The afternoon after Henry and his party arrived in this small village, the village was invaded by a group of bandits.
It stands to reason that in villages with samurai garrison, the bandits would not dare to cause trouble, but the samurai here, like most of the nobles in other directly-governed states, have never seen blood. After seeing the large number of people on the other side and the menacing attack, they all fled into their own rams. They were unable to escape from the samurai mansion with earthen courtyard walls, leaving the remaining villagers defenseless.
There are nearly 20 bandits, but there are only one country soldier and three ashigaru guarding the area, and the latter are old and weak.
These bandits must have known that the guarding army was extremely weak, but the timing of their arrival was too subtle, and it was obviously not unrelated to the existence of the group.
The residents stayed behind closed doors, and the samurai's reaction to hiding was extremely timely.
There seems to be some underlying agreement.
The bandits marched straight into the unguarded and unimpeded streets. Some of them came directly to the door of the hotel where Henry and his party were staying, while the other part separated and headed towards the corral.
And all this was clearly seen by Lulu and Mira on the second floor.
"They were not wearing armor, and most of them were carrying sickles and swords. There were no long-range weapons, but a few of them were carrying two knives, and their postures looked like they had been trained." He didn't stick his head out of the window directly, but The Luoan girl who was sitting on the side and observing carefully through the gap in the corner reported this.
"A landless wanderer?" the sage said as he put the sword behind his back and fastened the buckle. The team was composed of almost all combatants except Aya, so they quickly put on their equipment after detecting the threat.
"The store manager hid in his room and refused to open the door." The direction of the entrance to the room suddenly darkened, and Galeva said as he entered through the open door.
"Being sold." The red-haired swordsman said with his eyes closed.
"Ignored all the surrounding houses and went straight to the hotel." Mira added.
"Maybe the whole village has some private agreement with them. For example, they turn a blind eye when travelers living here encounter bandits, in exchange for the bandits not attacking the villagers." The sage shrugged: "A bunch of The Southern Barbarians who look very wealthy do seem like perfect targets.”
"...Would it be useful if I talked to them?" The person who spoke was Aya. Although she was not wearing doctor's clothes because she was out for relaxation, her hair color represented the noble Kazuto and the country scholar who came yesterday The conversation during the inquiry was witnessed by many people.
"They probably know the composition of our team, so they sent so many people here. There is no need to take this risk." Henry said this, putting on the iron gloves and tightening them.
The armor customized by Xinjing's special craftsmen is probably the most useful thing this honorary noble token gives them. Although they looked arrogant when they showed the token at first, after the sage showed them the plate armor made by the dwarf craftsmen, those who fanatically studied a certain skill couldn't restrain themselves. His curiosity made the armor craftsmen in the workshop quickly turn into a being who they nodded and called him like a younger brother when he said a word.
The Luoan girl who was watching at the time was thinking about what kind of effect her teacher's ability to confuse people would have if used in evil ways.
He is really good at it.
The long journey and abundant experience allow Henry to easily identify the desires of others, and using these things to open up topics and then gradually induce the other person to fall into his own rhythm is something he is very good at - of course, this premise must be that the topic can Open.
Although Kazuto is exclusive and arrogant, people who can hone their skills to perfection are often not people who completely close themselves off.
Locked in their own small space, those who think they are unparalleled in the world can often only achieve this level of achievement in their lifetime, because they lack the eternal desire to learn that is necessary to polish their skills to the extreme.
People at the bottom are not necessarily despicable. Many of them will learn to endure and break out in hard times and wait for the opportunity.
And the people at the top are not necessarily arrogant and dull. Many of them are far-sighted and keen to explore new things.
The most terrible thing is those who are neither above nor below. They are above the bottom but cannot reach the top. They hold on to the little knowledge they may have just learned. They think they have mastered the truth of the world after just scratching the surface, for fear that others will not know that they are very rich. Promote your ability everywhere.
– But let’s get back to where we started.
After establishing a good relationship with the Xinjing armor craftsmen who respected their skills to the highest level, they invested a lot of money to customize the armor for everyone, which is a combination of Crescent Island and Rigal styles.
The Rigal-style plate armor design with cloth as the surface and the iron armor lining has a similar "tortoise shell gold" in the Crescent Continent. Although it cannot be hardened as well as the dwarves, it is only properly shaped and made. One piece of Brigand floor armor per person is enough to greatly improve the team members' ability to withstand strikes.
On top of this, coupled with the extended gauntlet, which is based on the samurai's cage but only ends at the elbow, and increases the armor area to enhance the resistance to strikes, the equipment they currently use is formed.
They were not equipped with helmets, except that the shield-bearing Galeva was equipped with a hat reinforced with iron sheets.
For most Rigar mercenaries and adventurers, helmets are an option rather than a necessity. Because body armor is close to a person's core area and has a larger target, it is easier to be attacked and more suitable for bearing weight for a long time. But helmets are different. Even a lightweight helmet after traveling for a few hours a day is enough to cause neck soreness, and the increased heat dissipation, vision and breathing effects of wearing a helmet should not be underestimated.
Although the head is the key point of the human body, for adventurers who mostly engage in small-scale encounters and street fights, having a good field of vision and the ability to turn the head without any burden, and then using weapons or shields to block Blocking attacks is a more cost-effective option.
Renting one temporarily when participating in a large-scale frontal battlefield battle is a habit of most adventurers in Rigar. This habit has also been carried over to today's travels in the Moon Country. Even when ordering armor, body armor is often given priority.
Conflict is inevitable. If you want to protect your property and the safety of your partners, you can only take up arms. And no one in the entire village was their companion.
In terms of numbers, they were at a disadvantage, with a numerical ratio of almost four to one.
However, there were only five or six people on the other side who were armed with swords and looked like ronin. The rest were all down-and-out farmers who seemed to just want to join in and make a living.
On their side, not only are their individual combat capabilities generally higher, they also have better equipment.
"Take the initiative." Said the sage who had put on the equipment, and the bandits who were coaxing outside had enough time to wait for them to appear due to their large number. When they saw that these southern barbarians not only refused to hand over their treasures, Instead, when the woman appeared in a military uniform with a murderous look, the farmers who had been so powerful immediately stopped.
"Hey! He's just a southern barbarian. He has a tall physique, but how can he understand the exquisiteness of my Otsuki swordsmanship? There's nothing to be afraid of!" Seeing the low morale, one of the ronin shouted loudly, and put his hand on the sword and shook it. .
"That's right, Lord Yojuro is known as the Urakami Sword Demon. Even though these Southern Barbarians are tall and powerful, two or three sword strikes will make them cry." The bandits shouted loudly as if no one was watching, and the Luoan girl turned over. Rolling his eyes, he took a step forward.
"Then let's try a duel with me?" She spoke in quite standard Kazuto language with a bit of a northern accent, and pulled out the Otolo sword from her waist.
"Women! You too-" The shouting peasant was stopped by the ronin he called Yojuro-sama. This man had messy hair. He walked out of the crowd with his hands folded. There is a lot of body hair on the bronze skin, there is some stubble on the square face, and there is a bud of a plant in his mouth.
"I haven't killed a Nanman woman yet. I'm so arrogant. I hope your swordsmanship is worthy of it." Ronin's tone was extremely arrogant, but he walked straight forward and was within the attack range of Mira, but he still held his hands. The Luoan girl felt speechless.
"Heh, the Southern Barbarian, his posture still looks good, but he seems to have no actual combat experience." Ronin continued to talk and did not notice that the Luoan girl was just cautious and did not stab him to death with a sword. He slowly pulled out the tachi from his waist. There were several rust stains on the blade, which made the white-haired girl frown even more.
"Let your blood become another rust stain on my beloved sword. Ah!!" the talkative ronin shouted and raised his sword high, while the Luoan girl who finally couldn't bear it stepped forward. While taking a step forward, he stabbed his throat with a standard long thrust, and then kicked off with his heels to reverse the direction of the sword, widening the wound and opening a distance to avoid the tachi he swung before he died.
"Gu - uh - uh -" Urakami Sword Demon just took a blow and took a few steps back while clutching the blood that was pouring out of his throat, and then fell to the ground with eyes wide open.
"Wha—" Mira shook off the blood on her sword and repositioned herself.
The surrounding bandits were silent, because things happened so fast, and many of them didn't know how to react. The farmer who yelled the loudest at the beginning rolled his eyes and finally reacted. He screamed loudly: "Sneak attack! The despicable, shameless and obscene Southern Barbarian woman sneak attacked Lord Sword Demon!!"
"ah!"
"Yes! Yes! A sneak attack, a sneak attack!"
"Sneak attack before taking action!" "You can't win without a sneak attack!" The farmers and bandits cheered in unison. After hearing the desired echo, the farmer with the loudest voice shouted again: " But we still have several masters who are even more superb in swordsmanship!"
The sound came one after another, and even the hiding farmers and villagers ashigaru peeked their heads to watch.
The remaining ronin were dripping with cold sweat on their foreheads. This girl with white hair and goblin-like eyes struck decisively and without mercy. After killing Yojuro, she immediately repositioned herself and prepared to fight the next person. Obviously this is not the first time he has fought against others.
At best, these landless wanderers in Xinjing are just pulling together a group of farmers to live by intimidation and collecting some money based on the strength of their numbers. Their combat effectiveness is completely incomparable to that of the bandit groups in the north that were fully armed and entrenched after defeat. It's just a gangster level.
If he was really as good at fighting as he boasted, he wouldn't have to sign a hidden rule with the people of this village to turn a blind eye to the robbery of travelers, and even require the villagers to report the fat sheep when they see them.
This time it hit the wall.
But samurai are all face-saving, even if they become ronin. Moreover, the farmers behind them are shouting and making noises at the moment. If they don't save face first, they may not be able to convince the crowd in the future.
It's hard to get off the tiger, and the jar will be broken.
"Ask me for advice!" The second ronin stopped being sloppy after seeing the lessons learned from the past. He shouted loudly, drew his sword and came over with small steps. This man was relatively younger and looked to be only in his early twenties. Although he rushed over under pressure, he held the knife in a defensive mid-section, and kept wandering as if waiting for the Luoan girl to take the initiative to attack.
"It looks like the morale has been severely damaged." Although he couldn't see clearly with his eyes, Joshua could roughly judge from the surrounding sounds that the second Ronin swordsman was timid and did not dare to take the initiative to attack.
"Dispersing." Lulu, who was hiding next to Galeva's shield, warned. The remaining ronin were trying to get around after their attention was attracted in front. Judging from the formation, they wanted to outflank more than 100 people. Want to escape.
"After all, it seems they still have more people." Henry's tone was still calm: "The fool and the stupid young man were thrown out to attract firepower. The rest don't care about the pride of the warriors. Just fight a few and win."
"Only the winner has the right to speak. You can whitewash your victory however you want. These people are pragmatic." The sage shrugged and took a step forward. Nearly two meters tall, the armor on his body made a sound of metal collision, and then he pressed his hand on the hilt of Claymore's sword behind his back.
Just the intimidation of walking past made those ronin stop their sneaky movements.
And it was at this time that the Luoan girl, who had adjusted her breathing and conserved her physical strength, took the initiative to approach Ronin Swordsman No. 2 in front of her.
An Otolo-style long sword with a total length of 130 centimeters, with the sword tip lowered in the starting hand.
Both the posture of holding the sword and the composure gradually began to look more impressive.
It's a fool's style, but the opponent won't take the bait because of such a low position after seeing the death of his companions. He still maintains the defensive sword posture in the middle, free.
So Mira decisively launched an attack.
The upward slanting movement was very large, and the swordsman Kazuto, who had a professional background, had already anticipated it, so he stepped back to dodge it. She raised her hands high, making the front door wide open. Kazuto Swordsman thought she had seized the opportunity and approached with one step - because such an attack would take time to backhand one cassock slash after another, and the gap between her changing movements was the opportunity to attack.
The stance in the middle is very suitable for resisting upper attacks that change hands into Kasaya Slash. However, as long as Mira's downward slash is blocked and her weapon is restricted to a high position, she will be unable to defend against the attacks on the middle and lower segments.
Typical Kazuto fencing ideas.
——But she is Rigar’s swordsman.
Mira had no intention of switching to cassock slashing. Instead, her left hand holding the end of the handle pushed upwards, causing the entire long sword to change from a tilted upward posture to pointing downwards.
When the Ronin swordsman saw the tip of the sword suddenly pointing in front of him, he hurriedly retreated and blocked it with his sword. The Luoan girl immediately approached the moment the two blades intersected, then jammed the opponent's sword with her gauntlet and pushed it outward.
"Not bad." Even the sage praised this series of operations.
Kazuto's long sword is very different from the Rigal long sword in the way it is forged. The hard blade is light and thin while the back of the blade serves as a buffer. The softer but rather heavy Crescent Moon sword is much different from the Rigal long sword even if its appearance is ignored. The differences are also very different.
——They would rather break than bend.
Kazuto's swords are products that have been studied to the extreme in cutting performance. They are strong and can exert effective cutting power. Rigal's long sword is often softer, because Rigal's advanced swordsmanship——
The emphasis is on the skill of wrapping a sword.
When the two blades collide, Kazuto's first reaction is often to pull back and strike again.
The Rigal swordsman will use the point where the sword blades meet as a fulcrum to flexibly turn the sword tip to stab the opponent.
Therefore, when Kazuto swordsmen who are not familiar with Rigal swordsmanship fall into the distance of the sword, they will find anxiously——
——Can't pull it away, can't get rid of it.
The long knife in his hand is like a pillar that can barely protect itself, and both ends of the pillar are full of tentative thrust attacks like a violent storm. It is already very difficult to just try to block the attacks that are constantly using the sword in your hand as a fulcrum while retreating. If you try to draw the sword while wrapping the sword, your opponent will immediately notice it and then launch an even more violent attack. s attack.
The Ronin swordsman fell into the unilateral suppression of the Luoan girl. The chopping performance that Taishou was good at was difficult to use in the fight because he couldn't keep the distance. He could only passively block the long sword's attack. He soon took the opportunity to cut open the outer parts of his shoulders and upper arms.
And with the loss of blood, his physical energy is also further depleted.
"When-" The scarred sword fell to the ground, and the panting Ronin also sat down.
"I, I surrender, I surrender!" the young Ronin swordsman shouted loudly.
"This is unreasonable, a prostitute!" The remaining ronin finally couldn't bear it any longer. They no longer ignored the threats around them, drew their swords and rushed towards the Luoan girl in the center of the field.
His companions lost two people in a row, so the importance of face finally prevailed.
Mira was stunned for a moment. She was so focused on the battle in front of her that she almost forgot about the threats that existed around her.
Fortunately, she is not fighting alone.
"Dang——!!" The moment the sword blades collided, the tachi, which was harder and therefore more brittle, broke under the huge force. Before the ronin, who was holding the broken sword and whose jaws were numb, could react, he felt a gust of wind whistling past his face.
Then the bridge of his nose and front teeth were embedded in his face.
"This gauntlet is indeed quite good." The sage glanced at his bloody fist. Although some paint was peeled off, there was no obvious deformation.
"Evil!" The familiar call rang out again. The other two ronin who were stabbing at them with their swords couldn't even hold the swords were really unthreatening, so he didn't even use a big sword but reached over with bare hands. .
"Don't look down on me!" Ronin shouted loudly and slashed at him, and Henry turned sideways and blocked the blade with a "Cang!!" part of his armored forearm, and then grabbed his hand with a lot of sparks. With a little force, the manipulator broke the opponent's wrist into a right angle with a "click".
"Ah - ah ah ah, my, my hand." The knife he took was in good condition. Henry looked at it and found that at least it was not rusty. But another ronin seized this opportunity and actually put down the tip of the knife. He wanted to stab the two of them at once in the blind spot of the sage's vision behind his companion.
Just as he finished this action, he heard a commotion from the farmers and bandits behind him, and then a chill ran down his back.
"咻——呲——"
While the ronin fell to the ground, the red-haired swordsman shook off the blood on the sword, turned the sword in front of him, wiped it clean with a pocket towel, and put it back into its sheath.
"Bang——" With a sound, the sage knocked down the ronin whose wrist was broken with another punch, and the only remaining ronin saw him and Joshua looking in his direction at the same time, and immediately dropped the sword in his hand. He picked up his bloated pants and ran into the forest without looking back.
The battle lasted for about 10 minutes, with two dead, two unconscious, one down and one fleeing.
"I, we are all forced!!" The farmer bandit with the loudest voice immediately dropped the sickle in his hand and shouted loudly, and then he knelt down and knelt down, and the remaining ten farmers also Immediately learn from others.
"God's Coming"
At this time, the villagers who had betrayed the group of people also poked their heads out of their respective houses.
"good!"
"Okay! As expected of the honorary samurai bestowed by the emperor of Xinjing!"
“It’s really extraordinary!!”
They stood at a distance and cheered loudly.
Just like the peasant bandit applauding the Ronin swordsman at the beginning.
"It's so unpleasant." The Luoan girl pushed the young ronin's sword away with her foot and checked the long sword in her hand which was also somewhat worn.
Grunted.
