Vol 1 Chapter 5 – Kept You Waiting

Bandits living off their prey, and a village being preyed upon.

The predators are the bandits; the prey is the village.

That is the general view, and given that the bandits are attacking the village, it is obviously true. In fact, everything was unfolding exactly that way—until halfway through.

The bandits stormed the village and set the houses ablaze.

They killed the men who tried to resist—and even the children too young to understand what was happening.

Naturally, they kept as many women alive as possible.

Part of the reason was for their own amusement.

If a man offered no resistance, they had no particular reason to kill him.

Men, too, could be sold as slaves.

As laborers, men were stronger than women, so the chances of fetching a high price were greater. Once they had sated their sadistic urges by killing the resisters, they would spend a while enjoying the stolen food, drink, and women—then move on and do the same thing again.

They had always done it that way, and they meant to do the same here.

But a few miscalculations arose.

First, Rasha managed to get away.

If even one person escaped, that person would run straight to the authorities.

If a hunting party were formed, capture would simply mean execution. For that reason, no one could be allowed to escape, and yet they had let one get away.

Still, that could be handled. They had already sent pursuers; she would be killed soon enough.

The second miscalculation—and the biggest surprise—was…

“Aw, I’m exhausted! There are way too many! I’m totally gonna die here, y’know!”

It was a sweet, gentle voice—the kind that would make you feel warm and fuzzy on any ordinary day.

But in a village where a massacre was under way, it was so out of place that hearing it inspired terror.

“Gyah!?”

“Gah!”

“Gweh!”

Only moments ago the villagers’ screams had rung out, but now hardly any did. Instead, the only cries came from the bandits.

Resistance, wounds, and even deaths among them were nothing new. But they had never suffered losses on this scale.

They always struck places with little security or vigilance—this village was supposed to be one of those. And yet…

“Wow, the thing I built just to kill time is really pulling its weight. You got this, buddy!”

The woman beamed. She herself wasn’t fighting; something she had made was.

It was a huge, mannequin-like doll.

Moving under its own power, it lunged at the bandits.

It carried no weapon, simply battering and crushing them with its hard body—and that alone was wearing the bandits down.

They had never expected such resistance, and they had always avoided pitched battles. Now their numbers were dwindling before their eyes.

“Hannah!”

“Run while you can. I don’t know how long this thing’ll hold up, and if a strong one shows, we’re toast.”

The woman—Hannah—shot the warning back at the worried man.

Right now she was practically untouchable, but the doll had never been intended for this kind of use.

Its body might break first.

This was only a stalling tactic.

She was only buying time so at least a few more villagers could escape.

“Well, if it’s just this lot, I reckon we can manage somehow.”

Hannah watched the doll rampage through the bandits.

If things kept going like this, they might actually pull it off.

Yet, all too often, optimistic guesses turn out wrong.

“What’re you idiots doing, humans?”

“Huh!?”

“WHAM!”

With a loud crash, the doll was knocked clean away.

Nothing like that had happened once in the fight so far, and Hannah’s eyes flew wide.

The culprit wasn’t one of the marauding bandits—it was something else entirely.

Its appearance was nothing like a human’s.

“…So it’s come to demons playing bandit now? That’s news to me.”

Hannah’s eyes went perfectly round.

After all, the thing that swatted her doll aside was no human but a demon.

In this world, humans and demons aren’t in all-out war, but they’re certainly not friends.

The idea of them walking shoulder to shoulder is unthinkable.

So when a demon acted as though protecting humans, Hannah couldn’t hide her shock.

The demon man twisted his face in clear distaste under her stare.

“Hey, human. Don’t lump me in with those worthless clods. I’ll slaughter you.”

“You say that like you didn’t show up planning to kill us anyway. And facts are facts—you’re helping the bandits. Kill them now and save us, and maybe I’ll rethink things.”

“Sorry. Orders from upstairs.”

Hannah tilted her head.

(A demon siding with humans…? And taking orders? None of this makes sense.)

No amount of thinking would explain it—and she didn’t want to know.

Even if she heard the answer, she had no desire to solve such a headache.

All she wanted was to tinker freely in this little village.

Anyone who got in the way, like today, she wanted dead—every last one.

“Y-yeah, c’mon! Kill this filthy woman!”

Even the bandits now looked to the demon for help,

gazing at him as if a savior had appeared.

Their hopeful stares only made the demon scowl.

“…Who do you think you’re ordering around, human trash?”

“SPLAT!”

A bandit’s body burst apart.

The corpse slumped to the ground in a pool of blood.

Hannah watched, exasperated.

“Killing your own side—what’s that achieve…?”

“They’re not my side. Ah, quit poking at it—it’s a hassle. I don’t really get it myself.”

“That so? Then let’s wrap this up.”

She’d dragged the dull chat out this long so she could move the doll unnoticed.

While they talked, it had crept behind the demon—and now lunged at her command.

But that clumsy ambush didn’t work.

“Yeah—let’s end it.”

“CRACK!”

A shattering sound rang out; the doll fell apart in pieces.

Hannah watched, thinking for a moment…

“U-uh, how about we talk some more? I’d really like to chat with mister demon, y’know?”

For now, she decided to butter him up.

She even puffed out her ample chest, but the demon sighed in disgust.

“Don’t say things you don’t mean. I still have to kill the woman who ran, and I’m on the clock.”

Hannah’s shoulders twitched.

Others might have escaped, but the only one she knew for sure was Rasha.

“Though she’s probably dead already. I saw an arrow in her—she’s no fighter.”

Hearing that, Hannah felt her cool head go ice-cold.

Rasha was the benefactor who’d once saved her life.

She still hadn’t repaid the debt.

Surviving had been her only goal, but now she had one more reason to kill the obnoxious demon.

“…That so. Then I’d better hurry and save that girl—so hurry up and die.”

“You first.”

Tension crackled—one wrong move and they’d explode.

The advantage was not Hannah’s.

She wasn’t built for front-line brawls, and she had no substitutes like the doll left.

Even so, for Rasha’s sake she had to kill him quickly…

Fueled by murderous resolve, she stepped into a hopeless fight—

“Hup—!”

A man dropped from the sky.

“Whoa!?”

“—!?”

Dust billowed.

Hannah was startled, and even the demon’s eyes went wide.

In short, neither knew who the newcomer was.

Friend or foe?

If he turned out hostile, Hannah’s odds of reaching Rasha plummeted.

“W-what the…?”

Confused, she asked. The man—Alvarado—gave a thin smile.

“Kept You Waiting.”

“…Who are you?”