After a few hours of reluctantly getting dragged along by Sara to her parent’s castle, I can finally spot the impressive estate. It’s still a ways off though… Just goes to show how big it really is.

“Hey, I didn’t know that ‘taking responsibility’ was just a nice way of saying ‘getting murdered’, if not by Kaori, definitely by your dad!”

“Oh, you big baby. Don’t you understand that my declaration from before actually protects you? Everybody outside of maybe Kaori would think twice about going against the Sunbringer family. Which, after surviving my dad today, you’ll hopefully be a part of.”

She said while boasting a confident smile.

“I guess… But I also think you pushed that psychopathic young master to the brink even more now… Who knows what he’ll do? I just don’t want him to involve anybody I care about… Including you…”

She punches me on the shoulder.

“Hey! What was that for?”

Before kissing me on the lips and saying:

“You big dummy, I also care about you… Don’t shoulder everything on your own… I want to be involved…”

Before I could hug this cute little creature in front of me, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my right foot.

“Argh!”

I hold Sara back from stepping on the same thing I just did before looking down. A caltrop? Wait… There are hundreds of them laid out in front of us!

While looking for a way around them, I noticed we were under some kind of overpass. There’s no way out except for over these caltrops or by going back to where we came from… A TRAP?!

Spotting a light reflecting on the walls of the overpass around us, I quickly push Sara and myself to the ground, managing to nearly miss the rows of sharp caltrops. Luckily I acted quickly because I definitely heard something whiz past my head…

I look back to the source of the sudden light and spot a dark figure, a hooded man hovering an iron spike above his hand.

Shit, he must be an assassin, a rare metal-bishop even…

He didn’t give me much time to think though, as a metal spike comes flying towards me at an incredible speed, I didn’t have enough time to dodge, so I caught the metal spike with the flesh of my left shoulder instead.

I could hear a ‘Tch’ coming from the hooded figure as I could see his chest lighting up again.

I quickly instruct the confused Sara to build an ice wall between us and the figure, which she luckily does on time.

*CRACK* *CRACK*

Fuck, this wall isn’t going to last long, we’ve literally been trapped between a rock and a hard place… Fuck it, I won’t die from these caltrops, at worst, it’ll just cripple a foot… Right now, I have to assure our safety.

Gritting my teeth, I activate my After-Image cartridge while holding Sara in my arms like a princess. I aimed my magic at the other side of the caltrops, outside of the overpass.

*FWOOSH*

…Huh? My feet don’t hurt? Looking down, they’re not even bleeding? Wait, now isn’t the time to be admiring feet, I have to run away!

After a couple more activations of my movement magic, I can hear the wall of ice that Sara put up collapse. Looking back I can see the hooded figure standing there beneath the overpass, but instead of attacking us again, he simply gives up and walks away after seeing that we escaped his caltrops.

Looking in front of me again, I finally noticed why the attacker gave up, I had already ran all the way to the entrance of the Sunbringer estate… Phew…

After walking through the gates of the estate I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. He won’t dare to pursue us here right?... I… I better still hurry to the mansion though…

After walking another few steps, I noticed I was still princess-carrying Sara. Looking down, I could see the blushing/slightly satisfied smile on Sara’s face.

However, after noticing I wasn’t moving anymore and just staring at her, Sara gets flustered and jumps out of my arms:

“Hmpf! Thank you for that I guess, but you didn’t have to run away, I could have easily defeated him.”

She said, trying to slightly recover her pride.

*SIGH* “We didn’t know how strong the enemy was Sara, running away was the safer option. You should also do so in the future, that was clearly an assassin sent by Kaori, he’s fast… Image the traps that guy could have set up for us if he was given more time…”

*GULP* “R-Right… Thanks Reo… And… Sorry, I might have dragged you into something truly troublesome…”

“It’s okay Sara, I said I would take responsibility didn’t I?~”

I give her a cheeky wink and we make our way to the mansion. There, the butler, Pierre I think, is already ominously waiting for us at the door.

“Oh good, the young miss is finally here. Please clear up this misunderstanding and try to calm down your parents, I’m afraid the Lord will destroy the entire west wing if he continues like this. Oh, and young man, please remove that iron spike from your shoulder.”

Oh right, the spike. After a rather painful extraction, the butler hands me a potion and motions me to leave. Sara isn’t having any of it though:

“What misunderstanding?”

She says, smiling innocently.

The Butler then sighs and turns his attention towards me, with a slight hint of disgust in his visage.

“Young man… Leave now, if not for your own life, do it for that of the young misses. You’re but an ant to the forces at play here.”

“Sorry, Mister butler, can’t do that. You might claim to know what’s best for Sara, but have you ever asked her yourself? Besides, this young man here made a promise.”

And with that badass line, I ignore the warning of the butler and start walking towards my probable grave with Sara tagging along behind me, grinning from ear to ear. Oh well, she’s a founding member of my harem, can’t give up now….