Colt wasn't surprised by his situation. No, he had been counting on this to happen.
The five men around him were all dressed in black, ready to strike with the swords in their hands.
A faint exhale slipped from him—more patience than fear.
Bandits...
Birdsong faded abruptly the moment the five men stepped onto the path, as if the forest itself sensed danger.
It happened the day after he arrived at the inn.
Colt's story about the Luminous Order wasn't completely wrong. As someone without anything, he had nowhere better to go.
He remembered the people of the Order taking in orphans and finding jobs for people. They even mediated fights between people as well as countries.
So, Colt had no better first destination after leaving Kirke, the town where the Vera family mansion was located, than the Order.
He spent the day going around to buy some necessary supplies for the trip. Still, whenever possible, he paid with a gold coin.
A gold coin was worth more than what an average commoner earned in three months. So, he could only pay with it when he shopped in a merchant's shop. Otherwise, the shop owner couldn't afford the change.
Colt was by no means lavish even as a noble. So, he didn't go as far as leaving gold coins and not taking the change.
But even this was enough. He had spent more than five gold coins in one day, and slept at the inn that night.
He assumed they would come in his sleep. But he was wrong. They probably wanted him to have a false feeling of security.
In the end, they only came after Colt left Kirke and entered the forest road right after the sun rose.
It was a clever decision since people rarely passed through here, especially at this hour of the day.
"I didn't know I was being followed by bandits," Colt said, not disturbed by the situation.
"Kehkeh, we have seen many like you. You don't need to pretend as if you are not scared. We will only take your money and leave your life," one of the bandits said.
They were all wearing black clothes and their faces were covered. So, the only way for Colt to distinguish them was by their build.
He mentally marked them one through five, smallest to largest.
Two was the one who spoke. Then Four joined in, saying, "I wish you were a beautiful girl, though."
Well, I am sorry that I am not.
"Enough," Three shouted. "Let's get this over with."
Upon his words, the others stopped talking.
He must be the leader, Colt thought.
Right now, he didn't have anything to defend himself with. The Vera family offered a sword to him, but he didn't want to carry a low-quality sword.
The one he used his sword energy on back at the mansion had almost melted, even though the sword energy was active only for a minute.
He'd searched Kirke for something usable, but nothing met even his lowered standards.
Of course, he hadn't checked the shops in the noble quarters of the city since he wasn't a noble in this timeline. He wasn't a part of the Vera family, which was why he left.
It didn't matter anyway. He didn't need one to fight these bandits.
Actually, he wanted to test his body. The fight against Astre didn't count since he was trying to survive there.
It only helped with understanding his body's limits. Now, he wanted to learn at what point in his training his body was.
So, he'd acted wealthy on purpose, hoping to draw out as many bandits as possible.
Five... isn't much.
He needed more if he wanted to fully test his body.
Well, whatever. I will find another way.
As he thought about it, Five, the biggest among them, attacked with his bastard sword.
He obviously wasn't skilled with the sword. But probably thanks to his big build, he could swing with force.
That, however, didn't matter to Colt. He watched Five's blade crawl toward him as if moving through mud. It was painfully slow. So, he dodged it simply and kicked Five's abdomen.
One punch was more than enough to handle him. He wasn't here to beat weak people. He needed all to come together to see his body's training level.
Well, I don't mind cleaning some bad people from the streets, though.
"Tsch. He isn't as weak as we thought. We all go together!" Three shouted.
Yes, come together.
Just as Colt wanted, they would attack together. They were all using swords, so Colt didn't need extra caution.
He could already feel their levels anyway.
But the next second, just when the bandits were about to attack, he felt something else.
"How terrible of you! To attack one person without a weapon when you are a group of five!"
He isn't half bad.
A golden-haired, handsome man was standing between two trees. The sun was shining behind him, blinding the others.
A breeze stirred the golden strands of his hair, making the sunlight catch like a halo.
Even Colt had to squint against the sun flaring behind the golden-haired man.
It gave the illusion that the golden-haired man was the one shining.
Obviously, Colt could see there were two people despite the flare. The one behind the golden-haired man was a burly man with a spiked club.
It was similar to a rough kanabo. But it was obviously made by hand, resembling more of a spiked club.
"Who are you?" The leader of the bandits asked.
"Hahaha! Obviously, I am the golden-haired hero of the West, Roderic Sunram!"
Is he a madman? Colt thought to himself. But that lasted until he saw the token dangling from Roderic's waist.
"It is the sign of the Luminous Order!" Four shouted before Colt.
"Kehkehkeh, I see you have eyes. What are you going to do now?" Roderic asked, smiling.
The burly man behind him was standing still like a bodyguard.
"It is still five versus three, don't be scared," Three said to his men, although Five was still on the ground, motionless.
Roderic's eyes sharpened for a second. "I don't even need to dirty my hands for you. Oddo, handle them."
The burly man behind Roderic, Oddo, shook his head and started moving toward the bandits with the spiked club in his hand.
Now that Colt had a clearer look at him, he was also carrying a sword and the token of the Luminous Order.
But he didn't unsheath it. Instead, he swung his club toward Two. Two tried to defend with his own sword.
Oddo's club slammed into the sword with a loud crack enough to scatter a flock of crows from the trees above.
The steel snapped with a sharp crack that echoed between the trees, and Two was hit on his face, sent flying.
"F*ck! Don't stop, attack together!" Three shouted.
The remaining three attacked together, but the result was the same. Oddo beat them all without even moving from where he was standing.
Colt was not happy with his training targets being taken from him.
But this is a blessing in itself.
He decided that he could gain even more from this. No, maybe this was exactly what he needed.
After the fight was over, Roderic approached Colt. "Don't worry, we are here to help you. Are you okay?"
He is not half bad, actually.
He was assuring him and asking how he was. He seemed to be a good person.
Oddo also approached them when it was over.
"Ah, thank you. I don't know what I would do if you weren't here," Colt lied.
Oddo glanced at Five's motionless body and frowned, but he seemed to choose not to talk.
"Ah, what a shame we couldn't come earlier. We had to fight monsters to protect others. Otherwise, we would be here earlier."
Since when were monsters appearing this close to the city?
Even though Colt wasn't from this time, he knew there were no monsters around the cities, at least around here. So, it was an obvious lie.
Also, even if there were monsters, if the two were too early, they would miss Colt and the bandits anyway.
"Still, thank you!" Colt said, holding his hands on top of his abdomen respectfully.
"Where are you headed? If you want, we can accompany you to your destination!" Roderic asked the question Colt was waiting for.
"Really? Would you do that? I am actually going toward the Luminous Order's Alla branch." It was the closest branch that could give Colt what he wanted.
"Perfect! We were also headed there after our brief stop at Kirke," Roderic said.
Weren't you fighting monsters? Colt thought, but didn't put it into words.
"Then, can we go together, if you don't mind?" Colt asked.
"Of course, of course," Roderic said. But then did something Colt couldn't expect, even if he regressed in time one hundred times.
He extended his open hand and held it there expectantly.