The enemies that adventurers participating in a caravan request would face could be largely divided into three types.
“Wolves! A pack of snow wolves is approaching! Everyone, prepare for battle!”
First, packs of predators that have tasted human flesh.
Most of these weren’t much of a problem.
Snow bears could be troublesome if they appeared, but wolves were beasts that even wooden token adventurers could handle one-on-one.
Except for bare-handed fighters. Those guys would end up offering their arms as wolf food.
Anyway, our forces consisted of five copper tokens and five iron tokens… including the merchant group’s employees, we numbered over twenty, so there was no way a pack of wolves could pose a threat.
“Yelp! Yip yip!”
The wolves that had been charging in while fiercely growling turned into products for leather merchants within seconds, screaming like dogs on the day they’re eaten.
Whack!
The spiked iron ball swung by Bardu, a copper token adventurer, literally crushed a wolf’s skull.
A snow wolf with its entire upper jaw torn off collapsed with its tongue lolling out to the side, and then Jane’s arrow firmly lodged itself in the throat of another wolf that charged in after.
“We’ll be feasting on wolf meat tonight!”
Bardu smacked his lips while smashing the head of a wolf that had collapsed and was writhing with its neck grasped, using his large shield.
Even though the opponent was a beast, to feel an appetite after seeing such a sight of crushed brains flowing out between the cracked skull…
This guy also seemed to be not quite normal, befitting an adventurer.
“I find it rather unappetizing. The stench is too strong.”
I shook my head as I ran my longsword through a wolf from head to tail.
“Haha, that’s because you don’t know how to eat it!”
It was an answer that reminded me of an Albas restaurant owner who used to insist I try eating cooked insect pupae.
“…Is that so?”
I just shrugged and kicked the wolf carcass to pull out my longsword.
There was no point in arguing if he wasn’t going to force it on me. Compared to the pupae I didn’t even want to put in my mouth, wolf meat wasn’t such a big deal.
* * *
The second threat was wandering monsters that had escaped from dungeons, but this didn’t seem to be something to worry about.
Unlike in the central or southern regions, monsters in the northern region don’t come out of dungeons unless there’s an unavoidable reason.
I guess they too don’t like wandering around in the cold snow.
Even undead, who are immune to cold, rarely left their bases unless it was absolutely necessary. Unless they were being controlled by someone, like last time.
So, what we actually needed to be wary of was only the last case.
The most common and most troublesome existence.
“Wait, should we all stop for a moment?”
“…It’s an ambush. About seventy paces ahead, probably bandits.”
Jane and Reneom, who were in charge of scouting due to their good eyes and ears, stopped the group and informed them of an ambush ahead.
It was bandits.
These knife-wielding mathematicians had realized that taking money from hardworking people was several times more efficient than working hard themselves.
They were the most troublesome enemies for merchant groups and their escorts.
Farmers who fled to the mountains because they couldn’t pay taxes weren’t much of a problem, but these specialized robbers who had even built mountain fortresses actively used what was on top of their necks.
Traps, surprise attacks, hostage situations, night raids, deception tactics, and even fire attacks.
Moreover, if there were deserters or adventurers among them, they even used basic military tactics or magic.
To put it bluntly, they were annoyingly troublesome bastards.
Even I was only able to rob them thanks to my armor rank, Brunhilde’s swordsmanship, and catching them by surprise first.
If I had been discovered by them and attacked first, I would have had to fight desperately with gritted teeth just to barely protect myself.
Of course, now I could probably handle them without much difficulty.
“Seventy paces… can we attack first from here?”
Lug, the caravan leader, slowly reduced the speed of the cargo wagons with hand signals and asked the adventurers escorting the wagons if they could launch a preemptive attack.
“Well, we only have one magician on our side… Hilde, about your party’s magician, what’s her approximate range?”
Amina asked, pointing to Amy with her eyes.
Since Amy was the only magician participating in this request, she meant to naturally approach within her magic’s range and then start by landing one hit first.
“Amy?”
“I haven’t measured it exactly… but it should be around forty paces.”
Amy, who was being carried on Kikel’s back, answered with an uncertain tone.
“Forty paces… that’s a bit tricky. Ben, Hamill. Get your shields ready for now. If arrows come flying, protect Reneom first.”
After hearing Amy’s answer, Amina stroked her chin with her fingertips and ordered her party members to prepare for battle.
At a distance of forty paces, the bandits’ attacks might come flying in before Amy could cast her magic, so she told them to be ready to raise their shields at any moment in case that happened.
In other words, it meant to continue approaching like this until we were within forty paces.
“Hmm. That sounds good.”
Bardu, who had been listening from the side, nodded in agreement, then lightly loosened his left shoulder and approached Jane, who was standing at the front.
Then he placed his hand on Jane’s shoulder and started laughing while engaging in various small talk with her.
It was a natural performance and a wise decision.
Jane also had a shield, but perhaps to avoid interference with her archery, it was small like a pot lid.
With something like that, she could barely block swords, but it was obvious she would take all but one of three or four arrows that came flying. She needed a vanguard with a large shield sticking right next to her for protection, like now.
We advanced thirty more paces like that. Still, there was no preemptive attack from the bandits that Bardu and Amina had worried about.
Probably, they were planning to wait for us to approach close range and then all rush out swinging their spears and swords.
Now that wouldn’t work.
“Ignis Sagitta!”
The moment the distance between us and the enemy narrowed to within forty paces, Amy, who had her spellbook open in her left hand, shot flame arrows toward the bushes where the bandits were likely hiding.
Simultaneously as three flames bloomed in the air and were launched leaving long tails, Jane and Reneom also quickly drew their bowstrings and shot three or four arrows.
“Urgh…!”
“Aaaaargh! Fire, fiiiire-!”
Death throes and screams echoing through the undergrowth.
A shabby man with an arrow lodged in his head fell backwards with a single groan, and a bandit hit by a flame arrow writhed as he became a human torch.
“What the hell, they have a magician!”
“Waaater! Pour some water on meee!”
“Damn, were we discovered…! Everyone charge out! It’s do or die!”
The bandits fell into a state of panic seeing three of their comrades instantly roasted.
“Haha! What a bunch of ragtag misfits!”
Bardu burst into laughter and charged toward them while swinging his spiked iron ball above his head.
“Hamill, Ben. Guard the cargo wagons and horses just in case. You too, Reneom.”
“””Yes!”””
Amina drew her longsword and leapt toward the bandits, while Ben and Hamill raised their wooden round shields and stuck close to the cargo wagons, wary of any possible arrow rain.
And our party…
“I-I’ll go earn some reward money!”
“Kakak! Temporary descent! Vomiting!”
Kikel, who had put down Amy whom he had been carrying on his back, charged forward with heavy steps, struck down a bandit with his shield, and then thrust down his harpoon, piercing the bandit’s face.
The bandit died trembling. The area between his legs on his dirty leather clothes turned a dark color.
“What is this! A monster, a lizard monster!”
“Kachak!”
Following that, Kikel laughed at a bandit who seemed to be seeing a Lizardman for the first time and was startled, then struck the bandit’s waist with his tail.
Whack!
“Urgh…!”
“D-Don’t throw him this way!”
As the bandit flew off with a scream from the impact that folded his side in half, Friede’s swung greatsword mercilessly split him in two.
The upper half of the bandit’s body, with his waist completely severed, spun around scattering blood and entrails everywhere.
“Everyone’s excited, so excited.”
I chuckled as I leaned against the side of a cargo wagon, flicking away pieces of flesh flying toward my helmet.
While blankly watching the adventurers relieving their marching stress through killing.
“…Aren’t you going to fight?”
A merchant group guard standing next to me asked, looking at me as if bewildered.
With a face that seemed to ask what a pure swordsman who wasn’t holding a shield or shooting arrows or magic was doing not stepping forward.
“It doesn’t seem necessary.”
I smiled and shrugged my shoulders.
There was no need for me to step in. In just twenty seconds after the battle started, eight out of ten hidden bandits had turned into meat bandits.
Even if I went forward now, by the time I cut down two of them, the battle itself would be over.
What reason was there for me to step in against these ragtag misfits who fell into confusion as soon as their ambush failed?
Especially when it meant getting covered in blood when we couldn’t even wash properly.
Therefore, I just quietly kept my position next to Amy.
You might ask, aren’t I hired as an escort, so is it okay to show such blatant slacking off?
Of course it is.
“And, if other enemies were to attack this side, it would be a bit worrying with just the iron tokens and magician, wouldn’t it?”
Besides, I have such a good excuse, don’t I?
I’m not not working, I’m guarding the cargo wagons. If something were to happen to the wagons, we wouldn’t get additional compensation even after dealing with the bandits.
This is all about role division. More important than killing enemies is protecting the money. That’s common sense for an adventurer.
“…Wow.”
“To get away with that… as expected of ‘Iron Face’…”
The iron token adventurers, perhaps due to their lack of experience and skill, not understanding my deep intentions, glanced at me with dumbfounded faces and let out hollow laughs.
* * *
The bandits who had dreamed of striking it rich were annihilated along with the lesson that this is how you suddenly die.
The corpses, stripped of anything valuable and left in their underwear. It was an end worse than the wolves that had become fur and boiled meat.
“I just can’t understand it.”
“Understand what?”
While watching the adventurers selling the equipment of the bandits they had killed on the spot to the merchants, I muttered a question that suddenly came to mind.
“Why on earth are these guys doing banditry here? Even hiding in these freezing cold snowy mountains.”
No matter how I thought about it, it was something I couldn’t comprehend at all.
“If they’re going to hide in the mountains anyway, wouldn’t it be better to go down to the south?”
At least it’s somewhat warm there. In the northern mountains, if you skip heating for even one day, you’re likely to turn into a frozen pollack.
It seemed like unless they were earning exceptionally well, their heating costs would exceed their banditry income.
“…You’re right?”
Amy nodded like a sage who had gained enlightenment under a linden tree.
She said she had never questioned it before, but now that she heard my words, it certainly was incredibly strange.
“Even if they go down south, it would be difficult to settle properly. The mountains in other kingdoms already have their own bandits who have established their territories.”
“Ah, I see.”
The young man Hamill, who was wiping blood off his axe next to us, provided the answer.
Apparently, even the banditry business is in a state of unlimited competition, so all the good spots already have owners?
To set foot in such places, you’d have to either crawl in as an underling of the existing bandit group or engage in a bloody battle to take over their entire mountain fortress.
Whichever you choose, most end up dying in the process.
“Looks like they have their own hardships too.”
“Indeed.”
It seemed like they could form an alliance among bandits like the Seventy-two Greenwood Bandits, but apparently, they couldn’t even dream of such an idea.
Well, in wuxia novels, large-scale plundering warlords like bandit alliances are established because of the strange constraint that public power cannot touch gangsters.
In a world like this, a bandit group forming a large-scale alliance of thousands? What country would leave that alone?
Bandits being able to build mountain fortresses and act organizationally is only possible as long as they don’t catch the eye of those in high places.
If they cross that line, an extermination order would inevitably be issued. I don’t know for sure, but they’d probably be crushed within a week.
Since their very existence is nothing but harmful to the kingdom, they would mobilize the army, knightly orders, and even hero parties if necessary to completely annihilate them.
In the end, bandits born in this Hervor had no choice but to endure, bearing the cold of the snowy mountains.
“With that kind of perseverance, wouldn’t it be better to just work honestly?”
“Then they’d have to obey the law, right? I guess they didn’t want to.”
“Well, I suppose that’s true.”
If one prefers a life of robbing, killing, and raping, there’s no other path but banditry.
The first two are possible for adventurers as well, but the last one is difficult to even attempt unless you have quite an abnormal sexual desire.
While this world was full of all sorts of weirdos, it was still hard to find lunatics crazy enough to rape things like goblins or giant spiders.
Ironically, Earth, which seemed relatively sane, was full of horse-fuckers, chicken-fuckers, and goat-fuckers, and the internet even had pictures of people actually fucking goblins.
Isn’t this proof that hope exists even in a world like this?