Published: March 21, 2026
Sorry to keep you waiting!
The tests finished without a hitch, and starting today I’ll resume updates.
Thinking there might possibly be someone with a Demon Eye like commander saran, I crept cautiously along the shadows of the trees. Yet the bastards who attacked us didn’t notice my approach in the slightest.
“Hehe, Aniki, you reckon they’ll hand over the princess to us?”
A leering voice carried. That alone made my blood boil. There’s no way I’ll give my treasure to scum like these.
“Well, even if the princess is the Elf race’s treasure, she can’t compare to many of our other kin. All that family loyalty talk—those guys are the same as always.”
A calm voice—probably their boss—spoke. I drew a hidden weapon in one hand and moved toward the voice. Using presence detection, I scanned: about fifty bandits were surrounding us, and besides them were three weak presences that couldn’t be bandits. Hostages, perhaps?
“Think they’ll take the bait soon?”
“Yeah. Lord Gram seems to be waiting for Princess Amelia too.”
I didn’t recognize the name, but I stored it in the back of my mind.
Looks like they’re about to act, so it’s our turn.
“!”
When the sunlight was briefly hidden by clouds and the shadows—my domain—grew slightly deeper, I stepped forward.
“Ugh!?”
“Oof!”
“Hey, what the… ugh!”
I incapacitated about ten people in an instant and didn’t pause, leaping at the next prey. The bandits panicked and collapsed one after another without even properly raising their weapons.
“Hey! What the hell is going on!!”
“Aniki! We’re under attack!!”
“What!?”
Their boss hadn’t expected a counterattack while hostages were present and misread the situation. He should have retreated as soon as he realized we were attacking. But—
“Damn it! No idea what happened, but we outnumber them! For now, crush anyone we don’t recognize!!”
“““Oooooooo!!!!”””
The bandits, not knowing what had happened to their comrades, screamed and charged into the center of the ring in a desperate flurry.
“…Ten left. I’ll leave the rest to Amelia and William and head to the boss and the hostages.”
With Amelia’s group’s strength, even without a frontliner they could probably handle ten people.
“At night, if things get rough, I’m counting on you, Amelia.”
“I understand, master.”
Her voice came back strong over the telepathic link. She sounded excited at the prospect of fighting again after a while—creatures like her are naturally more ferocious than ordinary animals.
“Damn it, what’s happening. Hey! Wake up!!”
The boss pressed a dagger to the throat of a haggard-looking Elf race woman while kicking a fallen comrade. The unconscious bandit didn’t move a muscle. The brutal violence, merciless even toward his own, made the woman’s daughter flinch. The other hostage, lying nearby, also appeared to be an Elf race woman—perhaps she fainted from fear. All of them had their hands and feet and mouths bound and couldn’t move at all.
I activated presence concealment and approached the boss to free the hostages. He was so focused on rousing his comrades that he wouldn’t have noticed my approach even without my concealment.
First, I carried the unconscious woman up into a tree out of the boss’s view. I cut the ropes on her limbs and mouth with a hidden blade.
Next I moved to rescue the little girl. To avoid trouble if she struggled, I struck the back of her neck with the edge of my hand and then carried her. If Amelia had seen that, she’d probably scold me, but since she wasn’t watching, there was no problem. Besides, it would be bad if the girl—seeing a Human like me—mistook me for a bandit and screamed.
Finally, I tried to free the other woman, but the boss had a firm grip on her.
Now what to do.
“Hey, unless you want her head severed, take your hand off that woman.”
With a hidden weapon at her throat, the boss—who hadn’t noticed me until this instant—jumped in astonishment and reflexively loosened his hold on the woman. Good; foolishness saved me.