Chapter 8: Our Journey: Travelogue ① — Differences Between Us, and Mince

Three days later.

All of a sudden, the Skia Coffin Ele came to an abrupt stop.
We were partway along a forest road.

“Oh my, oh dear—has something happened, I wonder?”

The Witch muttered as she shuffled her cards.
We were in the observation room at the very rear of the second floor.

While enjoying the scenery, we’d been passing the time with a card game during afternoon tea.

Dagaa, who’d finished in first place, and Mineha-san, who’d taken second, were sprawled out on the sofa.
It was me, Bid-san, and the Witch still playing—incidentally, I was about to finish third.

The forest scenery flowing past the full glass front suddenly stopped, which is how we noticed the abrupt halt.

Mineha-san nibbled on a cookie and asked:

“Why would it stop?”

“Well, yes indeed. If there’s an obstacle ahead, it’ll stop.”

“Well, obviously,” 

Mineha-san muttered. True enough.

Still, that meant there was something ahead. The Witch set her cards down.

“Well then, we’ll know once we check.”

“I’ll go too.”

“I’m coming as well.”

“I’ll stay here.”

“Na?”

“Then then, I suppose Mineha and Wof-boy will go take a look.”

“Huh? What about you, Witch?”

“You’re not going?”

At our questions, the Witch gave a short laugh.

“Well then, Kon will wait here for your report.”

Looks like she wasn’t coming.

Mineha-san and I exchanged wry smiles.
She’d been the first to suggest checking, too.

Since we didn’t know what we’d find, we prepared in our rooms.

What came to mind were the gauntlets.

The New Version of the Sacred Silent Gauntlets that were to be handed over on departure day were still undergoing final adjustments.

They were currently in the Witch’s workshop on the second floor of the Skia Coffin Ele.

Apparently, the originally planned material couldn’t be obtained, so she’d been working with a substitute.

Then, by sheer coincidence, the original material became available through a different route.

So she stopped the work, removed the substitute material, and began replacing it with the intended one.

Because of that, the delivery had been delayed again and again.

What kind of material was it, anyway?
Something worth all that trouble to incorporate… honestly, that was a little scary.

Once ready, I stepped out and met up with Mineha-san.

“What’s goin’ on?”

Hoss-san came out of his room too—probably because the scenery outside had stopped.

“It seems something outside made us stop.”

“An obstacle?”

“Yeah. Wof and I are going to check it out.”

“I’m comin’ too. Hold on a sec.”

Hoss-san went back into his room and grabbed his halberd.

“All right, let’s go.”

We stepped outside.

This was the uphill lane of a caravan road through the forest.
The area was surrounded by woods, with the downhill lane beyond the trees to the right.

Straight ahead lay an overturned wagon, one wheel torn off and rolling free.

“…That’s strange.”

“Sure is.”

“It’s odd.”

The overturned vehicle was an ordinary wagon.

But this was a caravan road—meant exclusively for giant wagons.

Except in emergencies or special cases, normal wagons were forbidden from entering caravan roads.

This wasn’t just national law—it was strictly defined by international law.

I activated [Danger Detection].

Two red dots on the overturned wagon.
Multiple red dots among the trees on the right.

A quick count put them at more than ten. Quite the setup.

I whispered to the other two. They’d already suspected the same thing.

Of course they had—it was far too obvious.

“So, what’ll we do?”

“We could just ignore it.”

“No, let’s clean this up. Even if we’re fine, I don’t want victims later.”

“That’s true.”

“Then let’s do it.”

“I’ll take the first move.”

The two nodded.

I activated [Deep Silence], locked the light pointer onto the wagon—

—and fired.

“[Vanish].”

The overturned wagon was blown away, revealing two men with unmistakably villainous faces. It was just so typical.

Ignoring them completely, I hurled a magic knife at the red dots in the trees to the left.

The instant the knife pierced the tree, I swapped places with it.

Knife Magic: Changing.

A shaved-headed petty thug stared in shock as I suddenly appeared before him.
The trees on the left rustled all at once.

Too late.

I unleashed [Vanish] on the shaved man.

Part of his body disappeared, and he collapsed screaming in pain.

Faced with such an abnormal situation, the rest finally revealed themselves one by one.

“Baldy Henry!?”

“You bastards! How dare you do that to Baldy Henry!”

“I’ll kill you!”

“For Baldy Henry!”

“Hey, get the men—take the guys out!”

“Grab the woman! Damn, she’s incredible!”

“No way… best one we’ve ever had in a long while!”

“We’re lucky! Damn lucky!”

“Nobody touches her! That woman’s mine!”

The men rushed Mineha-san.

The light suddenly vanished from her eyes.

“‘Demonic Star Manifest Spear’—Star Rain!!!!”

“Gyaaah!”

“Guhhh!”

“Aaaagh!”

“Gugyaaaaah!”

“Guhwaaa—!”

‘Stars’ transformed into spiraling triangular drills and rained down, cutting the men down one after another.

It was quite a sight to behold. I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side, ever!

A strange thought crossed my mind.

Were these guys bandits, highwaymen, or thieves? Oh it doesn’t matter anymore, does it.

If you go further right, there are mountains.

Given their positioning, it wouldn’t be strange if their hideout were in the mountains.

So—mountain bandits?

No, they lurked in the wild—so highwaymen?

Or just plain thieves?

Ah! Nevermind!

“My single-blade demon-cleaver!”

“Guhhh!”

“What the hell are these guys—ugh!”

Hoss-san’s halberd swept through, cutting down three men all at once.

That was a Wind-Style Single-Blade Demon Cleaver.

“Wh-what are you people!?”

A tall, scrawny man tried to bluff through his fear. Even though he was visibly quaking in his boots.

I sighed. 

“We’re travelers. This is a problem, you know. You’ve ruined what was supposed to be a pleasant trip for us. How will you make it up to us?”

It felt like spotting a cockroach in an otherwise lovely inn.

I held a new knife I’d bought from Arifa-san’s shop.

A large blade with a curved, axe-like tip and a sharp edge, carved with designs reminiscent of Nazca or Inca-style ornamentation from my past life memories.

According to Arifa-san, it was a ritual knife from a southern tribe.

Extremely sharp and easy to use.
I was glad I hadn’t asked what kind of ritual.

There were more relic users among the thugs than expected, but the fight was easy.

Still, their well-maintained equipment, weapons, and combat experience—

They were likely failed explorers. Or former ones.

Possibly even some active explorers mixed in.

Judging by their strength, though, their ranks were low.

Mostly Rank VI or V. Probably none above Rank IV.

After finishing them off, we handled the cleanup and took their belongings.

Heh heh heh—another knife added to the collection.

Sometimes I think we’re doing the same things they are.

But they knew it was a crime and did it anyway.

We don’t—because it’s a crime, because it’s beneath us as people.

They attacked, so we defeated them.
If they hadn’t attacked, we wouldn’t have.

That’s why we’re different.

“…What are you going to do with me…?”

We spared one man—the apparent leader.

We dragged him over and seated him on the caravan road.

“Where’s your hideout?”

Mineha-san asked.

We’d kept him alive purely for information.

To avoid future trouble, we intended to wipe them out completely.

The Witch and the others would hear about it afterward—but they wouldn’t object.

The moment the man looked at Mineha-san, he twisted his face into an obscenely leering grin.

The kind of repulsive, negative-charm smile only a man utterly unwanted by women could make.

“Hey, hey—what’s this top-grade whore? Damn… best catch we’ve ever had. Hey, honey-haired slut, wanna get filthy with me?”

“Ugh—kill him.”

“I get how you feel.”

“So where is your hideout?”

“If you give me that woman who’s got me so hard it hurts, I’ll tell you.”

He flicked his tongue lewdly as he spoke.

“All right. Kill him.”

“I get how you feel.”

“Where is your hideout?”

“Heh heh heh—listen, if you give me that seductive, honey-haired nymph I wanna screw for three days and nights straight, I’ll answer. Hey, brat—are you listening?”

“Yeah. Wof. Kill him already.”

“I get how you feel—but that sounds like you’re killing Woff.”

Well, I already knew it, but this man—this bastard—was completely looking down on us.

He probably thought that if he talked, we’d kill him.
Which, to be fair, was exactly right.

“Could you two keep watch for a moment?”

I briefly considered an infinite loop of [Vanish] making one of his fingers disappear at a time and healing it with an elixir.

But his mind would probably break, so I decided on a more effective method.

“Sure.”

“Got it.”

“Huh? What’s this? Where’re you going? Running away? In the end you’re just a kid. Guys like you piss me off the most—some useless hired brat acting all high and mighty when you can’t do anything.”

“Yes, you’re absolutely right. Which is why I’m going to bring the Witch.”

“Huh? The Witch?”

“I’m her apprentice.”

“What? No—wait. You were called Wof earlier—”

I ignored him and returned to the Skia Coffin Ele.

When I explained the situation to the Witch, who was relaxing alone in the observation room, she stood up with a look of delight.

I heard that Bid-san had taken Dagaa to the baths.

I brought the Witch back to where the apparent leader was.

He tried to lick his lips at her just like he had with Mineha-san—but—

“M-m-m-m-m… th-the peerless Witch…!?”

His face went pale, and he began trembling violently, his whole body shaking.

“Oh my, oh dear. Yes indeed—this is the Witch.”

The Witch wore a bewitching smile.

“W-why the hell are you here!? I heard you’d never leave Hydrangea again!”

“No, no, that’s not true at all.”

The leader tried to flee, but Hoss-san immediately pinned him down.

“S-stop! Let go! Get away! Don’t come closer! I—I once saw it! People who tried to lay hands on the Witch—they were turned into mince in an instant!”

“Oh my, oh my. Did something like that happen, I wonder?”

The Witch didn’t seem to remember. Mineha-san looked exasperated.

“‘Turned into mince’—what did you even do?”

“Hmmm, hmm. Kon really doesn’t remember.”

She didn’t deny the “instant mince” part, though.

“O-okay, okay! I was wrong—everything was my fault! I’ll tell you everything—where the hideout is, all of it! Just please, not the mince!”

“Meow.”

At that moment, a cat appeared.

A black cat with an exceptionally long tail.

Wait—this cat…

“A cat?”

“A cat, huh.”

“Huh? A cat?”

“That’s the cat from back then.”

That’s right—the cat that had helped us escape the arena ruins.

No mistake. That long tail was proof enough.

But why was it here?

“Meow.”

“Well now, isn’t this Pianey’s pet cat?”

“Fshaaa!”

At the Witch’s words, the black cat hissed at her.

“Pianey—the commander of the Explorer Knights, right?”

“So it’s her cat, then?”

“The Explorer Knights…!?”

The leader’s face drained of color yet again.

“Hmmm. For now, let’s bind this one up.”

The Witch pulled various items from her pouch, tied the leader up, blindfolded him, and gagged him.

She was very practiced at it.

Well—she was dexterous, so maybe it just looked that way.

No, she was definitely practiced.

Once bound, Hoss-san hoisted him up.

“Where should we put him?”

“Hmmm… maybe the storage room.”

“Then I’ll just toss him in.”

“Mmmph—mmphhh!!”

“Well then, shall we head back?”

“Meow.”

“The cat too?”

“Meow!”

“Looks like it.”

And so, with some extra luggage—and a cat—joining us, the Skiar Coffin Ere set off once more.

The luggage would be discarded as soon as it had served its purpose.