Chapter 81 – Journey to the Royal Capital 2 Part 2

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

The next morning, we gathered in the plaza near the city gate and left at exactly 7 A.M.

After four hours since leaving the city, I got contacted by Iris.

『Captain, please take a look at this. This is an image taken about 5 kilometers away from your current position.』

An overhead image, which was taken from a drone’s perspective, was displayed on a virtual window. It seems that quite a number of people were hiding on both sides of the road. I zoomed at the image to get a better look.

(They’re–!? Are these guys bandits?)

『Judging from their attire and equipment, that’s most likely the case. There are a total of 152 people.』

(Hou, that’s quite the number. ……These guy’s targets are probably us huh?)

『There’s no doubt that’s the case. Other than that, there is no reason to gather such numbers to lay an ambush on the road. Perhaps several bandit groups have come together to match Shining Star’s numbers?』

(I see. I didn’t think these bandits would be able to cooperate like this. Ah, we’re nearing the royal capital, so maybe they gathered every bandit group prowling around the area.)

『What shall our response be? Should I have the drones dispose of them?』

(No, wait. We haven’t confirmed if they really are bandits or not anyway. I’ll consult with everyone first.)

The presumed bandits were probably aiming for our gold and the dragon magic stone. Just in case, we were carrying about a hundred million Guineas with us, and every merchant who participated was aware that the dragon magic stone wasn’t put up for auction.

The value of the dragon’s magic stone was immeasurable, so I can understand why they wanted to get their hands on it even if they were aware of the risks.

Although we managed to capture two bandit groups in the middle of our trip, I never thought that we would face such a large-scale ambush on the day we would be arriving at the royal capital.

I blew a finger whistle and stopped our formation. This whistle technique was taught to me by Walter, and it was pretty convenient.

As soon as I jumped off the carriage, the other party leaders followed suit and ran up to me. Cleria and the others also got off the carriage to find out what was going on.

The baron’s carriage halted ten meters behind our own, but they stood by without the baron alighting from within. It looks like the baron was staying true to his word about letting us handle all the details of the trip.

“Now then, we’re in a bit of trouble, everyone. I managed to detect a group of about a hundred and fifty people waiting in ambush for us approximately five kilometers away from our current position.”

“……Just who are they?”

“They’re probably bandits. They should have heard about us heading for the royal capital. This is just my personal speculation, but I think the bandits are aiming to rob us of our gold and the dragon’s magic stone we brought with us.”

“Bandits huh……”

“So what do you think we should do? At worst, we can return to the city and take a different route. We’ll still be able to reach the royal capital by today if we move now……”

“……Are you thinking we are not a match for those bandits, Alan-sama?”

“No, of course, I don’t think so. But wouldn’t it be inconvenient if we suffered injuries at a time like this? We can’t possibly come out unscathed against more than a hundred and fifty people.”

“……Alan-sama, We are certainly happy that you are looking out for our wellbeing even at a time like this.

However, our ultimate goals are establishing the country and unifying the continent.

If you think about it, there is no better opponent than them. We will be able to confirm the results of our daily training by going up against them.”

It’s certainly as Dalshim says. Considering our future plans, we should be able to handle just mere bandits. If we retreated in the face of bandits, we would take a hit to our morale as well.

The overall abilities of our Clan members are a far cry from those of the bandits. There were only a few bandits who are able to use magic. Their sword skills were also generally sloppy. What we need to be careful about are projectile weapons such as bows. But we should be able to manage them if we imperial soldiers focused on supporting the rest of the group.

“Very well. Let’s show them exactly why we have been given the moniker Bandit Hunters, Dalshim.”

“Yes. Thank you, Alan-sama.”

Because the bandits were still a good distance away, we decided to move until we were a kilometer from the bandit’s position. The bandits also deployed scouts 500 meters away from their position. One kilometer is the maximum distance we’d be able to close in on without them noticing.

We promptly stopped the convoy when we reached the 1-kilometer mark, and I got off to inform the baron about our plan.

“My Lord, our scouts have managed to detect bandits ahead. If it’s alright with you, shall we proceed to eliminate them?”

“We will leave everything to you, Alan-sama.”

“Understood. Please leave it to us.”

After advising the baron to stand by, we held simple a strategy meeting for the time being. I had everyone form a circle with me in the center.

“Alan-sama, if it’s alright with you, can you let us handle the bandits by ourselves this time around?”

They meant they wanted to go up against the bandits without me and my party members. I’m sure they were also worried about Cleria.

But in the first place, I wasn’t planning on letting Cleria and the others lock swords with the bandits anyway.

“No, let’s attack them together. However, since everyone wants to check out the fruits of your daily training, we from Shining Star’s main party will stay out of your way as much as possible. We’ll be providing magical support from the backline instead.”

“Yes. Thank you very much for your consideration. So, should we divide into two teams like usual?”

“No, let’s not do that this time. Let’s take the bandits on from with a frontal assault and rout them with magic attacks. The ones who can’t use magic should use bows instead. You don’t have to think about capturing the bandits alive this time.”

“Are you sure, Alan-sama?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind. Well, it would be better to bring them alive to the garrison instead of just their heads though. There are more rewards after all.”

“Fumu, that’s true.”

Laughter echoed out from the group. It looks like I managed to ease their tension.

“After scattering them with a magic and projectile barrage, I will raise a signal to pursue and finish them off. It would be better to organize a cavalry unit for that. They also brought about twenty horses with them. But maybe they’re worried about the horses making noise, so they hitched them a good distance away from their position. You can basically just ignore them. And I’m sorry about this, but I’ll have to hand the responsibility of guarding the baron to you guys, Satellite Team 8.”

If I wasn’t mistaken, it was Kenny’s party’s turn to bring up the rear this time.

“……Roger that.”

Kenny and his team nodded in frustration.

Under Dalshim’s lead, the group quickly organized themselves into a magic unit, bow unit, and a cavalry unit. It was quite easy for Dalshim to do so since he was very familiar with everyone’s backgrounds and abilities.

“Alan, are we really not going up later?”

“Yeah. Let’s leave it to Dalshim and the others this time. But isn’t your and Elna’s maximum magic range longer than everyone else, Ria? I, Selena, and Sharon will hit them with a spell volley first, so just snipe them afterward.”

“Roger.”

It looks like Cleria and Elna were both raring to go.

Before long, our attack formation was finally completed. The lead group was the magic unit which was centered on the former royal guards. The next group was the bow unit. I and my party members came after them, and the last group was the cavalry unit. The formation was evenly spread along the road.

“Well then, let’s begin. Wait until my magic signal to begin the assault. After launching a concentrated volley, you can fire at will. Don’t break formation until I give the pursuit signal. Alright. Move out!”

Come to think of it, this will be my first time hunting down bandits together with Selena and Sharon huh. And this will also be our first time conducting an operation with this many troops.

(Iris, please put up a real-time battlefield map for me. This isn’t a powered suit operation, but I find it easier to monitor the battle situation with that. I’ll be serving as the commander of course.)

『Preparing map.』

After a few moments, a battlefield map was displayed on a virtual window in front of me. Icons representing the enemy and ally troops were displayed on the map and differentiated via color. Selena and Sharon should be seeing the same thing as well.

It looks like the bandits have lots of bowmen in their ranks, just as I expected. Let’s start dealing with those guys then. It would be best if we didn’t land a direct hit right off the bat. It should be enough for the volley to impact right next to them.

(Nanom, mark the coordinates five meters in front of both bandit archer group’s positions.)

『Marking complete.』

A small red dot appeared near the icons representing the bandit archers. Even if the bandits unexpectedly change their positions, later on, the marked coordinates will be corrected automatically, so there should be no problem.

(Selena, Sharon. Use the Fire Grenade spell for the initial volley. A single Fire Grenade shot from each of you with the magic power equivalent to three Fire Balls should do the trick. You have magic stones ready, right?)

(I have ten Gray Hound magic stones on hand.)

(Same for me.)

(Yosh. Adjust the trajectory of your spells ten seconds after the first volley lands to a more concentrated barrage. Perform a quick simulation first.)

((Roger!))

(D-1, 2, and 3. Shoot down the spears and arrows shot by the bandits whenever possible.)

『『Roger.』』