Dream Life Vol 3 Chapter 4.1: “Speculation”

　On our way to the territory of the Frontier Count Roswell in the northern part of the Caelum Empire, we were attacked by bandits along with the caravan we were working with.

　More than thirty bandits attacked us, but we managed to fight them off with my father’s hard work and my magic.

　My mother, who was in the carriage, finally expressed her relief when she heard from my father that the battle was over and that everyone was safe, and she smiled at us.

　The twins, Theophilus and Seraphine, were so excited to be so close to the battle that they asked Mel, who was on guard, to tell them about the battle.

　I watched them and realized that the crisis had passed.

　And as I settled down, I began to wrap my head around the questions I had about the attack.

　First, we were clearly the target.

　We were about the tenth carriage from the front, more than 50 meters back from the front.

　And we were attacked less than five minutes after we heard the cries of an attack at the front.

　More than thirty bandits came after us alone. I don’t know how many attacked the front, but there was no one but the front and us who had been attacked.

　And even if they had attacked us here, it would have been difficult to carry out the cargo with the wagons because the road was blocked by the wagons of the merchants.

　They made it look like they were after our baggage, but it was clear that their real goal was our lives. If that is the case, there are only a limited number of people who would have come after us.

　The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the possibility that the ones after our lives is the Light God Church. They were driven out of the Kingdom of Caum – a mountainous state inhabited by many dwarves – and have yet to mend their relationship with the Blacksmith Guild. It’s completely counterintuitive, but the motive is there.

　But aside from the high-ranking clergy or fanatics of the Light God Church, the officials of the Holy King’s Office, or the executive branch of the Lux Holy Kingdom, must not want to have any more business with the Lockhart family and the Blacksmith’s Guild.

　It is not impossible that the zealots may think they have lost face and are running amok, but the timing is a bit off.

(If the Light God Church zealots were going to attack, it would be at an earlier stage. They act without much thought. …Before the replacement of the Bishop, it might have been possible, but for the current Bishop, there is no need to make enemies of the Lockhart family and the Blacksmith’s Guild. It is not impossible that the former followers could be out of control, but the timing is too late. The most likely candidate, after all, would be a relative of the Frontier Count Roswell…) (Zack)

　My brother’s fiancée from the Frontier Count Roswell informed me that some of the relatives of her family’s family, do not like the Lockhart family.

　Since I don’t know the extent of this, I can’t say for sure, but this is close to the northern part of Caelum, where the influence of the Roswell family, the northern governor of the Caelum Empire, can easily be exercised.

(In any case, I have too little information. There must be some bandits who are just paralyzed, so interrogating them might give us some idea…) (Zack)

　The time required for the battle is just right.

　In that small amount of time, we had succeeded in completely neutralizing three times as many enemies.

　In fact, Guy, who had gone to check the situation at the front, returned in a hurry, but only after the flow of the battle had been decided.

“I heard the sounds of battle behind me, so I rushed back… As usual, Master Zack’s magic is amazing…” (Guy)

　Guy seemed to have heard from Byron that the bandits had been wiped out by my magic, and while he was impressed by the power of the magic, he also seemed slightly dismayed.

　My father ordered Guy and Dan to search the surrounding area and Enos to check the situation ahead.

　He also ordered Byron to check the damage and instructed us to stay alert.

　There are injured among the Lockhart family, but only four people with minor injuries. The village patrol youths, Brett and Jim, had wounds in their arms, and Kevin and Sid had wounds in their arms and legs.

　While Liddy was casting a healing spell on them, my father approached me.

“What was that magic? They fell down just like that?” (Matt)

“It’s a paralysis spell. It depends on the person, but if left alone, they could be immobilized for about thirty minutes.” (Zack)

　My father shook his head with an indescribable expression, but immediately ordered Brett and the others to gather the bandits after the treatment.

　The sound of fighting had stopped, as if the battle had already ended even in the front. But still there was no sign of the wagons moving.

　After about ten minutes, Guy and Dan finished searching the area and returned. They found no bandits in the surrounding area.

　Enos, who had gone to check the situation up ahead, also returned and relayed instructions from Duke Selzam, the leader of the caravan’s escort, a third-rank mercenary.

“We had already eliminated the bandits, but one of the wagons had overturned. It seems that a stray arrow hit the horse and it went out of control. Selzam told us that it would take about 30 minutes to get the wagon out of the way, so he asked us to stay where we were until then and be on the lookout for the others.” (Enos)

　My father nodded in agreement and ordered Guy and the rest of us to keep an eye on the surroundings and Byron to deal with the bandits.

　In the case of a raid like this one, bandits are rarely captured alive. In the case of a raid like this one, it is rare to capture the bandits alive, since those who fail in the raid quickly flee, and the guards do not pursue them.

　In this case, the situation was quite different because of my magic.

　The number of bandits who joined the attack on the Lockhart family was thirty-seven, including those on the south side who were decoys. Of these, twenty-one were either killed or seriously wounded, while sixteen were uninjured.

　The uninjured bandits were disarmed and gathered next to the wagons. Still paralyzed, they were unable to move satisfactorily, and they were roped one by one by Brett and four others.

　Six were seriously injured, four of whom had already been euthanized. I cast healing magic on the two of them, recovering them to the point where they can walk.

　My father is planning to hand the bandits over to the garrison in the next town, Rawcliffe. He is going to find out where the bandits are based and ask them to conduct a large-scale mop-up operation.

　My father and Byron had begun discussing the weapons of the assembled bandits.

　The weapons and armor for thirty-seven people would be bulky and heavy. Although a barrel of scotch worth of space was available after stopping in Doctus, it was still a huge burden for the wagons.

　I suggested to my father that we use storage magic to transport it.

“I’ll use my magic to take care of it. I don’t want to noticed, so I’ll juts reduce it to about half under the shade of that tree.” (Zack)

　I had already given my father an overview of the inventory magic, but he seemed to be hesitant about the legendary magic.

“You can leave the bandits’ weapons alone. The merchants in the back can retrieve the weapons. If the merchants in the back collect them, the bandits and the monsters will not use them. Thanks to you, we don’t have to be obsessed with that little scrap of money.” (Matt)

　The Lockhart family’s current financial situation is good, and there is no need to force ourselves to recover the weapons.

(Certainly, it’s just as Father said, but…) (Zack)

　I had an idea.

　The bandits this time, especially the ones who attacked us, were too well coordinated. If these men were hired hands and not bandits, we could find out who was behind it.

　If they had an orb – a magical device for identification – we would know where they were from and the organization they belonged to, but it is unlikely that bandits carry a legitimate orb.