The carriages rattled along. Three covered, wagon-style two-horse carriages rolled along the highway in a column.
The first carried five Belfast guard troops, the third five Mismid; the middle one held us, Mismid ambassador Origa-san, and her sister Arma.
In the driver’s seat, Linze and Elze were sitting together as sisters; the rest of us, in the cabin, were locked in a heated battle.
“Ngh… this one, indeed!”
Yae flipped a face-down card.
But it was a different number from the one face-up card.
“Too bad. The right answer was this and this.”
It came around to Yumina; she flipped two cards in a row. Spade two, heart two. She took the matched pair from the field.
A card-game called Memory — Yumina, Yae, and Arma were playing it. Origa-san and I were playing shogi to the side.
The carriage-rattling was so dull I’d made shogi pieces and a deck of playing cards — paper printed via [Drawing], laminated to thin wood with [Modeling].
Poker required learning the hands, so I taught the easier Memory to the three of them. But for memory contests Yae was apparently weak — she was on a losing streak.
“Lost again, indeed…”
“Memory’s not your game, Yae.”
I gave a wry smile and moved a piece in front of me.
“And — check.”
“Ah…!”
Origa-san glared furiously at the board. No use. It’s mate.
“Lost over here too… The skill gap with Lord Touya is just too wide.”
She pursed her lips in complaint. No, I’m bad too. She’d just learned, of course I was winning. But she’ll be stronger than me in a couple more rounds — scary. Better quit while ahead.
“Yae, swap with me. How about you take Origa-san?”
“Indeed. With shogi I was drilled by Doran-dono at Silver Moon, indeed.”
Drilled might be generous — forced into the role of opponent was closer.
“Then we’ll switch to a different game now.”
I swapped with Yae and, shuffling my homemade deck, explained a new game to Yumina and Arma. The hand-reading-is-key, deceptively-tricky game Old Maid.
“Snore…”
In a corner, Kōhaku slept peacefully.
Once they had the rules, the two were absorbed in Old Maid. Yae and Origa-san looked evenly matched, glaring at the shogi board. So we were rattled along, straight on toward Mismid.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“And so, the Boots-Wearing Cat-beastfolk became a noble and lived happily ever after.”
When I finished, applause came from those gathered around the fire. Embarrassing. I’d started it as a little before-bed story, but got carried away.
“That was wonderful! Touya-san!”
Arma’s ears twitched on top of her head, excited as she gave her impression. Her bushy tail was swaying happily too.
“A splendid story, Lord Touya. Where did this come from?”
“Aah — a bard taught it to me back where I lived before.”
I parried Origa-san’s question vaguely. The Mismid soldiers around the fire seemed to have liked it too. A Boots-Wearing Cat-beastfolk who saves his master and shines — a master swordsman and a clever wit.
In a world that still has people who discriminate against beastfolk, a tale where a beastfolk shines this brightly is probably rare. Sorry for the unauthorized adaptation.
“Touya-san knows lots of other stories too.”
“Truly!? Please tell us, Touya-san!”
Arma, sitting next to her, leaned forward with shining eyes at Yumina’s words. These two have gotten close. Same age, easier to talk to maybe.
“That’s it for tonight. Tomorrow.”
I turned Arma’s request down gently with a laugh. Just then, one small Mismid soldier at the fire stood up and put a finger to his lips, signaling silence.
His ears twitched on top of his head. Those were… rabbit ears? He’s a rabbit-beastfolk.
“Multiple individuals approaching… Suppressing presence, advancing slowly… clearly targeting us.”
At his voice, the surrounding soldiers quietly drew swords and began moving, alert. They formed up around Origa-san and Arma in a guard formation. The Belfast soldiers near the carriages also drew and tightened their watch.
“Who are they?”
“Highway bandits, most likely. With numbers, troublesome.”
The Mismid guard captain answered me. The captain is a wolf-beastfolk, dual-wielder.
“Master, indeed — beings approach. By no means friendly. As they say, almost certainly bandits.”
Kōhaku, beside me, said in the voice only I could hear. Bandits, huh. Let me check.
I pulled out the smartphone and fired up the map app. The map centered on us. Searching bandit, pins dropped in succession. Whoa — quite a few.
“Eight north, five east, eight south, seven west. Twenty-eight in total.”
“You can tell!?”
The captain spun in surprise. Pretty heavy numbers. Not unwinnable, but we wouldn’t get out unscathed.
”…Let me try something.”
I’d test out the spell-use idea I’d thought of recently. Should work, probably…
“Enchant: Multiple.”
I enchanted the map app with [Multiple], the parallel-cast Null spell. I touched the bandits on screen one by one, locking each. Pain to lock all of them! Right — done!
“Paralyze!”
Triggered the final spell on the locked map targets. Next instant, overlapping groans from the surrounding forest.
“Ugh!”
“Nguh!”
“Gyah!”
“Hauh!”
“Aaan!”
Various voices, then thudding sounds of falling. Looks like it worked.
“Wh-what did you do?”
“Used a paralysis spell. They’re probably down and unable to move.”
“All of them!?”
“If twenty-eight is all, yes.”
The targets were only the ones I’d judged as bandit in this situation. Conversely — if a normal person who happened to look bandit-like were among them, they could’ve been caught up. In this situation, I doubt that, but. That’s why I went with [Paralyze].
The guards entered the forest and dragged the fallen out. Twenty-eight total. All bore lizard tattoos on the backs of their hands — gang membership confirmed.
“Incredible…! That many in one moment…”
“None of them carrying anti-magic charms — that helped. [Paralyze] gets bounced by even small magical defense.”
Origa-san murmured, dumbfounded. Glad none of them had charms. But the method has issues. Worked because they weren’t moving fast — if movement speed were too high, target lock could slip. And locking each one is a chore.
“You’ve helped us. Genuinely surprised.”
“That guy noticed first, that’s all. How could you tell?”
“Ah, Rain. He’s a rabbit-beastfolk. Hell-ears.”
The captain laughed at the rabbit-eared boy dragging bandits. Small, sleek red hair, about my age. Rain, then. And the wolf captain is Galun.
“For humans, paralysis lasts about half a day. What do we do with these?”
“Mm — back in Mismid, killing them to avoid trouble would be simplest, but we can’t here.”
Galun-san called over the Belfast guard captain. Armor clinking, a blond youth came over. Rather handsome.
Lyon Blitz. Royal First Knight Order. Twenty-one. His father’s name: Leon Blitz… I still can’t believe this man is General Leon’s son. The second son, supposedly — but the General is a boldness-in-the-shape-of-a-man, and this Lyon-san feels like all earnest, every inch. Father and son?
After hearing the situation, Lyon-san thought briefly, then said:
“Tie them up, send a rider ahead to the next town for a guard pickup. They should be back by morning. We hand off the bandits, then depart?”
Galun-san had no objection — settled on that. We gagged them, tied each one’s hands behind their back. Just to be safe, I dug holes with earth magic and buried them up to the necks. The paralysis was still on them — looked like a row of limp severed heads. Surreal scene…
“Watching the bandits is on us; perimeter is on the Mismid side. Lord Touya, please look after the princess.”
Lyon-san told me quietly. Aside from us, only Origa-san and Lyon-san know Yumina is the princess of Belfast. The other members hadn’t met the princess, so we’re safe. Beyond that, only Lyon-san knows my position as Yumina’s fiancé (provisional). I haven’t been told, but maybe he was also ordered to protect Yumina.
“Lyon, our thanks.”
Origa-san approached and thanked him with a smile. And — Lyon-san suddenly went into a panic.
“A-no, this — this is my duty! Please don’t trouble yourself!”
Where the prior calm went, no idea — the blond youth went bright red and rattled out words at Origa-san. The fox beauty laughed softly, amused.
Hahaaa. So that’s how it is.
I quietly slipped away, careful not to be noticed by the two of them. From behind the carriage, I covertly watched the two laughing and chatting at the fire.
“Youth~.”
“Youth, indeed~.”
”…Youth.”
“Youth, indeed.”
When did you all get next to me… The twin sisters, the warrior-girl, and the princess holding Kōhaku — all watching the two.
“Does Origa-dono notice Lyon-dono’s feelings, indeed?”
“She notices, surely. Doesn’t seem dense like some people we know.”
Eh — why are you all looking at me? I don’t get it.
”…Beyond dense, Touya-san is too kind to everyone.”
“Ah — I was thinking that too.”
“And the suggestive demeanor, that is also a problem, indeed.”
“Hey — get a clue!? Seiza, right there!”
“Why!?”
I have no idea what’s happening. How did this turn around?
But I couldn’t defy the four of them in this state. I was made to seiza and subjected to the unreasonable Super-Lecture Time. Why?
I couldn’t follow more than half of what they were saying, but the lecture continued until nearly midnight.