I Said Make My Abilities Average!

"Hey, I'm sorry..."

Merchants and lords with smiles and burnt meat on their cheeks.

Yes, as usual, it was the face of The Red Vow, cooking and behaving the prey we hunted along the way.

"But storage magic, is it... I've seen a magician before who can hold just a little, but that's an incomparable capacity. No, I envy you..."

For a merchant, that would be envious. Besides, a missed use of the regular track: leaving the tent intact as it is assembled. What is the storage limit?

"Hey, to be honest, I'm just a young lady, so, um, I was a little worried about you, but no way, not in the future..."

Other merchants groaned as they watched the burning fire, the firewood (the guinea pig) piled next to it, the healthy looking carriage horse, and plenty of meat from a certain horned rabbit.

Mavis chose the fallen tree because the raw tree is hard to burn, and the firewood was cut and made in an instant with a sword.

An incendiary fire that Lena burned up in an instant with no chant.

Pauline's restorative magic, energetic horses.

And miles put out, tents and prey.

The merchants have hired escorts many times before. The average ability of C-rank hunters is well understood. And The Red Oath, obviously, outweighed it. I don't even have to look at the battle scene.

The border line has already been crossed before evening.

Speaking of border lines, they are not separated by walls or iron strip networks, nor are there soldiers on watch. There's no budget, no personnel, and no point in deploying that kind of thing on the great border that runs through deserted wasteland.

An important city shall be a castle city surrounded by walls. Towns without strategic importance don't take that much effort. The defense of such towns relied on combat power by soldiers, mercenaries and hunters.

Even on the modern planet, the borders of a considerable number of countries are completely free. No, of course not everything is, and there are still many countries where borders have been strictly guarded.

And the main purpose of those "monitored border lines" is to discourage those who come, and to stop and drive back those who flee their country.

After noon the next day, after the rendezvous with the other streets, when we went on for a while.

Miles detected suspicious movements forward, stopped the merchant squad, and gathered everyone.

"Forward, there's a bunch of weird placements. Two horses stopped on the street and eight humans adjacent to it. It's like surrounding it, six people."

"Oh, that's..."

Miles nodded at Lena's words.

"Yes, maybe......"

"Bandits and attacked carriages, I guess"

"If there are eight humans in one carriage, would it be a passenger carriage, not a carriage..."

Mavis and Pauline agree.

"There are no other ambushes nearby.

... Can I go?

Miles asked the merchants for permission.

I couldn't leave my place unauthorized by my employer more than I was hired to escort. It is these merchants who are paying themselves to hire them, not the carriage people who are being attacked.

Besides, there are six over there and four young women over here. Of which, two look like minor children.

If you come back, they'll know about the presence of this merchant squad, and this one could be harmed. In a loaded carriage, there's no way you can let the bandits fly at a speed that's just shaking them off.

It's what fools do, and fools don't act as merchants, that bother risking what should be safely avoided if we wait awhile like this.

"Please, go!

… was an instant answer.

Pauline, who hears that and looks a little surprised, and three people who show their teeth and laugh.

It seemed like an unexpected reply for Pauline, who grew up as a merchant, but Pauline quickly smiled at him if he liked that answer from the merchant.

"There's a reward for bandit exorcism, three per person. If we catch him alive, there are seven takeaways of money sold as criminal slaves, a total of ten. Because that's for six...

Uhhhhhhhh... "

... the smile was a little black.

And although they were merchants who had given permission to enter the war believing in the strength of the "Red Vow," they were grinning bitterly at Pauline for words and deeds as if it were a certainty to keep everyone alive, rather than worrying if they could win.

"It's time to give up and come out!

The head-like man of the bandits surrounding the boarding carriage raised several intimidations (and how).

In this enclosed state, if you run the carriage and try to forcibly break through, you will be slashed off before the speed comes out. Either the reins, your arm, or your neck.

It is customary for bandits to do as little harm as possible to you, the carriage horse, and the carriage body when attacking a passenger carriage in order to avoid a full-scale crusade being formed, but not when they try to escape or are resisted. Therefore, normally, your Lord will not defy the bandits, nor will he resist, nor will he be forced to flee.

Nor was your life more important than the lives of others, for which no one could blame you.

And the passengers, if you obey them quietly, will not be killed separately. It is only to be deprived of the hardware, and if the carriage is rolled over in an attempt to escape by force, there is a greater risk to life beyond that.

It's just that the women could be taken away. That would be unfortunate, but it would not kill him otherwise. I don't know if I'm going to live with the bandits or be sold somewhere. But still, it would be more than dying.

With that in mind, he misled himself out of guilt and watched things while sitting in your seat without doing anything.

But for the passengers, it was not a pleasure.

I can't stand to be deprived of all my money, including luggage, ornaments, etc., but for women, girls, and their families, that is the end of the world.

Some of the passengers could be escorts or soldiers or hunters who happen to be on board. Nor is there necessarily anyone who dies but resists madly to protect his wife. For this reason, the bandits are ordering the passengers to go outside without inadvertently approaching the carriage.

But in fact, few of the seven passengers in this carriage were likely to be able to fight the bandits properly.

One young hunter. One middle-aged merchant with a protective dagger. One girl around the age of ten. And then there's a young couple with almost zero fighting power and that childish 5-6 year old girl. And a skinny old man with a cane.

"I'm sorry. I can't deal with as many as six bandits. Let me be irresistible from the start."

No one could blame a young hunter for saying that. I didn't get a request for an escort, but I can't possibly force you to die in a battle with no chance of winning.

The passengers' concern was about whether or not girls aged 5-6 would be taken.

The child's mother and a girl around the age of ten? They definitely take me, so I don't even have to think about it.

But that's when the girl uttered an unexpected word.

"I'm the magic, and I'll seriously injure one or two, if I can. That way, they'll take your hands off the wounded, so we may not take you. Not so high a chance, but it would be better than nothing"

"Huh..."

To the girl's words, a young couple eyes open to surprise.

"Well, if you do that, you'll be killed..."

"Because that's much better when you think about what happens after they take you alive"

That's what I said, a girl to flatter her shoulders.

"Then I'll take one."

I was surprised at the old man's words, and, uh, everyone's gaze gathered.

"What, I've already taken the ex of my life. Old fashioned short, so I thought it would be better to gain one merit here and raise your rank in the afterlife, heh heh heh!

"Then I'm one too..."

A middle-aged merchant with a dagger followed it.

"And, of course, we will fight!

That's what the young couple said, but thanks, I don't think I can fight properly.

"You guys are kidding me! Well, I have to do it, too!

Hunter's young man says so abominably, but his face was laughing.

"Look, as the lady said, you don't have to be able to kill them all. If you can't seriously injure a couple of people and take the women, we win at that point. Even if we were killed at that time, the victory would not waver.

When the battle is over, they won't try to kill our survivors either. If we do that, there will be bandits who will kill all those who attacked us, and we will have a lot of trouble for them. You'll want to appeal to us that we chose to fight, and that if we surrender, we won't kill for nothing.

And if we're still alive and left fighting... "

The hunter's young man sneered.

"Destroy the remaining bandits and triumph over the king's capital. We split the crusade reward!

And then the operational meeting began.