Chapter 46

With that sharp sound marking the start of the fight, the Illavenian delegation split into two. The knights who had drawn their swords started running away on horseback towards a colorfully decorated white carriage on the left side and a beige-colored carriage on the right side. The raiders were stunned for a moment.

Janan barely managed to suppress his instinctively energetic body, which was caused by seeing a third carriage left behind in the empty field. The escorts who remained, unable to escape, soon came to their senses and moved to protect the carriage. Their number only totaled around ten.

Janan then realized. These people are discarded pieces. To preserve his own life, the 2nd Prince even threw away his subordinates. His heartlessness and cowardice could be vividly seen.

The commander of the Knights of White Night skillfully parried a sword attack. A regular person would have broken either their sword or their arm. The commander backed away immediately after he collided with Tyreng. He seemed to be wary of Tyreng’s strangely strong power. The Knight Commander rode his horse out of the empty field straight away.

Tyreng and Janan watched the Knight Commander. It was widely known that Ricardis’ carriage was white, but there was no certainty that he was in it. The prince wouldn’t sit quietly in his carriage unless he’s an idiot, so he must have swapped his carriage with someone else’s. The 2nd Prince’s limb and the strongest sword in the White Night: Starz Falhas. If not him, who else will protect Ricardis? Wherever he goes, the 2nd Prince Ricardis must be there.

However, as if defying their speculation, the Knight Commander followed the white carriage running to the left. It was a situation that betrayed Janan’s expectations to the point of disappointment— this implied that some other idiots with simple thoughts must have been correct.

“Team 1 and 2 will chase after the white carriage. Team 3 will chase after the other one! Team 4, deal with the rest here!”

[Note: To better set the scene, there’s a white carriage + escort, a beige carriage + escort, and another stationary carriage + ‘escorts who were left behind.’ This is how the Illavenian delegation split up.]

At Tyreng’s voice, the raiders dispersed. Janan, the leader of the 2nd team, had to follow the white carriage immediately at the command of his captain. However, he just stopped and looked around. A strange, unfamiliar sensation gripped his ankles.

[E/N: Gripped his ankles = stopped him in his tracks. The feeling has him frozen, so he can’t move.]

‘Something... Something is strange.’

A knight with a somewhat different atmosphere stood out. The knight was wearing a cloak so he couldn’t see their face well, but they made eye contact with him once. The knight had green eyes that would glow blueish if the sun reflected on them, like the calm waters of a lake. They were eyes that did not feel any fear or despair about this situation.

The knight seemed to have noticed Janan’s gaze and flipped back the cloak covering their head. Their black hair, tied up high, was exposed, and it began to get wet in the rain. It was a woman. There is no way they would entrust a female knight with an important person in the delegation. Janan concluded that there was nothing to gain from the third carriage left in this empty field.

He thought his anxiety was an unnecessary compulsion as there were other things left that had to be sorted out quickly.

“Group 4, clean up the site and cover Group 1 and 2.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, sir.”

The team members slightly bent their bodies and soon stood. The escort knights around the carriage showed signs of nervousness.

“Kill them all.”

“!”

A faint light spread through the gray forest. It was the light of life that stopped bleeds and healed wounds. And there was no way Janan didn’t know what that meant.

‘This is crazy! Why is the prince still here?’ Janan roared. He had to let the others know that the 2nd Prince is here.

“The-!”

‘The 2nd Prince is here!’ However, he did not complete his sentence. The woman, who was looking this way with shining eyes, swiveled her foot out wide. Her dark hair circled like a hurricane following her wild movements. She rushed in with the sound of the wind. The sword in her hand was nowhere to be seen.

Cough. Janan coughed up blood. A sword had precisely lodged under his neck. The woman flew away before even checking whether he’d live or die. One couldn’t even measure her speed.

‘T- This is bullshit... N- No, it’s...’ Janan’s body collapsed and fell to the ground. His flowing blood mixed with the puddles of rain.

***

The white carriage running along the bumpy road constantly rattled. Although its speed was significantly slower than that of his horse, Tyreng was still only chasing the back of the carriage. ‘This time... This time we will catch it!’ The raiders vigorously kicked the horse’s side to gain speed.

It was then...

“Uwaaaaahk!”

“Aaaakh!”

Something descended from the sky at high speed, barreling past Balta’s raiders. It reminded them of a gangster pounding people on the shoulder in a crowded market as they passed through. Of course, it was several times more painful and threatening than that.

There was a gigantic eagle the size of two or three humans that could effortlessly devour them. For a moment, Tyreng thought that a demonic beast had appeared, but he immediately realized that this hypothesis was wrong. It acted unlike regular demonic beasts, which did not know how to identify their enemy and just destroyed everything in their way.

Seeing it only attacked the raiders, it’s clear the eagle had been tamed by someone. As the team members were ambushed, some fell off their horse, making the following team members trip and fall one after the other to the ground.

By the time they almost recovered their original position and pursued again, the white carriage was still far away. The situation kept repeating.

“God damn it!”

Tyreng groaned and spit out a swear word. Even when he threw a dagger as the eagle descended, it mysteriously avoided it as if it knew his tricks. And when their eyes met, the eagle even shook its head as if teasing him! One could not explain this situation of being played with by a single bird with any other words but shameful. Tyreng’s face turned red.

The Holy Empire Illavenia. Their god Idelavhim is said to have borrowed the form of an eagle when he appeared in the human world. Eagles were famous for being intelligent species, but it shouldn’t be at the level of this flying beast floating over his head. This one seemed like something great and out of reach draped itself in the skin of an eagle. ‘Could it be that this is the true messenger of Idelavhim?’