After the villagers had almost been fully healed, and with the bandits nowhere to be found, I thought it might be time to head back to Minerva.
"Shiek already went to sleep, huh..."
His current schedule consisted of treating the villagers in the morning, and continuing to listen to Tiel-chan talk about the Guardian Deity in the evening. He was plenty exhausted.
My schedule, on the other hand, only consisted of healing the elderly villagers, then going to bother the gargoyle.
And now for the aftermath of Operation 'Gargoyle is a Lolicon'. Cecilia had her doubts about the gargoyle really being a Lolicon, and gave me the third degree about it again.
As I’d thought, I couldn't pull the wool over Cecilia's discerning eyes. I admitted that I had fudged the truth and was thoroughly lectured, before being dragged back to the gargoyle's shrine to apologize.
Even now I can easily recall his triumphant gloating. It had just started out as a joke...if this was how it would turn out, should I ever call anybody a Lolicon again? Not a chance, I didn’t want Cecilia getting mad at me again.
I had things to do tomorrow, so I went to bed early.
A few hours later, I was awakened by someone pounding on the door. Still half-asleep, I rubbed my eyes as the door suddenly opened. It was the mayor, and from his ragged breathing I wondered if he ran to get here.
"P-please help us! The bandits have begun a night attack. The young ones are fighting back, but most of them are still recovering...they won't last long!"
"Got it. Is Cecilia already awake?"
"My wife just went to wake her."
"All right then, Mayor, I want you to stay here in the house. I'm going now to annihilate those bandits."
The mayor nodded and left the room.
"Shiek, wake up!"
"Wh~at Captain~, still sleepy~"
Shiek sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. I could understand his exhaustion, but this was an emergency situation.
"It's a night attack by the bandits. The villagers requested our help immediately."
"Okay~, got it~"
Shiek pulled out his dagger with one hand, then jumped out the window. I was going to use magic, so there was nothing to prepare. Just as I was about to leave the room, I ran into Cecilia. Robe donned and staff in hand, she was fully prepared for battle.
"Youki-san! Let's hurry!"
“Don’t I know it.”
We left the mayor's house in a hurry. Before us was a scene of villagers and bandits engaged in battle.
The clash of weapons echoed in the night under the light of the moon.
The attack was sudden, and the villagers weren't back to 100% yet; The bandits had the upper hand. However, running around the battlefield, Shiek was upsetting the flow of battle.
"Now di-?!"
Shiek confused his opponents with quick and tricky maneuvers, and slashed the bandits one by one. In pain, the bandits were set upon by the villagers, and they took full advantage of the openings Shiek created.
"This fucking Braaaaat!"
Of course there would be bandits that tried to take Shiek head-on. A 2 meter (6'5"ft) giant bandit swung at Shiek with his large axe, however...
"Stu~pid"
Shiek leapt high, and brought his leg down with his signature axe kick right on top of the bandit's head.
The bandit collapsed backwards, and Shiek made a perfect landing right on top of him.
He then returned to running around the battlefield, injuring bandits as he went.
"Shiek-kun is strong. More so than I had imagined..."
"Using his light body to his advantage and throwing the enemy into confusion is his specialty. And of course he's strong. He wasn't my former minion just for show. All right, let's kick this pig!"
I couldn’t let Shiek have all the fun, not when I could finally let loose for once. I left the rear support to Cecilia, then ran towards the bandits.
"《Lightning Flash》, 《Storm Blow》"
Then following Shiek’s direction, I ran towards Tiel-chan's house with Cecilia not far behind. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt worried, even though I knew Shiek wouldn't lose to guys like that. We ran through the woods, until...
"...What the hell is this?"
We found fallen bandits, a gargoyle missing an arm and a wing, and a crying Tiel-chan. Then Shiek came into view, utterly thrashed and fighting some strange, mysterious man.