Chapter 25. In cold blood

I kneeled down and touched Eris's cheek to heal her.

"Healing," I whispered quietly for comfort and used an Elementary rank heal to give her the most basic healing.

Within moments, most of the areas of her skin looked better and blood stopped coming from her mouth.

"Gh-huh? It-it still hurts. Heal me more." Eris grumbled as she looked at me.

"Shhh…" I hushed her while placing a finger on my lips and looking into her eyes with a serious look. "I'll heal you, but you have to be quiet afterwards, okay?"

After a moment's hesitation, Eris nodded.

Seeing this, I first cast Stone Cannon and created a cylindrical firm stone bullet in the air, having it float nearby.

After creating the bullet, I grasped Eris's arm with my left hand and used X-healing.

I continuously sent healing mana through her body and thoroughly healed all areas that were injured. I could feel that some of her previously broken bones became mended and snapped back into the right places.

"Ghislaine!!! Ghislaine, help! They're gonna kill us! Save me, hurry!!! Ghislaaaine!!!" Eris screamed out immediately the moment she was healed, her bellowing voice echoed through the room.

Oh God, seriously?

She simply doesn't listen to anyone!

I immediately poured more mana into my Stone Cannon and turned toward the door.

There's no helping it.

Fortunately I already ran many simulations of this situation before and prepared for this as well.

As I empowered my pre-casted Stone Cannon and prepared it for release, I began to dual-cast another spell in my right hand.

I hid my hands behind me, as if to pretend I was still restrained, and stood in front of Eris who was still lying down and screamed.

The only thing out of place was the spinning cylindrical stone bullet that was floating slightly above my head.

It was a weird sight, but that's fine. It was within the bounds of my plan.

The door opened with a bang. "Shut the hell up!"

The man bursted in through the door, then stopped and looked at me with a confused expression. "What the hell?"

My bullet should have gotten his attention.

Before the man decided on his course of action or reached for his sword, my bullet already shot out.

No trash talk, no advance warning.

I already had my spell ready and full of power the moment the man entered the door.

Pam!

My stone bullet attack pierced through the man's head, then seemed to have pierced into the wall behind him with a loud noise; I didn't pay close attention to that.

My heart pounding, I immediately began to cast another Stone Cannon.

At the same time, I maintained the Intermediate ranked Sonic Boom's wind blade in my other hand which by that time was also already full of mana, just in case.

"What?! What was that?!"

The voice of a second man sounded out.

He then appeared behind the door.

Noticing what was happening inside, he froze.

I called out, "Back off, or I'll kill you!"

I brought my left hand forward, the stone cone spinning faster and faster near my head as I kept pouring mana into it, my right hand concealing a windblade.

"You, brat! You killed Hitch?!" The man shouted in shock and drew his sword.

The cold glint of the blade made me swallow a bit of saliva.

I took a slight step back and brought my stone bullet forward.

The man took a good look at me again, raising his sword in a defensive stance. "So the info was right! You're a magic genius, you even broke our magic handcuffs!"

"..."

The man looked at me again, more on guard. "You must have taken Hitch by surprise, but think about it, kid! Do you think you can take me on when I have my sword out? Hitch was all muscle and no brains, but I have Advanced rank in North God style! I'm not your ordinary thug!"

"..."

"No, I heard about people like you. You must be a Demon! So you were her magic guardian!"

"..."

"Say, kid, how much money is in it for you if you save the girl? If it's money you want, why not join me? I've got connections to a lecherous rich noble with a taste for girls from high-up families. Money's no object to him. He'll pay us whatever we want!"

"..."

"We'd make a good team, just think about it! A swordsman and a mage. People will easily get fooled by your appearance. We can make lots of money!"

"You talk a lot for someone who's already dead."

My knees nearly gave out in front of a savage man twice my size oozing murderous in front of me, and my voice trembled, but I still forced out my cool line out of my mouth.

I hope I sounded pretty cool to the young miss, at least.

The man didn't give a bad offer, his persuasion skills were not bad, but I have already decided on the Tsundere route.

I didn't want him to say anything more.

"What?"

In the next moment, my bullet suddenly shot out.

The man's expression changed a little.

But that was all that happened.

I have already confirmed with Paul and Ghislaine that my full-power Stone Cannon was too fast for Advanced rank to avoid.

As expected, my second stone bullet accurately pierced the second kidnapper's head as well.

The man's body collapsed to the ground, his sword also hitting the stone floor with a clang.

"Hn!"

Without a delay, I prepared another stone cannon just in case as my eyes darted around.

But there was no need. A few seconds passed and one else entered.

I let out a breath of relief.

It was over.

"How did you do that?!"

I heard Eris's loud voice.

I turned back.

She was staring at me after getting up to her knees, eyes wide.

I looked at her condescendingly and said, "Ghislaine is not here, so don't shout. Wait here."

Keeping the spinning stone bullet and the wind blade in front of me, I entered the connected building.

I passed by the corpse of the second kidnapper, then looked around that room which was just a large wooden warehouse.

Eris was silent throughout. She was like that from the moment I killed the first man.

It didn't seem like there was anyone else in the building, so I returned to Eris while dispelling my spells.

I approached her from the side and carefully burned off her ropes with [Fire Slice].

After her hands were freed, I gentlemanly helped her to get up.

She stared at me with wide eyes. She asked, "What did you just do?!"

"I killed them."

Yeah, I killed them.

I killed two people.

In truth, I did not feel affected by it that much, as it's often portrayed in movies or novels.

There was a feeling that I did something 'bad', but perhaps that's all it was.

On one hand, I even felt somewhat accomplished. It felt satisfactory to defeat strong opponents and take their lives, a primal instinct perhaps.

It did not bring me any joy or pleasure though.

I felt a strange sensation in my gut and chest, feeling weird and a little uncomfortable while my thoughts felt chaotic and raced, but I don't think I will be agonizing over it.

These people stood in my way, aimed for my life, so I killed them. I could retionalize it this way.

It was as simple as that.

Going back, there was an option of escaping with Eris instead after she gets beaten up the second time, like Rudeus did, but I did not want to risk it.

Firstly, I would feel like a complete asshole if I allowed her to be brutally beaten up in front of my eyes again while I let it happen just to appear more heroic.

Secondly, who knows if that guy wouldn't have gone too far - here Eris was younger and weaker, while that bald thug knew no restraint. Even if she died, these guys still had such juicy merchandise as me.

Better to not risk it.

Besides, after consideration, it would only be better to deal with the kidnappers here one by one when I'm prepared rather than get tailed by them and ambushed in an alley at some point.

And in the end, the two warriors, including a self-proclaimed Advanced rank North God swordsman, easily fell to my magic.

But it isn't that I was just that much stronger than Rudeus.

Around the time of the kidnapping incident in the novel Rudeus was 7 years old, so the time we spent practicing magic would have been around the same.

When he was forced to fight the kidnappers in the alley he actually purposely held back his magic to avoid killing them.

And then nearly lost his life when a sword was thrown at him.

Even inside a Zero Gravity Field, they could still throw a sword at me and kill me, so I would rather not take the chances and used my fastest magic to nip the problem in the bud.

I was simply more decisive about taking their lives, that's all, being more cold-blooded.

"I know this! But how?!" Eris shouted back at my reply, returning to her usual loud voice already that had no volume control.

Besides, people were killed in front of her, but she also did not care. As if it was a natural occurrence.

I thought it would be like that with her - this world is like this, huh.

I smiled, waved my hand in front of Eris and replied, "Magic."

"..." Eris frowned and glared at me.

I faintly smiled.

Is that the behavior of someone who was just saved?

But oh well, what matters is that her attitude changes after we get back. She might still be in shock.

I chuckled, then decided to change the subject: "...Anyway, are you fine now? Do you need me to heal you more?"

"N-no, I'm fine!"

"Okay. Then let's go."

I let out a breath.

I slowly approached the corpse of the first kidnapper, then kneeled in front of it.

Damn, it really smelled bad.

Ignoring the man's disgusting smell that now mixed with the smell of blood, the weird feeling in my stomach and the disturbing sight of blood and brain matter leaking out of the man's head, I grit my teeth and searched through the man's pockets.

I pulled out anything that was inside the pockets.

I then opened the man's money sack and emptied it.

I also pulled out his sword from the scabbard to check it out, then placed it at the side. I then unbuckled his belt to remove the sheath as well.

"What are you doing?"

"Looting, of course," I replied without looking back.

"Why?"

"Well, because I'm poor."

"Eh? Then lead me back home! I'll give you money!"

"Do you have your own money to give me?"

"No, but grandfather can give!"

"Well… Then I would welcome it. But I'll bring you back home anyway, no worries."

I continued looting the corpse without looking back.

I had a feeling that I might have seen an interesting expression on Eri's face at that time, but at this moment my mind was focused on money.

This guy had one gold coin on him and some silver. Not bad. Quite rich.

Maybe he carried that single gold coin just to show it off.

The sword could also be sold. Though it seemed to be just an ordinary steel sword, most weapons in this world are like this; it should go for a few silver coins maybe.

Next I'll loot the other man, then search the entire building.

All that belonged to them is now my loot. Only a noob would leave before looting everything!

…

"Was that man really at the Advanced rank?" Eris asked me as I began looting the second corpse, always standing nearby.

"...I don't know. Maybe he was bluffing. But even if he was, it wouldn't change anything," I replied while flipping the man's pockets. "My magic is too fast for Advanced rank swordsmen to avoid."

Just how fast does a human need to be to deflect or dodge a bullet that has already been shot out? A bullet that's a few times faster than an arrow, shot at them out of nowhere?

An Advanced rank swordsman that can run at around 50 km/h sustainable top speed, which is Paul who said he can match a galloping horse, obviously can't react to that; that's only twice the speed of an athletic ordinary human.

At this moment, I emptied the man's purse and got two gold coins and several silver coins.

Nice!

"...Who were these people anyway?" Eris asked again.

"...Well, you heard it too. They kidnapped us to sell us to a rich noble."

"Sell us... Where are we?"

"I'll check later."

"Where is Ghislaine?"

"If she didn't hear you, then she isn't here. So please be quiet, okay?"

"..."

I continued searching the house while Eris kept following me closely, asking questions.

She asked lots of questions, but she stuck to me like glue, seeming to want to rely on me.

I guess I have to thank the second kidnapper for his monologue that should have made her realize better just what kind of situation she was in. It only made me look more like a hero.

…

Apart from the things that I acquired from the two kidnappers, the building had no valuables. It was just an abandoned empty warehouse.

3 Asura Gold Coins, 11 Asura Silver Coins, a dozen Asura Large Copper Coins and a bunch of regular Copper Coins.

That's all the money I got.

It was good free money. Not outstanding, but certainly not bad.

These people obviously seemed to be slave traders and should have actually been strong, so they were not broke. The second man was richer than the first one too.

I hoped for some loot the moment I decided on the kidnapping scheme, and I was not disappointed.

I almost had no money left, so that donation was quite timely.

In comparison, I remember that Rudeus sold his carefully crafted figurine of Roxy for 1 gold coin to a merchant. An ordinary person's monthly salary would be 1 to 2 silver coins at most.

I picked up a backpack of the kidnappers and stored the two sheathed swords into it, together with some food.

These were decent steel swords that were not worthless, I could at least tell that much.

There were also some small armor pieces and junk that I gave up on carrying because they didn't look valuable enough.

What I did grab though were four flasks with titles of: 'sleeping pills', 'Olera pills', 'blue brier poison' and something that seemed to be the antidote to that poison. There were also some healing herbs and a healing paste.

Using a key that one of the kidnappers had in his pocket, I opened my iron cuffs and then washed my shoes and hands off blood.

I then prepared to finally set off.

"Eris, I'm now going to go out to check where we are."

"...Okay!"

"Are you coming with me or will you stay here for now?"

"I-I'll go!"

Yes, of course.

Eris looked eager to get back home and would certainly not want to be separated from me.

Though, even after witnessing the scene with the two corpses, she did not puke or whine. All things considered, she was quite calm.

She was quite unique.

"Okay, then let's find our way back."

"Mhm."

…

After we walked out of the storehouse, we were greeted by an unfamiliar town.

There were no castle walls, so this wasn't Roa.

It wasn't small enough to be a village, but it was a very small town.

"Where are we?!" Eris asked, shouting. The moment we walked out into the city, her voice returned to her original unrestrained volume.

I looked at her expresionlessly. "It should be a nearby town."

"...A nearby town? Where is Ghislaine?... Where is grandfather?…" she muttered while looking around. She didn't shout this time.

"...Let's go."

I began to move along the main street while Eris followed closely.

We headed toward the stagecoach's waiting area near the entrance to the city.

The fare and general terms of use were written here on the wall, but I was already familiar with these.

Instead, I looked for the town's location.

"It looks like we're two cities away from Roa, in a town called Wieden," I told Eris.

"How do you know?"

"It's written here."

"I can't read!"

'...Here's my chance,' I thought.

I said, "As you can see, reading is useful. How to get to Roa is also written here. If you can't read when you need to, you'll be in trouble!"

"..." Eris showed a sour face at that.

I continued, "If you won't learn how to read when you're young, it will only become more difficult in the future. That's how it works."

"... ..."

"You know, it's embarrassing you didn't learn how to read at 7 years old… Is it too difficult for you?"

"Shut up already!!! It isn't difficult! I just didn't care! I can learn how to read too, I'm not stupid!!!" Eris snapped and shouted at me.

Okay, it's time to stop, it looks like I went too far in my preaching.

However, Eris only said 'I can learn how to read too' not 'I will learn how to read'...

So stubborn!

I expresionlessly looked at the fare for stagecoaches again.

I said, "It looks like we'll have to change coaches twice to get back."

"Change coaches? Why?"

"Each day only five coaches leave from here, one every two hours starting at eight in the morning. It's the same for every city. And it takes three hours to get to the next city from here. The next stagecoach here will be the last for the day…"

"...What about it?"

"It's the last coach and with three hours of journey it can only get as far as the next city. It means there won't be any more coaches for the day and we will have to spend one night in that other town or in this town before we can get back to Roa."

"No way!!!"

"..."

"...Then do we spend a night here or there?"

"I would rather get away from here," I replied quietly.

"O-okay! But if we get attacked again, you can win?" She looked at me expectedly.

I smiled. "Yeah. I'd win."

***

(AN: I made some modifications to the paragraphs to better portray what I wanted to write and some were moved to an earlier chapter, but because of that half of the comments were removed.)