CH 34.2

It’s been four days since they left Treve. Perhaps due to the carriage’s unexpectedly fast speed, they successfully avoided encountering any pursuers from then on, and Roseline feels like it was almost too easy.

She was amazed at its performance when she first rode it, but Roseline has realized once again how abnormal this carriage is. These horses never tire. When you’re traveling by horse, you have to hurry as fast as possible while taking regular breaks, but these horses can run while maintaining their top speed even on mountain roads. If anything, it’s the humans who end up needing to take breaks. Thanks to this, they were able to move at a faster pace than expected, arriving at a town every day so that they don’t have to camp outdoors, and have almost made it to Charante. Just as their appearance would suggest, these horse-like beasts aren’t ordinary creatures. Although, since they’re magical horses, maybe this is normal for them.

It was in Treve that she learned that they were magical horses. When they arrived at the inn, just as a dark hole suddenly appeared before her eyes, the horses neighed and went inside the hole. It was such a strange spectacle that the inn employee, who had fearfully approached to take the eight-legged horses to the stables, was so surprised that he was unable to stand. The next day, the horses came out of the hole again, and Roseline realized that the horses were summoned by some sort of spell.

By the way, this was not the end of Chaos’s eccentricities. He was inside his room at the inn every time she passed by it, and he stayed in there all the way until morning. Roseline even invited him to dinner several times, but there was no reaction whatsoever, as if he was already asleep or there was nobody there. When she asked if he was eating out of curiosity, it seemed that he was eating by himself. Roseline thought that perhaps he was a man who didn’t like crowds and preferred being alone.

But in that case, why would he be accompanying her if he prefers being alone? He always responds when she talks to him in the carriage, and unlike the frivolous men who make passes at her during meals, he’s making no attempt to approach her. Roseline can’t figure out if he’s doing this out of good will or if he’s planning something.

However, their journey together is almost over. When Roseline arrives at Charante, she will surely be forced to make a difficult choice. The days she spent with him without revealing her identity were pleasant and were a comfort to her when she felt as if she would be crushed by her worries. She feels reluctant to part with him, but this can’t go on forever.

As Roseline is absorbed in these thoughts, a shadow is cast over the carriage. She looks up at the sky from the coachman’s box and sees several dragons soaring overhead. They’re heading south from Clermont to Charante.

From what she heard in Treve, dragon flights from Clermont shouldn’t be in service. She finds it hard to believe that the state of high alert would be lifted unless something big happened. In which case, it’s highly likely that those dragons were sent by them.

Roseline increases the carriage’s speed even further and hurries to Charante. She can see soldiers descending from the dragon in the lead. They are undoubtedly her pursuers.

“Chaos! Hang on tight!”

“What was thaaaaAAAH?!”

Roseline tugs the reins, pulling off the road leading to the city gates. The carriage tilts, and Chaos tumbles uncontrollably in the back, but this isn’t the time to be concerned about that.

A heavy weight drops down onto the carriage. The soldiers landed on the carriage. Roseline drives the carriage in zigzags to shake them off. Even though the soldiers sway, they don’t let go and they show no sign of falling. They’re stuck on tight.

They appear no different from humans. But according to Chaos, they are of a race in possession of tremendous strength, vampires. And they’re fully demonstrating that power in their attempt to fulfill their objective, deftly moving on top of the carriage which has few places to grab onto. Their objective is to force their way inside the carriage and kill Roseline, who knows their secret, as well as Chaos, her accomplice.

They are quickly approaching the walls of Charante. Without reducing the carriage’s speed, Roseline handles the reins. A powerful impact hits them. That impact is from the horse turning right just before colliding with the city walls, causing the carriage box to make a sharp turn and slam into the wall.

Unable to endure this, the soldiers fall to the ground with a thud. The splattered blood of a crushed soldier dyes the black carriage red.

Thankfully, in spite of the strong impact, the carriage is intact without even a scratch. Even so, the collision causes the carriage to lose speed.

They’ve surely spotted this opportunity. A soldier stuck to the right side of the carriage moves to the coachman’s box and kicks Roseline. Perhaps because the soldier was in a bad position, the attack itself isn’t particularly strong, and she doesn’t fall off of the coachman’s box. She does, however, let go of the reins.

The soldier then pins Roseline. Struggling against the vampire’s inhuman strength, Roseline is forcefully held down.

Rough breaths brush against Roseline’s forehead. Although the face of the soldier before her looks crazed with bloodshot eyes, it is still human. But only in appearance. The soldier’s mouth opens wide enough to make her wonder if he dislocated his jaw, exposing his sharp fangs. Thick, dripping fluid runs down Roseline’s cheek.

“Rosa!”

The soldier reacts to Chaos’s voice, looking up at him. There is a cracking sound. It is the sound of a wooden staff striking the soldier’s face. Having received a direct hit, the soldier puts a hand to his face and recoils. Roseline takes that opportunity to take out her knife, stab the soldier, and kick him away.

Without looking back at the soldier falling off the carriage, Roseline takes the reins. Perhaps because of the short time her hands left the reins, the carriage is gradually slowing. The soldiers who were unable to land on the carriage catch up with it and surround them.

“No way! But we made it so far!”

“We’re done for.”

“Why are you saying that so casually?!”

Roseline sends a sidelong glance at Chaos, who’s talking like this is someone else’s problem, and thinks. The risk is high, but they could forcefully break their way through. After that, they should be able to turn around and follow the walls back to the city gate. However, the soldiers wouldn’t give up there. If they escape into Charante, the soldiers would just keep chasing them. If that happens, they’ll end up having to fight inside the city. If they’re unlucky, the residents could get hurt.

Roseline decides to break through and run around the outside the walls. She turns the carriage around and busts through the encirclement. Although, she didn’t think about what she would do after running. Roseline can’t decide whether to just keep buying time or leave Charante.

“Rosa, look in front of you!” Chaos shouts, pointing to the cavalry lined up at the city gate where the carriage is headed. All at once, the knights on horseback lower their lances which are long enough to pierce the heavens, leaning forward as they take position. They’re clearly preparing to charge.

‘Has Charante fallen into their hands as well?!’

Roseline’s face fills with despair. But with the knights in front of them and the soldiers behind them, there’s no longer anywhere to escape.

“I’m sorry, Chaos. I dragged you into this.” He came with her without knowing her true identity, and thinking about how he’ll die because of her, all Roseline feels is regret.

“Don’t worry about it. After all, I decided to come here,” Chaos says, calm in the face of the knights who are rushing in to fight them. “Also… Those aren’t enemies.”

Like a river’s current moving out of a boulder’s way as it passes, the wave of knights splits into two as they approach the carriage. Then, after passing by the carriage, they kept going towards the soldiers behind them.

A lance charge. The lances pierce the foot soldiers, and the cavalry tramples them. The soldiers, who can’t do anything except stand bolt upright, get swallowed up by the waves of cavalry.

Roseline watches all of this in a daze.

“A– are we saved?”

“Yeah, it seems that way.”

Roseline breathes a sigh of relief. She feels like all of her tension from Clermont has dissipated all at once.

“I received a report that people were fighting outside the city walls, so I came running, but it appears that I made it in time,” an old knight says as he slowly approaches the carriage, accompanied by more knights, after the knights pass them by. Roseline recognizes that voice.

“Uncle!”

“Oh, Roseline! It’s been too long!”

Roseline rushes her way down from the carriage and runs over to the old knight. He descends from horseback, and Roseline embraces him.

“Oh my, how improper. Could you calm down a bit? Honestly, even though you’ve grown up, you haven’t changed a bit,” the old knight chides Roseline, but even as he does so, he holds her gently without trying to shake her off. The appearance of her uncle, who she hasn’t been able to see very often despite how close his territory is, hasn’t changed even the slightest bit from her memory of him.

He hasn’t changed. With her parents’ transformation still fresh in her memory, the fact that her uncle, her relative, hasn’t changed makes her more happy than anything. Tears flow endlessly from Roseline’s eyes.

***

Man, that really was a close one. Honestly, I was prepared to die when we were surrounded by a bunch of vampires, but we were coincidentally saved by a group of players.

With this many players gathered together, I wonder if they’re from some guild. …Maybe they’re from the guild that freed Charante. It seems a little too early to free a city when the event’s only just started, but if they’re a top class guild, maybe that would be no problem for them. Either way, they’re definitely a pretty strong guild. And that lance charge was so cool! Rushing in all at once while maintaining formation and destroying the enemy, that’s just way too powerful! That’s an attack a Magician like me would never be able to imitate. Man, I’m so jealous.

As I was thinking about this, a tall, kind-looking man called out to us. He seems dignified, with a calm demeanor. He has white hair, but he still looks young, around his 40’s or 50’s. There’s a bunch of people following him, so maybe he’s the guildmaster. Guildmasters of top-class guilds attract a lot of attention in the world of MMORPGs, and a lot of them are famous. I get a little nervous meeting someone like that, since I’m a nobody in comparison. After all, there aren’t many opportunities to meet celebrities.

It seems that this man is Rosa’s uncle. Siblings aside, it’s pretty rare for an uncle and niece to be playing an MMO together. …This isn’t a compensated dating thing, is it? An immoral thought passes through my head. But as I watched the two embrace, it didn’t look like an evil relationship like that, but one full of love that pulls at the heartstrings. How could I have thought something so heartless?

Judging by Rosa’s conversation with her uncle, it seems like they haven’t seen each other in quite a while. Rosa is so happy that she’s still hugging him. I’m sure the reason she was in such a hurry to get to Charante is because she wanted to see him.

There are lots of methods of communication, like letters, phone calls, and emails, but meeting in person might be the best out of all of them. But if the other person moves somewhere far away, it’s hard to create opportunities to see each other. Although these are only temporary bodies in a virtual world, they can still hug like this. It’s probably more moving than any other method of communication.

Good for you, Rosa. Seeing Rosa in tears almost makes me want to cry too.