First Arc (King of Euphorion) – 9. A Plan To Enter the Capital

A week had passed, a beautiful-looking girl with long black hair sat elegantly in her horse carriage on a road to the capital surrounded by some Euphorion's cavalry that escorted her. Her name was Lady Belle Felica Moonspark, Duke Nicolin Joce Moonspark's daughter, one of the most influential noble families in Euphorion.

She was just a few kilometres away from Luminus City, Kingdom of Euphorion's capital, when suddenly her carriage shook violently accompanied by the neighing horses' sound mixed with the clashing swords' sound. She screamed and tried to hold on to her carriage. After the carriage stopped shaking, she quickly peeked from the carriage door and startled when she saw a huge snake-shaped monster blocking the road. Its body was so huge at least the size of a medium tree trunk. The cavalry tried to fight it but the monster was far bigger than them, it could even swallow a person in one bite.

Quickly, she slipped out of her carriage and ran to the forest. While the monster chased her after defeating all the remaining cavalry. She ran through the trees while occasionally looking back to check the monster's position, but suddenly a pair of hands pulled her to behind a big tree. She almost screamed but her mouth was covered by the man’s hand.
"Ruthless Serpent is blind but it can detect its victim's movements and voices," he whispered.

She nodded as she understood he wanted her to stay quiet. He released his hand from her mouth and peeked between the tree trunks to the monster before turning his gaze to her. He raised his clenched fist then pointed his index finger down. It was a military gesture to stay still and quiet, she was surprised to see it because usually, the commoner didn't know it, she even only knew a little about it from her father. But despite her confusion, she nodded to his order. He drew his sword and approached the monster slowly as she remained silent hiding in fear.

Angel approached the huge Ruthless Serpent that slithered between the tree in search of its prey in caution. Ruthless Serpent was a big type monster but the monster before him was far bigger than usual.

The monster noticed him and moved quickly to attack him. Swiftly, he extended his hand to cast Binding Spell to the monster and focused his dark aura on his feet. In a blink, he jumped to the monster's head and with one swing he decapitated it without mercy. The monster's body fell to the ground with blood spraying everywhere as his feet landed on the ground.

He sheathed his sword and turned to the girl who was still hiding behind the tree.
"You can come out now."

She peeked between the tree trunks to check the situation before slowly coming out from her hiding place.
"Thank you for saving-" before she could finish her sentence, she screamed as she saw the monster's headless body that lay beside him.

He let out a sigh.
"It's already dead. You can stop screaming now," he said in annoyance. Her scream could attract the other monsters' attention around them.

She stopped screaming and ran behind him.
"I know it's dead, but you don't have to cut its head like that, " she complained.

'Then how am I supposed to kill it?' It was the fastest way to kill this kind of monster. He turned his gaze to her and gave her a slight bow, trying to be polite to her.
"Forgive me for scaring you."

"I forgive you since you saved me," she said in an unfriendly tone. Then she looked around as she searched for something before returning her gaze to him.
"You're a hunter, right? Where's your group?"

"I work alone," he said.

A frown started to develop on her forehead as she looked at him in disbelief.
"You defeated it alone? Do you think I will believe that?" she said accompanied by her condescending small chuckle.

He let out another sigh and remained silent. Of course, she wouldn't believe him, this type of monster couldn't be defeated alone but with his power, he had the fighting ability both as a master swordsman and an expert magic user, facing a monster like this was an easy task for him.

After she waited for a while and no one showed up, she looked at him again.
"Did you really defeat it alone?" she said in the same disbelief tone.

He forced himself to smile.
"I just got lucky. I will escort you back to your carriage," he said as he gestured to her to follow him.

After a short walk, they returned to her carriage. But unfortunately, her carriage was badly damaged and all of her guards died. He checked the bodies that scattered around him to search for a survivor but none of them was alive.

She started to look panicked.
"What am I supposed to do now?"

He took a glance at her.
"You want to go to Luminus City, right? I will escort you." Then he approached a corpse who had a similar body size as him and took off his uniform.
"Wait here, I will change my clothes," he said as he took the uniform and walked behind a big tree.

She turned her gaze to him and frowned again.
"Why do you need to change your clothes?"

He stopped his steps and turned his gaze to her.
"If you don't mind entering the capital with an unknown man like me. I'm fine with it," he replied in a nonchalant tone with a smirk.

She pressed her lips. She was an unmarried woman, if anyone saw her walking alone with a man like him, there would be a bad rumour about her and it would damage her reputation. It was better for him to wear a military uniform like a guard and pretended to be her knight.
"Just quickly," she said.

He gave her a slight nod and continued his steps. Actually, his original plan was to wait for the night before he infiltrated the capital. But after seeing a noble carriage that was attacked, he changed his plans. Disguising himself as one of the noble guards would make him easier to pass the checks at the capital's gates.

"Are you ready yet?" she said impatiently. Her eyes looked around that empty road restlessly. Who knew there would be other monsters that appeared.

"Yes, thank you for waiting for me," he said as he came out from behind the tree.

She turned around to see him. In an instant, her cheeks turned red as her heart pounding fast after she saw him in Euphorion's military uniform. Somehow, he didn't look like a hunter anymore but a high nobleman.

He pulled a horse and brought it to her, but he caught her still stiffened, while her eyes still stuck at him.
"My lady? Are you alright?" He waved his hand in front of her eyes.

Blinking in surprise, she quickly got her thoughts together.
"I'm fine."

"Your carriage is badly damaged. Can you ride a horse?" he asked.

She looked at the horse before her and shook her head.

He extended his hand to help her up.
"I will help you."

"I don't want to share a horse with you. It's worse than entering the capital with your hunter clothes on," she complained.

He breathed a weary sigh since she had too many complaints, but he kept his composure.
"I don't want to share a horse with you either. You take the horse, I will walk."

Realizing she had misunderstood him, she looked down in embarrassment.
"Ah... Alright," she said as she took his hand and got on the horse.

Note:

Ruthless Serpent is one of the dreaded monsters. Its shape is like a snake that is ten times bigger than a large snake. This monster has no eyes, instead, its skin is very sensitive to every movement and its ears are shaped like a broad maple leaf very sensitive to sound. Its fangs are very poisonous and have sharp spiky tails.