Mia

She was a little surprised when her sword got blocked by my barrier but not as much as I expected her to be.

'Maybe she knew what a barrier is? I mean, it's not like a magic barrier is a rare thing.'

She jumped back a few steps and looked at me as he narrowed her eyes. She tightened her grip on the sword and held it straight toward me as she started chanting an incantation.

Some runes appeared on the blade of her sword as she finished chanting, the runes glowed in a bright white color before her sword started absorbing mana from its surroundings.

An outline of mana formed around the blade of her sword, and she went into an attack posture before she jumped and dashed toward me and hit my barrier with her sword.

I knew what she did, her sword absorbed mana from the surroundings because as a knight she can't make herself can't make her mana flow in her sword. This is quite a genuine trick to break barriers.

Though it won't work on mine…

As her sword touched my barrier, the mana energy that was around her sword started fading before it disappeared completely. It happened because my barrier absorbs mana from any attack it takes.

She stepped back in her defense and looked around me more clearly, probably to strategize something. She again dashed toward us, jumped, and stepped on a wall.

What? She's avoiding me! No, Wait, her target this time is the bandit behind me.

Using the wall as the support she launched herself toward the bandit as she held her sword straight to drill it in his heart.

"Fifth-tier magic: [Fire control]," I said as I launched a rope of flame from my right hand.

The rope reached her in no time and coiled itself around her sword. The temperature of the flames was too high causing her sword to melt right there. I instantly created a temporary barrier in front of the bandit to avoid the melted sword to fall on him.

She threw what's left of her sword and landed at a distance from the bandit.

"Sorry, but he could have some major information," I said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked.

"Hey wait, if you think that I'm one of these bandits then you're wrong. I came here to kill these bastards coz they attacked my village," I tried to explain myself.

"How can I trust you?" she asked, well, this indeed was a good question, I'll say she was just being cautious.

Using [Dimensional magic] and opened a small portal near myself, it was connected to the pocket dimension I used to keep my stuff in. I pulled out a card that was the size of a driving license.

"Here, see, I'm an adventurer and this is my ID card or your proof," I said as I showed her the card.

It was the card given to me by the guild; it showed my rank, name, and profession, and it also has the adventurer guild's seal on it.

She looked at the card for a while before she confirmed that it was real, while she was busy checking the card I grabbed that bandit with the flame rope and pulled him near myself.

He was standing a little too near her, and I don't want to lose my information source at any cost. Though he crash landed on the ground because I pulled him roughly but it's not my problem.

I broke the spell and the rope disappeared, at that time she was also convinced that I was not a bandit. She put her sword back in its sheath and walked toward me slowly.

By putting her sword aside it may look like she has put her guard down but that's not the case. Only an idiot would do that in a situation like this.

"I'm Haruto, what's your name?" I asked as I introduced myself.

"Mia," she replied after a momentary pause as she looked at me. I know I must be looking weird or creepy as my whole face is covered by a wooden mask, but she didn't ask why I was wearing it.

"I came here because these guys raided the village I used to live in, what's your reason? Just for fun or," I tried to interrogate her.

"No I'm not a psychopath who'll kill for fun, though I would like to keep my reason a secret," she replied.

"Won't it be better to trust each other that way?"

"Says the guy who has his face covered by a mask," she said, okay she finally said it.

I decided to not ask anything on this matter, for now at least.

"Hey you, I never saw your boss around here. You know, the person everyone is talking about, umm, according to rumors he uses some weird weapons," I asked the bandit who was sitting on the floor behind me.

"First my name is Scar; don't call me 'you'. And if he's the person you're looking for then you won't find him here, he's in our main base," he replied.

So his name is Scar, huh, well it suits him.

"What do you mean by the main base? Isn't this your base?" I asked.

"No no, this indeed is our base but only for this area, even I don't know where the main base is," Scar replied as he slowly stood up.

"I know where it is," said Mia.

"You, I know you, you're the one who came here as one of the people we captured right? What was it? Yes, the batch which bought elf children here," Scar said as he stared at Mia.

Wait, did he just say Elf!

"Don't you have quite a good memory," said Mia as she narrowed her eyes and put her hand on the handle of her sword.

"Wait wait wait, guys! It's futile to fight again, and what do you mean by elf children?" I said hurriedly as I stepped between those two.

"He means this, you all can come out now," said Mia as she looked at...thin air.

Out of nowhere, around eight children appeared. They all had I ring in their hand and it looked like they just removed it.

How did I not notice this? Is that ring a high-level magic item? No, wait, I was just careless.