The Strongest Onmyoji and the Shikigami With AI are Unparalleled in Another World ~ A Second Life Properly Enjoyed Using Artificial Intelligence ~-Chapter 181 - There Are Bandits Everywhere
We retrace the path we came on to leave the village.
“Master, hostile signals are following us from behind. There are three of them,”
AI-chan informs me.
“Koma-chan, Natalia, walk ahead.”
At my words, Koma-chan and Natalia move forward.
“What should we do? We could escape using teleportation…”
Leanne, riding on Koma-chan, turns and asks.
“Teleporting here would attract too much attention. Let’s hurry and get out of the village.”
“Understood.”
We continue walking and eventually reach the village gate.
Just like when we arrived, there’s no one at the gate.
“AI-chan, get on Koma-chan.”
“Understood.”
AI-chan nods, mounts Koma-chan, and clings to Leanne.
Seeing this, I place a hand on Natalia’s shoulder.
“Hmm?”
“Stay still.”
“O-okay.”
Keeping my other hand under Natalia’s thigh, I lift her up.
“Whoa…”
Natalia blushes and lets out an odd sound.
“That looks nice…”
You had your turn last time. Though you were trembling like crazy.
“Hold on tight.”
“Got it…”
Natalia wraps her arms around my neck.
“Let’s go.”
With that, we start running with Koma-chan, heading away from the village.
“Master, the hostile signals are gone now.”
“Got it.”
Even so, we don’t stop running.
AI-chan’s search range is less than 30 meters.
Koma-chan and I keep running until we’ve put a significant distance between us and the village.
“Yuuma! Something’s coming!”
Natalia, clinging to me while looking behind, raises her voice.
“Master! Crow-chan says about three demons on horseback are heading this way!”
Horses, huh…
“Koma-chan, stop.”
As I say that and come to a halt, Koma-chan also stops.
“What are we going to do?”
Natalia asks, looking at me.
Honestly, she’s way too close.
“Horses are out of the question.”
Even if Koma-chan can handle it, I can’t outrun a horse.
“Are we fighting?”
“Their intentions are obvious.”
“Money and us?”
“Exactly. There’s no way I’m giving them either. I’m not into killing, but bandits are an exception.”
With that, I turn around.
In the distance, visible to the naked eye, young demons on horseback are galloping toward us.
“What are we going to do?”
“Seeing idiots charge in like that reminds me of that boar incident.”
“Ah… Yeah, that was terrifying.”
Natalia was completely panicked back then.
Though now, she’s calm and quietly being held by me.
As I watch the men approach, the distance shrinks to a few dozen meters.
The man in the lead draws his sword.
“They even brought swords, huh…”
No room for mercy.
“Hell Swamp.”
I mutter, and the ground around the men turns into a swamp.
“Whoa!”
“What the!?”
“Ugh!”
The horses lose their footing, causing the men to be thrown off and sink into the swamp.
“What… what is this!?”
“We’re sinking!?”
“Help me!”
The men struggle, but they keep sinking deeper.
“I never forgive my enemies. Goodbye.”
Saying that, I turn on my heel and start running.
Koma-chan quickly follows, running alongside me.
“Wait!”
“Hey, stop messing around!”
“I’ll kill you, you bastard!”
Idiots.
The ones dying are you.
Just sink into that bottomless swamp.
Ignoring them, I continue running until we’re far enough that they’re out of sight. Then, I set Natalia down.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m totally fine. What about you, Yuuma? Wasn’t it heavy?”
“You’re light, no problem at all.”
Women are light, after all.
“I see.”
Natalia blushes and starts playing with her hair.
“It probably would’ve been easier for you if I had ridden on Koma-chan instead. I’m definitely lighter,”
Leanne mutters.
“You were shaking when I carried you before.”
“I don’t remember that at all. I was too overwhelmed and couldn’t feel anything.”
You did look freezing back then.
“If you want to be carried that badly, come at night. I’ll be in Natalia’s room.”
“Idiot! You’re an idiot! You’re supposed to wait for an invitation for this kind of thing!”
“An 85-year-old shouldn’t blush like that.”
“Shut up, you nosy fox... Yuuma-sama, what should we do? Should we head back?”
At Leanne’s suggestion, I glance around. There’s no one around, and nothing of note.
“Let’s head back.”
“Then, please touch me.”
At Leanne’s request, I touched both sides of her torso, lifted her up, and carried her.
“Wheee! So cool!”
“You look like a dad playing with his child...”
I feel the same.
“Quiet. Let’s head back.”
We decided to return to the room using Leanne’s teleportation.
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Once back in the room, I took off my shoes and slid into the kotatsu.
“Ah, I’m exhausted.”
It wasn’t that Natalia was heavy; running is just plain tiring.
“Welcome back. Why are you carrying Leanne? You look like a dad doting on his little girl.”
Apparently, Annie thinks so too.
“We gathered some information in the village, but we were attacked by something like bandits.”
I explained while setting Leanne down beside me.
“As expected, the security’s terrible... So, you carried Leanne to escape?”
“No, no. It was Natalia who was being carried. Leanne and I were riding on Koma-chan,”
AI-chan answered in my place.
“Then why are you carrying Leanne now?”
“When Natalia was being princess-carried and looked at Master with those dreamy, prince-charming eyes, this little one got sulky.”
“How petty...”
Annie looked at Leanne and snickered.
“What a noisy bunch... Anyway, there really aren’t any decent demons, are there?”
Well, yeah.
But honestly, with poverty like that, I don’t think there’s much difference between species.
“When we go to town, we’ll have to be careful about that. So, what’s the information?”
Annie asked.
“Uh, well, I heard from the village chief that this is where we are.”
I placed a map on the table and pointed to the location of the village.
“Huh... You’d think the dragon could’ve been considerate enough to move a bit further north.”
Seriously. That coward.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Anyway, our destination is the port town of Ludoe. According to the village chief, there’s a military garrison there, so it sounds like a hassle. But he said the intermediate town of Tarble is fairly large and recommended it.”
I traced the map with my finger as I explained.
“I see... So, the plan is to go to this Tarble town first and gather information?”
“That’s the idea.”
“Got it. So, what do we do? Should we head there now?”
We could head there, but…
“What should we do?”
I checked with Natalia, who’s in charge of deciding when we rest.
“It’s better to rest and go tomorrow. Yuuma, you ran quite a distance.”
“While carrying Natalia, too,”
AI-chan chimed in.
Be quiet, AI-chan. Now Natalia’s blushing again.
“Alright, let’s rest for today. We’ll all go together tomorrow.”
“Y-yeah... that sounds best.”
Since we decided to rest that day, we spent the time as usual, doing nothing in particular in the room.
