Dealing with bandits was obviously much more different than dealing with monsters.
For one, the bandits were more organised, had better weapons and they were guided not by instinct.
Viera, Melissa and Sabrina immediately leapt out of the wagon and rushed to face the bandits.
The bandits saw them and the archers tried firing off a few arrows, only for one of Jack's mage to blow them away with a blast of wind.
Jack's Mercenaries were still trying to form up but the bandits were already just a few feet away from them. It looked almost certain that the Mercenaries would be overrun in this skirmish.
"Mommy?" I asked.
"Ara? If my little one wants to help, Mama is not going to stop you. But maybe you should give them a chance?" She giggled.
I was about to ask her what she meant when Jack yelled out something and several mages raised their arms into the air before a large wall of fire burst out from the ground in front of the bandits, burning a good number of them.
The fire wall gave the Mercenaries just enough time to get into their formation, right as the mages on the bandits' side quenched the fire wall with an avalanche of earth.
That only gave our Mercenaries the chance to fire their own arrows and spells, similar to how they had handled the wolves from back then.
A few of the bandits quickly fell to the attack but the others managed to shield themselves or avoid the attacks before charging towards them again.
This time, instead of waiting for them to come towards them like with the monsters, Jack gave the order to charge.
The numbers were pretty much even now and each member broke off to have their own fight. Judging by how the battle was progressing, I would say that both sides were also roughly equal in strength too, except that our Mercenaries had more mages and archers.
I was momentarily distracted from the scene when I heard a few cries of pain from behind me.
Turning around, I got reminded that our coachman got shot and it seems like a few others were also hit as well.
Two of them had died instantly while three, including ours, were injured quite badly.
"Damnit! Rina! Give first aid to the ones who are hurt! Quickly!" Dennis ordered, already leaping out from his wagon with surprising dexterity. "Dear passengers, please hide behind your wagons and take cover!"
I turned to Mother who went back to reading her book, "Should we leave as well, Mommy?"
"Ara? There isn't a need, is there? Even if those Mercenaries were killed by the bandits, my little one can still take those bandits out~"
No, no… Mother… Please don't say such scary things… I don't want Jack's party to die here.
Speaking of which, why are there even bandits out here? Is the security of this place so bad that you can have bandits roaming around on the road leading towards the capital city?
As though hearing my thoughts, Katsuki spoke up, "Those 'bandits' are probably also hired Mercenaries, Mistress."
"Eh? Why?"
"If you are capable of magic, you would usually be able to find well paying jobs anywhere, so there's less reason for you to resort to banditry for survival. The fact that this bandit group has multiple mages is quite a clear indication that this is a Mercenary group."
"But why would they attack us while posing as bandits?"
Katsuki thought for a while, "If I had to guess, they were probably hired by Mister Dennis's rival or competition to kill him?"
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Wow, that bad huh? I guess it really is true that Mercenaries would do any job as long as the price is right.
Right then, I heard a shout and turned back to see two bandits managing to break away from Jack's group and rushed straight towards where Dennis was.
Everyone else in Jack's group was occupied with their own duels so they were unable to stop them.
"Mistress, shall I?" Katsuki asked while looking at the approaching Mahuns.
I checked the stats of those two.
[Name: Tergus
Title: Member of Dark Path Mercenary Group
Race: Mahun
Stats:
28 Strength
40 Dexterity
40 Endurance
15 Magic
Skills:
Hunting (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 1))
Magic Skills:
Aeromancy (Tier 1)]
[Name: Barson
Title: Member of Dark Path Mercenary Group
Race: Mahun
Stats:
22 Strength
30 Dexterity
34 Endurance
10 Magic
Skills:
Cooking (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Axe Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 1))]
"Take the one on the right," I ordered while pointing at Barson. "The other one is mine."
"Understood, Mistress."
The two of us leapt out of our wagons and Katsuki immediately activated her skill that concealed her presence while I moved to stand in the bandits way.
I expected them to at least say something but it seems like they didn't mind killing anyone who got in their way so they didn't even slow down a single bit and raised their weapons at me.
Right as they got within a few metres of me, Katsuki appeared behind her target and tried to stab her target's neck with her knife, only to have the man whirl around at the last moment to parry it with the shaft of his axe.
Katsuki did not panic though and still managed to cut a gash on the man's arm, drawing a hiss of pain from him.
The two of them then began fighting for real, each of them trying to kill the other.
Trusting Katsuki to at least be able to hold out her own against that guy, I focused my attention on my own opponent instead.
"[Breeze]!" He suddenly shouted with his hand stretched towards me.
I got confused for a second on why he was shouting out his spell before the gust of wind hit my face.
Or course, a small wind like this was not enough to topple me over but everyone knows that you'll naturally shut your eyes if a gust of wind were to blow right into them.
He was obviously trying to blind me but two can play at that game.
I immediately robbed his vision with [Darkness Paranoia], the man letting out a shout of surprise when he realised his vision had gone dark.
It must be his first time fighting against someone using Umbramancy as he actually allowed fear to take him, going so far as to stop his advance to back away quickly.
Recovering my sight, I rushed forward and delivered a kick to his leg and a punch to his wrist in quick succession, causing him to fall over onto the ground and his sword to fly out of reach.
The attack was enough to break both bones so he should be taken out of commission.
Turning back to Katsuki, I found her struggling against the other Mercenary who was trying to corner her against the wagon while swinging his axe around.
Not only was his overall stats higher than my Inugami maid, he was obviously also more experienced than she was in fighting.
Also, she was at a disadvantage since she was fighting in her maid outfit which was something she was not used to doing yet. The only reason she was able to fight him equally was her higher dexterity and the fact that he was being cautious of her hidden weapons.
She got pretty close to taking his eye when she had pulled out one of her throwing knives from under her skirt too, but he managed to avoid it in favour of getting a gash along his face.
Naturally, I jumped in to her rescue by shooting a [Static Bolt] at him from behind, stunning him long enough for her to deal with him.
Katsuki didn't waste any time and leapt forward, a stiletto appearing in her hand as if by magic before she stabbed it into the Mercenary's throat.
Oh… Err… I thought she would just knock him out or something… I didn't think she would actually kill him so mercilessly like that.
"Mistress!!" She yelled, pulling out her stiletto to start rushing towards me.
I was surprised by her actions before I saw a shadow that did not belong to me raising the sword in its hands above my own shadow.
I managed to leap out of the way in time before the sword cleaved me in two, turning back to see the guy I had broken the leg and arm earlier had actually hopped over on one foot to try and kill me.
What the heck… Why is he so desperate?
Before I knew it, two throwing knives struck him in the chest and another on his arm, causing him to drop the sword.
Katsukit then moved in to stab her stiletto into his throat as well, killing him just like how she had with her opponent.
"Mistress! My apologies! Are you hurt?!" She cried, already tossing the dead Mercenary aside to check on me.
"I'm fine, sorry for worrying you," I assured her.
That was quite careless of me to let my guard down in the middle of a fight… I suppose after an absence of meeting stronger enemies, I started to get complacent again. That's not good… I should ask Mother to spar with me when I next get the chance.
Yeah… Need to remember that this World isn't a peaceful one…