If you want to support, you can do so at: https://www.patre on.com/finlegost
There, you can find 18 chapters in advance.
Thanks to my patrons and to those who comment on the chapters. It means a lot to me and motivates me to continue this hobby of mine.
And, of course, thanks to everyone who reads this novel.
*************************************
"Don't worry. They won't even know what hit them... Hehe... Or cut, in this case," says Beatrice with an excited smile and becomes invisible.
'Haa...
She really enjoys the idea of killing people...
And even more so when it comes to men...
She's almost like a very exaggerated version of the three annoying beauties.'
Every so often, I find myself thinking about the fact that, over time, I care less and less about killing people to achieve my goals, to the point where I begin to see my objectives as mere stepping stones to reach a destination.
I wasn't like this before, and I find this change a little disturbing.
But the change is so slow and subtle that I can't even pinpoint when it began.
In fact, if it weren't for my newest companion's extreme attitude towards this, I wouldn't have started to question it.
I don't know if it's something natural or an effect of the classes I have.
Another hypothesis I have is that it may be a side effect of Zariche, so lately I've started to limit my use of him and have gone back to using my pulley bow more often.
This doesn't make the cursed sword very happy, but he has learned not to comment on it if he doesn't want to end up in my inventory.
So every time he knows I'm going to use my bow, he sulks and stays silent.
But even so, I can sense his strong displeasure at my choosing another weapon over him.
"I should get started with the cleaning," I mutter to myself when I see on my interface map that Beatrice's blue dot is near the carriage and its numerous guards, as I begin to draw the bowstring with a Silent Arrow ready to be fired.
The tax collector's carriage this time looks simple and ordinary, without much decoration.
I suppose they have chosen this to try to camouflage its purpose, but it is a rather stupid attempt, as no normal carriage would have as many escorts as this one does.
Around the carriage there are at least 50 knights covered in full armor and mounted on horses.
I know they didn't used to have so many escorts, because when we started these raids, the number of knights escorting the carriages was twenty at best.
But it seems that stories of our little jobs are becoming known among the nobility.
Additionally, we change the area we harass from time to time, so I imagine the nobles of Drial Cenit must be quite annoyed.
'Ha! They clearly don't know how to deal with me…
Activate Strength Profile! Archer Breathing Style!'
Then I start shooting at the knights in rapid succession, at lightning speed, allowing me to shoot six arrows before the first one hits its target.
This is only possible thanks to Archer Breathing Style, which I activate and deactivate at full speed between each shot while switching to a new target.
The skill is already at level 66 thanks to using it this way, despite the short time I've had it.
It's very curious that the same principle that helped me level up Sword Breathing Style also worked for Archer Breathing Style.
I tried using it that way because of how similar their names are, and fortunately, my intuition was rewarded.
It's not really that difficult to make the connection, but I suppose it would normally take many coincidences for a person to figure it out.
Thanks to the enhanced vision granted to me by Eagle's Eye, I can see clearly as the projectiles I fired begin to hit their targets.
The arrows have such speed and force that when they hit, they knock down the horsemen along with their mounts, tearing large holes in the armor they wear.
As I continue to fire, Beatrice takes advantage of the confusion caused by my attack to initiate a kind of deadly choreography, using the carriage guards as props for her macabre dance.
She jumps and clings to their bodies using her long legs, like a kind of human spider, leaping at full speed from guard to guard in a series of acrobatic capers during which parts of her body, protected by dark leather armor, are momentarily obscured from view.
Her rapid movements are accompanied by a reddish rain; each time, one of Shadow's two daggers is stained red as it pierces the uncovered spaces in her victims' armor.
I stop shooting for a few moments, somewhere between impressed and enthralled by the woman's incredible skill, as those movements are something I would not be capable of performing, even though her status has a significantly lower number of points assigned to it than mine does.
'Haa...
I should be used to this kind of scene by now...
But that ear-to-ear smile she has while she kills them...
It's a little sexy, yes, but also quite disturbing...
Haa... I should help her finish...
It's not as if she needs my help, considering the knights' lack of success in catching up with her...
But I have to do my part too...
Haa... It was easier when we didn't have to kill them.'
When we started these raids, we tried as much as possible to knock out the tax collectors and their guards so we wouldn't have to kill them.
But we quickly realized that wasn't a good idea, because usually, shortly after they regained consciousness, the collectors would return to the towns and villages to collect taxes once again.
What's more, they took even more money from people than the first time, probably because they thought we were in cahoots with them.
Worse still, they threatened people with slavery if they didn't pay.
On several occasions, we had to rescue entire families tied by their hands and dragged behind the tax collectors' carriages as if they were cattle.
So now we make sure to eliminate the tax collectors and their guards without leaving any witnesses to our actions.
This is another reason why I almost never bring Delia to Drial Cenit to help me, as I don't like to see her suffer.
She understands what we do and why we do it, and she wants to help us, because that's the way she is, but that doesn't make her any less uncomfortable about the idea.
Alessia doesn't find it so hard to participate, but I think, as is her custom, it's because she's pushing herself to 'prove' that she's as good as Beatrice in this and other aspects.
It's stupid, and I've told her so on more than one occasion, but the blonde doesn't listen to my words no matter how many times I tell her.
'So many deaths...
Haa...
Don't think about it...
It's useless...
This is necessary to improve things...
Both for us and for the people of Drial Cenit.'
After a few seconds, all the men accompanying the carriage now lie dead on the ground.
I then activate my Agility Profile and start running towards the vehicle, while Beatrice gets inside it.
When I finally arrive at the scene, I see that the interior of the vehicle is painted red in several places due to the blood lost by its occupant before dying.
The obese corpse of the collector is dressed in very colorful and vibrant clothes, but most of the fabric is stained red, the result of numerous stab wounds to the stomach, neck, and limbs.
As the corpses around the carriage begin to turn into remnants one by one, the redhead waits for me at the carriage doors.
The woman is covered from head to toe in someone else's blood, but with an expression of pure happiness that contrasts as much with her current appearance as night and day.
I don't particularly like Beatrice's bloodthirsty tendencies, as I get the impression that she often enjoys making her victims suffer as much as possible.
But it's not something that particularly concerns me either. After all, the people we attack have to die anyway.
As long as her tendency towards violence is channeled in the right direction, it doesn't have to be a problem.
'Now we would have to go from town to town and village to village to distribute the money we recovered...
But we can't go with Beatrice in this state...
First she has to take a good bath to wash all that blood off...
We could still go if I asked her to accompany me while remaining invisible...
But I've already learned that it's best not to take any risks with her...
If she were to become visible in front of the villagers...
That would definitely not be ideal for the reputation we're trying to build...
Haa...
Yes, it's better to be safe than sorry.'