"Clarpen-sama, please escape quickly! There might be adventurers in the forest. Go and seek help from them!" A man who looked like a guard shielded a girl behind him and spoke to her urgently.
"But Scott, however..." Hearing the guard's words, the girl said tearfully.
"There's no time, Clarpen-sama! These are definitely not ordinary bandits. Excellent equipment, well-trained… clearly they are soldiers of the Falmuth Kingdom!" Looking at Clarpen, Scott was extremely tense. Those who had resisted had already been killed, with few remaining.
"Heh, you've learned our secret. You don't naively think we'd let her go, do you?" A bandit leader figure looked at Scott and Clarpen and spoke calmly.
"Hmph! I will never let you harm Clarpen-sama, even if it costs me my life!" Looking at the bandit chief on guard against him, Scott showed a determined expression.
"Heh heh, while your strength is decent, you don't really think you can oppose us, do you?" Hearing Scott's words, the leader showed a contemptuous expression.
"Whether I can or not, I won't know until I try!" Saying this, Scott gritted his teeth and swung his longsword directly at one of the bandits.
Because the bandit's attention wasn't on Scott, and Scott's strength was considerably greater, Scott instantly killed the bandit with a single blow.
"Concentrate fire and kill him!" Seeing his subordinate killed, the bandit leader raised an eyebrow slightly but remained inwardly calm as he commanded his men.
Hearing the leader's words, the other bandits gathered together and launched a coordinated attack on Scott.
Clang! Clang!
The collision of swords produced crisp sounds. Although Scott was somewhat stronger, facing the combined attacks of over a dozen well-trained soldiers, he was completely unable to parry. Soon, two wounds were torn open on his body.
"Clarpen-sama, run!" Despite being injured, Scott's first concern wasn't himself but Clarpen, who was still frozen in shock.
Hearing his shout, tears streamed from Clarpen's eyes, and she quickly turned and fled.
"Stop her!" Noticing this, the leader shouted loudly.
Immediately, two bandits charged at Clarpen, longswords in hand.
"Heh heh, sorry about this. If we let you escape, we'll be punished, you know!" As they drew closer to Clarpen, the bandits said with sinister smiles.
However, just as their hands were about to touch Clarpen, both were sent flying by an invisible force.
"Wh... what happened?!"
"A mage?!"
The sudden turn of events stunned everyone present.
"Look, up there!" Suddenly, one bandit noticed the sky darkening and finally spotted Salamence.
"That's... a dragon?" Looking at Salamence's form, everyone present felt immense fear.
"No, there's someone on top! It seems to be a dragon knight!" As Salamence descended, everyone quickly noticed Takeru atop it.
"Man, really. Just as I arrive, I have to play the hero saving the damsel in distress." Jumping down from the dragon, Takeru joked wryly.
"Who... who are you?! Why are you interfering in our affairs?!" Looking at Takeru, whose features seemed somewhat young, despite being shocked that Takeru possessed a dragon mount, the leader quickly calmed down.
If it were just a dragon, it would be difficult to handle. But since it was a being with intelligence, he might survive through negotiation… and perhaps even gain a new combat asset. The bandit leader began fantasizing inwardly.
"Interfering in your affairs? You're bandits, aren't you? Since that's the case, killing bandits and saving innocent people… isn't that perfectly normal?" Hearing his words, Takeru said with a light laugh.
"No... no, that's not it! I'm Nicol, a squad leader under Knight Commander Focken of the Falmuth Kingdom, not some bandit!" Hearing Takeru's words, Nicol said nervously.
"Oh? Not bandits? Then can you tell me what you're doing right now?" Hearing his words, Takeru said calmly.
"Well... it's like this. They're spies from another country, so the Knight Commander ordered us to eliminate them discreetly..."
"That's not true! We're not spies at all. We're just an ordinary merchant caravan. These bandits attacked and killed us! Adventurer-sama, please save us!" Hearing Nicol's words, Clarpen, who had regained her senses, shouted loudly.
"This lady's account differs from yours, Nicol-san. And what I see is merely a band of thieves hunting down and robbing people." Looking at Nicol, Takeru said calmly.
"She... she's lying! And I am a soldier of the Kingdom of Falmuth. If you kill me, you make an enemy of the Falmuth Kingdom! Our kingdom possesses the strongest warriors and mages, and summoners too! Even if you are a dragon knight, you absolutely cannot contend with our kingdom!" Sensing the increasingly tense atmosphere, Nicol quickly invoked his backing.
"Oh? Just a squad leader. Surely the Falmuth Kingdom wouldn't go to war with a dragon knight like me over something like this?" Hearing his words, Takeru said with a thoughtful expression.
"Act... actually, I have another status! Focken, the strongest warrior of the Falmuth Kingdom, is my uncle! So, if you kill me, you'll definitely be wanted! But if you let me go, I can give you gold coins, and if you want to enter the Falmuth Kingdom and become an official, I can help introduce you!"
Feeling Takeru's aura growing stronger, Nicol brought out his ultimate backing.
Hearing his words, Takeru rolled his eyes. If it weren't for his plan, he wouldn't bother wasting words with him. But since Nicol had this additional status, he could temporarily spare his life.
Seeing Takeru lost in thought, Clarpen became extremely nervous. Enemies with the powerful Falmuth Kingdom, or friends? Any normal person would choose the latter, wouldn't they?
Just as she was sinking into despair, Takeru's voice sounded again, plunging Clarpen into shock.
"Is that so? Well, then, to avoid your future resentment, it's better I just kill you now." After a moment of contemplation, Takeru said calmly.
"What?! You... you..." Hearing Takeru's words, Nicol was stunned, never expecting Takeru to directly decide to kill him.
Before he could react, Takeru swung Twilight Moon at him from a distance. A blade of wind followed the sword's trajectory toward Nicol.
Shhk!
With the sound of flesh tearing, an arm flew high into the air.
"Ah, how troublesome. I was aiming for your head." Seeing this, Takeru frowned.
"Ahhh! My arm, my hand! It hurts, it hurts so much!" As the pain hit him, Nicol instinctively used his remaining left arm to clutch the wound on his right.
Seeing this, Takeru was somewhat speechless, 'Such a slow reaction.'
Then he turned his gaze to the two nearby soldiers, swung his sword once, and two heads flew high as the men fell dead.
Nicol, who had been screaming, saw Takeru begin the slaughter and was terrified out of his wits, finally snapping back to reality.
"Quickly! All of you, attack together! Whoever kills him gets a reward of one hundred gold coins!" Nicol shouted loudly.
Hearing the reward, the numerous bandits shed their fear, greed flickering in their eyes.
"Is that so? Just one hundred gold coins is enough to make you sell your lives?" Looking at these bandits, Takeru revealed a trace of mocking ridicule.
Meanwhile, Nicol, taking advantage of the soldiers surrounding Takeru, didn't hesitate for a moment and directly chose to flee.
What no one realized was that the moment Nicol escaped, Takeru had also planted a special suggestion within him: that Takeru, accompanied by his dragon, had discovered a rich vein of magical ore in the mountains on the western border of the Falmuth Kingdom, and that Takeru's dragon had amassed a huge hoard of gold coins...
As for Takeru's side, after a 'difficult' battle, he finally killed all the soldiers disguised as bandits. Nicol successfully fled back to the Falmuth Kingdom.