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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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A sound like tearing fabric reached my ears.
Thwap.
The sound was unmistakable.
I didn’t need to look to know the coachman had been hit.
“Bandits?”
Anya Kargon leapt from the carriage.
Why were bandit attacks a staple in every fantasy and martial arts story?
Getting ambushed on a carriage ride was practically a cliché at this point.
Was it just a way for the protagonist to show off their strength in the early chapters?
It didn’t matter how many bandits appeared.
The protagonist would just cut them all down.
I never thought I’d be the one worrying about such things.
But thankfully, I wasn’t alone.
Anya and Sepia were with me.
Both were powerful figures, destined to become two of the ten strongest heroes.
Dealing with a band of bandits would be child’s play for them.
“My lady, I believe those are bandits.”
Sepia, having assessed the situation, nodded in agreement.
I followed Anya out of the carriage.
“Hear me! Hand over all your valuables, and we’ll let you live!”
Liars.
Reading a lot of web novels teaches you a few things.
One of them being that web novel bandits fell into two categories.
The first type attacked without warning, killing their victims before looting their corpses.
The second type took everything their victims had but spared their lives.
These bandits were obviously the former.
I’ll admit, I was a little scared.
And there was nothing wrong with that.
It would be completely absurd for me to be fearless in battle right off the bat after being thrown into this world.
Fortunately, the character “Ethan” possessed skills worthy of acceptance into the academy.
He was much stronger than the average person.
Passing the academy entrance exam meant you had a certain level of competence.
Meaning that I, to a certain extent, was also skilled.
At least, that’s what I had gathered from my sparring session with Sepia.
My physical abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary 21st-century human.
And even though I had no memories of this life, my body seemed to remember. I was able to wield a sword instinctively.
Though invisible to me, my swordsmanship must have been around Level 4.
The benefits of skill correction, I suppose.
“This way!”
Anya charged towards the source of the voices.
Sepia and I followed suit, making our way towards a nearby thicket of trees.
Dusk was approaching.
The sun had already begun its descent towards the west.
We had to catch these bandits before it got any darker.
Whoosh!
An arrow whizzed past, narrowly missing me.
My heart skipped a beat. A second later, and that arrow would have been lodged in my ankle.
There were already three or four arrows embedded in the ground around me.
We took cover behind a large tree.
How many were there?
I carefully peeked from behind the tree, channeling mana into my eyes.
My vision sharpened.
Fifteen in total.
Five archers, ten swordsmen.
Even for someone like me, taking on fifteen opponents alone would be a tall order. It wouldn’t be an issue if they were just ordinary bandits, but if there were any skilled fighters among them, it could get messy.
“Anya, we need to take them all down.”
“Alright. Leave it to me. I’ll crush them all!”
Anya cracked her knuckles and hefted her massive warhammer.
“Just gotta kill them all, right?”
“Well, ideally, we’d come up with a plan…”
I tried to get the words out, to suggest a more strategic approach.
“Yaaargh!”
But it was too late.
With a fierce battle cry, Anya charged headfirst into the fray.
Her speed was astonishing, especially considering the weight of the weapon she wielded.
It was idiotic, yet undeniably impressive.
Whoosh—Thud!
Incoming arrows were sliced in half by Sepia’s wind magic.
Anya, like Guan Yu charging towards the enemy general, closed the distance with incredible speed.
“Unbelievable! She’s deflecting arrows while sprinting!”
I watched in awe as Anya disappeared into the thicket, then released my own mana.
There was no point in sticking to the plan now. We were already committed.
With a burst of speed, I followed Anya.
“Ethan, go! Show them the might of the Logness family guard!”
Trusting Sepia to provide cover, I pushed off the ground with all my might.
The force of the leap propelled me forward like a spring.
There would be many more battles to come. I had to adapt.
Damn that author.
Thankfully, our opponents weren’t particularly skilled.
My priority was to neutralize them before they could reload their bows.
Thwack!
Anya reached them first, closing the distance in an instant.
Ten paces became four with a single stride.
She landed with a powerful thud, her warhammer already swinging towards her enemies.
Clang!
With a resounding crash, several bandits were sent flying.
One lost his head, transformed into a gruesome Dullahan. The rest crumpled to the ground, their necks and spines twisted at unnatural angles.
“Y-you monsters! Barbarians!”
The reputation of barbarians was well-deserved.
I dashed towards the enemy lines, cutting down two archers in the backline.
My blade sliced through them with ease, like a hot knife through butter. Blood splattered onto the forest floor.
It seemed “Ethan,” despite his lack of memories, was indeed a capable fighter.
This was the first time I had ever taken a life. But there was no time to dwell on it.
“Form ranks! Don’t panic!”
The bandit leader, a burly man with a scarred face, barked orders.
One of the bandits charged at me from behind.
He swung his axe in a wide arc. I parried with my sword, aiming for a horizontal block.
But my blade met with empty air.
Anya had already taken care of him.
Clang!
Another earsplitting crash echoed through the forest.
Anya’s hammer found its mark once more, smashing into the bandits with terrifying force.
She wielded her massive weapon as if it were a twig, her movements fluid and precise. Her attack speed was nothing short of remarkable.
Seizing the opportunity, I cut down two more bandits.
Only the leader remained.
He turned and fled without hesitation.
But Sepia’s magic stopped him in his tracks.
The bandit leader was lifted into the air, suspended several feet above the ground.
He struggled in vain, his efforts futile against Sepia’s magic.
Sepia approached him slowly.
“Who said you could run rampant in my territory, robbing and killing as you please?”
Her voice was cold, devoid of emotion. Her gaze, fixed on the bandit leader, was chilling.
“Tell me. How many of my people have you killed?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
Crack.
With a flick of her wrist, Sepia snapped the bandit leader’s arm.
He screamed in agony.
“Who gave you permission to scream?”
She wiggled her finger, and another sickening crack echoed through the air. This time, it was one of his fingers that bent at an unnatural angle.
The bandit leader bit down on his lip, stifling another scream.
“Answer my question.”
“Haa… Haa… Please, I’ll tell you anything! We… We’ve attacked three carriages so far.”
“I asked you how many you killed.”
Sepia raised her hand again, and the bandit leader cried out.
“Twelve! Twelve people!”
“Twelve… You know what I hate the most?”
“…”
“People who touch what belongs to me. Everything in my territory belongs to me.”
With those words, Sepia lowered her hand.
“By the authority vested in me as a member of the Logness family, I sentence you to death.”
Crack!
A sickening crunch, and the bandit leader’s neck snapped.
His lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
Sepia turned away, her expression unreadable. It was hard to believe this cold, calculating woman had just committed murder. And she was only twenty years old.
“Ethan, dispose of the bodies. I don’t want them anywhere near the road.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I dragged the bandit corpses away from the road, arranging them in a neat pile.
Sepia, meanwhile, had activated a communication crystal and was informing her subordinates of the incident, instructing them to collect the bodies and deliver them to the city.
“Want a hand with that?”
Anya effortlessly lifted a corpse and tossed it towards the underbrush.
Her physical strength was definitely top tier, even by academy standards.
Interestingly, Anya’s initial performance at the academy was only average.
Despite her raw power, she struggled to keep up with her peers. The reason for this was simple: she was utterly unfamiliar with magic.
Magic, for Anya, was a completely foreign concept.
“Whew! All done!”
Anya stretched, her toned abs once again on full display beneath her cloak. She retrieved her warhammer and slung it over her shoulder.
She then proceeded to wander around, eyeing the corpses with a thoughtful expression.
“Ethan, do you think I could… keep these skulls?”
Right.
The Kargon tribe had a tradition of collecting the skulls of their enemies.
“Absolutely not.”
“But why not? It’s only natural for a strong warrior to have a collection of enemy skulls!”
“Well, in the empire, carrying around human skulls will get you thrown in jail.”
“Damn, that’s a shame.”
Anya clicked her tongue, genuinely disappointed.
Looting defeated enemies was practically mandatory in these situations, but there was no way I was touching those bandit corpses.
Not with Sepia watching.
She had a noble upbringing and a strong aversion to anything she considered unclean.
She’d probably look at me like I was some kind of insect if I dared to loot an axe from a dead bandit.
And I had no desire to be on the receiving end of her disdain.
Only a true masochist would enjoy that.
“Ethan, are you done? Let’s go.”
Sepia’s gaze shifted towards the carriage.
The coachman, an arrow protruding from his chest, lay slumped over the reins.
“Leave the coachman’s body by those rocks. A patrol will be along shortly to collect it.”
She pointed towards a cluster of large rocks.
I said a silent prayer for the unfortunate coachman before carrying his body over to the designated spot.
“May you find peace in the afterlife.”
Unlike the bandits, he had identification on him. It was unlikely he’d be mistaken for one of them and end up with his head on a pike.
“Ethan, I need you to drive. The coachman…”
Drive the carriage? Me?
Sepia said it so casually, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Did she think “Ethan” even knew how to drive a carriage?
Resigned to my fate, I climbed onto the driver’s seat.
“Hey, Ethan, mind if I sit up here with you?”
Anya glanced at Sepia, a nervous laugh escaping her lips.
Even someone as oblivious as Anya could sense Sepia’s disapproval.
Sepia stopped in her tracks, her eyes narrowed.
“You’re Anya, correct?”
“Huh? Yeah, why?”
“Well, since you’re asking for a ride, I assume you know how to drive a carriage?”
“I… don’t actually.”
Sepia seemed speechless for a moment.
She ran a hand through her hair, then sighed in exasperation.
I felt a pang of apprehension.
Was Sepia about to lose her temper again?
Would she order us to unhitch the horses and make us walk?
Fortunately, she didn’t go that far.
“Get in the carriage, Anya. We’ll take you with us.”
Her words surprised me.
She was agreeing to share the carriage with Anya?
“Come on then. We need to reach the academy before nightfall.”
“Oh, right! Thanks.”
Sepia and Anya climbed into the carriage.
I sat on the driver’s seat, staring blankly at the map.
If only this were a game.
I could just close my eyes, and we’d magically teleport to our destination.
I sighed and picked up the reins.
At least the horses were well-trained.
The carriage lurched forward, slowly picking up speed.
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possessive heroine and half baked MC clueless Barbarian girl good going