Aria's one-hit kill of the bandit leader left almost everyone stunned.
Seriously, dude? You were acting so tough, and you got taken down by a little girl in one strike? What a joke!
Even Aria herself was bewildered. She hadn't understood what the bandit leader had been trying to accomplish with his empty-handed flailing, but in the heat of battle, she hadn't had time to overthink it. She'd already unleashed her Supreme Holy Slash, so she simply followed through with the strike, and then... the fight was over.
Everything had happened so quickly that Douglas and the female warrior beside Aria hadn't even engaged the other bandits yet, while Feidric at the rear of the group was only just preparing to cast his spell.
As for the remaining bandits, the sight of their leader's demise instantly threw them into a panic. They abandoned their charge and turned tail without hesitation.
Seeing this, the adventurers had no intention of pursuing them. Their mission was to protect their employer, not to eradicate bandits.
Besides, the bandits had arrived with such menacing bravado, only to scatter like cowards. This sudden change made them wonder if there might be a trap lurking.
Could this be a deliberate lure? Were there traps ahead? Or, if they gave chase, might someone ambush the carriage?
The farcical battle had begun abruptly and ended in a flash, lasting no more than thirty seconds.
On the edge of the battlefield, Cipher couldn't help but cover her mouth with her right hand when she saw the bandit leader's bloodied corpse. She gagged a few times, her face pale with horror.
This was the first time in her life she had ever seen a dead person—or, more precisely, the first time she had ever seen such a gruesome, blood-soaked corpse.
Before this, she hadn't even killed a chicken. But the bandit leader? His chest and abdomen had been slashed open, his large and small intestines spilling onto the ground along with a jumbled mass of unrecognizable internal organs, staining the earth crimson.
His face was frozen in the bewildered, desperate expression he must have worn in his final moments, his eyes widened into oval shapes as if staring at something unseen.
As an "ordinary person" and certainly not a born psychopath, how could Cipher possibly remain unmoved by such a sight?
Cipher took a deep breath, struggling to regain her composure as she turned away from the corpse. She had nearly vomited moments before.
Douglas, noticing her distress, hurried over. After murmuring a brief prayer, a soft white light enveloped Cipher.
"Calm yourself," he said. "It's a 2nd-level divine spell. How do you feel now?"
Cipher nodded. The spell had indeed eased her panic and nausea.
Douglas, remembering Cipher's inexperience with killing, said, "That scum got what he deserved. If Pieck hadn't hired us and relied solely on those two guards, they would have surely met their end here."
"And judging by that bandit's demeanor, this wasn't his first robbery. Who knows how many lives he's taken? Think of it this way: now that he's dead, more people will be spared..."
Cipher waved him off dismissively. "You don't need to comfort me. I understand all that."
Cipher wasn't naive enough to think the bandits didn't deserve to die, or to consider letting them go. Her discomfort stemmed solely from witnessing such a scene for the first time.
Conversely, she couldn't help but wonder if everyone in this world was like this. Even sixteen-year-old Aria had killed a stranger without flinching and showed no reaction to the gruesome sight.
The two guards dragged the corpse from the road and tossed it into the nearby woods. Wild animals would soon pick up the scent and scavenge the remains clean. Afterward, the group resumed their journey.
Cipher, still shaken, stayed close to the carriage instead of resuming her lookout duties. She noticed Feidric, a man of few words, wearing a grave expression. He chewed on his thumb and muttered to himself, "This is too strange... were those really just ordinary bandits? Or something else entirely?"
"Could there be more ambushes or traps ahead? What exactly are they after?"
It was clear that Aria, with her simple mind, had already forgotten the absurd sight of the bandit leader rushing to his death. Feidric, however, remained deeply troubled, racking his brain to understand the reason behind it.
Cipher was speechless. She desperately wanted to tell him, "Old man, stop overthinking things! They were just ordinary bandits."
As time passed, the group reached a village by evening. This wasn't their final destination for the quest; they were merely passing through.
But the presence of a village meant they could resupply.
"Little Aria, Little Cipher," Douglas said, turning to the two girls, "how about this? Feidric and I will continue guarding the carriages tonight. You two can stay in the village and get a good night's sleep."
The village was small and lacked an inn, but they could negotiate with the villagers for spare rooms. A little coin would secure them lodging in a villager's home, and a bed was certainly more comfortable than sleeping in a tent.
And if circumstances allowed, they might even be able to take a hot bath.
Aria, the only one who had truly engaged the enemy in the previous battle, had bloodstains all over her clothes. Standing beside her, Cipher could detect the faint metallic scent of blood.
"Here, take these too," Feidric said, producing two scrolls and handing one to each of them. "These are Purify scrolls I just made. Simply tear them open over your dirty clothes, and they'll become spotless."
"How convenient!" Cipher exclaimed, accepting the scroll and turning it over in her hands. It looked like a rolled-up painting, but when she unrolled it, it was covered in symbols and characters she couldn't understand.
I don't understand it, but it feels so powerful! Cipher thought. She only had one set of clothes, and she had been worrying about what she would do if they got dirty. This scroll would make things much easier!
Thinking this, her tail couldn't help but sway cheerfully behind her.