Chapter 24: Oh No! Trouble!

“Ah! I promised the townspeople that I would charge their fountains for money,” Alicia said.

“Money?” John raised an eyebrow.

“Well… I’m hungry. And the horsie needs to eat too,” Alicia lied as naturally as she breathed. She was born in a capitalist country. Free work violates the law of nature in Alicia’s mind.

“Well, we don’t need money anymore. I’ll pay for them. Helping others is always good, Alicia. You shouldn’t be so selfish,” John said.

“Yeah. Who knows, Lord Shadowstep might even lighten our punishment. I’ll carry the horse to the local stables. We don’t need that for the stagecoach we’ll be riding. It will be returned to Lord Shadowstep later,” John’s friend said.

“Alright.” Alicia grumbled, but ultimately went along with it. With a flick of her finger, the fountain and water pumps lit up one after another.

“Ah! Thank you, little mage. I didn’t think you would light all the pumps in this town. Now I am relieved,” the ostler who guided Alicia to John said. “You are a high-ranking mage, huh? It seems Shadowstep will approach a new golden age.”

“John. The stagecoach is leaving,” a soldier came to John. The caravan they were hitching a ride with was about to leave. John nodded, then looked toward Alicia, who skipped her steps to him.

“Bye-bye,” Alicia waved at the ostler. The ostler waved in kind. He had yet to meet a child mage. Mages were often an arrogant bunch, so seeing such a cheery one made his lips curve upward—something he rarely did in this backwater village.

The sound of trotting horses, along with the rhythmic clanking of the carriage, sent Alicia into a daze. She was tired. The fatigue had caught up with her. She knew John would be attacked by bandits, but she didn’t know when. The original novel didn’t explain when or where he was attacked. Alicia only knew that John was captured during his trip to Althemer’s capital.

There were still a few days before they reached the capital. Alicia thought she could slip in a few hours of sleep before her time had come. But fate said otherwise.

“Bandits!” someone from the outside shouted.

“How come there are bandits on the way to the capital?” other passengers complained.

“Good lord! Alicia was right!” Loharn said. His eyes widened as he searched for his weapon he had put somewhere in the cargo compartments.

“Lain, grab your sword,” John said to his other friend, who only looked at Alicia in a daze. John was skeptical, but he trusted his daughter. That’s why he already had his sword with him.

“Come on, we’re passengers here. This convoy already has guards,” Lain said. tension drained from her face as her mouth contorted into a slight smile.

“Alicia said this bandit group was bigger than expected. She’s been right thus far. There’s no reason to doubt her,” John said as he peeked through the canvas.

There, five bandits were coming with their shortbows and horses.

“Whoa, those bandits have horses,” Loharn said as he poked his head out of the carriage alongside John.

This was a medieval world. Bandits existed. But unlike in games, they often came from poor villages—outcasts. Unless they were notorious, bandits should not have horses. Bandits often came from poor villages where they struggled to make ends meet. But these did. These bandits were the infamous group known as the Forest Knaves.

They rarely raided caravans from rural villages, but when Duke Luca learned that a level 7 mage with a commoner background was in debt to him, he decided to make a move. He promised a sum of 300 gold to these notorious bandits to kidnap him alive. A mind-boggling amount. Yet it was but a paltry sum for acquiring a level 7 mage child.

John tried to be stealthy, but his disappearance from the gate made everything too conspicuous. It was easy to track where and what he was about to do. Going to the capital despite having an enormous debt could only mean one thing: he had backing and was about to dispute it before the Justiciar.

The caravan guards, composed of three mercenaries and two archers, repelled them. Those bandits released arrows from their shortbows and then left. The arrows had hit one caravan guard, wounding him in the shoulder.

“Well, that’s that. Hahaha. Alicia, John might not be the strongest knight, but even he wouldn’t lose to some random bandits. You shouldn’t worry too much,” Lain grinned.

“... Sorry. I thought Dad was going to the capital alone.”

“Well, five people on horses might be difficult even for a knight, but there are three of us,” Loharn nodded.

“Hm… their movement is strange. Those bandits had horses, yet they pulled back early. None of them are even dead yet,” John observed the battle.

“... Ah. You’re right,” Loharn nodded. Lain, who was only a knight in name—as she was often tasked with clerical jobs—tilted her head.

“They knew they couldn’t win, so they retreated. What’s wrong with that? Look! Our archers had hit them in the back,” Lain said.

“I believe they were scouts from a bigger bandit group. There’s no way lone bandits could have horses.” John shook his head. “Alicia, how many bandits did Goddess Sistielle say were attacking us?”

“Fifteen, plus two mages.”

“Bwah! Impossible. There’s no way mages would join bandits,” Loharn almost spat. Lain likewise frowned at Alicia’s delusion. Alicia took back her words.

“Ah, but she did say she wasn’t sure either. So, this might be all,” she tried to be ambiguous. Goddess Sistielle never spoke about this bandit attack. She only read it in a book. Alicia believed the goddess didn’t know about the light novel The Reincarnated Villainess Assassin Only Wanted Friends. She had asked her before. That’s why she believed this information was exclusive to her alone. The book wasn’t 100% reliable either.

John then brought Alicia with him to the caravan master, who was being scolded by the mercenary captain.

“Ugh… how come you forgot to refill the arcane stone? We’re now lacking in water. These wounds need to be cleaned using clean water,” the mercs yelled at the caravan leader. Yes, water from mana pumps is cleaner than water from flasks or pouches. That’s common knowledge.

“We rarely had attacks like this, so we only brought enough for drinking. Moreover, water arcane stones are rare. They didn’t have any in Shadowstep Crossing.”

“Why did you even bring them if you didn’t use them? Ugh… fine. We’ll use drinking water instead,” the archer, a woman, groaned. Using drinking water to clean wounds is often safe, but the risk of an infection was not zero—especially if the water was kept inside leather pouches.

“Erm… excuse me. My daughter is a mage. She can refill the water stone.”

“Really?” The caravan leader and the mercs turned to John.

“Yes. So, please help me repel the bandits!” Alicia bowed.

“Don’t worry! We just repelled that bandit group. They won’t come back here anytime soon. By the way, I’m Halturt. I’m the leader of my group here, Golden Eagle. You shall fear no bandits while we are around,” Halturt said. Commoners rarely interacted with mages, so he seized the opportunity to introduce himself and impress the young mage.

“Ahem. We believe the attack earlier was a scout party. The real attack might follow later,” John explained. Alicia was a dimwit, but since she was cute, everyone forgave her. She was only a ten-year-old.

“I see. You’re right. By the way, are you a knight?”

“Yes. We are knights from Shadowstep County. I… I mean, we have something to do in the capital,” John explained.

“Where is the pump? I will charge it.”

“But we don’t have mana scales…”

“Don’t worry. I have water affinity.”

“Wait a minute. I believe we have an empty water stone somewhere…”

“Never mind. I’ll do it through magic…” Alicia sighed. She then created a floating ball of water and drenched it on the wounded guard.

“Ah, wait. I need to pull out the arrow first. Sorry, but I also need to wash this basin. Do you have enough mana?” the archer said.

“Don’t worry! I can create as much water as you want! I am Alicia, the best mage of Shadowstep!” Now that she felt safe, her arrogance reared its ugly head again.

“Haha. We have a high level mage here. I think Shadowstep won’t be a rural territory anymore after she graduates from the academy,” the mercs chuckled.

“Hold still. I’m going to bandage your wound. Water here, please,” the archer munched a herb and spit it on the bandage as an ointment. Alicia beamed at the practice. She had only seen these techniques in movies.

“Alicia, let’s return to the carriage. We need to keep moving,” John said. Loharn and Lain went ahead of him. This time, they brought their swords.

“Okay! Bye-bye, Mister Mercenary.” Alicia said, completely forgetting that his name was Halturt. The female archer and the wounded warrior smirked at their mercenary leader.

The caravan sped up, fully intending to reach the next village even a bit sooner. They even camped without fire, trying to hide their presence. John, Loharn, and Lain helped the mercenaries set up a night watch. Alas, they were not so lucky. At noon, they found their road was blocked. Fallen trees, wrapped with spiky brambles, hindered their progress.

“This was certainly man-made,” the mercs and caravan leader agreed.

“Damn it. Why would these bandits target us? Do we even have something worth stealing that they’d go to such lengths to set traps like these? They’d need at least ten or twenty people to set this,” Halturt said. He then eyed John.

“I’ll do my best to help. The errand I was about to do was supposed to be a secret. None but Count Shadowstep and his trusted retainers were supposed to know,”

“Bandits. They’re attacking us from behind.” The female archer drew her bow. Her eyes widened at the crowd that marched toward them from the nearby forest. “Holy shit… there are so many of them.”

“Oi. If I survive this, I’m kicking you guys out of the caravan in the next village. Understand?” the caravan leader said. “Hurry! Cut the blockade!”

“There must be at least fifty of them. Possibly a hundred,” the mercenaries said. They had drawn their swords and bucklers, but it felt pointless.

“Oi. That’s a lot over fifteen bandits, Alicia. I didn’t know Goddess Sistielle couldn’t count.” Loharn made a sarcastic remark when he saw the number of bandits that came after their lives. Lain wanted to retort, but she had to hold her tongue.

“Prepare. We must fight them. For Shadowstep,” John said as he drew his sword, with Alicia behind him.

The battle had yet to begin. Little did they know, they would soon be betrayed. The Bandit leader’s cunning mind worked to its fullest. He made an offer tot he group.