The boat continued forward, the sound of oars slicing through the water growing sharper, water birds’ cries echoing endlessly across the wilds.
They had already left the city’s bounds.
Lulumia’s heart sank.
As a modern person, suddenly thrown into such a situation after crossing over, she inevitably felt at a loss.
It was like finally managing to pull out your earbuds on a crowded bus, only to find the wires hopelessly tangled and not knowing where to even begin.
“Get in there, and behave yourself!”
Outside the cabin, footsteps sounded in groups, and soon the earlier Golden-haired Knight was shoved in from outside, several burly men tying her to a pillar, cursing as they left.
The cabin fell silent again.
Lulumia secretly observed the tall Golden-haired Knight—she was at least 1.8 meters tall.
Suddenly, without warning, the Golden-haired Knight locked eyes with Lulumia.
The forcefulness in those blue eyes made Lulumia avert her gaze.
“Are you a magic doll too?”
But as soon as she spoke, the Golden-haired Knight seemed to realize it wasn’t the time for such talk, lowering her voice and correcting herself.
“These are the smugglers who’ve been active in the royal capital lately. Their aim is to smuggle expensive magic dolls to the northern Corrosion Continent. If they succeed, you can forget about ever coming back in this lifetime. We have to find a way out.”
Lulumia didn’t respond. After Amy’s lesson, she couldn’t trust this knight right away.
As if understanding what Lulumia was thinking, the Golden-haired Knight calmly introduced herself.
“I am the retainer of Viscount Hahn’s eldest son, a Second Rank Guardian Knight. There are fifteen people on this boat, only eight can fight, the rest are boatmen or asleep. The strongest among them isn’t my match one-on-one, but I’m currently restrained by a Magic Tool and can’t use my magic. If you can move, try to untie my ropes.”
Since Lulumia still didn’t move, the Golden-haired Knight fell silent for a moment, then no longer held any hope for Lulumia, her tone taking on a warning.
“If you don’t want to get involved, then when I make my move, don’t make a sound. Otherwise, you’ll be the first I deal with.”
Lulumia pursed her lips and finally spoke.
“What’s wrong with these people?”
She meant the magic dolls in the cabin, still in deep sleep.
Hearing Lulumia’s reply, and her tone not matching her childish appearance at all, the Golden-haired Knight’s expression immediately brightened.
“They’ve been drained of their magic and lost consciousness. Unless someone re-injects magic into them, they won’t wake up.”
“Then why haven’t you been drained?”
“If a Guardian Knight runs out of magic, their location gets sent to their master. These smugglers want to cover their tracks but don’t want to destroy me, so they dare not drain me. Earlier, when they called me out, it was to try to get me to cooperate.”
“I didn’t agree with them. Magic dolls must be loyal to their masters, and a Guardian Knight even more so. I am a Guardian Knight.”
The Golden-haired Knight stressed each word, one by one.
She felt a little helpless, like talking to a brick wall. Guardian Knights were always the embodiment of the knight’s code—most people, on hearing their title, would instantly feel awe and trust them unconditionally.
Yet the pale, delicate-looking magic doll before her remained unmoved, as if she had never heard of Guardian Knights.
Ten seconds of heavy silence passed before Lulumia finally took a deep breath.
There was no way she could escape alone.
Her gaze grew serious.
“I have no combat ability, so don’t expect too much from me.”
“No problem. Just untie the rope first. This rope keeps draining my magic, keeping me in a state where I’m never fully depleted, but can’t use my power—wait, how are you standing up? Didn’t they tie you up?”
“Quiet.”
“Oh…”
Just as the Golden-haired Knight had said, once Lulumia finished speaking, she stood up at once.
The hemp rope binding her hands and feet dropped to the floor.
This was thanks to ‘Flare’. Just as Lulumia had guessed back in the dorm, she could use ‘Flare’ even without a staff now.
The ropes binding her had already been burned through before the Golden-haired Knight was brought in.
Lulumia moved carefully, stepping silently to the Golden-haired Knight’s back.
The rope tying the Golden-haired Knight was especially tough, with a metallic texture. When Lulumia touched it, she felt something being sucked from her body—a discomfort that must be her magic.
Ignoring the drain, she felt along the rope, but found no knots—only a diamond-shaped crystal near the knight’s wrist.
The crystal joined both ends of the rope, seamlessly, with no sign of glue or join.
She tried to yank it free, but it was futile; the connection was far stronger than she had imagined.
“That’s a rope made by a Weaver of Magic. If you break the crystal, the people above will sense it right away.”
The Golden-haired Knight paused, then her gaze locked on Lulumia’s horns.
“Are those just ornaments, or are they real?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“Don’t touch the crystal. Use your horns to cut the rope. If your magic workshop didn’t cut corners and used genuine dragon horns, it should be easy to cut through a Weaver of Magic’s work.”
Lulumia’s dragon horns weren’t the rounded kind found on cattle, but had blades and uneven forks on both sides, with tiny barbed blood grooves along the edge if you looked closely.
She didn’t know what it meant for a horn to be called a “dragon horn” by a Guardian Knight, but that didn’t stop her from acting. She wedged the tip of her horn between the knight’s wrist and the pillar, then carefully sawed at the rope.
The creaking sound of the rope splitting echoed in the cabin.
The Golden-haired Knight could clearly feel the rope loosening and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, growing even more curious about Lulumia.
There was no doubt that the girl’s horns were genuine dragon horns—and of a high grade at that.
But to use such horns on a frail-looking, delicate magic doll was nothing short of extravagant.
Who on earth could be responsible?
“What’s your name? Who is your master?”
“Lulumia.”
“Uh, what—what’s your name?”
“Lulumia.”
Cutting the rope with her horns was awkward, and Lulumia’s voice sounded impatient. She just wanted to get out quickly.
“Lu, Lulumia-sama…?”
The Golden-haired Knight nearly lost her voice. Lulumia could even feel her tension and excitement.
“I deeply apologize, Lulumia-sama. I didn’t realize it was you. Please forgive my rudeness just now. Once we’re out, I will certainly offer you my sincerest apology—no, I must see you safely escorted away. Thank you for granting me this honor.”
What on earth is she talking about?
Lulumia frowned.
She wasn’t some grand noble like the fourth imperial princess—was this really necessary?
But she couldn’t see the Golden-haired Knight’s face just now.
If she had, she’d be alarmed—the knight’s face was full of fanaticism, like a fan who just saw their idol, ten times more intense than Amy’s affection back at the dorm.
What Lulumia didn’t know was that, while her reputation in the academy was terrible—practically a stray dog—outside the academy, magic dolls bearing the name Lulumia were still the very symbol of perfection, the closest thing to a divine angel among magic dolls.
The Golden-haired Knight now understood completely why someone would bestow true dragon horns on such a delicate-looking magic doll.
Because this doll was perfection itself—just a glance was enough to feel the Princess’s beauty.
She began to regret, in her heart, pretending to sleep earlier when the Crimson-haired Girl had acted violently.
Then she started to worry, since she hadn’t intervened, that this perfect magic doll might loathe her.
Finally, she felt respect—thinking, as expected, of a perfect magic doll: even when weak and faced with such danger, she could remain calm.
If it were her, she’d have lost her temper and fought desperately long ago.
Of course, Lulumia had no idea about the Golden-haired Knight’s current tangled feelings.
All her attention was outside.
Since a while ago, the sound of water had gradually lessened, replaced by people’s voices, and finally the boat bumped into something and stopped.
They had arrived.
Her heart sank.
***
“Hurry up, don’t dawdle.”
The smugglers arrived on cue.
As if they were transporting corpses, they carried the unconscious magic dolls out of the cabin, piling them one by one onto carts.
The Golden-haired Knight and Lulumia, who were still conscious, had hoods put over their heads and were led out.
Except, because Lulumia’s horns were bigger than the sack’s opening, and her innocent appearance, the smugglers collecting the goods couldn’t be bothered to bag her.
After a few warnings, one of them just slacked off, following lazily at the end of the group.
Thanks to this, Lulumia was able to get a clear view of her surroundings as she was forced ashore.
They were at a hideout on the lake shore, hidden in the forested hills.
It was dawn.
Thick mist shrouded the lake, making visibility poor, but the firelight along the shore was impressive.
Lulumia counted at least ten torches in one glance.
Add to that the smugglers’ noisy shouts and the fact that more than one boat was unloading unconscious magic dolls by the lake, she estimated there must be at least a hundred people here.
So many people… Could the Guardian Knight really fight their way out?
Lulumia anxiously looked at the Guardian Knight ahead, hooded.
Before the guards entered the cabin, the Golden-haired Knight had said to follow her command and not act rashly.
Yet now, as the group entered the fenced, tent-filled camp, the Guardian Knight still made no move.
“Hey, brat, what’re you staring at?”
The guard trailing the group raised an eyebrow, yelling at Lulumia.
Lulumia turned and glanced at the scrawny man behind her.
He wore a fancy silver cross sword at his waist—a sharp contrast to his slovenly look. Lulumia was sure it was stolen.
She snorted.
“So what if I look? Not like you’ll lose anything.”
“Hey, you’re quite the kid. Not even a little scared. Once you’re sold off to the northern continent, you won’t even have a place to cry.”
“Will crying make you let me go?”
“Nope.” The scrawny man chuckled, surprised by her attitude.
“Why don’t you have a Badge on your face? Did those idiots grab a real kid by mistake? That’d be worthless.”
“I was brought by that Amy person.”
“Amy?”
The man looked Lulumia up and down.
“Tsk, yeah, I guess. Where would you find a real kid with dragon horns and a tail? If you were a real young dragon, we could retire after this job. Say, are those horns real or fake? Can you take them off and let me wear them?”
Are you here to perform a comedy?
Lulumia cast a scornful look at the talkative criminal.
For a bad guy, he sure talked a lot.
The man didn’t care about her disdain, reaching out to grab her dragon horn.
Lulumia dodged with a look of disgust, making his eyes go wide.
“What’s your problem? I just want to check if it’s real. No Badge means you’re an unowned magic doll. How about letting me be your master? Don’t judge me by my looks—I’m not someone just anyone can match. Plenty of magic dolls would kill for the chance. If you agree now, I’ll make sure you aren’t sent to the northern continent, feed you three meals a day, and throw in a collar—hey, at least listen to me.”
“Idiot.”
Lulumia clicked her tongue.
Trying to harass a ten-year-old girl—he’d be shot a thousand times for less.
She quickly caught up with the Golden-haired Knight ahead, but suddenly, the knight stopped, causing Lulumia to nearly bump into her.
“Lulumia-sama, something’s up. The air’s too hot—the Fire Spirit is restless.”
“Huh?”
What do you mean, the air’s too hot?
Lulumia blinked, about to ask, when she realized what the Golden-haired Knight meant.
The camp outside the fence had become oddly noisy, the mist in the air thinning, replaced by the strong smell of something burning.
The smuggler’s shout settled it.
“Fire! Fire!”
“Where’s the fire?”
“Put it out first!”
The misty sky lit up with orange-yellow flames.
The Golden-haired Knight flexed her hands, easily breaking the ropes symbolically binding her, then ripped off the sack covering her head, revealing a resolute, determined face.
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s deal with that man from before—?”
Lulumia reminded the Golden-haired Knight to handle the scrawny guy first, but looking back, she found he had already disappeared.