Leaving Lady Verloren's mansion, which had become as comfortable and dear as a new hometown, we headed toward the destination written in Argentir's letter.
The destination was Svinaland. A circular city built surrounding a large lake.
"Is that Abyss Priest called Ganagl hiding there?"
"Not inside the city, he's said to be hiding in ruins around it. Since there would be nowhere to escape if he was discovered hiding in the city."
"Ah, that makes sense..."
Friede nodded.
If the city guard were to seal off the walls, those hiding inside would literally be like rats in a trap.
If they had any sense, it was natural to choose somewhere outside the city as a hideout.
Though Ganagl's intelligence was said to be at a child's level, not everyone following him was as foolish as he was.
"Then we..."
"First we'll enter the city and rest a bit, then start work when the 'Shadow' contacts us. That's what was written in the letter too."
"...I don't like that prince."
Friede pouted and complained. Her face showed how deeply unpleasant she found Argentir's attitude of openly trying to use us.
"Me neither. But what can we do? We have to endure it since he's helpful."
I hugged Friede tightly from behind and whispered in her ear while resting my chin on her shoulder.
Though it was a bit irritating being used as a convenient force, Argentir was still better than the other options.
At least he was someone who thoroughly paid what was due. If we were going to be used anyway, shouldn't we choose someone who at least pays while using us?
"Just let the irritation go. We won't have to see his face much later anyway. For our future."
"If Hilde says so... okay, I'll endure it."
Friede smiled brightly.
Apparently quite pleased with the position of leaning back into my embrace, she kept rubbing the back of her head against my chest.
"Ehehe..."
Hmm... is it really that enjoyable...?
I don't understand. Usually it would at least be soft, but now I'm wearing armor so it should just be hard when she rests her head.
Well, as long as she's happy.
I watched Friede rubbing her head against my breastplate as if looking at something strange, then smiled and turned my head forward again.
Beyond the reins I was holding, the frost-covered horse mane swayed in the wind.
Since it was too far to walk, we had obtained a horse to ride, but in the rural area where we were staying, we could only get one black pack horse.
Therefore, I was moving forward with Friede riding in front of me, half-embraced.
I was a bit worried whether a pack horse roughly purchased from the countryside could handle the weight of two people, but perhaps because Friede was light, it was holding up well.
Or maybe the horse itself was just particularly large.
Since the hair around its ankles was pure white as if wearing socks, I gave it the name 'Socksy', but Friede had commented that it was too rustic a name.
-Then why don't you name it, Friede? What would you like to call it?
-Hmm... how about 'Black Storm'?
-...That seems even more rustic. It's too long too.
After a disastrous discussion that thoroughly revealed both our rustic naming sense, this pack horse's name was decided as Schwartz. It meant black.
Calling it black because its fur is black, come to think of it, there couldn't be a more racist naming.
If Lincoln had heard this, wouldn't he have come at us with an axe?
However, Lincoln wasn't here, and honestly, that uncle probably wouldn't have tried to liberate horses along with slaves.
Unless he was a horse-lover who treated horses like people.
Anyway, we rode the horse all day and headed toward Svinaland, camping in caves when the sun set.
When we occasionally found villages along the way, we would rest properly for a night at an inn.
It was a perfectly peaceful journey.
Thanks to having the perception interference helmet, the magical dyeing tool prepared by Argentir, and Fernhilde's identity token, we didn't need to particularly avoid people's eyes.
Perhaps due to the jet-black hair completely different from Brunhilde's wanted poster? Even if I completely removed the helmet, no one seemed to recognize my identity.
Of course, even if they didn't recognize my identity, I still wore the helmet at all times except when sleeping or washing, since my appearance drew attention.
After six days like that.
Around when we would reach Svinaland in two more days.
"Aaaaahhh!"
Someone's scream and the sound of clashing weapons echoed, blocking our path ahead.
"A scream...? Looks like someone's fighting?"
"Yeah. Should we avoid it?"
I pulled the reins to stop Schwartz and listened carefully to assess the situation from the screams.
"Kahaha! You should have handed over the women and cargo when we told you to!"
"Hey, hey! Shoot carefully! How long has it been since we've found a merchant group with women!"
Rough and crude speech. Just two lines were enough to guess the situation.
"Bandits."
"Bandits indeed."
Up ahead, it seemed a group of bandits who really liked women were busy conducting "business" with an unlucky merchant group.
"What should we do? Going around would take about half a day more."
I loosened my neck lightly while asking Friede's opinion. Whether to avoid trouble by going around the bandits, or just break through directly.
"Oh, um... if they're bandits, shouldn't we... subjugate them...?"
Friede turned her head to glance at me while giving a hero-like answer.
Yet she was watching my reaction, suggesting that if I refused, she would reluctantly ignore them and pass by.
Though that would prick her conscience a bit, her attitude showed my will was more important than her own conscience. It was a 90-point answer.
Minus 50 points for a hero trying to ignore bandits. Plus 40 points for considering my will above her own.
I smiled while lightly pinching Friede's cheek as if caressing it.
"Of course we should. If we ignore people in crisis, we wouldn't deserve to call ourselves knights, would we?"
Then, I lightly whipped the reins and headed toward the mountain path where curses and metallic sounds were coming from.
After several tens of seconds like that. After galloping at full speed making the ground thunder with hoofbeats, we discovered a group of bandits and a small merchant caravan resisting them.
About thirty bandits. The merchants numbered thirteen including guards.
And corpses... six of them.
Two porters turned into arrow cushions and four bandits cut down by spears and swords were scattered like trash here and there along the narrow path.
"Friede!"
"I'll go first!"
When I pulled the reins and shouted, Friede leaped off the horse toward the enemies as if she had been waiting, while gripping the black steel greatsword gifted by Lady Verloren... no, Mother.
"Wh-what's that bastard?!"
"A girl? Not even a bird...!"
The bandits, startled by the sudden intruder, turned toward Friede and shot arrows.
"Hyaaaaah!"
Friede spun fiercely in the air, deflecting the arrows with her cloak as if catching them, and brought down her greatsword like falling to vertically split a bandit.
With a thunderous boom, blood spurted up between the blade that struck the earth.
The bandit fell split in two sides.
Before his spilling entrails could touch the ground, the black steel blade flashed like lightning and swept through the waist of another bandit standing beside him.
"Max-!"
"Damn shit, this crazy kid!"
The men, horrified at seeing two bandits instantly turn into four pieces, stepped back a couple paces with pale faces.
"Behind! There's another one behind! On horseback, plate armor...! Could it be a knight!"
One bandit who turned his head as if averting his eyes from that sight discovered me just stopping Schwartz, and pointed while trembling.
The skill level of those who make a living as bandits in a place like this was at best iron token adventurer level. To them, the word 'knight' meant the same as grim reaper.
If they numbered about a hundred, they might try charging in believing in their numbers, but with just thirty or so it wasn't even worth considering.
Unless they were completely insane, it would be natural for them to scatter and flee the moment a knight appears—
"Don't be scared, you bastards! It's just a woman in armor! She'll die just the same if hit by a sword!"
"Y-yeah! Look at that incomplete armor! Aim for the legs!"
They were insane ones.
Perhaps because the perception interference of the helmet was nullified due to the urgent situation? The bandits seemed to recognize my appearance quite accurately.
Therefore they could charge at me caught up in reckless blood rush—or rather, desperate abandon.
"Kyaaaah!"
A bearded bandit charging toward me after I dismounted Schwartz, swinging a two-handed axe fiercely.
"How foolish."
I sneered at that too-slow attack while throwing my left fist at him. With the mindset of practicing karma manifestation since things had come to this.
Blue afterglow gathering in my eyes. My fist imbued with manifested karma and Iron Arm's power suppressed to minimum output shot out like lightning.
Crack!
My fist that shattered the axe handle like a cracker struck... no, penetrated the bandit's face.
...Eh, no, I didn't mean to go this far.
I was more surprised than the bandit who was hit.
Well of course, my left arm was now embedded up to the elbow in the center of the bandit's face.
In a state where I had completely crushed his eyes, nose, skull and brain, cleanly piercing through to the back of his head.
"Gurgle... gweek..."
The bandit whose upper tongue was completely pierced made a grotesque moan while convulsing.
Bloody foam dripped from between his open lips, and his trembling pants were stained a dark color.
It was filthy, disgusting, and smelly.
"Ugh."
I reflexively frowned while kicking away his upper body.
With a crunch, the corpse with all its ribs crushed flew and tumbled after hitting another bandit.
"Uh..."
"Uhh..."
Everyone around looked down at the bandit's corpse with faces that had lost all words. More precisely, at the center of his face that was punched through.
A hole-man convulsing while leaking contents.
If his head had just completely flown off that would be one thing, but with just the center pierced through it looked grotesque beyond disgusting.
The bandits must have thought so too.
"Hyaaaaaah! Crazy, crazy-!"
"It's a monster! A murderous monster!"
"Hieeeek...! Help, somebody help-!"
Seeing how they either collapsed in fits or threw away their weapons and fled in all directions.
"Uh..."
I tried to say something out of awkwardness, but having nothing to say, I just drew my sword and leaped toward them.
"Aaaaaaah! The monster's chasing us! A crazy slaughterer monster!"
"Why me-aagh! Get away! Go that way-!"
The terrified bandits let out desperate screams.
Like children encountering ghosts in the middle of the night, some even fainted completely or crawled away on all fours while streaming tears and snot.
...What is this.
My plan to gallantly debut as Lady Knight Fernhilde by defeating the bandits and rescuing the merchants was completely shattered.
The scene I ended up creating wasn't such a splendid action scene, but rather a scene from a slasher horror filled with screams and wails.
"Huerk...! Quick, we need to run...!"
...Wait, even the merchants are running away.
Far from coming to thank us for saving them, the merchants were abandoning even their wagons and sprinting away in the opposite direction from the bandits.
They looked so desperate that I wondered if they could have won without us if they had fought with this much vigor until the end.