Volume 1 17 - (Rescue) 2

Volume 1 Chapter 17 – (Rescue) 2

Translator: HASUTSUKI, Editor: Thorrium.

Ryouma was on the south side of the forest, around 10 meters away from where the men and the two young girls could be seen.

Because of the trees covering him, the men did not see Ryouma.

(Those bastards… are they going to rape those girls in the middle of a highway like this?)

Ryouma had thought that they would move to a different location, however they seemed to intend on doing it in the middle of the highway.

Although time has passed considerably since they raided the carriage, they didn’t show any concerns at all.

Even if this is a highway that passed through a forest, it was abnormal to see someone being so confident. Ryouma could only assume that they were abnormal.

(Just like beasts…)

Ryouma felt disgusted by them, and felt uncomfortable with the situation however he shook off those thoughts, and Ryouma waited patiently, while hiding his furious anger.

At that time…

“Alright then. It’s decided! What happens here will be a secret. After all, if the boss were to find out what had happened here, everyone will get killed!”

The men’s immediately nodded their heads at Gates words.

“Alright. Let us start by violating the blonde first!” The man who held the blonde haired girl said so.

“I’ll go with the silver haired!”

The men began to say anything they wanted.

“Oi? Gates what should we do?”

“Aan? Why not let them do whatever they want? As long I am getting the first go with this silver haired, I don’t care about the rest.”

“Ah! Gates. How many selfish things are you going to say! It’s obvious that I should be the first to go with the silver haired one!”

Maybe because they’re craved for women so much, they needed to perform such ugly argument first to decided who would get their turns first.

“Oi! The last one to have his turn, you need to watch the surrounding! It seems like the guild currently organized a task force, although I’m not worried since the Imperial army has not made their move yet, but there might be someone coming, so keep your watch properly until it’s your turn! And you, you hold the girl arms down properly!”

The men obeyed Gates order.

(Is that guy the boss of the group? Hmm it’s about a time…)

He started to tighten his hold on the chakrams.

“Alright!”

Gates dropped his pants in order to take out his penis.

(Now! Die!)

The instant the men pinned down the girl, the chakram flew from Ryoma’s hand toward the man called Gates.

“Guah…!”

The chakram that Ryouma threw struck the back of Gates’ head and he fall over immediately.

While keeping attention, Ryouma jumped out of the forest while throwing the second and third chakram.

He aimed at the man who held down the girl’s arm.

“Guaaa!”

“Gaaaah!”

The second chakram struck one of the man’s throat, and the third chakram struck in between a third man’s eyebrows.

However the fourth chakram missed it’s target and flew onward until it hit a tree…

(Four more people.)

There’s a reason why Ryouma did not make any move, until the moment the girls were about to get violated, was because he waited for his opponents to drop their guard.

When a man tries to violate a woman, they would have to put down their pants.

And in the case of when they use clothes with the weapon on their waist, they would have to take down their weapon as well.

Since Ryouma has to win no matter what, he did not think about the girl’s heart or mind getting wounded, and eventually he had to wait right until they were about to get violated.

However, the result of the surprise attack was satisfying.

Since the man named Gates was the head of the group, and the first one to get killed, the rest were unable to cooperate with each other.

The two that tried to violate the girls had removed their pants and weapon belt. Thus it was impossible for them to immediately take a battle stance.

As there’s quite a considerable distance from the person who kept watch, Ryouma decided to attack the men who held down the girls.

“What? What happen?”

The man who watched over the highway noticed the commotion and immediately returned.

“You moron, where the fuck are you looking while being on watch!? We are under attack!”

The thief who shouted had his eyes clouded with panic and anger. “Who the fuck are you?!”

“Yeah don’t fuck with us!” Don’t you know the name of [Red Moon group]?!” Another shouted.

Ryouma approaches the girls while ignoring the men who was running toward him in anger.

“You bastard! Do you want to die!”

The man who avoided the 4th chakram stopped holding the girl and pull out his sword.

He then swung his sword downward from above.

Ryouma sword crashed midway with the sword that comes from above.

*Clank*

The sounds of iron clashing with each other resounded, and sparks scattered.

Between the sword that coming down and the sword that was raised to block the stroke. The power of the sword that came would normally have made him win over the attempt at blocking.

However, what the man aimed for was Ryouma’s head, while Ryouma aimed for the sword itself.

Although it didn’t allow Ryouma to disable the others sword, it enabled him to push the other a little back.

*Gush*

A dull sound resounded, eerily similar to the sound coming from smashing a watermelon. Ryouma’s sword had smashed the man’s head in.

(Three people left!)

However, by now, the effect of a surprise attack had ended. The other three people who previously stood quite far away , had closed the gap while being fully armed.

(Are you serious?… damn it!)

The battle turned into a stalemate. For Ryouma, three full armed thieves by themselves were not a threat, however those three showed signs of cooperation and showed no opening for Ryouma.

Ryouma then returned his sword to the sheath, fixing his posture and waited for the opponents to make a move.

Both sides continued to look at each other with hostility.

(If this keeps up, it could be bad… I guess I have no choice, do or die!)

Suddenly, Ryouma loosen up his stance, and erases his killing intent. His grip on the sword became loose and then, Ryouma slowly began walking toward the thieves.

Contrary to the battle just now, he didn’t show any anger on his face nor did he emit killing intent. He walked ahead with the face of a living doll.

“S-Stop!”

“W-What are you?!”

His sudden change caused the thieves to be surprises. After all, he did not put any stance, and he had a lot of openings. It seemed, that he could be killed by a single blow..

Step by step he came closer…

One of the thieves was unable to keep up with it any longer and went to approach Ryouma.

“Fu…! Don’t joke with me! Die!” He made a large overhead swing, aiming down toward Ryouma head.

*Fuu*

Ryouma rotate his body to the right side.

*Zwuzz*

Fresh blood busted out from the thief’s neck.

“Y-You bastard, what did you do?!”

With blood from the thief splashed on Ryouma’s face, the other thieves felt fear, as he kept walking towards them void of any emotions.

For Ryouma, if the three people were to attack together while cooperating, it would have made it hard for him to win. However, the thieves seemed to be quite impatient, perhaps because they feared not having the advantage in the fight.

Ryouma’s sword had been swung.

*Zashu*

*Slash*

Ryouma swung down horizontally like one would with a scythe, aiming towards one of the two remaining thieves’ torso who made an opening, using his momentum, he changed the angle and slashed the last one vertically. Having killed them all, he flicked his sword and returned it to it’s sheath.

“Fuuuu…”

Ryouma let out a deep sigh from his mouth and then looking around, checking the number of corpses.

(it seems, I was able to manage it…)

“E… Excuse me?”

A voice appeared from behind him.

Ryouma turned around, where a silver haired girl was approaching him.

“Ah! There’s blood on your face.”

The silver haired girl wiped off the blood on Ryouma face, using her sleeves.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself, my name is Laura, I am the elder sister to Sara over there”. She nodded towards the girl with the blond hair.

“I’m the younger sister, Sara.”

“I see, are you both alright?”

“”Yes. Thank you for saving us.””

As they said that, both lowered their heads.

“No, please don’t do that. I should be apologising for letting you both to experience something like that, I should have come to your help sooner…”

“That is not true, it’s good enough that our bodies didn’t end up getting defiled by those monsters.”

“Yes just like what my little sister said. No matter what you might say, we are both grateful for your help… thank you very much.”

When Laura responded to Sara words, both of them lowered their head once again.

Ryouma looked at the two girls who thanked him, and could not help himself getting fascinated by their beauty.

Finely chiselled faces with light brown skin. Beautiful firm limbs, and then there is the big chests that could make most woman jealous.

They wore clothes similar to that of an Arabian dancer, however the collar around their necks and the handcuffs stood out, ruining the look a bit.

(Looking like this, it’s no wonder the thieves was losing their mind over them huh?)

However, Ryouma felt something uncomfortable coming from the girls.

(What’s going on? These girls look stronger than the thieves!)

Looking at the way the girls moved, and how they keep attention to their surroundings, it seemed like they had some knowledge about martial arts. At least, they don’t seem like someone who gets violated by thieves.

“Emm…? Is something wrong?” Laura who might have felt Ryouma gaze asked the question.

“Ah, no, I’m sorry. I just thought of something. By the way, what is your family name?”

“… A slave does not have a family name.”

Due to Laura answer, Ryouma face cramped.

He had thought about such thing due to the collars and the cuffs but, to think they were slaves.

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize. Please don’t mind it.”

Despite saying that, shadows appear on their face.

Such delicate air flowed among the three people.

(Damn, I screwed up… I have made the situation awkward…)

He had never come across a situation like this in the past, and no matter how much he thought about it, he was unable to find anything to say, to stop the awkward silence… so he was thankful when it was Sara who suddenly broke the silence.

“Emm… Excuse me, but, may I ask your name?”

Because he had thought of a lot of things, he forgot to introduce himself.

“Ah, yes, my name is Mikoshiba. Mikoshiba Ryouma…”

“Mikoshiba-sama… Mikoshiba-sama. Please let me thank you once again. This time, we truly have been saved, thank you very much.”

As she said that, the two of them lowered their head.

“No, it’s fine. Anyway, what are you guys going to do after this, do you want me to escort you to Aru town?”

However, their answer surprised Ryouma.

“No… I’m very sorry, but we cannot move from this place without master orders.”

Due to such unexpected answer, Ryouma didn’t have any responds.

Looking at the two of them, it didn’t seems to be a joke.

Ryouma timidly asked the two of them.

“… Are you, serious?”

“Yes!”

The two girls nodded at the same time.

“That master of yours, where are he?”

He tried to look around in case their master died due to either the thieves or his own surprise attack, however, looking around and judging from the corpse, the person in question don’t seem to be here.

“At the time when the thieve attacked, master ran away with the escort guard.”

Hearing Sara’s words, Ryouma was amazed.

He never thought that they would still be willing to wait for the command of their master who had ran away leaving them.

“Let me ask you once again? Your master ran away and left you behind?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re still going to stay here?”

“Yes. If there’s no order from the master, we cannot move.”

(Oi oi… are you serious?)

To be honest, he felt that this was already turning quite troublesome.

Ryouma actually wanted to bring them to the next town, and then immediately say goodbye, since there’s still the matter regarding the empire pursuers.

However, it is impossible for him to do since they both say, they won’t move.

(Well, I guess, I have no choice huh? I can only leave some food my tent, and some stuff so they can prepare for camping…)

Ryouma who knew that the girl’s intention would not change instructed the girls to prepare for the night.

Of course he felt bad for leaving the two girls in the forest like this; however, he was also on a schedule, so he was unable to stay and care for them.

(Well, I will help them as far as I can.)

While Laura and Sara began to prepare for the night as instructed, Ryouma carried the dead bodies of the thieves and some who appeared to be guards.

However, an unexpected situation happens.

Ryouma that was in the middle of carrying the second dead body inside the woods heard the screaming voice of the girls.

(Isn’t that Sara’s voice?!)

Desperately running to return to the girls, Ryouma saw a thief whose armour was smeared in blood carrying Sara under his arm while riding a horse.

“You bastard, don’t think you can get away with this! After all, I remembered your face! I’ll definitely chase after you and kill you!”

(Damn it! And I was sure that I had killed him!)

However, no matter how much Ryouma curses, nothing changed.

It appears that the thief who got slashed on across his torso wasn’t cut deep enough, and had managed to get away while carrying Sara.

Ryouma grabbed one of the chakrams from the waist bag and ran after the thief.

(Damn it. It’s too far.)

The theif was getting further and further away, and Ryouma’s vision was getting hindered by the leaves, while he was unable to run as quickly as he usually could because of the tree branches.

Although chakrams is a very powerful weapon, it has a single drawback. It don’t have long range, as it can only fly a moderate distance, unlike an bow that can shoot an arrow very far.

While a bow has an effective range of about 220 meters, on the battlefield, a chakram only has an effective range of 40 or so meters.

When Ryouma arrived at the girl’s place, the thief had already left on the horse and was several tens of meters away.

“Damn it!”

He looked around for a horse; however, there was none. In the first place, Ryouma was unable to ride a horse, so even if there’s one, it would still be meaningless.

“Mikoshiba-sama!”

Did she get beaten because she tried to protect Sara? Some blood appeared at the corner of Laura’s mouth.

“It’s fine. I will definitely do something!”

Laura shakes her head toward Ryouma who tried to assure her.

“No. I have a request!”

“A request?”

“Yes. I apologize but, Mikoshiba-sama, can you cut your ring finger?”

Ryouma who didn’t understand Laura words got confused. “What?!”

However, her expression was serious.

“Please. There’s no time!”

Being told to do so while feeling he had to rush to save Sara, made Ryouma a little confused, but he still cut his left ring finger.

“Is this alright?”

“Yes!”

Borrowing Ryouma sword, Laura quickly cut her left ring finger a little bit and then kneeling in front of him.

“O the great God of contracts Hava. Listen to my oath.”

(Is she… praying?)”

“My body, my soul, my heart, and my everything.”

The words keep continuing despite Ryouma confusion.

“Everything I dedicate to my master!”

“Mikoshiba-sama. Please give me your left hand.“

Ryouma then offered his left hand as Laura told him.

“We pledge by the blood covenant.“

With Laura declaration, the two fingers overlap and the blood mixed.

At that moment, a bright light appeared from the collar on her neck.

Suddenly her collar crumbles without any sound, and the handcuff detached.

“Alright, it seems it was a success. I need to hurry!”

Laura then moved her muscular body. Which made Ryouma thought fitted perfectly to the well-proportioned body.

While beaming with confidence Laura said.

“Master. Please allow me to use my power.”

Ryouma who didn’t understand what was going, simply nodded due to her sudden change.

Laura who saw him do so, starting to chanting.

“O wind spirit Shilf. Respond to my request. Like the speed of the wind! Wind divine protection, wind protection!”

After Laura finishes her spell, a green light wrapped their both their bodies.

“Now then, Master. Let’s get Sara back!”