Chapter 6
'If I help the escorts I should be able to receive some rewards… But I won't be able to use [Drink] unless I kill everyone here… It's going to be a tough fight… I wonder if it's worth it?..'
As Mike was thinking one of the escorts got stabbed in the shoulder and dropped his sword, Mike's expression changed and he thought.
'It's now or never!'
Mike rushed forwards, what he didn't notice at this point was that his footsteps were quiet like a ghosts so the bandits didn't notice him until he was very close to one of them that suddenly turned around and came face to face with Mike.
"Ambu---"
Before the bandit had a change to finish his sentence Mike swiped the knife over his neck cutting through it like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter, the bandit clutched his neck in a futile attempt at stopping the flow of blood as he kneeled over. Mike moved fast and stabbed into the neck of another bandit with the sacrificial knife before another one of the bandits finely noticed him and yelled.
"Ambus.h.!.+"
The bandits acted fast and five of the remaining ten turned around and punched on Mike, he was startled by their coordination and fell back while he deflected their weapons with the knife. The five reaming combat able escorts also noticed Mike and showed a relieved expression on their faces before one of them yelled.
"Finish off the bandits and help out benefactor!"
The escorts moved with renewed spirits and fought back the bandits, meanwhile Mike's situation became more and more dire, he was constantly being pushed back while sustaining light cuts on his arms and legs. Mike was clearly faster and stronger than the five bandits but since they had been fighting together on many occasions they managed to push back Mike that lacked in combat experience.
'd.a.m.n it!'
Mike was currently regretting getting involved, he could feel death rapidly approaching him and knew he would die if he didn't do something soon, thus he decided to gamble and quickly thought up a plan and quickly executed it as he suddenly threw the knife at one of the bandits and watched it shrink right into his face through his eye. The four remaining bandits widened their eyes before they puncend on Mike intending to kill him now that he threw his weapon away.
'Now come back!'
To the bandits surprise Mike also closed the distance with his right hand open suddenly a red light flew and landed in his open hand, Mike closed his hand around the sacrificial knife and slashed right through the neck of one of the bandits before he dove forward and rolled out of the range of the other two and quickly got on his feet
"That's a magic weapon!"
"Get the magic weapon!"
Just as the two bandits were about to pounce on Mike again an arrow landed in the neck of one of them, a cold glint flashed in Mike's eyes before he kicked off the ground and sliced through the neck of the last bandit as he was distracted. Blood spurted from the bandit's neck before he fell over with unwillingness in his eyes, he had been this close to getting his hands on a real magic weapon but alas now he was going to die here in this nameless clearing. Mike heaved a sigh and sat down on the gra.s.s to catch his breath when a person, one of the escorts walked over carrying a bow and asked MIke.
"Was that the last of them?"
Mike gave a nod before he spoke.
"Yeah… Anyways your employer better compensate me well for my efforts"
The caravan escort clapped his chest and spoke.
"Don't worry, even if he doesn't we, the caravan escorts certainly will! You came just in time after all."
The caravan escort reached out his hand to Mike, he gave a faint smile and took his hand as Mike was dragged off the ground and upright before he inspected the man that stood before him, he was a head taller than Mike and had a square face with a scar over his left eyebrow, besides the bow in his hand, there was a sword on his hip. Mike still carrying a faint smile on his face asked.
"May I ask you name?"
The man gave a wide smile.
"Sure, my name is Ole and I am the leader of the party that is currently escorting the Kampane company's carriage… May I ask you name benefactor?"
"My name is Mike"
"I see… Benefactor Mike you killed five of the bandits thus their loot is yours."
Mike gave a nod and looked over at the dead bandits before he got to work, first he took their weapons, then he stripped them of their armor which was mostly leather but he also found that one of them was wearing a rusty chain mail.
"...This should fetch some money right?"
Mike figured that he could buy a steel brush and get most of the rust off the chain mail, at that point he could use it himself or sell it. Carrying all the armor and weapons with some difficulty Mike walked back to the carriage and sat it down right next to the group of caravan escorts that were standing around chatting, Ole turned around looking a little startled and called out.
"Benefactor Mike I didn't hear you return at all, no wonder you managed to sneak up on so many bandits!"
Mike gave a faint smile and spoke.
"Well I have always been light on my feet, anyways I need to collect some of my hides."
After speaking Mike turned around and walked over to the brushes where he had been hiding and collected the hides he had hunted during his trip before he walked back and sat them down on his pile of loot, Ole looked at the small hides and then asked Mike.
"Benefactor Mike I don't see you carrying a bow how did you hunt so much small game?"
Mike gave a faint smile and showed his knife.
"With this right here."
Ole widened his eyes and so did the rest of the caravan escorts but right before they were able to ask about it a middle aged slightly fat man stepped forwards and spoke.
"How do you do benefactor Mike, my name is Hans and I am a member of the Kampane company and the owner of this carriage."
Mike gave a nod and spun the knife around his hand like a toy before he spoke.
"Nice to meet you Hans, I hope the Kampane company aren't cheapscapes and will compensate me for my heroic deeds, no?"
Hans gave a nod and spoke.
"You must be a member of the guild right? If you follow us to Morkove I'll personally pay you the same rate as the rest of the caravan escorts a total of 800."
Mike checked the expressions of the other caravan escorts and noticed nothing odd so he quickly aggered with a nod and spoke.
"Since you are so generous I'll accept your offer Hans, but since I come from a small village I am not familiar with Morkove, how many days travel away is it?"
"Benefactor Mike the city of Morkove is only one and a half day away, please store your loot on the carriage so we can get going, I'll treat you to a meal when we arrive."
"Okay."
Mike quickly packed his loot on the carriage and soon the carriage that was pulled by two horses sat off towards Morkove, on the way there Mike walked next to Ole, the two of them chatted and from him he learned a bit of the common sense of the world he had arrived in, but he didn't ask any too obvious questions thus he was still unaware what the name of the strange new world he found himself was. When night arrived the group made camp and sat up tents and ate, since Mike didn't have a tent Ole offered him to share his tent but Mike refused.
"As long as it does not rain I'll be fine under the clear sky."
"Alright then good night benefactor Mike."
Mike gave a nod and crawled up into a nearby tree and soon fell asleep...
The next morning Mike woke up and jumped down from the tree and opened his hand to summon the knife but after waiting for a few seconds nothing happened, a cold glint shone in Mike's eyes before he yelled.
"Interesting, to think someone would steal from me!"