CH 169

It was around the time that Aria had just started her swordsmanship training. One day, Sabina proposed.

“Why don’t you learn daggers first?”

It was because the sword was still too early for a small and weak child. She didn’t even have the strength to wield a sword in the first place.

But self-defense was necessary.

So, Aria first learned self-defense technique, which neutralizes the opponent by aiming at the vital point with a dagger.

Later, even after growing up and learning swordsmanship in earnest, she did not neglect the dagger.

“Kuu, kuhk!”

The bandit’s painful moan resounded through the forest filled with only the sounds of birds and grasshoppers.

Soon, silence.

The bandits who had been distracted for a while suddenly burst out laughing out loud.

“Kuhahaha!”

“Puhaha! Boss, what disgrace is this!”

“No matter how careless you are, it doesn’t make sense to say that you’re being attacked by a woman. You’re going to be made fun of for 10 years!

“No, noisy, you punks!”

Then the bandit boss stopped his moaning and shouted with a reddened face. The embarrassment transcends the pain.

The bandits were just busy making fun of the boss who had been beaten by a woman. Because they had no doubts that he had somehow been unlucky.

“Aha, I see. That dagger, it’s not a normal thing.”

“Isn’t that the kind of thing that the nobles use where even a single swipe of the blade inflicts fatal wounds?”

“Well, if she looked like that, she would receive all kinds of treasures as gifts.”

Rather, they began to regard the dagger, not Aria, as a legendary sword.

However, the boss himself, who suffered the blow firsthand, was feeling something strange.

‘I don’t think she was swinging it in any way…….’

It wasn’t because he was unlucky or because the sword was a legendary sword.

Clearly, Aria was showing well-trained movements.

Besides, for some reason, though the reason was unknown, his survival instinct was calling out to run away immediately.

‘Dangerous.’

He almost took a step backwards. However, his face and pride as a bandit boss stopped him.

He looked back at his men in a cold sweat. They were still laughing and chatting loudly without understanding the atmosphere.

“Take, take care of my hand! If there’s even one scratch, know that you’ll get beaten up!”

He can’t back off after this. Rather, the boss strained his neck and shouted loudly.

“But the boss’s hand is already a rag before it’s cut off? Why don’t you just throw it away right now?”

“Can’t you shut up?!”

Aria felt puzzled by the bandits who were laughing and joking around.

‘Why are you holding your hand?’

As if it could be put back together.

‘It is true even if a part of the body is severed, if it has divine power, it can be reattached within half a day.’

She had heard of such a thing. But how do criminal bandits attach their bodies with the help of a priest?

‘No way…… Was there any cooperation from the priest?’

So, how many months have the bandits been able to run wild in these mountains? As Aria was closing her eyes with doubts.

“Boss, just rest well with your hand. I’ll take care of it.”

At that time, a bandit with the most slender physique approached with a dirty smile.

“It seems that she has no intention of becoming obedient, so I’d rather take her out and drag her away. Along with that precious looking sword.”

And he suddenly clenched his fist.

Aria easily avoided the bandit’s fist that was flying towards the pit of her stomach.

While the bewildered bandit lost his focus and struggled, she thrust the dagger into the muscle at the back and pulled it out at once.

“Aack! My, my shoulder…!”

She remembered what Sabina had told her earlier.

“If you stab it here, they will not be able to move their arm at all.”, Sabina smiled kindly and explained.

Aria traced back her memories of that time, and fixed the dagger.

And she said, flicking her finger at the rest of the bandits.

“Next.”

“Hey, this is another cowardly surprise attack!”

It was a fair match, not a surprise, but the bandits did not see it. No, they couldn’t admit it.

Because they’re trying to reason how their partners could be beaten by a weak girl like that in an instant.

‘It’s impossible.’

‘That bitch must have done some trick.’

The bandits who had been hesitating rushed towards Aria at once.

‘I knew it.’

Aria sighed and raised the dagger.

‘The disadvantage of daggers is that if there are many enemies, I cannot avoid fighting unless I kill them at once.’

If the current situation escalated into a full-fledged fight, Aria would relatively be at a disadvantage.

‘Even if they are stupid bandits who have never learned how to fight, there is nothing I can do about the innate physical ability.’

So she had no choice but to incapacitate her enemies as quickly as possible. For that, there was nothing she was more grateful for than their constant belittlement and carelessness.

Glad they were dumb.

“Die!”

The two remaining men joined in and rushed in with all their might.

But she only dodged all their attacks in turn.

They are sloppy bandits who only know how to hide and loot by surprise. It was almost impossible for them to catch Aria, who was small, light, and formally trained.

“Ugh! Don’t dodge like a rat and fight fairly!”

“Do the bandits consider it a fair play for several men to attack one woman?”

Aria smirked and slashed the man’s thigh as he raised his knee.

“This causes excessive bleeding and prevents the knee from straightening.”

Next is the carotid artery.

While the bandit crouched back and screamed, she raised the blade and slashed the neck with precision.

“Kugh!”

The last remaining bandit who saw three men fall down in an instant faltered and took a step backwards.

“It’s very unpleasant.”

Aria kicked the last bandit between the legs as hard as she could.

It was already too late when the bandits realized she was no ordinary woman. Because they were all already fatally wounded.

“Ugh…”

She left the moaning bandits behind for a moment and then stared blankly into the air.

She rubbed her cheeks in embarrassment.

‘What is that girl doing?’

Is she crazy? Why is she suddenly dozing blankly when she’s supposed to catch him?

It was odd, but anyway, it was a chance.

‘Do you think that I’ll be quiet?’

Pretending to have lost his power, the bandit who was lying on the floor jumped up.

And he sneaked up behind Aria.

He tricked Aria by holding the dagger in his right hand, but he was in fact ambidextrous so he could wield the sword with the left hand as well.

‘Haha, you idiot! You should’ve done a confirmation kill!’

He laughed at Aria inside, with a blunt dagger in his hand. Now, his eyes turned bright red as his intention was to kill the woman.

“Take it the same way!”

He raised his dagger and sprinted, aiming precisely at her neck.

‘Too late.’

This time she was careless. The distance to the bandit was too close.

Aria, startled as she fiddled with the ring on the ring finger of her left hand, reflexively blocked her vital point with her hand.

But nothing happened.

All she could hear was the sound of iron, a leaking wind, and the sound of pouring blood.

It was after the bandits’ moans had completely ceased.

Even the sound of breathing completely ceased.

“When I hear your voice, I can’t even hear the sounds around me too, but…”

Lloyd put the bloody sword back into its sheath and spoke.

“…but be careful.”

He placed his hand on Aria’s left hand, then bowed his head and whispered in her ear.

The voice mingled with harsh breathing, perhaps he was running in a hurry, scratching her eardrums in a creepy way.

Her ear, which suddenly became hot, was tingling.

Aria, who had stopped breathing for a moment, answered, exhaling her breath slowly.

“That…”

Aria bit her lip while trying to protest with a bit of resentment.

‘How can I say that?’

From the moment she heard Lloyd’s message that he was nearby, her heart was beating loudly, and she was buried in the sound of her heart, so much so that she couldn’t hear the surrounding sounds.

‘I’ll say nothing.’

Aria struggled to shake the warm back and tight arms from her head and turned around.

“You can’t kill them all…”

“Why?”

“Maybe they have a partnership with one of the Attis’ branch priests. I was going to interrogate them.”

“Hmm…”

Lloyd thought for a moment, breathing over the nape of her neck.

Aria was startled by the unconscious actions he had shown her, and she stepped out of his arms and widened her distance.

Lloyd looked at Aria, who suddenly left his arms, with a questioning look.

“Come here.”

“……”

“It’s cold because you went away.”

Was it because he had been away for a long time that he wanted to hug Aria tightly?

He, who doesn’t even feel cold, smiled languidly with half-opened eyes with cold as an excuse.

His silver eyes, which were revealed between the densely studded eyelashes, shone even more in the dark forest.

He was so captivating that it was impossible not to approach him.

Lloyd grew more and more deadly as the years passed, tormenting the docile Aria.

‘Now he was saying things like that…….’

Aria is now completely embarrassed.

The cute little Lloyd, who was trembling at the slightest touch, had disappeared.

There is only the mature adult Lloyd whose eyes and even the sound of his breathing have become racy.

‘Huh?’

At that time. Aria desperately turned her gaze away from Lloyd when she noticed something shiny.

Broken glass fragments were scattered in the hands of the bandit boss.

‘This…….’

A call flare.

It was the cheapest artifact.

A magical item used to alert colleagues to danger by breaking it in an emergency.

Among the artifacts, it was the cheapest, but it was quite a luxury item for a bandit to possess.

Aria felt puzzled, and she soon heard the sound of several footsteps running through the mountain path.

“……annoying.”

Lloyd felt a presence as well, so he lightly clicked his tongue and pulled out his sword.

“Boss!”

“Damn it! What the hell is this!”

“Kuhk, that’s what that punk did.”

“Don’t worry, everyone. This hyung will avenge the Boss!”

This……. Maybe a chance to wipe them all at once?

Seeing the group of bandits that appeared after receiving the boss’ call, Aria and Lloyd exchanged glances without a word.