The flame sword slashed the wooden carriage in two without any trouble. Since I’d slashed it right down the middle, the front and back wheels violently broke off and began rolling away, pushing the horses forward until they crashed into the other carriage. I ran along the sloping roof of the destroyed carriage, kicked off the corner, and landed on the roof of the other just as flames broke out behind me. This blade crafted by my sword spirit wasn’t just sharp—it was also hot.
“Get on, quick!” someone screamed.
“Run!” shouted another.
Not so fast.
If I slashed the second carriage now, I’d end up killing several people, so instead, I ran along the roof and held my blade against the neck of the man in the coachman’s seat.
“Stop the carriage,” I ordered.
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, it’s hot! It’s hot!”
“Oh, sorry.” I’d only wanted to intimidate him, but I’d forgotten that the flames would burn. They’d been hot enough to cause the fire behind us, so I should’ve expected that.
The coachman rolled off the carriage, hair and clothes on fire. Just because no one was sitting in the coachman’s seat, though, didn’t mean that the horses would stop—they were in a complete panic. That was when my water spirit flew in front of the horses and doused their faces with cold water.
“Talk about pulling no punches,” I muttered.
The two frightened horses rose up on their hind legs, coming to an abrupt stop, before then trying to run off in different directions. It was too dangerous to stay there, so I floated up in the air to make my escape just before the carriage collided with a tree and overturned.
“The carriage! It’s burning!”
“Eeeeeek! What is this monster?!”
“Someone save us!”
The appearance of Levvy by the carriage behind us threw the men into a panic. They were screaming in Starken, drawing all the attention to themselves. As the men who were in the overturned carriage tried to crawl their way out, they were captured by the soldiers. The burning smell of the carriage had made its way to the castle grounds, and soldiers appeared one after the other to investigate what was happening.
“You can’t just start a fire like that.” By the time Chris had finished extinguishing the fire, the Starkish men were all in custody.
“Lord Alan, was that fire sword your spirit?”
So many soldiers had arrived that many of them were left with nothing to do, so some of the ones I was acquainted with came over to ask about what I had done.
“I just wanted it to turn my branch into a sword, and then it ended up on fire,” I explained.
“Huh? It was a tree branch?”
“You didn’t have the spirit envelop your sword with its power?”
“I was told swords were still dangerous at my age, so I haven’t held any except the training ones at the field.”
“What?!”
“But you were swinging around a huge sword just now, weren’t you?!”
“Jeez, are you telling me that was the tree branch?!”
They were so excited, I could already predict how long this conversation would go on for if I stuck around, so I went to see Deir, still perched on Ifri, instead.
“Deir, Rex looks about ready to keel over,” I lightly scolded her.
“Why? Luther was laughing like he was having the time of his life while he was sliding down the hill.”
“That wasn’t just a hill, young miss!” Rex yelled. “That was a cliff face covered in trees! That was far too risky!”
“Ha ha ha ha ha! What a wonderful display, Lord Alan.” Meanwhile, Luther was laughing.
Two valets, two very different responses. In Deir’s case, she was a little girl, so I could understand the worry. Rex’s was the normal reaction.
“Aww, but it was so fun. We should do more of—”
“This isn’t how a noble young lady should play around,” Rex cut in, face stern.
“Yeah, Deir,” I told her. “Not only were you almost kidnapped, you dashed off without your guards or valets. If anything had happened to you, it would’ve been their necks on the line.”
“Oh... Sorry, Rex.”
“So long as you understand,” he said.
Seeing Deir droop with guilt, I gave her a little pat on the head. That was when Rex turned to me and offered a little nod of thanks. It wasn’t as if I had been trying to help him or anything, though. I’d just thought that if we didn’t stop Deir here and now, she would absolutely try to turn that slope into some sort of hillside racecourse.
“Let’s get back to the castle,” Chris said then. “I’ve already asked someone to go back and report what was happening, but they must all be worried.”
We then began walking back home, surrounded by our valets and the soldiers.
It made sense that they would be worried. The three of us had suddenly jumped off the path and started sliding down a cliff face—some of them had probably had no idea what was happening.
“At least we can arrest the viscount and his lackeys now,” Chris mused as we walked along. “We should confiscate all the ships that are illegally anchored at their ports. Ahhh, I wonder how much money we can squeeze out of them as compensation.”
“Brother, you’re making a face quite unbefitting of a child,” I said. “You look like a villain.”
“You’re so cool, Chris!”
Deir, don’t act so happy. Our image is important.
Running down a cliff was quick, but climbing back up was much tougher. Deir had Ifri to ride on, so she was fine, but Chris and I still didn’t have our own spirit beasts. Our spirits could help us float, though, so the toughest part was just making sure to keep our balance as we glided through the air. Honestly, it was pretty fun.
“Ah, here you are. I am glad you are all unharmed.”
“You’ve completely mastered the art of floating, I see.”
The knights who had been guarding us came up on their horses as they watched us in amazement. Floating itself wasn’t too hard, but moving and keeping your balance could be pretty tough. We’d been practicing in the training field, so a lot of people had probably seen us trying to get the hang of it.
“His Lordship the Margrave awaits your presence,” one of them told us. “Please make your way to the main building.”