With all of them present inside the medium-sized carriage, an opportunity was struck.
"So, I believe that you owe us an explanation. Yes?" The female with the large hat didn't even bother waiting, she offered them to talk and her expression said that she wasn't taking a no for an answer.
"..." The female knight stared at the mage, alongside the archer who was seen sitting across the carriage and the warrior who was currently tying up one of the cloaked figures.
She took a deep breath before answering.
"I am Arnheid, the twelfth sword of the kingdom. That man that you are currently treating is the eleventh shield of the kingdom. We were tasked to escort thisโฆ young lady to a certain location."
Cliff's ears perked up. Did he just hear her correctly? The sword and shield of the kingdom?
"Before you continue, lassie. I believe that we should get out of here first, yes?" The warrior stepped in between the conversation, prioritizing their safety before information. Enrid went to the front of the carriage and led the horse back on the path they were treading earlier.
The two females nodded. Esther resumed back to closing the gaping hole that the shield knight received earlier, while the sword knight kept the girl behind her safe and hidden.
It was eerily quiet with only the sound of the injured man panting and grunting in pain as he gets treated with magic and a minor health potion and the sound of the vehicle they are in moving within the road. The carriage was filled with negative vibes, such as fear, disgust, etc.
It was only broken by somebody who asked a question without thinking about it first. Naturally, it was Cliff.
"...She must be royalty, based on how desperate you both were earlier to protect her."
Arnheid's body twitched. It was obvious for him thanks to his WIS status being high enough to notice small behaviors.
"Is she a princess?"
His crimson pupils pierced through the hidden barrier of truth that she placed upon herself by being silent. There are things that people need to know, that silence can mean yes in some situations.
Arnheid stood up and grabbed the handle of her sword, with the intent to pull the blade out from the sheathe.
But before she could even pull it out, the red-haired archer sighed and left himself completely open by putting both of his hands up in the air.
"I am Cliff Carmesi, a son of the Carmesi family, a lineage of mages and worshippers of the divine phoenix."
By revealing his identity, he essentially doxxed himself. There is no point in doing that unless you ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ want somebody to trust you.
Fortunately, she stopped herself from completely unsheathing her blade and sat back down on the wood platform of the carriage. The sound of her armor clanging reached their ears, but thankfully it wasn't loud enough to wake up their hostage.
The silence went on for like only a few minutes but it felt like forever. Unexpectedly, a certain injured knight spoke.
"...I-ighโฆP-please, h-help us and her majestyโฆ" He begged for their assistance as he tried to get up, but his body wasn't able to muster up enough energy for it.
"Reinarโฆ!"The female knight was speechless, she could only utter his name but not what she wanted to say. Her body moved, and she went beside him and grabbed his hand.
"A-arnheidโฆ Y-you mustn't leave her ma-majesty's side at all t-timesโฆ" The knight worriedly expressed his concerns but the female knight was more concerned about him.
The female knight took off her helmet from her head and set it down on the ground, her golden hair tied up onto a bun using a blue cloth. Her dark blue eyes glistened as water came out from her tear glands.
"What are you talking about? We're on a carriage, idiotโฆ! These people can look out for us for a few minutesโฆ Just let me have this momentโฆ!"
The hooded princess remained still on the corner but it is obvious that she's staring at both of her retainers. Her movement showed that she wanted to also go beside them and talk, but couldn't for some reason.
The red-haired lad looked at Esther who seemed to be thinking about something. She noticed the boy looking at her, so she sighed and released the thoughts that were forming inside of her mind.
"If we were to escort them to the City of Ordelia, it'll take four days at best. However, that means that you won't be able to take the test in time." Esther didn't mince her words, she straight up told him that he'd miss his only one and opportunity to be a student of Aria Academy.
"Not only that, you'll be endangered. It's a kill-or-be-killed mission. You think you're ready for such a thing?" She asked, yet she already knows the answer.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐จ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บโฆ
"I'm afraid Iโ We will have to refuse. Our original goal was to go to the City of Bristella, a city near the academy." She walked towards the side where a world map was plastered on a wooden wall and pointed at both the cities of Bristella and Ordelia.
"Once we reach a certain distance, there will be a fork road. The way to Bristella is on the left path while Ordelia is on the right path. Both of them take four days of traveling, without the risk of being attacked." After explaining, all of them who were inside the carriage realized that all of them were at risk of being attacked.
"So, I'm afraid we'llโ"
Before she could finish her sentence, Arnheid interrupted, "We'll give you compensation for it, as long as you take us safely to Ordelia."
Cliff and Enrid knew what time it was whenever Esther got interrupted in the middle of explaining. They could already feel her energy rising to a dangerous level, so Cliff tried to use his body to intervene.
"N-now nowโ"
๐ฃ๐๐๐ต!
Before he could even do anything, he got pushed aside by the mage of ice.
"Doโฆ Do you think that I'm doing this for money? I'm honoring a dead man's wish here! No amount of money could ever make me rethink my choice to send this kid to his academy!"
Arnheid closed her eyes as if she already made her decision "Twenty Platinum Coins."
"WHAT?!" Her jaw dropped, and the mage of ice couldn't believe what this knight just offered her.
"Wha?!" Cliff was even more surprised.
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅโฆ! ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆโฆ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด! ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด?!
"A-allow me to talk to my comrades firstโฆ" Her attitude and tone certainly change when a large sum of money is involved. She dragged Cliff to the front of the carriage by his shirt and the trio is back together again.
"I thinkโฆ we should take itโ" Cliff did not hesitate to accept the money.
"Whatโ?! Why?! You'll miss your entrance exam!" Esther is certainly not agreeing with his decision based on her reaction. After all, she did say that it was not about the money.
"It's the princess of our kingdomโฆWouldn't we be betraying our kingdom if we do not aid them?" Cliff made a reasonable answer, but he knew that it wasn't enough.
"Lad, we're former criminals. Ya think being branded as people who did treason worries me and my loveliness?" Enrid, who was holding the reins, spoke his opinion about the matter. With a carefree expression, he continues to smile while keeping the carriage moving.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ!
Then, a fist came from behind and punched the back of his head. It was Esther, as expected.
"Don't call me loveliness, we aren't in that type of relationship yet!"
Yetโฆ? So he's allowed to call you that when that time comes?
"Anyway, as I was saying earlierโฆ This isn't about the money. Even though her money offer is high enough for the two of us to retire, it doesn't come without risk." The mood darkened, what she was saying was the truth. High risk, high reward.
"We'll be endangering ourselves against people who are far stronger than us and there's a chance that we could get killed in action."
Just the thought of the three of them protecting the knights and the princess with their feeble equipment against people who overwhelmed them is making the red-haired kid shiver. The thought of losing his friends is terrifying.
"Even soโฆ it is not right. It's a little girlโฆ!" Cliff continued to attempt to convince the two of them.
"A little girl with high authority." Enrid butted in and emphasized who they are going to be protecting.
"A little girl nonetheless! She's not mature enough to know that she holds such power! Didn't you see her shaking in fear when they were being attacked?!" He accidentally raised his voice. It was obvious that he was worked up, but the reason why is unknown.
"Kid, you don't know how dangerous the situation is!" The two experienced adventurers know how this mission will go. It is surprising to them that the one who is supposed to go to the academy is trying to convince them to abandon their original goal.
"I do know! But I can't stand them looking so hopeless! They're fighting to survive! Why can't you accept this mission???" Cliff demanded an explanation.
"๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ! ๐ช๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐! ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐'๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ'๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ!" He got one, not from Esther but from Enrid, the warrior who was always agreeing with him.
The lad was stupefied. The two of his masters and friends are against his decision.
"...It is my decision, my life! You two do not have the right to force your decisions on my life! If I say we're helping them, We! Are! Helping! Them!"
He whined, like a spoiled kid. Yet the two couldn't fire back. They were baffled because this was also the same attitude he had when they first revealed their identities to him.
The two of them went silent and looked at each other before nodding and sighing together.
"Your stubbornness saved you, so don't regret this choice later." Esther squinted her eyes, filled with bloodlust and anger. Her energy switched, she's like an angry mother right now.
"Y-yes ma'am." He trembled.
Then, they both returned to the back of the carriage.