CH 144

Chapter 144 – And Nobody

“Thanks to Yoshua, our work is done now, is it not?”

“…Umu. That’s right, Myrril-kun.”

I tilted my head and gave a small snort with a posed look on my face. The problem is what to do now.

The unnamed female boss, who pretended to be the daughter of the blacksmith king Kazinair, is dead. The bandits, who claimed to be a chivalrous thieves group, the mole group, were destroyed, and the plot of the second largest merchant company that tried to destroy the largest merchant company of the Sarz also seems to have been crushed.

…But the second half of the story is about a stranger’s situation in a stranger’s town in a stranger’s country, and frankly, it is not important to us. Although I will take all the supplies I can get as a bonus.

There may still be remnants lurking in the unexplored tunnels, but they are small fry after all. The locals will take care of the rest. I don’t care if they live or die.

However, I am still wondering if I should leave the hostages there, and I am still having trouble dealing with them. Even if the rest of the bandits were to escape, it would be unpleasant if the hostages were to die, and if the bandits were to stay alive, it would bring about a sense of regret.

They are already villains from the very beginning.

“In this case, it is not very nice of me to have given a warning to these people, is it?”

“Ah, yeah. We’re the ones who killed the bad guys, so we’re not the ones who committed the crime. And also the battlecry. Probably this is the most important part, so remember it.”

They were talking about an impregnable bandit fortress. If we destroyed it, there would definitely be an uproar later on.

My plan to spend my winter vacation in the Republic as an adventurer, enjoying my love life as a migrant worker, would be thrown into complete disarray.

“…It’s unavoidable; we’ll have to kill the battlecry too.”

“Hey! That’s a crime, Mir-neesan! They didn’t do anything wrong, and we don’t hold any grudges against them.”

“Just kidding. Although I can’t deny that it crossed my mind a little.”

No, your eyes were serious for a moment. No, that’s no good. The price of life in this world is light, but we’re definitely making it even lighter.

“For now, I think we should escape from this situation. If we don’t kill them, we have no choice but to pretend we don’t know anything about it. If that doesn’t work, we’ll just run away to another town.”

“I feel that our plan has been off from the start, but it’s the only way to go.”

Myrril pointed the muzzle of the UZI at the elf who was lying prone behind her.

“What are you going to do about Beynan?”

What shall we do?

She has joined the bandits in attacking the merchants. If we bring evidence of such a crime back to the town, it will only cause a commotion, but it won’t benefit us.

The elf―and those hostages and guards who survived―have seen our weapons and tactics. I think we should kill them all here if we want to avoid any trouble. I won’t do it, though.

…Before that, I couldn’t understand this fellow’s actions.

Isn’t this fellow the chairman of a merchant company? Even if she made a small fortune from this criminal act, it would not be worth the risk of being taken advantage of by the bandits.

“Hey, you elf. I know you are conscious. And that your healing magic has restored most of it?”

“Eh?”

When I turned around, the elf Beinan had raised her head and looked at us.

As Myrril said, she seems to have healed from a critical condition to a serious wound, but her left hand, which was blown off, is still in the same condition. It seems that her healing magic cannot restore the missing part. Looking at her pure white complexion, it seems that the blood loss due to the injury will not return.

Myrril stepped up to her and stood in front of her.

…H…help me… please.”

“Mm, okay.”

The elf, who was shaking with fear and trembling and prostrating with tears in her eyes, was freed from her restraints, and Myrril tilted her head.

“Now, run away wherever you want.”

The gesture was cute, but the words made Beynan tremble.

“That’s… You’re going to shoot me from behind with that gun, pretending to… let me go, aren’t you?”

“I would never do such a thing. If you doubt me, well, do as you please, okay?”

Myrril-san smiled, waved lightly, and turned on her heel. She walked away without looking back as if she were bidding her friend a fond reunion.

When we get back to the side hole, I ask her in a whisper.

“Are you sure about leaving that fellow there?”

“I don’t know. But there is no other way. There’s nothing to be gained by bringing her back, and it’s just going to be more trouble. The only thing left was to kill her or let her go. But the fight is over, and that rotten elf is dying. I’ve lost all interest in doing anything about it.”

Well, I guess. I’m cold, too, and I’m not very keen on the idea.

“Besides, how could she survive in the snow with such serious wounds and no weapons or equipment?”

“Yes, that is true. The survivors of the merchant she betrayed are waiting for her up ahead. I see. As expected of Myrril. You’ve got the devil’s touch.”

“That’s right, because I’m the wife of the Demon King, aren’t I?”

We compliment each other with wicked smiles.

Well, to put it another way, it became a hassle. We don’t give a damn what happens to the evil fallen elf.

As we returned to the stairwell, confirming the destruction of evidence with storage, we saw a very ugly blocking line around the campfire.

“It’s so late! They’re not coming back; maybe they’ve been killed?”

“No, I heard the sound of that strange magic tool. Shall we go take a look?”

“No! I can’t protect you by myself if we get caught up in a battle.”

With the weapon I gave him in hand, the guard, who can only use one arm, and the merchants, who have never held a weapon before, are frantically keeping a watchful eye on the area.

The only way to get out of this place is to go through there, not only that evil elf but us too.

“Well, that was not very good. Or rather, their handling of the situation is troublesome.”

“Just so you know, I’m not going to kill them, okay? If we kill people every time we get into trouble, we’ll have no place to stay in the Republic, where we’re supposed to stay until spring.”

“I understand. You want to eat good fish in the sea and do things like that ‘watermelon splitting’ and ‘swimming in the sea.’ right? I’ll be a good girl.”

No, swimming in the sea and splitting watermelons are a bit of a different story since we weren’t supposed to come here in the winter.

Good girls don’t destroy dozens of bandits in the first place, but that’s another story.

“Mir.”

“Ready.”

With no light other than the campfire, the surviving hostages could not see us.

Supporting Myrril on my back, I made the short teleportation. When we reached the bottom of the stairwell and saw the top, we flew to the side hole that we had come out of.

“Alright, that’s all settled.”

Finally, I looked back at the bottom of the stairwell and saw three dwarves in the darkness, away from the campfire. By all appearances, they were bandit survivors. The gesture of creeping up from behind the hostages was murderous.

“…Oh, shit.”

“Leave it to me.”

Myrril-san scraped a rock out of a nearby wall and threw it down in a series of heaves, each one about the size of a beach ball.

The hostages came running with their weapons to a resounding thud. They are looking around at the already disfigured dwarven bodies and yelling something, but, well, I don’t know what comes after that. Do something about it on your own.

“…Hmm?”

I was about to leave this time when I heard Myrril’s suspicious muttering and followed her gaze.

I saw the hostages brace themselves when they saw the elf Beynan staggering out of the side hole.

I would have thought that the color of their eyes would change in the face of a traitor who had tried to kill them, but something was a little different. The guard approached Beynan with his hands raised and his sword ready.

“Good, kneel there. I’ll take you alive and hand you over to the guards.”

“Wait, I am…”

The elf is knocked down by a spear from the side of the guard by Peyblois himself without any resistance.

“Hey, Peyblois! Why did you kill her?”

“Shut up!”

The boss of the merchant company shouted hysterically and thrust his spear toward the guard.

Although he is only an adventurer, the guard, though one-armed, avoids the spearhead wielded by the merchant and, conversely, strikes him in the wrist with his sword. Peyblois, who has dropped his weapon, yells at the man and woman behind him.

“What are you doing? Kill him!”

“W-why?”

“He’s one of them! He’s trying to trick us and steal our cargo! Can’t you understand that?”

I looked at Myrril and tilted my head. What that old man is barking at is nothing but a reckless complication, no matter how I hear it.

What I can’t figure out is why he started barking that way. I had a bad feeling about the appearance of Peyblois, who seemed to have changed since the last time I saw him.

“Kill him quickly! If you don’t shut his mouth, you’re the ones who will be hanged!”

I thought it was another incomprehensible quibble, but the men and women behind him seemed to get it. Each of them, with a stone, sword, or timber in their hands, prepared themselves to face the guard.

Are Peyblois and his men involved in the criminal act, or are they the ringleaders?

“What do you mean, Peyblois? Answer me!”

No one answered the guard’s question. The encirclement, with murderous intent, is slowly narrowing.

Myrril lets out a sigh, pulls me by the sleeve, and I am back at the bottom of the stairwell. I move into the darkness behind the guard and ready my MAC10.

“The… cargo… is empty.”

A hoarse voice. I notice that it emanates from the elf, who is still lying on the ground.

Peyblois points his spear at the elf with an angry look on his face, but the guard steps in between to protect her. All the while, bloody remarks echo through the silent stairwell.

“I was… robbed… and pretended… ransom, and compensation… that guy is… a scoundrel.”

Merchants, bandits, and traitors. We, strangers and outsiders, have no idea who has what schemes in their cunning deceit, who has won, who has lost, who has gained what, and how much they lost.

“Kill them.”

At the sound of Peyblois’ stifled voice, the men and women who had been hostages attacked the guard at once.

“Don’t underestimate me, you merchants!”

The one-armed guard swung his sword at the merchants, cutting out their eyes, splitting their heads, splitting their stomachs, and slicing off their arms. The men and women who rolled over quickly stopped moving, probably because they were weak.

Meanwhile, Peyblois, who had been circling around them, struck the guard in the side with his spear, and the guard, who was distracted, was hit squarely in the face and fell to the ground, unconscious.

“Hahaha, now the obstacle is gone! …I won. You know that you half beast!”

Peyblois looked back at the elf, proud of his victory, and his head suddenly burst out in flames.

“Gyaaahhhh!”

The evil merchant rolls over and desperately try to extinguish it, but the flames do not waver.

Peyblois stands up to escape but staggers and runs out of strength, collapsing to his knees. Seeing this, he grins, and the elf stops moving as well.

…What is this?

I teleported all the way over here to see what was going on, but as I was looking at them, they all killed each other and died in vain. Myrril looked at me, but I couldn’t react in any way.

“This is…”

“…Mmm, I can’t help but laugh.”

When I approach the fallen guard, he is unconscious but barely breathing. I stow the dead bodies of the merchant and the elf with all their equipment and carry the worn-out escort on my shoulder.

I saw a stack of rocks and crushed dwarven corpses at the edge, like a sort of avant-garde object. While reluctantly, I collect them as well.

As a result, we were able to destroy the evidence of our involvement, but it was not quite what we had hoped for.

“They’re all a bunch of stupid jerks, aren’t they?”

“Well, I guess so. The only thing I hope is that the guard who worked so hard and honestly survived.”

In preparation for the teleportation, Myrril-san clung to my side.

Let’s go home. There is nothing more to do in this place.