Then, Red Oath rests leisurely in the tent.
Unlike the villagers, Merlina-chanâs parents are thankful. Even so, they didnât invite the girls for a meal.
...No, they arenât bad at all. Well, if they were watching the treat last night, they probably didnât think it was necessary
There are no poor people who donate to the rich, and few would even try to give top-ranked chefs some amateur meal.
Except for those who are lovers and families, or who are very enthusiastic...
It was just that.
ãOoooh!ã(Merlina)
...Then, as Merlina-chan heard Mileâs âJapanese Fukashi Talkâ, she was amazed.
Yes, as expected, Merlina-chanâs parents also had the feeling that they had to say thanks to the girls.
From last nightâs situation, they thought that the Mileâs groups seem to like playing with children, so they exempted Merlina-chanâs work for today and told her to go play with the girls.
Of course, Mile is greatly delighted!
The same goes for Maevis, who longed to have a younger brother and sister.
Pauline remembered when she was taking care of her younger brother, Alan.
Rena, who wants to be embraced by others like the feelings he has for Telyucia (Leader of Goddessâ servant).
They didnât show their emotions like Mile did, but everyone was happy with Merlina-chan.
Thatâs why everyone is relaxing...
ãItâs kind of noisy outside...ã(Pauline)
As Pauline says, it seemed to be noisy somewhere away from the tent.
There are only a few cases where there is noise in such a rural village.
A peddlerâs wagon has come, an injured person came to ask for aid, a powerful monster came to attack... or the bandits appeared.
And considering the past event, of course this time must be...
ãHere they cameã(Maevis)
Yes, as Maevis says, itâs âthose guysâ.
The bandits that the girls have been waiting for are coming
Yes, and for that, Red Oath is sitting here waiting for them.
... While playing with Merlina-chan.
ãLetâs go (Iku wa yo)!ã(Rena)n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
ãããOOh!ããã(Mileâs Trio)
And with Merlina-chan, four girls of the Red Oath are coming out of the tent.
...For safety, and not to show the cruel scene to the loli, should they leave Merlina-chan in the tent?
No one was thinking of such a thing.
Mileâs group showed Merlina-chan the harsh and cruel reality of âliving in this worldâ so that she could live without the Red Oath in the future... so they didnât stop her.
Besides, if they leave Merlina-chan in the tent, they canât show her their âcool parenthoodâ.
Then they canât get her praise, respect, admiration.
Or after seeing the villains being defeated, she canât run toward the girls and hug them âAre you okay? Iâm sorry worriedâ.
...Yes, Maevis, Rena, and Mile were full of expectations.
But Pauline alone didnât seem to have such an idea.
ãThe sale amount as a criminal slave will decrease, so please donât hurt them with site defects or aftereffects!ã(Pauline)
...However, she was full of other ideas...
Mileâs group responded vigorously to Renaâs âLetâs go!â.
However, they didnât just jump out of the tent, they gently tidied the tent up while watching the situation.
Yes, so far they only saw the bandits gripped Merlina-chanâs hand.
As for other ânuisances against the villagersâ, they only heard stories one-sidedly from the villagers.
Yes, Red Oath is in a stalemate which they canât act freely just yet.
Yes, the girls didnât receive any request from the guild or villagers.
What if those men arenât really bandits but just some punks.
Then Red Oath would attack violently on innocent people and detained them. That would hurt their reputation, they might even get punishments from the guild, country.
They canât convince the judge that âwe heard from the villagersâ when the defendants saying âthere is no such factâ or âDid you just attack us without hearing any evidence from us?â
Even if the girls said âThey were about to kidnap Merlina-chanâ they can object with âWe are just playing with the kid. In fact, was she kidnapped or injured?â
Or even further with âYou are just villains who excuse innocent people into bandits and try to sell us as criminal slavesâ
They might have caused some nuisance to the villagers and the lack of money but that wasnât enough to make them âBanditsâ.
They demanded something from the villager and the villagers gave them to avoid trouble arenât that much different from some drunkards demanded more wine.
So...
ãApparently, it seems that they change plan to âreapâ now.
Itâs clear that their attempts to kid Merlina-chan have become known to the villagers. So they canât keep the minimum line of harassment.
They seem to have abandoned the plan âtaking minimum food and drink from the villagersâã(Mile)
Apparently, as Mile says, the bandits seem about to rob some cash, young children, females, and kill other adults.
In order to make villagers obligingly give out cash or money, they will take away females and children who still have commercial value. They wonât mind killing people they deem worthless.
This is still a little weak evident.
For Mileâs group, they could only say that âwe were attacked!â, and itâs not strange that people fighting each other. But They canât let the bandits commit a crime to capture them. They need the âfactâ.
In that case, they just need the bandits to admit that âfactâ.
ã Whatâs happening?ã(Pauline)
Pauline speaks to the dispute between the thugs and the villagers at the right time.
After all, Pauline is the best at the delicate timing around here.
Well, there can never be an agreement between the thugs and the villagers, so Pauline just aimed at the right moment to cut off their words.
ãWhat are you (teme-tachi)?ã(Bandit)
ãAh, you are those girls yesterdayã(Bandit)
It seems that some of the thugs were mixed with those of yesterday.
Well, all of them seem to have come this time around, so itâs understandable that they are mixed...
Yesterday, maybe they thought they couldnât win if their opponents were newbie hunters who were about the same number, thatâs why they escaped immediately.
As expected, they are all coming today. Since there are 16 to 17 people in total while the hunters are only 4 people and two people seem to be minors, they thought they could win easily so they have a proud attitude.
Besides, the appearance of Red Oath in this place was convenient for them as well.
They may think that Red Oath is the hunters who were hired by the villagers to fight them, the villagersâ last hope and means to oppose them. If they can defeat these girls, they can do whatever they want.
Of course, they would expect the villagers to resist. But if itâs just villagers oppose them, then villagers may at their witâs end, maybe there arenât anything worth here. But when the villagers hired hunters, there are chances that villagers have hidden goods and valuable things. They just need to defeat the girls, the villagersâ means to fight, then the villagers will surrender and obey them.
...In face, they can just kill everyone after robbing everything, thereâs no witness.
Yes, itâs necessary to avoid news spread to the next village or the country.
Yes, the next village only knows that âa group of bandits suddenly attack, kill all villagers and rob everythingâ while they only get harassed by âsome punks who demand food and drinkâ. The villagers wonât suspect them.
And of course, all members of Red Oath look good. If the bandits can defeat the girls without killing, they can have their way with the girls and sell the girls off as illegal slaves for a good price.
So...
ãCatch âem all.
Donât hurt them as much as possible, the price will drop!ã(Bandits)
Of course, they will say such a thing.
There are just 4 newbie young female hunters.
It would be easy to catch the girls and show the overwhelming difference in power to the villagers.
The bandits were so confident in their victory that they didnât consider to take the villager as hostages.
Because it was a means to fight in the fight you canât win.
The bandits canât make the villagers feel fear with such an underhand tactic even if they kill the villagers...
And the result is...