Chapter 160
Since it had rained all night, we had to return along rougher paths. Although we were very exhausted, we couldn’t afford to camp out because of the rain. While heading back, we summarized the outline of the incident so that we could make our report to the guild.
“Those guys must have attacked Altz Point. They knew that if they attacked the transit base at Altz Point, the guild would organize a massive supply convoy to support the frontlines.”
Ellen nodded in agreement. Those bastards had destroyed Altz Point. They knew that the guild would invest a huge amount of material to support the frontlines in response.
The adventurers on the frontlines had no way to know what was happening. Those guys had occupied Altz Point and advanced up to Klitz Point.
“They would have killed all the adventurers heading south to check out Altz Point, as well as those who were returning because of the disrupted supplies.”
Those heading back north to from the front lines, as well as those heading south from Saints Point, were all killed. As a result, no one knew what had happened. Adventurers who wanted to move quickly would naturally travel via the route that passed through Altz Point and Klitz Point, without suspicion. They would have fallen victim to the bandit adventurers without knowing it.
“How many people did they kill, all just for money...?” Eleris muttered helplessly, lamenting the loss of life. The bandit group had annihilated two key supply bases and killed all the adventurers going in and out. No matter how much material they secured, was it truly worth the countless lives lost?
Ellen shook her head. “It was probably not just about the supplies.”
“... You mean they were targeting the adventurers’ equipment and money too?”
“That must have been the case.”
They wouldn’t have just looted the supplies, but the equipment and money the adventurers had as well.
“I confirmed that there were quite a number of looted items in the inn. Not everything was destroyed by the fire, so that should serve as evidence too.”
There were no witnesses, but evidence remained in the form of the looted goods. Ellen seemed to believe that our claims would not be dismissed as completely baseless.
We had walked all night, and the sky was beginning to lighten with dawn.
“We’re almost there.”
We finally returned to Saints Point, which we had departed early the previous morning, also early in the morning.
From a distance, we could see numerous wagons waiting at Saints Point.
Their departure had most likely been delayed because of the rain.
“Let’s head straight to the guild office.”
Ellen had mentioned that there was something she wanted to confirm.
We arrived at the Adventurers’ Guild office at Saints Point, completely soaked. The clerks stationed there seemed slightly taken aback by our appearance.
Despite being drenched by the rain, Ellen and I were still covered in blood.
Ellen promptly summoned the highest-ranking official present.
“This is an emergency. Please call the officer-in-charge.”
***
The guild officer who had tried to interrogate us the last time appeared shortly after. Because of our appearance, not only did the officer show up, but several of the Adventurers’ Guild guards as well.
“An emergency? What happened?”
The officer, dressed in full uniform, furrowed his brow upon seeing our disheveled state. He could definitely tell that something serious had occurred. Ellen shook her head.
“It concerns the supply convoy. I think we should also discuss this with Mr. Hugson.”
“... Mr. Hugson?”
“Yes.”
The officer already knew that we possessed the imperial crest. After pondering for a moment, he instructed someone to fetch Hugson.
After a brief wait, Hugson finally appeared.
“Who do you think you are, summoning me at will?”
Hugson, unaware that we had essentially saved his life, looked extremely displeased. He was evidently already frustrated because of the disruption to the supply convoy’s schedule caused by the weather.
Ellen calmly began to explain the situation.
“Our group departed Saints Point yesterday and headed towards Klitz Point.”
Hugson’s expression twisted slightly at those words.
“Yes, so what about that? Why did you come back?”
“Klitz Point was occupied by a band of about twenty adventurers-turned-bandits, and everyone there was killed.”
“... What?!”
At Ellen’s words, Hugson, the officer, and everyone inside the office were struck with shock.
Altz Point, and now Klitz Point too—both obliterated by bandits.
Ellen stared intently at Hugson as she continued, “We killed all of those bandits last night and returned to Saints Point to report this.”
There had been a bandit gang, but they were all dead now.
“What? Nonsense... This sounds like complete rubbish...” Hugson said with a frown. He clearly thought it was some ridiculous bluff.
“See for yourselves.”
Ellen pulled out a bundle of about ten cards from her bag and laid them on the table.
Some were soaked in blood, while others were relatively intact.
“These are...!?”
Hugson’s and the officer’s eyes widened immensely when they saw the identification cards we had brought with us.
“We couldn’t retrieve all of them, but these are the adventurer ID cards of some of those bandits.”
When we had gone over the corpses, it was to gather evidence. We had anticipated that our account would be met with disbelief. We hadn’t brought all of them, but there were more than ten.
“... Did you guys really...?”
“Yes.”
The officer’s eyes shuddered violently. The fact that there had been a bandit gang was already alarming enough, but the evidence laid out before him indicated that three people had wiped them out entirely—an unbelievable story made real by the proof in front of him.
Ellen had said that she’d come to Saints Point to confirm something.
“You seem to have a hard time hiding your expression,” she said.
“... What are you talking about?”
Ellen glared coldly at Hugson and pointed to the adventurer ID cards that were scattered on the table.
“Why? Do you recognize any of these faces?”
It seemed Ellen had confirmation of what she was looking for.
***
An accomplice.
Ellen suspected Hugson, the chief officer of the supply convoy, of being an accomplice. Everyone was taken aback by Ellen’s sudden accusation.
“W-What... What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Those guys, they knew exactly when the supply convoy was set to depart.”
Ellen had picked up on something suspicious from the conversations she had overheard.
“Of course,” she continued, “the schedule of the supply convoy isn’t exactly a state secret. They might have gotten the information by killing adventurers coming and going. Sure.”
The fact that the bandits knew the exact schedule of the supply convoy wasn’t in itself definitive proof. However, there was something else suspicious.
“But this convoy’s escort, aside from you, is composed entirely of adventurers ranked E and F. Most of them aren’t particularly reliable. You must have arranged it that way on purpose.”
It was the composition of the supply convoy.
When Ellen first noticed it, she thought that he’d arranged it so as to increase his own share of the payment, and I had agreed with her assessment. However, with the added information of the bandits that had been lying in wait at Klitz Point, Ellen began to suspect otherwise.
Perhaps he’d filled the convoy escort with easy targets on purpose. If it was composed solely of novices who were incapable of putting up a fight, then subduing them would be effortless.
Considering the massive slaughter that the bandits had already partaken in, they would not have blinked at killing dozens of convoy members, including the escort.
Two points of suspicion...
“And now, your expression upon seeing these ID cards.”
Ellen pointed to Hugson’s face, which clearly showed that he was trying to hide something. That was her final piece of evidence.
“You’re definitely an accomplice.”
Hugson found himself unable to respond at all.
The guild officer’s lips were trembling.
“M-Mr. Hugson... th-this ID card... it’s your brother... Hudson’s ID card...”
The guild officer had a look of denial on his face. He did not want the pieces in his mind to fit together. It appeared the officer was unaware of Hugson’s involvement.
“You damn bastards!”
Hugson swung the axe he had been carrying on his back at Ellen.
Bang!
“Yeah.”
Ellen easily dodged it and closed the distance between her and Hugson.
There was no way Ellen would be hit by such a heavy and slow weapon.
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to control yourself.”
Ellen, from just one encounter, had already assessed that Hugson wasn’t a man of great patience. He got excited easily, had poor emotional control, and acted impulsively.
This was the same man who had tried to frame us for banditry after we had secured the services of a person he wanted to recruit. When that hadn’t worked, he’d even resorted to physical threats.
Ellen had intentionally provoked him, knowing that he wouldn’t remain calm when presented with irrefutable evidence proving that his real comrades had all been killed. His aggression in this situation was, in itself, evidence of his guilt.
Thump!
“Ugh!”
Without even drawing her sword, Ellen punched Hugson squarely in the solar plexus.
Bam!
“Ugh... argh...”
As Hugson bent over, retching, Ellen grabbed a fistful of his hair.
Crack!
She pulled his hair so violently that it seemed it might tear right off.
“The only thing superior about you when compared to others is your brutal nature, not your skills.”
“G-Ga-Gahhh!”
Bang!
Ellen slammed Hugson’s head directly into the ground.
Like most adventurers who easily turned to banditry, Hugson had mistaken his cruel nature for actual skill. He had made it this far only because of his inherent brutality, not because of any genuine competence. That was who Hugson was.
In the end, he couldn’t even touch a hair on Ellen’s head.
Ellen looked down at Hugson with a gaze full of contempt.
“Don’t mistake that for real skill.”
***
The most pressing thing for the three of us was to rest our exhausted bodies. Ellen seemed reluctant to rest, possibly sensing that we weren’t completely safe yet, but we were already near our mental and physical limits.
Eventually, we fell asleep—perhaps collapsed would be a better way to put it—in the inn. Naturally, we got a triple room in case anything unexpected happened. Knowing that Eleris was with us, I just flopped onto the bed and passed out from exhaustion.
Hugson was being detained in the temporary holding cell attached to the guild office. Predictably, he denied all charges. The guild officer, seemingly unaware of the extent of Hugson’s scheming, had hastily dispatched a messenger to the headquarters at the Egxian Forward Base, and was busy making other urgent arrangements. If he didn’t handle the situation properly, his own neck could be on the line.
We woke up around noon. After refreshing ourselves with a shower and a meal, we were summoned to the guild office. We needed to be interviewed as key witnesses. At the guild office, we provided a detailed account of everything we saw, heard, and did to a high-ranking guild investigator who had likely rushed over from the guild headquarters.
He did not seem to be affiliated with the locals of Saints Point.
“... It’s difficult to justify self-defense in the case of a massacre, even under these circumstances. You may believe that your actions were the best option, and I do understand the evidence supports that belief. Still, this concerns dozens of deaths. We can’t establish complete innocence without some form of legal restraint....”
Before he could continue, I took out the imperial crest and my Temple student ID.
“...”
He looked at them in silence and then let out a sigh.
“The fact that you’re a student of Temple and under the royal protection means there’s no risk of you fleeing. There’s no need to detain you.”
Even in a place where killings were common, it didn’t mean killing was permitted.
While those who killed then disappeared might evade capture, those who slew supposed wrongdoers had to face trial, instead of receiving a commendation, when their deeds were brought to light.
While hiding would have been the safer bet, Ellen had chosen to report the incident to the guild, exposing Hugson.
As a result, Hugson would be investigated, but we also had to account for our actions.
It was unjust.
And yet, I didn’t particularly resent the situation.
“Anyway, I’ll summarize this case in a way that justifies your actions. That should suffice.”
Though the situation was unjust, we could leverage an even more significant, albeit unjust, advantage.
We had committed killings, and whether they were righteous or malicious, it was, in essence, wrongdoing.
But we belonged to a privileged class capable even of bypassing repercussions for such acts.
One injustice was being covered up by another. There would be no personal fallout for me.
And that was all that mattered.
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