Inside the large rocking carriage, I silently inspected my longsword.

"This is a chance to redeem myself, I will definitely do my part."

Myla, who was sitting beside me, was looking pretty tense as she was psyching herself up.

"It’s so fluffy. What’s in there?"

"It’s hard and grainy? It feels good for a cushion……"

Suzy and Reina seemed to like Claire’s signature cushion and became more relaxed.

"Hahahaha! You won’t have any energy if you don’t eat!"

Irijina was eating some kind of meat. Hey, girl. Everyone’s going to get angry if you spill any meat juice on the carpet.

"Listen to me. Nobody steps in front of me, this is an order."

'Got it!'

"Yessir!"

"Understood!"

Everyone answered in unison. My intentions were to bring the girls who can defend themselves, but I would pay too much attention to them if they step ahead of me. I didn't want them to hurt themselves. They were still my women after all.

The carriage we’re all riding right now, despite not luxurious looking, was the largest of all the ones we owned.

In the large interior space, one could find Reina's thieving tools, Suzy's bow and arrows, and variety of merchandises brought by Claire. 

Finally, the carriage that I was supposedly riding was accompanied by many guards and had gone ahead of us one hour earlier.

The objective was to deceive the attackers and lure them away.

Since we’re taking a route away from the main roads, the path is narrower, which prevents the larger carriage from going fast.

Furthermore this carriage had extremely lighter security compared to the carriage I was supposed to be on and that had gone ahead of us.

"There’s an obstacle on the path! Stop here!!"

The carriage stopped abruptly, making all of us lose our balance inside.

At the same time, I heard multiple voices, too many to be guards.

Then, it’s the familiar sound of metal―― the sound of swords.

"They stopped! Without a doubt, this is the concubines’ carriage!"

"Team no. 1 hold off the guards! Team no. 2 complete the objective, show no mercy!"

I calmly and slowly stand up.

The carriage door was opened violently.

"Women. We bear no grudges, but please di――"

As a man attempted to enter the carriage with his sword held above his head, his face met Irijina's spear. 

The man, dressed in a traveler’s typical getup likely in an attempt to disguise himself, got his face totally stabbed and looked more like a suspicious person at first glance.

He shouldn’t be able to move after that.

"Uooh! What the heck is―― eh?"

The man waiting near the entrance of the carriage stared wonderingly at the sword that pierced his chest.

My longsword completely ran through his heart and the man fell after taking his final breath.

Irijina and I stepped on the two corpses as we made our way outside.

We were fully equipped, resting the spear on Irijina's shoulder while keeping longsword at my hip and wearing the same armor I would during wartime.

That was probably the last thing anybody would expect to come out of otherwise mediocre-looking carriage.

"I’ve been waiting for you. Thanks for not wasting any time and coming out so soon."

As I made the comment, I took a huge swing with my longsword.

Everything from the chest up of the man standing roughly three meters in front of me started sliding to the side.

The attackers seemed taken aback at our fully armed appearance.

"That’s not what we were told! The eomen were supposed to be riding carriage at the back!"

"The scouts definitely said they saw women on it!"

When the final village was passed, Reina and Suzy looked out the carriage wearing regular clothes.

Of course now they were fully armed.

"What’s wrong? You’re supposed to be the attackers, right? Come at me."

I take a quick look around me.

I would say there were about 30 or so of them total, whereas there are only 6 guards on our side, although they’re fully armed and took out a good amount of the attackers.

Excluding the guys on the ground, that makes 20 of them left.

"W-we can’t pull back now! Let’s go!"

The enemies charged forward collectively after the order was given.

We were already on the move before the command left the man’s throat.

Reina, using her quick feets, ran in a straight line towards the person who shouted the orders and swung her blade.

The man couldn’t do anything and her sword traveled from the top of his head to his crotch, cleanly splitting the man’s body in half like a piece of firewood.

How careless. Aiming for the boss was the fundamentals of battle. If you’re going to stand in front and give orders, you would obviously get targeted first.

Now their morale should go down.

"I’m not letting anybody escape. I have to teach everyone what happens when they try to hurt my women."

Unlucky for you guys, I need all of you here to die.

"G-get him!"

The pathetic order urged the attackers into action.

A man rushed forward with his sword and is met with Myla's shield.

When we made contact, I heard three sounds which came with the weak groan.

The first was her shield breaking his sword, the second was his hand breaking, the third was his body getting crushed.

His bones broke so quickly that a part of his body became all flimsy and he crumpled limply to the ground.

"That blonde woman is a monster!"

"How rude." Myla complained as she killed the man.

Myla silently charged at the place where we heard the voices come from and whipped her sword around.

Her sweep took out one enemy’s legs, while she used the rotational force to bash another with her shield.

Myla tripped yet another opponent, then after he fell, stick her sword in her back.

These guys were no amateurs, however they fought strangely.

They’re not used to dealing with a battle-tested soldier in armours and fought like they’re brawling in the city.

"How about this!?"

"I got you now!"

Two men come at Irijina from either side, which she dodged by twisting her body.

The edges slipped off her arm guard and her shoulder armour and cut the air.

As the two men were off balance from their swords deflecting off, Irijina sent one flying with a front kick before piercing his body with her spear. Myla then swung her sword down on the right shoulder of the other.

Her blade tore through the armor worn by the man like paper, cutting diagonally into his body until the sword escaped at his hip.

The man let out a nonsensical scream as his sliced upper body slid sideways, his insides spraying everywhere before both severed sections fell to the ground.

I blocked an attack from a man and kicked his chest away. When I went closer to finish him off, he suddenly threw sand at me.

I covered my face and crouched down.

That man swiftly got up and stepped forward with his sword in hand.

When he closed the distance, Reina returned the favor with a handful of sand of her own.

A surprise attack with sand was a pretty standard fighting move.

People might get on our case about fighting in a disgraceful manner if they saw us, but as a thief, Reina didn't care.

Her throw was more powerful since the distance was closed so the man’s eyes were completely done.

He dropped to the ground and writhed in an unsightly manner.

Myla brought down her shield on the wailing man, turning him into squashed fruit.

That made nine people.

Suzy and Claire had climbed on the roof of the carriage with their bows over their backs, while Myla and Irijina stood in front of the carriage.

"That big woman…… looks strong so aim for the weaker-looking ones!"

"……come at me if you want."

Myla seemed a little happy.

On the other hand, Irijina sulked a little. Was she bothered about being called big?

As Irijina was about to help Myla with the five enemies going for her, she signaled to Irijina that no help was needed before dropping her hips low.

She specialized in using a standard one-handed sword and a metal shield.

That’s probably why the attackers determined she would be easy to deal with, however――

"Hup!"

Myla took a quick step back the moment they slashed at her.

Two of the opponents ended up cutting air, meanwhile the other one remained balanced and proceeded to swing his sword again.

"It doesn’t matter if a woman uses a shield!"

The man didn't see how Myla killed three men before using her shield.

The enemy swung his sword down despite seeing Myla put up her shield.

He must be thinking that a woman’s strength could easily be crushed.

"Fool."

Myla didn’t have herculean strength. Even with training as a soldier, she wasn’t the type to overpower her foes.

"What!?"

Her skill was what made her strong.

As soon as the opponent’s sword hit her shield, Myla lowered it diagonally.

The sword was deflected to the side and the man lost his balance.

Myla’s sword flashed horizontally for a single strike and took the man’s head off cleanly.

The decapitated man’s momentum carried him forward totteringly for a few steps before the body fell over.

"This bitch! I’ll kill her."

Myla’s sword locked the enraged man’s thrust.

"A disarm huh, that was often done to me during training."

It would be impossible if he was using the long and heavy longsword, but the sparring sword he used got flung away countless times.

Before he knew it, the man’s sword left his hand and he stood defenseless in front of her.

The man didn’t have a chance to say anything more as Myla drove her sword through the man’s throat.

"You’re the last one!"

Myla went on the offense this time. She pulled her sword back seemingly to slash at the man.

Of course the man’s instinct was to raise his own sword to block, but his face got struck with Myla’s shield.