Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Inside a great forest, offering only a narrow single line of a path, the horse carriage drove along like it was chased by the devil. Compared to normal horses, the Sleipnirs possessed more horsepower and speed, and were used to going at full speed. Thanks to this, the Imperial Knights shouldn’t be able to catch up anytime soon.

Inside the carriage were Kyle’s group, as well as Princess Milena and the young maid Ninos, sitting in a circle. As expected from a personal horse carriage for the royalty, even with so much speed, the carriage didn’t shake at all, allowing for smooth travelling.

“First, I would like to thank you once again. Without your assistance, I would not be alive right now.” Princess Milena deeply lowered her head.

The maid Ninos seemed to be hesitant for a moment, but knowing that Kyle’s group did indeed save their lives, she followed suit and lowered her head as well. On a side note, Kyle and his group already finished introducing themselves.

“Just now…you said that Ze—The captain of the 2nd Imperial Knight Corps had planned this attack, is that true?”

“Yes, that is correct. And, the mastermind behind this is my step-brother Prince Carenas.”

“…Prince…Carenas, huh…” Kyle said, gritting his teeth.

When he heard Zentos name pop up before, he had a feeling that this was the case, but in the face of this revelation, he was at a loss for words.

“Um, so this is a family feud with the right of succession on the line…right?” Lieze asked from the side.

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Wow…” Receiving a straight answer, Lieze grew pale.

“Are you…really sure? 100%?” Kyle asked, despite knowing how rude he was.

Ninos seemed bothered by this conversation, but Princess Milena continued nonetheless.

“Indeed, I heard it from the person himself after all. We were tricked into drinking this sleeping medicine by Zentos’ hands, and as my consciousness drifted away, I heard my older brother speak to him about the details.”

Princess Milena heard of the calamity at the nearby village, and wanted to visit the people there, but the Imperial Knights warned her about the danger. Yet, Princess Milena stayed adamant, and took a small group of town guards with her. The Imperial Knights tried to chase after the princess, but the princess’ group was already attacked, and she had lost her life…or so was what the public was made out to believe.

That indeed was the official reason Kyle knew off, but this turned out to be the plot of the Prince Carenas. As expected, the prince himself can’t do anything on his own, Kyle sighed in disbelief.

“Basically, he used the fact that you would try to meet with the citizens of this country as much as possible, even if it meant changing your plans.” Lieze spoke up. “So just like in Archen.”

There, Seran spoke up, who had stayed quiet that entire time.

“I remember now. I was wondering where I had seen this girl before, but she was the one who gave you the flowers at that facility, right?” Seran pointed at Ninos, who showed a bewildered expression.

“My, you were watching us back then? A costume really can influence quite a lot, doesn’t it.” Princess Milena said, a bit surprised.

“I just thought that she was a cute girl, and I was imagining how she could grow up to become a beauty.” Seran said, and smiled at the young Ninos, but she just hid behind Princess Milena.

“That would mean…it was all just a setup?”

Cheer up a girl who tripped. It was simple, but raised her popularity astronomically. And, since this was possible, they must have planned the entire visit at Archen’s orphanage.

“Publicity stunts are crucial after all. However, visiting the village of Sanes was not in my range of plans. It was just a plot to spread around the news of the royal family caring about its citizens.” She put one hand on her mouth, and showed a faint snicker.

Kyle thought of the term ‘An angelic devil’s smile’, and shuddered.

“Did she just say a publicity stunt?”

“I feel like I touched something I should have never even seen…”

“Well, popularity is the most crucial thing for people in power after all.”

“…I guess that human politicians have it rough.”

Ignoring sword Shildonia, Seran and the others all silently talked to each other. Naturally, since they were still inside the carriage, the person in question could hear them just fine, but didn’t bother, and continued with her explanation.

“I knew that my older brother held such ambitions. However, I ignored this fact, assuming that he didn’t have the talent and the ability to actually come up with such a plot.”

“Um…so you’re saying that he’s not very talented.”

“Yes, honestly speaking, he is useless. He is quite possibly inept to actually fulfil his role as a member of the royal family.” Despite Kyle trying to phrase it a bit more softly, Princess Milena showed no restraint in her words. “That being said, the circumstances changed as soon as he got Zentos as his ally. He is talented, and a favorite of the public.”

“But, how could that useless—Excuse me, Prince Carenas make Captain Zentos and the knights into his allies?” In the face of Kyle’s question, Princess Milena shook her head.

“No, if I had to guess, only the 2nd Knight Corps and Zentos himself are serving my older brother.”

“So then, the Imperial Knights are only following the orders of their superiors?” Seran asked, surprised.

“Indeed. I don’t know if they’re having doubts or not, but orders are orders.”

“Maybe they should be thinking about themselves some more…” Seran sighed, but none other than Princess Milena denied that.

“If the soldiers started to act according to their own will, the army would fall apart. Faithfully following the orders of their captain is what makes them Imperial Knights. There exists not a single Imperial Knight who would prioritize their own personal feelings and desire over their orders.”

“And that explanation is enough for them to ignore the assassination of their own country’s princess?” Kyle asked, doubtfully, to which Princess Milena nodded along.

“It will, yes. If Captain Zentos tells them that they were private orders from my father, the king, then they had to obey.”

All Zentos had to do was explain with something on the lines of ‘The princess is under the doubts of rebellion against the royal family, but since she possesses absolute popularity, we cannot remove her in public. There, we’ll take care of her by using the magical beasts in the area. That is the order we received’, and they would have to obey. No matter how they felt inside, if Zentos argued that these were private orders from the king, there was no talking back.

“That is why those who work under the Imperial Knights’ captain cannot act according to their own feelings, and are chosen because of their loyalty. As the captain of the 2nd Knight Corps, Zentos Oldi, he should have been a knight like that, and yet…” Princess Milena shook her head.

She still seemed in disbelief as to how this could have happened.

“Not to mention that Zentos’ duty had been to watch over my older brother so that he wouldn’t attempt anything foolish, possessing direct supervision over him. And, I hadn’t doubted Zentos in the slightest. When my older brother gained Zentos as an ally, I had already lost. It was a fatal mistake of mine to not see through this plot.” Princess Milena sighed. “Of course, I had kept my attention high, and always kept someone with me. When I left the royal capital, I had the 5th Imperial Knight Corps with me. The captain of this 5th Corps, Kirlen, is a relative of my mother, someone very close to me. However, because of their public appearance, they often are summoned to rituals and festivals.” There, Princess Milena held her hand over her forehead and right eye, as if she suffered from a severe headache.

Even that sight of her was like a painting so beautiful, but Kyle swallowed that thought.

“This time, the 5th Corps had been summoned to the royal capital to deal with state guests. That is why Zentos and this 2nd Corps have come with me on my journey. Since my faith in Zentos could only lose against Kirlen’s, I didn’t give it much thought…But, I should have guessed that something was off when my older brother tagged along.”

Of course, it couldn’t compare to Princess Milena, but Kyle had equal feelings. An assassination to gain the right to the throne, it was too easy to understand as a motive, but Kyle never once doubted this. He trusted the skill of the former spy that delivered him this detailed information, and since he had met both Prince Carenas and Zentos in the previous world, this was out of his range of expectations. His image of the both was practically the same as Princess Milena’s, and his trust towards Zentos ran very deep. From the bottom of Kyle’s heart, he would have never believed that Zentos would do such a thing.

I should have expected this…

Kyle sighed without anybody noticing, and shook off these gloomy feelings to focus on the more important matters.

“I see, I get the circumstances. So, the problem is what we should do from now on, right.”

“I don’t think the other side will just quit, huh.” Seran said, and Kyle nodded.

“Now that their assassination failed, they must be considering other measures…Princess Milena was taking capture by a mysterious group, and was killed in the process…or something like that.”

“Yes, I arrived at that conclusion as well. The 2nd Corps must be heading towards my rescue, chasing after the abductors—at least under such pretense.”

“Abductors? Who even…Oi, hold on?” Seran pointed at his own face, to which Kyle nodded. “Then what? We became the enemies of the country?” Her asked.

“That’s right. We’re evil folk ready to kill city guards.” Kyle said, looking over at the princess.

“I see. And now that you explained the situation to us, we cannot pull back out of this, huh?” Seran grumbled.

“Indeed.” Princess Milena said, not a single glimmer of shame in her voice. “Escaping until the 5th Corps arrives tomorrow will be impossible for me and my two maids. As of right now, we can only rely on your group to protect us.”

The reason Princess Mirena explained the circumstances around the scandal related to the royal family is for Kyle and the others to understand the situation. Now, from Prince Carenas point of view, Kyle’s group had to be silenced at all costs, even if it meant killing them. Even if they cast aside the princess here in order to survive, the prince would surely get this information out of the princess before he goes to kill her.

After that, he could easily frame Kyle’s group for the assassination of the princess, and completely erase any tracks leading up to him. In order to avoid that, Kyle and the others should make Princess Milena stay quiet about their existence, but that was not an option either. Basically, they had to safely escort the princes to the royal capital, or they were dead meat.

“We are in the same boat, so let us survive this together.” Princess Milena must have guessed Kyle’s conflict, as she grinned at him with a charming smile.

It seems like she wasn’t just clever, but also possessed necessary courage when needed.

“Well, we never had the choice to leave you alone, at least not for me…” Kyle said, showing a wry smile.

“Oh my, what do you mean?” Princess Milena gently tilted her head.

“I’m sure that the driver and attendant were Imperial Knights in disguise, and although I wanted to ask them a few things, I completely forgot to bring them with us.”

Finding out about Zentos was that much of a shock, the fact that they must have seen their faces slipped Kyle’s mind entirely.

“That means you won’t be able to discard us either, I see.” Princess Milena put her hands together with a smile, to which Kyle showed a grin. “Naturally, we will promise you a worthy reward if you were to safely escort us to the royal capital. You could even receive the rank of a knight…” The princess explained.

“No, we don’t need money or rank. If possible, I’d like to ask for honor and prestige.”

“…What an odd thing to ask for.”

The day passed on, and around the time the sun started to set, the horse carriage had made great progress. If no further problems arose, they would make it to the village of Sanes.

“Then we’re the rat inside the bag.” Kyle said, observing the map.

The main road they were moving on would be a dead end inside the village of Sanes, and they could not use the horse carriage any further. That’s probably why the enemy party chose to act immediately, driving Kyle’s group into a corner.

“To sum up the situation, our goal is to buy time until assistance arrives.”

The assistance Princess Mirena spoke of was the 5th Imperial Knight Corps, and their plans were to arrive either early the next day, up to noon.

“Since I won’t be around in Archen, Kirlen and the others should immediately move to look for me. Even if they come all the way out here to Sanes, it will take until tomorrow night until we get reunited.”

“What’s the chances of there being fake information spread in Archen?”

“I doubt it’s plausible. Giving any false information and lies in such a situation would just make you seem suspicious instead. Not to mention that they should assume I have died during that attack.” Princess Milena argued. “At this point in time, their plan is breaking apart.” She continued. “Once the 5th Corps joins us, our fighting strength will be equal. And, any ruckus caused by this fight would only trouble the enemy party as well.”

“That’s why they’re panicking like this…”

Basically, if they made it up to the latest tomorrow night, it would be their victory. However, they would actually need to buy that time.

“What about us escaping inside the village, barricading ourselves?” Seran offered an idea, but Kyle shook his head.

“Don’t think so. If I had to guess, they would either bribe the village, or kill them all.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, they already went this far, so taking care of a village with like 100-200 people doesn’t seem like they’d try to avoid. They can just put it all on another magical beast attack, or a bandit slaughter.”

“How forceful, huh.”

“How about we escape inside the forest?” Urza spoke up.

To elves, a forest was like their backyard. If they had Urza’s assistance, hiding inside the forest surely would be possible. However, that would mean they had to leave the horse carriage. Since their main goal was to protect the princess, this would be too difficult inside the forest.

“My apologies, I can’t be of much use. If I were to run away inside the forest, I would most likely only pull you down.”

Not to mention that the forests at night were crowded with magical beasts, making them even more dangerous.

“Another problem is using fire.”

“Fire, huh…A forest fire would be very troublesome.” Urza showed a bitter expression.

To elves, who lived in the forest and saw it as their home, that would be unthinkable, surely.

“If we’re out of time, then we will probably make a momentaneous decision.”

“And, you’re pushing that onto us, huh.” Urza sighed in disbelief.

Not to mention that leaving the carriage behind would hurt quite a bit. It was useful to move quickly, but together with the size and weight of the Sleipnirs, they also possessed high destructive power. On top of that, they were trained to protect the royal family, able to be used as shields for the princess. Their situation wasn’t exactly in their favor, but they still had a trump card.

‘The knights are still heading your way. They seem to be about 80 in total.’ A warning came in from Shildonia.

She was still soaring through the sky with her hawk shape, telling Kyle of the current situation on the enemy’s side.

“That Intelligence Sword sure is convenient.” Princess Milena spoke with admiration.

An Intelligence Sword is a sword that holds knowledge and personality, a type of magic entity. Kyle explained his possession of this by saying he happened to pass by a ruin from the ancient days, and spotted this sword there.

“Alright.” Kyle thought about it for a second, but eventually made up his mind. “It’s dangerous, but we should probably turn back.”

“Turn back? Towards Archen?” Princess Milena asked.

“Contrary to a single village, Archen has thousands of inhabitants. They cannot silence all of them.”

“Indeed, if we could make it to Archen, they wouldn’t dare put their hands on us, and we could find a place to hide…”

“And, we could group up with the 5th Knight Corps faster. Possibly, we could guarantee your safety even tomorrow morning, or at noon.”

“However, we will have to make it past the approaching knights then. Do you have a method in mind?” Princess Milena seemed dubious at Kyle’s idea.

She was correct with her question. With the slim main road they travelled on, they would definitely bump into their pursuers.

“No, there’s no need to sneak past them, we will attack them head-on.”

“…Excuse me? Um…there will be roughly 80 knights coming to attack us, right?” For a second, Princess Milena looked at Kyle in pure disbelief, but seeing Kyle so serious, she fell silent.

Of course, Kyle thought about it plenty, and this was the most efficient method he arrived at. Silently, Kyle asked Shildonia.

“Zentos isn’t with them, right?”

‘The person who had been with the princess, right? I can’t spot him anywhere.’

“I see…That is great news.”

Zentos was not chasing them right now. Kyle didn’t know why, but it was convenient for him.

“Then, we definitely have a chance to win. We just have to find a good location for our attack, and prepare.” Kyle said, and took out a magic stone and magic medicine from the bag at his back.

“Oh my.” Seeing the large amount of magic stones, Princess Milena’s face was filled with shock.

“You hold on to some magical medicine as well, Milena-sama, and drink it in case you get injured.”

It was the highest grade of healing medicine, able to treat even fatal wounds as long as you were still alive. Of course, it cost half a fortune, so it made sense for Princess Milena to be this shocked. She actually held on to some medicine before, but that got stolen from her as she slept.

“……” Princess Milena looked at Kyle and his group again.

So far, she never thought too deeply about it, but they had managed to beat two trained knights, and even a large Hydra. Not to mention that Kyle defeated the Hydra one-on-one. And now, this large amount of magic stones and magic medicine, it was clear that they were not your average adventurers.

“Just…who are you?”

Kyle shrugged his shoulders.

“We’re just people aspiring to become heroes.”

***

“Just what happened!?”

Inside the inn room where Princess Milena and her maids stayed. A single man was walking up and down inside the room, screaming in anger at the knight in front of him. He wore noble clothes, possessing a small, and rather well-endowed belly, his name being Carenas. He was the prince of this country.

Standing in front of him was the most admired knight in this kingdom, the captain of the 2nd Imperial Knight Corps, Zentos. On the table near them was a card with Ancient Magical Letters written on it, and it allowed you to communicate with someone at a distance further away. You could only use it several times a day, and the conversation could only last for roughly ten seconds, but it still was a rare magic item from the Ancient Magic Kingdom era.

Using this, Carenas received a report from the vice-captain of the Knight Corps.

“No need to worry. We will be able to cut down Princess Milena soon enough.” Zentos said, lowering his head.

“Then, why are you here! You should be heading there directly!”

“I have ordered the vice-captain to deal with the situation in the event of failure, so there is nothing to worry about. And, have you not told me to take control of this, your Highness?”

“O-Of course, but I still need to be here!”

“That is true, but that is exactly why I cannot leave your side. The 5th Corps will be back soon enough, and you must know of Captain Kirlen’s fierce personality. As well as her trust and faith in Princess Milena.”

“Ugh…” Prince Carenas was at a loss for words.

“Their plans of arrival are tomorrow, but in the event that they arrive here faster than expected, they will most definitely rush to help the princess. What will you do then?”

“T-That’s…” The prince knew that these women wouldn’t hold back from even striking down royalty to protect their princess.

And, there was only Zentos who could protect the prince from them.

“Shit!” Prince Carenas kicked away a nearby chair in rage.

This was the perfect chance to aim for the princess’ assassination, and possibly the first as well as the last one. Now that he acted, failure was not allowed.

“Not to mention that in the event that we fail, we can just push it all onto the vice-captain, so it would be best that we are not present at the scene.”

“Ahhh, you’re right! That’s important! Of course, I came up with that idea myself, but I praise you for realizing that as well.”

Naturally, Zentos didn’t dare comment on that.

“More importantly, there is no way the princess will be able to escape. She should be surrounded by a large forest, and she can only use the main road with her horse carriage. Even if she were to attempt an escape through the woods with her dress, she would most likely get killed by a magical beast, and we blocked off any exit from Archen so that she won’t run into anyone. If she were to escape to the village, we won’t show any restraint, so rest assured.” Zentos spoke indifferently, delivering an explanation with no emotion inside. “And…in the one in a million chance that the princess comes back to Archen…I should be on stand-by here.”

“Are you saying that they’ll break through the knights we sent?”

“I would expect exactly that, yes. The chances may be low, but that must be their greatest chance at survival.”

Zentos didn’t receive a detailed report, but he knew that the group who saved the princess defeated two knights and a large Hydra. They were probably adventurers that happened to be around, but quite strong at that. Judging from that, they must have arrived at this choice of returning to Archen.

“At that time, I will cut down all of them…As long as the heavens don’t align with the princess’ luck, she will die today.”

Prince Carenas seemed to have finally calmed down thanks to Zentos’ words, and sat down on a chair.

“Listen, now that you’re under my command, I won’t allow any failure! Don’t disappoint me any further!”

“Leave it to me, I will most definitely fulfill your expectations.” Zentos took a knee, and lowered his head towards the prince.

However, Carenas had no way of knowing just what expression Zentos had on his face.

***

On the main road, as the sun had set already, Kyle was driving the horse carriage, as he spoke out towards the inside of the horse carriage. Inside were the princess, her two maids, and Lieze.

“Princess and maids, you should keep your bodies down, and be ready for any incoming attack. Lieze, protect them.”

“Leave it to me.” Lieze gave an energetic response.

‘About time.’

Shildonia continued to watch over the soldiers from high up in the air, and informed Kyle regarding the timing.

“I see, then…[Brave]!”

This was magic to control the mind, giving beginners without experience or town guards the courage to fight. With this magic cast on them, the Sleipnirs won’t be shaken by what was about to happen.

“Preparations done over there?” Kyle called out to the top of the horse carriage.

“Yup, all ready!”

“All good.”

So that they wouldn’t be shaken off, Seran and Urza had their bodies tied to the roof. Confirming this, Kyle gently snapped the reins. The Sleipnirs responded, and now started running towards Archen.