* * *
Anakin and his party were heading to the capital in the guild’s dedicated carriage for the request.
It was a simple request to merely deliver an item, but they couldn’t relax their guard even for a moment.
“Excuse me. If we go as fast as possible, how many hours will it take?”
The nervous Gilbert briefly stood up and asked the old coachman.
The coachman thought for a moment and then answered easily.
“The carriage has an enchantment for speed and no heavy cargo, so we should arrive in about seven hours.”
Since it was morning now, seven hours, even counting the time it would take to return using Hilde’s short-distance teleportation, meant they could just barely keep Pasadian’s curfew.
He had expected the round trip from the school’s central location to the capital to take more than a day, so this was a relief.
“There won’t be any trouble in the beginning. Usually, with these kinds of requests, the probability of danger increases the closer you get to the destination.”
“I see.”
Gilbert cleared his throat and asked Anakin and Hilde, who were sitting side by side.
“By the way, how did you two meet? I heard you took some classes together.”
“Ah, we took classes together at His Highness the Crown Prince’s social gathering. We watched an opera and things like that.”
Anakin reminisced about that time, tracing his memories.
There were pleasant memories, but there were also nightmare-like ones.
The incident where Anakin, Lillian, Hilde, and Airy almost died.
The opera was enjoyable, but it was a big incident that made it into the newspapers.
A fight between two of the five great magical schools, no less.
Come to think of it, the tremendously powerful mage he met there, Pavion, was also affiliated with Pasadian.
He remembered that Pavion had a very bad relationship with the Latus school.
Looking at it this way… wasn’t I destined to go to Pasadian from the start?
He suddenly wondered what Pavion was doing right now.
He wasn’t fighting somewhere again, was he?
He thought that Pavion was certainly capable of that.
“His Highness… the Crown Prince? May I ask for your family names?”
Gilbert, who couldn’t believe his ears, asked them again.
“I’m Anakin Decarte.”
“Hilde Astar.”
The moment he heard their family names, Gilbert couldn’t close his mouth.
And soon, he covered his forehead.
He thought his ominous premonition was coming true.
The Astar Ducal House and the Decarte Count House.
They were one of the formidable rulers of the East and South, great nobles who held an extremely high position even among the aristocracy.
If they were members of the Crown Prince’s social party, they wouldn’t be collateral family members.
He never dreamed he would actually meet the direct descendants of the great families he only heard about in books or newspapers.
To Gilbert, who grew up like a commoner in a family so insignificant it was embarrassing to call it noble, they were beings too far removed.
If the two of them were to lose their lives here, he would…
“…I will assist you well from now on.”
Suddenly, this mission felt extremely important, and Gilbert cleared his throat before speaking.
“Yes?”
When Anakin blinked his eyes in confusion at his abrupt statement, Gilbert gave the kindest smile in the world.
Seeing that, Hilde frowned and said.
“Just act as you usually do.”
“…”
At Hilde’s words, Gilbert’s expression immediately hardened.
“Yes, sir.”
Even as they were talking, the carriage was accelerating and running.
After traveling for quite some time.
Neigh.
The horse suddenly stopped.
At the same time, Anakin’s light body lurched forward.
Then, Hilde, who was next to him, wrapped his arm around Anakin’s upper body, supporting him.
He had caught Anakin so he wouldn’t be thrown out.
“It looks like we’ve finally arrived.”
Along with Hilde’s chilly voice, Gilbert nodded with a nervous expression.
“I’ll go out first.”
Gilbert got out of the carriage and calmly asked the coachman.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well… up ahead.”
Is it an enemy?
The highly nervous Gilbert stepped forward past the coachman.
What appeared, however, was much smaller than he expected… they were children.
Not small in number, but in size.
Three or four small children, about nine years old, spoke with terrified faces.
“P-Please save us. Scary people are trying to kill us.”
“…What? What are you talking about? Who is chasing you?”
Gilbert, who had expected bandits or gloomy assassins, was flustered by the sudden appearance of the children.
This was the first time this had happened to him, a man who wasn’t surprised by most things after years of mercenary life.
“Well…”
It was the moment the weeping child was about to speak.
Whoosh.
A sharp spear flew from the opposite direction at high speed.
“Gasp!”
Gilbert narrowly turned his body to dodge it, and the flying spear plunged into the center of a huge tree behind Gilbert.
Crack.
“…”
If he had been even a little slower, his head would have been pierced.
Cold sweat ran down from Gilbert’s neck to his waist.
“Are you okay?”
Anakin and Hilde, sensing the gravity of the situation, got out of the carriage to survey the situation.
Gilbert urgently explained to them.
“Be careful. They are using the children to catch us off guard and launch a surprise attack.”
At that, Hilde and Anakin turned their gaze to the trembling children in front.
And their expressions immediately hardened.
“This is…”
The group, who had grasped the situation, muttered with pale faces at the enemy’s somewhat cruel and shocking method.
“Anakin. Don’t leave my side.”
Anakin replied to Hilde’s words.
“Okay.”
Not long after the attack, black assassins sprang out of the bushes in a line.
There were about five or six of them.
Since their faces were thoroughly covered, only their fierce eyes, heavy with murderous intent, were visible.
“I knew it…”
Seeing this, Gilbert gritted his teeth and drew his sword from its sheath.
The moment Gilbert’s blade scraped against the air, the assassins rushed toward him at once.
Clang.
An assassin’s dagger lunged towards Gilbert’s vital spot.
Gilbert clenched his back teeth and blocked it with his sword.
Then, before he could feel relieved, the next attack immediately came.
It was so fast and agile that it was hard to keep up.
Assassins and mages have a terrible compatibility.
He could manage on his own, but he was worried about the children.
However, Gilbert quickly changed his mind.
…No.
Although they are young, they are disciples of the five great schools.
And disciples of Pasadian, which is so difficult to enter.
Their potential must be superior to most adult mages.
They won’t be easily defeated by mere thugs like these.
But damn it… he couldn’t stop the anxiety from rising.
Gilbert intended to quickly deal with these guys and rush to the children.
Meanwhile, Anakin and Hilde were responding more calmly than Gilbert had expected.
They covered their entire bodies with shields and cast long-range magic to keep the approaching assassins in check.
Although their attacks were fast, they weren’t very powerful.
They could scratch the shield, but they couldn’t penetrate the shield, which was instantly restored as long as there was mana.
“Fire Hand.”
Simultaneously with the incantation, flames ignited at Anakin’s fingertips.
When he threw the flames towards the approaching assassins, they flinched and backed away momentarily.
“Wind Wave.”
Soon, a sharp wind, enough to cut skin, surged like a wave.
Restoring the shield was exhausting due to the enemy’s fierce and rapid attacks, but Anakin was busy calculating the spell formations without time to worry about it.
Just then, a mana blade flew from the side, creating a crack in the barrier that he hadn’t had time to restore.
Snap.
Following that, a small scratch appeared on Anakin’s cheek.
Drip.
A red line of blood flowed from the ruptured blood vessel.
However, Anakin didn’t care.
Instead, seeing the blood made him feel more excited.
A tingling sensation, as if electricity was flowing from his toes.
A suppressed laugh that he couldn’t hide escaped.
“Haha. I’m bleeding.”
“Anakin, are you okay?”
Hilde, who was skillfully dealing with the assassins next to him, glanced at Anakin.
“Yeah. My cheek was just scratched a little.”
Hilde’s face suddenly contorted into a frown.
“What did you say?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the assassin who was fighting Hilde was hit by a condensed lightning magic imbued with power and was thrown far away.
Boom.
The force was enough to crack the ground.
At the very least, his face must have been smashed.
Anakin had no time to look away and cast the final spell on the enemy in front of him.
“Water Shower.”
A powerful water vortex enveloped the assassin.
Slice.
With a short and concise sound, the vortex sliced off the enemy’s leg.
Seeing his leg drop off like a toy, the assassin lost his composure due to the extreme pain and the reality that his limb had been severed.
“Uwaaagh!”
Then, his body was slowly being ground away.
Seeing that, Anakin quickly stopped the magic.
“Is everyone alright?”
After confirming that the children held as hostages were safe, Gilbert quickly ran towards Anakin and Hilde.
Gilbert was in a terrible state, as if he had gone through a quite intense battle.
Looking at Anakin, who was completely fine except for a single scratch, and Hilde, who was spotlessly clean, Gilbert said awkwardly.
“Haha… It seems I was the only one who struggled.”
“I was struggling a bit too.”
“Oh come on. I just saw the magic in front of my eyes… Huh?”
As Anakin spoke with a smile, Gilbert saw the small scratch on his cheek and screamed with a look of utter despair.
“No! How could this happen? What scoundrel dared to touch Sir Anakin’s face…”
* * *
