Going on an Outing (2)
Going on an Outing (2)
"Hurry! We must return to the carriage!"
Bianca shouted, holding a long sword that seemed utterly impossible to conceal.
The moment she took up the sword, she became the leader of the group: a maid leading the children of high-ranking nobles.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been absurd, but the force of her presence as she held the sword left us no choice but to obey.
Even to our eyes, Bianca's skills surpassed those of an average knight.
Was she a knight secretly raised by the Marquisate? Or perhaps a hidden noble?
Whatever the truth, even Simon followed her instructions without complaint.
We ran through the interior of the fortress, which had become a maze of scattered walls and pillars.
Everyone but Bianca was still young, yet the whole group moved much faster than ordinary adults.
Before we could fully escape the ruins, someone blocked our path.
He was an ordinary-looking man wearing leather armor.
He raised his sword and shouted.
"Found them! They're right here— Ugh!"
Before he could finish shouting, Bianca closed the distance in an instant and swung her sword fiercely.
Slash!
Blood sprayed from his chest, and Bianca kept running, drenched in it.
"Do not stop!"
It was as if she had eyes in the back of her head.
She had immediately noticed Simon and Adria flinching.
Thanks to her words, the two were able to keep running without stopping.
Had they heard the noise? Unfortunately, before we could fully escape the fortress, we were attacked again.
"Die!"
With a cliché cry, a man holding a sword leaped out from behind a collapsed wall.
The instant Bianca passed him, he lunged toward Adria.
Bianca had no time to turn around, but Simon was standing in front of Adria.
Simon, the proud heir of the Duke's estate, calmly swung his sword at the charging enemy.
The attacker seemed skilled, but he was no match for a young noble properly trained by a knight.
Clang!
The assailant's sword was deflected, and he collapsed to the ground after being struck by Simon's blade.
"Huff, huff. You dared to challenge me with only this level of skill!"
Simon barked at the fallen man before turning around. Having felled his enemy in a single exchange, he seemed to have regained some of his bruised pride. As he turned, he once again looked every inch the confident heir of the Duke's estate.
Yet neither Bianca nor Adria offered him any praise as they watched.
"It's dangerous!"
"Watch out!"
The two shouted in alarm, and Simon hurriedly turned his head.
Thunk!
Simon saw the man lying face down, attempting to throw a dagger.
It was a dagger gleaming green.
But the poisoned dagger, which looked ready to be thrown at any moment, never left the man's hand.
Instead, blood poured from his mouth, and a sword was embedded deep in his back as he lay prone.
"This is not a spar. You must make sure to finish them off completely."
I pulled out the sword I had just driven into the man's back.
Squelch.
As I withdrew the sword, the assailant let out his final breath and stopped moving.
I flicked my sword to clear the blood. Suddenly, the surroundings fell dead silent.
When I looked up, everyone was staring at me.
Bianca looked relieved, while Adria's eyes sparkled as she looked at me.
Surely she isn't thinking of asking for another spar, is she?
And Simon...
He stared at the corpse, then at me, his face pale as a sheet.
"You... killed a person?"
I tilted my head at his unexpected reaction, but soon realized why he was so shocked.
"Ah, you haven't experienced real combat yet."
Since he had never killed anyone before, he looked like that after seeing me kill a person.
But Bianca had also killed an enemy. Had he not seen it clearly because we were running in such a hurry?
"It's your first time too! You've only ever stayed at home!"
Oh? Simon was right.
Though I had died multiple times, this was indeed my first time killing someone else.
I looked at my blood-stained sword, then stared back at the corpse.
Hmm... Nothing felt particularly different.
My heart beat normally, and I felt neither fear nor any urge to vomit.
As expected, I felt none of the shock of a first kill.
Would it hit me later, once we were safe?
Or perhaps it was because I had grown far too accustomed to death.
Well, since we had to keep moving, it was better that I felt unaffected.
"I do not think this is the time to debate such things. Let us move quickly."
At my words, the group snapped out of it and began running again.
Bianca at the front, me at the rear. Adria and Simon in the middle.
Once again, we formed a formation to protect the two, and dashed out of the fortress.
"This makes no sense. How can he be so fine? I made a mistake. I should have killed him."
Simon's muttering drifted back from ahead, but it wasn't particularly pleasant to hear. I simply let it drift away with the wind.
As we escaped the fortress, we saw a knight running toward us. Blood splattered across his armor showed that he had already been in a fight.
"You are safe! The decoy operation was a success!"
A decoy? As expected, there was an ulterior motive behind this outing.
What on earth was going on that they would use the Marquis's daughter as bait?
The approaching knight's expression froze when he saw Simon.
"Why is Young Lord Simon here...?"
"So you really didn't tell him."
At Bianca's words, the knight scanned the group.
He noted Bianca's blood-drenched clothes and saw the blood splattered on my sword.
His expression shifted slightly when he saw my bloodied blade, but he said nothing.
"It seems an attack has already occurred. With Young Lord Simon here, we cannot proceed with the plan."
"Yes, I know. The plan is aborted. Let us return quickly."
Though he didn't know the whole story, Simon's face darkened again as he realized that the plan had gone awry because of him.
But there was no time to comfort him.
The knight pulled a small metal rod from his breast pocket.
He raised the rod and concentrated mana in his hand.
The metal rod gradually began to glow red.
And then,
Pop! Fwoosh!
The tip of the rod exploded, and red smoke shot into the sky with the blast.
That was definitely gunpowder ignited by mana and fired into the sky.
A signal flare using a gunpowder explosion for propulsion...
Wait, did this place have gunpowder too? Just what level of civilization does this world have?
"Since I have sent the signal, reinforcements will arrive. Let us hurry to the carriage."
Following the knight's words, we ran down from the ruins.
At the same time, the Duke was in his office, listening to the Knight Commander's report.
"I have deployed ten knights to the perimeter and prepared a company-sized force in the rear. The mercenaries have also been positioned for tracking."
After hearing the Knight Commander's report, the Duke made one final confirmation.
"Under no circumstances must the Young Lady of the Marquisate be harmed. You have made that absolutely clear, correct?"
"Yes. I have drilled it into them multiple times."
At the Knight Commander's confident reply, the Duke nodded.
"Then there should be no issues."
The Knight Commander asked cautiously, "But will it really be alright? Even if she is safe, we have put Young Lady Adria forward as bait. And Young Lord Alex is there as well."
"Young Lord Alex..."
At the Duke's words, the Knight Commander wore an awkward expression.
"He is diligent and highly skilled. I have no intention of ignoring his ability just because he is out of favor."
The Duke spoke with an indifferent expression.
"That child is collateral for a rainy day. We cannot let someone with such skill at his age sit idle."
The Knight Commander gave a bitter smile at the Duke's cold words.
"Furthermore, even if it means putting Adria forward as bait, we must put an end to this now. If the Hierro Marquisate and the Gracia Dukedom are to form an alliance, they must be capable of overcoming a crisis of this magnitude."
The Knight Commander clicked his tongue inwardly. The Kingdom's political situation seemed even more chaotic than the rumors suggested.
To think there was a faction trying to disrupt the marriage of two powerful families by assassinating the bride, and that the Duke and the Marquis would use her as bait to catch them.
Such a thing would be absolutely unthinkable in times of peace.
Still, such complex matters were not for him to worry about.
"Then, I shall head to my post."
Just as the Knight Commander was about to leave the office,
"A report, sir."
A soldier hurried inside.
The Duke stopped the Knight Commander, who was on his way out.
"We have just received word from the neighboring territory, Tenerife. Over the past week, two mercenary groups have departed for our territory. The last mercenary group is said to have set off four days ago."
The Duke frowned at the soldier's words.
"Two? Did any of those mercenary groups enter our territory?"
"No new mercenary groups have entered over the past week."
"The mercenary group coming from Lansarot's side was only one, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then, does that mean there are three mercenary groups that have vanished along the way?"
The plan had been prepared under the assumption that the enemy would consist of one mercenary group, or at most two.
The Duke gripped his sword and stood up from his seat.
"Can the deployed forces block three mercenary groups?"
At the Duke's question, the Knight Commander shook his head.
"If they were ordinary mercenary groups, it might be possible... but if they are regular forces disguised as mercenaries, it will be difficult."
It was only natural. Mobilizing three mercenary groups just to kill a single teenage girl...
"Are they planning to start a war?"
As the Knight Commander had said, this was not something anyone would do unless they intended to wage a territorial war.
The Duke could not comprehend it.
"With numbers like these, whether they succeed or fail, there's no way this won't cause a massive incident..."
Not only would the culprit's identity be exposed, but they would also undoubtedly suffer a fatal political blow.
"Could it be... they do not care even if they are caught?"
The Duke's expression hardened at the thought that crossed his mind.
He immediately issued orders to the Knight Commander.
"All forces are on standby, correct?"
"Yes, sir!"
"The plan is aborted. Have the nearby forces merge immediately, and send reinforcements!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Raise the alert level to the maximum, and send a messenger to the Marquis to inform him of the situation!"
"Understood, sir!"
The Duke continued giving orders as he stepped out of the room.
"I shall go as well, so have my horse prepared."
"Yes, sir!"
The reporting soldier ran toward the stables.
It was then that an old man approached from the opposite direction, hurrying toward them.
It was the Chief Butler.
"We have a problem, Your Grace."
The Duke stopped in his tracks.
The old man was not one to misread an urgent situation. He would never have brought this up if it were a trivial matter.
"What is it?"
"Young Lord Simon has been missing since this morning."
"Simon?"
That alone did not seem like enough to stop him, but an ominous note ran through the Chief Butler's words.
"Upon investigation, it appears he secretly boarded the carriage carrying Lady Adria."
At the Chief Butler's words, the Duke's eyebrow twitched.
Though his expression remained unchanged, mana began to surge and roll off the Duke's body.
Just as the faces of the nearby servants turned pale, the Knight Commander's voice rang out.
"Ah! The signal flare!"
The Knight Commander was pointing out the window facing south.
In the distance, red smoke was rising one plume after another.