Chapter 46
The carriage moved non-stop throughout the whole journey. Solar City was quite a distance from the Northwest side, a trip which usually took a whole day, but they had reached by morning due to the enchanted carriage.
Azek looked out the window. He had slept throughout the journey and only just woken up.
The Princess and Emiliene were already up and about, while Parcival and Genieve still slept soundly.
He was feeling a lot better after getting rest, but now his stomach was rumbling non-stop.
As this was not the first time, he had already made sure to pack some dry food and eatables. So, before they reached the town, he had a light meal, which he also shared with others.
The Princess declined politely, while Parcival was unusually enthusiastic. Azek only gave him short responses. In the past few days, they hadn't grown close by a lot, but the initial awkwardness was gone and the atmosphere was now a bit more comfortable.
The town they were headed to was a small junction point between Solar City and the border villages. It was called Zolar, and the recent monster spotting report came from this town as well.
When they reached the town gate, an eerie silence welcomed them.
The town had a small number of knights posted at the gate, which worked as a checkpoint, but today no one was there.
Whoosh.
Sebastian and Ainsworth immediately brought the carriage to a halt and took their weapons out.
They jumped from the carriage. The other personnel of the Magic Brigade had already alighted, and someone was already up in the air, examining the situation.
Sebastian made his way to the gate while Ainsworth stood beside the carriage, scanning the surroundings vigilantly.
Only a few blood stains were spotted on the walls, and the gate had a dent in it with claw marks visible. But there was no corpse, nor any other sign of a scuffle.
The gate was shut tight, and the mage who was airborne came down.
"What do you think, Sebastian?"
Boooooom
Before he could answer, a loud voice pierced through the air. They looked behind, and the carriage was under attack. A 5-meter monster with four claws was currently wrapped around the carriage roof, which carried the academy students.
Ainsworth appeared behind it. His large axe swung with precision and directly landed on its back.
Screeeeeeeeh!
The monster let out a loud screeching sound, and it resulted in everyone covering their eardrums.
Ainsworth landed and lost a step. He became nauseous.
The ones who were at a distance fared a bit better, but the mages who were near the carriage became disoriented.
Sebastian looked at his comrade's condition and wore a grim expression. The people from the Magic Knight Brigade were fairly adept at dealing with these types of intelligent monsters, but it had basically taken the students as hostages. A head-on assault became out of the question due to the voice attack, and ranged attacks would pierce through the carriage as well.
Damn it. He cursed internally and looked towards the Royal Brigade commander.
Doris was standing there quietly, observing.
A small voice resounded beside him.
"It's done."
Small veins grew underneath the carriage and wrapped around it in a blink, and the carriage was shot into the air.
A mana circle appeared in front of the monster's head, and a beam pierced through its body.
The monster, still alive, thrashed violently and launched another frenzied voice attack, but by now the veins had already pierced through the windows of the carriage and made a canopy inside the roof, which blew up a second later.
The Princess and students, huddled together, crouched on the floor. Initially, when the assault began, they were ready to take action as needed and had cast a protective barrier and readied offensive spells. But they didn't have the chance, as the scream left them almost unconscious. And before they could comprehend what was going on, they were wrapped in veins and something blew up outside with a deafening explosion.
The monster was hit with four magic circles from all sides, each beam piercing through and blowing up its body.
In a matter of seconds, it became a mess of blood and flesh.
Sebastian swung his axe and it flew across the battlefield towards the monster's corpse.
Crack.
The sound of something breaking came from where it lodged into the monster's corpse.
The mana heart core was destroyed by the magic-imbued axe.
Doris looked at Sebastian, who went to check on Ainsworth.
"He is shrewd," he commented.
Margrave family's direct descendants didn't participate on the front lines; that was the common thought.
But Doris knew insider information: each and every knight of the Margrave family had to undergo brutal training and direct combat on the front lines before choosing a weapon.
That was their tradition for years.
From his judgment, he showed that their battle sense was on par with the Magic Knight Brigade.
Sebastian's axe that directly broke the mana core was not thrown immediately after the assault began.
Otherwise, he was sure the monster's head would have flown before he even had the chance to launch its attack.
Both parties had now roughly gauged each other's strength, and their guard relaxed around each other.
The town gate lock was cut open, and inside, there was no living person visible. The carriage had been blown up, so the students now rode the other one that was available.
There were no signs of a fight inside the town. The road to the town market was dilapidated, devoid of any person.
And soon the reconnaissance mage came down.
"There is a big building on the west, and people are huddled inside. The knights are guarding the building. They still haven't discovered us."
Doris nodded and asked Ainsworth to make their way towards the building.
A few alleys later, a town hall sign showed up with makeshift barriers of sandbags. The knights here were only four guard mages, so they didn't discover their presence when they entered the town.
But before they could get close, two people jumped out from the building, brandishing swords.
"Identify yourselves!"
Ainsworth lodged his axe into the ground. A loud thud resounded.
"The Margrave family has responded to the request for help from the Northwest."
He then proceeded to throw the monster's head in front of them.
"The monster has already been taken care of. It's safe to come out now."
The chest plate on his robe showed the Margrave family symbol vividly.
The knights immediately withdrew their swords and shot a signal to the rest of the personnel. They then gave a respectful greeting.
Ainsworth dismissed them slightly and asked, "Where is the person in charge? We need to hear details of what happened."
"Please, this way."
The sandbags were pushed aside to make a pathway open. The carriage was drawn inside, and they slowly made their way into the building.