Chapter 376: Chapter 376: Turning Over

After we returned to the resting hut, we handed over the surviving bandits to Heath’s party. There were just three of them, but that’s how it goes. We were still doing our work, after all.

The merchant who made this sudden request would make up for some of his losses with the reward from turning them in.

“I did not think you would subjugate them in mere hours. How in the world did you…”

“That aside, this guy survived but, isn’t he in an awful shape?”

Heath pointed at the man with a crushed crotch who still hadn’t woken up. We did cast Cure Light on him, so he shouldn’t die at least.

“We gave him first-aid treatment just in case, so he should be fine.”

“I-Is that so?”

“It was completely crushed at first.”

“I-I see. That sounds frightening…”

Heath answered weakly at my explanation. Well, I was a guy at heart, so I could understand his feelings. That s?h?i?t? hurts. I mean, well, girls would feel pain too if hit in the same place, but still.

“So, what about their hideout?”

“Oh yeah, they were settled inside a rock cliff at the riverside, so we smoked them out and exterminated them thoroughly. There shouldn’t be any escapees.”

“I see. But if we leave that place be, other bandits could settle in.”

“So I want you guys to hand them over to the guards. If you do, they will properly investigate their headquarters too.”

“Got it, leave that to us. We owe you one for this matter.”

Heath offered Leon a handshake, which he returned.

But then, he glanced back at the fainted man once more and muttered.

“Still… Who did this?”

“That was Fini—”

“It was Lady Nicole!”

Finia interrupted my words with unusual force. She was probably just that flustered, but it looked adorable. I felt like teasing her a bit.

“But the first attack came from you, Finia. You did that ‘Yah!’ from below.”

“I did hit them, but it shouldn’t have dealt so much damage! It was your kick after it that finished him off, you know, Lady Nicole?”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe that did happen?”

As Finia clung to my arm to stop me while I was playing dumb, I suddenly remember something I had to tell her.

“Right. We’ll have to talk a bit after this.”

“Huh, talk?”

“Yeah. Remember that we collided earlier?”

“Yes.”

I brought up the topic of crashing into each other in the earlier battle. Hearing that, Finia let go of my arm and fixed her posture.

The tiny hut we were in was only there to guard against wind and rain, so there wasn’t even a table or chairs around.

The way she sat on her knees on the floor with a serious expression seemed a little comedic.

“During the training camp, I had moved behind while the vanguard was left to Cloud who’s a tank, and you, but now that both of us are attackers, our positions during the battle can overlap quite often, okay?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I see. With Lady Letina out and me joining the party, we have become quite attack-oriented.”

Heath had sensed that we were talking about something important, so he took the bandits outside the hut.

It was still dangerous to spend a night with scoundrels in such a tiny hut. Much less when children like me and Michelle were here too. There was no harm in being careful.

With Heath taking them out to camp, he probably thought that the danger would lessen even if for a bit.

It would look absolutely stupid to be camping outside when the hut was right there, but considering the situation, it couldn’t be helped.

After glancing at them, I continued talking to Finia who was still on her knees.

“You don’t have to sit so properly. It’s not like I’m lecturing you, okay? Anyway, I think we need to change our positioning a little from now on.”

“Positioning…? I believe it is not something so easily changed.”

“Yes. But if we change our weapons, it would have to change.”

“Lady Nicole, are you planning to stop using a katana?”

“Why did you suddenly assume that I would be the one changing my weapon?”

It wasn’t easy to change my combat style centered at the front line that I had stuck to since my previous life. Lyell and I, who were both vanguards, have collided with each other quite a lot.

But since we had Cortina with her extraordinary leadership skill, she corrected our mistakes in the blink of an eye.

That said, we didn’t have anyone like that now. This meant we were forced to change the way we fought.

And above all, the frontline was a dangerous position. My real feeling was that I didn’t want to keep Finia there and get her severely injured.

Ideally, I would want her away from battles entirely, but the various circumstances and her wishes could not be changed.

“Then, are you telling me to fall back? My mastery of magic is still not so good that I have mastered offensive magic…”

“That’s it. Unlike me, you have a lot of variation with your spells, so I want you to stay slightly away. That way, you will have more time to cast various support spells.”

Finia could use the four elements, so she had various support spells in her reserve.

Particularly, it would be great if she cast things like the Fire Weapon spell that clad weapons in flame or Water Shield that reduced the flame damage taken.

But if she stayed at the frontlines, she would almost never have time to chant them.

“But with my weapon…”

“I have that covered. Here’s a magic weapon I got from a certain, ‘self-proclaimed,’ God.”

As Finia argued back, I showed her the oscillating dagger. Since it could change into a spear at will, it could be called a perfect weapon for her positioning.

It had a weakness of harsh magic consumption, but I’m sure she could master it, given her elven blood that excelled in magic.

“A… dagger?”

“Or so it seems, but if you do this—”

That night, I taught Finia how to use the oscillating dagger.

During the explanation, I got led by the nose and even disclosed how I used it during the independent study. I guess this simply showed the gap in the womanly experience between us…?

Sneaky Silva note: Looks like Reid used the dagger as a vibrator when he was practicing his sex skills for Cortina : D