Devilla
As predicted it was a trivial matter for Lucy, Grell, and I to pick up the carriage, passenger and all. In fact, I'm fairly certain that Lucy could have handled the entire matter by herself. Not that I was boorish enough to suggest such a thing - after all, we were only carrying it as a favor to our new...friends? Acquaintances? Whatever they were.
For several hours we walked, occasionally talking - or perhaps it would be better described as responding to Lucy's chipper questions. Little of note was discussed and our travel went unimpeded until we came across a tree in the middle of the road.
"Is there any chance this
isn't
a trap?" I asked, wondering whether I should move to lower the carriage. Holding it up was rather trivial, but fighting while carrying it with one hand was another matter entirely...though I suppose I could always just hold them down with magic while Lucy went and tied them all up.
"I don't think so," Lucy said. Her normal cheer was nowhere to be found, replaced by something more... resigned. "There are no roots on the tree, so I think it was chopped down."
"It was dragged for a bit, too!" Grell noted. "Whoever did it must have been
pretty strong,
don't you think?"
"Would my Lady please not focus on the potential 'hotitude' of the local bandits?"
"Hey, how did you know what I was... uh... I mean. I'm just thinking about the logistics of fighting them? Yeah!"
There was no immediate response from inside the carriage, only a chilling silence. After making Grell fidget a moment or two, though, Dyona did eventually speak again.
"Yes, well, that... matter... aside, I would have expected
someone
to have attacked us by now, no?"
"You're right," Grell confirmed. "Most of the bandits I've beaten up were pretty quick to attack us..."
"Do you think they might be waiting for us to put the carriage down for some reason?" Lucy asked.
"Or perhaps the sight of three women actually outright carrying a carriage warned them off trying anything?" Dyona suggested, sticking her head outside the carriage. "Also, does anyone else smell food, or is it just me?"
I frowned, sniffing the air. At first, I detected nothing, but as I gradually upped my sensitivity I finally caught onto what Dyona had smelled. The girl must have had an unusually good sense of smell to have detected it, but when I traced the smell I eventually found...
"Is that pork?"
It was lying on the ground, muddied by footprints and surrounded by the trampled stalks of weeds. Whoever had been eating it had apparently taken off in a great rush.
Perhaps Dyona's words were correct, then?
"We could go after them," Grell suggested. "It would probably mean leaving the carriage alone, but it isn't like there's anything of value in there."
"Other than all our supplies you mean?" Dyona asked.
"I mean, I can just hunt for food if we really need it, right?" Grell suggested.
"Assuming you can track it," Dyona replied. "Speaking of which, do any of you have the tracking skills to find bandits?"
"A little," Lucy said. "But not much... Usually I only go after bandits that are pretty well established in the area, to the point where everyone knows where their hideout is."
"You've gone after bandits before?" I asked, questioning my ears. I'd been worrying how she'd handle fighting a human opponent, but apparently she already had.
"I've managed to avoid killing anyone, so far," she told me. "I mean, most people don't want to fight the Heroine, you know? Sometimes a few bandits will even gang up on any of their own who try it. I'd like to think it's because they believe in me and what I represent, deep down - but they might just be afraid the goddess will strike them down and send them to some sort of super hell if anything goes wrong. Other times the leader will challenge me head-on, to try and bolster the men, but when they go down everyone else just gives up or scatters. I know it might not always go that way, though... Still, I want to do whatever's in my power to make sure everyone survives! Even bandits can have their reasons, after all! And while that doesn't make what they're doing okay, it's still important to try and understand them! I mean, I'm supposed to be the Heroine for
everyone
!"
"A good sentiment," I agreed with a small smile. I only hoped it would never be tested too harshly.
***
In the end, despite Lucy's optimism, her tracking skills weren't up to the task of finding the bandits - at least not fast enough to catch up to them when all signs pointed to them sprinting away at full tilt. As such, we had little recourse but to move on and report the attempted ambush to the city when we reached it. Of course, we also took care of removing the log from the road, carrying it deep enough into the forest that it wouldn't be easily pushed out onto the road again.
Even with that diversion, though, the day went far too fast. Before I knew it, night had fallen and we were setting up tents. While Grell and Dyona began to pull out ingredients for a proper dinner from their carriage - something I was very happy to see, if only for Lucy's sake - I begged off to my tent early, telling everyone that I wasn't feeling well.
