A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

"Why did you wait until now to appear?" Eric asked the female soldier.

It was obvious that while Bray was saving her, she could have come out and ambushed everyone else.

There's absolutely no need to wait until the rain stops before coming out; this isn't a fashion show.

Putting on a show is meaningless.

"The rain has stopped, and your combat effectiveness has been reduced to zero," the female soldier said in a very indifferent voice.

After calming the baby in her arms, she glanced at the three people in front of her.

She initially hid because she was unsure of Bray and Levy's abilities.

The fighting ability of that girl with those dead fish eyes is unknown, so we need to observe her.

After observing for a while, she concluded that Levy was the most dangerous, while Bray posed no threat.

Because you can't sense anything from Bray, except for his vigorous energy and the lack of any magic or inner power.

Levy is quite strange; her body is full of magic essence... Isn't magic essence something only monsters have?

However, the female soldier had no option to retreat; her initial goal was to kill Eric.

And it caused some damage to the capital.

"Yay!!! Ahhh!" the baby started screaming again.

The moment the scream rang out, the veins on the woman's forehead bulged.

However, this is definitely not because he was angry that his veins were bulging.

“The target is incapacitated, an ordinary adventurer, and an unknown creature,” the female soldier muttered to herself.

"Eee-yah! Yah!" The baby's voice was annoying and a bit shrill.

However, after the baby cried, Bray keenly sensed that she was a little excited.

That's right, even though the veins are bulging, that's a state of high excitement.

"Annihilate the enemy." The female soldier waved her hand and said coldly.

As soon as she finished speaking, countless magical guns appeared out of thin air behind her and unleashed a barrage of fire in Eric's direction.

After firing the shot, the gun fell to the ground and then broke into pieces and disappeared without a trace.

All that remains is the dense barrage of comments.

"Roar!" Levy, in her agitated state, naturally wouldn't let her do as she pleased.

The thick ice wall rose up before the bullets even hit it, blocking them all.

The bullets struck the ice wall, blasting countless ice shards into the air.

Standing behind the ice wall, Bray knew that the other party was after Eric and seemed to look down on him.

"Levy, keep an eye on him, don't let him get mowed down," Bray instructed Levy.

"Oh!" Bray's words brought Levy back to her normal state from her flustered state.

She wagged her tail rapidly and stood in front of Eric.

The soldier from the Empire felt a little ashamed as he looked at the little girl protecting him.

Another thing is, how come this girl is even more skilled with ice than I am?

"What about Bray?" Levy asked, flapping her long ears.

“I’m not good at protecting others.” Bray sighed. Protecting others was something he had never been good at.

"So I'm going to fight her."

“Have a safe trip!” Levy said, raising her paw.

"I'm not going out, that's not how you use that word," he said irritably.

"Hmm..." Levy didn't quite understand, so she cupped her face and tried to think.

"Boom!!!" Naturally, the female soldier wouldn't just stand by and watch them chat. Before Levy could get an answer, she launched an attack on Bray with the virtual gun.

The dense gunfire failed to penetrate the greatsword standing on the ground.

The jet-black greatsword, like a shield, perfectly absorbed all the damage.

The surrounding walls and the ground suffered damage.

“Soldiers, do you want them alive?” Bray asked.

"If you can stay, that would be best."

"rich?"

"Yes, yes, yes, we have everything." Eric was too lazy to discuss anything more with Bray.

Is this the time to say such things?

For Bray, yes.

Instead of picking up the greatsword from the ground, Bray slowly drew his longsword.

Crimson lightning crackled and leaped across his body.

Since swallowing the Heavenly Fox Tear, Bray hasn't really fought a proper battle.

Today seems to be the time for me to test the waters with Heavenly Fox Tears.

"What...what's wrong with you!?" The Federation female soldier's expression changed drastically the moment she saw the flash of lightning.

The creature, which had previously possessed no magic whatsoever, suddenly erupted with a vast wave of magic, like an ocean.

The sheer force of the magic was enough to make it hard for her to breathe.

"Giggle, giggle!" Just as the female soldier was filled with terror, the baby began to laugh happily.

Who hasn't noticed that the baby's pupils are etched with purple lotus flowers?

"You...you're willing to give me power?" she said like a madwoman after the baby laughed, not knowing who she was talking to.

But she knew that by feeling the power surging within her, she laughed along with the baby.

"Haha, you're amazing!" The female soldier hugged the baby as if it were a precious treasure.

“Soldier, it’s going to be tough to keep this guy alive,” Bray said, closing his right eye.

"Never mind then, you'll get the bonus anyway." Eric waved his hand lazily. He didn't care about anything else, he just wanted to know if he would live or die.

“…” Bray did not respond to Eric, but instead opened his right eye.

Black pupils, dyed the same color by red magic.

He gently ran his left hand across the blade of the longsword, staining the white edge with crimson.

The blood-red blade sliced ​​through the sky, but it looked as if it hadn't cut anything.

Not a drop of blood was spilled, and no screams were heard.

The only thing that was blood-red was the blade, which wasn't even stained with blood.

"When you kill someone, be prepared to be killed yourself," Bray said quietly.

"The water has stopped flowing," "The autumn water has stopped flowing."

The sword that had been swung out was then sheathed, and the violent magic, like the sword itself, vanished abruptly, returning entirely to life force.

On the clean ground, washed by the rain, the Federation female soldier lay with her eyes open, lifeless. Beside her, utterly dead, lay a giggling baby clapping its hands. Bray crouched down and glanced at the dead Federation soldier.

"What, feeling like throwing up after killing someone?" Eric teased.

“No.” Bray shook his head. He had been an adventurer for so long, this was nothing to him.

"The original plan was just for you to capture her," he said.

"and then?"

"I lack the confidence to subdue her without getting hurt."

“Anyway, if you don’t kill her, she’ll kill you,” Eric said casually.

“Look at that guy, he’s the type who would sacrifice himself for his Federation.” He said, glancing at the giggling baby.

This baby is about a year old and should be able to crawl.

“Who knows?” Bray said, glancing at the baby as well.

"Eeya! Yaya! Aiya!" The baby looked very happy, waving his arms and legs on the ground.

Levy stood to the side, making a 0x0 expression.

For some reason, she didn't find the baby cute at all, and even thought it was dangerous.

When Levy noticed the child's purple pupils, she barely dared to wag her tail.

"What should we do with this child?" Bray was a little troubled.

He could not possibly adopt the baby, but it would be unreasonable to leave the baby unattended.

“Let’s send them to an orphanage,” Eric said helplessly.

Although he, like Levy, found the baby strange and dangerous, he still felt he had to find someone to take care of the baby.

"In some ways, he can be considered an orphan."

Eric thought that the federal female soldier might be the child's guardian, although he didn't quite understand why she would fight with a baby in her arms.

As Bray and Eric were discussing how to handle the baby, a gust of wind inexplicably swept through the area.

The magic was concentrated at a single point, which was directly above the baby.

Bray instinctively assumed a defensive stance, but no attack came.

Only the sounds of babies laughing could be heard.

Once the magic completely subsided, the smiling baby on the ground vanished as if it had evaporated.

“See, we don’t need to deal with him anymore,” Eric shrugged.

"What is this?" Bray no longer thought of this as a normal baby.

Why does this feel like a horror movie?

"You're asking me? Who should I ask?" This colonel from the Empire had no idea what was going on with this group either.

He found the baby's behavior utterly creepy.

"Stop talking about that, come and help me up." Eric's voice grew weaker and weaker, as if he would stop breathing at any moment.

Then he really did fall down with a thud and lost consciousness.

Of course, Bray wouldn't stand by and watch someone die.

He carried Eric back to a nearby place where there were soldiers or something, thus saving Eric's life.

He also received the money Eric had mentioned earlier.

But... this amount of money is really too little, ridiculously little.

It's about enough to take Levy out for a nice meal, but that's about it.

As for the baby, Eric told himself he would handle it after he woke up.

So Bray stopped interfering.

Since the authorities are going to take it seriously, it's not my place as an adventurer to point fingers.

There is only one remaining option: to feed Levy.

"What does Levy want to eat?" Bray asked.

"Eat meat." Levy, being a carnivore, said she couldn't live without meat.

---

A few days later, Eric got out of bed.

The first thing he did after getting up was to go find his boss.

"Colonel, are you planning to go to Chief of Staff Whiteway all strapped to the ground like this?" Alice asked abruptly as she followed behind Eric.

"Whatever, it's not like I'm going to dinner with him anyway," the colonel said nonchalantly.