Chapter 33

Senior’s gaze turned sharp.

“Something is coming. I feel an aura different from an ordinary person!”

“Could it just be a wild animal?” I asked.

“No, something much worse. I used to be a brat, so I know these things. I didn’t embroider ‘Ready to Fight’ on my clothes for nothing.”

“Could it be delinquents coming this way? Wow, I’ve never talked to a ‘bad boy’ before, I’m so thrilled!” Cerulia was getting excited over something bizarre.

However, Senior’s animalistic instinct—or rather, her intuition—was spot on. In this case, I would have preferred it if she were wrong.

Emerging from the forest was a group of men who looked like thugs through and through. Some of them even had their hair spiked up like Senior in her old portrait. I thought there were about four of them at first, but suddenly more of their companions appeared from behind. There were more than ten of them…

“Hyah-ha! We’ve stumbled upon a nice score! We’re the bandits who claim this territory!”

So, they were worse than delinquents.

“You parked that dragon skeleton to do ‘good things’ over here, didn’t you? One look at how you women are dressed and I can tell!”

Wait, we’re being misunderstood?!

“You’re wrong! We all generally have a high level of skin exposure, but we weren’t doing anything like that!” I protested for the sake of our honor.

“Don’t give me that! That woman over there is a Succubus!”

“Well, she is… but we still weren’t doing anything!”

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway.” A burly, balding man who seemed to be the leader stepped forward.

“We’ve got two high-quality women here. They’ll fetch a good price when we sell them off. …As for that guy, we’ll sell him to a black company that only pays a monthly salary of eight silver coins.”

“A monthly salary of eight silver coins?! That’s a labor law violation! If it’s a full-time position, he should be getting at least double that!”

Senior, is that really the part you’re mad about? They just said they were going to sell you off, too…

Cerulia hid behind me.

“Those people… they look so crude and frightening. Being looked at with those beastly eyes is unbearable…”

“Cerulia, I’ll protect you.”

“Are you kidding me?!” one of the men barked.

“How is a Succubus getting freaked out by being looked at lewdly?!”

“I refuse to deal with humans who don’t respect a Succubus as a person! You clearly look like you’d treat me roughly!”

I couldn’t afford to argue about whether “not rough” made it okay; I simply had to eliminate these guys.

“Master, the staff!” Cerulia pulled out a staff and threw it toward me. Normally, I have her keep it in a place that seems to be the Demon Realm.

However, one of the bandits jumped up and snatched the flying staff mid-air.

“We’re pros when it comes to stealing!”

Well, they are bandits, after all…

“Master, I shall scatter them with my summoning magic!”

A new staff appeared in Cerulia’s hand. Right—when we fought the Golem, she summoned those octopus-like tentacles. If she could take down a Golem, these guys would be a piece of cake, but—

“Cerulia, let me handle this. I might face this level of crisis again in the future.”

I make my living with Dark Magic now. If I can’t even deal with a few bandits, I’ll never make it.

“Besides, your summoning magic is too powerful. It would definitely tear up this forest.”

This land is important to Senior Tototo. I wanted to avoid seeing it destroyed. Senior, meanwhile, was just standing there silently, so I wasn’t sure what she was thinking. Since we hadn’t practiced for combat, there was no teamwork to speak of. For now, Cerulia and I had to focus on removing the enemy.

“But Master, without a staff, your Dark Magic will be limited—”

“I have a way!”

I used my foot to start scratching a magic circle into the dirt. If this were the paved streets of the Capital, this tactic wouldn’t work. I was glad the ground wasn’t paved.
If I were to use something here, it would be [Physical Weakening (Minor)] or [Life Drain (Minor)]. Weakening would be easier to draw. However, I hit an unexpected obstacle.

“The line hit a root! I can’t draw it!”

Right—creating a magic circle requires a somewhat flat surface. Because of the forest, it was hard to find enough space.

“Hyah-ha! My luck is finally turning because I do ‘good things’ all the time!”

The leader shouted. Don’t lie. There’s no way you’ve ever done anything helpful for society!

Men wielding blades approached. This was becoming a race against time… I had to move to a spot where I could actually draw the circle. But the enemies were surprisingly pragmatic despite their “trash mob” dialogue.

“Listen up! Everyone, erase those circles! First, crush the man!”

The circles I drew on the ground were being stomped out as fast as I could make them. This was bad. Being outnumbers in a “human wave” tactic put me at an overwhelming disadvantage.

Senior Tototo was still just dodging and running around without attacking. There was a chance she could only move the dragon skeleton and nothing else. I wanted to wait until the last possible second to ask Cerulia for help. If I didn’t resolve my own troubles, I’d never grow.

It wasn’t just about growth, though; I wanted to become an elite employee to repay the President. If my life is fun right now, it’s because of her. Even meeting Cerulia was all thanks to the President.

I kept running through the forest, trying to draw a circle.

If it were the President, what would she do? She’d probably say, ‘Let’s think about what we can use in this forest.’

What I can use in this forest.

A flash of inspiration hit me. What do you know—the seeds had already been sown.
I stood perfectly still.

“Hyah-ha! You’ve given up! We’ll catch you first as a hostage, then the women will surrender!”

The bandits swarmed toward me to restrain me. Just as I’d hoped.

I grinned.

The bandits finally noticed something was wrong. Behind me, countless bees were swarming. The [Mind Control (Minor)] I had cast on the bees when we passed through earlier was still in effect.

“Bees, go. Sting the enemies before me mercilessly.”

Receiving the command, the bees surged toward the bandits all at once. The tide of battle turned instantly.

“Uwaaaaaah!” “Help meeee!” “Run!”

Besieged by the bees, the bandits fell into total, uncoordinated chaos.