The Neighborhood High School Girl, Miss Isezaki, Is the Great Saintess Returned from Another World~ And I, Suddenly Awakened as Her Exclusive Mana Supply Uncle, Travel Between Earth and Another World with Time-Space Magic~ - 133. Escort and Bandits

133. 133. Escort and Bandits

“――We’ll take all your valuables. And of course, the women too, huh?”

The eyepatch-wearing man stared at Regina with a mocking gaze. In response, Regina just laughed and spat on the ground.

“Nice offer, but the women are taken. Maybe come back day after tomorrow?”

“…Heh, don’t mind a feisty woman. Seeing how long you can keep that attitude up is gonna be interesting…”

With a lick of his lips, the eyepatch man raised his hand. Around him, about twenty or so bandits began to encroach on the carriage, closing in like a tightening circle.

“Any women inside the carriage?””Hehe… that’s the fun part when we open it, isn’t it?””Make sure they don’t escape.””Shut it, we know!”

The men chuckled as they walked forward, chatting happily. Although Seriphos had promised to protect us, the presence of these hostile individuals was more stressful than I imagined.

I was sweating profusely, my heart pounding. Is staying still in the carriage always this stressful?

—And then it hit me. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about this.

Colin was still outside.

I couldn’t just leave her like that. It was embarrassing to realize I’d been so self-absorbed at my age.

I leaped to the front of the seat, opened the small window, and called out to Colin to get inside the carriage—

“Huh!?”

—but when I looked out the window, I couldn’t see Colin at the driver’s seat where she was supposed to be. She had vanished suddenly, even though she had been driving the carriage just a moment ago.

Wait, what’s going on!?

“Alright! Let’s go, boys! There are only four guards! Torture the women, kill the men!!”

“Uwaaaaaaah!!”

As I stood there bewildered, the eyepatch man shouted loudly, and the bandits charged forward with angry shouts. Leading the charge was Regina at the forefront.

“Haha, they’ve come. But can you catch me?”

With a playful shrug, Regina deftly avoided the bandits’ clubs as they lunged at her.

“Come on, you’re too slow to hit me, aren’t you?”

“You piece of sh*t!”

Swearing, the bandits swung their clubs wildly. But Regina dodged them all with dance-like steps.

“Look, your feet are unguarded.”

With a light kick, Regina knocked one of the bandits off balance, causing him to stumble.

Then, she swiftly withdrew the knife hanging from her belt and effortlessly sliced through the defenseless bandit’s neck.

As blood spurted from the severed neck like a red fountain, I instinctively turned away.

But ahead, Isezaki-san watched Regina’s fight without changing her expression, unfazed.

It seemed incidents like this were not uncommon in her days as a Great Saintess. She stood with a dignified demeanor.

I felt ashamed of my own fumbling inside the protected carriage.

But now, I couldn’t afford to show any weakness. I turned my gaze back outside the window and decided to start by looking for Colin.

Although I was told not to leave the carriage, I could use “Leap Warp” to rush out, grab Colin, and return to the carriage with another “Leap Warp.” Alright, let’s do this.

As I scanned the surroundings with wide eyes, I spotted a big man wielding a large shield, charging toward the group of bandits with a shield bash. It was the warrior, Gandor.

“Hahaha! You’re weak, light, frail, and above all… pathetic!!”

“Squeeeaaahh!”

Laughing heartily, Gandor charged forward like a massive truck. The bandits who collided with his shield screamed in agony, helplessly sent flying.

Coming to a stop in the midst of the bandit horde, Gandor picked up a log from the ground and held it against his side.

“Ughh!!”

Then, he spun around, performing a massive rotation. The surrounding bandits were flung away as if caught in a tornado.

“Hi-i-i, hi-iiii…!”

Amidst the chaos, one bandit staggered out from the whirlwind of logs. 

However, waiting for him ahead was Seriphos. 

Without a single movement, Seriphos locked eyes with the bandit, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword—

“Hyaah!”

With a swift battle cry, Seriphos swung his sword down in an instant, and the bandit was cleaved in two. 

It was like an iai sword technique. Or rather, people can actually split someone in half with a sword…

As Seriphos calmly sheathed his sword, he suddenly turned his sharp gaze towards the cliff and shouted.

“Notos, above!”

“…Noisy, I know. I was waiting for them to show their faces…”

Notos, the mage, appeared next to Seriphos out of nowhere, muttering softly. 

“Ah, sorry…” Ignoring Seriphos’ reply, Notos held a staff resembling a long branch, and began chanting while facing forward.

“…Gather, earth and soil, take form under my magical power…”

With his words, earth and mud began to gather around Notos. 

Soon, they formed into conical-shaped masses with sharp tips.

“Pierce them, Earth Arrow!”

In response to Notos’ call, several earth arrows flew straight towards the bandits who were about to shoot arrows at them.

The targets of the earth arrows were the bandits’ chests.

The earth arrows plunged deeply into the chests of the bandits with a sucking sound.

“Guaah…!”

Groaning, the bandits stumbled, their feet giving way beneath them.

With earth arrows embedded in their chests, they tumbled down the cliff, repeatedly colliding with the protrusions on the cliff.

By the time they crashed onto the ground, none of them were able to move.

Watching this, the eyepatch-wearing man’s face stiffened as he trembled in fear.

“W-What… What are these guys…!?”

From the eyepatch-wearing man’s expression, it could be inferred that “Stinger” was even more formidable than he had imagined.

—In the carriage traversing the wilderness, there were even merchants who sold luxury goods to soldiers near the border.

They often refrained from hiring escorts due to the cost, or if they did, they hired relatively cheap guards.

However, “Stinger” consisted of active adventurers hired with public funds. Just like the eyepatch-wearing man, I also realized their true strength.

While I breathed a sigh of relief, the eyepatch-wearing man, witnessing the bandits being defeated one after another, began to show signs of panic. If things continued like this, the bandits would soon be suppressed.

However, in such a situation, the eyepatch-wearing man suddenly smirked.

His gaze was fixed on a blind spot outside the carriage’s window, far behind the carriage, beyond where “Stinger” was fighting. It should have been an empty space.

Yet, the eyepatch-wearing man dashed towards it.

Was he fleeing? No, I didn’t think so. Feeling a sense of unease at the sinister grin on his face, I hurriedly opened the carriage door to see where the eyepatch-wearing man was headed. However—

“Hey, you guys! If you care about this kid’s life, drop your weapons and surrender now!”

There stood the eyepatch-wearing man, brandishing a rusty sword with a triumphant expression, and Colin standing frozen in place.