Chapter 82 No Sympathy Needed
"Come out if you're there!"
When Robert called out, a boy around 10 years old peeked out from behind a crate, and then jumped down with a thud. Thanks to Sara's water magic, his body was clean, but his hair was a mess, and his clothes were tattered.
Benjamin was in a similar state, but he had changed into a spare set of clothes that Robert had prepared, so he didn't look too shabby.
'He looked even younger when he was sleeping, but he's got a pretty strong vibe going on.'
"Are you with those mercenaries?"
"I don't really want to admit it, but yeah."
"Where did you guys come from?"
"Those mercenaries will work for anyone who pays them. This time, it just so happens that a noble from Roisen hired them. I don't know anything more than that. They just talked about it while drinking."
"Are you a mercenary too? At your age?"
The boy nodded.
"I think I was kidnapped by them. I was just a kid back then, so I don't really remember. And then, I was forced to work like a sl*ve."
'Wait, so they kidnapped him and treated you like a child sl*ve?'
"But I was told I'd be sold to a rich woman in a few years, so I just waited for that to happen."
Looking at him again, it was clear that the boy had a beautiful face. If he fixed up his messy hair and wore some decent clothes, he could be called a pretty boy. His black hair and red eyes were also quite striking.
Listening to the boy's story, the adults around him felt a pang of sadness. In Avalon, human trafficking was prohibited, and owning sl*ves was not allowed. The country did have a system of criminal sl*ves, but they were not sold to other countries, and could even be granted amnesty and returned to being ordinary citizens.
"What kind of person would do this to a kid?"
"But that kid is a pretty big threat, you know."
"What do you mean?"
Benjamin started talking with a wry smile.
"I was following a group of thugs, and that kid saw me and got caught up in it..."
"Yeah. I was picking up twigs for firewood when I saw this old man. I thought I'd be killed if I got caught by the enemy, so I tried to run away..."
"Well, I thought if I made a racket, the mercenaries would find us, so I silenced the kid and covered his mouth."
"Hmm, you're pretty quick for bureaucrat."
'No, no, it's not something to be proud of! What's with you, doing something like that to a kid?'
"So, I thought I'd be killed, and in a flash, I used fire magic..."
"What? You can use magic?"
"I usually can only make small flames, like for cooking, but at that time, I was so scared and desperate..."
'Ah, I see.'
"In other words, the cause of this fire is your magic going out of control, right?"
"Probably... yeah."
The boy's voice grew smaller as Sara pointed it out.
"Well, what to do with you can wait. Some responsibility also lies with Ben, don't you think?"
"That's right. I'm reflecting on my actions. This punishment is..."
"That's all for later. Right now, we need to get out of this crisis or we're in trouble."
As Robert said, over 100 mercenaries surrounded them.
'But what's their goal? Why are they attacking us?'
"Hey, boy... I don't know your name. Do you know their goal?"
"I don't have a name. I've only been called 'Oi' or 'brat.' And their goal was to attack the knights who came to suppress the riot from behind. They thought they wouldn't send many people, so they planned to annihilate them and plunder freely."
"What? Plunder?"
The servants of Baron Walt's estate were outraged.
'Plunder is their goal? Then why attack this poor carriage?'
"They must have failed in their surprise attack. Moreover, with the forest fire, they should know the knights will come in full force. Yet they're not running away, which is inexplicable. If plunder is their goal, it would be more certain to attack Baron Walt's estate."
Sara's muttering got a reaction from Robert.
"I think their target is Revi and Sophia."
"Us?"
"Yeah, I think they saw you two treating the guys. Well, I thought I saw a figure when we got back, but we were in a hurry, so it might've been my imagination."
"So, that means those people told their friends about our existence, right?"
"Probably. The knights will come to Baron Walt's mansion sooner or later. They don't have enough people to take us on head-on. We should've escaped quickly, but..."
A boy cut in at that point.
"They're the type to use their money as soon as they get it, so they're always broke. This time, they failed their job and won't get paid, so they might try to catch those ladies and sell them off quickly. If those ladies are nobles, they might be able to get a ransom too."
"That makes sense, I suppose."
Sara turned to Robert and asked,
"When do you think the knights will arrive?"
"Probably by dawn at the earliest. It looks like they're mobilizing a considerable number of troops."
"Do you know what time it is now?"
Robert took out his pocket watch, held it up to the light, and checked the time.
"It's late at night. The date just changed, too."
"Then we can't afford to wait much longer, can we?"
"That's right."
Sara and Rebecca exchanged glances and smiled slyly. It seemed that when Sara was around, Rebecca also tended to shed her ladylike demeanor.
"By the way, boy, do you know the exact number of mercenaries?"
"There were 96 people in the forest, including me. And 28 people were mixed in with the rioters."
"Oh, so there are over 120 people."
Sara thought for a moment, then called out to Rebecca.
"Lady Rebecca, can you ask the fairies to count the number of people outside?"
"It's dark, so I'm not sure. Let me ask them."
After a short wait, the fairies responded.
"There are 132 people, it seems."
"Oh? That's more than the number of mercenaries. Maybe the hunters are mixed in too. But I suppose that's within the margin of error."
Sara turned to Robert, a genuine black smile spreading across her face.
"Sir Robert, can we do it?"
"Huh, Sa――Sophia?"
"We'll need everyone's cooperation, though."
"Are you really going to do it?"
"It's about time I took a nap. There's no guarantee I can maintain this place after I fall asleep."
To be honest, that's a bit of a lie. With her earth magic, Sara created this space, and once it's made, it won't collapse unless she uses magic to destroy it. Sara knew that, but she couldn't forgive those mercenaries who had been bullying the boy.
"That's scary. Alright, Sophia, you can do as you like. What should we do?"
"Then, let's knock them out temporarily and bind their hands and feet while they're unconscious, okay?"
"Huh?!"
Sara smiled sweetly, but the adults around her looked at her like "What is she talking about?"
"Let's do it, then."
Sara covered the surrounding area with a wall of wind, and also created a wind barrier outside the range of the mercenaries. Since it was invisible, the mercenaries wouldn't notice.
Then, she blew a large amount of carbon dioxide gas towards the area where the mercenaries were.
'I'm not sure how much is safe, but if they die, I'm sorry. But they were going to kidnap us, so it can't be helped.'
In about a minute, the mercenaries started falling down, and Sara used her earth magic to stick them to the ground one by one. In less than 10 minutes, there was no one left standing in the surrounding area.
'Ugh, carbon dioxide poisoning is scary. Wait, is it oxygen deficiency? Well, either way is fine.'
After binding everyone, Sara dispelled the wind barrier on the outside, waited for a bit, and then dispelled the inner barrier as well. Next, she used her earth magic to restore the ground and dome to their original state, and asked the adults to bind the mercenaries.
"We don't have enough rope to bind this many people!"
"When you think about it, that's true. Then, let's borrow the clothes they're wearing and turn them into sturdy ropes."
Sara used her magic to transform the mercenaries' clothes into ropes.
"Sophia, you're merciless."
"But we were about to be kidnapped, weren't we? If not, Baron Walt's mansion might have been plundered too?"
"That's true, isn't it?"
Sara turned to the servants of Baron Walt's mansion and said so.
"Should we feel sorry for those guys who were trying to rob Baron Walt's mansion?"
""""No way!""""
As a result, the mercenaries who had planned to rob and kidnap were left with their clothes stripped off by the woman they tried to capture, and the mansion's servants had them tied up.
Just then, the boy from earlier popped out.
"You're amazing, Miss!"
Sara turned to face the boy and said.
"Thanks, boy. But you should probably put some clothes on. There might be something in the cargo."
When the boy looked down, he realized that the clothes he had been wearing until just a moment ago had vanished into thin air.
"&$(#@!!"
The boy let out a silent scream and jumped into the cargo carriage.
'Well, if it got burned by flames that badly, I guess...'
Of course, Sara, being an adult, didn't bat an eye even when the 10-year-old boy was completely naked.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)