Vol. 4 Chapter 49: Raid (2)

Although I do not have an in-depth understanding on these science-related things, but the strength of the railgun Dale was holding onto, which was about the size of a bazooka, was overwhelming. With just a single burst, it’s shockwave was able to send the two of us flying. The man who was struck directly by the attack was blasted away in an instant, crashing deep into the forest.

And the attack power of this thing was basically unbelievable. The difference in levels between Dale and that swordsman was huge, but with a single blast, his opponent’s HP dropped to a half, and was even sent into a paralyzed state!

Lois immediately charged towards him, and after a long scream echoed throughout the forest, his HP was completely depleted.

… Really, I did not even get to finish reading all of his titles, and he died just like that?

The surrounding low level bandits looked at us as if we were monsters, and then, they turned around and fled. Lois chased after them while shouting: “don’t you guys dare run!” While Dale, on the other hand, took out another railgun from his ring, and started firing at those fleeing enemies.

Since you guys wanted to rob, you should have prepared yourselves for the possibility of being eliminated, right? Well~ In any case, I’m too lazy to even bother anymore.

Rather, I’m more interested in that masked guy. Those other cannon fodder rushed at us head-on, while he actually bothered to wear a mask. It’s really unbelievable.

There’s definitely something special about him!

I walked towards his body with big strides. His throat was stabbed through with a sword. With a single glance, I knew it was Lois’ doing. The armor protecting his chest was charred black. Looks like his set of armor is useless now, but his mask is still of use. After taking off his mask, I was startled quite a bit.

“Un? Isn’t this guy…”

Although I can’t recall his appearance instantly, I feel that I have met this guy somewhere.

I quickly searched through the things on his body. Searching a corpse is something that must be done in almost every single RPG, after all.

Unfortunately, other than a letter and his storage ring, there was nothing else that could be found on his body. In his storage ring, other than 5,000 gold, a map, a clean set of clothes, only his identification was left.

“Sarefes Blue, Ice Empire’s registered citizen? This piece of identification however, states that he was an executive member of the Sarefes Project. His code name was Blue, and he serves… the Smuu household? Interesting. Other than manufacturing dolls, the Smuu household actually has this thing called the Sarefes Project as well?”

I remember now. Among the bunch of photographs I got from the Smuu household, his face was among the people shown in one of the photographs!

… Weird. Did this guy establish this project? Or… Oh well, I will investigate this later.

After storing these items well, I opened up the letter.

“… Un, un, un. The 3rd carriage?”

I looked around. Our current position was near the 9th carriage, and as for the 3rd carriage… Looking from afar, a heated battle was still going on over there. Looks like both parties knew that the important item was there. All five A-Rank mercenaries should have been stationed there.

Should I send Oyado over there to take a look? No, it’s too dangerous. Even though Oyado is strong, but the difference in levels… Let’s talk about it at a later date, then.

After taking the the person’s cloak as well, I used some bandages to stop his bleeding, then, I threw his body into the ring. I can’t have the interior of my ring to be filled with this guy’s blood, right?

As for the corpse… When I have the opportunity to test my Zombify ability, it should be of good use. After all, the level of this corpse is rather high.

After completing all these tasks, I ran towards the carriage Oyado was hiding in, and knocked.

“Oyado, are you still inside?”

“Un, un. Big brother, I’m still in here~ There’s all types of foodstuff in this carriage, but a doll is actually being hidden at the most bottom layer of the foodstuff.”

“A doll?”

“That’s right. But it’s not a model belonging to the Smuu household. It’s a doll that I have totally never seen before.”

“…Mind describing it?”

“It’s a doll… no, calling it a doll with a human figure would be more precise. Because it’s a girl with long hair, and she’s wearing clothes that I have never seen before.”

“… Does it look like a sleeping robe, and a thick belt is strapped at its waist?”

“Un, that’s right.”

The Smuu household build western dolls, while the one here… is an eastern doll. Just what faction does this belong to?

This is really getting interesting. Looks like I will have to head to the eastern continent when I get the chance~

Looking around my surroundings, it seems there weren’t anymore people here.

“Oyado, how did you enter the carriage?”

“There’s a window above the carriage.”

I leaped onto the carriage, and just as she said, an opening that looked like a window was there. I pushed it open, and entered the carriage.

It was dusky inside the carriage, and like how Oyado described, countless foodstuffs were packed inside the carriage.

A doll was placed in the box at the center of the carriage, and it looked really life-like.

Other than it possessing an ice-cold body.

But, I should still quickly keep it in my ring. How can I not collect something like this? There’s no such event whereby I can obtain a legendary weapon after collecting ten of them, but since it looks interesting, I should keep it.

At this moment, I raised my head. Someone was actually approaching us!

After clearly reading his titles, I realized it was actually the merchant! Was there actually an alert system which activated when I stole the doll?

“Oyado, hold on to me!”

“Un!”

Without any hesitation, Oyado hugged onto me tightly.

“I only told you to hold on to me… Oh well, this is fine as well. Flash Movement!”

In the next second, I appeared within the forest. After tapping on an MP Potion, I hid in the bushes and looked at the merchant.

He sneakily walked over to the carriage, looked at his surroundings, and then looked at the carriage’s lock. When he confirmed that there were no problems, he pulled out his key and opened the door to the carriage.

“How is this possible!? This…”

After a while, he walked out of the carriage in a panic. Once again, he confirmed his surroundings, and then ran to the direction he came from.

“Big brother, what are we going to do next~?”

“… It’s too dangerous up ahead. The best we can do right now is to chase after those fleeing bandits.”

“Alright, big brother~”

————————–loading——————————–

Ten minutes later, those who came to attack us either fled or died. In any case, the battle had ended.

Other than a field full of corpses of the enemies, there were several mercenary corpses as well. Most of them were E-Rank and D-Rank, while some where C-Rank. Those who were A-Rank and B-rank were already rather experienced, so naturally, they would not die so easily. While the only F-Rank mercenaries were us, and naturally, none of us died.

But, someone of the A-Rank died. The reason was… because he was an enemy!

It was that Smuu household’s trusted messenger, Fenrofus. During the battle, he suddenly turned and stabbed towards one of his party members beside him. That Broadsword Wielder was not able to dodge in time, and hence, was stabbed in the chest. However, at that moment, Gabriel speedily healed him up, and helped the rest of the A-Rank mercenaries to kill this guy.

It wasn’t that hard to imagine Gabriel interfering the memories of that trusted messenger in the midst of battle. Hence, he caused a ruckus because of the change in his memories, which led to him being eliminated.

In any case, this battle was a rather successful one.

Battle Ended
Enemies killed: 0
Party Support EXP Gained: 12 X 200 = 2,400
Party Battle EXP Gained: 107 X 50 = 5,350
Total EXP Gained: 7,750
You leveled up! Current LV: 20

Party Members’ Level Ups
Dale leveled up! Current LV: 19
Oyado leveled up! Current LV: 7
Oyado leveled up! Current LV: 8
Oyado leveled up! Current LV: 9…

Oyado leveled up! Current LV: 17

I completely do not understand how Oyado was able to raise her level so quickly even though she was hiding in the carriage. Although I’m not entirely sure how many enemies she managed to kill at the end, after all, we split up earlier to chase after the enemies, but…

Oh well, in any case, the person monitoring us was already dead. There shouldn’t be any problems any longer.

But in this battle, we had lost 98 mercenaries, and only 47 mercenaries remained. This rate of elimination can really cause a person’s heart to shiver.

Abudo declared that he would distribute more money, and pleaded those who were left to continue the journey with him. However, we all understood the reason why he was willing to distribute money was because the numbers of mercenaries had decreased.

Though, no matter what, we still have to continue on with this escort mission.

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