Chapter 4 - I - Kuro's guide in defending a wagon fort

 

Of course, our convoy was slow compared to the normal travel time we had back on Earth.  Actually, for the entire journey, the Saint’s household had estimated it would take us at least six to eight ‘long sleeps’ before we arrived.  And so, Lily had prepared a quite spacious carriage for us to stay with, albeit the one without the coat-of-arms of the holy household.

 

We were all sleeping by this time.  The only ones that should be awake were the escort guards and the coach drivers.  However, I was awakened.  I don’t know; maybe I dreamt a dream that I immediately forgot upon waking up.

 

“…”

 

My eyes went around my fellow travelers inside the coach.  Her Holiness the Human Saint was sleeping soundly, as usual.  She rarely wakes up when disturbed; so I guess, even if I moved too much, she won’t rise soon.  For the Beastman Saint, she slept right beside Her Holiness, slumping towards the human’s shoulders.  Oh, and hey, this was the first time I noticed, but apparently, she let the Human Saint used her fluffy tail for a pillow to embrace…

 

That’s pretty cute.

 

“…”

 

On my side, however…

 

Uh…Lily, while I think that a lap pillow is a romantic thing to do, I guess you should do it with someone you love…

 

“…”

 

Anyway, maybe I should man up and just wait for the head maid to move away from my lap.  I didn’t want to wake her while she’s trusting me to let her sleep.  That would be rude.

 

My gaze then went outside the carriage.  The sun’s still up—it never goes down anyway, but I’m amazed how the humans here adapted their sleeping patterns to such a condition.  If humans from Earth were transported here, just like me, I doubt they could quickly adjust their body clocks to an ‘always day’ world.

 

Hmm…now that I think about it, I never had sleeping issues when I got summoned here.  Strange…

 

“!!!”

 

My idle thoughts suddenly got interrupted by a loud knock at the carriage door.  I almost jumped from my seat, which caused Lily’s sleep to be disturbed as well.  But the knocking didn’t stop; a voice called out from the other side of the carriage.

 

“Head Maid?  Your Holiness?  We got trouble ahead!”

 

Lily’s still in a daze, so I’m the one who opened the carriage window and asked the coach driver to stop.

 

“Mister Kuro!” it was the Marquise of Monfort, who was supposed to be riding ahead of us.  “Oh!  Did I disturb you?” she asked the moment she saw me with the head maid in the lap-pillow pose.

 

“N-no.  It just happened; nothing personal to see here, so just continue.” I awkwardly replied.

 

“Ah yes!  There’s a huge rockfall a few distances away from our current location.  The escort vanguard was separated from us!”

 

“Hmm?  What happened?”  This time Lily was getting to her senses.

 

I explained to her about the rockfall.

 

“Oh?  That’s weird.” she said, by this time, fully awake, “There couldn’t be any rockfalls in this route we’ve chosen.  And even if this is the Season of Crystal Rain, the weather’s just been starting up so it couldn’t have soaked the soil that much it would cause a rockfall…”

 

I was silent.  By the way, they implied it, this rockfall was suspicious…

 

Well, this is a fantasy world, and in fantasy worlds, suspicious rockfalls or barricades can only mean one thing…

 

“Your Excellency, if I may ask, are there bandits or brigands operating around this area?”

 

“Hmm…not that there’s anything I know of.” the paladin answered me, “But well, I sent advance guards to scout the road ahead, and this is so sudden that they were separated from us on the other side of the path.”

 

Well, my hunches could be wrong.  But hey, this was a medieval fantasy world, you know.  Maybe, if this was the work of unscrupulous people, they had let the advance guard passed safely before they moved to isolate our convoy.  After all, a severe rockfall could take several days to remove, even by magic.  By the time they could reach us, we may have had engaged the enemy long before they arrived.

 

Heh, not that there’s anything I had to worry about.  I mean, hey, we had two Chersean gods with us…though they’re currently sleeping.  Plus, the Paladin Corps escort guards were elite, so they won’t go down that easily.  And as for injuries…again, we got the Human Saint to cover for that.

 

“What are your orders, Head Maid?”

 

“I think we should search for a good place to stop for a while and have some of our guards remove the debris.” Lily told the Marquise, “I’ll send some servants to help you as well.”

 

“Alright, I’m on it then—”

 

The talk was once again interrupted when we heard another guard rushing in our direction.  The lady had a terrified expression on her face, and I could somehow tell what she would say…

 

“Head Maid!  Captain!” she said in-between breaths as she rushed the salute to her superiors, “A big rockfall just happened at the rear of our convoy and the maids in the other carriage, as well as the large contingent of the rearguards, could not continue from the other side of the road!”

 

“What?” Lily and the Marquise of Monfort were visibly unnerved.

 

And it’s just like what I expect…

 

“Two rockfalls ahead and on our back…” I pondered for a bit, “This is not a work of nature.”

 

“Yes, I agree with you, Mister Kuro.” Lily nodded before turning to the Marquise, “How many are we that were trapped in this part of the road?”

 

“I got three paladins with me, plus Countess Belle’s squad had four.”

 

“Can’t the other paladins flank around the debris to reach us?  I mean, this dense forest to our left should be accessible.”

 

“Yes, that’s what they’re trying to do right now.” the Marquise of Monfort answered, “However, aside from tending to our injured, those who could go around the debris field would take some time to navigate this forest and reach us.”

 

“Looks like we’re hopelessly outnumbered.” Lily finally confirmed what I feared.

 

“Of course.” was my nonchalant reply.  If Lily was reading fantasy books from Earth, she would know that situations like this were a sure flag for something bad to happen.  I mean, come on:  it’s raining, there’s a fog (not too thick though), two suspicious rockfalls…you get what I mean?  

 

The only thing that’s missing is bands of nasty-looking and smelly bandits and brigands to appear shooting arrows at us!

 

“Kyaa!!!”

 

“!!!”

 

Which happened just now.

 

“All guards protect the carriage!” Lily quickly recovered from the shock of that arrow shot and gave orders to the Marquise and Countess Belle’s squads.  They promptly followed, and our coach driver—who was a magician from the Paladin Corps, took on a defensive posture as well.

 

“…”

 

And uh, how nice of them that these two Saints are still sleeping…

 

 

A barrage of fireballs suddenly rained from the dense forest to our left and hit our carriage.  There were a series of tremendous explosions, and it would hit us fair and square if not for the magic shield deployed by our coach driver.  The paladin guards stood between our assailants and our carriage, eight soldiers in all—brave young ladies who swore to protect the Human Saint with their lives.  

 

However, they had little to no armor with them.  The only best equipment they had was their swords, and they wore commoner’s clothing since it was planned to make it appear that our convoy was carrying someone of lesser importance than the Saint herself.  Also, the coach driver wasn’t a full member of the elite guard corps.  She’s more like a ‘contracted member’, though so far, she’s been doing well in putting up a formidable magic shield to protect us from the long-range fire.

 

Nevertheless, I’m feeling that she’s about to lose her mana; she was wincing and her legs were already shaking with each successful hit.  Those magic attacks being hurled at us weren’t something that could be parried for long, without someone else to help or reinforce our barrier.  If the coach driver exhausted her magic supply, our unarmored carriage would be in danger from the long-range attacks—we’ll be literally ‘sitting ducks’ if that were to happen.

 

“Hit them hard, you bastards!  There were only eight knights on their side and the coach driver!”

 

“Don’t let down the barrage!  Their barrier would cave in soon if we maintain it!”

 

“Get the aristocrat alive!  Kill everyone else!”

 

Hearing someone shout those violent orders confirmed our fears that we’re under bandit attack.  It’s their usual tactics.  They must’ve thought that we’re some random aristocrat passing through their territory—the leader’s word ‘knight’ proved that.  I guess if they knew these girls were ‘paladins’ and that we’re carrying the Saint herself, they won’t dare attack us.

 

After all, no one wants to fight a ‘god’, or someone of equal importance.

 

By now, Lily had also noticed that the coach driver was having a difficulty in maintaining her barrier, and planned to take her place once she exhausted her magic.  However, the magic attacks continued without ceasing, and though the paladin guards remained unmoved from their positions…

 

“Hey!  We won’t be able to win by just remaining on the defensive!” I shouted to Lily, “Can’t we wake up these Saints to help us out a bit?”

 

“Well, I would if I could!” Lily snapped back.  

 

Oh, now that I noticed it, the paladin guards also reinforced the coach driver’s magic shield a little.  Man, this isn’t good.  We’re being pushed to the limit.

 

“…”

 

Ayt, we’re about to get overrun, and these holy fellows are still far off in their dreamland.

 

“…”

 

Is this some kind of Bible reference?  Come to think of it, there’s that time when God was sleeping in the middle of a storm while His disciples were panicking because they’re about to sink…

 

What, should I also be calm in this situation?

 

Hmm…well, like panicking would do us any good.  I’m not a god nor a warrior, so I couldn’t do anything else other than to wait and watch.  However, I preferred not to sit idly waiting for my death to come, so instead of watching the attack unfold, I explored my options on how to get out of our predicament.

 

I think that’s the least I can do in this situation…

 

Okay, so looking at our current position, our backs were anchored on the cliffside, which was to the right of our path.  The attackers were coming in from the left, hiding in the relative darkness of the dense forest and the light fog.  Rockfalls blocked our front and rear, and the greatest number of men that we could bring to face the attacks would amount to eleven people—including me, though I’m not sure if I could do something.

 

But hey, if they breach our defense, maybe I’ll charge at them bravely before I let them finish me.  With my fists.  Alone.

 

“…”

 

I am not yet prepared to die.

 

Anyway, except for me, Lily and the members of the Paladin Corps could use magic.  Assuming that we had at least 20 men attacking us (bandits won’t attack if they are outnumbered), and since the people of Chersea could cast magic, I’m expecting it would be a long battle of attrition that our side would be sure to lose.

 

Heh, I know we got the Saints, but they’re currently useless as of now.  Such a convenient time to sleep, Your Holinesses!

 

Now the attackers were relying on the cover of the forest, and of the fog, to attack us and batter our defenses slowly into submission.  Since we were on the defensive, we couldn’t force them out from their hiding places.  And we couldn’t risk dividing our number and sending a squad to hunt the bandits; for one, our pitiful fighting strength would effectively be halved, and second, the paladins might end up getting ambushed.  

 

“…”

 

Because of these conditions, those cowards could always have a member or two attacking us, while the others take a rest.  On our side, we’re stretched too thin for as long as the Saints won’t wake up.

 

The paladins needed their strength if it became close-quarter combat, and with that condition, only Lily and the coach driver could afford to put up a shield continuously to parry the long-range attacks.

 

I’m virtually useless if I don’t think of something.  Ugh, if we can only smoke out these bastards…

 

Smoke out…

 

“…”

 

Hmm…I guess this plan would be better than having just watched them fight alone.