The sun is starting to set when we come to a sudden stop. Father moves to brush aside the window’s shutters but is interrupted by Potter throwing open the door. I frown at the clear tension in his face. Something tells me that our peaceful ride is about to come to an end.

“If I could have your presence outside, my lord.”

Father sniffs, features creased in annoyance, but leaves the carriage, shutting the door firmly behind him.

“At attention, Lou.” I look over to see Kierra grabbing her bag. The one with the weapons. Meeting my gaze, she taps my ear and makes a circling motion with her finger. “We’ve got visitors.”

Really? Is the King’s Road cursed? Twice in a row, traveling on it has led to unfortunate circumstances. I’d have thought as the main way of transportation between the major cities, the kingdom would put some effort into ensuring the safety of travelers.

Then again, such a road would also draw the biggest marks for bandits. And with the glaringly bright colors of the Tome family crest painted on the side of our carriage, it’s practically daring someone to attack us.

Sigh. I take it back. I blame my Father for everything.

Quiver slung over her shoulder, Kierra reaches around my waist to tie off a sheath that holds one of her favorite hunting knives and slips a pair of smaller throwing knives into my palms. “I’ll be getting into position. You know what to do.”

My stomach does an anxious little flip-flop but I don’t hesitate to step out of the carriage. A quick glance up the road reveals a thick trunk of a felled tree has been laid across the road. Ah, how unoriginal. I’m a bit embarrassed to be waylaid like this. If we had a pair of competent knights, they could have blown something like that out of the way without slowing the horses. I guess it’s a good way to separate the good prey from the powerhouses.

Maybe it’s a better tactic than I think.

Or maybe our knights are especially pitiable. Sigh.

I turn back to see our ‘visitors’. Living out of the way where we do, I’m no stranger to bandits. Mainly, they’re a collection of a few criminals, a handful of dreaming farmer boys, and a majority of pitiful orphans with the odd ex-soldier. They come to our village in hopes our proximity to the capital means our peasants are richer than other peasants. Which makes them idiots, beginners, or idiotic beginners. Rabble passing through the Ironcast brothers can easily drive off.

These bandits don’t look like rabble. They’re mounted and wear fine leathers. Their leader especially defies the dirty bandit stereotype with his slick black hair, polished shoes, and saints witness, a little cape over his shoulders.

Why? Either he’s a joker or a wannabe knight. I don’t know which is sadder. Or funnier. Not that I’d laugh right now. His people have us surrounded.

Several eyes move to me as I slowly approach, including my exasperated father’s. The bandit leader gives me an appraising look. He doesn’t look very impressed. Sigh. Bastard. Not that I want the silly man interested in me but it’s a blow to the ego. Bards sing about these types as lecherous fiends who’d harass even grandmas. I’d think I should get some reaction.

Oh, wait. One of the guys behind the leader is leering at me. Our eyes meet and he flashes a menacing smile made of crooked, yellow teeth. It suits his bruised, pudgy face and not in a flattering way. Bile tickles my throat but I swallow it down.

Guess I don’t want attention after all.

“Well, well,” the leader says as I come to stand just behind Father, ignoring his heavy glare. “You must be Lady Tome. What a lovely father-daughter pair.”

What kind of bandit says lovely? I hold back the urge to sneer and incline my head. “Good evening to you, sir. Just came to ask why we’ve been stopped.”

“As I was explaining to your father, you can all be on your way after handing over your valuables. We will leave you with enough supplies to reach the capital. A good deal, no?”

Father opens his mouth but I talk over him. “Generous, but we’ll have to decline. Don’t feel like losing my stuff to some ragtag thieves. It would be best for everyone if you left us alone.”

Some of the bandits chuckle as a heavy hand lands on my shoulder. I refuse to meet my father’s eyes. After all, I know exactly what he wants to say. What are you doing? Just hand over the stupid things and let the city garrison deal with these thugs!

Sigh. Would that I could.

The bandit leader lets out a put-upon sigh. “Look here, princess. This isn’t a game. I’m a bit more lenient than others in my profession but you shouldn’t try and take advantage of my virtue. I’ll only make my offer one more time.”

Virtue, huh? That’s like a murderer praising his restraint for only murdering people one day out of the week.

Kierra should have had enough time by now.

Flicking a wrist, I throw one of the knives at the leader. After hours of practice, it flies true. Too bad he’s not a wooden target. He jerks his head to the side. Instead of going through his eye, a red line appears on his cheek. He scowls. “You fuc—”

Despite everything, he notices the follow up, practically throwing himself off his horse. The arrow still hits him in the side, evidenced by his scream. His men start to react but before they realize what’s happening, two more are hit, falling off their horses with heavy thumps. As they search for the threat, I dash off into the forest where more of them are waiting.

Fighting bandits is also nothing new to me, as there are few things scarier than boars near our village. Their current tactic is common. The heavier forces directly waylay the target while their weaker members hang in the wings, ready to ambush stragglers.

As expected, the group I charge toward is comprised of boys barely out of childhood, thin and dirty, armed with weapons better left as scrap. Attention caught by what has to be a massacre behind me, they’re caught by surprise as I plow into one of the larger boys, knocking him to the ground.

As the air is knocked out of his from the fall, I’m pulling the big hunting knife from its sheath and drive it into his side. He squeals like a stuck pig. Really. It’s grating enough that I want to punch him in the throat to shut him up but I relent, getting to my feet. I don’t actually want to kill him and there are plenty of others to deal with.

Their friends’ screams jostle the others out of their stasis and they run at me with more enthusiasm than anything else. Slow. Compared to my maniac of a spouse’s flurry of attacks during our spars, the bandits are ridiculously slow and clumsy.

I take swipes at them with the knife, drawing blood. Honestly, my attacks probably aren’t much better than theirs. We haven’t quite gotten into proper fighting technique. Not much need with my other abilities, that I unfortunately can’t use now. I am, however, an expert of scrambling out of the way of danger.

“Aaaaagggghhhh! Devil!”

The scream is filled with so much terror, the boys pause in their assault to find the source. I bite my lip to keep from laughing as I watch my wife causing havoc in the midst of the bandits. She ducks a fireball that looks close enough to singe her skin before grabbing the leg of a braying horse and throwing it at the panicked caster. While the surrounding bandits are reeling at the ridiculous sight, she jumps at another group, tearing through them and leaving screaming, broken men in her wake.

Wow. I know she’s a nightmare to fight but I can’t help but be impressed watching her in action. I clear my throat to grab the attention of the terrified boys. I point at her. “You should surrender before she makes her way over here.”

They look at each other, then to Kierra as she decapitates a bandit with his own sword, and back to each other. As one they take a step back, lowering their weapons. I nod. No shame in surrendering when someone like that is your opponent. “Great. We’ll just—”

The young bandits take off, each going in a different direction as they crash through the trees. Sigh. Should have expected that. With a grunt, I grab the boy bleeding out on the ground and make my way towards my elf.

Kierra is finishing up. Most of the enemies are laid out on the ground, groaning from their injuries. The few who can stand are corralled to kneel in the middle of the road, my wife standing over them.

“—may escape. After all, I’ll only be able to catch one of you. But whoever I do catch, you’ll die slowly. I’ll tear little pieces of you away until you are begging for death. Then, I’ll choke you with your own guts. So, come on. Is anyone of you willing to sacrifice yourself for your comrades? There must be one hero amongst such noble thieves.”

I lay down my burden before walking away as she continues to deliver horrifying and mocking threats to the shaking bandits, heading for my father. The Ironcast brothers have him shielded between them, their nice new armor covered in dirt and gore. They nod to me in a rare bout of seriousness.

“Pete, Pot, go handle that tree. Lady Atainna seems to have the bandits well under control and we need to clear the road for the soldiers.” As the two knights jog off to do his bidding, Father raises his hands. “As our contract demands, obey my call.”

I can’t help being a little excited as the air stirs and four barely visible rings appear around my father. Each of them are slightly tinted; green, blue, red, and a silvery gray, resenting the four elemental affinities.

This is the culmination of his life’s work, the Zero Affinity Theory. It says that when incorporeal elementals are born, they have no affinity at all but are shaped by their home realm. If a caster were to make a contract with those beings at the time of birth, they could technically have an elemental with any affinity despite their own after time for development.

The downside? Incorporeal elementals rarely have intelligence. Contracting one at the birth stage means no intelligence at all. Besides that, the zero doesn’t just stand for affinity but also for their mana. When he contracted them, their mana coefficient was 1. Seriously 1. The plus side is that he can contract four, no problem. The downside is that they’re useless for years until their coefficients develop.

This is the first time I’ve seen them in action.

“Rock, fix the road and check for any other traps. Wind, carry a message to the guards in front of the largest wall down the road. Tell them bandits have been caught and we need help transporting them. Aqua, source of water. Flame, go high in the sky and flare to draw attention.”

They move on his orders. Aqua and Wind quickly disappear, one going into the trees while the other disappears down the road. Rock starts hovering over the dirt road, the shape of it becoming more definite and the ground more compact.

Flame hovers by Father’s hand. He mumbles under his breath and a small fire appears in his palm. The elemental moves into it, sucking the flames into itself. Then it moves into the air and begins to pulse with a bright red light that I know can be seen for miles.

It’s amazing to watch. I remember seeing them when I was younger, when just appearing exhausted them. I can only imagine what they’ll be able to accomplish in another ten, twenty years. Hmph. Father may be annoying but there’s no denying he’s a genius for his work.

Yet, even something like this is drowned out by the Grimoire family simply because they were born with greater affinities.

I really hate them.

“The two of you did good work today,” Father calls out to the brothers. “I’ll be sure to add a bonus to your pay this month.”

Kierra comes jogging toward us. “The bandits are all down. If you want them to live, I’ll need your knights to help me clean them up and bind them. Otherwise, I’ll have them dig a big enough ditch to toss them in.”

Father’s eyes widen when he takes in all the blood covering her. Hehe. They’ve never seen her outside a civilized conversation. Poor men have no idea what she’s capable of. “Ah, the city will reward us for the live capture of criminals, so we’re saving them. If you can keep them corralled for a bit, my summons will be along.”

“Not a worry, Honored Father.” She heads back to the captives with a smirk, all of which obediently stayed where she left them.

“Your wife…is quite capable.”

“Uh huh. I told you, she took care of me in the Enchanted Forest. Compared to that, a few bandits are nothing.”

“I see.” From the gleam in his eye, this is going to be something that’s spread around at the parties in Summer Spire but whatever. He doesn’t need my confirmation to see how strong she is and this is only just the surface. “Well, Aqua is bringing back water for the captives. I suppose we should set up camp.”

He says that but makes no move, giving me a look. Sigh. “I’ll handle it.”

“As expected of my daughter.”

As expected of my father, pushing the heavy work onto someone else. Bet he takes the coach too. What you don’t know is that I like sleeping under the stars. You can take the cushioned bench, I’ve got a beautiful woman to cuddle me. Hehe.