No Demands, Only Force
After the first volley of fire, the men drew their swords but showed no intention of closing the distance. They clearly intended to thoroughly whittle down our numbers before engaging. Filgret, realizing this, barked a command to the knights to charge.
William shouted, looking ready to leap from the carriage at any second. "I will join the fight as well!"
"No, Baron! Guard the inside of the carriage!" At Filgret's stern refusal, William nodded reluctantly.
Once the knights clashed with the enemy, it would devolve into a chaotic melee. In the midst of such frantic, tangled combat, the enemy would likely prioritize seizing the target inside the carriage. That target, without a doubt, was me. William seemed to realize this as well, silently drawing his sword.
The assailants clashed with the charging knights and the soldiers of Lorencia. Their weapons appeared to be standardized military issue, yet they were not of a style commonly seen in the Luistie Kingdom.
I reached into my coat and gripped the horn. If I blew it, Rika and the mercenary group would use the Earth Dragon's Gauntlet to rush to this location immediately. That would certainly resolve this situation. It was a viable option.
With Rika and the Black Hand Mercenary Group joining the fray, subduing these attackers would be trivial. Escaping the Lorencia region together afterward would be the safest course of action.
But if I do that, I will learn nothing of the enemy's identity or their true objective. Conversely, the enemy will discover my trump card—Rika. Once they grasp the effects of the Earth Dragon's Gauntlet and the scale of our forces, they might devise a foolproof strategy to annihilate us next time.
In that case, it is better to trust the strength of the knights for now. I let go of the horn.
Meanwhile, a blood-spattered battle raged outside the carriage. Filgret cut down the enemies with the ferocious intensity of a demon. The knights fought valiantly alongside him. The enemy, who had initially outnumbered us more than two to one, was steadily thinning out.
"Aaaah!" Someone flung the carriage door open. It was a man with fierce, glinting eyes. He attempted to force his way inside.
Believing there were only helpless women and children inside, the man let his guard down. Seizing the moment, William drove his concealed blade straight into the man's throat in a surprise thrust.
I averted my eyes from the gruesome sight. Tina began to shriek like a siren.
Regardless of Tina's shattered composure, the battle outside seemed to be turning in our favor. Covered in dirt and blood, the knights were successfully repelling the attackers. Realizing the tide had turned against them, the remaining assailants began to retreat across the fields.
As the Lorencia soldiers prepared to give chase, I shouted at the top of my lungs, "Do not pursue them! Reorganizing our defenses comes first!"
There was no telling how many more enemies might be lying in wait. Pursuing them recklessly was tantamount to suicide. I turned to Filgret, who was gulping down water from his canteen, and asked, "What is our status?"
"We have suffered no casualties, Your Highness. However, losing the horses is a critical blow. It may well have been their primary objective from the very beginning."
"...They got us." The horses were either dead or too severely injured to run. The coachman who had been driving the carriage also seemed to have perished in the initial volley.
Filgret pulled down the masks of the dead attackers. They possessed prominent facial features, pale eyes, and light hair. They were unmistakably citizens of the Empire.
"Imperials... and they appear to be soldiers, at that."
Imperial soldiers... In the original novel, the Luistie Kingdom had already been half-conquered by the Empire from the very beginning. The only reason that hadn't happened here was because I had actively suppressed Carmel's movements. But of course, that didn't mean the Empire's threat had simply vanished.
This is my mistake. I should have kept a sharper eye on the Empire, not just the Noble Council and Carmel. To let my greatest weapon—my knowledge of the novel's plot and setting—go to waste like this...!
But it was a relief to have realized it now, at least. Why were Imperial soldiers operating so openly in Lorencia? What was their purpose in targeting the princess? It all pointed to a single conclusion: treason. Lorencia was plotting a rebellion with the backing of the Empire. They had no need to worry about the consequences of attacking royalty because they intended to overthrow the Luistie Kingdom entirely.
...Carmel... Carmel was undoubtedly deeply involved in this treason. It was hardly surprising. In the novel, as well as in this reality, her sole desire had always been the ruin of this kingdom.
As the queen of a crumbling nation, she would hasten its demise and brutally humiliate Princess Sera, the last survivor of the royal bloodline. That was Carmel's role as the villainess of the novel. Perhaps I had overlooked her true nature lately, lulled by her recent submission.
I felt my fingernails digging into my palms as I clenched my fists. Filgret, his face etched with exhaustion, asked, "...What are your orders, Your Highness?"
Now that we had lost our horses, escaping Lorencia on foot was out of the question. I glanced at the panicked Tina Lorencia and spoke. "We go to Senain Castle." To the place where Tina's mother, Luna Lorencia, awaited us.
The detour to cross the river around the destroyed bridge was grueling. In truth, the path itself was ordinary; it only felt arduous because we had to remain constantly on edge, bracing for another ambush with our exhausted bodies.
The towering spires of Senain Castle seemed close enough to touch, yet no matter how much we walked, they never seemed to draw any nearer. Still, we had no choice but to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
"Ugh... My legs hurt so much... Why do I have to go through this..." Tina Lorencia sobbed, looking utterly spent in both body and mind. She had likely never walked such a distance in her entire life.
Fortunately, a small cluster of houses came into view ahead. It was too small to even be called a village, but it was a welcome sight. While the Lorencia soldiers attempted to requisition supplies by force, I stopped them and paid the villagers handsomely. At the sight of gold coins they had never seen before in their lives, the villagers eagerly brought out everything they had to offer us.
Even during our rest, we could not afford to let our guard down. Filgret coordinated with the Lorencia soldiers to establish a perimeter. As the sun began to set, we sat around a crude wooden log, watching a pot of stew bubble over the campfire.
It was a rustic stew packed with ham, vegetables, and whatever else the villagers could find. Taking a single bite, Tina Lorencia grimaced. "This is awful... How can the food commoners eat be so utterly wretched..."
William quietly set his bowl down and walked over to her. Seeing him stop right in front of her, Tina flinched, looking flustered. "W-what...? Are you going to find fault with what I said again—ow!"
William knelt before her and gently removed her shoes. Tina's delicate feet were covered in raw, bleeding blisters. "Ah, that hurts! I said it hurts!"
Ignoring her whining, William tore a long strip of cloth from his shirt. He carefully wrapped it around her injured feet. "This should make walking a bit more bearable."
"Do you think anyone's going to thank you for this? A-acting like a gentleman when you're just a fake baron..." "Do not flatter yourself. My only concern is that you will slow us down."
Tina glared at William, then began to aggressively shovel the "awful" stew into her mouth. How adorable. But Tina was still a Lorencia. And it was none other than the Lorencia family that had brought about this very crisis. I wondered how much Tina herself actually understood of that reality...
It was then. A loud, clanging bell began to ring from the edge of the settlement. *Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!* It was the warning bell from the watchtower. We had instructed the sentries to ring it if anyone approached. Five loud rings. That was the signal for a large force approaching.
An enemy raid? Just as we braced ourselves, a large troop of mounted riders swept into the narrow settlement. Dust kicked up, settling over the stew we had just prepared. Fluttering proudly on the raised banners was the crest of Lorencia.
The riders parted, and a massive white stallion trotted forward. A figure leaped gracefully down from its back, landing right in front of us. "...Luna Lorencia..." She looked exactly as she had when I last saw her at the royal palace—her face cold and unreadable. Yet, her expression carried a slightly different weight this time.
"Tina! Tina!" "M-Mother! *Sob...*" The moment Tina came into view, Luna cast everyone else aside and rushed to her. "Thank goodness you are safe... Thank goodness...!" As she held her daughter in a trembling, crushing embrace, the cold matriarch of Lorencia was gone, replaced by a simple, desperate mother.
"It has been a while, Luna Lorencia." "Princess Sera..." Luna gently set Tina aside and dropped to one knee before me. Her posture was the very picture of polite deference.
"I rode here as soon as I received word that the Hyus Great Bridge had been destroyed. When I found Tina's ruined carriage there, I knew you were in grave danger and set out immediately. I am deeply relieved to see that you are unharmed, Your Highness."
"The ones who ambushed us were Imperial soldiers." Luna's shoulders flinched slightly. She clearly knew something.
"Is this the will of the entire Lorencia family? You, of all people, must know what it means to point a blade at the princess of this kingdom—especially an Imperial blade."
Luna fell into a heavy silence. After a tense moment, she spoke in a clear, resolute voice. "I swear I had absolutely no knowledge of this plot. I suspect... this is undoubtedly the doing of my brother, Elond Lorencia."