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墨書 Inktalez
"Oh, have we already passed the junction?" Freya nodded. It was almost noon now, and the originally gloomy rain seemed to be clearing up a bit.
The maid in the carriage had slumped to one side, softly snoring in her sleep.
Feeling her stomach, Freya took out a piece of white bread from the bag behind her and began to tear it apart slowly. Just as she had eaten half of it, a rustling sound suddenly came from the grass on both sides of the road.
"Stop the carriage ahead!"
With a rough voice, more than twenty people armed with wooden sticks and machetes burst out from the bushes.
"What’s going on?" Freya frowned slightly. Through the window, she saw that these people were wielding makeshift weapons and wearing tattered clothes, with a faint smell of iron in the air.
"Sister, it seems like they are bandits," Vitt said calmly, as if this wasn't his first encounter with such a situation. "These guys usually only rob for money and don’t hurt people. I'll go talk to them."
"Okay, just be careful," Freya nodded in response to Vitt's composed demeanor.
Vitt got down from the carriage, raised his hands above his head, and walked directly into the group of bandits, pointing at the carriage behind him as if he were negotiating with their leader.
Freya quietly observed this scene. In her line of sight from a distance, the person who seemed to be the Leader of the Bandits was strong and had a beard. His upper body revealed powerful, muscular arms, and he wielded a large chopping knife that was meant for cutting firewood but was much larger than usual.
The others behind him were similarly dressed, but their gazes were steady, moving with an air of training.
From her position in the carriage, Freya could vaguely hear some conversations.
"This tone..." Suddenly, Freya's expression changed. "No, they are not ordinary bandits!"
Soon after, it seemed that they had finished negotiating. Vitt turned around with a smile and waved at the carriage. Just as he was about to leave, the Leader of the Bandits suddenly raised his chopping knife.
'Thud.'
After a slight sound, a spherical object was thrown into the air, and Vitt's headless body slowly collapsed.
The sudden change in the scene left Freya no time to think. She quickly drew two swords from the compartment of the carriage, pulled her still-sleeping maid down, and ran swiftly in the opposite direction.
The trees and underbrush around them flew by as they sprinted, with Freya holding onto the maid while skillfully maneuvering around obstacles. Her eyes were calm, while the maid she was dragging along wore a face of panic and confusion, struggling to keep up with Freya's pace.
Behind them, occasional shouts and hurried footsteps could be heard, clearly indicating that the group disguised as robbers was closely pursuing them.
Upon witnessing Vitt's death, Freya had quickly made a judgment. Without grabbing their belongings, she had pulled the maid to escape. If they were just ordinary robbers, they would likely abandon the chase after killing one person and seeing the empty carriage. However, it was evident that this group intended to silence them.
"…Sister… I… I can't go on… Who are those people…" the maid gasped for breath as they ran, her panic mingled with confusion.
Indeed, transitioning from a deep sleep to a frantic escape while being chased by a large group would elicit such a reaction from anyone.
"If I'm not mistaken, those are Saladin's soldiers…" Freya lowered her voice.
Although Saladin and Byron belonged to two different countries, their languages were similar; the distinction lay only in pronunciation. If she hadn't read about the peculiarities between the two nations in books, she might not have recognized it immediately. More importantly, it was the soldiers' demeanor that gave them away.
Saladin's soldiers hiding as robbers in Byron… everything about this felt unusual, especially with their intent to silence witnesses. There must be some dark secret behind it all.
Though it seemed like two people were escaping together, Freya was actually dragging the maid along as they ran. As time passed, Freya felt that the maid was becoming heavier in her grip; soon enough, she would have to carry her on her back to flee.
Glancing at the maid who was nearing her limit, Freya frowned slightly. She understood the stamina of an untrained ordinary person, but if she abandoned her now, there would only be one outcome.
However, with the added weight of the maid dragging her down, it seemed unlikely that either of them would escape.
"Sister… please leave me behind… run away on your own… if you can get back… please tell Leta… I won't be able to see him again," the maid pleaded with tears streaming down her face as she looked at Freya.
Freya remained silent in response to the maid's plea. Instead, she furrowed her brow and suddenly accelerated again, leaping into a patch of grass.
The two of them nearly slid into the underbrush, getting covered in the sticky mud and thick decayed leaves left behind after the rain.
Freya released her grip on the maid and quickly gathered some nearby weeds, covering the maid completely except for her face.
“…Sister…” The maid stared in shock at everything Freya was doing, her lips trembling slightly.
“Don’t speak!” Freya wiped mud over the only part of the maid's face that was exposed and whispered, “What’s your name?”
“Sister… I’m Eli.”
“Alright, Eli, stay here and don’t move. What you said earlier was for your own good.” A hint of a smile appeared on Freya's calm face as she gently patted the maid, who was about the same age as her. “Of course, if you’re still alive.”
Before the maid could think of anything else, Freya jumped out of the bushes, creating some noise while running in the opposite direction.
The muddy soil and grass clippings felt cold against her face.
Freya tightly gripped the handles of her two swords, a glint of coldness flashing in her azure eyes.
“Although it’s a bit earlier than expected, I can only face them head-on!”
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