“They are coming.”
At the edge of the horizon, the bandits were moving.
I could not see their faces. But from their formation, clothing, and weapons, I could at least infer that they were neither regular soldiers nor mercenaries.
“Formation. I will explain it one last time. Listen carefully, everyone.”
Once the battle began, I would not be able to track each person’s position and condition one by one and give orders. That was why I had to give the orders in advance.
I moved seven stones.
“First, me. I will stand at the front. Do not lose your composure just because I am surrounded or take a few hits. Even if I am stabbed by a sword or knocked down, keep your positions. Until my head comes off.”
The greatest fighting strength in my mercenary company was me. If I did not fight on the front line, the likelihood of casualties would rise.
I would be surrounded. That was my intention. As much as possible, seven of them—or at least five—had to surround me and attack.
“Behind me, Anna and Jema. The two of you will form up four steps from me, with two steps between yourselves.”
Anna, Dana’s sister, could be called the best Meat Shield in my mercenary company. And Jema was the only mercenary rescued from the Man-Eating Spiders whose body was intact.
“You will also be surrounded by at least two bandits. If you are unlucky, three or more. You may move your position if it becomes dangerous, but turning your backs and running is dangerous. Understand that.”
“Understood!”
“Yes, Captain!”
Anna held the two-handed felling axe she had received from a villager, while Jema held a wooden club.
The axe had enough killing power, but I did not think Anna could swing it at a person in an urgent situation and cut them down. The wooden club was even less capable of that.
Since the enemies were not wearing helmets, a lucky strike to the head might stun one. But their role was not to kill enemies.
“Keep your movements restrained, and move with the mindset of threatening the enemy rather than killing them. Your role is to hold out. Next, Iris.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“You will stand in the center between them, one and a half steps behind, and protect the two of them. Attack the enemies aggressively and use your spear to take their lives.”
If the two mercenaries in front carried out the task of taking the enemies’ attacks, Iris’s role was to cut the enemies’ lives short.
Anna and Jema would have difficulty even landing their weapons on the enemy. Even if they landed a blow, they would find it hard to put enough strength behind it to deal an effective hit.
But Iris, who would strike at enemies from a relatively safe position, could take their lives far more skillfully and sharply.
Of course, enemies were not AI. They would take advantage of the spear’s limitations: its weakness against enemies pressing in at extremely close range or attacking from a blind spot.
They would not simply watch her stab away from a few steps behind.
‘But Iris is strong.’
She was a knight.
Even if she had lost one eye and her sense of depth, even if her breathing was uneven and one leg did not have proper strength, she was a knight.
Even an old tiger that had lost one eye and limped on one leg could not be defeated in a fight by an ordinary person.
That was how strong she was. There was that much of a gap between an ordinary human and a knight.
Iris would be able to easily drive off enemies trying to attack her.
Even if she failed, she wore armor. A knight’s armor.
Of course, its condition was too poor to compare to mine, to the point that it was embarrassing to call it ‘knight’s armor.’
But it was enough—no, more than enough—for the role of a mercenary facing a few bandits rather than the role of a knight who had to ride into battle and charge before countless enemies.
She was not a mercenary I had to put in the rear because she lacked the ability to endure on the front line. I had no choice but to put her in the rear because she was too important to die. She would not be in danger.
“Next, Niv. Use your sling twice. Once beside me, then retreat directly behind me and use it again on the bandits approaching me. After that, fall back to one step behind Iris and throw the nets.”
“……Yes.”
In this world, ranged attacks were not fundamentally fired over allies’ heads.
Even bows were rarely used that way, let alone slings.
Firing a projectile at an enemy who had closed with an ally was no different from declaring that it did not matter if the ally was hit.
In a frantic battlefield, positions could switch in an instant, and then there was no guarantee that a projectile fired at an enemy would hit its target.
But conversely, that meant that if it did not matter whether an ally was hit by the projectile, enemies and allies could be tangled together as much as they pleased.
With my helmet, even a stone hitting my head directly would not be fatal. It would be a little dangerous, but that was all.
If it hit somewhere other than my head, it would not pose much threat beyond being a little unpleasant.
Besides, I would be surrounded by bandits as well, so in practice I would have almost no chance of being struck by a stone.
If it was this safe, securing one more chance to use the sling was acceptable.
“Ember, as we discussed, throw the nets. After using two or more nets, take up your dagger and attack enemies floundering because of the nets. Move flexibly, but you must never expose yourself to an enemy’s attacks.”
A net was the god of the battlefield. The dream and hope of poor mercenaries.
Just by throwing one, it was a precious thing that could incapacitate an enemy mercenary for a certain time.
Of course, in ordinary play, freely throwing such precious nets was not easy. Thread and cord were not cheap, either.
But I had exterminated the Man-Eating Spiders. In the process, I defeated a considerable number of spiders and monopolized the thread that came from them.
It was difficult to earn a proper price by selling the material, but twisting the thread myself and making nets was not difficult. The sling we were using was made from that webbing too.
I gave the others orders in a stiff tone, but I could not bring myself to do so with Dana.
“Y-yes, but…….”
Dana lowered her head shyly.
“What song should I sing?”
“Something ordinary…… You said you could sing a song that sharpens an edge, right? I think that should do.”
“But Anna is the only person among us who uses an axe.”
“Ah.”
It felt as though my brain had frozen.
“That song from then, the one that sharpens an axe blade…… Does it only sharpen axes?”
“W-well, yes?”
“It does not sharpen all our allies’ weapons?”
“No…….”
“Why?”
“Usually, when I helped my sister……, it was enough to sharpen her axe.”
It was a problem I had not anticipated. Dana’s song was not a song that ‘sharpened an ally’s weapons,’ but a song that ‘sharpened only an ally’s axe.’
‘Of course, this is right. Songs are supposed to be learned before they can be used……!’
A bard could sing only songs they knew. Even if they sang any song with ‘power’ in it, that did not mean mystical power would dwell in that song.
I had forgotten this almost obvious fact.
‘Dana is too capable……!’
She was the kind of girl who could even catch on to and sing the Song of the Winged Hunter, which she could not possibly have known, merely from hearing my meaningless scream.
When we hunted Man-Eating Spiders, I had casually ordered the Song of Vitality. Dana sang it as though it were only natural.
“I guess I don’t know songs I’ve never needed to use very well…….”
“No, no. It’s not your fault.”
She was not a bard from a mercenary background. She had no record of fighting on battlefields. She was young as well.
Thinking about it normally, there was no reason for her to know songs useful in battle. She knew a song related to an axe blade because Anna often split wood.
‘Wait…….’
I was mistaken. I scratched my head.
‘Song of Healing. There is no occasion to use it until someone is wounded. Song of Courage? The mercenary company’s morale is already full. There is no reason to sing it unless several people on the front line die…….’
And in a mercenary company of seven, if one or two front-line mercenaries died and morale hit bottom, there was no reason for those remaining to hold their positions and fight. It would be a lost battle anyway.
‘The axe-enhancing song is meaningless too. Anna is not a damage dealer. The Song of Vitality…… might have a little use, though.’
After thinking for a moment, I shook my head. The battle would end before anyone’s stamina ran out.
Stamina ran short when a fight went on excessively long, or when allies wore heavy armor and expended stamina merely moving.
But the only people among us wearing thick armor were Iris and me, and my stamina was not lacking.
‘It is a little much to sing for Iris alone, and the Song of Vitality replenishes stamina by a percentage…….’
Iris lacked stamina not because of fatigue or thirst, but because of her injury. To put it in game terms, her maximum stamina itself had been lowered.
“……If someone is injured, sing the Song of Healing from then on. If I signal you, sing the Song of Vitality.”
“Understood!”
She smiled brightly, but my feelings were complicated.
‘Curse-type songs are not easy to learn, and even if she learns them, I do not know whether Dana will sing them well. This is truly awkward.’
Of course, even if I used Dana this inefficiently, she was a talent who could do more than one person’s share.
For a small mercenary company like ours, it was important merely to be able to treat battle wounds even a little more quickly.
“They are getting close. Let us prepare.”
The entire plan had been made. Now it was time to fight.
Praying that the plan I had prepared would proceed smoothly.
***
They came closer. The remaining distance was only about one hundred meters at most.
The leader of the Bandit Gang saw me and shouted.
“Heeey, you bastard! I don’t know what gutter you crawled out of, but you’re wearing some very fine armor. Hand over only that, and I’ll let you go quietly!”
It was a stereotypical line. I could understand it. My armor must have been armor such bandits could never possess in their lives.
“I refuse. I came to kill you and protect the merchants.”
“Ha, you greenhorn who doesn’t know his place. Do you think you can fight us and win with only a few measly wenches?”
“Of course. Come at me.”
I shouted confidently. But the situation could not be called good.
‘Sixteen of them?’
I had thought there would be only a little more than ten. In a small-scale battle like this, even a difference of one or two people could not be taken lightly.
“Insolent bastard……! I was going to spare you because I did not want bloodshed. Boys! Attack!”
The bandits began rushing toward me. I looked at Niv beside me.
“Fire.”
“……Yes!”
Her body sometimes flinched. The poison flowing through her veins was causing her pain.
I could only hope that, at least in the moment she began to throw, the pain would not flare up.
“H-here I go!”
Perhaps the bandits had no projectile weapons. Sixteen bandits began rushing in disorder.
We were a little lucky. If there had been one bandit with a bow or three bandits with slings, we would have had to charge the enemy.
The stone flew on the wind.
“Aaaaargh!”
It hit. The head of one of the bandits rushing toward us shattered, and blood and flesh burst out.
“Do not stand there blankly! To your position!”
Niv could not move immediately, caught between the sensation of killing a person and the joy of landing her first shot. I gave her a light tap to bring her to her senses.
“Come!”
I charged the bandits, who had already run right up before me.
The battle began.