Chương 83: Book 2 Chapter 35 - Victor's Sword

Looks of surprise from the bandits were quickly replaced by riotous laughter.

"Oh ho! We're under arrest, boys!"

"She's taking us to Easton!" One of them held out his hands as if to ask for chains and winked at her.

"You can chain me up, miss, I don't mind." More laughter, hooting, and hollering followed. The sound of swords being drawn echoed around the circle. The three slaves by the fire flinched back, scooting to the far side of the fire to avoid being injured.

"Alright young miss, play time's over," the man in front of her said with a smirk. Those clothes look expensive, we don't want to get 'em dirty. We have some rags you can change into, then you can help make us some lunch." Kiara smiled as she pulled two swords from her soul storage. One was the original enchanted weapon she had purchased in Easton, and the other was the one Victor had given her as a gift in Portish. She hadn't had a chance to use it yet.

"Last warning," she said.

"Anyone who wants to live, throw down your weapons now. It's either the city guard in Easton, or death. Your choice."

"Alright, she's asking for it, boys," the man in front of her snarled.

"Take her down." They attacked her in unison. Mana shields erupted around her as twelve of them charged in. The other three stayed back and began forming spells to throw at her. Their cast time was abysmal compared to what she had seen Zoey and Jaden do. [Magical Sense 3] had already confirmed to her that they were all tier 1 bandits, but she was heavily outnumbered, and swords would still cut her. Fortunately, they were much slower and weaker than she was.

Not wanting to be caught in the middle of twelve attackers, she rushed forward as soon as they all began to move. She reached the man in front of her before he could react. She knocked his sword to the side with her own, lowered her shoulder, and bowled him over. He tumbled head over heels for fifteen feet as he hit the ground. Shouts of surprise followed as she whipped around, plunging right back into the fray.

Her left handed sword forms weren't as well practiced as her right hand yet, but it didn't feel as awkward as it had at first. Like Instructor Handel had said, the forms themselves were coming along about as quickly as she acclimated to using her left hand. She used her swords to protect herself from the weapons of the bandits, relying on powerful kicks to take her opponents down. That kept her from having to try and deactivate their mana shields to make her swords more effective.

Her superior speed and fighting prowess were apparent after just the first five seconds. Three of the bandits lay in ruined heaps on the ground from her kicks, and another two had taken spell shots from the long-range mages, who were unable to target her accurately. By the time they launched their spell, she was already in another place, and the other bandits were getting caught in the crossfire.

Her instincts were sharpened in her fight against the bandits near Portish, which is why she relied so much on her kicks for damage in the first few moments of the fight now. However, something happened that surprised her, in a good way. Her instincts from her sword class took over at one point, and she landed a perfect riposte as one of the bandits overreached, leaving himself wide open to a counter strike. She thrust her left sword directly through his heart, then kept fighting without thinking anything of it.

A moment later, she realized that she hadn't deactivated that man's mana shield before striking him. She wondered if maybe his mana shield had simply ran out of juice when she struck him? It was something worth testing. She kept up her speed, engaging with only a few bandits at a time, and struck another one with her left sword, this time in the leg. He cursed as the sword penetrated his mana shield, leaving him with a deep wound on this thigh.

She immediately brought her right sword around to finish him off, only for it to stop a millimeter from his neck, caught on the mana shield he had re-engaged. Confused, she followed with another swing of her left sword, which cut through his shield again without a hint of resistance. What? She began using her left sword as a finishing move, instead of kicking her opponents, and it penetrated the bandits' mana shields time and time again. Her mind quickly analyzed the two swords.

The one in her right hand had chips in the edge from her fight with the bandits near Portish. The one in her left hand must be the one Victor had given her, then. Visually, it looked almost identical to her original enchanted sword. Hefting them, she could feel slight differences in their weight and balance, but she had no idea what was different about the enchantments on this sword. Somehow, it was either ignoring these bandits' mana shields, or destroying them on impact. Fascinating!

Once she discovered the effectiveness of the blade Victor had gifted her, the fight only lasted another thirty seconds. The bandits, including the long-range mages, all fell to her blade as easily as the cornstalks she had plucked out of the ground earlier that morning. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Less than a minute had passed since the start of the fight, and the three villagers huddled by the fire were staring at her in wide-eyed fear. They looked as if they'd seen a volcano erupt around them, and they were worried the lava was coming for them next. Kiara stored her swords in her soul storage, then moved to help the scared villagers to their feet.

"Let's see if we can get you out of those chains. Did the bandits have a key or something to unlock them?" The three villagers shared a look of uncertainty, then the man shook his head in fear.

"W-We're not sure, your powerfulness." Kiara snorted.

"Your powerfulness? That's a new one."

"Sorry," the man said hastily, falling to his knees and kowtowing.

"This humble one does not know the proper form of address. Please don't hurt us, your grace." Kiara rolled her eyes.

"Get up. I'm not here to hurt you. Let's figure out a way to get you out of the chains, then I'll help escort you back to your village." The man stood, but kept his eyes on the ground. The two women followed suit. Kiara shook her head in exasperation, then went to search the tents for a key. When she didn't find one after about five minutes of searching, she made her way back to the villagers. They had finished preparing lunch, apparently, and had scooped some into a bowl for her.

"We have prepared lunch, your eminence, if you wish," the man said, still bowing as he extended her the bowl.

"Oh. I uh… I actually just ate, in the village just south of here. Why don't you three eat, though. You look starved." The three villagers shared a look, seemingly uncertain if this was some kind of test. Kiara palmed her face. She wasn't used to this level of respect, which was bordering on worship, but maybe it was a side effect of them having been slaves to this bandit group for some undetermined amount of time. She reminded herself to be especially patient and kind.

"I couldn't find a key," she explained gently and slowly.

"So I'm not sure the best way to get you out of those chains." The leg chains were tight, preventing them from running or carrying out any form of hasty escape. Their village blacksmith could probably get the chains off, but walking back in them would be tedious and slow.

"I could try to remove the chains by force, if you'd allow me?" she asked, eyeing the three. They simply bowed their heads in compliance.

"Whatever you wish, O Great one," one of the women said, holding out her chained wrists. Kiara grabbed the chains in both hands and pulled as hard as she could, trying to break them by force. She was strong, but apparently not that strong. Grunting in exertion, she tried on all three of them, hoping one of them might have a weak link or something, but to no avail.

"Hmm. Okay, spread the chain across this log right here. I'm going to try cutting them off." The woman she was talking to did as she had suggested, spreading her hands out on top of one of the sitting logs. Kiara pulled Victor's sword from her soul storage, curious how it would go. She lined up the swing then swung it full force, hoping to at least chip the chain. If she could chip it a few times, maybe she could try pulling it apart again. The sword came down on the chain in a blur.

Sparks flew as the chain severed completely in half, followed by the log. She only felt slight resistance at one point, followed by everything giving away a millisecond later. She ended with the sword nearly vertical, the tip buried in the ground. The log had split cleanly in half from the force of the tapered blade entering it lengthwise. The three villagers stared at the scene in shock. Kiara did too. Just what exactly did Victor do to this sword? She would have to ask him the next time she saw him.

She was certain of one thing: it was no ordinary weapon. She repeated the process five more times, freeing all three villagers from both their wrist chains and their ankle chains. Afterward, she had them eat their fill of the food they had prepared, then walked with them back to their village up north. It was a three mile walk through rough terrain, and it took them the better part of two hours. Once she had dropped them off, she jogged back to the bandits' campsite in just under three minutes.

Once there, she cleared the tents away from the fire, then built a small pyre over top of the fire pit using wood from the sitting logs. The fire quickly lit up the dry timber. She pulled weapons and other valuable items from the bandits, then piled their bodies on the pyre, which had already begun burning brightly. She didn't want the bodies to attract any large predators from the mountains so near two small villages.

The state of those three villagers had given her a pretty good idea that the village to the north had been hit much harder by these bandits than the one Kiara's parents live in. She knew it wouldn't make up for the suffering the village had been put through, but decided to take the bandits' weapons and gear to the village to the north. She wrapped the fabric from one of the tents around the weapons and some of the gear, ending up with a large bindle of sorts.

She tried hefting it behind her, but as strong as she was, her center of gravity didn't allow her to hold it in any position except directly above her head. And yeah, that wasn't happening. Instead, she double then triple wrapped the bundle with additional tent fabric, then dragged it behind her as she made her way back north. She moved slowly at first, picking up speed as her confidence in the fabric integrity grew.

When she arrived back in the village up north, she found many villagers had gathered in the village center to welcome the three villagers back home. Many were crying tears of joy at seeing their neighbors returned safely, along with news that the bandits were no more. A hushed silence fell as Kiara arrived, dragging the large bundle behind her. She opened it up, revealing the weapons and gear she had pulled from the bandits.

"I figure your village deserves this, since you've all been through a lot," she said, looking around. Her eyes finally settled on the three villagers she had rescued.

"Especially you three. At any rate, feel free to sell it, keep it, use it, do whatever you want with it. I'm sure you can get a decent price for most of it in Easton." Silence filled the air, making Kiara uncomfortable.

"Well…" she said after a moment.

"I guess I'll be off, then." She waved once, then turned and headed south, back to her parents' village and her childhood home. She spent the afternoon at the village market, reminiscing and enjoying the atmosphere. The villagers tended to barter and trade goods, not coins, but they certainly didn't turn down any of Kiara's money when she purchased a few things.

Most of the villagers traded the crops they grew for different types of food, but a few were selling sweets for the children, which Kiara bought with delight. She tried everything that looked good that she had never had the money to try growing up. It wasn't as fancy or decadent as something you could get in the markets of the larger cities, but it was handmade in small batches, and made with attention and care.

Plus, she knew these people, so there was some sentimentality that came along with each of the purchases. As the market wound down, she waved her goodbyes to her parents and Ava, earning a tight leg hug from Gabe.