The next morning after I went diving, I left the city. I put the treasures inside Blobbybag and try to hide from people's eyes. Just me carrying heavy baggage is enough to raise suspicion so I chose to jump over the city wall.
Let's see if I can go back to Melk in one day. I'll just pick a straight line to Melk ignoring the terrible terrain.
I jumped from branch to branch in the forest, walking on the water when I reached the river, climbed a hill and jumped down from it. It's interesting to see many things I have never seen before.
In the forest, I saw a small tree with blue colored leaves. It was a home to several type of birds.
When I reached the river, it was during the time when salmon swimming upstream to spawn. I saw some bears trying to grab them. It's like a buffet for those bears. At least for some talented bears that able to catch the salmons.
In the mountain, I saw goats climbing on an almost vertical wall with such ease. Don't tell me that they are Aura user as well?
Those are only some of the things I've seen when I'm still have not reach halfway to Melk. I'm still closer to Cassau than Melk but the view is excellent. Even more with my Vision Divine, I can see more of the beauty of nature.
Monsters? All monsters I met on the way are already dead. They are not worth mentioning. But even when there are many monsters here, I still can't believe that this place is the habitat for many normal animals. Seems like they learned to escape from predators.
Well, that's enough of beauty of the nature. Since somehow in the middle of forest, there's a girl running for her life this way.
"HELP!"
Oh? She seems to have found me and asked for my help. Did she not find me suspicious and just asked a random stranger for help? Since I'm kind, I will help her.
"What can I do for you?"
I asked her politely and shows her my best smile. She seems to be around my age this time. When I said this time, it means my 15 years old self. Not the 45 years old me.
"MY VILLAGE IS BEING ATTACKED BY BANDITS! PLEASE HELP!"
Does she always shout or this is her normal voice? Can I turn the volume down?
"Alright, I will help."
"REALLY?!"
"Yes! You see, that way, if you go to the west, you will find the main road soon. Follow it to the south then you will get to Cassau where you can ask for reinforcement. Good luck!"
I told her where the nearest city is.
Awesome! I did a good stuff today! I have to reward myself.
"NO! I MEAN PLEASE HELP ME DEFEAT THE BANDITS!"
"Do you have to be so loud?"
"THIS IS MY NORMAL VOICE!"
Even after I covered my ears with my hands, her voice is still too loud. Can't she lower her speaking volume a bit?
"PLEASE HELP!"
"I already did! I gave you direction to the nearest city!"
"NOT THAT!"
"Then what? Look closely. Do I look like someone capable of saving a village? Do you think I can defeat all the bandits?"
"… YOU'RE RIGHT! I'M SORRY!"
"I'll give you an advice. Even if you're escaping, you need to keep your calm. No matter what happen, if you think carefully, there's always a way to do it right. After I told you the direction to Cassau, you should have left me and keep running to look for reinforcement. You might find someone reliable in the main road. Don't think that anyone can help you. Even those who tried to help you, they might have ulterior motives. So you have to think everything calmly and choose the right person or group to ask for help. What would happen if I ask for your body as the reward?"
"…YOU'RE RIGHT! I DIDN'T THINK THINGS THROUGH! I'M SORRY!"
"And what if you're being chased? If you had just leave, you can make me the bait to delay your pursuer even for a few seconds. That will make your survival chance increase a little."
"YOU MEAN SACRIFICING A STRANGER'S LIFE?!"
"Why do you have to be so loud? Of course that will happen if I'm weak. I'm actually pretty strong. But it's not enough to save a whole village."
"I SEE!"
"Even if I protected your village, if there's no strong guard and there are some bandits who managed to escape, the village will be attacked again. And next time, they will give no mercy."
"I UNDERSTAND!"
"Then why are you still here? You forget why you're running? Your pursuers are already here."
"OH MY GOD!"
"They must be following the source of your voice since you're so loud."
There are two pursuers chasing after this loud girl. If the bandits can allow two people to chase one person, I bet they have many members to attack the village.
"I CAN'T LET YOU SUFFER BECAUSE OF MY STUPIDITY!"
"Oiii… did you forget what I just told you? Just leave and get reinforcement. I'll hold them back. If you find hunters on the main road, you can ask for their help. After the village is safe, then you can go to the city and ask the guards to send some people to protect the village. Or maybe sent request at the hunter guild."
As I told her to leave, the pursuers already saw us.
"Hey, hey! You're gonna help her? I see that you carry heavy bag with you. How about you just give us that bag and we might let you two live."
Sigh… this is why I don't want to be seen carrying this stuffs.
"YOU'RE STRONG, RIGHT?! THEN YOU CAN DEFEAT THEM EASILY! I'LL GO GET REINFORCEMENT NOW! OH, RIGHT! WHERE DO YOU LIVE?! I'LL BE SURE TO REWARD YOU IN THE FUTURE IF YOU SURVIVE!"
"I SAID YOU'RE TOO LOUD!! But I won't refuse a gift. I will move to Cassau next year and I'm occasionally going there for now so we might meet there."
"OKAY! THANK YOU FOR YOUR TEACHING!"
Our conversation ended up too long. Does she not feel worried about her own village?
She ran to the place I pointed at before, where the main road is. And the bandits are trying to get her, but I stopped them.
"If you want to live, go back to the village you're attacking and tell everyone that girl is bringing reinforcements."
"Huh?! Are you making fun of me? I just told you that you have to give us your bags and I'll let you live!"
"How about I won't give you my bag, and you go back to the village? Then all of us can live instead of having someone die."
"That doesn't make any sense! Don't you know that we're trying to rob you?"
"And you don't know how strong I am."
If possible I want to leave without a fight. Blobby is now is a bag and I can't use her as a weapon. Should I just clear the oxygen from their faces and makes them faint? Or just kill them. It's simpler to just kill them I guess. Then I will use the self-repair spear I have. No. I'll just use my barehanded technique I learnt from Victoria. They will be my sparring partner.
"Then I will kill you before you kill me!"
"Not going to happen if I can kill you first!"
"Don't make it more confusing! I'm not a smart man! Let's kill this guy!"
Yes, I know from the exchange we had. One is talking too much and the other is just following order from the man who talked too much.
I dropped my Blobbybag on the ground and punched the talking man on the nose before he used magic. I just swung my fist without any technique. Just like a brawler. But it should be enough to defeat them with my speed.
The man falls and as the other guy is confused with how his friend is down, I punched him on the temple. He got knocked out in an instant.
"You!"
I kicked the back of his knee and he falls down again just as he stood up.
"Now I will try the joint dislocating technique I just learnt. Your scream will tell me if it's hurt or not. Please cooperate with me."
"Wait! What are you…! AAAAAAH!"
I practiced new moves on this punk. If I study it to perfection, I can let people live in suffering for the rest of their lives. It's also good for interrogation if I don't want my enemies to make any moves.
The first joint I dislocate is his right shoulder. Looks like it's painful for him. Was it because I'm not good at it or this is how painful dislocating joints is?
Whatever the case, I can just study it right here right now. I have two guinea pigs for me to use.