Chapter Two: A Roadside Encounter with Bandits and Sakuya’s Terrifying Power

Chapter Two: Encounter with Bandits and Sakuya’s Terrifying Power

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Now, the story begins:

A roar of engines echoed as a car sped past, raising a cloud of dust, startling a few fiery squirrels that dashed up the pine trees in panic.

Inside the car sat our protagonist, Schuster, alongside the elegant, impeccable head maid, Sakuya Izayoi—the first female lead.

“Young master, stop the car!” Sakuya suddenly shouted to Schuster.

With a screech, an urgent braking sound pierced the air.

“Cough, cough—what’s the matter, Sakuya?” The dust kicked up by the brakes made Schuster cough.

“Someone’s coming. And they’re not friendly. About four hundred people, probably a bandit gang,” Sakuya closed her eyes and, after a few seconds, spoke.

“Cough, cough—how could this happen? Where’s my sword?” Schuster stood up, searching for his weapon.

“Let me handle this, young master. This group is of no consequence.” Sakuya instantly shifted into combat mode.

“Just be careful. Right now I can barely use any energy, so I can only support you a little.” Schuster transformed the car, courtesy of Pandora’s Box, into the M82A1 Barrett sniper rifle they’d used before.

“How about this, young master…” Sakuya turned her head to speak, and in the next instant, Schuster felt a flash before his eyes—he was suddenly cradled in Sakuya’s arms. In another flash, he found himself behind a perfect cover.

“Stay here and cover me, young master. But rest assured, I’m very strong!” With that, Sakuya vanished.

“Where is this…” Schuster peeked out. He was on a high ground, not far from their previous stopping point, a perfect sniper’s nest.

“Come out! I spotted you long ago!” Sakuya returned to the spot and called out.

“Still not coming out? Hmph.” Seeing no response, Sakuya raised her delicate hand. In the next second, a silvery flash cut through the air.

“My eyes!” A scream rang out.

“Damn, we’ve been exposed! Attack! I don’t believe we can’t catch just one girl with so many of us! If we capture her, the other one will show himself!” A man in green leather armor stepped out and shouted.

“Kill!” In an instant, hundreds of figures emerged from the bushes, all clad in green shirts and pants, green scarves tied around their heads.

“Huh? Did these people all get NTR’d or something?” Schuster muttered behind the scope.

Bang—the man who’d stepped out had his head blown to pieces by a bullet.

“Ah? Ah—” One man instinctively glanced over, but as he turned, a throwing knife lodged in his neck.

“Phantom Sign: ‘Killer Doll!’” Sakuya watched the approaching bandits and unleashed a small-area skill. Countless throwing knives scattered in all directions.

“Uwaaah!” Most of the attackers were ordinary men, a few were cultivators, but none were high-level. The one who jumped out earlier was only a level-four fighter.

“Retreat! Fire arrows!” A level-six warrior leapt out and shouted.

Bang! Gunfire rang out. The level-six warrior, relying on years of combat experience, activated a battle aura shield just before the bullet struck.

“What is this?” Unfortunately, the bullet lodged in the magical pattern of his battle aura shield, paused for half a second, then pierced through.

Swish, swish, swish—the sound of countless arrows slicing through the air. The dense rain of arrows made evasion impossible.

“Time Sign: ‘Private Square!’” Seeing the arrows, Sakuya activated her time powers. The arrows slowed to a crawl, so much so that even a three-month-old baby could leisurely crawl out of the danger zone.

“A monster!” Most of the bandits were dead or wounded, the two leaders had already fallen, and panic spread. Though the third-in-command vanished at the start, chaos reigned. People face the unknown with either curiosity or fear. When confronted with fear, they scatter.

“Sigh, is this all they’ve got? I thought I’d be able to shine before the young master, but the two strongest were killed outright by him…” Sakuya watched the fleeing crowd, shaking her head in disappointment.

“Young master, it’s all taken care of…” Sakuya used her time powers to return to Schuster, but the scene before her stunned her. Schuster was under attack from a giant eagle, dodging frantically, only to be caught by its talons…

“Damn you, vile bird! Let go of my young master!” Sakuya’s anger flared instantly—how dare anyone bully her young master!

The eagle screeched and flew off into the distance.

“Don’t underestimate me! Illusion Burial: ‘Phantom Killer in the Night Mist!’” Sakuya’s eyes flashed red. Countless knives formed a whirlwind and shot toward the giant eagle.

In an instant, the eagle’s feathers were stripped clean…

With a thud, Schuster fell together with the eagle and was caught below by Sakuya.

“Sakuya, did you do that on purpose?” Schuster’s clothes, battered by Sakuya’s attack, were reduced to strips, barely covering his essentials.

“Of course not, young master.” Sakuya blushed deeply, for Schuster’s fair skin was far more delicate than her own. To note, Sakuya, able to manipulate time, had frozen her age at seventeen, her body in its most perfect state.

“Forget it. Right now my magical power is at best equal to a level-two mage, my physical strength isn’t even up to an adult’s, and at this rate, it’ll take half a month to restore my magic, at least a month for my body!” Schuster grumbled, slowly channeling magic to restore his clothes. The magical power required for level-seven magical equipment was immense.

“No need to worry, young master. The Academy Tournament is less than a month away. You’ll be able to fight by then, won’t you?” Sakuya hugged Schuster as she spoke.

“Careful!” Schuster suddenly shouted.

“Damn creature!” Sakuya instantly embraced Schuster, stopped time, and moved them away, dodging a bolt of lightning spat from the eagle’s beak, which had just recovered from its fall.

“I recognize this magical beast—a tier-five Thunder Roc, with a trace of divine beast bloodline,” Schuster informed Sakuya.

“Well, tonight’s dinner is settled. How would you like it prepared, young master?” For Sakuya, dealing with a flightless Thunder Roc was trivial. Ten seconds later, she dragged the bird, now riddled with knives, to Schuster.

“I think we’d better eliminate its master first,” Schuster raised the Pandora’s Box-transformed M82A1 Barrett.

Bang—a dull shot rang out. Two hundred meters away, a fleeing man’s waist exploded into a bloody mist, his body severed in two.

“Sakuya, see if those three who looked like leaders had anything valuable,” Schuster sat to recover his strength. Now, even firing a shot left his arm numb for a while. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have managed just two shots to dispatch two leaders.

“Here you go, young master. Only the one you killed had this egg,” Sakuya handed him a fist-sized white egg.

“A strange egg—it looks like a Thunder Roc egg from the magical beast catalog, but it’s smaller and the color is off; it’s white instead of blue,” Schuster observed.

“Could it be…” Sakuya leaned in and whispered.

“A mutated Thunder Roc egg!” they exclaimed together.

“That’s very likely! If so, we’ve really struck gold! Haha—Sakuya, you’re my lucky star!” Schuster hugged her in excitement, making Sakuya blush furiously.

“Hehe, congratulations, young master, but… could you let go for now?” Sakuya loved his embrace, but after all, they hadn’t known each other long, though her affection for Schuster was exceedingly high.

“Ah? Uh… sorry, Sakuya.” Only then did Schuster realize how awkward his action was, and he quickly let go, face flushed.

Freed, Sakuya quietly sighed in relief, only to be overtaken by a sense of loss. What’s happening to me? Am I really falling for the young master? As a maid, it’s only natural for the master to do as he pleases, but… Sakuya was momentarily broken.

“All right, Sakuya, let’s keep moving—let’s get back to the Academy early.” Schuster was oblivious to Sakuya’s sudden malfunction.

“Yes, young master. Sakuya is ready to devote herself tonight,” the malfunctioning Sakuya blurted out a line that left Schuster flat on the ground.

“I must have misheard. That was an auditory hallucination. The gunfire messed up my ears,” Schuster stood up, trying to explain.

“…How could I have said that!” Only then did Sakuya realize she’d spoken out of turn, her face reddening even more. Hearing Schuster muttering about “hallucinations” and “impossible,” Sakuya secretly relaxed. Yet, for some reason, her sense of loss grew even stronger—women truly are mysterious creatures…

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