At the loud sound coming from outside the carriage, Van finally pulled away. Thanks to that, Rowy, who could finally breathe, panted and hit Van’s shoulder repeatedly.
“Huff, huk… Hey! Do it slowly! I can’t breathe!”
“Oh my, I’m sorry. …But it seems something’s wrong.”
Even while patting the panting Rowy’s back, Van kept checking for signs outside.
“More monsters? Do this many monsters normally appear here?”
“I don’t think there were quite this many… It is strange.”
At the shouts and clash sounds heard again, Van finally got up.
“Why are you going out again? Stay here, they’ll handle it.”
Rowy pulled such a Van back with a sullen expression. However, Van just smiled at Rowy once and left the carriage.
“…Tsk.”
Now he doesn’t even listen to me. Rowy stuck his lips out petulantly and looked at the situation through the window. The identity of the loud noise was…
‘Ogres?’
…But why are there so many ogres?
He knew that ogres mostly traveled alone, and even if they formed groups, their numbers rarely exceeded three. But now, as many as five ogres were screaming.
“Hmm…”
Well, it was strange, but… there shouldn’t be any real problem. Rowy lost interest again and sprawled on the seat.
‘The Vice Commander of the Flame Knights is here. What could go wrong with just ogres?’
That’s right. They were excessively strong personnel for problems to arise from that much. Rowy glanced at Edner, who had been standing motionlessly beside the carriage since earlier.
‘…I don’t know why they attached such strong manpower to me though.’
The Vice Commander of the Flame Knights—wasn’t that too excessive personnel to assign as Rowy’s escort? Edner was the Duke’s closest aide, a knight who always stayed by the Duke’s side. That’s why while he might help the Duke’s sons Liam or Leo, he had never once moved for Rowy.
‘Maybe he came to monitor me in case I run away? …If so, that would make sense.’
Rowy, who couldn’t even dream that he had come under orders to examine a potential son-in-law, tilted his head.
‘…Well, it doesn’t matter.’
Anyway, once the wedding was over, he’d leave right away. Surely Edner wouldn’t escort him when he left too, right? …No, he could leave, right?
“Ugh. I don’t know.”
Rowy, who had been continuing various imaginings, eventually let out a deep sigh and buried himself in the seat.
* * *
And the situation outside was chaotic, unlike Rowy’s carefree thoughts.
‘Where on earth did so many ogres appear from?’
The mercenary company and combat slaves struggled greatly with the rampage of as many as five ogres.
“Block them! Don’t let them fall back!”
“Push the combat slaves in!”
The experienced mercenaries held up well, appropriately defending and attacking, but the situation was different for the combat slaves forcibly pushed in front of the ogres.
“Uaaaah!”
“Ahhhhh!”
The combat slaves bound in chains just swung their swords to survive, terrified.
“……”
A complex light crossed Van’s face as he looked at such combat slaves. Because Van too, before meeting Rowy, had briefly lived as a combat slave. Of course, in Van’s case, as a swordsman who had surpassed the realm, he didn’t feel threatened for his life even in such situations, but…
‘Still, the experience of being treated as less than human can never be pleasant.’
“Ahhh! Save me!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Eventually, one slave was hit by an ogre’s giant hand and sent flying. Seeing this, Van immediately drew his sword and rushed in. And… the Flame Knights were watching such a Van with interested gazes.
“Vice Commander. What is that guy? His skills are pretty good?”
“Pretty good what, Dwyne, he looks stronger than you.”
“What?”
Dwyne and Kyle bickered with each other while going on about Van’s abilities.
“Why isn’t a guy like that famous? At that level, even if he was buried in such a countryside, his name should definitely be known.”
“I know, right. Dwyne, and you strut around as a Flame Knight.”
“…You want to keep doing that? I’m winning, you know?”
“Uh, you’ll absolutely never win. Can’t you tell just by looking?”
“……”
Eventually, Dwyne, who had gotten heated, kicked Kyle’s shin. Kyle, who had obediently taken that kick, giggled. Even though five ogres were running around right in front of them, it was a knight order overflowing with leisure.
“Ha, I should ask him to spar when there’s time later.”
Dwyne, who had glared at Kyle, grumbled. Edner, who had been leisurely watching the situation from the side as well, added his words.
“Yes, directly tasting defeat would be good study too.”
“…Even you, Vice Commander!”
Dwyne made a tearful face, but Edner just followed Van’s movements with his eyes.
‘Certainly that guy is much stronger than Dwyne. To think he’s worse than such a philanderer, I’ll have to increase training when we return to the ducal family.’
While thinking that both Dwyne, whose training would suddenly increase, and Van, who was called a philanderer, would both have great complaints. Edner, who had been watching the battle for a moment like that, spoke again.
“How long will it take to reach the villa?”
“Just over this peak and we’re there. But as you can see… if we keep stopping like this, the sun will set on the way.”
“Hmm…”
“Why are the monsters rampaging like this? We didn’t receive any word of this.”
It wasn’t even the season for monsters to be rampant, so it was definitely strange. Still, with the mercenary company with decent skills and even the mysterious knight Rowy brought joining in, it seemed sufficient to clean up without the Flame Knights directly intervening.
However… it would be troublesome if travel kept being delayed like this. They needed to speed up to match the wedding schedule. The Empire was never close. In a situation where they didn’t know what variables might arise on the way, this situation of being delayed without even reaching near Velstra’s border was very bad.
“Tsk.”
Seeing yet another goblin horde appearing from somewhere, Edner finally stepped forward.
“…We’ll open the path ourselves and run. We can’t delay any longer here. Dwyne, you escort Rowy-nim’s carriage.”
“Yes.”
Like that, all of the Flame Knights except Dwyne instantly charged forward. Everywhere the knights’ swords passed, monsters were cut down as is.
“We’ll break through the path, so run straight to the villa! Don’t fall behind!”
“Yes!”
At Edner’s loud voice, the mercenaries familiarly sheathed their swords and followed behind the knight order. Van also chased after them on horseback. Like that, a group of people began rushing forward at tremendous speed. There were no monsters that could block the Flame Knights’ path.
* * *
Something was definitely strange. The monster attacks that started with goblins and ogres kept increasing one by one as they moved forward, and eventually at the end, even gargoyles that aren’t usually seen this season appeared.
Eventually, to quickly reach the villa, even Dwyne, who had been guarding Rowy’s carriage, joined in and began breaking through the path. He knew Rowy was a strong mage, but… worried about the carriage left behind alone without an escort, Van’s gaze kept turning that way. Edner, who noticed such a Van, barked at him.
“Concentrate and finish quickly!”
“…Yes.”
Though not even his subordinate, Edner was already using Van familiarly. Like that, those who had broken through all the monsters in an instant and crossed the mountain peak finally reached the villa. Near the villa, barrier stones were erected, making it a place safe from monsters.
“Haaa…”
“Ha.”
Though they had just chased after the Flame Knights, the mercenary company, completely drained, panted and sprawled everywhere. Van quickly passed between them and approached the carriage.
“Master.”
When he opened the door with a creak, he saw Rowy floating in the air and shaking his head to avoid motion sickness. Van hurriedly pulled such a Rowy into his embrace.
“Uuu…”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m dizzy…”
The carriage had shaken so violently that he couldn’t endure it at all, and even using magic in the end had little effect. Van quickly offered water to the dazed Rowy.
“We’ve arrived at the villa now, so you can rest well today. First, have some water. Here.”
“Hiii…”
Van continuously stroked Rowy’s back as he made crying sounds. It had been a forced march so intense that even the mercenaries couldn’t endure it and collapsed on the ground, so needless to say Rowy’s condition, who had been forcibly dragged along loaded in the carriage like cargo.
“I want to go out and lie down. Carry me on your back.”
“Yes.”
At the pitiful voice drained of strength, Van readily put Rowy on his back. Then he began striding into the villa.
“……”
“…Huh.”
And the knight order was watching that scene with wide eyes.
“What? This is the first time I’ve seen that young master being carried on someone’s back.”
“So that’s why he kept sticking close by. Were they in that kind of relationship? No, but with that Rowy young master? Shouldn’t we stop that? He’s still young!”
A knight who had often escorted the young Rowy raised his voice. To someone more familiar with his childhood appearance, the large Van inevitably looked like a thief. Of course, there were other opinions too.
“Young what, you don’t know Rowy-nim?”
Dwyne, recalling the numerous incidents Rowy had caused, trembled. He too was one of those who had escorted Rowy in childhood, but… throughout the Academy days, all Dwyne had done beside Rowy was clean up accidents.
“No, but still, we need to at least call him and hear what’s going on…”
“Quiet.”
Edner, who had been listening to the knights chattering, cut them off.
“First, check the map again. Being late is absolutely unacceptable.”
“Yes!”
The chattering knights instantly straightened up and answered. They still had a long way to go to the Empire.
