The first day’s travel went more smoothly than expected.
On the road leading into the forest, Jincheong, who had gone ahead, cleared away bothersome branches and stones in advance,
and the cart drawn by the blue ox continued on without any major obstruction.
By the time they had stopped briefly on the way, made a simple meal of it, and set out again,
the sun had already begun to sink little by little.
It was then.
Bido felt Deraul’s stone inside her pocket grow ever so slightly warm.
“Miryeong-nim...”
When Bido called softly,
Miryeong had already lifted her head.
“Yeah. Someone’s coming.”
Her gaze narrowed toward the edge of the forest.
“Two... no, three.”
Shwik!
Several arrows flew in, cutting through the trees.
“Careful!”
Miryeong swung her arm, and a short gust of wind rose.
The curving current twisted the arrows’ paths,
and the arrows missed the cart and the people, burying themselves at an angle in trees and the dirt ground.
At once, footsteps scattered from deeper within the forest.
The footsteps of those who had shot and were fleeing, with no intention of facing them head-on.
Bido placed her hand over her pocket.
Deraul’s stone was slowly cooling again.
“Wh-what was that?”
A brief murmur spread through the procession.
Just then, Ailla stuck her face out through the window gap of the second cart.
“What do you think? Bandits.”
She glanced once toward the forest and spoke with a sneer.
“At a glance, it was a scouting party testing the waters. Want to chase them?”
Miryeong did not indulge her words.
After checking the forest once more, she spoke firmly.
“Don’t chase. Keep moving.”
Ed immediately passed on the signal, and the carts that had stopped for a moment began to move slowly again.
Ailla laughed softly and leaned her back against the inside wall of the cart again.
“Hmph. Night might get even more annoying.”
They continued on in silence for a while longer.
The forest path grew darker and darker, and the light filtering through the trees was thinning quickly.
They had to settle down before the sun went down completely.
Jincheong, who had been looking ahead, raised his hand.
“Stop.”
The short signal spread down the line.
“We’ll camp here today.”
The blue oxen breathed out low and came to a halt.
The cart wheels rolled over the dirt once more, then quietly stopped.
As if they had been waiting, the group scattered to their respective tasks.
The guards turned the carts to stand where they would catch less wind,
and the medic began unloading boxes and arranging the campsite.
Ed moved people with brief hand gestures and whistles,
while Wolryeon turned her eyes toward the edge of the forest first, as if checking the field of vision before the luggage.
Bido also began moving, then suddenly took Deraul’s stone in her hand from inside her pocket.
The stone was not as hot as before, but it was not entirely without sensation either.
That subtle feeling troubled her even more.
Bido approached Miryeong and spoke quietly.
“Miryeong-nim... will it be all right?”
Miryeong tightened a rope once more and answered as if it were nothing.
“It’ll be fine. They’re only bandits.”
Then she snorted briefly.
“Compared to knights, anyway.”
Just then, a mocking voice came from the direction of the second cart.
“I wonder.”
It was Ailla.
She got down from the cart, loosened one wrist, and said,
“Knights are kind, you see. At least they come from the front.”
A thin sneer hung at the end of her words.
“But bandits are a cowardly breed.”
“If we’re sprawled out asleep, they’ll happily start by cutting our throats, won’t they?”
Miryeong’s gaze slowly turned toward Ailla.
“You know that awfully well.”
After snapping back shortly, she added,
“Guess you’ve done a bit of banditry as a side job?”
Ailla’s expression crumpled at once.
“You foul-mouthed—”
But Miryeong did not answer her to the end.
She had already turned away and was throwing her voice toward the site.
“Now, move quickly. Don’t make the fire too big.”
Her eyes turned toward Jincheong.
“Jincheong, look around the perimeter once more.”
Jincheong nodded silently and disappeared toward the forest as darkness settled over it.
“Ed, rearrange the watch order. Wolryeon, take the rear.”
“Got it.”
“Mm.”
Short answers came back.
Even as Bido moved the luggage that had been set down, she kept turning to look toward the forest.
The direction from which the arrows had flown during the day was already sunk in darkness,
and nothing could be seen between the trees.
Even so, the feeling that someone was watching did not easily fade.
Ailla, meanwhile, was still glaring at Miryeong’s back with her teeth clenched.
But she did not pick another fight.
Rather, as if in even worse spirits, she alternately swept her gaze over the edge of the campsite and the forest beyond.
Night was falling quickly.
Once the campsite was set up, dinner was soon passed around as well.
Hot stew and bread, and for the Haraya, soup made by boiling salted meat in bone broth, were distributed.
There was not much talk.
Everyone hoped to pass the first night quietly.
Bido dipped the piece of bread in her hand into the broth and ate, glancing past the firelight from time to time.
Even as Miryeong ate, she did not fully loosen her guard,
and Ed was already checking the night-watch order once again.
Even after emptying her bowl, Wolryeon sat silently with her heavy crossbow within reach,
while Ailla leaned against a cart wheel and grumbled, but in the end emptied her bowl clean.
When the meal was over, what remained by the fire was quickly tidied up as well.
Empty bowls were first wiped with cloth to save washing water,
and the remaining fire was damped down so it would not stand out too much.
The carts were left standing like windbreaks,
and inside them, places for people to lie down were arranged one by one.
Except for those standing night watch, everyone lay down in turn.
Some wrapped cloaks around themselves and lay down just like that,
while others closed their eyes with swords or weapons within arm’s reach.
The forest had already gone completely dark,
and from far away, only the faint sounds of nameless insects and branches swaying in the wind could be heard.
Outwardly, it was a quiet night.
Which was why they could not fully let down their guard.
Bido, who had been asleep, opened her eyes at the sudden heat.
Deraul’s stone had grown so hot it felt as though it might burn her if she blinked.
“It’s an attack!”
Along with Miryeong’s shout, arrows flew in.
Shiiik—!
Before those who had just woken could even raise themselves, volleys of arrows poured into the campsite, cutting through the black night.
Arrows struck the shields and bundles set beside the carts, the still-tied ropes and wooden axles, sending out a succession of dull thuds.
“Raise the shields!”
One military policeman shouted,
and soon two shields snapped up like lightning, blocking the front of the first cart.
The other guards hurriedly grabbed their bows and drew their strings toward the darkness beyond the firelight.
Miryeong was already on her feet.
When she swung her arm, a short, sharp wind split the night air.
Several of the arrows that were pouring in bent with the flow and went astray from one another,
and two or three buried themselves uselessly in the ground.
“Stick to the second cart! Don’t scatter!”
Ed immediately shouted the order.
He sent a brief signal,
and one guard read its meaning and moved toward the second cart where Ailla was.
Bido rolled to her feet as well.
Sleep fled all at once, leaving only the fingertips of the hand gripping the stone throbbing hotly.
She immediately drew her sword and slipped between the carts.
“Jincheong!”
At Miryeong’s call,
Jincheong, who was already moving toward the edge of the campsite, lowered his hand toward the ground.
Thud.
The dirt outside the campsite trembled and heaved.
At that very moment, a large boulder flying in from outside the forest struck the rising earthen wall and shattered to pieces.
“There’s one Arkhyn!”
Jincheong shouted briefly.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a red light flashed between the trees.
Whoosh—!
A fireball the size of a person’s head flew in as if skimming the edge of the campsite and struck the ground beside the first cart.
Dirt and sparks flew, and one blue ox, startled, let out a low bellow.
“Don’t shoot the carts! You idiots!”
A rough voice burst out from beyond the darkness.
It was the bandit leader’s shout.
“Kill the people first! The cargo comes later!”
“They really came...”
From inside the second cart, Ailla muttered low.
There was more irritation than surprise in her voice.
Soon, people sprang out here and there along the edge of the forest.
Humans with bows, men gripping short spears and swords,
and among them, several Haraya rushed in, gliding over the darkness as they charged.
There seemed to be easily twenty of them.
“Wolryeon!”
At Ed’s shout, Wolryeon’s heavy crossbow roared.
Bang!
A thick crossbow bolt tore through the night air.
One bandit who had been drawing a bow between the trees was flung straight backward,
then rolled and plunged into the darkness of the forest.
Immediately afterward, Wolryeon was already loading the next bolt.
Shwik!
This time, the Haraya using earth Arkhyn flinched.
Just as the bastard was about to lift another stone, Wolryeon’s bolt pierced and lodged in the dirt right in front of him.
The spray of soil and impact broke his stance, and Jincheong did not miss the opening.
Crunch.
A raised lump of earth slammed head-on into the Haraya’s body, driving him into a tree trunk.
“Left!”
Miryeong twisted and shouted.
An Urkan wielding a club like a log was charging in, cutting through the trees.
His sheer bulk alone was intimidating.
One military policeman stepped forward with a shield to block him,
but a single blow from the Urkan sent his feet sliding as he was shoved sideways.
At that instant, Miryeong leapt in.
Thwack!
Her fist pierced into the Urkan’s jaw first.
While the huge body shook, Miryeong twisted half a turn and drove her elbow into his solar plexus,
then finally kicked him aside with a short gust of wind behind it.
Thud!
The Urkan crashed beside a cart wheel and rolled.
“If you get up again, you die!”
Miryeong’s voice snapped sharply.
Beside her, Ed was dealing with two humans who had slipped into the campsite.
He struck one man’s wrist with the end of his arm, making him drop his weapon,
then lowered his body and rammed straight into the other man’s abdomen.
He barely deflected an arrow flying in from behind with the wind wrapped around the back of his hand,
then immediately filled the gap in front of the first cart.
Bido was guarding the space between the two carts.
She had the urge to step forward, but now was not the time.
She steadied her breath in short intervals and put strength only into the hand gripping her sword.
She must not draw up too much Idrin.
What she needed now was control.
A bandit who had slipped in beside the cart raised a short blade and lunged.
Bido stepped to the side and let the blade slide past,
then struck his wrist, broke his balance, and drove her sword hilt into his side, forcing him down to one knee.
Another charged from right behind him,
but Bido did not meet him head-on, instead diverting his force and breaking his center.
After a brief ring of metal, the end of her sword hilt struck beneath his chin, and her opponent flew backward and collapsed.
“The brat uses a sword too!”
Someone shouted from the darkness.
“Leave the center open! Get the one between the carts fir—”
The end of his words never came.
Bang!
Because Wolryeon’s second crossbow bolt pierced straight through the source of that voice.
She had already loaded a third bolt,
and this time, she shot down an arrow itself as it flew through the night air.
The arrow and crossbow bolt collided in midair, and the fragments that sprang up scattered toward the edge of the firelight.
“Madness...”
One bandit let out a sickened sound.
Meanwhile, the human using fire Arkhyn raised his hand again.
Just before the flame gathering at his fingertips grew larger, Ed shouted a signal.
“Bido!”
Bido looked that way.
The fireball was just about to fly.
At that moment, Jincheong raised the earth again, and the fire struck the rising clod of soil and burst to the side.
The exploding flames grazed a pile of grass and seemed about to spread,
but when Miryeong swung her hand, the wind changed direction and pressed the embers down into the dirt.
“I told you not to touch the carts, you moron!”
The bandit leader’s shout rang out again.
But there was none of the earlier composure in his voice.
Miryeong gave a faint laugh.
“Now you get it, right?”
She turned toward the direction where the leader was likely hiding in the darkness.
“That you messed with the wrong people.”
With those words, the wind rose once more.
One bandit lost his footing and rolled sideways, collapsing,
and two military policemen pushed in through the opening with their shields forward.
At the edge of the forest, the leader’s voice burst out again.
“Pull back! We’re withdrawing for now!”
At that one command, the bandits’ steps wavered.
The darkness had not yet fully settled again, but at least one thing was clear.
What they had targeted was an easy merchant caravan,
and what they had actually encountered was something entirely different.