Chapter 34

As my rage began to cool, I realized that I had made a giant mistake. The children that I had been in such a rush to save, were now terrified of me. Even Coa was trembling tightly around my neck. She hasn’t stopped doing that since I started interrogating those bandits. Despite my smile and reassuring words they were all backing away from me in tears. I guess after what I just did, I must look like some kind of monster to them. I sighed. How should I handle this?

As I was thinking, a young voice spoke up. “Miss Angel, thank you for saving us.”

Huh? What? I looked at the child that had just spoke. It was a young girl, maybe 11 or 12 years old at most, with short silver hair that wasn’t even down to her shoulders. While she had the same color hair as Seran did, her hair seemed to almost have a metallic shine to it. It seemed, odd was maybe the best word to describe it. It definitely stood out even in this crowd of kids with unnatural hair colors. Oh, now that I’m aware of it. All these kids do have abnormal hair colors. Well, except for the older boy next to silver hair girl. His hair was brown.

Well, silver hair girl seems to be the only one not afraid of me. She was looking me straight in the eye without flinching. I have no idea why she called me angel though. I guess I’ll start with breaking her free first. At least I’m pretty sure she won’t run away. I walked over to her and snapped the shackles around her ankles and then untied her hands. She got up with a wide smile and before I could stop her she jumped and hugged me. “Thank you!”

The older boy that was on the ground nearby was looking at the girl with wide eyes. I wonder why? I’d check him with my psi, but after my rampage I’m totally dry. I barely have enough energy to keep my shield running.

The boy was the next to speak up. “Sorry, can you free me too, miss?”

“Yeah, Miss Angel, please free my brother!” Silver hair girl requested.

They’re siblings? I guess other than the hair color they do have some similar features. I followed through with their request and freed him next. The boy got up and then quickly stepped over to me. He wasn’t going to hug me too was he? “Rie, let go of her. You’re being a nuisance.” He tried to pull his younger sister off me.

“No, I want to keep hugging Miss Angel! She was amazing!” She looked up slightly into my eyes, it really bothers me how short I am that an 11 or 12 year old is almost as tall as me! “Miss Angel, how did you get so strong? Is it just because you’re an angel?” I could almost see her eyes shining in excitement.

“Rie, stop bothering her! She has to free the others too. You’re wasting her time.” He finally managed to get her off me. She was still trying to reach out toward me as he dragged her away.

I examined the other kids and it looked like watching Rie’s behavior at least had the benefit of calming them down. They didn’t seem quite as afraid of me now. From there, I could slowly break all the kids free. Some of them hugged each other and even a few others repeated Rie’s display of thanking me, minus the hug, though they quickly moved away from me afterwards. It was too much to hope for that they’d all be like Rie, who was still trying to return to my side even now. Did I do something to make her so attached to me? Well, other than save her anyway? Is the angel name she gave me because of my actions? I felt like, rather than an angel, I was definitely closer to being a devil. I took a quick glance at the scene of carnage behind me and instantly felt nauseous. How could I have done all that? It was truly a scene out of a nightmare.

Now, how was I going to successfully escort these twenty-one kids? Especially when they’re all primarily still afraid of me. On the other hand, given the alternatives, it’s not like they really have any choice, but to rely on me. Then the next question was, which city do I take them to? We’re about halfway between the capital and Knightvalley and the adventurer that died said they were on their way to the capital for school. So the capital would be the better option then, but I have no idea what school they were going to or where it even is in the capital. Hopefully the kids know at least that much and then the guards at the capital can point us the rest of the way.

“Miss Angel, are you not going to free the adventurers?” Rie’s voice came from my side. I guess she managed to escape her brother. She was glued to my side again. Adventurers? There were adventurers here? A quick look following Rie’s line of sight and sure enough there were four female adventurers there. Why didn’t I notice them sooner? It’s not like they were hidden in any way.

Wearing what was probably an awkward smile, I walked over to the adventurers. Of course they all looked older than me and one of them was giving me a kind smile like she knew exactly how I was feeling. The others were either looking like they were unhappy or just didn’t care.

“Finally. About time you noticed us!” The unhappy one said rudely.

Before I could respond, one of the other girls hit her on the head. “Fran, don’t be rude. She did save us. You know what would have happened to us once the bandits got into it.”

“Tasha! That hurt!” The rude one complained, but I noticed her face had gone a bit pale.

Wait, their hands were already free? “You are already untied?”

“We’re adventurers, you know! Untying ourselves was easy!” The rude one, Fran, boasted.

“Says the girl who needed me to untie her.” The kind one, Tasha, sighed.

“Hey, Tasha! You didn’t need to tell her that!?” Fran protested.

“Let me just get those shackles off of you all.” It took me maybe a minute to free the four adventurers and they stood up and stretched. “I have a question for you. What are your plans now? I intend to escort the kids to the capital, but I’ll probably need help, at least on the supplies side. Also, I don’t know where the kids were going other than what another adventurer back at the road told me. Something about an academy there.”

“There was a survivor back there?” One of the currently unnamed adventurer girls asked, surprised.

“There was, but he died right after mentioning the kids being taken. Which led me here. Now that I’m here and the kids are saved though, I can’t just leave them. So, I’d like your help getting them to the capital. Plus, I believe most of the kids would trust you four more than me after the display I just did.” I explained.

“Yes, you were quite brutal to the bandits. I don’t mind going along. We can recover enough of the supplies using the bags of holding left behind and part of our job involved escorting the kids to the academy, too. So we have to do that if we want to finish it. When we get to the capital we can go to the merchant’s guild and report the caravan raid and hopefully come back with help to get the rest. This area is a bit out of the way, so if we’re lucky, no one will stumble upon it.” The other girls agreed with Tasha by nodding. “So we’re all agreed to helping. Fran, go round up the kids and have them get ready to start moving. We should probably at least get away from this place before we camp for the night. Tiara and Steph, can you start gathering the supplies up? See if you can find our bags too. I’ll be along to help in a moment. Alright, let’s get to it.” Tasha clapped her hands and the adventurers dispersed.

I looked down at Rie who was still by my side. “Rie, why don’t you and your brother assist Tiara and Steph? It will be a big help to have more hands.”

Rie nodded. “Alright Miss Angel, I’ll do it!” She turned and ran off in the direction of her brother. “Brother, come help me!”

“Sorry, I took control there.” Tasha apologized.

“Don’t worry, it’s a large help for me. I don’t know at all what the supplies that were taken were, so you four probably have a much better idea of what is what.” I replied.

“Do you mind if I ask you something?” Tasha asked and I shook my head in response. “Who are you? I’ve been an adventurer for quite a while, but you just casually destroyed a group of over fifty bandits alone. Not to mention your skill with wind magic must be ridiculous to easily lift and then pressure their bodies into breaking like that. I just can’t believe what I saw, even with the evidence scattered all around me. I really want to know how you managed all that. What is your level and class?” She stopped for a moment before continuing. “Actually, forget what I just said. I don’t need to know that and it’s not polite of me to inquire. Can I at least have your name since we’ll be working together for a few days? Unless you prefer going by Miss Angel that is? I’m Tasha, but I think you already knew that from listening to Fran.” Tasha finished with a smile.

“Right. I haven’t actually introduced myself. My name is Seri. I’m just a wanderer. I heard about the festivities happening soon in the capital and decided to check it out. It was just coincidence that I stumbled upon that barely alive adventurer and learned about the raid and kids being taken.” I explained. I had briefly considered giving a false name, but I’ll need to show my identity at the guild to get any message that comes from Myura. With how unique my appearance is, it won’t be hard for any guild staff to remember me, and I’m not dumb enough to think that some coin won’t loosen a tongue if someone came asking about me.

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“I see. Let’s get along, Seri.” Tasha held her hand to me. I took it and we did a brief shake before releasing. Tasha then went over and started helping to scavenge through the scattered supplies and bodies.

I’m happy that Tasha stopped asking me about the fight. There was no way I could explain what I just did to those pathetic fools. The only bright side is that it doesn’t look like any of the four adventurers are magic users or they might know that what I was doing wasn’t magic. Of course, if I judge by Myura’s example, just because they don’t look like a magic user, doesn’t mean they won’t be capable of using magic. Of course, the downside is that I just openly displayed my psi in front of four adventurers and a bunch of kids. If it was just the kids I could probably pass it off as exaggeration, but with the adventurers’ version of events, I won’t be able to do that. For good or for ill, I’m going to garner a ridiculous reputation from this it seems.

Now, what should I do to help? I can neither help sort the goods or help herd the kids. I guess the only option is for me to be on guard for any possible beasts getting close. It will give my psi time to recharge. I also needed to soothe Coa who had been scared for a while now. I stepped over to a tree that was a bit out of the way and leaned against it. From here I could see everything that was going on. “Coa, calm down. Everything is alright now. I’m sorry I scared you.” I started stroking along her body that was coiled around my neck. What kind of master am I, that I even scare my own pets!?

Coa steadily grew less tense and stopped shivering. Eventually she uncurled and then moved over to my left shoulder. She was looking at me and then trilled. I was momentarily stunned because it felt like she was sending me her feelings. She was sending me concern with some doubt or maybe it was supposed to be a question? I think she might be asking me if I’m okay.

I took my right hard and scratched under her head. “Yeah, I’m okay now Coa. You don’t have to worry about me.”

She crooned in reply and this time I got some relief and joy. So she’s happy I’m back to normal? She began rubbing up against my cheek while the tip of her tail kept patting back and forth along my shoulder. Now even my pet was comforting me, I’ve totally lost today.

I sighed and looked up. Sadly, all I could see were the foliage of the tree I was leaning against, so there wasn’t much of a view.

“Miss Angel, what is that?” I looked back down and there was Rie again. How does she keep getting so close without me noticing? She was looking at Coa, and Coa was now looking back at her. It was kind of cute to see the staring contest going on between them.

“Rie, this is my pet Coa. Coa, this is Rie. Say hello to her.” I held out my hand toward Rie and Coa slithered down my arm to wrap around my wrist. Now the two of them were only about ten centimeters apart. Coa chirped twice at Rie. Interesting. There was a feeling of acknowledgement from Coa that time. Is it just because she’s getting older that I can understand her, or maybe I’ve spent enough time with her that I’m now able to interpret her? She seems to be communicating by transmitting feelings. “Rie, you can pet her if you want. She won’t bite or anything.”

“Really!?” Rie asked.

“Yes, go right ahead.” I replied.

Rie began petting Coa and Coa started to happily hum in response, which made Rie start petting her more which caused Coa to hum even louder. Quite an adorable feedback loop.

“By the way Rie, weren’t you supposed to be helping the adventurers with your brother?” I inquired.

Rie stopped petting Coa and hung her head. “I was just getting in the way, like I always do.” She whispered.

Hmm. Seems like I hit something of a sore point. I poked her head and she stumbled back a step and then looked at me. “Rie, you’re still young. You’re not supposed to be perfect at everything. You’re supposed to make mistakes and get in the way at times. That’s completely natural.”

“But it’s different! I never do anything right! It always, always goes wrong.” She complained.

“Everyone has something they’re good at. You just need the opportunity to find it. I heard you and the other kids were going to school in the capital. It sounds like the perfect place for you to do so. You’ll get to learn and figure things out and you’ll be able to find where your talents lie.” I said.

“I don’t like that word. Everyone always says I have talent because of my hair color.” She grumbled.

I poked her again. “Rie, everyone has some talent. Your hair color has nothing to do with it. Are you saying your brother doesn’t have talent just because he has a normal hair color?”

She shook her head. “No, my brother is really smart and really strong! He was taking lessons to be a blacksmith and to open a shop. He’s really good at calculations too!”

“See? That has nothing to do with hair color. Your brother has his talents and you definitely have yours as well. You just need to find them. Don’t listen to what others say and don’t give up just because you’ve experienced failure. You might have to try and fail any number of times before you get there, but you will one day arrive at the destination that was waiting just for you.” I stated.

“Really?” She asked shyly.

“Yes, I promise. You have probably experienced lots of hardship already, but I promise that you definitely have some talent just waiting for the right spark to come out. Alright?” I answered.

“Okay, Miss Angel. I trust you.” She jumped in and hugged me again. I let Coa return to her neck perch and then returned the hug of this young girl.

Well, she seems happier now, so I guess my impromptu encouragement was a success. I’m still a bit bothered about the angel name but I’m worried I might hit another sore spot for her by bringing it up. I’ll try asking her brother later instead. “Rie, why don’t we both go and help together? Then we can both get in the way.”

She smiled and I led her over to where the adventurers and Rie’s brother were working.

Needless to say, we both did indeed get in the way. I tried to limit any helping I did to mainly moving things around as directed. Rie tried to do the same but being a child she couldn’t really carry anything all that heavy. She also seemed to be a bit clumsy, which probably explained some of her complaints about failing at things in the past. It only took maybe an hour for the adventurers, with our dubious assistance, to sort out the food supplies and enough of the valuable cargo to take along to the capital. Once they had sorted everything off the bodies, I disposed of them by tossing them off deeper in the woods.

I did learn the important info that even bags of holding have a limit on how much they can store. I still want some, but I’ll need magic first before I can use them for anything other than storing things. Not much good to have a bag that I can’t take anything out of.

The adventurers and I had decided the road would be the safest place to rest since the possibility of running into knights or another caravan was highest there. So, once we were ready, the adventurers moved to the kids and I took the lead of the group since I knew the way back to the road. Well, and because none of the kids other than Rie or her brother really wanted to be in my presence if they could avoid it. I spread out my psi as far as I could in order to cover the kids and the surrounding area to catch anything that comes near. I was actually surprised that nothing had already come, considering the bountiful amount of ‘food’ that had been lying there waiting for any predators to come claim it. Rie was still watching me with excitement, which I was beginning to think was her natural state.

It didn’t take too long to get to the highway, but it had definitely gotten late into the night when we finally did. It had already been getting dark when I rescued them. If it wasn’t for the lanterns scavenged from the bandits, the group might have had troubles navigating. The adventurers handled putting together tents and blankets for the kids while preparing so that the kids would sleep between them. I took up residence a bit further away so I could watch over the whole group all night. The adventurers tried to suggest swapping off for a proper watch but I insisted that they probably needed the sleep today more than I. I had prepared for it from the outset when I decided to escort the children anyway. I could handle a few days without sleep if absolutely necessary so it wouldn’t be a problem. Having switched to Ranger would help too.

With how Rie had stuck by me since being rescued, I was absolutely unsurprised when she came up to me and naturally sat in my lap when it was time for sleep. She’s just lucky I had adjusted my shield setting a bit so that I could use more of my psi for detection purposes. “Miss Angel, do you mind if I sleep with you?”

“Go right ahead, but if something comes, you’ll get woken up.” I stated.

“Okay.” She pulled her blanket up around herself and leaned against me. It wasn’t very long before she had fallen asleep.

Her brother came over next. “Miss, do you mind if I sleep over here by you too?” He requested.

“Not at all. You probably want to be by your sister so it’s fine.” I replied.

He nodded before taking up position to my left. After he was settled he spoke. “You know, it’s amazing that my sister is so attached to you. She’s been really shy and awkward with everyone since our parents died.”

“Do you have any idea why?” I asked.

He put his hand on his chin as he thought. “Well, she did say you were an angel back when you were fighting the bandits.” He answered.

“I guess that’s where the name came from. Why an angel though? I mean I don’t think how I was fighting was very angelic.” I said.

“She said that you had giant wings that you were using to fight the bandits. I didn’t see anything like that though, so I think she was just getting confused out of fear and excitement.” He explained.

Giant wings that I was using to fight the bandits? Don’t tell me, did she see my psi!? I decided to act as natural as possible. “I see. Well, she’s still just a child so it’s to be expected. Why don’t you get some sleep too?”

He yawned. “That sounds like a great idea. Goodnight and thank you for saving my sister and I.”

Once I was sure he was asleep, I decided I needed to test whether my suspicions were true. I sent a small tendril of psi at Rie and slammed right into a wall. It was a small, thin and fragile wall but it was definitely there. I almost burst out laughing but I controlled myself. I sent the tendril out again and easily bypassed her feeble defenses. I explored her body, moving steadily toward her brain, looking for the element that I was already sure would be there.

I was correct. There was a certain part of her brain that was off from how a normal human’s brain should be. This girl was an innate psi user.