Volume 1 - CH 2

「A Surprise Attack Isn’t Cowardly」Part 1

The sixteen year old girl also wore a luxurious light-blue dress, with the glow of the sunset which entered through the carriage’s window giving it a crimson tinge.

Inside the carriage, the only other person was me, her maidservant. While usually it was a place for idle chitchat, now neither of us spoke a word.

After a while the speed of the carriage suddenly slowed, then the neighing of a horse was heard. The coachman’s window opened, and he offered an apology.

“Sorry, Ojou-sama. The horses aren’t able to last any longer, so you will have to walk from now on.”

From the time when the bandits ambushed until now, the horses have been constantly pulling the carriage. It appears that they have finally reached their limits. As expected, it was a harsh task even for four horses. Well, if anything, it was the horse of the knight that suffered the most.

When I peered outside the window, I saw the middle-aged man tying up his horse next to the carriage. He was one of the knights under the service of the Rubierute household, Maudlin-sama. The remaining escorts gathered around him.

Maudlin-sama finished wiping the sweat off his horse’s neck with a towel. His hair was short and tidy, and he sported a well-groomed mustache. Even though he was clad in light body armor, his stature revealed the toned muscle underneath.

“Maudlin-sama, did the bandits give up?”

From the window of the carriage, I asked while looking back at him.

At the voice of Maudlin-sama, I felt my head finally clear up. I scrambled off the carriage and kicked the body of the coachman out of the wheels’ path. With the rear wheels now unblocked, the carriage could move again.

I tried to board the bloodstained coachman’s seat, only to have my maid uniform grabbed from behind, forcing me onto the ground. My back struck the ground heavily, and all the air in my lungs were forced out. From the corner of my eyes, I saw one of the guards collapsing onto the ground.

The bandit who had pulled me down and was now dragging me entered my view. He had a vulgar smile on his face.

At the boss’ words, the stained underwear was removed quickly. Ojou-sama’s wet chestnut bush was exposed to the obscene eyes of the men.

“Nooo!!! Let me go!!”

Desperate wanting to get away from the stares of the men, she flailed her feet in an attempt to get away. However, the boss made one of the bandits hold her feet down, while he removed his pants and exposed his dirty thing.

“Stop! Do you know what will happen if you do such a thing!!” I voiced my condemnation to the men.

“Before worrying about others, you should first worry about for yourself!”

In the next moment, the torso of the boss slid off. The bandits who were holding the feet had nothing from the neck up, their heads rolling on the ground faced the direction of sunrise. The bandits in charge of the wrists had their heads split in half, the spraying blood magnificently covered a nearby thicket, dyeing the scenery already colored by the sunset even more red.

The boss’s upper body landed near Ojou-sama, and in a half-frenzy she kicked it away. The remaining lower body released a white cloudy fluid from a certain thing that stood erect in the pool of blood.

For the man who had his dirty thing out while straddling my abdomen and the man who held me down, their brain finally realized that something abnormal was happening.

“Uwaaaah!!! M-monsteeer!!!”

The two men scrambled to get away, but the man who had his pants down tripped, and fell down close to me. Before I noticed, the tip of the knight’s sword had already swung down, and the man collapsed on the ground like a frog that had been stepped on.

The silver knight pulled his sword from the skewered man, and turned towards the man still running. Slowly, with a single step, he swung his sword, once again sending out a white flash. By all accounts, he merely cut the air in front of him, while the man had run quite a distance. And yet, the upper and lower body of the fleeing man separated, collapsing onto the ground.

Until the bandits became lumps of flesh the knight did not speak; I simply sat there and blinked three times. With a light swing, the silver knight sheathed his sword. He then looked towards us, and a slightly muffled voice could be heard from the depths of the helmet that completely hid his expression.

“Are you alright?”