Chapter 60 – Raid (1)

…What is it? I opened my eyes to a strange sensation, and a dark shadow blocked my view. Startled, I tried to quickly get up, but the shadow waved its hand.

‘…Irian?’

I barely recognized the red hair by the faint starlight that peeked through the darkness. What on earth is she doing? While everyone else is asleep, she’s crouching low, suspiciously glancing around. Did she change her job to a thief?

“Quiet, get down. Something’s wrong. I can’t hear any bugs.”

A low whisper, her voice hushed. Bugs? Come to think of it… We left the main road to camp in a moderately dense area, but it’s eerily quiet. It feels familiar somehow. It reminded me of the quiet space in my dream when I met Lilith, but this doesn’t feel the same.

“…Why can’t I hear any bugs?”

Irian’s sharp eyes, which had been scanning the surroundings, glanced over at me. Since I was still lying in the same position, her face was closer than I expected.

“I feel killing intent. I think it’s a raid.”

Looking at her red lips moving right in front of me, I felt like kissing her. But I can’t just leisurely kiss her in this situation. First, I need to wake up our kids.

I slowly turned from my lying position, placing my hand in front of Diana’s mouth to prevent her from making a loud noise, and gently stroked her hair. She rubbed her face against my hand, and her bright blue eyes opened.

“Shhh. Shhh.”
“…Yurian?”
“It’s a raid. Be quiet.”

Diana, quickly understanding the situation, nodded slightly and gently shook Carsilla, who was sleeping soundly between us.

“…Ugh.”
“Carsilla. Carsilla.”
“Ughhh.”

With a small grumble, Carsilla groggily opened her eyes. I quickly covered her mouth and whispered in her ear, and thankfully, she moved discreetly. At least she won’t get stabbed while sleeping.

“They’re moving.”

While I was waking up Diana and Carsilla, Irian, who had been on high alert, scanning the darkness, whispered and lowered her stance.

Who are they? Who is attacking? It’s hard to figure out the situation since I can’t tell if they’re targeting our group or the merchant caravan. Were the merchants transporting something dangerous?

“What should we do? Should we wake up the merchants?”

Listening to Irian’s quick whispers, I quickly recalled everything from when we first met the merchants. Is there any clue? They didn’t seem like strange people.

‘Simple robbery? A targeted attack? Game events… There are too many raids to choose from.’

Now, even I can feel a faint killing intent. My skin is tingling, so there must be quite a few of them.

“Yurian. Quick. Fight? Or run?”

The group is ready. All that’s left is to decide whether to fight or run. …Let’s run. There’s no need to get involved in unnecessary conflict.

“Let’s quietly slip…”
“Huh? Angel-nim?”
“…Damn it. Get down!”

That idiot!
As if waiting for it, arrows fly towards us. I saw Irian’s head nod for a split second, and I immediately used the buff I had prepared and kicked off the ground. The enhanced leg strength unleashed a burst of power, quickly closing the distance to the idiot’s face.

After knocking him down, I deflected the incoming arrows with my ‘Frostfire Dagger’. Fortunately, there weren’t too many arrows flying in an arc from a distance.

I counted the number of arrows in the short time before they landed. Not exact, but… about 20?

“Ugh… Ughhh…”
“Idiot! Get a grip!”

I dragged the trembling guy behind a nearby rock, and as soon as we hid, flames shot up from all directions, and loud shouts began.

“It’s a raid! A raid, cough!”
“Get up! It’s a raid!”

Shouts and screams, the sound of clashing blades, it seems the battle has already begun. It’s chaos everywhere. …Damn it, what a mess. As I turned to join the group, I felt a violent surge of magic from the opposite side, and a huge fireball flew towards us.

‘A mage?’

That confirms it. This isn’t a simple band of robbers. Where in the world is there a band of robbers who use mages… well, they exist, but they’re not common. Soon, a scorching fireball flew in with a crackling sound and collided with the ground.

Small stones, dirt, and gravel shot into the air, and as they fell, they kicked up dust, blurring my vision. I used the opportunity to get up.

“Ah, no! You can’t go out there, Angel-nim!”
“Hey… get up!”

I need to join our kids quickly, but the trembling guy, who knows where he got the strength, grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let go. This is driving me crazy. I can’t just kill him. I was delayed for a moment, struggling with him, as he desperately held on, and the enemies’ shouts were now close by.

‘It’s too late. The kids?’

Through the slightly settled dust, I saw a blond-haired, handsome young knight running towards us. Diana? Maybe it’s the dust, or maybe she’s just focused on running, but she doesn’t seem to notice the spear coming at her from the side.

“Diana!”

I urgently threw the ‘Frostfire Dagger’ I was holding, but since I hadn’t learned dagger throwing, the tip of the dagger went in a completely wrong direction. Luckily, the handle of the dagger hit the enemy’s head, causing the spear tip to waver. The slightly off-target attack grazed past her, and Diana, finally recognizing the enemy, drew her sword with a fierce glint.

“T-This way! The enemy is here, cough! Krr… grrr.”

Diana blocked the first strike with her sword against the spear, and while she was confronting the enemy and shouting, I picked up the dropped dagger and quickly stabbed the enemy in the back. The unpleasant sensation of the blade piercing through flesh and muscle. Thankfully, it didn’t hit bone?

“The kids!”

Following Diana’s urgent shout, I turned my gaze and saw a group of dark-clothed figures rushing towards us. …Damn it. Where are our kids?

I quickly scanned the surroundings. Thankfully, I found them far away, in a direction with fewer enemies. Irian must have taken care of Carsilla, as I saw her holding her hand and running. Irian glanced back at me, and our eyes met.

We didn’t have the time or distance to talk, but I could somehow sense what she was thinking. …Irian can escape with Carsilla. Like a knight, she chose the direction with the weakest enemy encirclement, so I don’t need to worry about them.

“Yurian.”
“This way.”

I grabbed Diana’s hand and tried to run in the opposite direction of the approaching enemies, but then I felt a weight on my body. Ah, this guy was here too.

“Get a grip. If you want to live.”
“…Y-Yes, yes!!”

He got up shakily, which wasn’t very reassuring, but what could I do? I ran with Diana and the idiot in tow. The merchant caravan wasn’t completely wiped out yet, as battles were breaking out here and there. Even though they lit fires, it was still night, and the darkness helped us escape.

“M-Merchant leader-nim. We have to save the merchant leader-nim.”
“We can’t! How do we know where he is? Save your own life.”

The idiot finally started talking about the merchant leader, showing some loyalty, but I’m barely keeping myself and Diana alive, so how can I afford to save someone else? Using my senses, which were heightened by the buff, I chose dark places where there were no enemies and ran.

I quickly dealt with the enemies who inevitably blocked our path. With the power of the ‘Frostfire Dagger,’ which cut through everything, I easily took down three or four enemies and barely managed to hide in the darkness of the forest. However, the torches moving around everywhere were ominous.

“You. Explain why the caravan was attacked.”
“I… I don’t know either. Who would attack a small caravan like ours!”

He shouted desperately, as if he was wronged, and it didn’t seem like he was lying. If he’s not lying, then there are three possibilities. Either we were attacked for no reason, or there’s a reason but he doesn’t know it. Lastly, the reason for the attack isn’t the caravan, but… our group.

‘Let’s exclude the first two since we can’t know. There’s no point in guessing without any clues. Is there a reason for us to be attacked? …The most likely possibility is Diana. Me, Irian, who are a priest and a holy knight, and the kid Carsilla have less reason to be attacked. Which faction would target the title of Saintess?’

I hid in the darkness and tried to organize my thoughts. It’s not good to act rashly when things are urgent. At least I need to know the enemy’s identity, intentions, and goals before acting… Running away blindly without knowing anything and ending up in the worst situation is not my style.

Diana, thankfully, looked calm. Her cold blue eyes were shining with a cool light, so I didn’t need to worry about her. …The problem is this guy.

The idiot was crouching and trembling. I couldn’t leave him behind, so I dragged him along… but he’s just a burden in this state. He might not be able to help in battle, but at least he needs to be conscious.

“Stop trembling.”
“S-Sorry, sorry, Angel-nim.”
“…Can you stop calling me Angel already?”
“Ah! Yes, yes! Kim… Kim Taehee Emma Watson-nim!”

……Damn it.
Diana glanced at us at the strange name. She seemed to understand the situation, and thankfully, she turned her head back to scan the surroundings without saying anything.

Black masks and clothes… It’s the kind of outfit anyone who doesn’t want to be identified would wear, so it’s hard to link it to a specific faction. At least, they’re not a small faction. They’re definitely a large-scale force if they can mobilize mages.

When I was playing the game, there were so many mages around the main character that I didn’t realize how rare they were, but after living in this world for 16 years, I realized that’s not the case at all. Mages are rare. Very rare.

Like in fantasy clichés, you need talent, an environment to recognize and nurture that talent, and even with talent and environment, you need to put in the effort to become a mage.

It’s not exact, but if I were to compare it to the modern world… a veteran pilot? Like a fighter pilot with 10 or 15 years of experience?

Damn it. They’re a large force that can mobilize mages, and they’re targeting the Saintess. Of course, all of this is based on the assumption that the cause of this attack is our group, specifically Diana. If not? Then I just wasted my time thinking.

“I have no idea who it could be.”
“Yeah. Maybe we should have captured one of them.”

Even if we captured one, we can’t torture them while hiding, so it’s just a pointless complaint. By the way, how long are they going to keep doing that? They’re still turning the campsite upside down, as if they’re looking for something. …What are they looking for?

“…Their movements have changed.”

Maybe they didn’t find what they were looking for, because their movements became more frantic. The torches are spreading everywhere, and if we stay hidden this close, we might not even have bones left.

“Let’s go deeper. We’ll get caught if we stay here.”
“……If we go further, it’ll be harder to meet up with the kids. I wonder if they’re okay.”
“They’ll be fine. They’re better than me or Yurian in this kind of situation.”

I’m not worried about Irian, but I’m a little worried about Carsilla. She must have been very surprised. …There’s no choice, I’ll trust Irian and hide deeper.

We carefully moved deeper into the forest. They’re not tracking our location, but the threatening torches are visible from afar. We can’t light a fire, so we’re groping our way through the dark forest. Then, I felt a presence somewhere.

‘…An enemy? Or maybe Irian and Carsilla?’

Since we were walking closely together, the group reacted quickly. Diana, who was walking in front, quickly ducked down when she saw me stop, and the guy, who couldn’t see well in the dark, was grabbed by the collar and pulled down. At least he had the sense not to make a sound. If he had opened his mouth, I was going to punch him in the philtrum.

We held our breath and focused on sensing the presence. …A small group. At most, three or four people. If there are more than that, they’re probably experts beyond my level. What should I do? Should I make contact?

My hesitation was short. Since we noticed them first, they don’t seem to be stronger than me. And if they’re also moving while hiding, they’re probably not enemies. I carefully moved forward, grabbed the presence that was passing by, covered their mouth, and knocked them down.

“Hmph!”
“…Merchant leader-nim?”
“Ugh!”