I thought that everyone would be happy with me beating those two guys away but they let out a panicked shriek after seeing those two fly away.
The guys quickly gathered up all the dropped Monster Gold and their equipment while Viera actually picked me up in her arms before running down the tunnel.
Ehhhh~ I’m actually getting a princess carry of my own~
Hmm… My face is pressed up against her boobs like this… I can see the appeal of this position. I guess that’s also why Delmare likes me to carry her instead of walking around by herself.
When Odeta gets older, I’m definitely asking her to do this for me, ehehehe~𝔬𝔳𝓵xt.𝒞𝐎𝑚
Ahem…
Melissa had to be carried by Markus too since she could not keep up with everyone else, though she was slung over his shoulder instead of a princess carry like mine.
I’m impressed that Harper was still able to run as fast as us despite carrying all that luggage too.
We finally stopped after running for quite a while before they collapsed around me in a heap, all of them breathing hard.
Viera let me down though she took care not to drop me before she also sat down on her haunches to breathe heavily.
“Umm… Is there a reason why we ran like that?” I asked.
Jack looked up at me, “Ahh… I see Aster doesn’t know… Those two belong to a rather troublesome Mercenary Assembly… If you were to meet them outside, it would already be considered a good fortune if they were to ignore you and pass you by…”
Assembly? Ah… That’s the term used for a party that exceeds fifty members, sort of like their own mini guild.
I tilted my head, “But… They don’t seem that strong?”
I mean… That guy’s arm literally got blown off by my… Oh wait… I blew off that Gold Stoner’s chest with my enhanced punch too… Perhaps I should not be using myself as a comparison for strength?
Jack shook his head, “Those guys are not the problem… It’s the people behind them that is the problem…”
I blinked, “There were people behind them just now? I didn’t even notice…”
“Ah… I did not mean that literally. I meant that they have some backers that are quite troublesome for a normal person to deal with.”
“Eh? Are they some kind of big shot noble or something?”
“Oh, no… Worse… They have ties to some underground organisations… Some of them being a group of assassins. If they have their eyes on you, you won’t even be able to live in your own home without constantly looking over your shoulder…”
Wow… That serious? Though I highly doubt that would apply to me while I’m at home, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be safe when I’m outside though…
I frowned, “In that case, why did we even run away? Shouldn’t we just kill them both so that they don’t have a chance to report to their higher ups about what happened here?”
Jack waved his hand at me, “Ah… Let me correct myself… Though I did say I was referring to their supporters just now, there were indeed more people in the tunnels behind them who weren’t there when Aster appeared just now.”
Oh, so there really were more people behind them that I didn’t sense.
I guess running away might have been the best choice for these guys since they’re still just normal Mercenaries in the end.
Jack dusted himself before standing up, “Hopefully… Those two did not get a good look at Aster so I think we should get out of here before we run into them again. All in favour?”
Everyone else agreed and Loyd took over leading the party at the front. I guess his tracking skill also helps him identify the route to the exit or maybe it was just from experience?
He led us through the tunnels and only paused to check the ground at intersections before moving on, as though he was consulting some kind of invisible map.
It only took a few more turns before we were at the stairs that led upwards out of the Dungeon. At least they were speaking the truth about being able to get out of here within a day.
As we got out into the open air outside, I realised that we still needed to join the queue to report on the amount of Monster Gold we had gathered from the Dungeon.
The others kept nervously glancing over their shoulders, obviously worried that those guys from before would come out of the Dungeon at this moment and find us.
Thankfully, we managed to pass through and finish our registration without any issues. Although that meant we now face the issue of travelling back to the city to collect our reward.
I was practically pulled by the girls to head out and board the wagon before Harper drove us out of there at full speed.
Looks like whatever group those guys belonged to must be really scary…
“Apologies for the rough treatment from earlier, La… Ahem… Miss Aster,” Viera lowered her head.
I waved my hand, “It’s fine, it’s fine. You guys are the ones who are more familiar with these things anyway. I should be apologising for being an extra baggage.”
“Pl… Please don’t say that, Miss Aster… Without you we would have lost everything… You even went and took down two Gold Stoners by yourself… At this point I think you should get all the rewards from this quest.”
I waved my hand at them, “No, no… I’m satisfied with just getting the risk pay for this. I got you guys involved unnecessarily in that conflict with those guys…”
“That… We dare not…”
“No, no, I insist. Besides… I joined you guys in order to kill time in the first place so the monetary rewards are not a priority for me.”
Viera looked to the others but they all just shrugged at her in return, showing that they did not want to involve themselves in this.
She fiddled with her fingers, most likely trying to factor in the fact that I was from the Nilm Family into account and figuring out if rejecting my request would be more rude than accepting it.
She finally turned back to me, “Umm… Is… Is it really not a problem to leave the rewards to us?”
“That’s what I said, didn’t I? It’s really fine. You don’t need to worry about it and I’m not short on money either.”
“Tha… Thank you, Miss–“
“Alright!! If you value your lives, hand over all your Monster Gold and the Guild slip! We’ve got you surrounded!!” Someone shouted, interrupting Viera.
All of us looked up to see a large group of armed Mahuns standing in the middle of the road blocking our way, a few of them with their bows drawn and arrows pointed towards us.
Wow… Is this the payback for having good luck with those Gold Stoners? Now the World has to hit me with some bad luck like running into those two hooded people and then now we have this group of bandits to deal with…
I was just thinking of stepping in again when Jack and Markus leapt in front of the wagon with their shields raised.
“Hmph… At least we can somewhat redeem ourselves with this… Small-time bandits like this… We can deal with them! Everyone to arms!” Jack declared.
“Tch! You really don’t know the position you are in!” One of the bandits shouted, waving his hand in the air.
As though on cue, several bandits appeared from the bushes beside our wagon and shot arrows towards us without hesitation.
Markus raised his shield and slammed onto the ground, the action causing his shield to light up before a dome of light appeared around the wagon for a second.
The arrows bounced off the dome harmlessly, all of them clattering noisily onto the ground around us without even touching us.
Oooh~ Is this a Valour Skill with Lumenmancy magic? That’s cool~
Everyone else immediately sprang into action with Loyd and Melissa firing arrows and spells into the midst of the bandits.
Jack and Markus charged towards the crowd of bandits at the front while Viera and Sabrina dealt with the ones to the back and sides of the wagon.
I quickly settled into a support role as I shot my own spells towards the bandits, incapacitating any of them that I saw as a threat and healing the party members that were hit by an enemy attack.
The bandits seemed to be quite surprised that we chose to fight back too.
“What the hell?! Who are these guys?!”
“Why are they so strong?!”
“Didn’t they bring back less than a hundred Monster Gold?! They should have been weak!!”
“Ru… Run! Quickly run away!!”
Huh… I guess they must have someone spying on the parties returning from the Dungeon entrance who would pass along information on the amount of Monster Gold each party brought back as a way to estimate their strength.
A party that manages to bring back a significant amount of Monster Gold should mean that the party was strong while one that did not bring that much would mean they were weak, flagging them as prime targets for these bandits to rob.
Kind of a flawed way to estimate since the amount of Monster Gold you bring back is also a little based on luck since the monster encounters aren’t fixed… Though I guess for a stronger party, they would not be satisfied with such small rewards and would at least try to get more before returning.
We only returned earlier because of our encounter with those two guys which really meant these bandits were really unlucky.
In that case, I must apologise for thinking that I was the unlucky one because clearly the unlucky ones are the bandits here.
I wonder if any of them have a bounty for me to claim? I don’t mind taking a cut of that instead~