Defend the village

Seth lives in an age where all seats are built with soft material to comfort his body on his journey, but the horse and its saddle are the opposite of what he had in his past life.

It is bumpy and stiff. Every gallop the horse makes pushes against his underpart and smacks his leg.

'Shit, my butt hurt, and I can't feel my leg….'

When they arrive, Seth quickly drops off the horse and sits on the glass to relieve the pain.

"Are you ok?"

Alessia climbed off the horse and asked Seth with worry while she tied a horse to the tree, hiding it behind thick bushes.

"No, I am not used to riding on a horse for long distances, but it's fine. Just give me a couple of minutes to sit down."

Seth answered truthfully and didn't feel ashamed to admit he was inexperienced with a horse.

Honesty is the key to gaining someone's trust.

"It's ok. We should have time before they attack. I will set up an ambush here and attack their back when they let their guard down!"

Alessia seems surprised.

'A man who does not go well with a horse?'

This is very new for her, and rightfully so.

Because in this world, learning to ride a horse is like learning to ride a car; every man does it.

"Good plan, but what If they hold the villagers' hostages?"

Seth suggested that if we focus on ambushing their back line, they can decide to charge and capture the villager hostage.

From a second-hand experience with his senior police officer, a hostage situation is the worst possible case you can get into.

"Then we have to kill them fast! I will set up traps."

Alessia left out a creepy smile before forming a green magic circle around the village entrance.

"Wait!"

Seth stopped Alessia.

"?"

"Trap sounds good, but I think one of us should stay on the villager's side to protect them, just in case. Remember, our objective is to protect the village, not fight the bandit."

Seth saw her focus on making traps, making him realize they had almost forgotten this mission's objective.

He plans to split their force in two, even if only 2 of them, but by doing this, they can pin the bandit in the middle and capture them all.

"You right… I should be more careful, sorry."

Alessia said sadly.

'No wonder no one listens to me because I'm such a failure….'

Her face turned pale and saddened after blaming herself for letting such weakness in the plan go unnoticed and having to be reminded by a stranger.

Her plan should be perfected!

"Come on, don't be sad. We partner, right? Your plan has a flaw, and so does mine. But by combining them, we cover each other's weaknesses. That is how partnerships work."

Seth is shocked when he sees how Alessia reacts to his word.

He immediately tries to cheer her up.

"Yes, we are partners…. We cover each other's weaknesses…."

Alessia saw Seth's smile, and it helped wash her sadness away.

Her mother would punish her at home when she made any mistakes, making Seth's kindness and his forgiving behavior warm her heart.

"So! You are stronger than me, you should get behind them in the case of running away or reinforcement, and I will talk to the villagers and check if they can prepare the defense. I trust you, Alessia."

Seth quickly explained the pain after he saw Alessia get better. He pointed at the middle-aged man inside the village who had looked at them for some time.

"Good Bye! No. I mean, good luck! Hehe~!"

Alessia laughed awkwardly. She still felt fuzzy and warmed in her chest.

Seth looked at her, worried. He could tell by the look that this girl was not right in her head, which must have originated from her mother's teaching.

'What kind of monster her mother must be, Krista, and now Alessia too.'

But sadly, he can't do anything about it. At least for now, he is still too weak and has no influence.

Seth let Alessia do her own thing, and he walked into the village.

"STOP! Who are you?"

The villager watching Seth talking with Alessia for a long time stopped him.

"Relax! My name is Seth Anderson. I come in the militia's name to oversee the village's safety."

Seth put his hands forward to show his intention, his spear still strapped on his back, so he is unarmed.

"Scram! You are not even wearing a uniform. You are a bandit, aren't you?"

The villager pointed his machete at Seth with murderous intent.

This makes Seth feel like a Déjà vu. He almost forgot how paranoid these people could be with a stranger.

[Should I remind you next time?]

'No. Where have you been?'

[You turn off the notification, so I stay on minimum mode and only respond when you need something.]

'Cool, keep in that mode until further notice.'

[Understood.]

After talking with the system, Seth is backed to prove his innocence to the hostile villager.

"IF I'm a bandit, why would I come here and warn you to prepare your defenses?"

Seth learned from experience that fact and logic are the best way to defuse misunderstandings.

"You, what?"

And it works!

Now the villager is confused by Seth's intention and starts thinking.

And when people think, it means they are calm.

"I got information from our analysts that there will be an attack at this village tonight. So, my associate, you saw, and I am here to protect you."

He further pushes his agenda to make the villagers drop their guard.

"Why should I believe you?"

The villager still pointed his sword at Seth but showed interest in his face.

"Because there is no benefit I can gain if you do? What kind of bandit asked the village to prepare their defense?"

"Ok, I believe you. But you can't get in. Stay here."

The villager agrees to believe Seth's word for now and goes back inside the village but keeps turning around to check if Seth gets in.

'I hope her calculation is correct, or else this will be embarrassing.'

Seeing how paranoid the villager is, he wonders if the bandit will come.

But he doesn't have to wait for long. After a brief moment, a group of masked people appears from the forest edge.

They wear clothes like a villager, and their weapon mainly consists of farming tools; only a few hold weapons such as a sword or a dagger.

'They here.'

The moment they appeared, he couldn't find Alessia anywhere, but he went into alert mode and drew out his long spear.

"Give us all your belongings, and no one will have to get hurt!"

The bandit with a sword walked toward Seth and pointed a sword at him.

"Halt! You violate the law. No one breaks the law on my watch."

Seth put his left hand forward and spoke intimately!

"???"

All the bandits are stunned and question his action.

'This doesn't work? Then let's switch things up….'

Seeing all of them still showing aggression, Seth decided to use his method.

"EVERYBODY, DROP YOUR WEAPON!!!"

[QUICK THRUST]

He quickly struck his spear at the head of the bandit, aimed at his sword, and successfully disarmed him.

"!!!"

The leader flinches.

All bandits froze and stood still, shocked.

"GET DOWN ON THE GROUND, NOW! NOW!! NOW!!!!!!"

Seth shouted angrily and pointed a spear directly between the bandit's leader's eyes.

The leader feared Seth's sudden moves and shifts in the situation.

He falls to his knees willingly before he even realizes it.

"The bandits! Everyone attacks!!! But don't kill that spear user. He's with us!"

After gathering all their force, the male villager returns and is surprised that Seth is telling the truth, but he matures enough to get a hold of the situation and command the village troop to strike.

"SHIT! We got ambushed!"

The leader tries to stand up, but Seth steps on him with full force, making him choke out air.

"W-w-what do we do, big bro?"

Another bandit, younger than Seth, is asking the man under Seth's feet.

The boy holds a small dagger but is too afraid to fight Seth.

Seth stared at the boy to intimidate him from making any move.

"R-retreat! Everyone retreats! Ah!"

The leader tried to climb off Seth's foot but got stomped to the ground.

"I SAID ON THE GROUND!!! NOBODY MOVE, AND YOU WILL BE SPARED!!!"

Seth shouted again amidst a battle between the villager and the bandit.

The villager wins the fight and kills off the bandit one by one because the bandit is inexperienced, and this village is a hunting village, a pro in the field of killing.

"Don't listen to him! You guys go!!"

Seeing his comrade get killed off, he screamed with tears in his eyes.

"But bro!"

The boy is shaking.

He tries to gather his courage and strike Seth to free his leader.

"GOOOO!!!!!"

The leader shouted because he knew they couldn't win.

The bandits agree to follow the command but quickly turn back and run for their lives from blood-hungry villagers.

"Come here, you dirty bandits!"

"DIE! YOU RAT!"

The villager is too old to follow the bandits, so most of them get out of reach, but they quickly face what lay behind the way they came.

"Agh!!!!"

The thorn vine springs from green magic circles, binding everybody who attempts to get back to the forest.

The trap is extremely painful because the thorn will penetrate their prey's skin and scratch their flesh and blood.

"?!"

The bandits are shocked, and now they fear and tremble.

"There is another one here! Please help me! AGH!!!!"

And not only a trap, but Alessia, who is hiding with her magic, appears with both of her hands and has a green magic circle on them, and when she moves her hand, a set of thorns appear and whip her the running bandit.

Some unlucky will get caught up in the vine and squish to pieces by the thorn.

"No one will get to leave."

Alessia said happily with blood on her face.

She finally gets to kill the bandits!

"ON THE FLOOR, AND YOU WILL BE SAFE!!!"

Seth tries to calm the situation and wants to save the bandit's life, but he still has to keep an evil face, or the problem will go out of control.

He has to appear strong, so the bandits will break down and not get themselves killed!

Some bandits quickly follow his word and drop to the floor, but Alessia and the villagers don't get killed mercilessly.

"Don't kill the one on the ground!!!"

Seth looked around and stopped everyone from killing the bandits who surrendered.

'Why are these people so violent!'

A moment later, everything settled down.

All the bandits who do not surrender get killed, and those who don't, stay low.

Seth heaved a sigh but quickly widened his eyes after seeing Alessia try to kill the boy.

"Stop!!"

He grabs her arm and pulls it back before the vine pieces the boy's body.

"Why? They are bandits!"

Alessia screams with anger, trying to pull her hand back.

She will kill them all, every single last one of them!

"They are prisoners now. Please stop!"

Seth grabs her shoulder and shakes her once to pull her back together.

"W-why? I thought we were partners and would eliminate all the bandits!"

Alessia felt betrayed.

"We will, I promise, but killing will not help with anything!"

Seth tries to convince Alessia.

He doesn't know if this world bandit came from the same root as his world criminal.

But he can't risk it the same because almost every criminal is just an innocent person who gets forced by their situation.

If he killed them all, he didn't fix the root of the problem and lose a valuable life for free.

"It will! The problem will disappear if they are gone, and my father finally will-!!"

Before she could finish her sentence, she started to cry from an overload of emotion.