“The two of you will be taken to the capital for questioning. May the gods have mercy on your souls.” the Sergeant said before shutting the door to the carriage. Strangely, there weren’t just a few soldiers guarding us but an entire elite company size stood around us. Most companies would include around fifty to a hundred soldiers but the elite companies held between ten and twenty.

Because of their desire to keep us unarmed for the trip, my staff was taken from me and so was Sasha’s gun. Although they didn’t know what it was they took it anyway because of the large knife on the end. Both of which were put in the back of the carriage out of our reach. Thankfully they didn’t bother to take the bottle of alcohol I had as they just assumed it was a basic spirit. As for the gold and books, they threw the bags in the back as well. I figured that they planned on splitting it among themselves after they turned us over and didn’t want to make a show of it.

As we were taken through the flatlands of Alsenia Sasha kept looking out the window for any opening that may appear for us. She was careful to assess what each of them was carrying for their armaments. Most of them were armed with a large spear that had a decent-sized crescent-shaped blade on the side of it. Along with the spear they each had a shortsword and four of the soldiers were armed with crossbows rather than spears. She couldn’t help but admire the skill in which these soldiers looked like they could take on long-range, mid-range, and short-range attacks.

“How long will it be until we arrive?” Sasha asked.

“When I was being taken here it took me around three or four hours. It should be about the same on the way back.” I replied in a way that sounded like a regular conversation.

“That seems like a good while. At the very least, we get an excellent view of the mountains.” Sasha said with a nod towards the mountains north of us. Based on her bodily movements I figured she was telling me that we needed to head towards those mountains when we made our escape. I nodded back to her in approval as it made the most logical sense.

The mountains were a good six-hour ride by Norhs and then it would take us at least two days to pass through the mountain border into the country of Hutch. Our rations would probably last us till we could make it to a village. Then we could trade some of the gold in our packs for supplies. However, I doubt that we would be able to make it past any proper border checkpoints without some identification. We could figure that out when we had the chance. For now, we just needed to make it there.

“Hey, what’s that?” we heard one of the guards ask on the southern side of the carriage. Looking out the window we saw what looked to be a small dust cloud heading towards us. One of the guards pulled out a telescope and looked out towards it.

“What in the three hells! There’s a giant flock of Hontobi heading right towards us.” the guard said with a worried tone.

“There must be a bad storm heading this way. They’re probably migrating to avoid it.” the coachmen explained.

“We don’t have the ability to move out of the way in time. They’re just too spread out. Soldiers, assert a defensive position on the south side of the carriage. Archers on top of the carriage. We need to build a perimeter fire to guide them away as well.” the Commander of the unit yelled.

“Hey, we can help!” Sasha offered as she saw an opening.

“Like we would accept your help. Just stay in the carriage and be quiet.” the Commander barked at her.

“Listen, I can produce a barrier and Sasha can take them out far faster than your archers can. Just let us help or you’ll suffer casualties.” I said earnestly. The Commander realized I wasn’t lying about what I just said. He gritted his teeth before opening the door to the carriage.

“Fine, do what you can. Though if you do anything suspicious then we’ll kill you both right here.” the Commander said reluctantly.

Grabbing my staff and Sasha’s gun from the back of the carriage I placed a barrier of fire as well as a magical barrier in case some of the Hontobi broke through the fire. What the soldiers didn’t notice was that I was also placing a rune to keep the soldiers inside the barrier until I decided to let them out. Both Sasha and I could leave the barrier freely though. Based on the situation I could easily break open the bottle of project nineteen and run. Though it would probably be best to wait until the Hontobi had passed by.

Sasha set herself up on top of the carriage sitting crosslegged with her AK resting partially on her knee. She waited along with the archers as the soldier with the telescope told them the distance between them and the creatures every few seconds. It wasn’t until he had shouted nine hundred feet that we all heard the sound of a loud boom that echoed in our ears.

The shot fired from her gun sent her rocking back a good twenty degrees before she returned to her original position. One of the large bird-like creatures with long necks and feathery bodies fell down not a second later. She repeated this process another twenty-nine times before removing the magazine with another and reloading. Pulling back the bolt handle she readied herself to start firing again. By this point, the soldier calling out the distance was yelling six hundred feet.

Sasha fired again and again. The giant feathered beasts slowly realized that they shouldn’t be running towards us and started turning northeast rather than directly north. The soldiers quickly became more relaxed as soon as the threat had run in a different direction. As soon as they were I signaled to Sasha who quickly jumped off the carriage and stood a good ways away from us as I pulled the bottle from out of my robe and broke it against the side of the carriage. Before I could inhale any of the fumes I ran out of the barrier.

“You bastard!” the Commander yelled before falling to the ground unconscious along with the other soldiers.

Once we figured the fumes had dissipated we went into the barrier and removed it before detaching the Norhs from the carriage. We then grabbed our bags from the back of the carriage and rode off towards the mountains.

* * *

A day later the King of Alsenia heard the news of what happened to the envoy coming from the border. He couldn’t believe that a mage was able to overpower his men and called upon the grand mage. She arrived not an hour later with a dissatisfied look that almost made the king want to slap her. Though he didn’t out of respect… and fear.

“What can I assist you with?” Grand Mage Octavia asked with a bow. The act of which made him a bit uncomfortable. It wasn’t that it was abnormal, but it was abnormal for her.

“I want to know about a certain mage that was banished to the Empire named Nero? I was told that he was the one who summoned the hero” the King asked.

“Nero? If I remember correctly, he was a student from the province run by Elred Sentan. He had been banished after being falsely accused of necromancy.” the Grand Mage said.

“What do you mean falsely accused?” the King asked with a curious look.

“Well, one of your noble’s children attempted necromancy and blamed it on the poor boy. He worked as the perfect scapegoat due to his lack of Nobility. More proof as to why I think that your courts are poorly run and quite unfair.” The Grand Mage said sternly.

“I know! You’ve told me time and time again. Do you think that he would exact vengeance upon us because of this?” the King asked.

“Of course. Though I doubt he has any reason to do so yet.” the Grand Mage said.

“And why do you say that?” King Appius asked.

“Because he is more worried about surviving. I assume that you called me here because he escaped and you don’t know where he could have gone?” the Grand Mage Octavia asked despite knowing the answer.

“As always, you know everything so tell me where he has gone?” King Appius asked.

“He and the Hero have gone into the mountains north of the Empire’s border. Though I would not go after him just yet as there is a bad storm coming. Any military group sent after them at the moment will result in death for all those you send after him.” the Grand Mage answered.

“So what shall I do Grand Mage?” King Appius asked.

“Send your first daughter, Lucia to Islandhand. She shall eventually meet both Nero and the hero and hopefully, gain their trust.” the Grand Mage answered.

“I see. Then it shall be done. Also, please send in the one who actually committed the act of necromancy. I wish to speak with him personally.” King Appius asked graciously.

“It shall be done, my king.” Grand Mage Octavia said with a bow before leaving.

King Appius let out a big sigh of relief as she left. The feeling that he was dancing with the devil herself left him as soon as she left the room. Despite all that he had worse problems to deal with. He had to tell the representatives about how the hero escaped and that the summoner was in fact an ex-Alsenian citizen. They wouldn’t be happy about this news nor would the leaders of their nation find it acceptable. Depending on how he handled this there could be a world war. Seeing his options he turned to the butler standing next to him.

“Summon my daughter, Lucia. Tell her it is of the utmost importance.” he demanded. The butler bowed and went off to find Lucia.