CH 151.1

Chapter 151 End of the Vacation ⑥ Part 1

As Arnold lay there helplessly, Sytry shoved her light blue potion into his mouth.

His half-opened eyes quivered and his pale face instantly regained its color. It was such a sudden change that it stunned Hay who was next to him and had a grim face.

As poison has various types, it seemed that their detoxification spell didn’t work because he was poisoned by a powerful poison. This wouldn’t have happened if they had given him the optimal antidote.

Arnold, who was clearly on the verge of death just a moment ago, sat up with a tough expression.

Are Level 7 beings, monsters?

“!? Wh-what the hell………… M-my body is so…… Light…………” (Arnold)

“It was a very expensive healing drug. Naturally, we will charge you for it later. But it is better than dying, right?” (Sytry)

Come to think of it, Sytry fancied Arnold.

With an indescribable expression, Hay thanked Sytry who looked very happy.

“Y-yeah, you saved us. Damn, I owe you one now. ………… What kind of poison was it?” (Arnold)

“………… It isn’t something that you can find in the general market, it is a poison made to kill Hunters. You need a really good Alchemist to refine it ―― So it probably came from Akasha. The maker’s name is…… Sofiane1.” (Sytry)

“…… It’s a name that I’ve never heard before.” (Arnold)

“Ti and I have a resistance towards it, but ―― I made the right call to bring medicine for it.” (Sytry)

As expected of Sytry, she is really reliable when you are in trouble. Arnold has been chasing me around a lot, but I don’t think he deserves to die for it.

For now, my life is no longer in danger, so I am going to listen to what he has to say. And then, I immediately felt like I wanted to puke.

Apparently, for some reason, this city was under attack by some bandits right now.

Moreover, according to Arnold’s testimony, it was the group I had heard about just the other day, the group Count Gladys had nominated me to take care of, the Barrel Bandits Group. They are outrageous bandits who can toy with a real Knight Order.

The city of Surus is quite close to Gladys territory, but there are mountains between it and Gladys territory. Why is something like this happening here?

When I was disgusted by the nightmarish situation, Sytry said with a smile that made me feel like she was blossoming.

“To think that the ever so cautious Barrel Bandits Group would come and attack us…… As expected, even I couldn’t predict this development. Certainly, their level of covertness made sense now!” (Sytry)

…… Why do you look so happy, Sytry……?

And it is at times like this that Liz isn’t around.

No, according to Sytry, there were quite a lot of them that are approaching from the outside, so on the contrary it might be lucky that Liz wasn’t here as she loves to jump inside groups of enemies like those (Well, she went to the mountain to look for Dragons, instead of giving up on finding one).

Arnold stood up, let out a deep and heated exhalation, and spoke in a low voice. Even though he was dying a moment ago, he feels so intimidating.

“Damn, I let my guard down once, but ―― I’m not gonna let that happen again.” (Arnold)

“Calm down, Arnold-san. You owe Cry-san a debt of gratitude. Shouldn’t you obey him for now? Or do Hunters from the Country of the Mist not return a favor they received?” (Sytry)

“Tsk……………… Fuck!” (Arnold)

Sytryyy…… What a thing to say.

Arnold glared at me with murderous eyes, clicked his tongue hard, and sat down with his arms crossed.

I don’t have a way out of this. Neither do I have the power to. While Tino was fighting so hard, I was in the Onsen, remember?

I quickly *pachin* snapped my fingers.

“Yosh, I have decided. I will let Arnold-san and his companions take all of them out. So I will enter the Onsen then.” (Cry)

“Aaaaah!?” (Arnold)

Arnold’s eyes peel off at my half-serious joke. Hay and the other members of 《Fallen Mist》 were also stunned.

At their reaction, my defensive instincts kicked in and I immediately changed my mind.

“I-it’s just a joke. A joke………… Hahaha…… But, you know, this time we are on a vacation, soooo……” (Cry)

I was completely swept away by the mood. When I stood there pathetically, Hay advised me in a serious tone.

“…… We are in a situation where we don’t even know how many enemies there are. Although we have one Level 8 and one Level 7 with us…… As far as I can see, our enemies are a fairly well-organized group. In my opinion, we should act with caution. It also seems like they have hostages with them.” (Hay)

I see…… I want to run away so badly. I wonder if I am being punished by the gods for skipping the White Sword Gathering so I can lazily dip inside an Onsen?

I want to do something about this. The Onsen in this town is too good to give it to the bandits.

And then, I remembered what the mask said earlier.

“If it is about their number, I know about it. Around three hundred people. There are also some coming from the sky.” (Cry)

“…… What did you say!?” (Hay)

“O-of course, there might be some margin of error……” (Cry)

That was what the mask told me. With my abilities, I couldn’t find out if it was true or not, so I don’t know how credible it was, but the mask is a Relic.

The function of an item is sometimes more accurate than what a human can perceive.

Knowing the number of enemies won’t help me, but maybe Sytry can come up with a good solution.

Tino was nervously looking at me. Sytry blinked when I stole a glance at her and said.

“Around three hundred people, is it…… According to the request form, the Barrel Bandit Group has around a hundred people……” (Sytry)

“………… Well, there might be a slight margin of error so……” (Cry)

“So two hundred people fall into the category of a slight margin of error.” (Arnold)

“Un, un, you are right…………” (Cry)

Arnold glared at me with a scowling look, but even if you yell at me, I can do nothing about it. Do that to the mask.

His gaze was focused on me. Why are you looking at me? While trying not to show my atrophy, I think desperately.

They had the ability to weaken a Level 7 and their scale is so large that Sytry has to run back here. And then, they have probably taken hostages, I can’t find anything good for us. Our situation is hopeless.

…… Un, un, it is pretty much the same as usual.

Then, I closed my eyes for a while and realized something.

“Sytry, you said the Barrel Bandit Groups had around one hundred people, right? (Cry)

“Yes, I did…… However, that information came from Gladys, and it is also possible that they were hiding their numbers. It seems like their cautiousness was quite formidable.” (Sytry)

“I see……” (Cry)

I crossed my arms and nodded understandingly.

Is this…… Could this be that? 

Arnold’s eyebrows twitched at me who had smiled unintentionally.

The number of people that the mask told me about was around three hundred people. If you think about it calmly, the difference between what the prior information said and the number of people in the Barrel Bandit Group is too great. If the prior information we had was wrong, then the one who had checked their number out, the Gladys’ Knight Order, are just simply idiots. And that would be impossible.

To begin with, it was unlikely that any group of bandits, no matter how large they are, would have any means of transportation that could allow them to fly in the sky. Mythological flying beasts that can be ridden by a person is an extremely expensive thing. They were even more expensive than Platinum Horses.

A difference in the number of people from the prior information we had and an inherently unlikely attacker that was coming down from the sky.

There was only one conclusion that could be reached.

TL notes:

Thanks for reading.

So we have 100 bandits in the city and 200 coming closer to the city.

What kind of misunderstanding will Cry make! We already have a “Pff 200 bandit is just a error margin”

What do you think the next one will be!? Extra chapter tomorrow!

Tchao à plus!

FootnotesSofiane: In the raw it is written Sofiane so it isn’t Sofia.It is either a typo by the author or it is Sofia fake persona or nickname.