Three days later.
The Skia Coffin Ele came to an abrupt stop.
We were in the middle of a forest road.
"Oh my, oh my. Something must have happened, I suppose."
The witch muttered, shaking her cards.
The observation room at the very back of the second floor.
We'd been playing a card game as an afternoon tea-time diversion while gazing out at the scenery.
Dagaa, who'd dropped out in first place, and Mineha, who'd dropped out in second, were sprawled out on the sofa.
It was me, Bidd, and the witch playing. I was in third and looked like I might make it out too.
The forest scenery streaming past the front glass had stopped — that's how I noticed the sudden halt.
Mineha bit into a cookie and asked.
"What made it stop?"
"Indeed, indeed. If there's some kind of obstacle ahead, it would stop."
"Figures," Mineha muttered. It did figure.
But that meant something was up ahead. The witch set down her cards.
"Well, well. It's something we'll know once we check."
"I'll go too."
"I'm heading out as well."
"I'll wait here, yeah!"
"Wah?"
"Well then, it'll be Mineha and young Wof going to check it out, yeah?"
"Huh? What about the witch?"
"You. Not coming?"
At our questions, the witch gave a soft huff of a laugh.
"Well then, Kon will be waiting for the report, yeah?"
Looks like she wasn't coming after all.
Mineha and I exchanged glances and shared a wry smile.
After all, the one who'd brought it up first was the witch.
Since I didn't know what we'd find, I went back to my room to prepare.
What suddenly popped into my mind was the gauntlets.
The Sacred Stillness Gauntlets New Version — the ones I was supposed to receive on the day of departure — were still undergoing final adjustments.
Right now they were sitting in the witch's workspace on the second floor of Skia Coffin Ele.
Apparently, the materials she'd originally planned to use hadn't been obtainable, so she'd been working with substitute materials instead.
But then, by pure coincidence, the planned materials came in through another route.
So she'd interrupted that work to pull out the substitutes and swap in the original materials.
That back-and-forth was apparently what had delayed the handoff again and again.
What kind of materials could they possibly be? Materials worth that much trouble to incorporate. Hmm… kinda scary.
When I finished prepping and headed out, I linked up with Mineha.
"Something on your mind?"
Hoss came out of his room. Probably because the scenery outside the window had stopped moving.
"Looks like something's stopped us up ahead."
"An obstacle?"
"Right. Arifa and I will go check it out."
"I'm comin' too. Hold on a sec."
Hoss ducked back into his room and grabbed his halberd.
"Alright, let's go."
We stepped outside.
This was the uphill-only lane of the caravan road cutting through the forest.
Dense woodland surrounded us on all sides, and the downhill-only lane ran on the far side of the trees to our right.
Up ahead, a wagon had tipped over on its side. One of its wheels had come loose and was rolling along the ground.
"That's strange."
"Yeah, ain't right."
"Something's off."
The overturned wagon was just an ordinary one.
But this was a caravan road — a lane built exclusively for giant horse-drawn carriages.
Under normal circumstances, ordinary wagons were strictly prohibited from entering the caravan road.
This wasn't some local law either. It was firmly established under international law.
I activated Danger Discernment, just to be safe.
Two red dots on the overturned wagon. Several more red dots among the trees to the right.
A quick count put them at over ten. Quite the crowd.
I whispered to the other two. They'd apparently expected as much.
Of course. They weren't exactly being subtle.
"So, what do we do?"
"We could just ignore them."
"No, let's take care of them now. I'd be fine either way, but I don't want anyone getting hurt."
"That's true."
"Then let's do it."
"I'll make the first move."
The two nodded. I used Still Depths.
I locked the light pointer onto the wagon and fired.
"Banish."
The overturned ordinary wagon vanished into thin air, revealing two men with thoroughly villainous faces.
But I paid them no attention and hurled my magic knife at a red dot among the trees to the left.
The instant the knife embedded itself in the tree, I swapped places.
That was the Changing from Knife Magic.
A shaved-head thug appeared before me, eyes wide in shock. The trees to the left all rustled in unison.
Too slow. I unleashed Banish on the shaved-head.
Part of his body vanished. He crumpled to the ground, screaming.
Even they couldn't hold back after that.
"Bald Henry!?"
"You bastards—you actually went and did it to Bald Henry!"
"I'll kill you!"
"This is for Bald Henry!"
"Yeah! These guys—kill all the men!"
"Capture the women. That's—whoa, incredible!"
"No way... isn't this the biggest haul yet?!"
"We're on a roll! We're so damn lucky!"
"That woman's mine!"
Men swarmed toward Mineha-san. The light in Mineha-san's eyes went out.
"'Demon Star Manifest Spear'... Star Rain!!!!"
"Gyaaah!"
"Guaaah!"
"Gyaaaah!"
"Gugyaaaaaah!"
"Guhaabaaaaah!"
The "stars"—transformed into spiraling triangular drills—rained down, cutting through the men.
A question crossed my mind.
Were these guys bandits? Brigands? Thieves?
If we kept heading right from here, there was a mountain.
Given their positioning, it wouldn't be strange for their hideout to be in the mountains.
So they were mountain bandits.
No. They were bandits lurking in the wild, so they were brigands.
Or were they just plain thieves?
"One-Blade Demon Severance!"
"Guaaah!"
"Wh-what are these guys? Guuugh!"
Hoss's halberd mowed down about three of them in a single swing.
That was the Wind Demon Severance, all right.
"Who the hell are you people?"
A lanky man, trying to sound tough despite the fear in his voice. I sighed.
"We're just travelers. This is a real problem. You're ruining a perfectly good trip, you know."
It was like spotting a cockroach in a really nice inn.
I was holding the knife I'd just bought from Arifa's shop.
It was a large knife with a curved, axe-like blade that was wickedly sharp.
Decorations resembling the Nazca or Inca civilizations from my past life were carved into it.
According to Arifa, it was a ritual knife from a southern tribe.
It cut beautifully and was easy to handle. I was glad I hadn't asked what kind of ritual it was for.
The thugs had some Relic holders among them, which was surprising, but it was an easy fight.
Still, their well-maintained equipment, weapons, and the way they were accustomed to fighting...
Probably safe to assume they were washed-out delvers. Or former delvers, at least.
There might have been active delvers mixed in there too.
But judging by their strength, their rank had to be low.
Almost all of them were Rank VI or Rank V — I doubted any of them were Rank IV.
I cleaned up after finishing them off and claimed their belongings.
Heh heh heh — another knife for the collection.
Sometimes I'd catch myself thinking — aren't I doing the same thing they are?
But they knew what they were doing was a crime. They did it deliberately.
We don't do that. It's a crime — and the kind of thing only the lowest of the low would pull.
They attacked, so I put them down. If they hadn't attacked, I wouldn't have.
So we're different from them.
"...What are you going to do with me..."
We left just one alive. The guy who seemed to be the leader.
I dragged him over to the caravan road and made him sit down.
"Where's your hideout?"
Mineha asked the question. The only reason we kept him alive was to get information. That was it.
To eliminate any lingering threats, I decided to wipe them all out.
I'd have to brief the witches afterward, but they probably wouldn't object.
The so-called leader took one look at Mineha and put on the most vulgar grin imaginable.
It was exactly the kind of creepy smile that only a guy who'd never stand a chance with women could pull off — the kind that tanks your favorability into negative territory.
"Hey, hey. Hey. What's this? Some top-shelf piece? Man oh man, this one's gotta be the best haul yet, huh? Hey, honey-haired little hottie — come do something depraved with me."
"Ugh, kill him."
"I get the sentiment."
"So where's your hideout?"
"Tell you what — give me that woman who's so hot she's about to burst, aching so bad she can barely stand it, and maybe I'll answer."
He licks his lips and says it, low and lecherous.
"Right. Kill him."
"I get the sentiment."
"Where's your hideout?"
"Heh heh heh, heh heh — come on, I already told you, didn't I? Give me that honey-haired little sexpot and I'll tell you everything. Hey. Kid. You even listening?"
"Yeah. Wof. Just kill him already."
"I get the sentiment. Also, the way you said that, it sounded like you wanted me to kill Wof."
Well, I figured as much, but this guy — he's got us completely pegged wrong.
He's thinking that if he talks, we'll kill him anyway. And he'd be right.
"Both of you — could you keep an eye on him for a moment?"
I considered Banishing his fingers one at a time while cycling elixir recovery in an infinite loop.
But he'd probably lose his mind, so I decided to go with something more effective instead.
"Sure, I guess."
"Got it."
"Huh? Where do you think you're going? Running away? You're just a damn kid after all. The ones like you who can't do a damn thing but still act all high and mighty — nothing pisses me off more."
"Yes, that's right. So I'll go bring the witch."
"Huh? A witch?"
"I'm the witch's apprentice."
"Huh? No, wait. Earlier, Wof and—"
I ignored him and went back to Skier Coffin E.
When I told the witch, who was relaxing alone in the observation lounge, she stood up looking delighted.
I heard Biddo had taken Dagaa and gone to take a bath.
I brought the witch in front of the leader-type guy.
He tried to lick his lips at the witch the same way he had at Mineha, but—
"M-M-M-M-M... M-M-M... M-M-M... the peerless witch...?!"
He turned pale and started shaking uncontrollably, chattering his teeth.
"My, my. That's right. I'm the witch, you know~"
The witch wore a bewitching smile.
"W-W-W-W-Why are you here of all places?! I heard you'd never leave Hydrangea again!"
"Oh no, nothing of the sort, dear~"
The leader-type guy tried to run. Hoss subdued him right away.
"L-Let go! Release me! Let me go! Don't come near me! I-I once saw those who tried to mess with the witch — those guys — get turned to mincemeat in an instant!!"
"My, my, oh my. Did that really happen, I wonder~"
The witch didn't seem to remember. Mineha looked exasperated.
"Turned to mincemeat in an instant? What did you do to them?"
"Hmm, hmm. But you don't remember a single thing, do you~"
Well, he didn't exactly deny turning them into mincemeat in an instant.
"I see. I see. It's my fault — all of it, every last bit of it! I'll give up the hideout, everything, the whole lot! Just leave Minchi alone!"
"Meow."
That was when the cat showed up.
It was a black cat with an incredibly long tail.
Wait, this cat.
"A cat?"
"It's a cat, innit?"
"Huh? A cat?"
"It's the cat from back then."
Right. The cat that had helped me escape from the arena ruins.
No question about it — that long tail was proof beyond proof. But what was it doing in a place like this?
"Meow."
"My, my — this here's Peony's pet cat, isn't it?"
"Hssshhhraaa!"
The moment those words left her mouth, the black cat hissed at the witch in hostility.
"Peony — she's the commander of the Delver Knights, right?"
"That'd be her cat, then?"
"The Delver Knights...!?"
The leader-looking guy's face goes pale again.
"Hmm hmm. Let's tie him up for now, shall we?"
The Witch pulled all sorts of things from her pouch and went to work — binding the leader, blindfolding him, and gagging him.
She's really practiced at this. Maybe it only looks that way because the Witch is so dexterous.
No, she's definitely practiced.
Once he was restrained, Hoss slung him over his shoulder.
"Where we puttin' 'im?"
"Hmm hmm. The storage shed, maybe?"
"Then let's just toss 'im in there."
"Nnn — nnnnnn!!"
"Well then, let's head back, shall we?"
"Meow."
"The cat too?"
"Meow!"
"Looks that way."
And so, with the luggage and the cat joining up, the "Skia Coffin Ele" set off.
We planned to dump the luggage as soon as we were done with it.