Chapter 7: The Showdown
AFTER talking to Milia, I better understood her feelings and how determined she was. On Friday, we all traveled with Eric to the royal manor out in the countryside.
“I arranged for a large carriage this time since we’ll be going outside the city. There’s also a wagon for our luggage, which you’re welcome to use,” Eric told us.
He had prepared a white carriage with gold decoration for us. The luggage wagon was the same design. Our carriage was a massive one, practically a mansion on wheels, with a kind of inset design that had a space inside where we sat, and a hall around it where the maids and guards were.
The inner room had a plush carpet across the entire floor as well as two leather sofas that could fit four people, each arranged around a table, along with four armchairs. It looked like a small hall where you sat while traveling. It wasn’t just the carriage that was flashy. Four white Nocorns, half monsters resulting from horses bred with Unicorns, were at the front, ready to begin transporting the group.
“Milia…”
“I’m sorry, Sophia. I know you kept it secret because you were worried about me, but I want to help all of you.”
“I’m sorry too,” I said. “I brought her along. But no matter what happens, I’ll protect her.”
“There’s nothing I can say then other than…thank you, Milia. I feel better having you here with us.”
“Sophia…”
They hugged each other, and that was the end of that conversation.
In addition to me, Eric, Zeke, Sophia, and Milia were two guards each for Zeke and Sophia, then seven guards for Eric. That seven consisted of Eric’s two maids, who doubled as guards, Bela and Isha; then Oscar, who had been our (pretend) lead teacher in the dungeon practical; and then the four guards who had teleported with us to the bottom floor during the attack in the dungeon, Turner, Ziehr, Jarred, and Guyer.
Outside, there were another ten knights on horses, then two more knights driving the carriage, making a total of twelve more guards.
They all wore silvery-white armor, and the mounted knights were riding Nocorns. While these twelve knights all wore the same armor, they used a mix of different weapons, and there was something very different about them compared to Oscar and the other guards.
All of them were former adventurers and mercenaries that Eric had scouted himself, each over level 200. Apparently, he hadn’t been able to sneak them in as pretend teachers, since they were all a little bit too unique.
“Master Arius, Prince Eric’s told us about how incredible you are, but you let us handle guard duties this time,” said Gregg, a bearded man in his forties, a cigarette between his lips. He was the captain of the twelve-knight squad. He came off as pretty laidback, but he didn’t let anything past him. All the other knights had one or two quirks as well.
And that wasn’t all Eric had pulled together. There were people from the Intelligence Ministry nearby, hidden with Perception Block and Invisibility. Two of them were section chiefs in the Ministry, so they should be able to handle even high-level cleaners who came at us. The Ministry people weren’t riding horses, but they could move faster on their own feet anyway, so that wasn’t a problem.
“Shall we set off then?” Eric addressed everyone.
Nocorns could easily travel at speeds faster than fifty miles an hour, so the carriage traveled as fast as a car down the city streets. You would have thought the vibrations would be horrible traveling this fast, but this was a world with magic items. The whole carriage was one large magic item that floated very slightly in the air, so there were no vibrations or jolting.
And we stood out like a sore thumb in our massive white and gold carriage surrounded by knights in heavy, silvery white armor.
“Eric. Do you think it’s unlikely we’ll be attacked before we get to the manor?” I asked.
If he had been trying to draw an attack while we were traveling, he would have chosen a slower method of transport.
“I don’t think it’s unlikely, just that if it occurs while we’re in the city, it’ll cause trouble for others. I would prefer the attackers to wait until we’re at the manor, but it’s their move. I may draw them out, but I don’t have complete control over them.”
Which meant I should remain on watch. Might as well get ready now. I pulled four swords and three bracelets from my Inventory. The swords were all different sizes: a longsword, a rapier, a small sword, and a main-gauche.
“Arius, what are those?” Milia asked.
“I’d like you, Sophia, and Zeke to use these, if you want. They’re magic items from a hard-difficulty dungeon, so I think they’ll be useful.”
They were simple but high-performance weapons, which allowed them to boost the user’s abilities. The drawback was that they were from a hard-difficulty dungeon, meaning they had their peculiarities. It wasn’t going to be easy for anyone to master them.
The reason I hadn’t gotten one for Eric was that he’d said he wanted to fight Duke Jordan himself. Lending him a magic item would interfere with that decision of his. I mean, not that Eric needed it in the first place.
“Thank you, Arius. I will gladly accept,” said Sophia.
“What are those bracelets?” Milia questioned again.
“They’re a magic item that amplifies your mana. And it recovers MP.”
These were also straightforward magic items. Milia, Sophia, and Zeke put on the bracelets and tried out the feel of their weapons.
“Whoa, why does it feel like this? I feel like mana is welling up from inside my body,” Milia marveled.
“And these swords are incredible. Even an amateur like me can tell,” gasped Sophia.
“This really is an amazing sword, Arius,” Zeke said.
It seemed they all liked them.
“Do you want to test how your swords cut and how strong your spells are?” I asked.
The three of them moved to an open area of the room, where I cast Impenetrable Defense around them, then brought a boulder out of my Inventory.
“You won’t damage the cutting edge of those swords even on a boulder like this. The Impenetrable Defense will make sure no damage gets out, so go ahead and use spells.”
“All right. I’ll try the sword out first.” Milia struck the boulder, and the blade passed through it almost like it was being sucked in, and the boulder split in two. “Whoa, no way. How sharp is this thing?”
Sophia and Zeke also hesitantly slashed at the boulder, and both were easily able to cut it.
“With this sword, I won’t even have trouble if I’m fighting someone in armor,” gushed Milia.
“Yeah. It makes me want to try out a skill,” Zeke expressed.
Then, the three took turns casting spells. Milia cast Shining Arrow, Sophia cast Dark Missile, and Zeke cast Water Missile, their best spells, and the effects were clearly greater than usual.
I had them practice with their swords and magic for a little while, and I went outside the Impenetrable Defense while leaving it up.
“Those are incredible magic items,” Eric commented. “Knowing you, you probably have a lot more. I’m tempted to negotiate a price to buy them from you in order to strengthen the Ronaudia military.”
“I wouldn’t mind. They’re just sitting in my Inventory. But maybe we should talk about that after everything’s finished with Duke Jordan.”
“You’re right. If I receive weapons from you right now, it will mean I relied on you.”
About an hour later, as the carriage advanced down the road surrounded by nothing, it suddenly came to a stop.
Eric’s maid-guards, Bela and Isha, rushed into our room, and one said, “Your Highness, a dragon is approaching!”