28

Let’s confirm the situation.

Inside the hut were four bandits and one corpse.

All the bandits held weapons and were shouting something, with some of them looking on the verge of tears.

“Damn it! Why is there a monster in a place like this?!”

Judging from the words I managed to catch, they were probably saying something like that.

Other words I understood were things like “unlucky day” and “this is the worst.”

And then there was the corpse… it looked oddly well-dressed.

(Is this one of those cases? They kidnapped a high-ranking person, but when he resisted they ended up killing him in the struggle?)

With too little information, I could not say for sure, but there was no particular need to keep the four bandits alive.

However, the hut’s entrance was far too narrow for me to pass through.

As I stood in front of the open door, one of the bandits pointed at me and shouted something.

The other three lowered their weapons in relief, looking almost reassured.

(Ah, I see. They probably said something like, “That guy’s too big to enter the hut, so we’re safe!”)

As my teacher once said, “Do the things people don’t want to do willingly.” Now was exactly that time.

I destroyed the hut’s entrance without hesitation and let out a guttural roar that meant, “Pardon my intrusion.”

“Nooooooo!”

The four bandits screamed in unison.

One of them tried to escape through the window but got his belly stuck, blocking the way.

As he tried to pull himself out, his pants slipped down, exposing his filthy rear.

To reject this unpleasant service, my sledgehammer closed in on him.

Thirty seconds later, after finishing off the last one who made a futile attempt to resist, the hut was successfully cleared.

Since Mr. Sledgehammer had passed away in the process, I discarded him in a random spot.

That said, the suppression itself had no real meaning.

If I had to give a reason, it was “because they saw me”—though that was not really something I should be saying after appearing in front of them on my own.

I searched the hut just in case, but found nothing useful to me. In the end, I had only wasted a weapon and spilled lives pointlessly.

(It turned out I only avenged a man whose name I don’t even know.)

Still, eliminating even a small number of bandits would be beneficial to the Kingdom of Canaan.

That would balance things out against the negative act of plundering a wagon’s cargo.

Balance was important.

I gave up on looking for a water source here and decided to head south to scout the highway.

It was to check whether there might be people camping along the road in this area.

I was not bold enough to stomp along the highway in broad daylight, so I checked around after it got dark.

Halfway through, I thought, “No one’s watching anyway,” and dashed at full speed on two legs.

Remembering that there was also a road to the east, I zigzagged across the grasslands, running around like a drunk.

Come to think of it, I had only been in forests lately, so it had been a while since I ran in a place like this.

Might as well run around a bit to get used to it again.

After running like that for about an hour, I slowed down to a safer pace for bipedal sprinting while scanning my surroundings. In the southeast, I spotted lights.

Seeing several wagons gathered there, it was without a doubt a caravan camping for the night.

I stopped running and walked closer, peering carefully around the wagons.

(There are two… no, three lookouts. Others are lying down, but those must be guards too. Counting the wagons, six in total, and people visible outside… about fourteen. Factoring in those inside the wagons, around twenty total.)

Before moving in, I set my baggage on the ground and approached while staying low to delay detection.

Of course, I was using my camouflage ability, which would also serve as a test of the guards’ competence depending on when they noticed me.

So far, I had approached smoothly without anyone noticing. Some of them were even chatting and laughing.

(They’re a bit too relaxed… Is security good around here?)

For Canaan, where cities were spaced far apart unlike the Empire, it was unusual for there to be so few incidents with bandits or monsters.

Maybe the local ruler was competent?

That said, with a threat like me around—something they could not possibly deal with—such factors became meaningless.

Compared to if Spider-Man had still been alive, this was much better. So taking payment in supplies would not weigh on my conscience.

Together with my earlier good deed, I could seize plenty of goods and still come out ahead.

By now, I was within fifty meters of the caravan, but no one had yet noticed me.

(At this point, I’m tempted to try a stealth mission.)

Or rather, I wanted to know how well my camouflage ability worked against humans.

At the same time, I thought, “I should probably hide this ability.”

After some thought, I decided to conceal my camouflage ability and adjusted my plan.

So I pulled back some distance.

(I should adjust my position too. I’ll cancel camouflage in a spot where the wagons block the lookouts’ sightlines.)

Taking position, I lay flat on the ground, canceled camouflage, and crawled closer.

Just then, one of the lookouts climbed onto a wagon to scan the surroundings.

Apparently, he finally noticed me and shouted loudly.

My gray body did not blend well into the night.

“So I get spotted pretty quickly after all…”

I said, raising myself from the ground.

I heard a scream, but it seemed to be from a non-combatant under protection.

I stomped forward leisurely, watching the armed guards prepare their weapons.

(Swords and spears—two of them. One with a shield, and two with bows. And two magicians.)

The female magician near the campfire began chanting, followed quickly by the male magician.

Arrows flew at me, but I ignored them.

They didn’t pierce, and even if they hit, they didn’t hurt.

The two bowmen atop the wagons shouted something, probably “The arrows don’t work!”

Ignoring the five frontliners, I advanced toward the wagons to cut off the magicians’ line of fire.

I had to be wary of magic, so I pretended to hide—then suddenly leapt over the wagon to land near the magicians.

The impact of my landing scattered the campfire, sending sparks flying. I quickly knocked the staff out of the female magician’s hands and crushed it underfoot.

For fun, I pretended that my claws got caught and tugged down her off-shoulder dress robe, causing the padding in her chest to scatter across the ground.

(…A No. 1, huh?)

I had thought she was a No. 4, but that was clearly too much padding.

I did not miss the way her male comrades’ eyes shifted downward in the middle of a crisis.

She probably did not miss it either.

Imagining the aftermath, I thought it would be a waste to kill them now.

Since the female magician kept screeching, I silenced her with a flick to the forehead.

No, she did not spin and fly off dramatically—she just collapsed normally to the ground, knocked out. She would not die.

The male magician changed spells but kept chanting.

Finding it mildly entertaining, I decided to give them the excuse of “we did what we could.”

I stalled against the five frontliners, waiting for the spell to go off.

Sure enough, he had switched to a less collateral type of spell. Straight-line attacks were easy to dodge or counter.

I timed a backhand strike with a quick turn to knock away his flame arrow, while simultaneously using my tail to blow away the shield bearer.

When a woman thrust her spear at my back, I wrapped my tail around her and passed her to my left hand, then hurled her at the magician.

The male magician tried to catch her, but lacking the strength, both were knocked down together.

I scattered the remaining three frontliners without killing them, ending the fight.

Meanwhile, the two archers had already fled after realizing their arrows were useless.

It looked like another ordeal awaited them elsewhere.

When one wagon tried to flee, I grabbed it from behind and lifted it, causing the terrified driver to tumble out with a scream.

Seeing another wagon also trying to escape, I chased it down, yanked the driver out, and dragged it back.

(Now then, six wagons secured. Time to loot!)

Thus began the inspection of the spoils.

Carefully opening wooden crates one by one so as not to damage their contents, I checked everything.

The first wagon contained mostly food.

That seemed like a win, but most of the cargo was wheat. The only thing I could take was some dried meat.

If I knew how to cook, wheat might have been an option too, but that could not be helped.

Besides, I also needed tools suitable for this large body, so food alone was of limited use.

There was some alcohol, but I skipped it this time.

On to the next wagon.

When I peeked in, there was a scream.

It seemed to be a family, but since I was a monster, I showed no mercy.

The two children’s mouths were covered by their parents’ hands to stifle their cries.

I searched regardless, but only found furniture and household items.

It looked like this family was moving.

A dud, so I moved on.

In the next wagon, a young man was shielding a woman behind him.

Her belly looked a little swollen, so she might have been pregnant.

(Quite the beauty, huh. Damn this normie.)

I spat the words and moved on.

I had at least enough kindness to think it would be bad for the mother’s health.

There was not much cargo anyway, so nothing I wanted.

At the fourth wagon, I finally found what I was after.

Five jars of salt, plus wool—

(And… iron ore?)

I took two jars of salt and some wool, pulled them out, and moved on.

The fifth wagon—again, wheat.

The older man inside was trembling and muttering something, probably complaints aimed at the guards.

And finally, the sixth wagon—just as I peeked inside, a rapier lunged at me.

I bit down to stop it and yanked the attacker out of the wagon.

The young man released the rapier as he rolled across the ground, then charged at me with his fists, so I swatted him with my tail.

After confirming he was unconscious, I plucked up the rapier, used it like a toothpick, then tossed it aside.

Resuming my search of the last wagon, I found ornaments and brightly colored fabrics.

Clearly nothing I needed.

Just as I lowered my shoulders in disappointment, I spotted a locked chest.

I forced it open with brute strength, revealing a single sealed water jar.

(A suspicious-looking item… probably magic-related.)

I did not know how to use it, but I would take it for now.

Thus, the spoils were:

Dried meat – about 1kg

2 jars of salt

Some wool

A water jar

As far as looting went, it was extremely merciful since I had taken no lives.

Now all that was left was to gather my baggage, pack these items, and head back into the mountains.