Won't Lift a Finger

Amongst the bandits, a man roared in sorrow.

"Brother!"

His eyes were bloodshot with tears, shouting hysterically, "I swear, I will avenge you!"

He held a longsword in his grasp, running forward alone. His mind was vacant of all but one thought, the need to avenge his brother.

Kilg chuckled softly, twiddling the golden coin between his fingers, "His life alone isn't enough to cover the value of this gold coin, nowhere near enough. Not even your entire group together is worth it! But it seems you can't understand that, huh?"

"Your intelligence wasn't much to begin with, but now it's even below that of a wild beast's. I feel bad insulting you so much, so how about I let you get a feel of this gold coin? How benevolent of me, allowing you the chance to be rich in death!"

With his "benevolent" words, Kilg's fingers pinched down before flicking the coin with great force.

The coin hurled forward, breaking into the man's skull and impaling his brain.

Flesh and brain matter splattered across the ground, and yet the corpse continued running for several steps before falling over.

Ominous as it was, perhaps a wisp of the man's soul had continued to reside within the body, ignorant of even his own demise for a short moment.

Kilg waved his hand, immune to such bloody sights, and the gold coin resurfaced from the man's head, flying back to his palm.

He inspected it closely while slumping back on his seat, a small handkerchief in his hand to polish it.

"Well, my dear guests, I can't be doing all the work here alone, can I? This was enough exercise for me."

Rentaro and Zain exchanged glances, "Rentaro, I'll leave the first move to you."

Rentaro agreed, simultaneously receiving a series of mental transmissions from Colo-Colo.

"According to Colo-Colo, there should be a total of seventeen enemies, including the two who were just killed. All of them are between Foundation Establishment Stages three and four."

Zain nodded, holding his sword hilt, "Eh? So that's who you just summoned? That's pretty nifty. Fia, wait here."

"Just because I'm a princess, doesn't mean I'm weak. I can fight too—"

"I'm afraid I can't let you take that risk. You know how much pressure I'm under, so please be obedient."

Fia puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

Dismissing the princess title for the moment, Rentaro chimed in, "Icrin, how about you stay here and watch over her just in case?"

Icrin wanted to refute as this was his opportunity to show off. But then again, staying by the side of a cute girl, who they just found out was a princess, wasn't that bad either.

"Good," Rentaro waved his hand, "Rjuka!"

A purple spatial crack split open before him. Rjuka's elongated body traversed from it in a hair-raising manner.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked merrily with a crooked smile.

Before Rentaro could say anymore, Colo-Colo sent an image into his mind, showing an archer crouched upon a tree limb.

Rentaro relayed, "There's an archer west of the wagon, forty feet into the forest according to Colo-Colo."

"I see, Colo-Colo showed me the same image as well actually. I'll deal with him immediately."

Rjuka gave a small bow before separating into particles. He travelled stealthily, moving within the tall blades of grass.

Rentaro pulled one needle out from his set of twelves, they were currently in their colorless silvery white state as it was day.

He fiddled with it between his fingers, "I guess it's time I make a move."

His eyes were much clearer than when he had previously been in battle with the corpse soldiers; this was evident enough that he had started to adapt to the harsh environment of his new life.

Zain smirked, jumping out of the back as he unsheathed his blade with Rentaro only a step behind.

The thirteen bandits stood frozen, clearly still on edge.

Among this group was a burly man.

From the way the surrounding bandits looked at him, he was most definitely the leader of their group.

He took a deep breath, "Sire who is driving the cart... You won't take action again?"

Kilg's smile beamed, "Ohoho, I won't lift a finger."

The leader froze, hesitantly asking, "You won't lift a finger... but will you take action?"

"Ai! Fine, I won't take action. You're so boring."

Sighing, he laid back and closed his eye, ushering what sounded like the snoring of a sleeping giant.

While astonished, the leader of the bandits could finally heave a sigh of relief, 'As long as this expert doesn't break his word, there's still a chance.'

"Brothers, our mission remains. Leave the respected expert alone and focus on those two. As long as we emerge victorious, we'll live on luxuriously."

The others gulped down their saliva in anticipation, their fear already consumed by greed.

"Quickly, go! Take them down!" the burly man roared out, the bandits lunging forward with devilish smiles.

Zain engaged first, brandishing his blade as he knocked a man's axe up into the air before swiftly tilting it downwards, piercing cleanly through the man's heart,

Stepping to the side and doing a 180 degree spin, he slit another man's throat by surprise.

The man grabbed at his neck, trying to stop the bleeding as blood spurted out but to no avail.

On Rentaro's end, he skillfully shot a needle forward, piercing through a bandit's forehead. The bandit's body collapsed before he knew what hit him.

Drawing another needle, he just managed to deflect the narrow blade of a saber from slicing across his chest which could have been a very dangerous wound.

"Roy!"

Rentaro cried out, a red rift crackling open in the space just between him and the bandit.

Roy's head poked out from within like a devil from hell, spitting a flame from his mouth which encompassed the man's face, sending him into a screaming fit.

He continued forward, his body growing in size as he exited the spatial rift, crushing the bandit beneath his feet as the crackling of bones sounded.

"Kyon!"

Rentaro called quickly and another spatial crack opened up, the cyan Ratatoskr squirrel descending like a holy being.

"This elder will clean up the mess. Aero Conglomeration, Tornado of Blades!"

Kyon's little arms reached forward, a shrilling tornado spinning into form before flying forward with a strong gust of wind.

The bandits looked on in horror, screaming out to flee.

"Run! Run away!"

"Doug! Where's Doug!? He's supposed to be firing arrows!" another screamed out.

"Tha-That's right! Did he abandon us? There's no way, right—"

Thunk!

The man who screamed turned around, only to see an arrow lodged in his partner's skull. And in the distance was Doug.

"No... that's not Doug...."

This wasn't the Doug he knew, or at the very least, there was something seriously wrong with him.

His eyes were a sick yellow and appeared to be without the slightest speck of life.

Wisps of black smoke leaked out through his pores, orifices, and from under his nails. Below his skin, one could see the smoke traveling all throughout his body, its movement like tiny blood vessels.

It was a harrowing sight, shaking the man to his very core.

"What the hell is this?" the man cried out in horror, "What the hell did we get ourselves into!?"

A shrill cry caught up to him from behind.

Before he could even scream, his body was pulled into a vicious tornado of blades, leaving only a mist of blood as proof of his existence.

It was by now that the leader had realized a grave mistake: they had provoked a group of freaks.

There was only a single thought residing within his mind,

'Run!'

Colo-Colo took notice of his attempted escape, alerting Rentaro who held control of the battlefield thanks to Colo-Colo's valuable recon skills.

"Stop him from leaving!" Rentaro commanded.

Shooting forward at an astounding speed nearly invisible to the naked eye, Colo-Colo swiftly appeared in front of the leader.

Without any other choice, it bashed its body against the bandit leader's, sending him flying onto the ground and tumbling backwards several steps.

With the leader knocked idly onto the ground and all of the other bandits dead, the situation was under control.

Taking in the scent of fresh blood, Rentaro was reminded of the bandit who had died under his needle.

This was Rentaro's first time taking a life with his own hands.

Breathing in, he assured himself that he did what needed to be done.

This group of bandits... Who knows how many cruel deeds they have committed throughout their lives?

And at this moment, they were out for his life!

What was he supposed to do? Just stand by and let them do as they please?

Wilhelm, Tess, and even all of the spirits in the Grimoire of Twilight quietly watched Rentaro's actions, feeling that his state of mind had grown quite a bit since his arrival in this world.