Chapter 9: Encountering robbers

The three said goodbye to the lord and boarded the carriage.

They planned to head to the nearest city and use its teleportation array to return to the academy.

The Sorn Empire’s teleportation network was well developed.

Almost every major city had a teleportation array, allowing people to teleport between cities with ease.

When teleportation arrays were first designed, some worried enemies might use them to teleport directly into cities and cause chaos from within.

But the designers had anticipated that and built in a protective mechanism.

A teleportation array could only be activated from both ends simultaneously.

That meant even if one end fell into enemy hands, the other side couldn’t initiate teleportation unilaterally.

Each activation required three Level 5 high-level mages to pour their mana into it.

As a result, using a teleportation array was incredibly expensive, far beyond what an ordinary person could afford.

However, as Sorn Academy students, they could return to the academy for free as long as they showed their commission letter.

Xi Ya leaned against the carriage wall, his eyes already too heavy to keep open.

He just wanted to catch up on sleep in the carriage.

‘I vaguely remember that in the game, Feili and Dailina trigger an event on the way back. The carriage gets ambushed by a group of bandits, Feili gets off and grinds them for XP, and then…’

Then he fell asleep.

On the other side of the carriage, Feili kept her gaze fixed ahead.

She had walked this road countless times.

As soon as they entered the forest ahead, over a dozen bandits would jump out to rob the carriage.

In her first life, she barely managed to fight those bandits off. But just as she finished them off, a transfer array suddenly appeared beneath her feet, teleporting her and Dailina somewhere else.

That was a trap set by the Shadow Demon—an assassin demon best at killing, specifically targeting students out on commissions.

Back then, she was too weak. All she could do was watch Dailina die right in front of her before she fell too.

After several rebirths, she prepared in advance and managed to defeat the Shadow Demon, avenging herself and Dailina from that first life.

But the price was that she wasted too much time.

She missed the entrance exam deadline, got dropped from the elite class, and later someone kept targeting her, completely cutting off her chance to train in the elite class.

In the end, because she wasn’t strong enough, she died at the hands of the demons.

In later rebirths, Feili tried to avoid that transfer array.

She could dodge it herself, but she couldn’t abandon Dailina.

She tried countless times.

No matter how fast she moved, they could only reach the edge of the array before getting teleported anyway.

Even though by then she had long been strong enough to quickly kill the Shadow Demon and return to the academy, that moment had become an insurmountable hurdle in her heart.

This time, Feili specially learned the wind-type movement magic [Wind Shadow] ahead of time.

With that spell, she could definitely pull Dailina out of the array.

But in this life, one huge variable had appeared—

Xi Ya had survived.

And he was coming back to the academy with them.

She couldn’t drag Xi Ya out of the array too.

Wait.

If she just pulled Dailina out and let the Shadow Demon kill Xi Ya, who was possessed by the Demon God, wouldn’t that kill two birds with one stone?

Feili turned her gaze to the other side of the carriage.

Xi Ya was sleeping like a log despite the violent jostling.

She stared at his face, her brow furrowing slightly.

In previous lives, Xi Ya had already turned into a monster in the ruins.

That was a real monster—killing it gave her no psychological burden.

But this Xi Ya was different.

He was still human, just possessed by the Demon God.

She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

No.

Xi Ya was possessed by the Demon God after all.

If she saved him, who knew if one day he might stab her in the back?

How could she have such a bad memory?

How many times had she died because she sympathized with her enemies?

Feili took a deep breath.

‘I almost let my compassion ruin me again.’

She needed to avoid every threat and not repeat the same mistakes.

Most importantly, that silver-haired, golden-eyed girl was still waiting for her.

If she blew it this time, and in the next life she couldn’t meet that girl again…

That would make her sad for a long time.

***

The carriage entered the forest.

Suddenly, an arrow flew out from the trees and struck the driver in the head.

“Ahhh!”

The driver screamed and fell, and the carriage came to a halt.

“Hahaha! Boss, your aim is still on point!”

A burst of rough laughter erupted from the forest.

Over a dozen figures sprang out and blocked the carriage’s path.

The leader was a bald, burly man wearing a grimy leather armor with a faded emblem on the chest—looked like a deserter from some mercenary group.

He held a light crossbow with an arrow loaded, licking his lips smugly.

“Hmph.”

He tilted his chin toward the carriage.

“Listen up, you in there! Leave all your valuables and the clothes on your backs, and I might spare your lives since I’m in a good mood today!”

His thugs joined in, rattling rusty blades and whistling.

Inside the carriage, Dailina’s face paled. She instinctively moved closer to Feili.

But Feili opened her eyes. There was no trace of panic in her amber pupils.

“Don’t worry, just a few rude uncles~”

She lifted the curtain and gracefully stepped down from the carriage.

Dailina quickly followed.

When the bandits saw the two girls emerge, their eyes lit up.

“Oh ho, this trip’s a jackpot!”

The bald man licked his lips.

“Brothers, not just money, but—”

“Tsk.”

Feili clicked her tongue lightly and muttered under her breath, “I have to hear this every life. I’m sick of it.”

“What?”

The bald man blinked.

Feili didn’t answer.

She simply drew her sword from her waist.

“Whatever. Not like you’d understand anyway.”

The sounds of fighting rang out from outside.

Xi Ya was woken by the noise.

‘Whoa, it’s already started?’

He lifted the front curtain and saw the driver lying on the ground, already long dead.

‘Poor driver. Every time Feili rebirthes, you have to bite it.’

“Damn it! How is this bitch so strong?”

Hearing that, Xi Ya quickly pulled out his wand.

‘I remember that after Feili kills all these bandits, the Shadow Demon will immediately use transfer magic.’

Xi Ya jumped off the carriage and saw that the scene before him wasn’t a bandit robbery at all—it was a one-sided slaughter.

Feili’s figure danced among the bandits.

Every swing of her sword landed precisely on a vital point.

The bald man didn’t even have time to raise his crossbow before she cut his arm and kicked him to the ground with her white-stockinged leg.

The last bandit looked at his comrades lying all around him.

His legs gave out, and his rusty blade clattered to the ground.

“D-Don’t come near…”

“Oh? You’re the last one left?”

Feili tilted her head and aimed her sword at him.

“Huh? What?”

One final swing, and the bandit was finished.

After sheathing her sword, Feili didn’t pause for a second.

She immediately grabbed Dailina’s hand and ran toward the edge of the forest.

“Huh? Feili, what’s wrong?”

Dailina was dragged along, confused.

“No time to explain! Run!”

‘Wait? They’re trying to escape the Shadow Demon’s transfer array? That wasn’t an option in the game!’

‘Oh crap! Wait for me!’

Xi Ya finally snapped out of it and sprinted after them.

But they hadn’t run far before black magical runes appeared beneath their feet.

Feili activated [Wind Shadow].

Her speed suddenly increased, pulling Dailina toward the edge of the array.

Almost there.

Just a bit more.

As the runes fully formed, the transfer magic activated.

Black light surged up from the ground, beginning to devour everything inside the array.

Feili stepped out of the array’s range first, and then Dailina was pulled out after her.

She let out a sigh of relief.

“No—Xi Ya is still inside!”

Seeing Xi Ya still within the array, Dailina didn’t hesitate.

She let go of Feili’s hand and reached out to grab Xi Ya.

“Don’t go back in—!”

Xi Ya looked at the black runes glowing brighter around his feet, his heart screaming.

‘I slept too soundly in the carriage. I didn’t prepare to run at all.’

‘If only I’d started running a bit earlier.’

The light of the array had already climbed past his ankles.

He felt a strong sensation of weightlessness, as if something was pulling him down.

Just then, Dailina suddenly grabbed his wrist, pulling with all her might.

“Xi Ya! I’ll get you out!”

‘Why did she come back?’

Dailina’s body was being dragged inward too.

Her shoes scraped deep marks on the ground, but she still held Xi Ya’s wrist, refusing to let go.

‘No, like this, neither of us will make it out.’

‘If I go in alone, I can transform and should be able to handle the Shadow Demon.’

‘But if Dailina gets teleported too, not only will I not be able to transform easily, I’m not sure I can protect her in my transformed state.’

Thinking that, he decisively shook off Dailina’s hand and pushed her out of the array.

“Xi Ya!”

As the light faded, Xi Ya vanished within the array.