Author: work sucks

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As I watched the bandits slowly surround us, I made a quick glance toward Puerial and Shiro to check their states. Shiro is a bit on edge but still calm, we haven’t faced such numbers before. Puerial however seems to be panicking, *sigh* she will need to be trained to keep her from being a hindrance. My gaze returned to the bandits in front while Shiro covered my back. Puerial proceeded to duck into the cart, well at least she won’t get in the way in there.

“Hey guys check out the quality on the brats”(Bandit Leader?)

“Ooh, how much fun ya think that tall girly there has had before *slurp* no doubt a lot right, hahaha.” (Disgusting Bandit)

“Boss we can have fun wit em right, haha, right.” (Bandit 3)

“Yea and make the brat watch, having such girls wit him.” (Bandit 4)

“How much will they be worth ya think?” (Bandit 5)

*Crack* their colorful conversation was starting to get on my nerves. Taking one last look at the others, Shiro is full of disgust and anger and Puerial has a shockingly calm expression while she mumbles something. She is just looking at me gently, not even giving the others a glance. It’s a little unsettling being looked at with such eyes in this type of situation.

Before these bandits can continue their conversation me and Shiro proceeded to take the initiative. We used our copper daggers as disposables and hurled them at the bandits resulting in one dead without even realizing what happened and the other bleeding out and will soon follow.

All the smiles on these bandits fade away when they see two of their group drop. I keep an eye out for any hidden members while I get into a suitable position for defense. Being reckless will allow the bandits to overwhelm us with numbers. So to counter this we use the cart to keep them from completely surrounding us. It’s simple but works enough to secure our backs.

Shiro used her other copper dagger to strike at another bandit as they are charging over. Seeing another fall just makes the group more angry, as they start roaring at us.

Since they are all taller than me I aim at easy to attack areas that can do some serious damage.

Their thighs have an important blood vessel that can cause them to bleed out if cut. A strike to the balls can drop people quick. All sorts of options to take these guys down. It was these very things I taught to Shiro, and we both would target these areas without question.

These untrained bandits are just charging at us with no formation, the leader is wasting their number advantage like this. It would have been simpler to hit us from a distance with arrows. I can see some of the ones charging have a bow on their back so it just leaves me with the impression that these guys are idiots.

Thinking all of this only took a few moments as the first bandit that came charging finally reached me. Putting my left foot forward i pivoted to build some momentum in my slash. The guy left his gut wide open as he lifted his arms to strike down at me. Swinging my blade quickly I felt as it passed through his flimsy armor and sliced his insides. He seemed to notice that I attacked him and seemed confused, right up until his organs started spilling out and he dropped to the floor. He looked pitiful trying to pull them back in.

Eleven more to go, and their moral seemed to drop, seems they are becoming afraid of us. I moved quickly and picked up the sword the gutless bandit was going to use to kill me. It was rusted but I didn’t need it for long. Hurling the sword at my next target took out his balance making it easy to make some serious injuries on him

Using hit and run tactics to keep a certain distance between me the cart and the bandits was pretty effective. I would move in with quick strikes all aiming for vital areas, then as quick as I approached, I already retreated.

The fear on their faces seemed to grow. There is a total of 6 in front of me and there are injuries starting to stack up on them. I myself have also taken some hits from when they would strike randomly from fear. Thankfully circulating my mana has a slight rejuvenation effect on the body so the injuries are manageable but I’ll need to be careful.

Shiro seems to be in a more dangerous state as her movements are becoming more and more restricted as they get close. For now though she is fine, so I need to take my guys down quickly to help her.

It was then that Puerial’s mumbling finished and she called out [Mana Pulse]. It was then that I felt a Large amount of mana surge out from her and struck everywhere in the surroundings. The bandits seemed to be heavily disoriented, but me and Shiro were fine for the most part and took advantage.

I had some questions but I prioritized finishing off the bandits. When they finally got their bearings there was only five left. I made sure to take down the leader while everyone was staggered. He seemed the most skilled, even if it wasn't by much he at least had some of the basics, so seeing him dead the other five just ran away screaming.

I didn’t want to stay in this area so me and Shiro looted the bodies quick and moved out of there. These guys had a few silver on them and I used identify to find them most useful equipment on them. Most of it was crap, but the leader had some interesting things. However we needed to move so I couldn’t fully look at everything.

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After taking some distance we finally rested to check our wounds. Puerial has been asleep for the whole time, probably used up all of her mana. Shiro had a few cuts here and there but my [Magic Hands] will prevent any scarring. We proceeded to move and was finally able to see the town in the distance. By the time we got close it was dark out and the gates were closed. with no way to enter we just camped out again.

Puerial woke up when we were getting close to the gate so we were finally able to talk.

I didn’t know why I didn’t expect it, but she seems to know some basic spells already from her parents. As someone who will manage the barrier in the village, she was already being taught magic when her core formed. She gets tired after one or two spells, but it’s to be expected with such a young core.

*Sigh* She was fortunate enough to be born into a family of mages, while I was stuck in a dump. Seeing as sulking would get me nowhere, I asked if she can teach me a few things. She just looked at me with a ‘what do you mean’ type of face.

“Aren’t you using magic already, even now I can feel it flowing off you.” (Puerial)

From what she says, when she used [Mana Pulse] she saw we were circulating our mana and would properly resist the spell. The bandits weren’t using mana at all, and Shiro has been practicing hard to keep her mana circulating like me. Our mana acted as a type of filter that prevented us from being disoriented.

“Ah, don’t misunderstand, that is only something I managed to figure out. I’ve never been taught how to use magic in this world.” (Kuro)

“! You’re lying, how can someone who has never done magic have such strong mana.” She started poking me and looking all over my body as she continued. “Even my older brother doesn’t have this much. The only ones who would be stronger are my parents.” (Puerial)

“Hmm, even if you say that it’s the truth, Shiro can attest to it.” (Kuro)

“It’s true...he was also the one who taught me how to fight.” (Shiro)

“I-if that's true then...he would be a prodigy...to get this far without teachers...ugh mom was right when she said that there are very strong people outside.” (Puerial)

“Even if you say that, I’m still at the bottom of the food chain compared to the people who have lived here far longer than anyone else.” (Kuro)

Puerial just looked at the two of us and hesitantly asked to know more about us. It’s not like we are hiding it so we told her where we came from and what we are doing now. Shiro kept adding to any part of the story with me in it with unnecessary detail. At the end of it Puerial was looking at me with starry eyes...seriously like I said before...don’t look at me with such eyes.

When the talk was done she agreed to teach us what she can. Once our dinner was eaten we all took shifts sleeping, even if the town is right there, we aren’t taking chances.

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We were all up at daybreak and waited a few moments for the gate to open. After being inspected by rude guards that tried to make an excuse to touch Shiro and Puerial. We managed to leave without incident when a female guard captain showed up to settle the dispute. I can’t say she was gorgeous, but she was putting on a good looking tomboyish appearance that seemed to fit her character, It was really refreshing.

The guard captain was nice enough to give us direction to a cheap inn that can hold our cart and horse. Before I forgot, i mention to her the group we fought when we were heading here. She seemed to be aware of them and has been trying to apprehend them. I noticed the guards behind her put on scowls when they heard me talk about those bandits.

Seeing it was too suspicious, I hinted the guard captain to keep an eye on those two. She seemed to catch my meaning but didn’t know if it would lead to anything. Well as long as she watches them it’s fine.

Before reaching the inn we sold all the useless things we piled up for about 11 small silver coins. Trying to get everything down early we went to the inn right afterwards to get everything secured. Some thieves tried to sneak some of the things out of our cart, which seriously annoyed me. We must have broke 4 hands at this point and they are still trying to rob us.

Getting to the inn, we had the cart and horse stored in the stable while our things were brought up to our room. It wasn’t too much and can be stored easily in the corner. The room had two beds and came with breakfast. The whole thing cost 5 big copper coins which didn’t bother me too much. Our current finances left us some good amount of room to get settled and make a living.

It was just past noon and we had a few hours till sundown and decided to head to the guild now to register.

It turned into another walk of breaking hands...these damn thieves need to take a hint...with such crap technique they can’t even hope to rob us.

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A/N: Was the fight scene okay?

comments are welcome, the surprise was Puerial's magic. Since I don't like blatant hints I left the title like that.

I wanted to make the chapter longer but...yea I gotta work...