Behind him, Dee poked his head out the window. “The youngest son of the marquis, Van Nei Fertio, is leaving the estate! Be sure to give him a grand send-off! Those who wish to offer their services can do so thusly…”
Eyes narrowed, I flicked my gaze back to the young knight. “He looks awake to me.”
“Uh, oops! Sorry, my lord—looks like I’m due on patrol! I’ll merely be circling the perimeter around the carriages, so fear not!” With one last smile, the knight nudged his steed in the other direction.
People gathered around us, and I knew many of them quite well.
“Where are you going, Lord Van?!”
“Come back soon!”
“Are you going to the academy in the capital?!”
Once I’d shaken off my initial stupor, I addressed the crowd through the window. “Hi, everyone! I’m heading off for a little while!” I even greeted those I’d only ever spoken to once or twice. “Goodbye for now!”
Seeing my most beloved townspeople crying over my departure had me sniffling. Even though I was the one leaving them behind, tears streamed down my cheeks. I’d thought I was fine with this, but apparently not. When I sat back down, wiping at my eyes, Till offered me a handkerchief. Her outright bawling proved she was just as much of a mess as I was.
“Here, little lord. Meat’s done.”
After passing through two relay towns, it was finally time for my first campout. Back on Earth, I’d slept in all kinds of vehicles, but it was my first time doing this in a world of monsters. When I poked my head out of the carriage, I came face-to-face with a skewer of meat. The man holding it was the leader of our band of adventurers, an intimidating guy with a huge scar running down his cheek.
I had some concerns.
We’d hired two different adventurer parties for protection, and everyone looked quite strong. Half of them were battle mages, and of the ten adventurers in total, two were women. One was a bulky warrior type, the other a slender robed mage. At first glance, the latter looked nothing like an adventurer.
The grizzled guy in front of me was a skilled adventurer named Ortho Sheet. He had a scary mug, but since he’d been in the business for two decades, he was used to dealing with clients. Despite my age, he had no issues with talking to me—but his etiquette needed some work.
“Thanks. Good job watching out for everyone. Make sure you get some rest when it’s your turn,” I said, taking the skewer from him.
Ortho stared at me in disbelief, blinking repeatedly.
“Is something wrong?”
“Nah, not at all. I’ll be reportin’ back to you later.” With a strained smile, he dipped his head and left.
“Wonder what that was all about.”
Till tittered with pride beside me. “Seems to me like that adventurer understands why you’re so great. But he’s nowhere near my level! I can rattle off hundreds of your best character traits, my lord!”
I let out a dry laugh. Till had her head in the clouds as always.
Our journey took about two weeks. We stayed in four different villages—one night each—but after the second, we did a lot more outdoor camping. Due to all the stuff we were carrying, we went at a pretty leisurely pace. I figured we traveled somewhere between fifty and a hundred kilometers a day, so we must’ve covered anywhere from five hundred to a thousand kilometers by the end of it. Quite the distance. That also spoke to how vast our family’s territory was. In terms of Japan’s geography, it was like crossing three to four prefectures. I found myself wondering exactly how far it was.
While I was musing over all this, we finally arrived at the nameless village. The carriage jerked to a halt before we reached the entrance.
“Is something wrong?” Till asked the driver, who was wide-eyed with panic.
“Oh no, this is awful! The village is being attacked!”
I quickly stuck my head out the window. Beyond Dee and his two knights’ guard detail, dozens of people had surrounded the village. They were clad in all sorts of gear…and fully armed. Powerful warriors in armor loomed in front of the main gate, with a group of what looked like mages behind them.
Ortho swooped in close, scowling. “They’ve gotta be bandits or mercs on the run—the kind of scum who’ll go after the weak in a heartbeat. They’re clearly experienced, though.”
I could see that. The assailants were keeping their distance to minimize risks, instead choosing to fire arrows into the village. While the village was wrapped in thick wooden fencing, it provided little protection from projectiles that sailed over the top. I could see the villagers through gaps in the fencing, glaring at their attackers. If any of them tried to flee or fight back, they’d be riddled with arrows and spells. No ordinary person would be able to cut through their ranks, so all they could do was hole up in the village to protect themselves.
“Permission to engage, Lord Van? If we all join the battle, we can handle them!”
As far as I could tell, they had forty or fifty men total. Even with the benefit of a surprise attack, we didn’t know how strong the enemy was, and we already had the disadvantage in terms of numbers. On the flip side, I knew Dee had some serious skills, and the veteran adventurers with us were no slouches either.
Can we actually win?
“Well—”
“Hold your horses, kid. It’s way too dangerous.”
Dee frowned and glared at Ortho for the interruption. “I’m aware of the dangers. There will be casualties, but we can most certainly push them back.” His voice was grave as he gripped his sword.
The adventurer shook his head. “One of my rules is to never take on any jobs that could cost my party members their lives. When you work as an adventurer for as long as I have, you’re forced to run into all kinds of tight spots. If I took the risk every time, I’d be long dead by now.”
Anger blazed in Dee’s eyes. “There comes a time when one must put their life on the line. That time is now! That village is the young lord’s first territory, which makes those people his first subjects. If I do not draw my sword to protect them, who will?!”
He unsheathed his sword, but Ortho refused to back down.
“Your chivalry’s admirable, but unfortunately, that’s got nothing to do with us. Even if you were to pay us extra, money means nothing if we’re dead. During your travels, you come across wrecked towns and villages and folks getting attacked by monsters. Then you pass right on by. Sorry to say, but this place is no exception.”
“Grr…! Th-then at least protect Lord Van! If the situation calls for it, you can even evacuate with him.”
Ortho gave a curt nod. In the worst-case scenario, he and his people could flee.
That was when Esparda cut in. “I’m against this plan. Sir Dee aside, the other two knights will certainly perish. In other words, Sir Dee will be facing a fighting force thirty men strong, including mages. As far as I can tell, he has a 50 percent chance of victory. Should Sir Dee die, there is no future for this village even if Lord Van were to reign over it,” Esparda explained almost callously.
In other words, we could only win with the adventurers’ help.
Ortho furrowed his brow. “Just to be clear, we’re not fighting. And we’re in no position to go into battle while protecting a child and all the luggage.”
Esparda shot him an icy stare. “This might be hard to believe, but I am an elemental mage. And fortunately for us, there is plenty of earth to go around underfoot. You can rely on my combat prowess.”
“What? You can fight? Even then, I…”
At Ortho’s hesitation, Esparda nodded encouragingly. “You won’t need to charge in and put your lives on the line. First, I will create a barrier wall. You and your party will use long-range attacks from behind it. While the enemy is focused on us, Dee and his men will attack from the side. If we overlap sneak attacks, our chances of winning are high.”
“Can that barrier of yours block magic? Also, if the arrows come down on us from above, we’re done for.”
“These carriages have steel plating lining all the important parts. Once you launch the initial attack, you can fall back and shut yourselves in. We are merely going for a diversion, after all.”