It wasn't my first time killing people since it was part of the "glorious" curriculum I went through. Around the end of my last real year of training, the fourteenth one, my main instructor came to me one day to tell me to clear my schedule for the next day. On that day, I was taken to a room and faced with a man who he described as a death row inmate. And then, I was ordered to kill him with a space cutter. Refusing wasn't an option. My world's Trading Union was as powerful as always seeing how they were able to get their hands on a human judged through the law, even if it was someone who was supposed to die soon. As the saying goes, "There's nothing the Trading Union can't buy".
I still remember his terrified expression right before his death, the gory scene his remains created, and the fact I ended a life. I ended up puking my stomach out for several minutes until nothing was coming out anymore. Unfortunately, this wasn't the end. The following day, I was ordered to do the same to a woman, who was also sentenced to death. I was trembling so hard reminiscing about the previous day that it took me five tries for my space cutter to go out. Finally, on the third day I had to go through this ordeal, I managed to stay calm enough that my instructor gave me a passing grade for this terrible test.
After that, I was "coached" on handling real-life combat situations, which would undoubtedly happen since rich traders were obvious targets.
There was no such thing as talking during a real fight. Holding back on one's power was only something that happened in stories. I was to fight with all my strength, whether against someone my rank or a rank 0. All fights had to end instantly, whether they ended in victory, escape, or death. I wasn't a fighter, after all. I was a merchant.
Any combat that didn't follow these rules was a failure on both fighting sides.
Back to the present, the view of the corpses in front of me still made my stomach churn, even though it wasn't as bad as the first time. I looked to the side to check Selva's reaction. She had her mouth open, gaping at the sudden change in the situation and horrible view in front of her. She was trembling hard, biting her lips while her hands weren't on her wound anymore but clenched into fists on both sides of her body.
To be honest, I was surprised by her reaction. It was much better than mine during my first time. She either had previous experience with people dying in front of her or was a much stronger person than me.
Whichever it was, I had no plans to appear as anything other than a rank 0 merchant. I knew too little about the outside world and revealing too much about me could be dangerous. Any small advantage I could get might make the difference between life and death.
Fortunately, there was a way to handle this situation. There was almost no chance Selva would think I was the one who did it. On top of looking like a rank 0, I was careful not to move in the least during my spell. I turned to her, trying to look both terrified and impressed.
"W-wow. As… As expected of the future world's strongest. These people didn't stand a chance against you."
She finally took her eyes away from the gruesome scenery and stared at me with utter incomprehension.
"Huh?"
"Even though I asked you to escort me, I never expected we would encounter such a problem. I'm truly grateful to you for saving my life, great sorceress Selva."
I acted as humble and grateful as possible.
"No… That… wasn't me."
She denied my words with a much smaller and hesitant voice now.
"What do you mean? Who could it be if not you?"
She looked around, trying to find something or someone, anything. Now that the bandits were silenced, the forest was quiet and there wasn't any presence except for the two of us.
"I, I don't know. Maybe... Maybe a high-rank fighter passed by and helped us?"
She didn't seem to believe her own words. That wasn't an issue since I was there to guide her in the right direction.
"There's very little chance of that. I've heard of such a situation during my travels before. When a fighter with a lot of potential truly wants to protect someone or something, they sometimes experience a burst of power enough to feel like they ranked up several times, and their enemies generally end up very dead. If that's what happened, I can't thank you enough for wanting to protect me so much, great sorceress Selva."
"That can't be… I was just… I've never heard of something like that."
"It doesn't happen very often, that's for sure. I've also only heard about it from other people, in a faraway country."
"…"
Selva dropped her head and seemed lost in thought. I wondered if she would buy my lies or not. Even I believed it was a bit over the top.
No matter what, it was fine as long as she didn't think I did it. After a few minutes, she shook her head and glared at the corpses again.
"Whatever. I don't know what happened but we're safe. It's all that matters."
"Yes."
I approached her while pointing at the wound that was still bleeding on the side of her head.
"Let me treat your wound. I've got a balm that's good at stopping bleeding."
I put a hand into my pocket while taking a tube of hemostatic cream from my storage. She looked intrigued at its strange plastic design but didn't say anything. She seemed to trust me enough to show me her wound. Since I didn't have a bandage, I cleaned the blood with my hand and applied the cream afterward. I didn't know if it would work well on a non-human but, well, her blood was as red as mine.
She felt a lot less like a strange creature to me now.