Ossan Saikyō Chapter 13 Part 13
Of the bandits, the two who had attacked me first were already dead.
We tightly bound the driver I had slammed into the ground and Mazero, then decided to put them in the wagon they had arrived in.
“Soushi-sama, someone is lying in the back. A woman... a girl, it seems.”
Freynil, who had gone ahead to inspect the wagon, said that.
When I looked into the back, I saw that there really was a girl lying on her side, wrapped in black cloth. She looked younger than Freynil, perhaps 11-12 years old.
A single horn protruded from her forehead between her parted hair, so she was presumably from Orz. More than that, there was something intensely familiar about her cute profile.
“Shizuna-dono, take a look at this girl.”
“What... Wait she's Seina, isn’t it!?”
Shizuna cried out loudly as she looked at the girl’s face. She climbed into the wagon and shook the girl, her younger sister Seina.
“Seina, Seina! Wake up!”
“It seems she was put to sleep with some kind of drug. At this rate, she probably won’t wake up for a while.”
As Sphenia said, Seina showed no signs of waking. We could simply leave her asleep until the drug wore off, but perhaps it would be better to hear what had happened as soon as possible.
“Fray, can you detoxify her?”
“I’ll try. «Detoxify».”
Freynil activated «Detoxify», one of the spells of【Life Magic】. It was a spell that removed poisons from the body, but I wondered whether it would work on sleeping drugs.
Just as I was thinking that, Seina let out a small, “Mmm...~”.
“Seina, wake up! Seina!”
“Mm...~? Yes... Big Sister... Shizuna? Big Sister... why are you here?”
Seina rubbed her eyes and sat up. She looked around with sleepy eyes, then seemed to suddenly realize something and turned toward Shizuna.
“Where are we? I thought I was sleeping in my futon.”
“Do you not remember? Seina, you were probably kidnapped by bandits. We are near the eastern border.”
“What!? No... Then what about Mother?”
“If you don’t know, then neither do we. We came here to defeat some monsters. We were planning to spend the night and return to the Capital, but who would have thought you would be kidnapped and brought through here?”
“So that is what happened... If Big Sister had not saved me, things could have turned out terribly.”
“It was the man over there, Soushi-dono, who saved you. Soushi-dono defeated the bandits and rescued you.”
Shizuna gestured toward me, and Seina turned her whole body toward me before bowing deeply.
“Thank you very much for saving me. I am Seina, a shrine maiden of Orz. I offer you my heartfelt gratitude.”
**Good grief, she was still just a child, yet she was incredibly well-mannered. More than that, she was far too capable for her age to take in this situation so quickly.
Shizuna had said that Seina was better suited to becoming the Great Shrine Maiden than she was, and now I understood what she meant.
“I’m glad you’re safe. One of my companions spotted some suspicious bandits, so we simply captured them. I never imagined that a shrine maiden would be among their victims.”
“Even so, it does not change the fact that you saved me. By the way, when you say Soushi-sama, are you the one who appeared riding upon the revered『Spirit Beast』?”
“Yes. He is the great benefactor of Orz who saved the revered『Spirit Beast』.”
For some reason, Shizuna puffed out her chest proudly. That was fine, but being called a “great benefactor” made me feel rather embarrassed, so I wished she would stop.
Seina seemed to start looking at me with sparkling eyes, so I left things to Shizuna and Freynil and headed over to Mazero, who was still tied up.
Now that we had captured him, I could see that Mazero was a thin, middle-aged man. As an adventurer, his body should have been stronger than an ordinary person’s, but he certainly didn’t look the part.
If not for the cruel face, I might have mistaken him for a sick man.
Mariane and Karma had taken the lead in interrogating Mazero.
That said, it was obvious that Mazero had no intention of talking. His emotionless face was illuminated by the moonlight, and his thin lips had barely opened since earlier.
When I approached, Mariane looked at me and shook her head.
“This man doesn’t seem willing to say anything. He won’t even give us his name.”
“Wouldn’t he have an Adventurer Card?”
“It seems he isn’t carrying one. He may possess an【Item Box】.”
“I see... But if we simply take him to the capital, won’t he be charged with the serious crime of kidnapping a shrine maiden? Isn’t that enough?”
“Before that, the Guild would like to obtain whatever information we can.”
“I see... Hmm?”
Come to think of it, I had acquired a rather terrifying skill called【Plunder】. It was such an outrageous skill that I hadn’t even told everyone about it. The timing at which I acquired it also seemed almost too convenient...
“If this man has an【Item Box】, we might be able to do something about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just watch. I’ll give it a try.”
As usual, I activated【Item Box】, causing a black hole to appear in front of the man’s face as he sat on the ground. There was a little resistance when I tried to put my hand inside, but I forced it deeper.
As expected, the contents seemed to be different from my own【Item Box】. I imagined an Adventurer Card and felt the sensation of a thin plate in my hand. I pulled it out, and a card engraved with “Mazero” was in my hand.
When I showed Mazero’s Adventurer Card to Mariane, her eyes widened.
“What was that!? Soushi-san, what was that skill just now?”
“Ah, it’s a skill I acquired a little while ago. It’s called【Plunder】, and apparently it allows me to interfere with another person’s【Item Box】. The name felt rather unpleasant, so I hadn’t mentioned it.”
“【Plunder】... I have heard of it. But I believe there has to be a considerable difference in power to interfere with someone else’s【Item Box】... Ah, well, for you, Soushi-san, it would be easy.”
Mariane accepted the card with a look of understanding.
Meanwhile, Mazero, who had not moved an inch until then, suddenly began to panic.
“You... bastard...! Don’t mess around... You think you can just steal things from someone else’s【Item Box】... Do you really think that’s allowed...?”
His hoarse voice was exactly what his appearance suggested. There was no inflection in it, but traces of panic could be seen in the edges of his words.
“Whether it’s allowed or not, you’ve tried to kill me twice already. I think I’m entitled to do at least this much.”
“Twice... you say? I see. You were there at the elves’ village...”
“So it really was you behind the incident at the elves’ village.”
When I said that, Mazero looked as though he had just let something slip and fell silent again.
“Your crimes will be recorded on your card anyway, so there’s no point staying silent now. More importantly, was kidnapping the shrine maiden the only purpose of this incident?”
“...”
“Hmm...”
If he intended to remain silent, then I had another idea.
I activated【Item Box】once more in front of Mazero’s face.
“What are you planning to do...!?”
“This.”
Using【Plunder】, I successively pulled out the items stored in Mazero’s【Item Box】and laid them out on the ground. There were far fewer items than in my own【Item Box】. After taking out around 20 items, there was only one left.
“What is this?”
In my hand, which I had pulled out of the hole, was a long, slender rod wrapped in what looked like expensive cloth. Judging by its shape, it seemed to be some kind of transverse flute, but...
“Hmm!? Soushi-dono, that is something very important.”
Shizuna reacted immediately. Seina, who had also gotten out of the carriage with us, looked surprised as well.
“Is it something important?”
“That is Orz’s national treasure, the《Spirit-Summoning Flute》. It is the only tool capable of calling forth the revered『Spirit Beast』.”
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E/N:
"Is that allowed…?" Buddy you have no right to say that one bit! 😂 Who hired this fool? He certainly shat his pants though when his Item Box was looted in plain daylight, or should I say moonlight 😂!
Stay tuned!
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