The thieves sneered like a starving beast as they looked toward Lambert, ignoring the girl who was becoming flustered by the second; her eyes darting between Lambert and the thieves.
At first glance, the overwhelming difference in number was very clear. Furthermore, Lambert, who was armed to the teeth and wearing heavy duty armor, was perceived to be unable to even run properly should he try.
「K-… Knight-sama, l-let’s surrender.」
The girl begged tearfully, scared. Nevertheless, no matter how scared that girl of the thieves, to Lambert they were nothing more than cute little puppies.
「Your worry is for naught.」
Unsheathing his sword as he spoke, Lambert made a beeline toward the thieves. He was so fast as if the heavy equipment on his body were as light as feathers. But, judging from the sound of his footsteps made the four thieves felt like the forest was shaking, just like there’s an ogre charging towards them.
No one would think that full plate armor was just for show.
「I-I’m going to circle around from his right! Let’s surround him and beat the hell out of him! Throw away your blow dart and take out your knife! He shouldn’t be able to keep going if we stab the joint of his armor! 」
The thief who stood at the front of the others, the one with scythe, instructed his colleagues.
His first mistake was expecting Lambert movement to be hindered by his heavy armor, that was why he intended to waste Lambert stamina with their sheer number when he made his plan. However, he realized such plan was impossible when he saw Lambert running speed.
So, before he even had the chance to move, Lambert had already entered into the range of his heavy sword.
「EH」
The next thing he knew, all he felt was a terrifying killing intent and added with the effect of the miasma that was discharged by Lambert’s body when he prepared to attack, it gave birth to a terror that coiled around the thieves’s heart.
And then, without even giving them a moment of rest, Lambert swung his great sword to the side.
「HAAAAAA! 」
The blow was accompanied with a loud roar, and within moments the neck of the man in front flew high into the air. And then, the attack was followed by a second upward slash from below.
The second and third thieves were also bisected right in half by the overwhelming mass of Lambert’s great sword. The body of those three thieves were sent flying toward different direction from each other.
From a slightly separated location away from the fight, the girl’s eyes were wide open with shock. She couldn’t see anything but the fact that Lambert had managed to dispatch those three thieves in just one strike. Lambert was that fast that when he executed his move, it made the girl only saw one strike.
「A-… Amazing.」
Even though she saw it with her own two eyes, she doubted Lambert’s power that she saw. His power was so overwhelming to the point of unrealistic.
And, at that moment, Lambert sheathed his great sword back as the head of the first man fell right behind him, crushed like a crushed red tomato.
「What a disappointment, these guys have no skills to back their mouth. But, this is strange. They don’t look like they were troubled by food, so what’s causing this lack of…I hope this isn’t some sort of unpleasant omen but…」
During the era of Eight Countries Unification war, Regios Kingdom and the other Kingdoms had established army that was placed all over their country to protect the kingdom against foreign forces. And, at that time, there were countless villagers who had some degree of training to respond to the Kingdom’s call of concriptions.
Furthermore, to disperse the terrifyingly powerful enemy kingdom’s army, they had to spread one team of armed group to plunder enemy’s villages. So, in some respect, the army needed to act as thieves as well. And, at that time, the average power of the people from the Eight Countries Unification War era was far higher than the current era. Thus, Lambert’s confusion. After all, he had no knowledge about the changes of the era. So, he felt that those thieves’s movement was the same as that of an amateur.
The girl at first disagreed to take Lambert to her village, and Lambert thought that it was because she would be the one held responsible as the one who guide him there. However, she was finally forced to reconsider her choice when she saw what Lambert could do. She thought over what might have happened if Lambert faced against more than 30 thieves, and she was finally convinced to take him there.
What Lambert didn’t say to the girl was the fact that he felt mana of a demon from the direction ahead of them.
This sensation…its danger level is around goblin rank…but it doesn’t seem to be that powerful nor vigilant either…
After walking for a while, they found a demon that looked like a bipedal short wolf.
A Kobold.
They usually were found living in a cave while scavenging for ores. Their race were not that powerful but they were considered as quite a cunning one. They killed their prey with surprise attack and nasty tactics before they ate their prey’s meat.
And, slightly away from their current position, sat two kobold digging into the ground with their fingers, looking for bugs for their meal.
The moment he saw those kobold, a realization came to Lambert. The reason why he didn’t meet any other demons safe for the ogre he killed last night was due to the leaked miasma from his body.
Anything that leaked miasma was under demon category.
Lambert kept the information in his mind, thinking that it might become useful later on.
「Though we’re taking a bit detour… This might be for better.」
The girl whispered to Lambert, however he completely ignored her words. In his opinion, letting the demon be so close to the village might give birth to many problems later on. Moreover, he wanted to try something he just thought of.
Meanwhile, as soon as the two kobold spotted Lambert, they stood up and snarled at him.
「GUOOOO! 」
Lambert let loose the miasma he had reined. His body set in a daunting pose as he glared at the kobold. When the kobold sensed his miasma, they immediately kneeled on the spot, tail lying listlessly. Seeing that, Lambert didn’t react at all. So, the kobolds showed an even more submissive pose with their belly up to the sky.
「Kyan…… Kyan! 」
It was their stance to show their respect toward someone far more powerful than them.
It was a show of their submission toward that person, showing that their life was in his hand by showing their most vulnerable spot to him, their stomach. Their instinct told them that neither fighting nor running could save their life due to the overwhelming difference between their power.
「S-Somehow, they look rather… Pitiful.」
The girl muttered so.
I’ve yet to release my miasma at full throttle and yet… They were already this scared. So I can use my miasma in this way too huh.
Lambert walked briskly toward the two Kobold and then struck their neck with his great sword.
「…………」
The girl was at a loss when she saw such a gruesome scene. When Lambert looked at the girl’s face, he wondered whether she thought that it would be okay to not kill them.
「… The kobold might be taking advantage of the situation and set the village on fire. We have to kill them unless they were domesticated one. Though I’ll overlook them if they were not in this location… Your village is close by right.」
「Y-Yes…」
The girl was ashamed of her own carelessness. Since many demons were harmful to humans, they should be killed as soon as you found them, the same precept also exists in her village.
But, she ended up pitying those two kobolds just because they cried in a pitiful way.