Chapter 6: Escape
“S... Sweet Celia?! Why are you here?!” Roland Claire shouted at the sight of his daughter in the hidden basement of his home. Her being here was truly right out of the blue.
S-Sweet Celia? For a moment, Rio doubted his ears.
“Father, I asked you to stop calling me that...” Celia said to Roland with a strained smile. He spread his arms and hugged her.
“Have you been well? I was delighted to find your letter and hear that you were safe after you were taken away from the wedding, but I worried so much.”
“I’m very sorry for doing such a thing without informing you...”
“No, you did the right thing. If I had to give that piece of shit your hand in marriage, I’d rather you remained unmarried for the rest of your life!” Roland stressed. It seemed like he doted on his daughter quite a bit. Roland was slender and on the slightly smaller side, but his dignity and spirit made him seem like a youthful middle-aged man. However, he appeared rather sloppy at the moment.
“Umm, Father. We’re standing front of Princess Christina, so please watch what you do and say,” Celia said with a strained expression.
“O-Oh, that’s right. Hmm. I had information to pass on to the princess, too, but...” Roland looked conflicted. He surely had many things he wanted to ask Celia, such as where she went after she left the castle, and what she was doing here now...
“If you’re really short on time, please speak with Professor Celia first. It’s your long-awaited reunion, after all,” Christina said, understanding how Roland must be feeling.
After all his hesitation, Roland made a decision. “...No, I shall make my report to you first, Your Highness.”
The situation must be dire, Christina realized, causing her to stiffen.
“I understand. It doesn’t seem like it’ll be good news, but please let me hear it.”
“Yes. The truth is, the capital has sent additional search teams, and they’re being led by Charles Arbor. A distrustful and despicable man who uses everything within his means. He deemed the mansion to be the most suspicious location and has called for all the city’s carpenters to gather tomorrow and dismantle my house in search of hidden rooms. He’s even prepared a seizure warrant from His Majesty to make sure I cannot refuse. There’s absolutely no time left,” Roland explained as he watched Celia with a conflicted expression. Celia looked pained to hear that Charles was so close by.
Christina looked at Rio imploringly. “...Sir Amakawa. Is it possible to leave tonight?”
“It is. There’s no other time than tonight to leave, it seems,” Rio answered immediately.
“...Your Highness, who is this boy?” Roland looked at Rio and tilted his head.
“He’s the newly-appointed honorary knight of the Galarc Kingdom, Sir Haruto Amakawa.”
“Honorary knight? At such a young age? But what is a noble of Galarc doing here...?”
“Sir Amakawa is the one who brought Professor Celia to this underground room,” Christina explained.
“W-What? How did you get around all the security guards outside...? No, wait. If you’re the one who brought Celia here, then are you...?” Roland looked at Rio in surprise.
“I am also the one who took Lady Celia from her wedding,” Rio stated.
“O-Oh my... H-Hmm.” Roland stared closely at Rio’s face and hummed.
“Father, like I previously wrote in the letter I left here, I was the one who decided to flee from that wedding. Haruto simply granted me that wish.” Celia emphasized that it was her own intention to run away from the wedding ceremony, shifting all of the responsibility away from Rio.
“...I know that. So you’re the one who saved Celia. Sir Haruto Amakawa, please allow me to thank you.” Roland placed his right hand over his chest and bowed his head at Rio.
“No, I was the one who pushed her into questioning whether she wanted to be married in such a way. I apologize for causing you any degree of concern.” Rio bowed his head back in apology.
“I thought my heart would stop after she was kidnapped, but it resulted in her escape from marrying Charles, I suppose. I’ll let you off with a single blow from the fire magic Ignium,” Roland stated with a refreshing smile.
“Father! Please don’t misunderstand. I was the one who decided to leave the castle. The responsibility is on me, not Haruto. If you wish to blame anyone, blame me. I’m the one at fault!” Celia pouted in objection.
“No, you can never be wrong!” Roland denied immediately.
“Then you’re not wrong, either, right?” Celia confirmed.
“But of course!” Roland nodded, beaming with his entire face.
“Now that the suspicion on Sir Amakawa has been cleared up, shall we move onto discussing the escape? Although the entire plan is up to him...” Christina chuckled.
“The first step is to relocate from the basement to the surface, but this shouldn’t be done with everyone in a single trip. There are too many at risk of standing out. It would be one thing if you were seen in the city, but if Your Highness is spotted on the estate grounds, it’d be evident you were sheltered here. Even Count Clare wouldn’t be able to excuse himself from that, correct?” Rio looked at Roland and asked.
“Hmm... Even being seen inside the city is crossing the line, but it is certainly more excusable than being found in the estate,” Roland said thoughtfully.
“Which means that even if the risk of being spotted is small, I should avoid taking you all out of here one by one. The more often I go in and out, the greater the risk of discovery will be—and if I am spotted, I will have to flee, making it hard to re-enter. I may have to abandon those left behind that way.”
“Then what can we do...?” asked Christina. What other method could there be?
“In this situation, the best way to manage the risk is for me to leave the basement first and cause a commotion elsewhere as bait. After all the security guards are drawn to me, Your Highness and the others can take that chance to escape. How does that sound? I’ll provide enough magic artifacts to alter everyone’s hair colors, so please use them.” Rio suggested the safest plan. If there were too many people on the estate grounds to escape easily, then they should simply reduce the number of personnel.
Christina gulped. “...Is that okay? Wouldn’t it be too much of a burden on you?”
Considering how heavy the air in the city was right now, causing such a commotion would normally be considered suicide.
“Yes. This amount of security is nothing compared to when I took Lady Celia away from her wedding in the Beltrum Kingdom’s capital,” Rio answered completely calmly.
“Pff, haha! Oh, excuse me. This would normally be a role assigned to a sacrificial pawn, yet you have a tremendous amount of persuasive power.” Roland laughed heartily.
“I’m honored. But the security guards may get hurt, and the houses in the city may get damaged this way...”
“Fair enough. I shall close my eyes to such damage to the city. However, I hope you can avoid hurting the citizens, if possible.”
“Understood. I will strive to avoid causing harm to any non-combatants. Now, let’s go over the details closely, so that nothing is left to chance. It would be of great help if you have a map of the city—even a rough one will do.”
“I have one in my head. I shall draw it for you,” said Roland, being the lord of the area.
“Please,” Rio said. Then he secretly addressed Aishia, who had accompanied them in her spirit form.
Aishia, I have a favor to ask.
They spent half an hour or so going over the plan for escape.
“...I’ll be leaving with the princess, then, Father.”
“Yes—take care of yourself. Although I suppose there’s no need for me to worry, considering how skilled Haruto is.”
“Yes. I’ve lived a very peaceful, enjoyable life since leaving the castle with Haruto. But that’s why I continued to worry, deep down inside... I wondered if I was really allowed to be so happy after making you and the others worry so much. I unreasonably asked Haruto to bring me here in search of that answer, although it ended up in more trouble for him...”
“I see... After this situation passes, I’d love to sit down with you two to talk. I must thank him for plenty of things, too.” Roland’s face softened at the way Celia spoke apologetically.
“Of course. I’m going to talk to Haruto a bit before we leave.”
“Off you go, then.” Roland sent Celia off.
“Hey, Haruto.”
“Is something the matter, Lady Celia?”
“The way you call me Lady Celia is embarrassing. Just call me Celia,” Celia said with a frown.
“No—I cannot refer to an unmarried noblewoman without her title in public,” Rio said. He couldn’t call her “Professor”, either, so he had settled with calling her Lady.
“...Fine, whatever. More importantly, I wanted to apologize. I placed more burdens on you before I even realized it myself,” Celia said, her face twisting with regret.
Rio shook his head with a faint smile. “That’s not true. I’m doing whatever I like, because I’m the one that wants to return my favor to you.”
“I’m honored to hear you say that, but... You know the things I did for you were barely anything at all? You’ve done so much for me, I’m the one unable to return the favor for it all. That’s why I want to thank you. For everything—always,” Celia said apologetically.
“No, I should be saying that.” Rio smiled gently at Celia in return.
Haruto, preparations are done. Ready whenever, Aishia’s voice echoed in his head.
Got it. I’ll contact you when I’m ready, so please begin.
Okay.
“Now, the night will end if we spend too much time here, so let’s get going soon.”
“...Yeah.”
They started down the corridor to the garden. Other than Christina, Vanessa, and Roland, Rei and Kouta were waiting there, too.
“We’re counting on you, Sir Amakawa,” Christina said, bowing her head. Vanessa, Rei, and Kouta followed her lead.
“Yes. Everything will be fine, as long as we move according to the plan. I’ll leave you to guard them, Miss Vanessa,” Rio said, looking at Vanessa.
“Got it. I am no match for you, but I will do my best,” she nodded deeply.
“Sir Amakawa... No, Haruto,” Roland addressed Rio with a strange look.
“Yes, what is it?” Rio replied, standing slightly on guard.
“I’m placing my trust in you... Please protect Celia,” Roland said, bowing his head.
“I would have done so anyway,” Rio chuckled, nodding firmly. It was so natural, he didn’t need to be told to do so. However, he was pleased to hear Celia’s father ask that of him.
“...I see. Then, please accept this.” Roland offered a small pouch that was packed full.
“What is this?”
“It contains traveling funds. You’ll need to restock on your journey, no? You may pocket the remainder as your reward. I know it isn’t anywhere near the worth of this job, but we can arrange something further on another day, after you return alive.”
“No, this is... I cannot accept something like this.” Rio refused to accept Roland’s offering with a frown.
“It’s fine, just take it. At least let me shoulder the expenses of your travel.” Roland forced Rio to hold the pouch.
“...I will hand the leftovers to Lady Celia, then.”
“Hehe, it seems you’re a rather stubborn one. You show promise for a youth. I would have loved to have a drink or two with you, but there’s no time. Better get going.”
“Yes. Please excuse me... We’ll be leaving now.”
With those words, Rio ascended the stairs up to the estate garden. He cracked open the door in the roof and searched the surroundings with his spirit arts. Once he confirmed there was no one nearby, he opened the door fully and shot out swiftly.
He then weaved his way through the guards patrolling the garden, moving with splendid movements and leaping over the high fence around the estate like an acrobat.
Less than a few minutes later, in skies far above the city away from Count Claire’s mansion, a blast of light exploded violently.
In a square within Cleia, an explosion suddenly reverberated through the dark and empty area. In the next moment, a blast of light was fired into the sky above the square, lighting up the city as though it were day.
“What happened?!” Army soldiers patrolling the city nearby came running to the square.
“There are four people over there!”
“What?” Their attention immediately gathered on the four figures in the square. They were illuminated by the blast of light in the air, making them easy to spot.
Sure enough, there were the people the soldiers were in search of—that is, two women with the characteristics of Christina and Vanessa. The other two wore hoods and covered their entire bodies, making it hard to identify their gender.
“Purple hair... It’s Princess Christina!”
“The other has a sword. It’s the knight, Vanessa Emarle!” the soldiers shouted.
“W-Why are they standing so boldly out in the open...” Some people were confused by the sight.
“W-Wait! Ah, no—hold it right there!”
The group of four selected a street that was empty of soldiers and ran away from the square. The soldiers yelled after them, but there was no way they would stop. The light blast fired into the air rapidly faded away, sinking the surroundings back into darkness.
“R-Reinforcements! Call for reinforcements from headquarters! Send people to the gates, too!”
“Y-Yes sir!”
An older soldier gave orders quickly, making the younger soldiers move in a panic. Watching them from the rooftop of a nearby house was the group of four that had supposedly ran from the square earlier.
Aishia, until I give the signal, keep showing yourselves here and there and lead the soldiers to the northern block.
One person from the group, a girl with purple colored haired, heard Rio’s voice in her head. The girl was none other than Aishia, and she had used spirit arts to temporarily change the color of her hair to a lavender hue.
Got it, Aishia answered in her calm voice.
“Let’s go,” she said to the three others, and leapt from the roof to the street.
Some time after that—
“What?! Princess Christina was spotted in a square in the civilian district?!”
The Count Claire estate was within the noble district. Charles had been sleeping in the honored guest building when he was woken and given an unexpected report while still in his pajamas.
“Y-Yes, sir! A ball of light suddenly appeared in the sky and the soldiers who went running to investigate spotted a group of four people similar to the targets. They’re currently fleeing towards the north,” the soldier who came to make the report explained in a rush.
“W-Where’s Count Claire?!”
“On the premises. He’s seeking an explanation for this commotion.”
“But... that can’t be...” Charles’ eyes widened in shock.
I figured he would take action if I put pressure on him with an unreasonable order, but... He wasn’t sheltering them in the mansion, then?! Why are they in the civilian district?!
If Christina had been hidden in the civilian district, then there would have been no way for her to contact Count Claire under house arrest in the noble district. No, it was possible to make contact through magic artifacts, but using one would cause the message to be sent to all other artifacts within range. They couldn’t be used to pass confidential messages to each other.
“What are your orders? We only have a minimal amount of personnel in the civilian district apart from the gate, and they’ve sent a request for backup.” The soldier making the report sought further orders in a panic.
“Tch, go north! Mobilize all the personnel in the mansion and noble district, and send them to the civilian district! Seal off the area, make sure they don’t get away! Capture them at all costs!” Charles yelled his orders.
As long as he could capture them, he had countless ways of obtaining testimony. If he let them get away, there would be no definitive proof left.
“Understood!” the soldier replied, rushing out of the room to pass on the orders. In his place, Rui and Alfred appeared.
“What on earth is happening, Charles?” Alfred asked first.
“T-They’re north! Princess Christina is in the northern block! Witnesses have spotted a group of four, hurry up and seize them! Don’t let them get away! I’ll change first before I head out with my subordinates, too!” Charles ordered Alfred.
“Let’s go!” Rui replied immediately, running out of the room. Alfred sighed before following Rui towards the northern block of the city.
At the same time, elsewhere in the civilian district of the city...
Along the inside of the city walls of the northern block, Rio ran along the rooftops with his physical body enhanced.
“Hurry! They shouldn’t have gone far yet. They may try to escape through the north gate. Search the area thoroughly!”
The streets were packed with soldiers running around in a fluster. They had been lured by the diversion Aishia created, gathering a large number of soldiers to the northern block.
Rio spotted some soldiers moving in pairs and leaped with great force. He cleverly manipulated his wind spirit arts to erase the sound of his landing and dealt the first blow to the soldiers before they noticed his presence.
“Gwah!”
“Gah!”
The two soldiers were instantly knocked out and fell to the ground. The iron batons they were equipped with rolled beside them. Rio picked up a baton and held it in his right hand, swinging it a few times to familiarize himself with the feeling. After his hand grew familiar with the baton, he leaped onto the rooftops once again.
After that, he proceeded to knock out small groups of soldiers moving together to increase the commotion, then headed to the north gate.
Aishia, I’m going to defeat the northern gatekeepers and open the gate. You should escape through the north gate and make sure people see you. That’s the end of your job, he ordered Aishia nearby.
Got it, Aishia replied immediately. Wary of an escape through the north gate, the area before the gate was filled with many soldiers. However—
All right, I’m going to attack the gate now, Rio declared as he watched the ten soldiers near the gate. He ran towards the gate with no hesitation whatsoever, holding the fingers of his right hand up like a gun.
The next moment, bullets of light from Photon Projectilis were fired. The projectiles moved as though they were being sucked towards the bodies of the soldiers.
“Guh!”
“Argh?!”
“Gah!”
“Ugh...”
There was no way for them to evade the rapid light bullets in the dark, so the soldiers cried out one after another as they were blown away.
“Hah, hah... What...?”
The soldiers had no idea what had just happened and glanced around.
“Gah!”
Nine shots were fired in the time it took Rio to reach the last person standing. All of them struck the bodies of the soldiers and sent them flying.
“Eek! Uuh...”
He revealed himself to the last remaining person and swung the baton. A dull thunk rang out before the soldier collapsed to the ground.
The gate controls must be inside the office.
Rio left the ten unconscious soldiers behind and headed for the door to the office. He walked inside as though he was opening his own front door.
Another soldier was on standby inside, but he was also knocked out swiftly before Rio fiddled with the gate controls. After a moment, the north gate started creaking open. The noise in the vicinity increased immediately at the sound of the gate opening.
A group of four figures arrived before the gate. Soldiers from elsewhere closed in on the gate just as it was about to open fully.
“H-Hey, the gate’s opening!”
“The gatekeepers are down. They must be right here! It’s Princess Christina!”
The soldiers yelled in a fluster when they spotted the group of four, but at the same time, the north gate completely opened, allowing the group to run through it. Grain farms were located outside the north and south gates, so the four continued charging down the road until they disappeared into the night.
That’s enough, Aishia. Thank you. I’ll be heading to the south gate now. I’ll contact you when it’s over.
Rio had climbed above the gate at some point and was speaking to Aishia through their telepathic link. Two soldiers were knocked out beside him.
Okay, I got it.
Aishia came to a stop several hundred meters down the road. The other three running beside her also halted.
“Is this enough, Lady Aishia?” the woman with the sword at her waist asked.
“Yup. Our job ends here. Haruto is heading to the south gate,” Aishia replied.
“Phew, that was nerve wracking,” one hooded person said as they revealed their face. It was Orphia. Her long high elf ears had been transformed with an artifact, but her hair color was the same as usual.
“It was quite a thrilling experience.” The other hooded person also lowered their hood. It was the elder dwarf, Alma. Like Orphia, her characteristic ears had been hidden, but her hair color was natural.
“Celia was meant to escape through the south gate to make it look like she went south, then head towards the east, right? Something might still come up, so shall we go around the city and keep an eye out on the situation?” The woman with the sword—Sara, pretending to be Vanessa—said. She wasn’t wearing a hood, but her silver werewolf ears had been transformed and her hair was altered to the same color as Vanessa’s.
“Yup, let’s do that,” Aishia nodded.
Thus, the four of them headed for the south gate just in case.
Far above the skies of the city, there was a man overlooking the series of events happening below. It was Reiss. He had been observing Rio and the others ever since the flash of light was shot into the air and caused a commotion in the city. His eyes tracked their locations closely, as though he could see right through the darkness.
“I see, I see. So they’re pretending to flee through the north road while actually heading out the south gate where the security lightened. What a wonderful plan,” Reiss said to himself in awe, looking down at Rio leaping from rooftop to rooftop. A group of four people were sneaking around near the gate— it was Christina and the others.
Hmm, if the one on the run is Princess Christina, then it would be troublesome if the main Beltrum government lost any further power. There’s no helping it, then.
Reiss sighed quietly and began his descent. Once he landed near the north gate, he approached a few soldiers.
“Excuse me,” he began.
“Who is it? Why are you sneaking around?!” The soldiers lifted their weapons and demanded Reiss identify himself.
“Why, with the racket you’re all making, I couldn’t help but wake up and check on what was going on outside. There are other people staring out of their windows, too—can’t you see?” Reiss said, looking around at the houses nearby. Indeed, there were several people peeking out of their windows to watch the situation.
“...Tch. You’re in the way. Go home.” The soldier clicked his tongue and shooed Reiss away.
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I came with what might be useful information for you.”
“What...? Then just say it already.”
“I saw a suspicious group of four heading towards the south, and was wondering if it was related to this incident going on now,” Reiss said, grinning.
The soldiers froze. “...A group of four, you say?”
“Yes, that’s right. They were going down the road towards the south gate. That was all I had to say, so if you would excuse me now,” Reiss said, departing promptly. Then, as though to replace him, two new people approached the area before the north gate. It was Rui and Alfred.
“I’m the commander of the Beltrum Kingdom’s Royal Guard, Alfred Emarle. Someone please explain what’s going on here.”
While the city was in an uproar, Celia and the others snuck out of the underground basement, climbed over the wall, and safely escaped Count Claire’s estate. They had now arrived near the south gate and were hiding in the shadows.
“There are gatekeepers, but I never expected to get this close to the gate so easily. He really is skilled...” Christina muttered in awe as she watched the soldiers patrolling the south gate. They had barely encountered any from the Claire estate to this point, moving easily despite several of their party being inexperienced in any kind of stealth tactics. She couldn’t help but smile at how everything went better than she could have ever imagined.
“Haruto always does his work reliably,” Celia said proudly.
Christina looked at her curiously. “...You seem to trust him a lot.”
“I have no reason not to.” Celia smiled in embarrassment.
Who is Sir Amakawa, really? All I know about him is that he was recently appointed as an honorary knight of Galarc. If he’s acquainted with Professor Celia, then perhaps he’s a former noble...?
Christina was extremely curious about his history. She couldn’t imagine someone as capable as him had gone completely unknown until now. Celia could possibly provide some answers, but it hadn’t been long since they met, and prying into such things in the midst of this situation would be rather impolite.
They’d see each other every day on their journey, so there would be many more opportunities to talk in the future. It would be foolish to talk too much now and be discovered by someone, so she decided to wait until Rio arrived, as planned.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“...!”
A voice suddenly spoke up behind them. Everyone in Christina’s party flinched and turned back to see Rio standing in his black robe.
“I didn’t notice you at all. What splendid footwork. You even caught Vanessa by surprise...” Christina commented in awe. Vanessa frowned, a little upset.
“I apologize for surprising you,” Rio said awkwardly.
“No, it’s rather reassuring. Now, is there a way of getting past this gate?”
The wall surrounding the city was easily ten meters tall. It wasn’t a height they could jump over even with Augendae Corporis, so they had to open the gate to get outside.
However, there were five guards standing before the gate.
“We’ll charge through from the front. There are fewer guards than at the north gate, so it’ll be over quickly.”
“...Then, if you could, please.”
“Yes, leave it to me.” Rio nodded, then walked off as though he were leaving for your everyday shopping trip.
“Um, wait...”
“Haruto will be fine.”
His actions were so bold, Christina missed her chance to speak up. But Celia immediately gave her stamp of approval, prompting Christina to swallow nervously and stand back to watch.
Then, Rio suddenly accelerated and closed in on the south gate. Christina lost sight of him in an instant, her eyes widening in surprise.
“Ugh...”
As soon as Rio closed in on a guard, he struck his elbow into their stomach.
“Gah!”
“Ugh!”
He twisted his body and roundhouse kicked two guards, sending them flying. Three of the guards had been knocked out in an instant.
“Who the hell are you...?!”
One of the remaining guards finally noticed Rio’s arrival, but he was kneed in the abdomen and sent flying, too. His strength drained from him, and he collapsed on the ground.
The final gatekeeper watched the scene in a daze.
“Y-You bastar... Gah!”
Before he could finish yelling, a palm was rammed into his torso, sending him flying. As a result, the five guards were knocked out in only a few seconds. Christina and the others had watched on from the shadows.
“Ah...”
They were at a complete loss for words.
“He’s strong...”
“Just who is he...”
Rei and Kouta muttered in shock.
Rio entered the office and confirmed there were no guards around before taking over the gate controls. He soon left the room and waved the others over.
“H-Hey! Why is the gate open?!” The guards on top of the wall noticed the gate opening and started to make a fuss. In the time that Christina and the others took to make their way to the gate, Rio easily leaped up onto the ten-meter wall and knocked out the two soldiers there. Then he leaped down to the ground again.
“It’s like there’s no security at all when he’s here...” Christina found herself smiling at how ridiculously skillful he was.
“The gate will open fully in the next ten seconds. Activate your physical ability enchantments with your magic or magic artifacts, then run through the gate at full speed on my signal.” The loud rumble of the gate opening had already echoed through their surroundings, so Rio explained things in a loud voice.
“...Understood.” The party nodded their heads firmly.
“You two take these swords. Use them to protect yourselves if the time comes.” Rio took two sheathed swords from the gatekeepers and handed them to the two black-haired Japanese boys.
“O-Okay...” They had probably never killed anyone before; the boys accepted the swords with stiff expressions. Eventually, the gate fully opened.
“Go! Now!”
At Rio’s command, Christina and the others started running. Rio followed them in the rear, and six sets of footsteps echoed through the farmlands.
Unfortunately, their timing wasn’t the best, as the sun was beginning to rise. The eastern sky was starting to lighten faintly. Even worse, wheat fields grew outside of the south gate, and it was currently the season just before seeds were to be sowed. The fields were flat and open, making it easy for any pursuers to spot them immediately.
No matter how much their abilities were enhanced with magic or sorcery, their base stamina hadn’t been improved. Rio and Vanessa trained their bodies regularly, but the others would gradually become more exhausted and run out of steam.
The soldiers were probably aware that the south gate was open already, and now that it was getting lighter outside, the pursuers would probably follow them out of the city, as they could use horses and flying mounts in the light.
I’ll stay here and buy some more time, just in case.
Having decided that, Rio called out to Christina. “I’m going to stop the pursuers. Let’s meet up before the first town down the south road at noon. There should be a small side road that leads to a spring. Vanessa, please protect everyone.”
“Got it!” Vanessa replied promptly. The other four had their hands full with running and couldn’t reply. Among them, Christina seemed to be having the easiest time.
“Take care!” Rio said, coming to a stop and turning around.
“H-Haruto... Y-You have to show up at the rendezvous point, no matter what! Hah... hah... Please! If you don’t, I’ll... hah...” Celia’s voice could be heard from behind him—she was out of breath and yelling desperately. Rio replied with a wave of his right hand and started off back towards the city.
Not long after, he spotted knights bursting out of the south gate. There were ten of them.
Knights, huh?
Rio noticed that they were all wearing knight uniforms. The capabilities of their trained bodies had been increased to their limits through physical ability enhancements via magic and magic artifacts.
Naturally, career soldiers that had undergone training could draw out far more of their stamina than those who weren’t, so if they’d continued running like this, they would have eventually caught up to Celia and the others.
Looks like staying back was the right choice, Rio thought, pulling his hood lower over his face. He retrieved two daggers and several throwing knives from his Time-Space Cache and equipped them. Before long, the knights arrived before Rio.
“Halt!” The knight in the lead ordered the others.
“...” Rio’s eyes widened faintly under his hood. Their leader was Charles Arbor.
“It seems like it was the right choice for me to lead the rear guard and check on the sound of the south gate opening myself. I really lucked out,” Charles said with a savage sneer. “Who the hell are you?! What are you doing here? Remove your hood!” he demanded in a threatening voice.
“...Why should I answer you?” Rio replied provocatively, refusing to answer the question.
“What did you just say? Do you have a death wish?” Charles looked down at Rio in contempt. “Whatever. I’ll show you a world of pain to where you’ll surely beg me for death. Now would be the time to speak up.”
“I have nothing to say to you.” Rio pointed his dagger at the sadistically-grinning man to challenge him. A wrinkle appeared in Charles’ brow.
“...Do it.” He ordered the battle to commence in a cold voice. The knights behind him all moved at once.
Rio lowered his stance and kicked off from the ground. He charged into the knights as he reached into his breast pocket with his left hand, taking out the throwing knives he hid there and throwing them. The dim lighting slowed the knights’ reactions, and the throwing knife pierced cleanly into the thigh of the knight that was in front.
“Guh...”
The knight who was stabbed lost his balance and toppled over. However, the other knights showed no sign of stopping; they must have been experienced in combat. Rio analyzed them calmly.
“Surround him!”
The knights went for the surefire tactic and scattered to surround Rio. But Rio accelerated, breaking out of the circle before the knights could enclose him and closed in on the knights instead.
“Wha...”
The knights were taken by surprise at the unexpected speed, despite their experience. Rio dashed between the knights like he was leaping—his movements were near-acrobatic, as though he was flowing or dancing.
He didn’t give them the chance to surround him. Both his hands and feat danced as he passed by them, dealing sure damage to the knights. The knights tried to attack back by swinging their swords, but the trajectory that their swords drew wasn’t able to catch Rio.
“Damn it! What’s with this guy?!”
“H-He’s strong!”
The knights were being toyed with by Rio’s acrobatic movements, causing their restlessness to rise to the surface. Just by having Rio pass them once, one knight would be slashed at with a dagger while another was sent flying with a kick—half of the knights had been whittled away. The remaining knights—including Charles—glared at Rio, but a moment later, he leaped to the side with no warning.
“W-What?”
It was almost like Rio had disappeared, causing a delayed reaction amongst Charles and the other knights. Then, Rio reappeared, charging at them from the side. He leaped through the gap between two knights lined up and passed them, flipping upside-down midair and knocking them both out with a single blow to the knees.
“D-Don’t mess with me!”
Another knight swung his sword, aiming for the moment Rio was to land on the ground. But Rio lightly pushed his hand against the ground and twisted his body, shifting his landing point to avoid the attack. On top of that, he used the momentum from twisting his body to slash his dagger through the air, cutting down his opponent as he turned.
That left three knights remaining: Charles, who was watching the combat from a distance, and two regular knights.
“H-Hey! Finish him already!” Charles yelled in a panic. His order had changed from being cocky to needing the hammer to fall, which was probably a reasonable decision, considering how fast the knights who had enough strength to overpower an entire infantry squad were eliminated.
However, whether the two remaining knights were able to finish Rio was another problem.
“Guh... Haaah!”
One of the knights yelled as he tried to fulfill the order, slashing at Rio.
Rio swung the dagger he held reverse in his left hand, knocking away the knight with his arm strength that was heightened by spirit arts. The knight grimaced at a numbing pain that ran through his hand, the recoil of his blow like he had cut an iron wall instead.
“Ngh...” The final remaining knight swung his sword in desperation. Rio crouched low to avoid the attack. He then proceeded to knock out the opponent’s feet from under him, standing up promptly to stomp on his abdomen and knock him out.
Charles watched on, dumbfounded that the subordinates he boasted about had been defeated so helplessly. There was no one remaining capable of battle left, so he ranted hysterically. “...S-Stop screwing around! All of you, stand up! What are you doing?!”
“U-Ugh...”
Fortunately, no one had died yet, but there were several who had been cut open and were in danger of bleeding out.
“Tch...” Charles suddenly started running back the way he had come. He had probably determined there was no way for him to win when his allies had all been taken out in an instant.
It’s almost refreshing how fast he decided to abandon his comrades.
Rio blinked at Charles’ retreating back. It would be simple to catch up.
Should I give him random information to cause confusion?
To head to Rodania from Cleia, any of the east, north, or south roads could be used. With people having fled from both the north and south, Charles was left with no choice but to send pursuers in both directions.
There was already enough confusion, but adding even more chaos to the situation here was another option. Thinking that, Rio closed in on Charles from behind.
“?!” An arrow of lightning came flying from the direction of the city’s south gate. Rio reflexively took a step back to evade it, then augmented his vision with body enhancement and stared in the direction the arrow had been fired from. There, on the wall above the south gate, roughly 600 meters away—
“Shigekura... Rui?”
The hero he met at the banquet just the other day was aiming his bow at Rio. Even now, a lightning attack was flying at him.
He can aim so accurately from such a long distance...
Lightning arrows were fired consecutively to keep Rio in check, all while making sure to avoid the unconscious knights. Rio was impressed by his level of sniping ability.
“ALFRED! You’re late!” Charles suddenly screamed as he ran with all his strength. As for who he was screaming at so loudly...
“If you announce the reinforcements, then there’s no point of an ambush. Fool.”
Alfred had been dashing at full speed, his body stooped over to avoid Rio’s notice. Thanks to Charles yelling his name so loudly, Rio was alerted of his presence early.
I’ve fought that man before while Professor Celia and I escaped the wedding ceremony... There’s no mistaking it. It’s the King’s Sword.
Rio recalled that he was as skilled as his nickname implied. Alfred excelled at close-quarters combat, while Rui excelled at long-range sniping. It would be difficult to take them both on at the same time.
...Looks like it’s about time. Rio about-faced and started to run. He glanced back to see Alfred showing no signs of pursuing him; he seemed to be prioritizing the treatment of the wounded knights.
Meanwhile, Rui still had his bow held ready. The next moment, he aimed towards the sky for some reason—and fired a particularly powerful shot of lightning.
Where is he aiming? No, he must have some plan... Ah, so that’s what it is!
Rio had been watching where the attack ended up, but the giant bolt of lightning suddenly split itself and changed course. Seeing them aiming for the ground made him realize their purpose.
It’s much slower than before, but...
It was faster than Rio could run. And it seemed like they were homing onto him, following Rio’s movements in a terrible manner, closing the distance between them.
Can I dodge them at that speed just by watching? The impact field should be pretty wide to prevent me from evading. If so...
Rio kept running as he thought, trying to widen the distance as much as he could before suddenly coming to a stop and turning to face the rain of lightning. Then, he waited until the attack was nearly upon him.
He used wind spirit arts to wrap his body in a barrier of soft wind, creating a path for the electricity to run through and remove its homing function, then he ran through the gaps towards the lightning rain himself. He then twisted his body to deftly slip past all the lightning bolts.
“W-What?!”
Charles witnessed Rio avoiding the lightning rain from afar and couldn’t help but raise his voice in alarm. Rio landed on the ground in that time, confirming there weren’t any further pursuers before leaving without a second thought.
“...Hahaha.”
Rui’s face broke into a smile as though to commend Rio’s acrobatic evasion of his rain of lightning.
At the same time, Christina and Celia’s group had made it through the wheat fields and were running down the road through the forest.
“Hah... Hah... How much further... do we have to run?” Kouta panted.
“Keep going! Don’t waste a single second of the time Sir Amakawa bought us!” Vanessa yelled from where she ran in the lead.
“Eek...” Kouta’s upperclassman, Rei, wailed in a pitiable voice.
Celia and Christina were in a similar state, having already passed the limits of their stamina long ago. However, they shared Vanessa’s feelings and continued running desperately.
Ten more seconds passed like that, when everything in Vanessa’s field of view suddenly went dark.
“...What?” She looked up towards the sky, questioning.
“MROOOR!”
A pitch-black minotaur came falling out of the sky with a rumbling impact. On top of that—
“ROOOAR!”
Crash. There was another one behind them.
“Wha...”
The party had come to a stop before they realized it, staring upwards in a daze.
“What... are those...?” Rei stiffened.
“That... was at the academy during the outdoor drill that one time...” Christina recalled the time they encountered a minotaur at the academy’s outdoor drill and paled.
“I-It’s a minotaur! W-Why is it here?!” Celia, who had actually witnessed one before, yelled.
“MROO!”
“BRREH HEH!”
The minotaurs laughed heartily with their warped faces.
“T-There’s more... coming from the forest...”
Vanessa was about to suggest escaping into the forest when a group of orcs noisily made their way out from between the trees. They were completely surrounded on all sides.
With none of them able to move, they stood there as still as can be. Then, the minotaur behind Celia extended its left hand, reaching for Christina. However—
“MROOR?!”
The black giant was unable to grab onto her body, as it was blown away forcefully from the side, crashing into the orcs by the forest loudly. Meanwhile, the spot where the head of the minotaur had just been was replaced by Alma.
“A-Alma?!” Celia muttered her name in shock. Alma must have swung her mace into the minotaur’s head from behind, as she landed on the ground in a stance to catch her momentum.
“Guh... Grrguh...” The beaten-up minotaur tried to stand up weakly, but failed.
“We’ll cover you! Please fall back!”
Another voice that Celia recognized rang out. A silver flash passed by her—it was the silver werewolf, Sara. Sara approached the minotaur struggling to get up and cut off its head without giving it a chance to react.
“Grr...”
The defeated minotaur disappeared into ashes. However, the area was still swarmed with orcs, some which had been crushed just moments ago. Sara immediately stepped back and distanced herself from the remaining orcs.
She was replaced by a rain of countless light arrows, piercing through the bodies of the orcs gathered. The one who attacked was the high elf standing ten or so meters away from the group—Orphia—holding a bow.
“W-Why... are you guys...?” Celia asked the newly-arrived, dumbfounded. The three of them had the physical traits of their species altered into human ears through magic artifacts.
“We came to assist. Was it unnecessary?” Sara asked a little awkwardly.
“N-No, you saved us...”
“It’s not over yet. Let’s clean up the remaining big guy and the orcs in the forest,” Alma said, holding the mace in her hand ready.
“Celia, please fall back to where Orphia is with the others.” Sara glared at the minotaur standing before them.
Christina was bewildered by the rapidly-changing situation. She turned to Celia in confusion. “P-Professor Celia, who are these girls...?”
“These three are Haruto’s friends. At any rate, everyone! Come this way!” Celia gave a short answer and pulled Christina’s arm, giving an order to Rei and Kouta standing beside them on the way. Meanwhile, Vanessa was holding her sword up against the orcs.
“O-Okay...” Despite how she had stiffened up, Christina retreated at Celia’s guidance.
“MROOOR!” The remaining minotaur roared to intimidate the escaping party and leaped into the air.
“Did you think we would falter at something like that?” Alma looked up at the minotaur in disgust.
“We’ve been underestimated, it seems. Orphia, force it back!” Sara glared at the minotaur sharply as she directed Orphia behind her.
“Yup!” With a nod, Orphia quickly fired arrows of light from her bow. The thick beams of light flew straight through the air and towards the body of the soaring minotaur.
“Gragh?!”
The minotaur promptly used the stone greatsword in its hand to block the arrows, but was knocked back by the impact.
“Wha...” Christina watched the scene with wide eyes. The attack just now had enough power to be a higher class of intermediate magic, yet it was impossible to fire that in less than a second with the knowledge within Strahl region.
Could that bow be an ancient artifact? She looked at the beautiful bow in Orphia’s hand. However, while she pondered that, Alma and Sara abruptly disappeared.
“Alma, slam it into the ground! I’ll finish it off!”
“You don’t need to tell me twice.”
Sara started dashing in the direction the minotaur was blown in while Alma leaped high into the air with her mace braced. The two of them had physical abilities that far surpassed those of humans.
“MROR?!” Alma, with her petite size, slammed her mace into the minotaur’s giant body, making it rapidly change directions and crash into the ground.
Sara caught up to the minotaur in the brief moment its body was rebounding back into the air and cleanly sliced off its head. The next time the pitch black body hit the ground, it dispersed into ash.
This left the orcs lurking in the forest.
“Grr, guh...”
The violent orcs seemed to be cowering after watching the minotaurs get overwhelmed so easily.
“Gragh?!”
Orphia released numerous arrows of light at once, eliminating the orcs in a matter of moments. Each arrow was pinpoint-accurate with no sign of missing their targets. As a result, the orcs were completely wiped out in a flash.
“...There are no more presences.”
“It seems like all the monsters have been eliminated.”
Sara and Alma swept their eyes over the forest around them as they approached Celia and the others.
“Good work, you two,” Orphia giggled.
“?!”
Suddenly, the three of them assumed their battle stances towards the forest. The next moment, a black flash of light weaved its way through the trees, aiming their way—but it wasn’t targeted at Sara, Orphia, Alma, nor Celia.
“Huh?”
The target was Christina.
By the time they realized this, the rapidly-moving black light was right before their eyes and they were unable to move, rooted to the spot. It was the perfect surprise attack with no trace of the assailant—nobody present was able to react.
It was too late to evade. Just as they thought that, a dark shadow cut before Christina. It was, of course—
“...H-Haruto!”
Celia’s eyes shined the moment she recognized him. Rio held his sword in his hand to take on the black light from head-on—when, the next moment, he swung his sword and completely erased the light.
Clap, clap, clap. Just then, someone started applauding from within the forest. The sound of the clapping gradually grew louder until a person soon appeared.
“Ah, how splendid. I was thinking of assisting when you all encountered so many unforeseen enemies, but they were taken care of so quickly.”
Reiss clapped as he walked out of the forest, commending Rio and the others.
“...You.” Rio narrowed his eyes. It was a face he recognized—the person who had taken Lucius away after he cornered him during the monster attack on Amande.
“I’m honored that you remember me. My name is Reiss, a member of the Heavenly Lions.” Reiss introduced himself not as an ambassador of the Proxia Empire, but as a mercenary.
“After Amande, I’m assuming these monsters were your doing as well?” Rio asked.
“Why, I would never. How could one even control such monsters? Didn’t I just say I was thinking of assisting?” Reiss shrugged, exaggerating his feigned ignorance.
“Then what was that final attack you aimed at Princess Christina?”
“Oh my, are you accusing me?”
“Who else could it be?”
“There could be another enemy hiding, no?” Reiss answered with a grin.
“The enemy is you.” Rio glared at Reiss with suspicion. The same went for everyone else present.
“No, no, I have no intention of fighting here. I was just visiting Cleia by chance when I noticed you, so I thought I’d say hello. It seemed like you were caught up in your own business, so I couldn’t find the right timing to do so,” Reiss said in a smooth voice. He suddenly remembered something and added in a delighted tone, “Oh, that’s right. The one you have a connection with is doing quite well, too.”
“...Where is Lucius?” Rio asked coldly.
Celia and the others around them listened silently to the conversation, unable to keep up with the situation, but they noticed the air around Rio was more tense than usual and gulped.
“He holds a fairly large grudge towards you, so you’ll be reunited sooner or later. From the avenger to the avengee, if you will... Human karma is a truly difficult concept. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Reiss smiled provocatively, but Rio’s expression did falter.
“Isn’t that right, Rio?” Reiss said with a grin.
“Guh...”
Celia, Sara, Orphia, and Alma swallowed their breath on Rio’s behalf. How did he know Rio’s name, they wondered. But on the other hand—
...Rio? Wh...?!
Christina was wide-eyed as she stared at the back of the person who just saved her. Instantly, all her suspicions about the person named Haruto Amakawa were answered, everything connecting together like a puzzle. She inadvertently gulped. It wasn’t as though she accepted it as the absolute truth. Perhaps, just perhaps... Such feelings of denial also rose within her. But, despite that...
“...”
Rio lifted his sword and watched Reiss sharply, ready to slice into him at a moment’s notice.
“Oh dear. I will take my leave now, so please put away that dangerous-looking sword.” Reiss held both his hands out before him, dramatically stating his refusal to fight.
“...”
Rio continued glaring at Reiss, expression unchanged.
“Of course, I can keep you company if you insist, but if you dawdle around here the pursuers may catch up, no? You seem to have multiple burdensome people in tow... it would be a shame if they were targeted first in battle. Would you be able to protect them all if it came down to it? You don’t even know the limits of my power yet, hmm?”
Do you still want to try, anyway? Reiss’ smile implied.
“...Disappear before I change my mind.”
“My my, how scary. Then, if you would excuse me.”
At that, Reiss retreated back into the forest. Rio watched his back with a grim expression.
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