The minutes that followed were bound to a conversational standstill, allowing me to enjoy the natural scenery outside. It was then I noticed an alarming sight.
On either side of each carriage, there now patrolled two to three men on horseback while wearing rudimentary armor. Accompanying the crude gear, they wielded identical swords and bows.
"That's new," Kamida said, pointing to our new guards.
Noticing what Kamida referred to, Takagi replied, "it doesn't matter how many bugs they send; I'll squash 'em all!"
Agawa turned her head and taunted Takagi. "You know, nobody will like you if all you do is start fights..."
He bared his fangs at her. "Fine with me. I don't make friends with bugs anyway."
Takagi's narcissism aside, the presence of the new soldiers concerned me.
A changing of the guard was definitely standard for any operation, but a reinforcing of it? That was a red flag anyone could recognize.
Typically, any commander worth their salt would reserve excess forces to preserve their strength. If they deployed now, their commander was foolish…or something was expected to happen.
Checking our surroundings, I failed to notice anything out of the ordinary.
The tree line was clear, except for the occasional woodland critter. Behind us was a free stretch of empty gravel road, and in front of us was…
Next, I saw a glint of sunlight as it reflected off a lone projectile.
It whizzed past our carriage, cutting through the air with absolute precision. An instant later, the arrow found its mark in a rear line guard's neck.
An explosion of blood spurted from him as he fell from his screaming horse.
I traced the arrow's trajectory and confirmed my suspicions.
"To arms! Bandits on the cliff sides straight ahead!" A shout accompanied by the alarm of a ringing bell came from the lead carriage.
Suddenly, the once peaceful atmosphere of the forest was replaced by war cries and the throes of death. On either side of us, our protectors desperately sought out any form of cover.
After finding their shields, our defenders loosed a volley of their own arrows back toward the bandits.
I peered cautiously out the carriage's front-facing window to see twenty, no thirty assailants lining the jagged cliffs surrounding the road. Each wielded primitive longbows and sprayed arrows at our convoy.
Our guards' fearful expressions... The overwhelming odds stacked against them. It was an all too familiar scenario for me.
I could've bolted out from here. I could've run out to aid the dying soldiers in any way I could. But I had no responsibility to. My only duty was to my countrymen, and that wouldn't change.
Besides, I already died once; there was no way I'd let it happen again so easily.
I apologized to the doomed soldiers. As much as I hated seeing men sacrificed in a losing battle, it wasn't my place to try being their "hero."
The sound of frantic whipping echoed from the rock walls surrounding us.
Then, right on cue, the carriages accelerated to breakneck speed. Simultaneously, the few guards left standing defended us with longbows and crossbows.
While passing by one of the attackers, I heard an alarming phrase. "Death to the Devil King's dogs! Death to Kirina Vlad!"
I locked eyes with the shouting bandit; it was a black-cloaked woman wielding a bow and a crude banner.
The banner itself was oddly nostalgic.
Lining its frayed cloth edges was a border of red dye. Streaks then converged inward to form a crimson Sun. Though it had minor differences, there was no mistaking it.
It was a flag signifying my homeland.
Her gaze fixed on me; she motioned her mouth and silently uttered a word. A word that concerned me more than her previous phrase.
What I thought she had told me was to "run."
As she finished, I saw a bright flash of light appear in front of us. Soon after, a thunderous clap shook the ground as the light exploded into a torrent of blue electricity.
The fractal blue arms pummeled the cliffs, forcing the attackers back.
The impact of the lightning was enough to fracture the earth, creating a thin smokescreen of dust and pulverized rock.
Despite the fantastic scene, my mind focused more on the bandit, specifically what she said.
'Why would a bandit, attacking us, tell me to run? Why were they waving a banner depicting Japan? Wasn't this supposed to be a new world?'
I had many questions but no time to process them. The heat of battle was never patient, after all.
"What the hell is happening?!" Agawa panicked, huddling over from the windows.
Her frantic words propelled me into action. "Just get down and stay down!" I shouted. "And make yourself as small as possible!"
Following my instruction, Kamida and Agawa dropped to what little floor we had. Though cramped, they scrunched up with their hands and knees tucked into their bellies.
Takagi, on the other hand, only scoffed at me. "Hah, this is nothing. Getting scared-"
Anger boiled in my veins. "This is no laughing matter! Get the fuck down!"
Still, he brushed off my commands. He looked at me condescendingly and waved me off.
My irritation had reached its peak when, in my peripheral vision, I saw a rogue arrow flying for our wagon. Based on its course, it was on a direct collision course with Takagi's head!
I was out of time. Forcefully, I grappled Takagi and dragged him to the floor. He struggled, but I was stronger.
Holding him was still no easy task, but I refused to let his foolish bravado get him killed.
Huddling over the dusty floorboards, we waited for the projectile to fly through.
We waited...and waited…and waited, but the snapping of an arrow breaking upon contact with the wagon never came.
Still, we all lay there, hugging the bottom of the carriage.
About ten minutes later, a voice ahead shouted, "all clear," and slowed our carriages back to a reasonable trot.
Turning my gaze upward, I saw the missing projectile. It was suspended in midair, halfway through the carriage's windowless sill. Around its shaft flickered a blue-green light barrier. Like static, it flashed rapidly where the arrow had pierced it.
The arrow itself, though locked in place, trembled violently from the friction.
Cautiously, I got up to study it. But, before I could, it launched from the barrier and spun off in the opposite direction.
While spiraling backward, the arrow caught on various pieces of foliage, creating differently pitched cracking noises until it disappeared far from sight into the darkness of the forest beyond.
I again pushed a flat palm toward the windowless sill; this time, it was repelled backward.
"What the hell?" I muttered, confused.
Takagi picked himself up from the floor, staring daggers at me.
Surprisingly, he didn't say a word. He took his seat and averted his eyes outside.
Noticing that both Takagi and I were exposing ourselves, Kamida and Agawa stood up.
"That was an ordeal," Kamida said, patting himself down to brush the dust from his suit.
Following a tired sigh, Agawa added, "that was more than an ordeal… Bandits? Seriously?" She rested her head in her arms. "I want to go home."
While banter and complaints ensued between the three of them, I was stuck contemplating that bandit's words. "The Devil King's dogs." Was she referring to us?
ραпdα Йᴏνê|(сòm) 'If what the old man said was true, anything "demon" oriented was supposed to be our adversary. So, why were we being targeted by people who were allegedly on our side? Why the hell did they have a Japanese flag?! There's the issue of the bow-woman too….'
Considering those questions, I was pointed to a distinct possibility. The possibility they weren't bandits at all.
Something was very wrong here. Something was being hidden from us. Plus, every safety alarm within my body blared incessantly due to the bandit's warning.
After the attack, the guards for our caravan dwindled to a mere third of their original number.
Since our guards had become so few in number, I considered the possibility of bursting from the carriage and neutralizing any that'd stop my and my countrymen's escape.
Sadly, their weakening didn't change the fact there was no way we'd survive in the open wilderness.
With no food, no water, and no weapons, surviving in any harsh environment with a group of untrained civilians was guaranteed to end up in disaster.
Knowing that I had to cage my doubts for now. There was nothing I could do to act on them anyway.
We all retreated into our respective minds to dwell on what had happened. What else did the future have in store for us, I wonder?
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter