Once we arrived at the town, I got down from the Pegasus with the pouch of gold in my hands, ready to boast about my greatness when it happened. Some bandits attacked us from out of the edge of the forest near the town entrance. This time, the guards acted like they were expected to and joined us in the fight, but... they were too weak, apparently. I wasn't insulting them or anything, but they could have stayed back and done nothing, and it still wouldn't have made a difference. I mean, I saw one of them get their skull smashed by a bandit who was carrying a battle axe and another knocked out ft by a single hit.
I knew that soldiers were weak at lower levels, but it was still a sad sight to see. May their souls rest in peace. I was just about to dodge a bandit's axe swing at close range when he kicked me! It was a feint! The pouch flew out of my hands, and just as he was about to grab it, Phildina quickly hopped on her Pegasus, spun her iron nce, and took off at maximum speed. It impressed me how much of a spectacur fighter she was, as in mere moments, all the bandits were moaning in pain on the floor. She had apparently left them all within an inch of their lives, which was no easy feat for a novice. Once again, I was both in awe and terrified of her.
"I left them all for you, Daphne," She said as she turned to me with a sweet smile. It would have been charming in a different context, but not this one.
"Thanks, but I'd rather kill monsters," I answered honestly. To me, monsters were monsters, so you could kill them with no strings attached, but humans or NPCs were another matter entirely. Even if they were scum like these guys or that thief, you'd still come to regret it afterward, and it was a policy of mine to do things I wouldn't regret. "Let's just steal all their weapons and items instead."
"But these guys give out decent EXP," She said with cute, puppy-like eyes. Once again, I was disturbed by her attitude, thinking to myself, She's definitely used to killing both humans and monsters. Was she an assassin? And that's when it occurred to me: the idea that would allow us to profit even more out of this situation. Here, we had a bunch of defeated bandits who, from what I saw, carried some decent weaponry. Who's to say they didn't have more treasure stashed away somewhere? I wore the kindest, warmest, most merciful expression as I began,
"You see, I'm a merciful person, but my partner over there is a bloodthirsty killer. She wants to kill each and every single one of you for your EXP, and I've been trying to stop her, but..." I paused to watch their expressions twist in fear. It's working! Phildina was also pying along, stroking her nce with a borderline psychotic look in her eyes as she stared at them. Even I was a little bit creeped out by her dispy, but if it worked, it worked! "She says she'll only spare you if you give her your treasure," I said with a solemn look on my face.
"And if you dare run away, I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and take my sweet time dismembering you. You'll die in the most agonizingly painful way known to man, and there will be no escape from that fate." She said in an icy cold tone with a bit of a half-crazed expression on her face. She's acting, right? Right?? I thought as they scampered off, returning with everything from dragon scales to spirit dust, high-quality weapons, and the like a bit ter. Fear was a powerful thing.
Dragon scales permanently raised one's defense, while spirit dust did the same for magic. Among the mountain of items they brought, I happened to catch a glimpse of a special ring all pyers were familiar with. A Limit Break? Today keeps getting better and better! Limit Breaks were items that allowed csses to be promoted to the 2nd tier at level 50. They'd usually cost a fortune, but with this, we got one for free! It was good to be merciful!
As it was too much to carry, I went into the town to hire the services of a merchant while Phildina stayed outside. He would help store our items for us in exchange for a monthly fee, so we loaded our items into his caravan and walked into the town. The bandits gave us everything they had, so we let them live because of it. What? Would it come back to bite us? Nah, we'd simply beat them up again. And if they stole a ton of things before coming back for revenge, then... Oh, the joys of business!
I practically skipped into the tavern, found the table where the rest of the party members were, and dropped the bag of gold coins on the table as I puffed out my chest. They all looked at me in shock as I stood there proudly, the question on their minds probably being, How did you get this much gold? But I wasn't going to answer them just yet, as I had a question for the leader.
"Kimmel, do you know of any good hunting grounds around here?" It took him a while to answer, but he eventually recovered from the shock and said,
"O-oh, um, yeah. I could show you where it is." So, he and everyone else got up from the table, and we went on a short journey to the hunting ground in question. At the gate, we expined that some bandits tried to attack us while leaving out some of the details, and Matilda stopped to heal the unconscious guard, but from there, it was silent the entire time, which made things really awkward, but we arrived at the pce before long. It was a grassy pin not too far from the town. We all stood atop a hill that gave a bird's eye view of the hunting ground in all its beauty. Now, all I needed to know was...
"What monsters usually appear here?"
"Centaurs and Floating Eyes appear mostly during the day while Skeletons and Zombies appear at night," Kimmel began. "Sometimes, you may find Spiders and Hellhounds as well, but they are usually more rare."
"Perfect," I said with a smile. I bought the rights to the hunting ground that day and decided I would start grinding with the party before long. Everything was beginning to fall into pce, but I feared I was being lured into the same sense of false safety that all those other top pyers experienced. I wouldn't make the mistake of thinking this to be easy, so instead, I thought, It'll only get harder from here.
