Chapter 214: Let’s Go to the Royal Capital (1)
Four days after receiving the request for an escort mission from Lieselotte, Weiss, the white horse, had fully recovered from his injuries. After spending a day to confirm he could walk, we finally reached the time to depart.
“Then we’re off.”
“Yes. I’ll make sure we can retreat at any time. I’m counting on you for the shopping.”
“Leave it to me.”
While I was away from the campsite, Zald would be in charge. With his calm and collected demeanor, he was more than capable of managing the campsite efficiently. However, managing it for an extended period of time could be difficult. This is because there is a possibility that a demon that has been synthesized with multiple creatures other than Asumi might exhibit unpredictable behaviors.
Apart from Asumi, these synthesized demons had significantly lower intelligence. There are individual differences, but there are only two things that they undoubtedly understand: that Asumi is their direct boss, and instinctively, they recognize me as the true leader because I’m the strongest.
This means that in Asumi’s absence, they might not follow Zald’s instructions. While many of them are of a gentle nature, there are also a few whose violent tendencies are restrained only by their rationality. Currently, I’m the only one who can keep them in check without doing anything.
Under normal circumstances, I would leave it to Asumi, but she is currently pregnant. Although a demon in pregnancy can withstand strenuous activity, I don’t want to push her too hard. For Asumi and the baby’s sake, I want to return as quickly as possible.
“I’m also counting on your keen eye, Bolts.”
“Y-yes…”
However, Bolts, one of the members accompanying me, didn’t seem that enthusiastic about the task. When I asked him why, he stubbornly refused to answer. For some time, Bolts had been mentally unstable, and everyone, including myself, was concerned about him.
However, he never opened up to us. He often acted alongside Julius and Ariel, who had become demons at the same time as him and seemed to equally avoid both the former atonement soldiers and those who had been soldiers of the republic.
However, just because he spent time with them didn’t mean he opened his heart to those two either. According to them, he rarely initiated any conversation, and when they sought his opinion, he seemed to brush them off.
We tried our best to make him feel at ease, but nothing would start unless he made an effort to reach out. Tigar, Zald, Marcellus, and other key members and I had discussed how best to interact with him, but we never reached a conclusion.
“Apao, I’m counting on you.”
“Heeheein! Leave it to me! I’ll protect Weiss!”
Although we were accompanying them as escorts, the carriage pulled by Weiss could only accommodate four people. It was understood that Lieselotte would be one of the passengers, meaning not everyone could fit inside. By squeezing in a bit, there was room for about three children, so it was decided that the children would be inside the carriage.
The remaining members, Tigar, Decius, and I would surround and protect the carriage. Having only infantry accompany us didn’t seem proper, as it could affect Lieselotte’s reputation.
This is where Apao and the horses we had taken from the bandits came in handy. Some of the bandits had horses and carriages for long-distance travel. Apao was in charge of these horses, and we decided to ride the two with the best builds after Apao.
“I’m still not used to riding horses yet…”
“Haha, don’t worry. You’ve reached a satisfactory level.”
Decius laughed and encouraged Tigar who appeared somewhat anxious. We had been practicing horseback riding so most of us could handle a horse quite well. Thanks to our demon physical abilities and Apao playing as a practice horse for us, we improved quickly.
Tigar had lingering unease due to a past incident where he was thrown off a horse other than Apao for the first time. This had instilled in him a discomfort with horseback riding. The only silver lining was that we wouldn’t need to ride immediately, as the path from the camp to the main road was rough and uneven.
Carrying a slight sense of unease, we set out from the camp. Although we were taking the same route as before, this time there was no need to conceal the fact that we were demos. Hence, we decided to race through the forest.
“Wow! It’s so high up here!”
“HeHeiin! Hold on tight!”
“Hey you, you’d better not drop the young lady.”
“It’s fine. That’s why we’re flanking on either side.”
Tigar and I were carrying our horses, while Leo carried Weiss. Lieselotte was seated on the shoulder of Apao, who had transformed into his demon form. Originally, Hilda was meant to carry Lieselotte, but it was Lieselotte’s specific request to ride with Apao.
Since he was a horse that had been transformed into a demon, Apao was quite tall in his demon form. Lieselotte seemed eager to experience a height she had never felt before, and the thrill of the ride turned out to be more exhilarating than she had imagined. She was beaming with joy and excitement.
However, Hilda, who had her role taken away, seemed not to find this amusing. She was running alongside us with a sullen expression. Chris, observing Hilda, was trying to appease her with a wry smile.
Chris seemed to feel a sense of inadequacy in the situation as well, but Lieselotte looked truly joyful. From what we heard, she had always felt constricted because of her uncle. Chris might be thinking that she deserves to enjoy this brief moment of freedom.
“Here we go. But you know… This may sound rude, but you’re surprisingly quite agile.”
“I am honored to receive your compliment.”
As we sped through the forest, Hilda seemed a bit surprised that Decius was keeping up with our pace. He hadn’t shown up for the morning training, and from his background, it was assumed that his command skills were superior to his combat abilities.
However, this perception was incorrect. Decius was originally an adjutant of Marcellus, who commanded while fighting as a front-line commander. He had the skill to fight against the republic soldiers who wore that advanced armor and had no trouble keeping up with our pace.
The reason Decius didn’t appear at the morning training was because he was also an accomplished hunter among us. Using a gun captured from the empire, he would venture a little away from the camp to hunt animals that would serve as our daily sustenance.
Decius also had a fair knowledge of spiritual circuits. While he lacked the expertise and knowledge to create new tools, he could easily repair existing ones. This is how he maintained the empire-made gun. He was a man of many talents, just like Mika.
In the meantime, we reached the spot where we had hidden the carriage. The sounds around us suggested that only wild birds were nearby, indicating it was a good time to quickly prepare.
While we were busy setting down the horses and Lieselotte’s group to the ground, Hilda, still in a sour mood, released the spiritual art that had been concealing the carriage among the trees. However, the carriage that was not seen for several days was slightly covered in dust.
“I’ll clean it.”
This was no problem for Chris, who excelled in water spiritual arts. She created water before washing away the dust that had settled on the carriage. She even manipulated the moisture clinging to the now-drenched carriage to dry it.
Once the carriage had been cleaned up, Hilda and Chris quickly tethered the white horse, Weiss, to it. We decided that each of us would mount our own horses.
“Boss! Come on, get on!”
“Alright, alright. Don’t rush me.”
Apao, who had shifted from his demon form to his beast form, beckoned for me to ride on his back. Apao enjoyed running while carrying someone, and he must have been pleased when Lieselotte expressed her desire to ride him. I mounted his back with a laugh.
Meanwhile, Decius and Tigar were riding the horses we had brought with us. Decius, who was accustomed to riding since his days as an imperial soldier, was at ease, whereas Tigar, who felt less confident, appeared somewhat awkward. Well, he would probably get used to it after a while.
“Alright, let’s set off. Chris, you’re in charge of driving.”
“Yes, Miss Hilda.”
Finally, Lieselotte, Hilda, and Leo entered the carriage, with Chris taking her place in the driver’s seat. She was dressed as she was when we first met, her face obscured by a hooded cloak that also concealed the outline of her body.
Should a battle ensue or if she raised her voice, her gender might be revealed, but that attire made it difficult to discern from a distance. Dressing that way likely reduced the number of men who approached her. Being beautiful seemed to have its own set of inconveniences.
As for our formation, I rode Apao at the front, leading the way next to Chris, while Tigar and Decius kept a watchful eye on our rear. We had already scouted the area the day before, so there shouldn’t have been any bandits left, but it’s always wise to prepare for the unexpected. Being vigilant is never a bad idea.
“It’s really convenient to be able to retract your tail like that, isn’t it?”
“Well, originally, I couldn’t do that. I learned to control my body after fleeing from the empire through intense training.”
As we set off, Chris remarked this while glancing at the base of my spine, where my tail was. I had made my tail smaller and hidden it so as not to expose it. However, this has only recently become possible.
Previously, I had discovered how to soften the exoskeleton that covered my limbs and transform it to resemble human skin. During the war, I practiced this whenever I had time, but after escaping from the empire, I suddenly had much more free time. Using this time, I learned to soften my limbs’ exoskeleton and to shrink my tail so it could be hidden inside my trousers.
However, no matter how much I practiced, I couldn’t do anything about my jaw and mouth. It seems the structure around the mouth is too different to be transformed. Similarly, my compound eyes couldn’t be changed for the same reason. Thus, I hid the lower half of my face with an iron mask and concealed my eyes with illusion spiritual art.
“So, it’s a result of your hard work.”
“That’s right. Walking around with that thing out would be like declaring myself a demon.”
“Hehe, indeed. But I think your tail is quite cool; I like it.”
“Really? In that case, I’ll make sure to show it when it’s just us around.”
“That’s good!”
We continued down the road while chatting casually like this. As expected, we passed through the forest without any problems…and our destination, Gaelia, the royal capital of the Galar Kingdom, came into view.
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