022 | Fatty

These bandits are getting more and more annoying.

"You guys really want a piece of me, huh?"

A few sword slashes and even an arrow came in my direction. Their teamwork was decent, though that arrow could have hit someone else unintentionally if they aimed slightly off.

I dodged most of them and blocked a few. Though, a grown adult male with muscles can beat an eleven-year-old girl anytime in terms of physical strength.

I blocked a sword that I should have dodged and it made my arms all tingly.

"Ow~ Why'd you do that?"

The bandits didn't answer. Not very talkative I presume. Well, I did kill their friend. Either they die or the people I let live, die. Of course, my decision will be the former.

The bandits managed to push me against the carriage. This isn't good.

"Hey, take a look at this~"

I raised my dress a little bit and honestly, I don't know what I was expecting.

It worked.

I slid under the mob of bandits, slicing their calves so they lose mobility. The bandits turned around and were steaming with rage.

"Why're you looking at me like that? You guys are the degenerates lusting after an underage girl."

One of the bandits rushed at me with his spear. These guys have quite the arsenal of weapons. I deflected the head of the spear with one dagger and with the other, I sliced the bandit's neck.

He fell down so fast that he splattered some blood on my dress.

"You son of a- Now I look like a tissue that was used to treat a nose bleed!"

Bandits continued coming at me. I swear their numbers should have died down a little bit. I took care of a few of them and there are some that are struggling around to catch Elly. She's a slippery one, I guess.

I couldn't witness it all but I think Elly kicked one of them in the balls and made a run for it. A few bandits are probably chasing after her right now.

Wait a minute.

Then that leaves the big guy-

"Over here!"

The leader raised his battle-ax behind me and slammed down. Luckily, I dived away and rolled out of trouble. Good thing I didn't get hit by that as it even made some cracks on the path.

"Great job, now other carriages will struggle to get through here. That hole you made is extremely inconvenient."

"Lass, ye have killed my brothers."

I now had a closer look at the bandit leader. Goodness.

"Dude...you're FAT."

The bandits did not move an inch. They were too shocked and afraid of what was to come.

"WHAT DID YE SAY, LASS?!"

"God, how much can you eat for you to be this BIG?! Look at yourself! You're humongous even compared to...to him!"

I pointed over to a random bandit who was the tallest of the bunch but pales in comparison to the leader. I'm only just barely 150 or so centimeters and the leader is maybe two meters or more.

"YE DARE INSULT ME?!?! DIE!"

Unexpectedly, he was faster than anyone else. He was shrouded in a fiery red aura when he came charging at me with a flurry of attacks with his ax.

"Ah, so you can do THAT. Going so far as to use your Internal Energy?"

I was having a more difficult time than I thought. He was able to hit a wide area because he was so big. Since he's also fast, it makes it hard for me to evade his hits. And forget about blocking his attack, I'll get chopped in half.

Mother really wanted me to die this badly? How despicable.

I should have focused more because the bandit leader dropped his ax as he swung downwards and appeared behind me. I turned around and crossed my arms to block his punch but I still felt my forearm bones getting cracked. I was sent flying backward, all the way to my carriage.

There wasn't anything I could do so I braced myself for the impact. As my back struck the carriage like a metal ball getting thrown into a wall. I couldn't even stand up after that. I was lying against the wheel. There wasn't even any strength in my fingers to grip a dagger.

At least the bandits weren't going to kill me seeing as how they just stood there.

I used my mouth to bite onto one of my daggers and made an effort to stand, of which it failed miserably. My knees almost instantly buckled and lost all their energy. I flopped over like a fish on dry land.

"Ha! Lass, this is ye own fault!"

The bandit leader got closer and I strained my neck trying to look at his face. The furthest I could see was his upper torso.

I mumbled something about how fat he is but it doesn't seem like anyone understands what I said with the dagger in my mouth. Well, I guess this is my tragic end. What a scam. I released the dagger from my teeth.

"You're still fat."

"This lass! I shall end ye and take the gold!"

The bandit leader raised his battle-ax and it landed right beside my head.

"Ha? What happened? Is this ye doing?"

I have no idea what's even going on. I mustered the last of my strength so I could get myself up and lean back on the wheel of the carriage. The battle-ax was stuck in the ground and the bandit leader's hand was shaking.

I heard a boy's voice, "No, that was me."

I looked up and met the warm silver eyes of a boy with golden blonde hair that truly sparkled like the purest of gold under a warm sun. He was wearing black clothing and had his hands in his pockets. He also wore a black hoodie and his hood was on.

"Are you alright?"

I smiled at him.

"Do I LOOK alright to you? F*cking idiot."

The boy smiled back. What was this? My face was warm all of a sudden. No, to be specific, I think it was my cheeks.

He looked over at the bandit leader, "How's your arm, fatty?"

I snorted but tried to hide my laughter. I like this person now. He seems to share the same type of humor as I do.

"YE ALSO SAY THAT!"

Before I saw it, the boy had already appeared in front of me and kicked the bandit leader in the face, sending him back a few meters. The bandit leader was having trouble stopping but he didn't fall.

"Oh? You're able to use Raw Energy?"

Raw what? Ah, so that's another term for Internal Energy. I guess there are many different ways of saying it. The bandit leader was once again covered head to toe with a red aura.

Meanwhile, the boy had no weapons and his hands were tucked into the pockets of his hoodie. Though his hood was now hanging behind him, it must have got blown off his head when he appeared in front of me.

"Well, at least I'll know who's who."

The boy spoke, "It's not that hard to notice the completely different outfits we have on."

That was also true. The bandits were dressed in rags, probably to disguise themselves as commoners when sneaking into places. The boy was wearing comfortable clothing.

I still looked like a used tissue for a nose bleed.

"Speaking of outfits, you're not very ladylike with that."

Agreed.

"Right? Just my stupid mom always wanting to kill me and all."

"Ah, you must be a child born from a concubine or mistress?"

"Nope, my real mom is a maid. She was banished from home though."

"That's unfortunate. Let's get you fixed up first."

The boy walked up to me and held my hand. Why is my face feeling so hot?

Three magic circles of different shades of silver appeared and my body was surrounded by a green aura for a slight second. The boy muttered a few words. With each word said, one magic circle faded away.

"Rejuvenate...Seal...Accelerate."

"What are you saying?"

"I conjured a Rejuvenating spell to heal your wounds, a Sealing spell to seal off the pain you may experience, and an Acceleration spell to boost your body's natural healing properties."

"Ah...wait, be careful. That fat pig is stronger than you might think."

The boy looked at me as if I was a weirdo. He pointed at the bandit leader who was literally as angry as he could get. He looked back and forth between me and the bandit leader.

"THIS guy is strong? You must be kidding me, princess."

"I'm not a-"

The bandit leader charged towards the boy, "YE SHALL TASTE DEATH!!"

The boy simply took a step back and then kicked the leader's leg which made him trip over himself and tumbles into the other bandits.

"GET'EM! BRING ME HIS HEAD!"

The bandits roared as they went towards the boy.

"Do you want to see something cool?"

I nodded my head. I was a sucker for cool tricks.

The boy put his right hand out and pushed forward with his palm in the direction the bandits were coming from.

A large silver magic circle appeared below the bandits.

"Burn."

Fire erupted in the zone that the magic circle covered and continuously burnt the bandits who were now screaming in agony. The fat bandit leader fell onto his back. He had the funniest expression when he was terrified. He squealed like the pig he was as he was running away. All of his men were annihilated instantly.

"Rudif."

Another person with lengthy black spiky hair and a simple beige t-shirt and similar black pants to the boy with the hoodie jumped out of the forest. He covered himself in a red aura and punched the bandit leader's head. This made the fat bandit spin a few times before falling over.

"Good job, mutt. Did you get the other ones?"

"Yeah..."

"It's fine. There are always people you can't save."

Oh, are they talking about my maid?

"Excuse me, kind gentleman."

The boy spoke, "Please, we're practically the same age. Rudif's only fifteen too."

"Then what's your name?"

"My name?"

"Who else?"

The boy smiled, "My name's Asher. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Just as Asher said I'm, Uhm, Rudif. I'm a real human."

"..."

Awfully suspicious right away but, no matter. They still saved me.

"My name is Lisha. Don't worry about my last name, I don't associate myself with them anymore. Not after this."

Asher understood, he nodded his head and helped me up. If my cheeks could stop getting hot every time he goes near me, I would be more thankful. I took his hand and he easily lifted me up on my feet.

"I'm already fully healed?"

"With three different spells working together like that, a minor bone fracture is nothing."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

Rudif raised an eyebrow, "Are you guys going to continue holding hands or?"

Asher pulled back his hand and the magic spells he had cast on me seemed to have disappeared.

"My sincere apologies, Lisha."

I smiled, perhaps I'll tag along with these two. Not like I was actually sent here to do anything important.