Chapter 18 -
We chased after the bandits who were in merchants' attire and stopped the advance of the carriage they were in by causing a mud wall to rise in front of them after which we dropped behind the now-stopped carriage.
The bandits immediately took a vigilant stance, turning their weapons against us while flustered at the irregular situation of a mud wall popping up in front of them and then our appearance.
"You, is this your doing!? State your purpose!"
I looked at the shouting bandits who were dressed as merchants and were glaring at us with cold gazes.
"We're here to get back the kidnapped children. Be obedient and surrender."
"Children? Hehe, you seemed to have a misunderstanding. The children in this carriage are slaves we have bought from a poor village. The villages around here had a bad harvest this year so they sold the kids to reduce the mouths they had to feed. None of them are kidnapped as you say."
"Slave merchant, huh......"
Slave merchants were a recognized profession in the Lovile Kingdom unlike the Gard Beastkin Nation or Iska Kingdom.
But that's only limited to officially recognized slave merchants, and these people in front of me were kidnapping people for labor with the facade of slave merchants.
The majority of slave merchants know that what they were doing is loathed by many yet they continue to do so because it was a necessary evil in the kingdom.
In other words, they have their resolution, pride, and respective ideology to go through this necessary evil.
The eyes of the bandits who spat out such bare-faced lies and brazenly posed as slave merchants gradually narrowed when they saw the ones who caused that mud wall to appear were just two young girls and greed gradually colored their eyes.
"You have interrupted our business with your misunderstanding. I hope you're ready to show some sincerity for this."
After saying that, the subordinate bandits slowly surrounded us when the bandit masquerading as a slave merchant signaled them.
I held up my wand after seeing that all the bandits in my sense range had distanced themselves from the carriage and raised a barrier.
"You're absolutely disgusting. 一一«Barrier»!"
"Wha!?"
"It would be a pain if you take the kids hostage, let me secure their safety first."
Some of the bandits realized the meaning of my words and went to check on the carriage but they were unable to do so with the dome-shaped barrier protecting it.
"Both Majou-sama and Teto are angry! How dare you target kids...!"
Teto, shouting that, stomped her foot on the ground, manipulated the earth, and formed mud walls around us such that not a single bandit could hope to run away.
"The hell. What the hell are you guys一一"
The bandit leader who was in merchant's attire squeezed out with his voice while his whole body shivered. In contrast to him, I gathered mana in my eyes and activated appraisal magic.
There was nothing an average person could ever hope to hide from me when I use my enormous mana. However, appraising every single thing about a person also puts some stress on my brain so, similar to the «Sin Judgement Jewel», I only look up their sins and the crimes they committed in the past.
一一All sorts of crimes like «Fraud», «Kidnapping», «Theft», «Robbery», and «Murder» appeared in front of me.
"Oh, right, we forgot to introduce ourselves. We're the adventurer party «Flying Carpet» and I'm the Witch Chise."
The majority of the bandits who heard our introduction tried to flee.
But, of course, Teto didn't let that happen as she approached the nearest bandit with her heightened speed due to «Body Hardening», bashed him with her magic sword sheathed in its scabbard, and took him down.
«I don't want toooooo!» «Nooooo! I don't want to die!» «Run away! It'll be over if they capture you!» «Why the hell is the Witch of the Gard Beastkin Nation here of all places!» «Shit, there's no place to run with these mud walls in the way!»
Teto neutralized the bandits that attempted to flee one by one and then restrained them by manipulating the ground.
I sighed while looking at the reaction of the bandits.
"Good grief, I feel complicated seeing that even bandits know our name but no one in that town does. Though I'm thankful that it saves us time due to their lack of resistance."
But that “I don't want to die", sheesh, what a rude person.
Practically all the bandits from the bandit suppression requests we received were dragged back alive to the knight squadrons of their respective cities.
While they may appear dead afterwards due to them being sentenced to either capital punishment or mining, I at least had no memory of absolutely killing anyone.
"You think you can take us down so easily! Dieeeee!"
One of the frenzied bandits swooped in to attack me while I was grumbling at the unsavory rumors about us.
I raised my hand towards the bandit and pushed away his weapon using chantless «Psychokinesis».
The bandit was surprised to see his weapon being stopped in mid-air but, paying him no heed, I swung the weapon at an angle where the joint of the hand couldn't bend and then hit the bandit who came to attack me by manipulating the snatched weapon.
"Stop running and fight! Fight! Damn it! Why the f*** are high-ranking adventurers like you here?! Why the f*** is it ‘Syndicate Smasher Witch?’!"
"Ohh? So that's how I'm being called among the bandits, huh?"
We completed the request for the bandit group extermination in the Gard Beastkin Nation. We then exposed the illegal slave organization engaged in kidnapping. Then there were the illegal drug dealers whose networks we thoroughly cleared out as soon as we found them with the help of the respective cities. However, it was my first time hearing that I went by such a title among these people.
I had been doing adventurer work for about two decades and I guess I had garnered quite a lot of hate from them.
It hadn't been just once or twice that assassins had been sent after us but never were we mentally driven into a corner since we had a place like the «Empty Wilderness» to escape to which had the great barrier raised by the gods themselves surrounding it.
"Well, whatever. We just have to secure the kids, capture you guys and hand you all over to the knights. You can only curse your misfortune that we just happened to be present here."
"Don't shit with me! We were supposed to kidnap the girls and kids, take them to another country and then sell them for money like we always did! I was even supposed to be promoted to branch manager when this raid succeeds! There's no way I'll let things end here and let all my effort go to waste!"
After saying that, he pulled out the long sword he was hiding and rushed in to attack me.
The bandit leader may have been masquerading as a merchant, nevertheless, he was a trained person, his magic was also at an acceptable range and he could even use «Body Hardening». He should be on the same power level as a B-rank adventurer.
"Like hell, this will be the end of me! Just wait, I'm going to take that bounty on your head set up by the underground organization! Even becoming a leader in one fell swoop isn't a dream as long as I defeat and capture you right here!"
I once again raised my hand and stopped the attack with a barrier while calmly looking at the bandit leader, who was encouraging himself as if he saw a light of hope in the despair-filled situation.
"What!?"
"If a magician is standing in the frontline so leisurely, then they damn sure will have some protective measures at the ready."
He swung his long sword in an attempt to destroy the barrier as I said that, but it hardly did anything.
I erected this barrier by pouring in more mana than what your average magician had. Its defense wasn't something that someone with only B-rank strength could ever hope to breach.
"*Sigh* 一«Air Barret»!"
"Argh...!"
I fired a compressed air cannon at the abdomen of the bandit leader who was crazily attacking the barrier in hopes of destroying it.
The air that was compressed to the size of a tiny bullet expanded as soon as it came in contact with his abdomen and sent him flying back with terrific speed. I, at that moment, also took the long sword the bandit leader was holding.
"Ack, *cough* *cough*......"
"Hmm, it's really hard to suddenly control the firepower when the opponent's strength is only so-so."
I looked at the bandit leader who was coughing out blood with indifferent eyes.
If the opponents were some bandits like the «Yellow Fang Order» or someone whom Teto could handle, it was easy to capture them by using restraining magic.
However, it's hard to do so when the opponent is suddenly as strong as a B-rank adventurer since they could either avoid it or break it with brute force.
"You seem to know a lot of details about the underground organization. Fret not, I will drag you alive to the base of the knight squadron."
It was fine to just aim at a vital spot if you intended to kill someone and it was quite easy for a person with some level of ability to do that.
Conversely speaking, it requires an overwhelming difference in strength, ingenuity, and techniques if you want to capture them alive.
"I'm just so-so, you say...... You're going to drag me alive, you say! Don't f*** with me! How dare you! How dare you mock this «Black Sword» Gilbert-sama! Damn you!"
It was well within my expectation that he would be back on his feet since I hadn't fired my magic with the intent to kill but even then, I didn't expect him to get so angry at my words一ー.
He got even angrier when I couldn't stop myself from laughing out loud after hearing his alias of «Black Sword».
"I never thought I would have to use my booty from this time here!"
The bandit leader pulled out his second sword that was hanging on his waist.
The sword he was using until now was quite sharp but it seemed like this new sword was even stronger, a magic weapon from the looks of it.
Nevertheless, it looked ominous at the same time.
"This must be the magic sword you stole from the town chief's house."
"That's right! It's the same magic sword that the chief always kept hidden while saying it was too dangerous! He was lying, you could gain absurd strength as long as you're willing to pay the price!"
"Oh? Then come. I will show you the chasm that lies between us."
I calmly raised my wand to greet the attack of the bandit leader who was holding a sinister-looking cursed magic sword.
