourself that night. )
(Inside me?)
(Yeah. There's a strange energy inside you. I have seen it somewhere before but I just can't remember where.)
Night arrived and we decided to camp out. Pekora tended to the fire and was cooking some meat. Somehow, I felt weird thinking about rabbit people eating meat.
I saw Amelia scribbling on a piece of paper and approached her.
"Are you still trying to solve the riddle?" I asked.
"No... This is different. I'm trying to decode Arthur's documents", she answered.
"Who's Arthur?"
"Oh yeah... You lost your memories... Basically, he's a member of the Unkindness and we investigated his murder together. Anyways, we found a safe that was locked with magic. Before we left Westa, the knights unlocked it and gave me a copy of what was inside."
"And did you manage to decode it?"
"Sort of... It uses a really old method of encryption. Although there were some parts that turned out to be weird characters."
"Weird characters?"
"Like they look like runes but I don't know any runes that look like them"
"Can I see them?"
"Knock yourself out", she gave me her notes.
Basically, the documents talked about the Unkindness. How their leaders had bandages wrapped around their bodies and how their goal was to summon the Primordial Dark and control it. Arthur Karalis was actually a spy of the knights and was already deep in the organization before he got murdered.
The one in charge of finding a way to summon the Primordial Dark was a man named Shiroe. He disappeared while taking most of his research materials. The only thing left in his lab was a coded message.
"Katachinaki mono jiga mo motazu", I recited.
The letters were weird and were created from lines that were connected to each other.
"Wait... Can you read it?" Amelia asked.
"Sort of... I just looked at the letters and the words form in my mouth", I answered.
"Read all of it", she told me.
"Jiganaki mono ishi mo motazu.
Ishi naki mono wo seifukushikanezu.
Mu wo tashika na mono ni katadoru to genkei ga hitsuyou to nari.
Hitotsu no jikuunai de wa onaji sonzai ga hitotsu shika orazu no wa yo no kotowari.
Yue ni betsu no jikuu kara no genkei ga hissu to naru.
Ijou no jouken soroeba, yami ga shuchuu ni osameru", I read out loud.
"And do you have an idea on what it meant?" she asked.
"Nope... I'm pretty sure I know this language but I don't know how to translate it", I answered.
"It must be a language from another world... We definitely need to get your memories back and have it translated."
"Hey, the food's ready peko!" Pekora called out and we headed towards her.
I munched on the meat as I stared at the stars. Having no memories was hard. Even if I knew how to read that language, I couldn't translate it. I wonder what kind of guy I was before I lost them.
The next morning came and we continued walking. There was nothing interesting in sight until we saw a rabbit girl run towards us.
"Help!" she shouted.
"What's wrong, peko?" Pekora asked.
"Bandits took my family! I just escaped from their hideout", she told us.
This was bad...
"Let's help her out", I told Amelia.
"Are you sure? We might be outnumbered", she said.
"But it'll be hard living with our conscience if we just ignore her."
"Well said, peko. Where are they?" Pekora asked the girl.
"Their hideout is a cave in the forest ahead", she answered.
"Okay... Here's what we'll do... You go and get help from Pekoria. We'll go ahead and scout", Amelia said.
"That's fine. We'll keep track of the bandits' movements", I agreed to her plan.
The girl went on her way to Pekoria while we headed towards the bandits' hideout. We arrived at the forest and cautiously moved forward.
There were two men standing in front of a cave. We hid behind the bushes to avoid alerting them.
"What are we going to do with the people we captured?" the first bandit asked.
"They're pretty useless and they are all men. The boss would probably kill them later", the second bandit answered.
"They are going to kill them? Amelia, what should we do?" I asked.
"If we wait for help, it might be too late... No choice... We gotta storm in", Amelia answered.
(Mikage... Use your shadow to knock them out from a distance), Anya suggested.
(Use my shadow? How?)
(Just imagine your shadow rising up and turning into a whip that would hit them. Your resolve to knock them out should be solid too. I'll handle the rest.)
I did what she told me and my shadow lunged at the two men. It wrapped around them and slammed them at each other knocking them out.
"Nice one, peko", Pekora said and we entered the cave.
There were no bandits until we came across a huge room where everyone was gathered. They were eating and the captured men were tied up in a corner.
Amelia readied her gun and I unsheathed my sword. Pekora took out the carrots that were in her braids and they turned into two orange-colored swords.
"That's a pretty neat weapon", Amelia said.
"Thanks, peko. I got it as a birthday present", Pekora replied.
"So we charge in like this?" I asked.
"Yeah. Go ahead", a voice behind us said.
Three bandits were behind us and had their weapons pointed at us.
"I wondered what happened to the guys guarding the hideout... Turns out we got a few brave souls", he said.
They pushed us to the center of the room and all of the bandits stared at us.
"What's this?" a man with an eyepatch asked.
"We got a few people attempting to attack us. They were pretty careless though."
(Anya... Can I make my shadow attack everyone?_ I asked her in my mind.
(Mikage... I only made you use your shadow since we had to sneak in but every time you use Dark Magic, the thing inside you grows stronger. If we attempt to use a large-scale magic like that, I don't know what will happen to you), Anya answered.
(But we don't have a choice... I'm going to make my shadow attack everyone at once. And with that distraction, we could turn the tides.)
"We got a few girls here... We'll have a fun time", the eyepatch guy grinned.
A ray of silver light shone from the entrance and then balls made of silver light hit the bandits who were near us.
"What's going on?!" a bandit asked.
Taking it as my cue, I used Dark Magic and let my shadow spread out all over the room. Fists made of darkness landed an uppercut on every bandit. However, I didn't knock out everyone. Some of them went back up and drew their weapons.
A silver ray of light came from one direction and hit two of the bandits. We looked at where it came from and a purple-haired girl was there. A silver aura was enveloping her and her face was visibly bored.
"HEY MOONA!" Pekora shouted.
"You really like attracting trouble, Princess", she said.
Wait.... Did she just call Pekora a princess?
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