Ambush (1)
Ambush (1)
Multiple carriages and knights were leaving the capital.
More people were leaving the capital than had arrived in the Duchy for their 'Dispatched Class'.
That was because, in addition to the attendants and knights who had accompanied them, there were also knights following along to escort the Grand Archduchess.
Inside the carriage where the Princess and the Grand Archduchess sat, the women were enjoying a pleasant conversation, while in a carriage a little farther back, Senior Benjamin and I slumped listlessly.
"Should I reconsider my career path?"
"Why?"
"I planned to stay in the capital after graduation and become an official in the royal palace or administrative branch, but after experiencing it firsthand this time, it wasn't quite what I'd imagined."
What you imagined as a student and what you experienced in the field were always two different things.
But Senior Benjamin was agonizing over something a little different from what I'd expected.
"I was prepared for a heavy workload, but being pushed around from every direction was even worse than the work itself. At this rate, no matter how high a position I reach, it feels like I'll just end up being pushed around by others..."
To be sure, in this world, where the nobility held real power, bureaucrats had no choice but to obey the nobles' orders, no matter how high they rose.
One of the reasons people wanted to climb the ranks—no, undoubtedly the biggest reason in this world—must have been the desire for power.
But it was almost impossible for an administrative bureaucrat to reach such heights.
If knights became war heroes or rose to the rank of commander of the Royal Knights, they would have no reason to envy high nobles. But for administrative scribes, attaining such a standing was completely out of reach.
"I'm starting to think that just working as a scribe for a good-natured noble might make for a much more comfortable and pleasant life..."
It wasn't my place to offer advice or words of comfort.
Strictly speaking, this might just have been the spoiled complaint of the top student in the Administration Faculty.
The fact that the valedictorian of the Administration Faculty was having such worries might have been an even bigger problem, but as a mere 'illegitimate son' of a Duke's estate, it wasn't my place to say anything.
Unless I had strength to match someday, all I could do for now was nod along and listen to his story.
After venting a few more complaints, Senior Benjamin fell silent.
Since he was a quiet person to begin with, the carriage was bound to remain silent for a while.
I turned away from the senior, who was slumping again, and looked out the window.
Mountains and fields I'd never seen before came into view.
Perhaps we were taking a shortcut; we were traveling along a different route from the one we'd taken on the way here.
We were heading in the right direction, but this road was much quieter than the one we'd taken before.
Unlike on our way to the Duchy, when we'd traveled along the main highway, we were now being guided by locals from the Duchy. It seemed we might reach the border sooner than expected.
'Is the Grand Archduchess planning to see us all the way to the border?'
It seemed she was escorting us much farther than I'd expected.
The Princess would be happy to travel together a little longer, and though the knights escorting the Grand Archduchess would find it grueling, having a large escort was a great thing for me.
It meant I could let my guard down a little more.
Keeping watch on our surroundings while staying tense was an exhausting task.
Since I'd been assigned to escort duty, I was doing my absolute best, but with the other escorts keeping watch, I could relax a little more than usual.
Not that I was letting my guard down completely, but I was paying a little less attention...
What was that?
Something caught at the edge of my perception.
I sat up straight, tightening my slackened nerves, and heightened my perception.
Only then did I realize what I'd sensed.
A person—no, people.
People were gathered in the woods a short distance from the road.
As I spread my mana, I sensed the mana of the gathered crowd.
People with mana, hiding in the forest?
Dammit!
I placed a hand on the sword leaning against the wall, then reached into my chest.
This was no time to use the Academy standard sword.
Hum.
I drew the massive greatsword from my chest.
"W-Why is that coming out from there?!"
Startled by the sword, the senior shouted, but I was already holding it as I kicked open the carriage door.
Then I bellowed loudly enough for everyone to hear:
"Ambush! Enemies in the forest!"
Chak! Slash!
At my shout, the knights instantly drew their swords. The word 'ambush' had triggered a reflexive reaction.
Afterward, they looked at me in confusion, but the senior knight of the order escorting the Grand Archduchess and the senior knight of the Kingdom shouted almost simultaneously.
"Enemies! In the woods on both sides!"
"Everyone into battle formation! Form a defensive line!"
Though belatedly, the two senior knights had realized that enemies were lying in wait.
While the knights quickly formed up, people burst out of the forest.
They were fully equipped and clad in all sorts of armor.
They were mercenaries.
"Haha! How dare you lock us in prison! We've come to settle the score!"
"To think you looked down on Kingdom mercenaries!"
Some of the charging mercenaries were shouting absurd things.
Puzzled, I studied the mercenaries who were shouting, and their faces looked familiar.
'Good lord, aren't those the bastards who ran wild in the shopping district?'
No way. Were they really launching an ambush just because they'd been locked in prison?
That made no sense.
There was no way anyone would blurt that out of their own free will, and they certainly wouldn't say it so mechanically, as if they were reading from a textbook.
It was absurd and ludicrous, but I couldn't even laugh.
There were far more charging mercenaries than there had been back then.
On top of that, the surging mana was much more horrifying.
It was almost like a horde of monsters swarming toward us, just like when I'd fought at the Seal Grounds.
The sharp spikes of mana bursting forth here and there amid the sea of mana were definitely not something mere mercenaries could possess.
Come to think of it, I spotted figures clad in black-painted plate armor among the charging mercenaries.
Those were definitely knights.
It seemed the senior knights had sensed what I had, too.
At the head of the group, the Grand Archduchess's senior knight shouted to the driver of the lead carriage:
"Drive the carriage! We mustn't get surrounded here! Head for the border checkpoint!"
The lead carriage was carrying the Princess and the Grand Archduchess. At his shout, the coachman cracked his whip.
Neigh!
The carriage shot forward.
Then, keeping pace with it, the senior knight shouted to the knights:
"Move, everyone! Knights, protect the Grand Archduchess!"
The Grand Archduchess's knights began galloping alongside the speeding carriage.
Next, the senior knight from the Kingdom shouted to the Kingdom knights as well:
"We follow the carriage too! Move, quickly!"
The Kingdom knights spurred their horses forward. Havier, too, began galloping after them with an excited look on his face.
The enemies who had burst out of the forest followed behind, sprinting after the leading carriage and knights.
Whether they had prepared in advance or not, some of the mercenaries were mounted on horses scattered throughout the group, while others used mana to sprint at immense speed.
As the main carriages and knights sped away, only the carriages carrying the servants were left behind.
Senior Benjamin and I were among those left behind.
"Good grief, were we abandoned?"
"Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't be 'abandoned'—we'd simply be left behind somewhere safe."
If the knights sped off after the Princess and the Grand Archduchess, and the assailants pursued them, then those of us left behind would be safe!
...or so the reasoning might go, but our current opponents didn't seem to intend to leave anyone alive.
Not all the attackers pursued the lead carriage; some stayed behind.
Hardly any of them were as strong as the pursuers who had gone ahead, but almost none of the people left here were capable of fighting, either.
"Why didn't you go with them? You came as the Princess's escort. Is it because of us?"
I felt sorry for Senior Benjamin for asking, but I hadn't stayed behind to protect the people in the rear.
I'd wanted to follow the carriage, too, and with my legs, I could easily have kept up. But I simply couldn't move from this spot.
Because among the attackers who had stayed behind, there was someone I recognized.
He stood up ahead, blocking the road with his sword drawn.
I didn't know about anyone else, but even now, the mana he radiated and my own mana were clashing furiously in midair.
Adjusting my grip on the greatsword, I spoke up.
"Run away. I can't protect you."
Senior Benjamin immediately understood what I meant.
"Don't tell me... is there someone here even you can't handle?"
I took a step forward.
"Yes. Since you have an inherited ability, Senior, you should at least run."
"Well... I don't know if that's going to be possible..."
Senior Benjamin trailed off, looking around.
I saw the maids and servants trembling outside the carriages.
'Is this senior a good person at heart, too?'
A person who couldn't bring himself to abandon others and run.
Then again, seeing how he couldn't stand injustice and had stuck around Senior Havier, it made sense.
I urged him no further.
The distance between us and the enemy had closed.
"We meet again."
The attacker blocking the road smiled brightly as he looked at me.
His clothes were different, and the sword he held was different, but it was definitely the face I'd seen in the shopping district not long ago.
Was his name Vid?
It was probably an alias anyway, but I'd definitely met him and fought him before.
"Partly, it's because I caused trouble before and had to clean up the mess, but staying behind here was something I volunteered for."
"Since I know your skills, leaving just anyone behind would obviously end with them getting sliced to pieces, so I had to stay."
Dammit, had I shown off my skills for nothing back then?
"Well, those are all excuses. The truth is, I just wanted to clash with you one more time."
I asked him:
"What business does the Empire have with the Grand Archduchess?"
"Oh, you knew we were affiliated with the Empire? Well, considering how clumsy our little act was, there's no way you wouldn't know."
Nodding to himself, the man tilted his head and thought for a moment.
"Hmm, a student from the Kingdom even knows we have business with the Grand Archduchess. So it was true that the Grand Prince knew about our plan?"
Seeing how freely he babbled on, he clearly had no intention of keeping secrets.
Was he planning to kill everyone, just as I'd expected?
Intending to get even a little more information, I prepared to ask again.
"Is that..."
"We will clean them up first."
But another mercenary spoke up first.
"Right. Get to it."
The man waved him on, and the mercenaries surrounding the people began to move.
"Aaah!"
"Save us! Please!"
Boom!
Screams erupted, followed by explosive blasts.
"Dammit! Take this!"
Senior Benjamin's voice rang out along with the explosion, but it didn't last long.
Though I couldn't see it, a slaughter was unfolding behind me.
Even as the mercenaries slaughtered the servants, they didn't come near my side.
Did they consider me that man's share?
I reached into my breast pocket with my free hand and pulled out my dagger.
"A greatsword and a dagger? Something like dual-wielding?"
I hadn't even learned how to dual-wield.
I sheathed the dagger at my waist and held the greatsword upright.
There was no point hiding anything now.
If I died, I'd just start over anyway—now was the time to do my absolute best.
I awakened my mana.
Time slowed, and the tip of the greatsword began to shimmer.
My senses sharpened, and mana began to circulate according to the Mana Cultivation Technique.
The man's eyes widened in shock.
Questions spilled from his slowed mouth.
"A physical ability user? No, it's a Mana Cultivation Technique? Then what is that shimmering on the sword?"
I lowered my stance.
And I surged mana into my legs.
At the final moment—
Flare!
I saw flames erupt from the man's sword in front of me.
It wasn't just his sword. Flames shimmered all the way up his arm and shoulder.
"Hahaha! A Multi-Ability User! To think there's a Multi-Ability User outside the Empire! Those guys will go crazy if they find out!"
I didn't know exactly what a Multi-Ability User meant in his terms, but...
The man standing before me was unmistakably wielding two distinct abilities.