"Hey guuuuysss!! Over heeeere!" (Kazu)

As I said that, I waved my arm. And as I waved my arm, one of them waved back.

Ah, they seemed to have noticed. There're 6 of them. One of them is a girl if I'm not mistaken.

They're coming closer. It seems that the girl is some sort of a beastfolk? Same as one other guy. Ok, so 2 beastfolk.

One of the guys is an elf, probably not from that wretched village. And another one is a birdman?

Then, umm, the rest of them were lizardmen.

In conclusion, there seems to be 2 beastfolk, one girl and one guy; an elf; a birdman; and 2 lizardmen.

Why do they look so happy? Maybe they're lost and are happy to find someone else?

____________________________________________

"Hello! Nice to meet ya!"

Said the beastgirl. So I was right, it was a girl. I feel a little bit happy that I got it right.

"Hello, nice to meet you too." (Kazu)

"So, are you alone or something?" (Beastgirl)

"Ah, umm, yeah, I was wondering if there was a town nearby. I was told that the nearest town is located beyond that mountain range over there, is that true?" (Kazu)

"Yeah, by the way, you don't happen to have money do you?" (Beastgirl)

"...?" (Kazu)

"Well, we're a little short on cash here, and we're wondering if you have some change to spare with us." (Beastgirl)

Uh-oh, this is getting suspicious. They are smirking.

"Umm, I don't have that much money." (Kazu)

"That's what they all said." (Beastgirl)

The girl then kicked me straight onto the stomach. Utter pain, that is what I felt.

After she kicked me, she went straight for my bag.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. They're robbing me.

"Ughh... wha-" (Kazu)

""AHAHAHAHAHAHAH""

They all laughed together.

"Seems like we got a jackpot. Nice, 100 silver coins and some food for lunch." (Beastgirl)

"G-give that back!" (Kazu)

I said that as I unsheathed the iron shortsword that was given to me, and pointed it at them.

Who's the leader? Maybe it's that super buffed beastman over there.

"Nah, we're not. But lookie lookie, you wanna take it back by force huh?" (Beastman)

"Tch! Don't mess with me! I can hurt you back if you try to hurt me!" (Kazu)

"Heh, we'll see about that. Boys, get him!" (Beastgirl)

This girl was the leader all along. I see.

After giving the order, the men ganged up on me. As they slowly came closer, I swung my sword to them as a warning.

But it didn't work, they were still coming closer. So, I backed off while I keep slashing towards them.

Suddenly, a sharp pain was inflicted on my right shoulder. Shocked by it, I involuntarily dropped my shortsword that was held by my right arm. The elf fired an arrow towards me.

Out of all the weapon-holding enemies that are trying to hurt me, only the elf was using a bow. The other ones were using swords or daggers.

Damn it, I need to escape somehow.

Ah! There's a fist-sized rock near my left foot! I can probably throw it to the beastgirl and make them distracted and look back.

But, my right arm is injured, I can't throw with an injured arm. I can only use my left, which isn't my dominant one.

Here goes nothing, I hope it hits her perfectly.

I picked up the rock, aimed at the beastgirl, and threw it.

As soon as I threw it, I started running rigorously.

"Aaakh!"

Wait, that didn't sound like a girl's scream.

I looked back, and saw that I had only enraged the birdman. Seems like instead of the beastgirl, it hit the birdman.

Well, at least it hit someone.

"...?!" (Kazu)

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" (Birdman)

Holy shit, he's flying over here. I thought that his wings weren't capable of flight.

Oh yeah, how stupid of me. Of course he could fly. I'm such a dumbass.

"COME HERE YOU LIL' BITCH!!" (Birdman)

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Go away!!!" (Kazu)

He's closing in on me.

You know what? I need to stop looking back all the time and start focusing on running!!

I can hear his wing flaps now, it's getting closer and closer.

My heightened senses have a 10 meter radius where it can detect anything. And right now, he's already closer than 10 meters.

Run, run, run. Legs, run faster. Please!

"Ah!" (Kazu)

It felt like sharp claws have grabbed onto both of my shoulders. Which, they probably are.

"GOTCHA BITCH!" (Birdman)

"NOOOO!!" (Kazu)

As I face-planted the ground hard, he pinned me on my back using his sharp claws.

I struggled and struggled and struggled even more. But the more I do, the more his sharp claws dug through the skin of my back.

"Stop struggling kid, it'll hurt you even more." (Birdman)

As he said that, he punched the back of my head.

I guess he punched too hard since it made slowly faint, and it seems that my head was bleeding as well.

As my consciousness was depleting and as the blood was flowing down onto my face, I heard the bandits catching up to us.

"Strip him, and take all of his clothes. Don't kill him, let the monsters do that instead." (Beastgirl)

As I was being stripped, my consciousness had already fell.

~To be continued....