Return of the Former Hero-Chapter 135. Former Hero・Enters the Territory

Tatatatata………

Three people ran through Aria city’s street under the the guise of dusk.

The city was constructed along the mountain. We are currently at the foot of the mountain, which was on a slightly higher elevation than the rest of the city.

Although there weren’t that many bandits around here, I actually preferred to be able to march undisturbed like this.

But once inside, I had a feeling that we would be presented with lots of bandits.

[……]

A little further away from the city hall, I stopped, and motioned Rithina and Mina to stop as well.

[What’s wrong?]

Rithina whispered in question.

I immediately raised a silent field, so that our voice won’t leak out no matter how loud we speak….then I said in normal volume.

[There are two guards at the gate.]

I pointed toward the gate by moving my chin.

Rithina and Mina also confirmed the situation and waited by my side.

I planned to observe the bandits’ habits first.

Being bandits, they’re quite laid back over there.

Is it really just because of that or there is another reason?

Perhaps they weren’t trained enough.

The two guards leaned against the wall and sat down; watching them was so dull that it’s like we’re wasting time here.

[What should we do?]

[Well, just leave this to me.]

I smiled at Rithina’s question.

Nihil. Am I right? No, that’s not it.

Anyways, let’s check the wristwatch first.

It’s been 15 minutes since we started.

Have the knights moved according to plan?

This would be the best timing.

Conjuring imaging magic, I tried to probe the city hall’s interior using Search.

…..there are 3 more men behind the gate at the front door.

They were also lazing around as expected from bandit guards.

If by chance something went wrong, then I would only feel sorry for myself.

Well, let’s just smoke the bandits out of their hideout.

There should be employees inside being forced to continue working. Although they aren’t bandits, I might’ve to take them down too, I thought.

As long as they don’t die outright, I can still heal them with healing magic.

Anyways, where are they gathering….nn?

While I was using magic to explore the interior, I found something worrying.

The city hall’s top floor is strangely similar to how the boss mostly dwells at the highest part of a dungeon in many games.

No, I mean, it’s strange, since the flow of magic is disturbed when I tried to probe there, thus I had no idea what is inside.

Although I didn’t notice it at first, I realized when I probed the area right under it.

How?

Well, this was originally where the city lord stayed so there might be some mechanism that impeded magic to ascertain their safety.

Although it’s a bit worrying, I’ll just have to go there directly and see.

Well, let’s begin right away.

I opened up with fireball magic.

The no-chant fireball magic I released went in between the two guards, straight toward the entrance of the building inside.

While the two guards were distracted by the fireball that went past in between them, it flew straight to the front door..

Yosh, it’s on now.

The fireball landed, causing a flashy and loud explosion at the city hall’s front door.

In combination, I released another magic.

Earth Restraint – Bind

Ivy grew out from under them and restrained them. They were too distracted to break out.

I made sure to block their mouth as well.

[Uwa, amazing.]

Rithina leaked out a compliment as she witnessed my actions.

Right?

No, no, no, that’s not important right now.

[Rithina, you handle that guy over there.]

[Y-yes!]

Rithina replied to my order.

Rithina and I rushed to the restrained guards. The first one met my fist, while the second had the back of his neck struck by Rithina.

Hoo, impressive.

Rithina’s action looked smart.

Really cool, ain’t she?

The two guards fell unconscious without too much noise. We then entered the city hall through the entrance after being joined by Mina.

The entrance door had already been blown away by the fireball and two of the bandits standing guard around it were sprawling on the ground among the rubbles.

[H-halt!]

The remaining bandit who by chance managed to survive the blast tried to apprehend us. But well, it doesn’t really work that way.

But he was met with the swing of my sword before he could do anything.

Normally, his body would’ve split in two, but I suppressed myself with magic just now.

[Guha!]

The armor the bandit wore shattered as he was blown away by the attack. He crashed into the wall behind him and crumpled down on the floor.

Umu.

While we are still at it, it was such a precise power adjustment there.

[What’s going on there!]

Beyond the entrance, on the city hall’s main hall, the bandits who heard the explosion promptly gathered while shouting.

Just like my last attack, I suppressed myself with magic and started hacking my way in.

Shockwave was released from my sword strikes, knocking more bandits in its path and laying waste to the surroundings.

The city hall might suffer some damage, but I surmise it’ll still remain standing.

Actually, I don’t really care even if it collapse completely.

After repeating my attack for several times more, the bandits finally gave way.

With the situation under our control, I began to wonder if they really set any real countermeasure.

Let’s do a headcount first, erm…..1, 2, 3, 4….. 19. 19, huh?

At present, there were 19 bandits lying on the floor of the city hall’s main hall.

That’s a fairly good catch there.

[Rithina, Mina. Confiscate their weapons. Some of them might still be conscious so be careful.]

[Yes.]

Receiving my instruction, the two started working.

Meanwhile, I conjured up another magic.

Earth Restraint – Bind.

I manipulated the soil in the garden and let it in through the blasted entrance.

Then restrained the fallen bandits so that they couldn’t move.

That’s it.

Looking outside, I saw lights began to lit up across the previously sleeping city.

The knights seemed to have entered the city safely.

[Alright, let’s proceed.]

We can go to the first floor via the stairs in the main hall, but we are here to subjugate the bandits.

When I used search once more, I detected that there are still more people on the ground floor.

Let’s clean up the ground floor first.

We went straight to the people I’ve detected one by one.

After some checking, turns out they were servants working in the town hall, so I instructed them to evacuate.

According to the info I could glean out from them, they would only enter the first floor if specifically ordered to.

This was fortunate.

In other words, the people staying on the first floor and beyond could be regarded as bandits.

However, some of the servants were called in tonight. They went up to the first floor and hadn’t returned yet as of now.

The reason why….let’s not bother with it for now.

Once the evacuation was over, we went upstairs.

The stairs continues on to the second floor, but let’s first clean up the first floor.

No, before that, there people lying in ambush from the second floor. There were five of them.

Fuu.

Their position couldn’t normally be seen, but they couldn’t escape my Search.

There.

I launched a fireball from the first floor to the top of the stairs, where the ambushers were hiding.

The magic exploded, causing noise and a bit of smoke. 𝙛𝘳𝒆𝒆𝒘e𝗯n𝗼𝘷𝚎𝚕.𝒄૦𝓶

I adjusted the magic so that the fire won’t spread that much, but there is a limit to that.

Better clean up the first floor quickly before the fire spreads.

But after seeing the wall, I knew immediately that it won’t burn easily as it’s made of stone.

Anyways, we must proceed quickly.

The first floor was a long passageway with rooms on each side.

As I walked through the aisle, magic came flying from behind.

So there are mages among the bandits after all.

It’ll be slightly difficult to handle them in this long passageway.

However, if I try to dodge, the 2 girls behind me will be in danger.

So I had no choice but to deflect the magic with my sword.

The destruction force of the magic is ultimately based on the caster’s magic power.

This sword that Kagura-san had forged contained large amount of my magic power.

Since it’s a sword that contains the enormous magic of a former hero, the bandit’s magic was nothing against it.

Moreover, he needs to cast his magic so the rate of fire is slow.

They cycled around in launching their magic, but I could still afford to block them all.

While shielding Rithina and Mina, I slowly advanced through the passageway.

While doing so, knowing there are bandits staying in the rooms we passed, I preemptively shot fireball at each rooms.

Although I have to be careful since there might be the summoned maidservants inside, the one holding weapons are unmistakably the bandits.

And then, as I kept going forward while hitting the bandits appearing on my left and right, a bandit appeared with a maidservant as hostage.

[You are thugs sent by the kingdom, eh!?I warn you, if you don’t want this girl to die then throw your weapon away.]

That bandit shouted in a loud voice.

Really now, can he see that I’ve been using magic to fight back up until now? Ditching my weapon would be meaningless for me.

Whatever.

Ignoring the bandit’s warning, I used magic.

Air Bullet – Air Shot

A mass of compressed air raced toward the bandit.

[Ora! What the hell!? Aren’t you ally of justice? Shouldn’t you be bothered with this girl’s safety!]

The bandit was scared. Typical. But unfortunately for you, I’m no ally of justice.

Since Air Bullet – Air Shot is made by compressing air, being struck by it would be hurt a lot.

Alternatively, if this bandit is good at sensing magic power, he’ll be able to detect the Air Bullet – Air Shot.

However, that’s not the case. The bandit didn’t notice my Air Bullet – Air Shot.

And then, when he’s about to press his sword to the captive maidservant, it hit the hand that was holding the sword.

[Guoo!?]

Due to the sudden shock, the bandit let go of both his sword and the maid.

[Kuh.]

But the bandit still reached out to grab the maid.

That’s futile though.

For I had already launched another Air Bullet – Air Shot at him.

The Air Bullet – Air Shot struck him on the face, making him flinch backward.

I closed the distance in the meantime, brushing past the maid, straight to the fallen bandit.

And then, I kicked him in the nuts.

[Gyaaah!?]

Irreversible damage.

Amen.

[T-thank you very much….!]

The maidservant said in a trembling voice.

Umu. It’s always pleasant to be thanked by a woman.

Then, the maid rushed toward Rithina.

Oi!

It’s me who did the rescuing, you know?

Oh well, I guess in this circumstance, going for the same gender is more reassuring.

Jokes aside, I immediately chased after the maid.

I didn’t see any weapon on her person, nor killing intent.

I supposed I was worried for nothing, but there is always a chance that she’s a disguised bandit.

She could choke Rithine with her bare hands and I’ll be a bit slow in reacting to that.

But my worry was unfounded.She’s really just a regular maid.

Afterward, after several similar hostage situations, while shooting down the mages in the distance, we finally cleaned up the first floor.

[That’s it for the first floor, right?]

It’ll be troublesome to keep the number in check, but I think I had incapacitated at least 50.

We also rescued 4 maidservants from this floor.

There were 100 bandits in this city and we had at least 50 up until now.

Thinking about it…. There will only be a small amount of them left scattering around the city.

Returning to the main hall, while escorting the rescued maids back, Rithina cried out.

[I knew Haru-kun is amazingly strong, but to think it’s to this extent.]

Eh? Yes?

Eee.

Apparently, she was really worried at the beginning, but up until now, there was no danger coming even close to both Rithina and Mina who followed behind me.

[Did that make you fall for me all over again?]

Right then, I tried to tease her a bit.

[Ee? ….really now…..But, perhaps I did. After all, Haruto is a wonderful man.]

Kyuunn

Rithina fidgeting a little at my teasing.

No please, that’s too motivating.

This is a four storey building.

Just a little bit left to do.