"Nnnm...?"
The carriage came to a halt, and the sleeping Mira let out a confused groan while Rotsard supported her so she wouldn't roll off the seat, and his lap, because of the motion.
"Nn… Tsar…? Wh-what's going on…?"
In the end, she woke up from the nap and sat upright, asking as she rubbed her eyes.
"Let's find out. Hey! Why did we stop?"
Rotsard smiled and nodded at her before calling out so that their coachwoman could hear him and react.
"Young master… there's… there's a child blocking the road… it's crying…"
"?"
"...?"
The coachwoman responded with a distressed voice, making both Mira and Rotsard stare at each other.
"Don't worry, I'll use earth magic and get us right away from…!"
"It's okay. Just wait. I'll go check what it is about."
The coachwoman hurriedly assured the passengers, but Rotsard cut her off.
"EH?! Tsar, don't!"
"Young Master, that's not advised! The standard procedure…!"
*WHOOSH*
Mira gasped in panic while Rotsard already stood up, and even the coachwoman tried to dissuade him from the reckless idea, but then the carriage filled with bluish white light for a split second.
"Wh-what just…?"
Mira mumbled in shock. For just a moment, she noticed two ice puppets sitting on her left and right, but when she blinked in surprise, it wasn't the puppets but TWO ROTSARDS!
"E-eh…? Eh? EEEEHHHH!?"
Each of them grabbed her hand, and each raised one to their mouth and kissed it with a dangerously seductive smirk, causing Mira's face to turn bright red as she cried out in embarrassment.
"I'll deal with this the fastest I can."
"Eh? Ah! No, Tsar…! E-eeehhhh!?"
The third Rotsard, the real one, winked at the short-circuiting Mira as he walked out of the carriage, leaving the girl absolutely stunlocked.
"Those aren't autonomous, just so you know, I'm properly controlling them."
"W-wai…!"
Rotsard added, smiling mischievously, closing the door before Mira could properly voice any concern.
"Y-young master…?"
"It's my spell, there to protect you, don't worry."
As Rotsard walked in front of the carriage, the panicked coachwoman mumbled, anxiously stealing glances at the featureless ice puppet that simply materialized on the seat next to her without any warning, but the bleached-blond-haired youth declared casually and stopped paying attention to her.
Instead, what he was focused on was a small child in a dirty oversized shirt, that was fashioned into a tunic... maybe it was supposed to be a dress... standing in the middle of the road. With their arms spread to the sides, it was obvious that the child was intending to stop them… If the Vultress's family coachwoman had been any less reasonable, that child would have met a terrible fate.
"You can't! Bad stuff is happening in the village! You might get hurt!"
Even before Rotsad properly approached the child, the little girl cried out towards him, greatly distressed.
"That -might- is doing some heavy lifting, isn't it?"
"???"
But the bleached-blond-haired youth merely snickered, causing the child to freeze up for a moment, taken aback.
"Don't worry, I'm just messing around~"
"!"
Rotsard chuckled, seeing the child's reaction... by that moment, he was already right in front of them and crouching down, gently patting the child's head.
"What's the danger ahead?"
"There…! There's a… a rheb… rebellion… Every adult went weird, and they started fighting with the people from the big house…! They're going to hurt the nice mister who lives there because he's a noble!"
Once asked, the child started crying and explaining through tears and sobbing.
Rotsard looked at the child for a moment before looking in the direction it must have come from.
Rebellion.
A peasant rebellion.
The idea itself was enraging enough for Rotsard to start seeing red. But, the presence of that little creature next to him helped him keep his wits and remain focused.
There was no smoke or anything, but… that was most likely a matter of time. No matter how careful either side is, the fires always break out during riots and rebellions…
"Let's go see your parents and other adults, okay? I'll talk to them, I'm sure they'll be reasonable"
"...eh…?"
The next moment, Rotsard had already picked up the child and placed it on his shoulders, causing it to let out a shocked gasp.
"B-but…"
The child let out a baffled voice while turning around to glance over the carriage Rotsard came out of…
"Hmm?"
"N-no, it's nothing… L-let's go, mister!"
…but when Rotsard hummed curiously, the child hurriedly shook its head and said in a shaky voice.
*whoosh*
"!!!"
Rotsard didn't waste time and rushed forward, his speed shocking the child and causing it to fight against the air pressure just so it could grab onto and cling to the youth's head.