Chương 31: An Orphan Girl

Maelle couldn't believe it. What were the chances there'd be two separate bandit groups operating in the same forest at the same time? This group seemed much more professional than the first. For a start, there were more of them. Much more. More than she could count on all her fingers and toes. Second, their hideout was better decorated. In the cave there were bookshelves and a dining table and chairs and a dartboard. There was even a rug made out of the fur of a monster they'd killed.

She didn't recognize the creature, but that wasn't saying much as most earthbound monsters were exotic in her eyes. She could identify seventeen different species of wyverns on sight, but don't ask her to pick out a koala bear from a grizzly. Third, they actually fed her. That had been a pleasant surprise, as she'd been worried that all human criminals were bad hosts. She was almost reluctant to be cutting her bonds.

Most of the bandits had gone off on some raid, so she just sat in a corner sawing at the rope with her tail while the two bandits who'd been left behind to guard the hideout were playing cards. One of them was really bad at it, and the other one was cheating. But the cheater had snuck her some extra rabbit haunch, so she wasn't about to say anything. There was a noise from outside, and another bandit entered the cave, puffing like he'd just run a marathon.

"You're back early," the cheater said.

"How did everything go on the raid?"

"Terrible!" the runner said.

"They had a mage."

"You mean a third-circle?" The runner hesitated.

"No, he didn't use anything above Tier 3."

"But aren't you Tier 3?"

"You don't understand. This guy was a million times better than me. He took down our entire squad in an instant." The two card players jumped to their feet. The gravity of the situation had sunk in at last.

"Don't tell me—" the bad player began.

"Captured, not killed," the runner said.

"At least when I escaped."

"What about the other squad?" the cheater asked.

"I don't know. There was a lot of smoke and dust." There were some noises outside the cave.

"That could be the others right now," the bad player said, making his way to the entrance.

"No, wait!" the runner cried. But it was too late. The bandit was blown back by an [Air Strike]. The resulting turbulence scattered all the cards on the table and even blew away the ones up the cheater's sleeves. Luckily for him, his opponent was too busy to notice.

The runner attacked with a [Fireball], but the intruder instantly countered with a [Force Bolt], which struck the [Fireball] dead-on, dispersing it into the surroundings, and then continued on to send the bandit flying back after punching through his [Shield] like paper. The cheater, being the last of the trio standing, raised his hands in surrender.

"Yeah, I'm not taking this fight." The intruder stepped into the cave, and Maelle got a better look at him. She was surprised to see that he was an elf, as this was supposed to be human territory. The way he looked at her wasn't unkind, but his eyes hardened when he turned back to the bandits. The cheater looked down in surprise, and Maelle followed his gaze to see his feet sinking into the floor.

"I don't think this guy is Tier 3," the cheater said with remarkable calm considering his legs were trapped in the rock. Maelle didn't recognize the spell, but she'd sensed the flux. It had to be Tier 5 at least. This elf was almost as strong as Marina. The other two bandits had regained their feet, but they didn't get to use them, as they soon joined their friend in being stuck in the earth. With the bandits rendered captive, the elf approached Maelle and removed her bindings.

Next he had a look around the cave, giving everything a cursory glance until he noticed a sack beneath the card table. He picked it up an examined it.

"This looks familiar..." he murmured. Turning to her, he asked, "Are these the medicinal herbs that were stolen from my caravan?" She nodded, deciding that it was best he didn't learn that she'd had possession of them before these bandits. To come all this way to track down lost cargo, caravan guards around here sure took their job real serious. She didn't want to risk being held complicit over a cultural misunderstanding. He hefted the bag over his shoulder.

"I'm with a caravan that's headed to Ardark. You're welcome to come with us. We'll help you get back to your family." She had to get to Ardark to reunite with Marina, so she nodded.

"Good. Now help me find some rope. We'll tie these bandits up and take them with us to deliver to the city guards."

The caravan was in worse shape than Maelle imagined. Even the bandits—the two who'd stayed behind in their hideout at least—were shocked to see the state of things. Wagons demolished, carriages completely burned out, debris all over. Everyone was clearing the road as best they could, and a group of strong adventurers were working together to haul large boulders out from a narrow pass that looked like it had been hit by a landslide.

Not wanting to be completely useless, Maelle helped watch over the horses while they grazed about a mile down the road, where the slopes were a lot gentler and there was space for the animals to roam. The work wasn't quite done by sundown, and the elf—his name was Havlo—sent over a young lady with hair the color of dried tree sap to give her some food.

"My name's Amberlin," the lady said.

"What's yours?" You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Maelle," she replied, accepting a loaf of flatbread, a bowl of vegetable soup, a couple of hard-boiled eggs, and a slice of stale cake. She idly wondered how the eggs had survived the battle.

"I believe we met in the forest a couple of nights ago," Amberlin said.

"You were being attacked by that bandit." Now that she mentioned it, Maelle took another look at Amberlin and realized that she was the one who'd saved her from the assassin. The woman who seemed to shine like an angel sent down by the Goddess Amberfina herself. While she was admittedly not all that good at recognizing human faces, the hair color was the same, if a bit duller from the dirt, and Amberlin certainly seemed to recognize her. She gave Amberlin a bow as best she could while juggling the food in her arms.

"Thank you for coming to my assistance. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't intervened."

"It's my fault for letting him get away," Amberlin said.

"Just rotten luck that he managed to find you again afterward." It wasn't the assassin who'd captured her, but she decided it best not to correct Amberlin's misunderstanding. It was safer this way, having her believing that the assassin was a bandit, as Marina had told her that it was important to keep her real identity a secret.

"Are your parents in Ardark, Maelle?" Amberlin asked.

"My parents are dead," she said, looking down at her soup. This was the second time she'd been asked in three days. Was everyone she met from now going to want to know?

"My parents are gone too," Amberlin said.

"They died when I was young." On hearing this, she felt bad about being upset at the question. Maybe it was all right for someone like Amberlin to ask.

"How did you manage?" she asked.

"I had someone to look after me," Amberlin replied.

"He was more grown up and strong and worked really hard to give me the most normal life that he could."

"There was someone like that looking after me too," she said softly.

"So much changed so quickly, and I didn't know if I would make it out alive. But she never left my side."

"Did you lose her in the forest?" She nodded. At that moment Amberlin waved to someone on the road. Maelle turned around and saw that it was Havlo.

"The bandits on the hilltops escaped," he reported.

"The only prisoners are the ones I brought back from the cave and the one you ran down, La... Amberlin."

"I didn't run him down. He surrendered," Amberlin corrected.

"I asked him to lead me back to their hideout, but he refused, saying that he wouldn't betray his friends. Boy, was that a juicy look on his face when you showed up with his friends in tow."

"I was very fortunate to have found a thoughtless bandit," Havlo said.

"Though this result does mean that most of their forces remain at large. However I doubt they'll dare bother us again."

"Um, if I may," Maelle piped up.

"The other bandits may not have yet realized that their hideout has been compromised. If you return there, you may still be able to catch more of them." Amberlin turned to Havlo, and he raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"La... Amberlin, we have an urgent mission in Ardark, remember? Any delay could have serious consequences for the people we're trying to help."

"He's right," Amberlin said to Maelle.

"I'm sorry we won't be the ones to get justice for you."

"N-no, it's all right," she replied, sensing that she'd missed something in the conversation.

"Well, at least we nabbed four of them. That isn't too bad." Amberlin took a step back and looked Maelle up and down for a moment.

"We're going to have to get you some new clothes. I'm going to ask the caravan manager if maybe a crate of something got smashed during the fighting and has to be written off. Wouldn't that be convenient?"

"Lay-Amberlin!" Maelle cried scandalously.

"There's no need to embezzle on my behalf." Amberlin frowned.

"What did you just call me?" Maelle recoiled at the question. Amberlin turned to Havlo.

"You heard that, right, Havlo? She's known you all of two minutes and she's already picked up on your bad habits." Havlo looked frightfully abashed.

"My apologies, La... Amberlin." Amberlin sighed and leaned in closer to Maelle.

"Call me just Amberlin. Or maybe Ams. Or Am-Ams."

"I'm not a baby," Maelle said.

"I'll call you Amberlin." When Amberlin broke out into giggles, Maelle thought she might have said something wrong again. But at least she didn't seem to be annoyed anymore. Amberlin said, "So how about it, Havlo—I've told you my story, let's hear about your exciting escapades in the bandit hideout."

"Before we get onto that," Havlo said, "I forgot to mention earlier that I found something there that would greatly interest you. Do you remember that sack I was carrying back with me?"

"What about it?"

"It might please you to take a look inside."

"Just tell me now," she said.

"It's something you have to see for yourself," he said firmly. She looked over at Maelle.

"I'll be right back. Don't let him go anywhere." Amberlin ran off back to the caravan, leaving the two of them alone with the horses. The sun had already disappeared behind the hills, and the brightest of the stars were staring to come out. There was also a crescent moon watching down over them.

"Maelle," Havlo said, his tone suddenly serious.

"Y-yes?"

"There's something you should know about Lady Amberlin and me."

"W-w-wait. Did you say Lady Amberlin?"

"She's my master," Havlo explained.

"Though she prefers not to be called by any titles. You're lucky. She never asked me to call her Ams."

"I don't feel lucky," she muttered, recalling the way those sharp and intelligent eyes bore critically into her behind that mirthful smile.

"What you need to know about us," Havlo continued, "is that we're both pretending to be much weaker mages than we really are. And I'm actually breaking the rules telling you this because we aren't supposed to acknowledge it even around each other. I have to ask you to play along with it."

"I owe you for saving me, so I'll gladly play along," she said.

"Very good. This means never mentioning any of the higher-level spells I used when apprehending the bandits." He must have been talking about the spell that made the bandits sink into the ground.

"I don't even know the name of it," she said.

"Very good. That's the spirit."

"But I do have a question. Is Amberlin your master for real or in your play-along?"

"For real," he replied without hesitation. She thought about this for a moment and realized that she still didn't know the actual answer.

"Uh, do you mean for real-real?" He frowned.

"How about I sweeten the deal a little? I'll teach you some magic so you can defend yourself, and you promise never to reveal our secret to anyone?" Getting lessons from a mage who was almost as good as Marina would normally be the opportunity of a lifetime. But not for a princess of the Draegorian Empire. She'd had access to the best tutors money could buy. If only she'd known back then how much she would regret not paying attention in her classes.

Marina had been helping her magic to develop but their progress had been slow. Marina had said that this was her fault as a teacher, as her talent lay in the application of magic in combat, while teaching was its own skill set. So even if Havlo wasn't as proficient at magic as her friend and bodyguard, his lessons could still be worthwhile if he was a good teacher.

"Do you have any experience as a teacher?" she asked. Havlo was caught off guard by this question.

"I may have written a few books."

"Any I might have heard of?" More hesitation.

"Maybe?" She found herself getting annoyed at his evasiveness until she remembered that they were supposed to be playing pretend. She was putting him in a difficult position by demanding his credentials while he was trying to conceal them. There was a simple answer to her questions, and that was simply to accept the lessons from him. She had no intention of leaking his secret anyway, as she felt that he'd already done her a far greater service than she could ever repay. So the lessons were just a little bonus.

She felt a little bad accepting even that because he'd already done so much for her. But if it could help make her a little less useless to Marina, she couldn't turn it down.

"I would like your lessons very much," she said.

"Good. We can get started tomorrow." At that moment Amberlin came running up the road, grinning from ear to ear.

"The herbs! Havlo, you got the herbs back!"

"I was hoping that would make you happy," he replied warmly.

"Now the people of Ardark don't have to go without their medication..." While the two of them talked, Maelle studied Amberlin more closely. While she wasn't particularly sensitive to mana, she could pick up on flutters of it if she concentrated. She could sense it from Havlo as well as the other mages in the caravan. But Amberlin's mana was too weak for her to pick up on anything at all. While she wasn't sure if Havlo was only pretending to be Amberlin's apprentice, she was pretty confident of one thing.

Amberlin wasn't just pretending to be magically weak. She was magically weak. That wasn't to say that Amberlin was completely incapable. She had taken on the assassin after all. But that had been after Marina had softened him up in the air, and then he'd spent a lot of mana chasing down Maelle. And Amberlin had faced him in a forest, at ground level, giving her the ground advantage. Draegorian tactics in a forest generally called for an aerial bombardment with [Fireballs] to avoid that exact problem.

So Amberlin was certainly quite a capable martial fighter and a match for a Draegorian warrior under the right circumstances. But that didn't make her a mage. Havlo was being bamboozled. But seeing how happy he looked when the two of them spoke, Maelle wasn't sure if he would be able to accept the truth.