Once he was sure none of his men were paying attention to him, the Chief turned and ran.
“Truly a pack of idiots! Kill the scout? If only it were that easy! Who among those daring to give chase would be weak? Even if their individual strength is inferior to ours, they definitely aren't opponents we can deal with quickly. By then, let alone killing them, we'll probably be surrounded by the other adventurers first!”
“You fools can at least be of some use to me in the end. As long as you stall that person, I still have a chance to escape.”
The bandits were still following the Chief's orders to intercept and kill the person who sent the signal, utterly unaware that the Chief they trusted was already slipping further and further away, until his figure completely vanished into the depths of the forest...
“Are they here...?”
The bandits' movements were naturally fully within Shulim's field of vision, so she had already prepared herself to face the enemy.
“Found her! She's here—!”
One of the bandits spotted Shulim's figure first and shouted at the top of his lungs.
But when they clearly saw what Shulim looked like, the bandits froze in unison.
“What's this...? This brat—isn't she just a kid?!”
“Chief, how could this brat be a kid—”
The bewildered bandits reflexively wanted to ask their Chief, but when they looked back, his figure was nowhere to be found.
“Ch... Chief?”
The bandits stared at each other in confusion, completely at a loss as to what had happened. Why had the Chief suddenly vanished into thin air?
...
Watching the chaotic bandits before her, Shulim spoke.
“Are you finished talking? Don't bother looking for your Chief. He already abandoned you halfway and fled. You are nothing more than sacrificial pawns he used to stall his pursuers.”
“What?! You brat, how dare you insult our Chief?!”
...
Unexpectedly, despite Shulim telling them the truth, the bandits not only refused to believe it but instead flew into a rage out of shame.
“Let's kill this brat first, then go find the Chief!”
Brandishing their weapons, the bandits rushed toward Shulim.
Shulim raised her wand with a calm expression.
What magic should I use? Third-Tier Fire magic leaves too much of a trace; others would recognize it as Third-Tier at a single glance. Although Wind magic leaves less obvious traces, the residual wind elements would still make people realize it was Wind magic. Although I don't know to what extent Alec and the others understand me, considering his relationship with my father, it's better to be cautious here.
I'll use that spell, then...
“【ᛖᚢᛋᛒבᛤᛜᚣᚠᛟᚪᛚᛜᛁᛄᚾᛒᛜᛏᚠᚪᛡᛃᛋקיᛚᚺᛜᛚᚲᛜᛓᚠᛃᛖᛚᛜᛃᛓᛈᛒᛁᛜᛏᚠᚪᛖᛡᛒᛖᛚᛜᚾᛟᚲᚠᛚᛜᛉᚠᚺᛗ】”
Shulim chanted the incantation rapidly as a brilliant, holy white light quickly gathered around her.
“Yikes?! This kid... something seems off about her...”
As Shulim chanted, the bandits sensed that something was wrong, but it was already too late!
“—Radiant Flash!”
A blinding white light illuminated the surrounding forest. Razor-thin blades of white light expanded outward in a ring in all directions, slicing clean through the bandits' waists in an instant.
Not even two seconds later.
Thud! Thud! Thud...
The bandits' bodies all collapsed to the ground.
“Only one left...”
Without sparing a single glance at the fallen bandits, Shulim turned her head directly in a certain direction. Within the shared vision of the Wind Messenger Bird, a single bandit was desperately fleeing...
...
“Damn it! Those useless pieces of trash, couldn't they even buy me a little more time?!”
The bandit Chief, now tightly bound by ropes, cried out in bitter frustration.
“Quiet down!”
Alec slapped him across the face. The Chief's right cheek swelled up visibly, and he immediately quieted down quite a bit.
“Move! Walk on your own!”
Under the threat of a sword pressed against his neck, the Chief lost all his fight. He could only walk toward the camp under the escort of the adventurers.
When the adventurers escorting the Chief reappeared at the camp, the people who were cleaning up the battlefield let out cheers one after another, celebrating this perfect victory.
...
...
“Hey, Shulim, I'm actually curious about something.”
Beside the bonfire that night, Ange voiced the question in her mind.
“Didn't you say you never saw the spy's face? Then how did you know who they were?”
The rest of the Hunting Fangs members were just as curious about this question.
It was because Shulim had pinpointed the spy's identity right from the start that the operation could proceed so smoothly. Otherwise, if the spy had been hiding among the adventurers or the merchants, such a large-scale plan would have been completely unviable.
Shulim set down her grilled meat and glanced toward the area where the bandits were being held. There, the middle-aged woman who served as the spy was being detained alongside the others.
The adventurers hadn't had to exert much effort to find her in the nearby jungle. She was still alive, but her eyes looked completely dead. She had been captured without putting up even the slightest struggle.
As for why Shulim was so certain it was her despite never having seen her face, it went back to the very beginning of her journey...
At that time, although the old lady sharing their carriage had invited everyone to taste her cookies in a rather suspicious manner, Shulim had never actually doubted her identity. The cookies she offered were indeed local specialties from certain regions.
Furthermore, trying to achieve an insidious goal by feeding others poisoned cookies simply wouldn't work in a caravan like this! It would be discovered immediately.
At the end of the day, both the caravan members and the adventurers carried their own food, and they were unlikely to accept cookies from her.
The main reason Shulim had rejected the cookies was that she was afraid the other party would use the opportunity to start a conversation, which would ruin the peace of her journey. Of course, acting as a precaution also played a small part...
While the old lady was innocent, the words of the middle-aged woman back then had caught Shulim's attention.
That middle-aged woman had claimed to be an ordinary peasant farmer, but her appearance was far from it. Shulim had seen the farmers in the Hayeral family's fief; she couldn't sense any of that air of dealing with soil year-round on the woman's body. Instead, she seemed more like a traveling merchant.
More importantly, she had explicitly said her sister's business was thriving and had invited her to invest. Judging by her straightforward description at the time, this should have been a joyful matter, and the old lady had even congratulated her.
Yet, Shulim couldn't spot even a shred of joy in her eyes—only a gaze filled with deep unease and worry...
Under normal circumstances, whatever this middle-aged woman's true identity was had nothing to do with Shulim. She had no intention of digging into a stranger's background, provided that they weren't being attacked by a bandit group...
Thus, even though she hadn't seen the spy's face in the jungle earlier, the suspect's height—which was identical to the middle-aged woman's—immediately allowed Shulim to deduce that the spy was none other than the middle-aged woman who had shared her carriage!
...
Rate on N.U.
