He called the spirits that were floating around behind them and listened to them. These men were apparently bandits. He asked numerous spirits the same question and they all gave him the same answer. It seemed that these men really were bandits.

It was time to get rid of them.

“Listen up, you bastards,” said the man who appeared to be the leader of the bandits. “Once we get to the village, kill all the men, and once you have your fun with them women, kill them as well! But the good-looking ones who look like they can sell, don’t you put one scratch on ‘em! You good with that?!”

“No, I’m not.”

“What?! You bastard, you’re going against –?! Who is this brat?!” The bandit leader turned around to see Vandalieu there. Floating silently in the air.

“B-boss, this thing is a monster!”

“Suddenly coming down from above… It’s definitely a ghost or something!”

“No,” said Vandalieu in response to the frightened bandits. “I’m just a flying seven-year-old child who happened to be passing by.”

In this world, normal seven-year-old children do not fly.

“Tch, he’s underestimating us! Kyne*, use your superhuman strength to dispose of this thing!” the leader ordered.

A skinhead with the best physique among the bandits stepped forward with a smile on his face.

TLN*: Yes, this bandit has the same name as the villager Kyne.

“Boss, can I play with it a little before I kill it?” he asked.

“Still into kids, huh… Do what you want!” said the leader.

“Hihih, I’ve got permission!” Kyne screamed in delight, his eyes gleaming in anticipation as he swung his war-hammer in an intimidating manner.

“Boss, aren’t we supposed to be attacking the village?” another bandit asked.

“It’s not a problem,” replied the leader. “Kyne’s definitely gonna break that kid quickly.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Oi, kid, if you stay still, I’ll just smash your arms and legs and then play around with you a little,” said Kyne. “But if you resist, I’ll smash your arms and legs and then turn you into my toy!”

“… Wow, it’s an idiot,” Vandalieu said in exasperation.

“WHAT?!” screamed Kyne. “Being called an idiot is the thing I hate the most! Don’t you know that?!”

“There’s no way I could know that, is there?”

“Damn it! You’re making me out to be an idiot!” Turning red with anger, now resembling a boiled octopus, the bandit Kyne thrust his war-hammer towards Vandalieu. “One swing from this war-hammer is enough to deal with kids like you!”

I mean, if you were facing anyone who could withstand more than one blow, you wouldn’t be able to do anything, would you? From the looks of it, you’re just relying on pure strength as you swing it; your movements are those of a person who doesn’t have the Club Technique skill.

Instead of voicing all of these retorts, Vandalieu stuck out his tongue. “This tongue is enough to deal with small-fry like you.”

“You br –”

Before Kyne could finish screaming his words, Vandalieu’s cheeks puffed out. Now that he did this, he could be considered quite cute despite his expressionless face.

But his cheeks returned to normal as he blew something out of his mouth with a small spitting sound.

Kyne stiffened and then toppled backwards like a rotten tree. His left eyeball had turned into a red puddle of blood, no longer a bloodshot eye with a pupil.

“Eh?”

“K-Kyne? What’s wrong?”

As the bandits stood there dumbfounded, a soft, red, snake-like thing emerged from Kyne’s left eye.

“Hyih?!”

Right before the terrified bandits’ eyes, the red snake slithered out of Kyne’s eye socket with blood dripping from it, and then rose into the air, straight into Vandalieu’s mouth.

“… This is an original martial skill, Sharp Tongue,” said Vandalieu. “It seems to be quite powerful if I fire it while secreting deadly poison. I suppose its flaw is that if I don’t retract my tongue or grow another one, I can’t talk.”

It was a martial skill of the Unarmed Fighting Technique skill where he used the effects of Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue) skill, Spirit Form Transformation on the root of his tongue to separate his tongue from his body and the Long-distance Control skill to fire it as a projectile.

Of course, the only person capable of coming up with and using such a martial skill was Vandalieu.

“Well, I suppose I can use it if I keep it as my last resort?” he said to himself.