Chapter 354

The reward for providing the hero's party with a late dinner was that Ethan and I were excused from night watch duty.

Since our campsite was nearby, and though our tents weren’t right next to each other, we were only about fifty meters apart. That gave us plenty of time to react if any danger approached from outside.

Especially on a night like this, where it was certain something would happen, having someone else take over night watch was quite the reward for Ethan and me.

In addition, we could leave the management of our campfire to Sally and Sei, so it was a rare night when both Ethan and I could fall asleep at ease while camping.

“Goodnight, Lilith.”

“Goodnight, Young Master Ethan.”

Inside the tent, under the blanket, Ethan and I held hands, easing the day’s fatigue as we drifted to sleep.

Since I had insisted on traveling alone with Ethan and even driven the carriage for over twelve hours without a coachman, it was only natural that my body felt unusually tired.

…And so, as soon as I laid down, I fell fast asleep. It wasn’t long before…

-Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Everyone wake up! It’s bandits! Wake up!”

The loud clanging of bells from the hero’s tent jolted me awake, and despite my lingering exhaustion, I forced myself to sit up along with Ethan.

“Young Master Ethan, it’s time to wake up.”

“I can tell by the voice that it’s Miss Natalie… She wakes us as noisily as her personality, it seems…”

“Well, it might be that the situation is urgent. Either way, we should hurry and get ready.”

Thankfully, it took no more than a few seconds from the moment I regained my senses to get myself together and head out of the tent. After all, I had experienced this bandit attack countless times in the original story, so I had gone to bed fully prepared for it.

The whole purpose of this Humanities Exploration lesson was to uncover the identity of the bandits attacking us, deduce which villager had collaborated with them, and figure out their motives.

…Of course, such a violent, murder-filled event wasn’t part of the academy’s official curriculum. The original plan had been a simple volunteer mission, but it turned into a bandit extermination event once the villagers' financial interests got involved.

As soon as Ethan and I, now fully armed, hurried out of the tent, the first thing we did was check for nearby enemies.

By temporarily increasing the flow of mana within my body and scanning for unnatural voids in the organic flow of mana nearby…

‘There!’

-Thud!

“Hkk, guh!!”

The sound of a bandit’s throat being pierced came from behind the carriage next to our tent. The man had been waiting to ambush us, but he was now dead in an instant.

Meanwhile, Ethan had discovered another bandit hiding behind the tree tying down our tent and had already sliced his body diagonally with his sword.

-Slash!

“Aaaagh!!”

The bandit’s upper half—no, more precisely, his upper upper half—hit the ground, and I quickly retrieved the dagger hanging from the now-standing corpse’s waist before moving toward the hero’s camp.

“For now, it would be best to join up with the hero’s party, Young Master Ethan. One is better than two, and ten are better than two.”

“Yes, I agree, Lilith.”

Even though our relationship with the hero’s party wasn’t the best, we couldn’t afford not to cooperate in a life-or-death situation like this. Besides, judging by Ethan’s demeanor today, his previous hostility toward Yongjaekis seemed to have diminished.

As we made our way toward the hero’s party, a few more bandits tried to attack us, swinging their swords at Ethan and me. But for someone like Ethan, who was practically at Sword Expert level, and myself, who was nearing that stage, they didn’t pose much of a challenge.

-Slash!

“Hggk!”

-Thud!

Two more bandits fell, one to Ethan’s sword and the other to the dagger I had just picked up.

One of the bandits, seemingly realizing that something was wrong, pointed at us and shouted to his comrades.

“The ones with black hair! Kill the black-haired ones first!”

“They’re isolated! Take them out first!”

“You idiot! Don’t kill the woman! Anyone who kills her, I swear I’ll cut off your damn dick!”

“……”

-Teeth grinding.

Hearing the bandits’ chatter, I could clearly hear Ethan grinding his teeth beside me, anger flaring up inside him.

‘…Honestly, he’s too fond of me, and that’s the problem.’

Hoping his rage wouldn’t cause him to lose focus, I readied myself, gripping the daggers tightly in both hands.

-Clang! Clang!

“Hahaha! What’s this? Are you trying to play prince, wielding that little sword? You’re not even—”

-Thud!

“…Next.”

The chaotic fight intensified as more bandits charged at Ethan and me.

Most of them seemed to think that as long as they took down Ethan, subduing me would be easy. But none of them lasted more than three strikes before falling to Ethan’s blade.

“Holy shit! Look at that woman up close! She’s a damn prize! We could sell her for ten gold coins at the market…”

-Thud!

“Hkk, what the…”

Ten gold coins? That’s laughable.

“My annual salary is forty gold coins, you idiots. Do you think I earned the title of Blackwood’s personal maid by selling myself?”

-Thud!

“W-What the hell is wrong with this woman…”

Several bandits tried to ambush me, but I had reached the threshold of Sword Expert, so their attacks were nothing to me.

I could easily see the path of their blades and block or cut them down as naturally as turning my hand over.

‘It’s definitely easier than before.’

In the past, I had to put so much thought into each swing, predicting my opponent’s next move. But now, just by following the visible trajectory of their strikes, I could resolve most fights without much effort.

Of course, this wouldn’t work against more skilled opponents, but those types of enemies were likely reserved for Yongjaekis, not Ethan or me.

‘Tonight, I’ll just focus on getting used to Sword Expert’s “sword path prediction.”’

Fighting these low-level mobs wasn’t much of a challenge, so all I could really do was use this battle to grow accustomed to predicting sword paths.@@novelbin@@

“Hey! She’s tough too! You need to think about cutting off an arm or two to bring her down!”

“Are you stupid? If she loses an arm, her value drops by half!”

“You morons! Focus on the man! He’s the stronger one!”

“That guy’s a Sword Expert, you idiot! Why don’t you go die first!!”

-Thud! Smack! Clang!

The bandits, unable to agree on how to handle us, started arguing amongst themselves, swinging their swords and axes at one another.

Thanks to their infighting, our battle became easier, but I couldn’t let my guard down just yet.

Scenes like this, where things seemed to be wrapping up easily, usually happened just before the real boss fight started, meaning the named monster of this event would soon appear.

-Step, step, step.

As I sliced down the remaining bandits, I heard slow, heavy footsteps approaching. Two large men emerged from the shadows.

Recognizing the entrance of the named monster from Luminor Academy after seeing it almost ten times during gameplay, I began to feel a slight tension.

“Hah, Okam. I told you we should’ve just come by ourselves.”

“Shut up, Okam. The boss ordered us to come, so there’s nothing we can do.”

“These guys are in the way. Can’t we just get rid of them, Okam?”

“Yeah, the boss just said to come along. He didn’t say we had to work together to fight, right, Okam?”

“Yeah, Okam.”

“Right, Okam.”

The two men, calling each other by the same name, Okam, were the twin brothers known as the “Twin Okams,” the named monsters of the nighttime bandit attack event.

“Ah, Sub-Commander Okam! Those guys! They’re the ones who started attacking their own comrades first…!”

-Thwack!

“So what? You couldn’t even block a single axe swing, and you’re talking to me?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Who cares about weaklings who are no help at all?”

Their scene began with one of them splitting a comrade’s head open with an axe, a classic entrance for the Twin Okams.

As soon as the remaining bandits noticed the twins, they started panicking and running away.

“Run! It’s the Sub-Commander Okams! Run!”

“Get out of the way! I’m not dying here like some idiot!!”

As the enemies surrounding Ethan and me fled, the twins, wielding swords and axes, walked calmly toward us.

“I am Okam. And this is my younger brother, Okam.”

“I am Okam. And this is my older brother, Okam.”

“……”

“……”

Originally, this exchange was meant to happen during a battle with Yongjaekis, but now they were reciting it to us. I couldn’t help but feel a bit bewildered.