by Ryota Hori
“Master Ryoma! Take this!” She had removed a part of the wagon to serve as a shield.
Ryoma clicked his tongue, taking the wooden pane she gave him to shield the driver’s seat from the flurry of arrows.
I knew something was fishy, but they’re definitely after us. Which means Wallace set this up... The question is, who put him up to it...
The most obvious candidate was the empire of O’ltormea. It had been several months since he shook off Princess Shardina’s pursuit, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she’d acted in some way by now. However, Ryoma decided to stop thinking for now.
Am I stupid or something...? I need to focus on staying alive right now. I can leave the sleuthing for later.
What mattered was surviving this situation...
The deluge of arrows finally stopped. In terms of time, it was likely only a few dozen seconds, but to Ryoma, they felt like an eternity.
Seven mercenaries had been hit and killed by the rain of arrows. There were fifty mercenaries hired to guard the caravan, and roughly a seventh of them were dead in the first wave. In addition, most of the horses attached to the carriages perished in the onslaught. The only horses left unharmed were those from Ryoma’s carriage and the ones the mercenaries were riding.
Ryoma cast a rapid gaze around. His carriage was just at the center of the caravan, which meant there was nowhere to go, either ahead or behind.
“Sara, move the carriage ahead!”
At Ryoma’s order, Sara gripped the reins tightly and glared at the road ahead.
“I cannot. The other wagons are blocking the road ahead.”
The line had gone out of formation because of the attack. The road should have been wide enough to accommodate for the carriage’s width, but things were different with the wagons blocking the way. The positioning was odd, almost as if it was all set up to trap Ryoma.
Hearing Sara’s reply, Ryoma clicked his tongue and cast his gaze behind them. The road was blocked all the same back there, too.
“Boy!” Lione approached him, with her group members following in tow.
Since they’d somewhat predicted this was coming, Lione’s group didn’t suffer any casualties. They all got away with minor wounds. The mercenaries who did die were the ones who didn’t take Ryoma’s words seriously.
All of a sudden, battle cries erupted from the rear.
“Here they come...”
The arrows were meant to nail them down while another group swooped down to attack them. A safe, reliable tactic that stuck true to the basics. Had they not seen the attack coming, Ryoma and his group would surely have been killed at this point. The raid was that meticulously planned.
“Boy!” Lione exclaimed with annoyance as she heard Ryoma mumble to himself.
“Lione... Stick to the plan.” He directed a gaze as sharp as a blade at her.
There wasn’t a trace left of his usual, pleasant countenance. Lione nodded, as if overwhelmed by Ryoma’s unflinching words. They’d already agreed on what to do if their path of escape was cut off.
“I know. We’ll blow away the wagons ahead of us and open a path!” Ignoring the protests of the mercenaries around her, Lione ordered one of her group members to go ahead and destroy their obstacle.
“Sis... Are you serious? Are you really going to abandon the merchants?”
As her subordinate directed a clinging, frightened look at her, Lione replied with cold eyes.
“Quit yer yappin’ and do it! If ya don’t like me orders, ya can stay here and die for all I care!”
“Ah... Sis...”
“I ain’t tellin’ ya to believe me! But if ya wanna live, you’ll do as I say!” Lione silenced the other mercenaries with her shouting.
They stood there, their ethics grappling with their survival instincts. Eventually, some of them silently turned around and ran toward the carriage, but soon turned back around and shouted.
“Sis, the merchants are still in the carriage, and the mercenaries aren’t moving away from it either! What do we do?!”
Apparently, the scales tipped in favor of their survival instincts, it seemed, but they still hesitated to blow away the wagons with the merchants still inside. According to Ryoma’s plan, the merchants would have abandoned the battlefield as soon as the raid began.
What is this? Weren’t the merchants in cahoots with the attackers...? Wait, no. If they’re allies, they’d have no reason to run...
Lione directed a gaze at him that seemed to ask, ‘what now?’ With no time to bother explaining himself to a bunch of morons, Ryoma had only one choice he could take. He looked back at Lione and nodded, his eyes hardened with unwavering resolve.
“Forget about ’em! Blow ’em away along with the wagons!”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
The mercenaries that looked up to Lione’s words nodded back with their faces full of fright, and ran back to where they were.
A few dozen seconds later, an explosion shook the air. The carriages and wagons were enveloped in flames and blown away along with the mercenaries around them. Screams and shouts of vilification filled the forest.
“Sis, the road’s opened!”
“Good! Don’t look back if ya wanna survive!” Ordering her men, Lione turned to face Ryoma. “Everything’s gone as ya planned so far, hasn’t it, boy?”
“I only considered the possibilities. Have you finished the preparations for what comes next?”
Ryoma’s eyes burned with cold murderous intent. Their lives hinged on this plot being successful.
“Y-Yeah. Everything’s ready on our side.” Lione answered with an overwhelmed look in her eyes. “Only thing’s left is hoping yer little missy and Boltz handled their side of things well.”
“That’s good, then. I explained the plan to Laura already. She’s smart, so I don’t see her screwing this up.” Ryoma’s trust for Laura was absolute. “As for the rest... That’s up to us.”
“I gotcha. You make sure to stay on yer toes, too!”
“Yeah, you take care too, Lione.”
With Lione in the lead, the Crimson Lion group’s set forward on horseback. They had a vital role to play in what was to come.
“Master Ryoma, they’re coming!”
Before Ryoma knew it, the sound of clashing swords reached his ears from all around. All the mercenaries, barring the Crimson Lion members who went ahead, were likely being disposed of by the attackers.
“Let’s go!”
Sara gave a nod at Ryoma’s words and whipped the horses into a gallop. The view that streaked past Ryoma as they rushed forward was that of an empty road. Lione’s group needed only to ride forward until they reached their objective, but Ryoma served as the bait and couldn’t afford to do that.
Theirs was a four-horse carriage, but even then, it didn’t have that much speed. Of course, discarding the passenger car and running on horseback was a possibility, but Ryoma elected not to do so.
And that was because there was a chance they’d actually shake off their assailants that way; Ryoma’s true objective was to maintain a safe distance from their foes without losing them, and lead them to a certain spot.
The wind beat against Ryoma’s face. Defending Sara’s body from the arrows coming down on them from above was rather difficult. A few arrows had already slipped through his defenses and pierced the driver seat; several red streaks of blood trailed down Sara’s body and seeped into her clothes. Ryoma was also bleeding profusely from when his earlobe had been nicked by an arrow earlier, and the blood painted him red from his neck down to his chest.
“Are we there yet?” Ryoma asked while blocking the arrows, panic seeping into his voice.
“We should almost be there... Ah, that’s it! I can see it!”
Standing along the long road ahead of them that seemed to stretch without end, something fluttered in their field of vision. Sara clearly saw the sight of a black flag with a symbol of a red lion, flapping about in the wind.
“Good! We should
make it if it’s that close...” Ryoma sighed with relief and turned his gaze to Sara. “Ready?! It’s do or die!”
Everything up until now was for the sake of this one moment. This was why they led their enemies here instead of trying to shake them off.
“I know.” Sara said, and used the reins to gradually slow down the horses’ galloping.
The silhouettes of a few men on horseback surfaced from the cloud of dust behind them.
“Right... Like that. Drop your speed just a little more... And when they slow down, too... Yes, good.”
Ryoma caught sight of the men drawing their bowstrings.
“Now! Do iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!”
The moment Ryoma’s carriage passed by a spear stuck into the road, Ryoma grabbed onto the spear and brandished it upward, towards the sky.
“““Our mother earth, abide by the will of thy children and unleash thy rage! The locks of thine hair are as lances that pierce all of creation! Rock Bamboo!”””
As Ryoma cried out, Laura’s incantation resonated through the forest accompanied by several other voices, and, in accordance with their chant, a massive circle appeared beneath their pursuers’ feet. The next moment, the sound of flesh being pierced filled the area. And with that, the sound of horse hooves clicking against the ground behind them suddenly ceased.
Ryoma descended from the carriage and walked over to the stone pillars that had sprung up behind them, with Sara naturally following behind him. Those earthen spears stuck out from the ground and toward the heavens. The raw, rusted scent of blood mingled with the wind blowing toward them.
“Looks like it worked.”
“Yeah...” Ryoma nodded shortly at Sara’s words, “But don’t let down your guard. Some of them ought to have survived.”
Ryoma didn’t think his ploy had failed. On the contrary, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. But at the same time, it was too soon to be complacent. Lack of caution was the deadliest enemy.
Following Ryoma’s footsteps, Lione, Boltz and the other Crimson Lion members came out of the forest, with Laura in the lead. The twelve of them approached the stone spears in the center of the highway with cautious prudence.
“Make sure no one escaped from the spell’s effective radius!”
At Lione’s command, the group broke off into two and began their search.
“Hey... A few of them got away. There’s trails of blood leading into the woods.”
The mercenaries observed the assailants limping away with moans of pain and agony with a somewhat sobered gaze in their eyes. They had little mercy for the enemies who had attacked them.
“You don’t mind if we finish them off, right?”
Ryoma nodded wordlessly at Boltz’s question. Confirming his approval, Boltz made a signal by brushing his right hand through the air, and the members who saw it disappeared into the woods without a word.
“Lad, what are you gonna do now?”
“What?” Ryoma’s expression filled with surprise at Boltz’s way of calling him. “Lad?”
“Heheh.” Boltz scratched at his cheek awkwardly. “Think of it as an expression of respect.”
Apparently, seeing Ryoma’s plan succeed changed the image Boltz had of him, and so calling him ‘lad’ was Boltz’s way of showing his respect. Realizing this, Ryoma simply smiled wryly and remained silent.
“But really, boy, what next?” Lione asked, having finished issuing orders.
She didn’t have any intent of changing the way she called him, it seemed, but Ryoma didn’t mind much either way.
“Well, for now we should gather information. Looks like there are quite a few survivors, so we should have a way of doing that.”
Ryoma looked around as if confirming there were survivors, with a cruel smile on his face. Cold enough to send a shiver down the spines of veteran warriors like Lione and Boltz.
The sight of that expression made Sara and Laura inadvertently pray to God. They could likely imagine how gruesome the demise of these fools who dared place their master in danger would be...
With his body bound and pulled by rope, Mikhail Vanash was dragged to where he would be tried for his actions. The bandages wrapped around his body were stained with blood.
Mikhail’s injures were fairly severe. He had no mortal wounds or fractured bones, but the earthen lances had pierced and skewered his body. Had it not been for the thick armor he was clad in and the fact he was distant from the epicenter of the spell as he lead the charge, he would have surely been counted among the corpses.
Even if he’d simply been left skewered on the rocks there and deprived of necessary healing, he’d likely have met the same fate.
Why did they save me? The question tugged at Mikhail’s heart.
Standing in front of Mikhail were a largish red-headed woman, a middle aged man missing his left arm, a hulking man who seemed to be in his mid-twenties and two girls who waited on him from behind as if they were his shadows.
Mikhail’s heart stirred. And that was because the girl in front of him was the target of this raid.
It had been three hours since Mikhail and his group of assailants fell into Ryoma’s trap. Of all those hurt by the stone spears, only a handful, including Mikhail, survived. The majority of them perished from the linked thaumaturgy unleashed by Boltz and his men, and those who survived and escaped into the forest couldn’t shake off the vengeful pursuit of the Crimson Lion members.
The only ones left alive were those men beloved by the goddess of fate. Though if one were to consider the state they were in, it was questionable whether their fate was truly fortunate. The minimal treatment they’d been given only stopped their bleeding, after which they were gagged, tied up and thrown into the carriage’s wagon.
The carriage was then taken to a safer place, after which they were hauled off of it one by one. At this point there was no questioning for what purpose they were taken. Then it was time for the commander of the attack, Mikhail, to face the music.
“You’re Mikhail Vanash, the commander of the raid, correct?”
Mikhail could only nod to the largish young man standing in front of him. His voice wasn’t coercive, and most of all, his tone was calm and polite. Being on the side of the attackers, a calm and polite tone of voice was nothing short of unnerving. If he were being questioned while being shouted at by someone with a reddened, angry face instead, it wouldn’t have terrified him as much.
“I’ve heard most of the story from your subordinates. It looks like this was an unfortunate set of consequences for both our sides that landed us in this situation.”
Mikhail kept quiet, but he felt something was off about the young man’s words. During knight training, one would be taught how to carry themselves when captured by an enemy, and not giving the enemy any information was an ironclad rule in war.
“You really don’t have to be so nervous. We don’t intend to do anything to you, for the time being.”
The young man’s words sounded like the Devil’s seductive whisper to Mikhail’s ears.
“Why won’t you kill me?” A question dripping with hatred escaped Mikhail’s lips.
“Because we have no need to kill you, for the time being.” The young man shrugged, smiling as if they were gossiping about something trivial.
But his words carried the implication that if they were to deem it necessary, they would kill him.
“But that applies to both of us now, doesn’t it?”
Mikhail couldn’t find a chance to argue against the young man’s words. He himself wasn’t fond of killing; if anything, despite it being his job as a soldier, he didn’t want to kill anyone at all if possible. But as a member of the Kingdom of Rhoadseria’s royal guard, he would spill blood by his hand if it would benefit the royal house. This incident truly didn’t align with his pride as a knight, but it was an unavoidable act he had to commit if he was to stop the nobles’ faction from achieving their ambitions.
The young man smiled peacefully, as if r
eading Mikhail’s heart, and then continued to speak.
“Well, far be it from me to assume your motives here, but I guarantee you that we are not your enemies.”
“What are you talking about...” Those words made Mikhail’s expression wash over with doubt. “Aren’t you people from the nobles’ faction?”
“See? That. That right there.” Ryoma’s smiled widened with significance. “That’s where your misunderstanding is. Let me confirm a few things for the time being first, Mikhail. We can answer any remaining doubts of yours after that.”
The young man walked up behind Mikhail and pressed a finger to the nape of his neck.
“...What are you doing?” Mikhail’s face contorted with suppressed fear.
“Nothing much, just a little charm. This won’t hurt you, so you can relax... This nice girl here will ask you a few questions, so answer them as casually as you can.”
The young man directed a pleasant smile at him, and signaled at a blond girl. She nodded, and stepped up to Mikhail.
“Now, allow me to ask you a few questions. You are affiliated with the Kingdom of Rhoadseria’s royal guard, correct?”
Mikhail averted his face from her silently upon hearing that question. He had no intention of confirming or denying anything.
“Was the motive for your attack on the caravan related to the succession dispute over the Rhoadserian throne?”
Silence.
“Did you plot this raid to defend the princess?”
Silence.
“Are you affiliated with the knight’s faction, and currently opposed to the nobles’ faction?”
Silence.
“Did the nobles’ faction attempt to interrupt the first princess’s succession following the King of Rhoadseria’s passing?”
Silence.
“Is the nobles’ faction trying to use the existence of the late king’s will to back an illegitimate child as princess and heir to the throne?”
Silence. Mikhail held his tongue in the face of the sequence of questions the blond girl presented him with. None were denied nor confirmed by his lips.
Dammit... Those traitors... What are they getting at, stating the obvious like this...?
