The road stretched endlessly beneath the horses’ hooves and the carriage wheels, grinding over fallen, yellowed leaves and weeds, stirring up clouds of dust.
Rita sat atop the carriage, yawning, watching the bare tree trunks on either side draw nearer, only to be thrown behind by the carriage as it rolled on.
Occasionally, a Mechanized Crow would take flight from the roadside ridge, cawing noisily as it passed over Rita’s head, but the gray, overcast sky showed no sign of changing just because a few birds flew by.
The monotonous scenery always made one a little drowsy.
Although Rita had been granted special permission today to sleep until late morning—it was nearly midday by the time the two of them left Safras City in their new carriage—that lingering sense of fatigue still clung to her like a shadow.
A little earlier, Cecilia had frankly admitted the reason she’d made an exception today and allowed Rita to set out so late.
“Last night was tough on you, so just take it easy for a while and recover your strength. I’ll need you to protect me along the way. It’s still a few days to the Royal Capital, and half a day’s delay won’t matter—in fact, haste makes waste.”
So that’s how it is. Turns out it’s because she overdid things for her own amusement that she’s letting me rest up!
Seeing Rita’s look of disbelief, Cecilia returned her a knowing look, as if she could see right through everything, and asked, “Does hearing me say something like that really surprise you?”
“It’s… it’s not that, it’s just I didn’t expect…”
“Didn’t expect what?”
“I didn’t expect Lady Cecilia would just admit it like that.”
“I’ll always own up to what I’ve done. Making excuses to hide your shortcomings or mistakes gets you nowhere. Even I want to do better.”
Rita felt like he hadn’t finished what he wanted to say, but since Cecilia clearly wasn’t planning to go on, the sensible thing was to stop asking questions and keep her mouth shut.
After changing to a new carriage at the relay station, the two of them had set off along the main road.
And so, things returned to this monotonous state—except that the sun had climbed a few degrees higher overhead. At times, Rita doubted whether they were really making any progress at all.
Though she’d repeated this routine for days, it was still hard to get used to.
Maybe it was because she didn’t actually have to drive the carriage herself—her focus didn’t need to be on the reins or the horse—so she couldn’t help feeling bored.
Lost in that dull, repetitive clatter, Rita suddenly caught the faintest hint of something discordant in the wind.
It was noisy—though judging by the volume, it couldn’t be far away.
“Lady Cecilia, there might be something ahead. Should we avoid it?” Rita spoke as she patted the horse’s mane, sending her intent into the animal’s mind. The horse instantly slowed its pace.
Cecilia’s voice came from inside the carriage.
“This is the main road. Just pay attention to safety. Even if we run into danger, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
That made sense, but Rita hadn’t even changed to a new sword yet; if possible, she’d still prefer to avoid a fight.
While she was lost in thought, the scene up ahead had already come into focus.
Four or five burly men in rough-spun clothes stood in the road, each holding either a cudgel or a hand axe—by the look of the rust, it was clear these weren’t professional weapons, but more like farming tools.
Ah, the classic bandits you see in games—the kind with nothing but shoddy equipment.
The young woman surrounded by these men was dressed quite differently—so much so that even from a distance, Rita recognized her at once.
It was that beautiful pheasant—no, that bard she’d met last night.
“Hurry! Strip! Take off your clothes!”
“That’s right! Off with them! Take all your clothes off!”
Claire hugged her shoulders, retreating again and again, but she was already surrounded by the men—no matter where she backed away, there was no escape.
“Y-You… stay away! I swear I won’t give in!”
“Who wants you to give in? Other than that outfit and that lute, do you even have anything of value?” one bandit asked with a frown.
Another bandit rolled his eyes, “We can barely afford to eat—who has time to think about that? Enough talk! Off with them!”
“No, no! These are my tools for making a living. If I lose them…”
“If you lose them, what will we eat?!” another man yelled, waving his huge club and making Claire squeal in fright.
As they squabbled, Rita’s carriage rolled right up beside them.
“Hey! Hey! Look, there’s something on the main road!” One of the bandits, noticing the carriage, quickly called out, and the group swarmed forward, blocking the road completely.
Just looking at the exterior of the carriage, you could tell it was something special—whoever was riding in it was likely someone rich.
And the driver was just a young girl; the person inside was probably some lady or young miss—not likely to be some hulking man.
Who cared who was sitting inside? They didn’t look like they’d put up much resistance. Robbing the owner of this carriage seemed a safer bet than going after that bard in her gaudy clothes.
The bandits brandished axes and cudgels, shouting, “Don’t move! Stop right there! If you don’t want to die, stop! Don’t blame us for being rough!”
Seeing the bandits like this, Rita couldn’t help but sigh.
She needed to get moving, not waste time playing the hero in a damsel-in-distress scenario.
Besides, that bard dressed like a fancy pheasant was already sneaking away to the side while Rita approached, wasn’t she? Didn’t look like she needed saving.
“Pearl! Kick him!”
Rita shouted. The horse pulling the carriage immediately lifted its hoof and delivered a solid kick to the oncoming bandit’s gut.
The man was still brandishing his hand axe, hurling threats at the carriage—he didn’t even have time to react before he was sent flying, tumbling across the ground several times.
The other bandits stared wide-eyed, blinking at their companion writhing on the ground, clutching his stomach and howling, then turned to stare at the now-stationary, luxurious carriage.
“She injured Sque! Get revenge for Sque!” One of the bandits came to his senses and shouted.
“Hey, don’t talk about revenge,” an older man waved his hand and stepped up to the carriage. “Your horse just injured our companion, and I clearly heard you telling it what to do. How do you think we should settle this?”
Now they were playing the victim? Rita frowned and retorted, “You’re the ones who tried to rob us!”
“Nonsense, who’s trying to rob you? You’d better cough up some money. You don’t look like you’re hurting for cash—just hand over a bit as compensation for our brother’s injuries.” The older man jutted out his chin.
“What’s Big Brother Sublin getting at?” someone whispered in confusion.
“You don’t get it. These rich folks are trouble. If you really injure or kill one, and they come looking for you, you’ll regret it. On the other hand, a handful of coins from them would keep us going for a while.” Someone explained right away.
Rita heard every word, but pretended not to as she shot back, “And if we refuse?”
“Then you’re not getting past,” the man threatened, showing his rusty axe—though it was clearly more a bluff than a real intent to attack.
“I see.” Rita nodded very seriously.
“That’s right. If a lowly servant like you can’t make the call, have the one inside come out—” The man, thinking Rita was wavering, nodded in satisfaction.
“Pearl, let’s go.” Rita ignored the man, patting her horse. Obediently, the horse started forward.
“Stop! Who said you could leave!” The man tried to grab the reins, but the little horse gave him a sharp kick and sent him flying as well.
“Big Brother! Big Brother!”
“Big Brother Sublin! Are you alright?!”
The man barely managed to prop himself up, pointed at Rita, groaned hoarsely, and passed out with a crack.
“Oh dear, went a bit overboard!” Rita yelped, soothing the horse’s mane. Then she looked up at the rest of the glaring bandits: “Are you still going to block our way?”
“Get her! Get her! She’s alone!” Someone shouted in grief and rage, raising his axe to charge.
“Pearl.”
“Uh…” The man had just taken two steps when he heard Rita call the horse’s name. He immediately lowered his axe, looked back to find none of his comrades were joining him, then hoisted Sublin onto his shoulder and ran.
The others, seeing someone run, hastily scooped up Sque and also vanished in a flash.
Watching the bandits flee in disarray, Rita breathed a long sigh of relief, then glanced back at the surely-unharmed carriage behind her.
“Lady Cecilia, are you alright?”
But there was no answer from inside.
Cecilia hurriedly jumped out of the carriage and yanked open the door.
Thankfully, Cecilia was sitting right there, staring at the carriage wall, deep in thought.
“Whew, scared me to death.” Rita patted her treasure chest. “Lady Cecilia, if you’re alright, you should say so!”
“Mm, thank you for your hard work, Rita.”
Cecilia replied, but sounded rather absent-minded, as if still deep in thought.
“Lady Cecilia, what are you thinking about?”
“Hmm…” Cecilia lowered the hand propping up her chin. “I just feel those bandits were a bit… no, extremely strange.”