"Huh."
Randall let out a short bewilderment.
"Sir Randall? What's wrong?"
"Who's coming from ahead? I can hear footsteps."
Klima had been listening for a while.
"It can't be my lord... I think. Those footsteps... are heavier."
"Oh, this guy. It seems you can see through things like that. You're really useful."
"..."
The face that had been pale the whole time turned slightly red for a moment.
"Then what should we do?"
"Let's pretend to be a guard, and if that doesn't work, I'll block the road, so you go ahead. Also, the person guiding us, please go back now."
The maid made rabbit eyes.
"Oh, then... No, but Your Highness..."
"Wouldn't it be troublesome if our identity is discovered?"
"...Then it's better for me to stay."
The maid unexpectedly said this.
“I’m with the maid of the Queen. How could you suspect me? I’ll just say I’m going to get some candles for the queen. The knights of the villa are helping me, so I can just say that.”
Fortunately, another knight of the guards stopped them.
“Let’s talk about that later. Do you want His Majesty to get angry again?”
“Damn...”
The King and the guards of the main palace seemed to pass by like that.
Liene bit her lips tightly, afraid that they might hear the sound of her swallowing.
Thud thud...
The guards, who had been moving away, suddenly turned their heads before the last of the tension disappeared.
“Oh, wait. But there. Isn’t that blood on the sword? It was only in the villa, so there would be blood...”
"...Tsk.”
They were caught.
Randall made a quick decision in the meantime. What he did was to stretch out his arm and pull the hem of the King’s clothes.
“Ugh!”
The King, who had suddenly been grabbed by the scruff of the neck, stumbled and fell over.
Randall clicked his tongue. He tried to hold him hostage, but he wasn’t close enough.
“Run! Hurry!”
The guards hesitated as the King fell. Randall gave up his foolishness and pushed Liene’s back.
Klima quickly grabbed Liene’s hand and ran. Randall followed behind and whispered quickly in the maid’s ear.
“Don’t follow me. Just say you didn’t know we weren’t the royal guards.”
The smart one must have known what he meant.
“They’re running! Catch them!”
“Help His Majesty! Quickly!”
“Over there! Catch them!”
Liene and her party started running as fast as they could.
Some of the royal guards escorting the King chased after them.
“They’ve lost many. This is enough.”
Randall sent Liene ahead and took over.
Three royal guards were chasing them.
Randall slashed one and lowered his body at the same time, taking the jaw of the one coming after him with his head.
Crack!
The jawbone hit the skull, and the guard collapsed in shock.
“Right, next.”
Randall looked for his next opponent.
“...Gasp!”
The next opponent happened to be in Randall’s blind spot. Randall panicked and grabbed his sword with his hand as a sword suddenly extended from his right rear.
“Ouch, it hurts!”
He was wearing gloves, but that didn’t mean he was invincible. The blade dug into his palm. Randall raised his foot and kicked the opponent’s knee with his sword, looking as if he was going to cry.
Even though he had only called, Liene understood what Randall was trying to say.
“Yes. Run.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Liene started running in the direction Klima had pointed.
“The armor must be heavy, but you’re holding up well. Just hold on a little longer.”
“It’s still okay. The armor is heavy, so I can’t run well, though. By the way, is your hand really okay? Are you not able to hold the sword?”
“Oh, I’m just letting my hand rest on purpose because I’m afraid that my muscles might be damaged. It’ll be okay later.”
The main gate of the villa and the workers’ passageway were endless. As she ran through the long backyard, her stomach felt like it was going to burst.
“Really, right? Hoo, hoo...”
In any case, when she ran to the end, she saw a closed door. Fortunately, there were no guards in sight. However, if she opened the door, there would be a crowd.
Randall moved his injured hand and held the sword with his left hand.
“Youngest. Can you open that door by yourself?”
“Yes? Yes, yes...”
“Open. Oh, wait. Before that, get ready. Open the door and guard the Princess. Don’t leave her side.”
“I know.”
“Yes.”
Klima pushed up the large lock, which usually took two people to lift, all by herself.
Boom!
As soon as the lock was free of the latch, Randall kicked the door with his foot.
The door opened and what was revealed was the thick smell of blood, corpses strewn across the floor, and a sound that seemed to rip through the eardrums.
“My lord!”
Randall searched for Black, desperately cutting off the guard’s neck with his left hand.
Finding Black was easy for Tiwakan. Even if he was wearing someone else’s armor, he would recognize Black if he moved.
“...?”
Black turned his head. His helmet was soaked in blood.
He could tell that he was in a hurry, not even having time to avoid the spurting blood.
Boom, boom!
Black dodged the guards coming from behind and kicked their ankles. He stabbed the fallen guard in the back once, pulled it out, and ran towards them with his bloody sword in his hand.
As Black changed direction, the direction of the fight also changed.
Tiwakan, who understood that he was going to open a path, joined Black’s path.
“Get out of the way, you guys!”
Randall walked, swinging his sword with all his might.
It wasn’t enough, but it was fortunate that he had some experience using his left hand. He had used his left hand before when he had hurt his right hand, and Randall had survived so far.
The guards blocking the entrance to the villa split on both sides.
The group met on the narrow path that was created.
Black checked on Liene and asked,
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
The joyous heart had nowhere to go now.
The tension that had built up because he thought she was isolated in the villa was fading away for a moment, but Black was on high alert several times more.
“Yes. What about you?”
“Not yet. Randall.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“How about your left hand? Is it useful?”
“Of course. You saw it.”
“Get a direction before they come to their senses and block the way. To where the horse is. You attack and I’ll take the rear.”
“Are we going to leave like this? The Arch Princess may not be in the palace, but the King is definitely in the villa. I’d like to cut off his head while I’m here.”
“In that case, we should be prepared to be half-dead. That’s enough. The King of Sharka must be scared, so he’ll think twice before he commits any crime.”
“Ha, I should have stabbed him with a sword earlier... Anyway, I understand.”
Now they had to move to the border and join up with Permos. The real war was about to begin.
“Then let’s start.”
“Yes!”
Just as Sharka’s guards were about to surround them, Randall charged forward. Black immediately followed behind, and the rest of the Tiwakans followed them to make a path.
Klima stood close to Liene as if he would cover her with his body and move his body. He was out of breath and blocked.
Liene walked, desperately hoping that no one would die.
Sharka’s guards seemed endless, but there was still an end to the path.
“Whoa...”
Finally, the time came to take a breath.
After leaving Sharka's royal capital, they did not hide in an alley but entered the mountains outside the capital. They had to go quite a ways, but the city center was too dangerous for them as outsiders.
The water flowing in the mountains was cold but clean. They roughly rinsed their sweaty bodies and unpacked their bags to change their clothes. They had brought their bags while checking the route after leaving the inn.
“The Princess can wash behind the rock over there. They can’t see you from there.”
Black sat Liene down on the water’s edge and took off her shoes, saying,
“Ugh... Don’t touch me. These are someone else’s shoes, so they smell bad. Plus, I sweat a lot.”
It wasn’t just sweat.
There weren’t any cuts from the sword, but the armor and shoes that didn’t fit her were scratched here and there.
Liene pushed Black away with her other hand, brushing back her hair that was stuck to her forehead because it was soaking wet.
Black snickered while holding onto Liene’s foot.
“So you’re saying you hate it?”
“I don’t.”
“I don’t hate it.”
“I guess it’s okay to hate this kind of thing.”
“That’s impossible.”
Black eventually took off her shoes.
“...”
And his expression immediately changed.
“Did you walk on these feet the whole time?”
Randall let out a short bewilderment.
"Sir Randall? What's wrong?"
"Who's coming from ahead? I can hear footsteps."
Klima had been listening for a while.
"It can't be my lord... I think. Those footsteps... are heavier."
"Oh, this guy. It seems you can see through things like that. You're really useful."
"..."
The face that had been pale the whole time turned slightly red for a moment.
"Then what should we do?"
"Let's pretend to be a guard, and if that doesn't work, I'll block the road, so you go ahead. Also, the person guiding us, please go back now."
The maid made rabbit eyes.
"Oh, then... No, but Your Highness..."
"Wouldn't it be troublesome if our identity is discovered?"
"...Then it's better for me to stay."
The maid unexpectedly said this.
“I’m with the maid of the Queen. How could you suspect me? I’ll just say I’m going to get some candles for the queen. The knights of the villa are helping me, so I can just say that.”
“No, is it okay for me to be in that situation?”
“The Queen has ordered you to leave the villa safely. I’ll go first.”
The maid pushed Randall aside and stepped forward.
Not long after, they encountered a group of guards leading the king in on the narrow path where workers walked.
***
“Going to get some candles? In this situation?”
The guards were very talkative.
It was easy to understand, considering the situation outside.
They were yelling at the top of their lungs and pounding on the door, but they pretended not to know anything inside.
“Yes, yes... We suddenly ran out of candles... Her Majesty must be in a lot of trouble.”
“Huh, does that make sense? You don’t even know what’s going on outside?”
“I, I don’t really know much about that. I just did what she told me to do...”
The guards seemed to have nothing more to say as the maid lowered her head with a trembling voice.
Furthermore, the King did not stay still.
“What are you doing! How long are you going to leave me standing on this dirty road?”
“...I am sorry, Your Majesty.”
The guards gestured to the maidservants as if they could not do anything else.
“Step aside. His Majesty must go.”
“Yes, yes...”
The maidservants and Liene’s party also stood against the wall. The guards said a word as if they were very annoyed by Liene’s party who were wearing the same clothes as them.
“Hey, you guys take off your helmets too. We decided to do that so that we can distinguish ourselves from the enemy.”
“Uh, um. Got it.”
Randall answered sensibly.
“But you really didn’t hear anything? We knocked on the door so many times?”
“Well, well...”
“The Queen has ordered you to leave the villa safely. I’ll go first.”
The maid pushed Randall aside and stepped forward.
Not long after, they encountered a group of guards leading the king in on the narrow path where workers walked.
***
“Going to get some candles? In this situation?”
The guards were very talkative.
It was easy to understand, considering the situation outside.
They were yelling at the top of their lungs and pounding on the door, but they pretended not to know anything inside.
“Yes, yes... We suddenly ran out of candles... Her Majesty must be in a lot of trouble.”
“Huh, does that make sense? You don’t even know what’s going on outside?”
“I, I don’t really know much about that. I just did what she told me to do...”
The guards seemed to have nothing more to say as the maid lowered her head with a trembling voice.
Furthermore, the King did not stay still.
“What are you doing! How long are you going to leave me standing on this dirty road?”
“...I am sorry, Your Majesty.”
The guards gestured to the maidservants as if they could not do anything else.
“Step aside. His Majesty must go.”
“Yes, yes...”
The maidservants and Liene’s party also stood against the wall. The guards said a word as if they were very annoyed by Liene’s party who were wearing the same clothes as them.
“Hey, you guys take off your helmets too. We decided to do that so that we can distinguish ourselves from the enemy.”
“Uh, um. Got it.”
Randall answered sensibly.
“But you really didn’t hear anything? We knocked on the door so many times?”
“Well, well...”
Fortunately, another knight of the guards stopped them.
“Let’s talk about that later. Do you want His Majesty to get angry again?”
“Damn...”
The King and the guards of the main palace seemed to pass by like that.
Liene bit her lips tightly, afraid that they might hear the sound of her swallowing.
Thud thud...
The guards, who had been moving away, suddenly turned their heads before the last of the tension disappeared.
“Oh, wait. But there. Isn’t that blood on the sword? It was only in the villa, so there would be blood...”
"...Tsk.”
They were caught.
Randall made a quick decision in the meantime. What he did was to stretch out his arm and pull the hem of the King’s clothes.
“Ugh!”
The King, who had suddenly been grabbed by the scruff of the neck, stumbled and fell over.
Randall clicked his tongue. He tried to hold him hostage, but he wasn’t close enough.
“Run! Hurry!”
The guards hesitated as the King fell. Randall gave up his foolishness and pushed Liene’s back.
Klima quickly grabbed Liene’s hand and ran. Randall followed behind and whispered quickly in the maid’s ear.
“Don’t follow me. Just say you didn’t know we weren’t the royal guards.”
The smart one must have known what he meant.
“They’re running! Catch them!”
“Help His Majesty! Quickly!”
“Over there! Catch them!”
Liene and her party started running as fast as they could.
Some of the royal guards escorting the King chased after them.
***
“They’ve lost many. This is enough.”
Randall sent Liene ahead and took over.
Three royal guards were chasing them.
Randall slashed one and lowered his body at the same time, taking the jaw of the one coming after him with his head.
Crack!
The jawbone hit the skull, and the guard collapsed in shock.
“Right, next.”
Randall looked for his next opponent.
“...Gasp!”
The next opponent happened to be in Randall’s blind spot. Randall panicked and grabbed his sword with his hand as a sword suddenly extended from his right rear.
“Ouch, it hurts!”
He was wearing gloves, but that didn’t mean he was invincible. The blade dug into his palm. Randall raised his foot and kicked the opponent’s knee with his sword, looking as if he was going to cry.
“Ugh!”
Klima ran over while the opponent staggered, and hit the opponent’s head with a rock.
Boom! Boom!
“Ouch! Good job, you! Where’s the Princess?”
Randall joked that his hand was going to hurt, but he didn’t forget to check on Liene.
Liene was looking down the road ahead.
“Ugh! Princess! You can’t go alone! Where do you think they’ll come from!”
Randall jumped up and ran towards Liene. Klima also ran, holding his injured side.
“I went because I saw no one. Are you two okay? Sir Randall seems to have hurt his hand.”
“It’s nothing serious.”
After leaving the passage used by the workers, they came into the backyard of the villa.
“Where do we go now?”
Klima answered.
“Over there!”
“Huh? Why over there? That’s the main gate.”
“They’re fighting. There’s a noise, a noise.”
“Ah... You’re saying that my lord is here. Then... Damn it! It wasn’t just three of us?”
Unfortunately, no. More men were chasing after them.
“Ugh... Even if it were just two, I would have fought them, but why four? Why did I have to hurt my hand? ...Princess!”
Klima ran over while the opponent staggered, and hit the opponent’s head with a rock.
Boom! Boom!
“Ouch! Good job, you! Where’s the Princess?”
Randall joked that his hand was going to hurt, but he didn’t forget to check on Liene.
Liene was looking down the road ahead.
“Ugh! Princess! You can’t go alone! Where do you think they’ll come from!”
Randall jumped up and ran towards Liene. Klima also ran, holding his injured side.
“I went because I saw no one. Are you two okay? Sir Randall seems to have hurt his hand.”
“It’s nothing serious.”
After leaving the passage used by the workers, they came into the backyard of the villa.
“Where do we go now?”
Klima answered.
“Over there!”
“Huh? Why over there? That’s the main gate.”
“They’re fighting. There’s a noise, a noise.”
“Ah... You’re saying that my lord is here. Then... Damn it! It wasn’t just three of us?”
Unfortunately, no. More men were chasing after them.
“Ugh... Even if it were just two, I would have fought them, but why four? Why did I have to hurt my hand? ...Princess!”
Even though he had only called, Liene understood what Randall was trying to say.
“Yes. Run.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Liene started running in the direction Klima had pointed.
“The armor must be heavy, but you’re holding up well. Just hold on a little longer.”
“It’s still okay. The armor is heavy, so I can’t run well, though. By the way, is your hand really okay? Are you not able to hold the sword?”
“Oh, I’m just letting my hand rest on purpose because I’m afraid that my muscles might be damaged. It’ll be okay later.”
The main gate of the villa and the workers’ passageway were endless. As she ran through the long backyard, her stomach felt like it was going to burst.
“Really, right? Hoo, hoo...”
In any case, when she ran to the end, she saw a closed door. Fortunately, there were no guards in sight. However, if she opened the door, there would be a crowd.
Randall moved his injured hand and held the sword with his left hand.
“Youngest. Can you open that door by yourself?”
“Yes? Yes, yes...”
“Open. Oh, wait. Before that, get ready. Open the door and guard the Princess. Don’t leave her side.”
“I know.”
“Yes.”
Klima pushed up the large lock, which usually took two people to lift, all by herself.
Boom!
As soon as the lock was free of the latch, Randall kicked the door with his foot.
The door opened and what was revealed was the thick smell of blood, corpses strewn across the floor, and a sound that seemed to rip through the eardrums.
***
“My lord!”
Randall searched for Black, desperately cutting off the guard’s neck with his left hand.
Finding Black was easy for Tiwakan. Even if he was wearing someone else’s armor, he would recognize Black if he moved.
“...?”
Black turned his head. His helmet was soaked in blood.
He could tell that he was in a hurry, not even having time to avoid the spurting blood.
Boom, boom!
Black dodged the guards coming from behind and kicked their ankles. He stabbed the fallen guard in the back once, pulled it out, and ran towards them with his bloody sword in his hand.
As Black changed direction, the direction of the fight also changed.
Tiwakan, who understood that he was going to open a path, joined Black’s path.
“Get out of the way, you guys!”
Randall walked, swinging his sword with all his might.
It wasn’t enough, but it was fortunate that he had some experience using his left hand. He had used his left hand before when he had hurt his right hand, and Randall had survived so far.
The guards blocking the entrance to the villa split on both sides.
The group met on the narrow path that was created.
Black checked on Liene and asked,
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
The joyous heart had nowhere to go now.
The tension that had built up because he thought she was isolated in the villa was fading away for a moment, but Black was on high alert several times more.
“Yes. What about you?”
“Not yet. Randall.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“How about your left hand? Is it useful?”
“Of course. You saw it.”
“Get a direction before they come to their senses and block the way. To where the horse is. You attack and I’ll take the rear.”
“Are we going to leave like this? The Arch Princess may not be in the palace, but the King is definitely in the villa. I’d like to cut off his head while I’m here.”
“In that case, we should be prepared to be half-dead. That’s enough. The King of Sharka must be scared, so he’ll think twice before he commits any crime.”
“Ha, I should have stabbed him with a sword earlier... Anyway, I understand.”
Now they had to move to the border and join up with Permos. The real war was about to begin.
“Then let’s start.”
“Yes!”
Just as Sharka’s guards were about to surround them, Randall charged forward. Black immediately followed behind, and the rest of the Tiwakans followed them to make a path.
Klima stood close to Liene as if he would cover her with his body and move his body. He was out of breath and blocked.
Liene walked, desperately hoping that no one would die.
Sharka’s guards seemed endless, but there was still an end to the path.
***
“Whoa...”
Finally, the time came to take a breath.
After leaving Sharka's royal capital, they did not hide in an alley but entered the mountains outside the capital. They had to go quite a ways, but the city center was too dangerous for them as outsiders.
The water flowing in the mountains was cold but clean. They roughly rinsed their sweaty bodies and unpacked their bags to change their clothes. They had brought their bags while checking the route after leaving the inn.
“The Princess can wash behind the rock over there. They can’t see you from there.”
Black sat Liene down on the water’s edge and took off her shoes, saying,
“Ugh... Don’t touch me. These are someone else’s shoes, so they smell bad. Plus, I sweat a lot.”
It wasn’t just sweat.
There weren’t any cuts from the sword, but the armor and shoes that didn’t fit her were scratched here and there.
Liene pushed Black away with her other hand, brushing back her hair that was stuck to her forehead because it was soaking wet.
Black snickered while holding onto Liene’s foot.
“So you’re saying you hate it?”
“I don’t.”
“I don’t hate it.”
“I guess it’s okay to hate this kind of thing.”
“That’s impossible.”
Black eventually took off her shoes.
“...”
And his expression immediately changed.
“Did you walk on these feet the whole time?”
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