CH 3

Chapter 3 - Thiefs and the Priestess girl

After taking a break, Souya began to walk again. On the way, he read the letter from the goddess Eris again and his expression relaxed. What kind of feelings did that goddess have when she created these suits, shoes, and glasses of magical equipment? Was she doing it businesslike with resentment, or was she doing it reluctantly with anger?

In any case, the quality of the prepared business suit, business shoes and dark glasses was solid, and there was no doubt that she had done a very good job, not a haphazard one.

(Oops, I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t realize I had such a bad side of my personality left …… Well then.)

Souya looked up at the night sky. The twin moons were tilting in the western sky and the sky was getting whiter. He was feeling a little thirsty from walking all night. I would need to find a place to drink water once I had better visibility. Just as I was thinking about this, I heard a voice saying.

“Somebody! Please help me!”

A woman’s high-pitched scream cut through the silence of the meadow. The sound of rustling grass echoed from afar. When Souya immediately looked in the direction of the sound, he saw a woman fall down spectacularly just a few dozen meters away. There was no difference in elevation or obstacles, but it seemed that her legs had become entangled. I looked at her and saw that she was wearing a white priest’s robe, which was not suitable for running at full speed and made it difficult to move.

The woman in the priest’s robe was a girl in her mid-teens. She had long blond hair, was not very tall, and had a young voice. From the large bag on her shoulder, she might have been an adventurer. As the girl struggled to get her stuff out of her bag, she saw several men coming from behind.

“Hehehe, we’ve caught up. Hey, Little girl. Brace yourself. We’ll take good care of you.”

“P …… please stop this! You’ll be punished by the gods, you know!”

“Don’t resist, or you’ll get a scratch on your skin. But it’s okay to cry.”

“All right, how do we decide the order? Coin toss or lottery?”

A group of thieves. Souya frowned at the men’s vulgar laughter and foul language. And the men seemed to be so engrossed in the fun that they didn’t seem to notice Souya’s approaching presence.

One of the men surrounding the girl in the priest’s robe, who could not stand up, pulled out a dagger. It was obvious what was going to be done to the girl now.

“No …… No. S-Someone …… God!”

“Heh heh heh …… that’s what I’m talking about.”

The girl shouted with a trembling voice, and the men, further incited by their lust, licked their lips and laughed obscenely.

(Oh dear–is that a typical cliche ・・・・・・・ What hopeless people.)

With a dumbfounded look on his face, Souya picked up a moderately thick branch that had fallen in the grass.

“Hello. Good evening.”

Just before the dubious act was about to take place, Souya appeared dashingly.

“……? Who the hell are you!”

“I’m just a Salaryman passing through.”

“What? Sarari ……?”

The man who spoke to Souya seemed to be confused, unable to understand a word he said.

“…… Bastard, I don’t really understand you, but are you trying to interfere with our fun?”

“Little Priestess Cleric, can you stand up? I hope you didn’t hurt your foot.”

“Hey, are you listening to me? You’re even dressed so strangely.”

The man who was ignored grabbed Souya’s shoulder in frustration. A moment later.

“Bugiii!”

Souya’s back fist slammed into the man’s face. And then, in rapid succession, he forcefully slams the branch he just picked up against the man’s head. 

“Gah!”

The man lost consciousness and collapsed into the ground, and at the same time, the branch Souya was holding snapped off.

“Oops. I think I hit him too hard.”

Souya threw the broken branch away and rubbed his wrist. The look on his face said, “That’s weird”. It seemed that he was not yet accustomed to the sense of movement in the other world.

“Little Priestess. You must leave this place immediately.”

“Ah …… yes, um.”

“If you have something to say, you can say it later. Now, come on.”

The girl was still confused, but she decided that the unidentified man in the business suit with dark glasses was an ally, and she staggered away with a small bow to Souya.

It seems that she has sprained her leg after all. However, Souya decided that if she could use the sacred arts in a calm situation, she would be able to heal herself on her own.

And the men’s target was already changed from the priestess to Souya. It was only natural that they would do so, since he had knocked the man unconscious in an instant.

“…… Bastard, do you think you can win against this number of people? Unarmed?”

There were five men left. All but one of the four had drawn their daggers and were bared for the kill. Souya had knocked one of the men unconscious in an instant, but it was a surprise attack, so they probably thought that a group would be no problem.

They may be planning to track down the priestess again after making short work of Souya. In the end, the four of them blocked Souya’s escape route and surrounded him.

(Oops, I didn’t know you were still that close. It looks like I’ve made her worry.)

The priestess he let go was about 10 meters away, holding her priest’s staff, the cleric’s staff, and looking at our enclosure. She had just been attacked by a group of thugs who were bigger than she was, and she was overcome with fear, but she was sturdy. Souya was impressed by her resilience and courage, but he smiled bitterly when his plan to get her to leave failed.

Maybe the priest girl thought that she can heal him with her sacred art, and she thinks it would be wrong to run away without Souya, who might get hurt. I wanted her to run away without being reserved, but if you think about it, even far away is not necessarily safe, so I did not encourage her to run away again.

“Glasses bastard, you think you’re on the side of justice? Get the hell out of here, or I’ll kill you!”

The strongest man in the enclosure threatened Souya. He had a sword wound on his left cheek and right eye, and a large horizontal laceration on his forehead. He was alone and empty-handed, so he drew his saber from his waist and raised it. He was probably the boss of the thieves.

“The side of justice? No way. I just like to be popular with young girls once in a while.”

“…… I’m going to kill you after slicing off the same part of your face like mine.”

The angry man who seemed to be their Boss glared at the straight-faced Souya. 

“That’s good. I’m starting to enjoy this.”

When Souya looked at the face of the angry man who seemed to be the Boss, he held down his dark glasses with his fingers and smiled wryly.