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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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“Hahaha, I’m glad things worked out more easily than expected.”
On our way back, unburdened by the large amount of cargo, Dorf was beaming like a salesman who had just closed a major deal.
In his hand, he held a rather luxurious, yet surprisingly well-preserved parchment. According to him, it was a copy of the Baldwin family’s secret art.
“Secret art or whatever, it’s basically just a method of handling magic power. Some prestigious families with hundreds of years of history possess special secret arts that can only be used by their bloodline, but otherwise, it’s just a form of knowledge. It doesn’t disappear just because it’s shared. They’ve secured enough food to feed the residents of the territory for ten years in exchange for it, so isn’t it a huge profit?”
Indeed, comparing readily reproducible knowledge with tangible assets might lead one to that conclusion.
That is, if you disregarded the nobles’ unique pride and the advantage of monopolizing knowledge.
‘In that sense, the Empire is unusual for nationalizing most secret arts, except for a select few, and even establishing an institution to research and develop them.’
Secretly passing down knowledge within a family had the advantage of keeping countermeasures unknown to outsiders.
However, with only a limited number of people involved, progress was extremely slow unless a remarkable genius emerged to improve the techniques.
There was a reason why the Empire had reigned supreme for decades.
“But will you be alright? It seems like you’ve made a powerful enemy.”
“Hahaha, there’s no need to worry, Master Chrom. Lord Baldwin is a wise man.”
Dorf continued, wearing his characteristic sly smile.
“As you saw earlier, they can’t do anything to us. If the food supply is cut off, the residents will starve to death, and the territorial army, which is barely holding on, will disintegrate.”
“What about the possibility of them asking the royal family or other noble families for help?”
“The new royal family isn’t on good terms with the noble families who yearn for the old royal family. The noble families cooperating with the new royal family won’t move, and those close to the old royal family are mostly struggling themselves or aren’t foolish enough to get involved in something so unprofitable. Perhaps the only possibility is the remnants of the anti-imperial faction.”
However, Dorf added,
“The moment they join forces with them, the Baldwin family will be branded as rebels and terrorists. It would give the new royal family’s regular army justification to attack and wipe them out. If that kind-hearted lord were the gambling type, he wouldn’t have let things get this far in the first place.”
“Hmm.”
He had a point, but I still felt uneasy.
Logically, Dorf’s words were flawless.
However,
‘If everyone in the world were so rational and logical, things wouldn’t constantly descend into chaos.’
Magic or no magic, this was still a place where people lived.
And things here were no different.
“Hey, Dorf. Just in case, tell them to tighten security around—”
-Gwaaaak!!!
-Ambush!
…Damn it.
“You bastards!! Where did these damn wretches come from?!”
“…!”
The situation outside the carriage didn’t look good.
At a glance, there were only a dozen or so attackers, but since the ambush site was a narrow path flanked by thickets, there was no telling how many more were hiding.
The coachman and the porters, after seeing one of their own get a geyser of blood erupt from his neck, were trembling in fear, too scared to fight.
The attackers, their faces concealed by masks, moved swiftly and precisely.
Captain Clark and the Brown Wolf Mercenary Company were fighting back, but aside from Clark himself, it took several of them to hold their own against a single attacker.
Skillful enough to overwhelm a veteran mercenary company in a head-on confrontation.
Even though their faces were hidden, their disciplined movements couldn’t be concealed.
It was easy to guess the attackers’ identities.
“You fools…!! What do you gain by attacking us?!”
To Dorf, who muttered in dismay, one of his burly bodyguards asked,
“Acting Trade Representative, what should we do?”
Having assessed that the encirclement wasn’t too tight at the front, Dorf replied swiftly,
“Focus on opening a path! We need to escape, at least us!”
“Wait, hold on—”
Ignoring my bewilderment, Dorf’s bodyguards quickly climbed onto the driver’s seat and into the passenger compartment of our carriage and sped off.
The masked figures tried to block the path, but they were momentarily held back by the daggers and stones thrown by the bodyguards, allowing the carriage to break through.
I could hear the shouts of the abandoned laborers and mercenaries, but the carriage didn’t stop.
“Stop the carriage!!!”
“This isn’t the time to worry about those left behind! Once we’re out of the forest—”
I yelled at Dorf, who was still acting like an adult scolding a naive child, completely oblivious to the situation.
“You idiot! There’s no way they would leave the encirclement so weak if they were targeting us from the start!!!”
Immediately after, a heavy impact sent my body flying.
My vision spun, and I heard the panicked neighs of horses and the sounds of something breaking.
-Crash!!!
“Ugh!”
Dorf, who had become a human cushion between me and the ceiling of the overturned carriage, let out a groan as the air was forced from his lungs.
Thanks to him, I escaped without a serious injury.
One of the bodyguards who had been riding with us seemed to have landed awkwardly; his neck was twisted at a grotesque angle.
Another was clutching his left ankle, writhing in pain, likely from a fracture.
Dorf, who appeared to be the least injured, was either unconscious or playing dead; he didn’t budge even when I slapped him.
“Oh, for crying out loud…!”
Squeezing through the half-opened carriage door, I saw a thick rope, tied at about knee height, blocking the end of the forest path.
Whether they had planned to lure us here from the start or had set it up as a contingency, we had fallen for it completely.
The bodyguards, who had been on the driver’s seat and were now sprawled on the ground, had knives plunged into their throats by different masked figures.
One remaining attacker was silently looking at me.
One idiot was enough to deal with, but three?
This was insane.
Weren’t they supposed to leave just one guy here to get unexpectedly taken out by the protagonist?
Trying to suppress my anxiety with random thoughts as fear threatened to paralyze me, one of the masked attackers spoke.
“Don’t do anything stupid and stay put.”
I was so dumbfounded I blurted out,
“Even a worm squirms when you step on it. What kind of idiotic nonsense is it to tell me to surrender quietly to someone who’s here to kill me?”
“…You’re a foul-mouthed little brat.”
The man continued,
“Unlike the others, you have value as a hostage. Cooperate, and I’ll guarantee your safety.”
“Hostage, hostage…”
I rolled the word around in my mind.
A hostage situation only worked if the hostage was valuable.
I was probably worth a decent ransom, but the problem was, would that Lord readily agree to negotiate?
I highly doubted it.
He’d probably think he could just have another child.
Besides, there was no guarantee that the man was telling the truth.
If I trusted him and approached, he could stab me in the back, and I’d be out for round two without a chance to fight back.
No one knew if there would be a round three.
So, my answer was set.
“….Planning on switching careers from next-in-line lord to kidnapper?”
I didn’t miss the slight flinch of the man’s body.
With all my might, I bolted into the dense undergrowth.
I heard the whoosh of something being swung and the thud of it hitting something, and a sharp, burning sensation grazed my earlobe as something, probably a splinter, flew past.
I didn’t have time to check the wound or look back.
I just ran, believing that my smaller size would be an advantage in the dense forest.
My body, raised in a life of luxury, was nutritionally healthy, but lacked exercise.
I quickly ran out of breath, my heart pounding like a drum.
I didn’t hear any shouts or curses from behind, but I did hear the continuous rustling of grass and fallen leaves being trampled.
The race between me reaching the others left behind in the forest and the attacker catching me was quickly decided.
-Thud.
“…!!!”
I tripped over a protruding rock.
I didn’t have time to break my fall.
My body tumbled forward, crashing back-first into a large tree.
Without a human cushion this time, the impact was intense.
I struggled to get back on my feet, but my body only twitched, refusing to obey.
I saw the attacker approaching, his steps steady and unhurried.
His mask was torn, and blood streamed down his cheek, probably from being scratched by branches as he pushed through the undergrowth.
Without breaking his stride, he drew his sword.
Damn it, he had no intention of keeping me alive, hostage or not.
Just as I was lamenting my naivety,
-Rustle.
Someone stepped in front of the man.
Brown eyes, shoulder-length brown hair tied back with a string.
The girl, the youngest of the mercenary company, stood silently before the man, her head bowed.
“…”
A look of hesitation flickered across the man’s face, and his arm, raised to strike, lowered slightly.
Leaning against the tree, I saw what happened next, just as the man opened his mouth to speak to the girl.
She slammed the scabbard she held into the man’s instep with all her might.
-Crack
As the man reflexively clutched his injured foot, the girl kicked his other ankle hard.
-Snap
As he lost his balance and fell, the blade, drawn from its scabbard, was waiting for him.
-Slice.
Three times.
Just three attacks were all it took to kill the man, who towered over her.
Wiping the blood splattered on her hair, the girl turned to me.
Watching her, a particular template’s background description came to mind.
「He (She) did not know his (her) parents.」
「Few offered help to a young orphan from the slums, and he (she) was not fortunate enough to meet such people.」
「Instead, he (she) had talent. An innate sense and high physical ability that allowed him (her) to quickly understand the structure of any weapon and wield it skillfully.」
「He (She) entered the world of mercenaries and quietly sharpened his (her) teeth in the harsh environment.」
「For the day he (she) would eventually soar.」
Among the unique and powerful templates, the protagonist favored by the most players for their high degree of freedom and formidable combat abilities.
The “Nameless War Ghost” was staring at me.
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