Thud!
Dason got down from the carriage with a heavy step, and Kemen stuck to his side like a shadow.
"Kurung......."
Benereton was nestled in his arms. Tense from the encounter with the bandits, the small spirit simply clung quietly to Dason.
It was then.
'Real bandits.'
The two Aura Knights and the bandits standing across from them came into Dason's view. Shabby clothes of rags, a menacing air given off by savagely twisted faces.
The bandits gripped rusty swords and axes in their hands. Their stance with their weapons was aggressive.
The long scars across their dusty skin said that these were not men who took up swords for mere plunder alone.
"What's this?"
"So there was a noble riding in it."
Just then, the bandits' eyes turned to Dason.
"Catch that one and sell him as a slave, and he'd fetch a bit of money, wouldn't he?"
They looked him over with eyes full of rank desire and smacked their lips.
To them, the status of a noble's son made for the finest of merchandise to sell as a slave for money.
One with looks as beautiful as Dason's, in particular, was well worth it even at a high asking price.
Gulp.
For better or worse, thanks to his strengthened hearing, Dason could hear every word of the bandits' talk.
"Our boss has a taste for men, you know. That noble bastard would be just his type."
"But I figure he'd sell well at the slave market, too."
"Let's have a taste of him ourselves first."
Gooseflesh rising all over his body, Dason whispered to Kemen.
"Kemen, we have to win, whatever it takes."
"You speak of a foregone conclusion."
"No matter what."
Being sold off as a slave and used for that purpose, as the bandits said, was something Dason did not even want to imagine.
If it came to that, he felt he would sooner go to the Demon Realm and live as a soldier.
Even if it was a perilous place from which only 1 in 10 could come back alive.
"Young Master."
Just then, the Aura Knight standing on the right asked Dason in an even tone.
"Shall we kill them all?"
As if he were used to dealing with bandits, his face showed not a speck of tension.
If anything, a thrill was running beneath his skin, as if he had been waiting for a moment like this.
As though the taking of lives were some kind of amusement, a touch of madness had been added to the knight's eyes.
'Kill them?'
Dason faltered at the Aura Knight's unexpected question.
For a man who had never once committed murder with his own hands in all his life, an order to put the bandits to death was not one he could give lightly.
"Young Master."
Seeing Dason hesitate, Kemen whispered quietly.
"Those bandits are a notorious band who rape women, then cut off their heads and carry them about strung up."
"What?"
Dason asked, aghast. Kemen pointed to the bone necklaces hanging at the bandits' necks and went on.
"That is the very proof of the inhuman atrocities they have committed. They wear the bones of the people they have killed like trophies."
Dason was dumbstruck at Kemen's words. Because he had lived sunk in drink and revelry day in and day out, the harsh reality of the outside world was all but unknown territory to him.
Dason, drunk on comfort like a pig in a birdcage, could not possibly have known even the hardships of the territory's people, let alone the bandits' evil deeds.
"You will not have known until now, Young Master. But you must realize the truth, late though it is."
Kemen's words came as a shock to Dason. There was no shame or guilt. Until a short while before, he had not been Dason, after all.
But dealing with those bandits.
That much, he made up his mind, had to be done for certain.
"Kill them...... every last one."
"Understood."
The two Aura Knights nodded at Dason's words.
Whoosh!
The Aura Knights advanced at a speed too fast for the eye to follow. In an instant, they were already right in front of the bandits' noses.
Whoom!
The sharp sound of swords slicing the air struck his ears. Blades flashing like a streak of light fell upon the bandits.
Squelch!
Swords that broke through their guard and ran their bodies through. Fresh blood sprayed from the bandits' necks and chests.
......Thud!
Bandits crumpling to the ground. In an instant, they were turning into corpses.
Whip! Shick-shick!
The knights' swordplay showed no sign of stopping.
"Aaargh!"
Bandits screaming their death cries. But no saving hand reached out to them.
Even the last screams, which seemed to drop to the ground, did not last long.
.......
Stillness.
Only silence hung over the forest.
***
Leaving the bandits' corpses behind, the carriage set out on the road again. They left the bodies of the dead as food for wild beasts.
"Hoo......."
As the tension left him, Dason let out a deep sigh. For a man who had devoted his whole life to nothing but music, so cruel a situation was a shocking experience he had never been through before.
'My hands are shaking.'
Was it the excessive stress? It felt as if the strength were draining right out of his body. His trembling hands shook like aspen leaves, beyond his control, like those of a man with a tremor.
The terror of facing death and the horror of the slaughter weighed on his soul. However he tried to shake it off, fear clouded his blood.
"Kurung......."
Benereton looked at Dason, who was trembling with anxiety, with a pitying expression. Its heart went out to him as he fretted, at a loss for what to do.
After a moment's thought, Benereton soon nodded as if it had made up its mind about something.
Pit-a-pat!
Then it strode over and sat down at its very own small piano.
The spirit placed its hands on the keys and closed its eyes for a moment. Having drawn a deep breath, Benereton slowly breathed out and began to press the keys.
A gentle melody flowed out. It wanted to soothe and comfort Dason's heart through music.
Da-ra-ran.......
As Benereton played, the gentle melody of 'Up, Up Goes the Airplane' rang out in the carriage once again.
But this time, a subtle change could be felt in the piece's notes.
Until now, its playing had felt strongly like a pure, innocent children's song.
But now, beneath that, it was steeped in an emotion that held Benereton's comfort for Dason.
The bright, cheerful notes were the same as ever, but the sensibility dwelling in the piece had grown more complex and delicate. Beyond pure delight, it had a depth in which sorrow and solace seemed to cross.
"......!"
At that moment, Dason looked at Benereton with a startled face. The little thing's changed playing drew all of his attention.
'I've calmed down.'
His shaking hands went still. With that, Benereton's playing came to his ears a little more clearly.
It was a new attempt, one with the player's emotion in it, not merely pressing on the keys the notes written in the sheet music.
Dong.......
And so Dason and Kemen listened quietly to Benereton's playing, until at last the final notes of the piece had finished sounding from the piano.
Ding-a-ling!
[Piece currently in practice: Up, Up Goes the Airplane]
[Practice completion: 100%]
[Target reached.]
A mysterious blue light flowed from Benereton's body. As if the starlight hidden inside the small spirit had awakened, a bluish radiance poured from its whole body.
The soft streams of light brushed over the piano keys and coiled across the carriage floor, filling the cramped interior. The blue radiance slowly spread outward and leaked out through the clear glass windows.
The beautiful flow of light, like the Milky Way in the night sky, colored the running carriage with fantasy. The sight of the blue carriage shining alone in the darkness was nothing short of mysterious.
"This can't be......."
Dason murmured with an entranced face. The light was wondrously beautiful. A feast of blue light overwhelming enough to stop the breath, it drew admiration from those who saw it.
It was then.
Hummm!
Benereton beckoned and gathered the blue light that had poured from its body. As if drawn by the spirit's will, the clusters of light meekly condensed and turned into a small glowing body.
"Kururung!"
Benereton, smiling broadly at Dason. In its dainty grasp there now nestled a glittering blue sphere.
It was a crystal of light, shimmering so dazzlingly that one could not look away.
[Benereton wishes to hand over the special power it has been given.]
[Will you accept this action?]
Just then, a distinct system message rose before Dason's eyes.
'Can I really...... take this?'
Dason hesitated for a moment at the unexpected notice. But soon, drawn by the vital energy coming from the blue sphere, he took a step closer.
"Kurururung~"
At that, Benereton, with a satisfied smile, handed over the sphere of light it had been holding in its arms. With a resonance like a tender whisper, the spirit pressed the mysterious crystal it had created into Dason's hand.
Even to the naked eye, he could sense that a tremendous amount of magic power was condensed in it. The warmth of life came from the sphere's surface, and an endless light of hope spread out from his fingertips.
Thump...... thump!
The moment Dason received the shining blue sphere, something astonishing happened in the palm of his hand.
Whoooosh—
Like a living creature, the sphere began to move on its own.
Giving off a flashing blue light, the sphere slowly seeped into Dason's palm.
"Ngh!"
Dazzled by the fierce light, Dason let out a groan without realizing it. At the alien sensation burrowing into his skin, every hair on his body stood on end.
Boom—!
When the blue sphere had been completely absorbed, a brilliant blue light poured from Dason's body. The power received from the small spirit had exploded inside him.
"What is this......?!"
Startled by the all too fierce blue radiance, Kemen squeezed his eyes shut. The flash that had poured from Dason's body without warning was enough to bewilder the mind of anyone who saw it.
"Young Master!"
Kemen called to Dason in a flustered voice and tried to go to him. But at that moment.......
Whoooosh—!
A bright light swallowed Dason's silhouette, and in the blink of an eye he vanished without a trace.
"......?"
Kemen stood there in a daze and stared at the empty space.
Inside the carriage, Dason was nowhere to be seen; there was only Kemen, filled with bewilderment.
"Kurung!"
And Benereton, wearing a satisfied smile, was the only other one left.