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Volume 6 Chapter 2 Part 4

Translation: Kurehashi Aiko
Editing: Team Foxsunes

When I heard the loud and rough voice of Heinrich and saw him intercepting the attacker, I realized that the hustle and bustle of the battle drew closer to the carriage in but a single moment. Apparently, he must have heard every single word that was spoken inside of the carriage, since they were fighting in such close proximity to the door. Heinrich then knocks the attacker outside of the carriage through the other door, and almost immediately after that he turned around and brandishing a rapier in his hand went to fight other attackers that started to draw closer to the carriage. However, just as he was exiting the carriage, another assailant sneaked up on him from behind and tried to attack him. Fortunately, Heinrich managed to deflect that attack and answer with his own, but as a result he was slowly being dragged further and further away from the carriage. Even though the knights, Heinrich and that man had the advantage when it came to skills and equipment, the prolonged battle in the hostile, unfamiliar environment would soon start to take its toll on them. Even I was aware of that fact.

Not to mention that the carriage was not really the best of places to be in right now, since it was an easy target. This does not look good. At this rate we will only end up becoming a burden to the knights and men defending us. Not to mention that I was unable to do anything on my own. I could only watch as the Princess was about to get attacked by that bandit just a moment ago. But even though I was unable to do anything, the barrier that the princess erected was still standing strong. That is good. And while the barrier lasted, it was now the time to press the attack onto the bandits, and repel them while the odds were not starting to get against us too much. However, even if I wanted to help them somehow, I did not know what to do. It’s not like I have received any combat training whatsoever. So if I were to actually go against any of those bandits, for them such an encounter would not even cause them to break a sweat. And it just so happened that yet another bandit appeared before me at that moment. The knife in his hand falls down time after time after time, aiming to end my life in a really gruesome fashion. However, because the Princess’s barrier was still in effect, the bandit’s knife could not reach its target, bouncing off the barrier’s surface every single time while making a high-pitched noise. However, those bandits were not stupid. It only took him a few more unsuccessful knife strikes and a moment of thinking to finally come with a solution to his predicament.

Realizing that his knife would do him no good in this situation, the bandit threw it aside and instead reached towards my neck with his bare hands. Having my throat squeezed like that all of a sudden, I was unable to even let out a single moan or to call for help. I could not be sure of that, but I thought that at one moment my feet were lifted off the ground as the bandit lifted me in the air. Next thing I know, I was being swung around the carriage’s interior, and being unable to resist in the slightest, it was only a matter of time before I was violently thrown outside of the carriage right onto the hot sands.

Even though the sand was quite soft, being thrown onto it from the top of the carriage would surely be quite rough and hurt quite a lot. ‘Filmina!’ I could hear the Princess scream my name from inside of the carriage in panic. I wanted to reassure the Princess that I was okay, but no words would leave my mouth. I just closed my eyes and tried to brace myself for imminent impact as best as I possibly could.

But the imminent shock that was supposed to hit my body never came around.

「–––– Filmina!」

「Edi!」

Hearing a familiar voice calling out to me I open my eyes in an instant. There, right in front of me was that man, looking at me with those eyes of his, which right now were glowing with gentle and warm light. At first I got so lost in those eyes of that man that I did not understand what just happened, but then it eventually dawned upon me: that man must have caught me when I was falling and prevented me from hitting the ground.

 「T-Thank you so much, Edi.」

I somehow managed to thank that man for saving me, but all this time my voice was breaking and trembling. I could see that man’s beautiful eyebrows and eyelashes from this distance. While that man was holding me tightly in his arms, I could see his eyes surveilling the surroundings in anger, looking for the one who was responsible for my current predicament. That man’s body was so warm that it helped me to relax and lose all the tension. However, I could feel that that man’s body was tense beyond belief.

When I also tried to look around, I realized that right about now we were surrounded by bandits all over. The only saving grace in this situation was that Heinrich was currently outside of the ring of assailants, so he could always rush to the Princess’s side and guard her if someone would try to harm her. But that’s about it. Not only the knights, but the maids were also doing their best in terms of self-defense, but our current situation was very difficult because of being on unfamiliar ground that the attackers knew about way more than we could have ever hoped to know. Before long, we could really find ourselves in a tight spot with no way out.

I could hear the sound of that man clicking his tongue in frustration. Then that man lowers me to the ground, and while still embracing me with one hand, he raises his staff up in the air with his other hand. At that exact moment the magic stone imbued within that man’s staff started to glow with the same color as that man’s eyes.

「Both sides, please lower your weapons!」

All of a sudden, a loud voice got through the hustle and bustle of the battlefield. At the same time, I could hear the sounds of horses and their hooves stomping on the sand, coming closer and closer from behind the carriage on both sides. Still remaining in that man’s tight embrace, I could see a cavalcade of majestic horses drawing closer to our position, kicking up dust and dirt into the air.

Was that newly arrived group our allies? Or perhaps our enemies? I was honestly unable to tell which of the two it was. The answer came to me as soon as I saw the bandits’ reaction to the newly arrived people. If it was someone they did not expect, or perhaps their enemies, their reaction would have been quite different from what it was right about now. As if to prove my theory, when the bandits saw the rider group approaching the place where we all were, they opened the circle and let the riders pass while bowing down to them. However, the person who was riding the horse before everyone else reached their finger and pointed towards us, then looked around the group of bandits as if wanting to be sure that everyone was listening.

「My friends!」

Those were words spoken not in the language of magicians, and it certainly was not a phrase that would be a spell that would be intended on causing us harm. Those were normal words spoken in a matter that you would direct at your friends and comrades. Or at least it sounded like that, since even someone like me was able to understand their meaning. At the same moment the wind starts to blow all around us, raising the particles of sand in the air, as if responding to that person’s call.

The sand changed color, reflecting the colors of the sky way above it, at first clear blue to orange and red. The wind gradually picks up and the small particles of sand start swarming all over the bandits that attacked us. No, not only those who attacked us. Looking closely, the sand was swarming all over the knights and the maids who were trying to fend the bandits off. It was also hard to determine if the screams that suddenly started to be heard all over the place belonged to the bandits, or maybe to the knights and the maids. For me it was even harder, since all this time I was being closely hugged by that man, and I could only hear him click his tongue once more in displeasure.

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