It was a slow ride, and we passed the gate without the guard stopping us as they had recognized my face. And as we exited the gate, entering the paved path for carriage between plains with lush grass swaying over by the wind.
"Master."
Sandra called out to me once we were a bit away from the gate.
"About the knight I subdued last night." She continued in a hushed voice, looking at me.
Last night, on top of the information she collected from Bluerose Duchy, Sandra reported two other things to me.
That was the appearance of a strange, alluring purple-haired girl who got close to the Duke lately. And then a male knight who was about to infiltrate the Academy City from Bluerose Duchy.
The knight had an average face and short brown hair. Currently, he was kept in the dungeon with Lisa and Lara interrogating him. At least, I found out his name was Otto, the knight tasked with informing Eliza.
It seemed like he also used [Teleportation Gem] to arrive faster, though he arrived in Bluerose Duchy first.
Or probably, he killed himself and got revived in the church in Bluerose Duchy, seeing how he arrived a day later than Jane though they received orders on the same day.
It was at that moment, when Otto showed himself, Sandra overheard his conversation with the other knight from the duchy about his plan with Eliza.
It was similar to what I had guessed, though a bit different. The knight from Rose Barony was the one who planned to get Eliza because he fancied her, and he sold Rowen Rose to the Duke in the Capital City.
And that was also the reason why Sandra subdued the knight as the source of another information, knowing the knight somehow had a relationship with that strange purple-haired girl and was deeply involved in this mess.
'And Beatrice overheard Otto's plan and charmed Baron Rose, leading to this current situation where everything is messed up.'
In simple terms, Otto betrayed the Baron to get Eliza and asked Duke Bluerose for help. Using this chance, Beatrice, who had charmed Duke Bluerose, also charmed Baron Rose. She planned to use Eliza's situation to force me to meet her alone.
Both Duke Bluerose and Beatrice's target was me in the first place.
And seeing a chance in this situation, I decided to interfere even though I knew they were baiting me to meet them. Probably, Beatrice would try to use <Charm Magic> on me to make me her 3rd toy after her first and second were broken.
That was the gist of it.
"Keep it a secret first," I replied in the same hushed manner. "Once we finish our business in the Bluerose Duchy, I will make that knight regret what he did."
I had never met this Otto before. But his action pissed me off.
Selling his master and comrades just for his selfish act only to be used by other people in the end, how stupid was he?
"I just hope Lisa and Lara won't break him before I can torture him myself."
A crazy smile smeared across my face. Sandra's eyes bulged slightly in surprise and fear, nodding stiffly as he replied.
"Y-Yes." She agreed. "Those fools need to learn their lesson." Her tone was laced with poison, the hatred that was locked deep inside leaked from her shaking voice.
"I will give you a chance to get back to your group," I said slightly, and Sandra nodded.
The mask covering her lower face moved slightly; her lips curled up underneath it.
"Thank you, Master."
***
The journey continued in silence for Sandra and me. The carriage rolled smoothly along the well-trodden path as I kept a watchful eye on our surroundings as there was a concern about monsters that roamed around the forest of this part.
Before long, after we journeyed through a plain, we traveled inside the forest. The scenery changed, and the trees grew taller and more densely packed. The dappled sunlight that filtered through the leaves added a mystical quality to the surroundings.
While I enjoyed the surroundings and kept eyes on the monster through my <Presence Detection>, I heard a shy laugh from inside.
With my heightened senses, I could hear Eliza interrogate Emilia feverishly, ignoring the fact that they were students and teachers. On one side was a curious tsundere, and on the other side was a pervert teacher.
It didn't need the genius to find out the topic of their conversation was me, and Eliza was pretty much curious about how far Emilia's relationship with me was.
As a teacher, Emilia still had the dignity to keep her sexual activity with me a secret. But she subtly hinted that we did it almost every day, and when we didn't do it, someone else would accompany me.
The lewd teacher wanted to tell Eliza that the tsundere girl needed to prepare at least that much if she wanted to stay with me.
Emilia's persuasion was on point; she knew Eliza's personality well. I guessed it would be okay to leave it to her.
"Master."
Once again, Sandra called for my name in a hushed voice.
"The wind seems strange."
"Hmm?"
As a Dark Elf, a part of the Elven race, Sandra was quite sensitive to the change within the forest. Even with no <Detection> skill, her race was able to communicate with trees in a subtle way.
So if she felt a change in the wind surrounding the forest, that meant there was a change that the forest didn't welcome.
Pumping 5 MP into my <Presence Detection> skill, I enlarged the radar to see what actually happened. I noticed several red dots dotting the screen, their number exceeding ten. Each dot represented an enemy, and using <Appraisal>, I found out that they were a mix of Human and Beastkin.
Their Levels ranged from 10 to 15. But what actually caught my attention was their titles.
"Bandits," I muttered in a low voice, and Sandra nodded slightly.
"Should I take care of them, Master?"
I didn't reply to Sandra immediately.
As I continued to monitor the dots, their movements caught my attention. Some appeared to be closing in on my location, while others moved in seemingly random patterns.
One of the red dots that appeared on my <Presence Detection> radar suddenly emerged from the bushes. He was a beastman with a face similar to a dog with two dog ears standing atop his eyes. His eyes were ablaze with excitement, and the fur across his limbs bristled with intensity.
A feral grin appeared on his face that looked really similar to a dog. Swinging a saber in his hand, he pointed the blade toward us while shouting loudly.
"Stop right there! You need to pay a toll to pass this road!"
Typical bandit line. I wasn't even surprised that it was so cliché, considering it was just the start of Sins Paradise timeline-wise.
"Sandra."
"Yes, Master."
Still, this bandit was a bit smarter than the usual bandit. He purposely roared loudly to hide the sound of bushes moving around in our surroundings. The blade pointed at us made us focus on him alone.
For a trick used by a bandit, they were quite smart. However…
"<Sword Rain>"
I felt my MP drained from my body as many intangible blue swords appeared in the sky. The numbers correspond to the number of bandits around us, and they were all more than 2 meters long.
And with a light swing of my hand, all of them dropped at once, piercing the bandits' heads and piercing them cleanly.
"A-aa…"
They didn't even have time to let out a scream as they died, skewered by the Mana swords.
"Let us pass them."
Even Sandra was speechless. She gulped saliva as she looked toward me with a gaze filled with respect.
"As expected from you, Master. As fast and deadly as always."
"It's nothing." I replied to her with a smile.
The conversation between Emilia and Eliza wasn't disturbed inside the carriage. It was installed with some soundproof material, enough to keep the sound of the carriage silent for them.
Even the earlier beastkin's roar would only sound muffled to them, not a voice they could hear or care about when they were engrossed in Emilia's story about how good I was on the bed.
I was a bit embarrassed, but well, all ended up well.
Our journey continued unbothered, and our carriage only stopped when we reached Bluerose Duchy in the afternoon.
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