18 – 4. Miracle?
I headed to the door with Sancho in tow just in case. The front was already full of guards.
Sancho stayed nearby for a moment and followed the bride up onto the wooden fence.
The grassland seen from above was dotted with torches. And the light was getting closer to the village little by little.
Even at first glance, it was not a benevolent purpose. There was no reason for merchants to come by in the middle of the night to do business, and the scale was too large to be considered travelers.
I asked the guard who was staring at the figure swarming next to me.
“Should we just fend for ourselves?”
“Before they surrounded the village, we sent people to a nearby city.”
Then the situation was a little better. Of course, it was a world without teleportation magic, so it took a long time for medieval messengers to communicate.
Even if you rush to the nearest lord and deliver it, there is a high possibility that the village will have already disappeared at that point.
“If the news is delivered on time, when will the reinforcements arrive?”
“At the earliest it can be half a day, but if the situation there is not favorable, it can take more than a day.”
“Half a day, at least half a day… ….”
The guard said so and grabbed his rough sword.
I roughly typed out the calculator in my head. Is it possible to hold on?
It wasn’t clear because it was dark, but the number of enemies was naturally greater than the guards on the fence.
And, along with the shaking flames, a glimpse of sparkle could be seen on the opponent’s upper body, showing that some of them were also wearing their own armor. It was definitely not an armament seen by ordinary thieves.
“Could they be the rumored mercenary-turned-rogues?”
“It seems like that to some. But not everything.”
“What does that mean?”
Mercenaries are also people, so not everyone wants to become a criminal. Isn’t this something that may involve some faithful people?
Even if that were the case, even after transforming into a thief, they could not move as one body like before. If the control and system were solid, why would people loot in the first place?
“Not everyone is armed like a mercenary. “Some of them were carrying sticks and were not particularly armed.”
“Then…” ….”
“It’s probably a mix of poor and worthless thieves.”
Presumably, they are part of former mercenaries who split off after changing their business to plunder.
And he worked hard and seemed to have absorbed people in the same industry nearby. Looking closer, it was clear that the armed forces were not uniform for everyone, and that the lower classes were also mixed in.
The good news was that the enemy did not appear to be carrying proper siege weapons. Well, what can you expect from thieves?
Then the situation would have progressed into a close combat or melee battle. Isn’t this the specialty of knights? Of course, the state of the opponent’s armament is key.
As we slowly warmed up for the battle, the light reached the front of the village.
At a time when the hunters were tense and protesting, someone stepped forward among the swarming bandits and shouted.
“Is there a representative of the village?”
“… ….”
A sound burst out loud enough to wake everyone in the village. This is because such dialogue also has the function of suppressing the momentum.
Then, there should have been at least one person in the village shouting at this point, but strangely, no one answered. Is this a sign of determination not to mingle with the scum of dirty marauders? Awesome.
I looked around, expecting to see the guards glaring at the enemies with solemn faces and strengthening their fighting spirit.
“Hey… ….”
“… “Why are you doing that?”
But contrary to what I thought, all eyes around me were focused on me.
If your eyes weren’t knotholes, you would know that I’m not from this village.
“Could you speak for me?”
“There’s nothing I can’t do for you. “But isn’t there a village chief or something like that here?”
“There is, but I collapsed when I heard the news and haven’t come to my senses yet.”
“Oh my God.”
Is this village, where the village head is a new heart, okay as it is?
The guards opened the path on their own, and I was pushed around and moved to the center.
It seemed like a good idea. I haven’t done this once or twice. Didn’t you do it when you were wrestling with the barbarians in the north?
Once I got a good spot, I could see the thieves much better than before. Only then did the thief make eye contact with me, look at the armor I was wearing, and shout.
“Who are you! “I don’t think he’s suitable for a small town like this.”
“This is a driver who stopped by while passing by!”
“Kisara, then what is your name?”
“This is Raven from Bole!”
The thieves who heard what I said began to argue among themselves. It wasn’t like he was hiding anything, but if you listened closely, you could hear it all.
Opinions were exchanged such as, “Do you know who it is,” “This is my first time hearing it, but I don’t know,” And “I think I’ve heard it before, but I don’t think so.” After hearing them all, the representative of the thieves nodded and opened his mouth.
Even the guards in such a small village heard my name, and even if I had come from further south, there was no way that a mere bandit would not know.
“We don’t know who you are!”
There you are.
As expected, people need to become more successful and successful. I guess the effective range of my name ends here.
I hope one day there will come a time when you will be able to automatically make your opponent step down just by hearing their name. Then there wouldn’t be any troublesome things like this.
But perhaps it is because of the title of knight, which has the meaning of a war machine rather than the name? The thief started giving me other suggestions.
“But it is also true that he is an outsider with no interest in this village! So let me make a suggestion.”
“What is that!”
“I won’t do anything even if you leave the village! Would you accept it?”
“Hmm.”
“… “Hey, driver?”
A knight is a being who can literally make a miraculous exchange rate of 100 per day if he exerts all his strength.
But that is also the case for ordinary ragtag soldiers; the case is a little different for well-trained mercenaries.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m in a situation where I have to take care of Lisia while waiting for reinforcements that may arrive at any time.
It’s a very selfish thought, but if you ask whether it would be harmful, setting aside my social reputation, it wasn’t.
Still.
“If you thought you could seduce me with that wicked tongue, you were sorely mistaken!”
“… Phew.”
If you make excuses every time you are in danger and turn your back on help, how long will you be able to raise your reputation and achieve success?
You will be labeled a coward and branded as dishonorable, and you will wander around for the rest of your life. This is absolutely unacceptable.
Just now, when I thought about it for a moment, I thought, ‘Oh, no way. Really?’ The bride, who was looking at me with the same meaning in her eyes, let out a sigh of relief, saying that she believed it as if she had never done it before.
And no matter what, whatever.
Even in a melee situation, it wasn’t impossible to take out at least one girl.
Besides, there are no people to trust, so should we trust thieves?
You have to remember, these guys are the ones trying to undo the looting drift by saying that they worked hard to achieve peace. If there is such a thing as a credit rating, it would be negative.
The thieves smiled and said without much agitation.
“If that’s the case. “It looks good what you’re wearing, so it’s good.”
“All! Prepare for battle!”
I took out my sword. Did the priest say that there is a good blessing at stake here?
Of course, the effect would have worn off by now, but maybe it was just my mood, but it seemed to glow a little bit.
The tension was stretched tight for a moment, and the silence was broken by someone’s shout, and a battle began in the middle of the night.
*****
People began to gather at the church.
There was no place like an underground shelter, but if home was the first place you looked for peace of mind, this was the second place.
When faced with an existential threat, knights trusted in their own might, and worldly monarchs trusted in their soldiers.
However, for those individuals who did not, there were not many places to rely on.
“I just pray, God, save us.”
“Please give me a miracle to overcome this ordeal.”
In a world where law and order had collapsed, faith was like that, and people longed for salvation. I hoped that I could overcome this unreasonable reality with an even more incomprehensible miracle.
God responded with several miracles and saints, but he could not save everyone. Not only the church but also the believers knew this.
Nevertheless, I had no choice but to pray again out of desperation.
It is not a wish to make me rich or to give me the strength to defeat a large army alone, but simply to be able to see tomorrow morning safely.
The sounds of metal clashing and wood breaking were heard from outside, along with shouts that echoed throughout the village. The church was filled with people’s prayers.
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And no matter how tired they were, there was no one who could sleep calmly even at that time.
“…… Huh?”
In the midst of the commotion, the saint who had been sleeping soundly in a corner of the church opened her eyes.