141 - Troublemaker or Goddess of Fortune?
Grasslands stretched out in all directions.
The sky was high, and the sun was hidden behind clouds, making it feel a bit chilly.
(It would be warm if the sun would just come out.)
Winter was coming to an end, and I stood guard with my spear in hand.
I had Mei take the form of a kirin, and with a saddle placed upon her, I was practicing wielding a spear from horseback. The spear was one I had borrowed from Aria.
"Hey, don't hit me in the head while you're swinging that. If you hit my horn, I'll bite you."
Mei was worried that while I was riding on her back and defeating monsters, I might accidentally strike her head with the spear.
On the well-maintained road, the porter had stopped. Aria was leaning her back against the porter while watching us, and Eva was keeping watch over the surroundings.
Clara was sitting on top of the porter, looking down at us.
"I'll try not to... but man, fighting on horseback is difficult."
The Sixth Generation had told me to practice, but I didn't own a horse. Out of necessity, I had Mei take the form of a kirin to make do.
Aria looked at us.
"Hey, isn't this incredibly extravagant? Riding a kirin just because you don't have a horse."
Eva agreed while continuing her watch.
"Only Liel would do that. Besides, why a mounted spear? It looks cool, like a hero from a story, but still."
Aria looked at Eva, sounding a bit exasperated.
"Is that the issue? Are you just ignoring the fact that he's seriously trying to get involved in a war?"
On the way back from completing a request, whenever I found a monster, I fought it by swinging my spear from horseback. I did so while thinking that it was hard to keep my balance and that it would be easier to fight if I just got off.
I discovered three goblins and, insisting on it, fought them alone.
Mei simply stomped to death a goblin that stepped in front of her with her foreleg.
"Hey!"
As I lost my balance from the sudden movement, Mei laughed.
"Well, it was aiming for my legs. Besides, how much longer are you going to take?"
Fighting on horseback was truly difficult.
From within the jewel, I could even hear the laughter of the successive heads of the family. The Sixth Generation spoke.
"Try fixing your body's axis more firmly. On the battlefield, there are many fierce warriors who are one with their horse."
It didn't help to be told there were "many" of them.
I had been practicing because I was told it would be bad if I couldn't at least make it look decent.
Once the goblins were defeated, Clara climbed down from the top of the porter to collect the magic stones and other loot.
Aria accompanied her.
"Hey, let me try next."
I climbed down from Mei and checked with her.
"Mei, is it okay?"
Mei replied with a look of indifference.
"I don't really mind."
Aria took the spear from me and climbed onto Mei's back with a happy expression. Aria had been a young lady of high standing for a time, so it seemed she had ridden horses before.
Aria's figure, mounted and holding a spear, was gallant.
"It's been a while, but this really is great."
Then, Mei remarked.
"Ah, you seem more stable than Liel."
I looked away from the two of them.
"...It's been a while since I've ridden."
I made a sore-loser's comment. Finding that amusing, Aria made Mei run, holding the spear in her right hand and the reins in her left.
Clara, having collected the magic stones, spoke while putting on her gloves.
"You're skilled. Rather, you look the part. Aria-san, I heard you were born into a martial family... if you were truly a man, it wouldn't be strange for you to have become a Knight Commander or a General."
I looked at Aria.
"True. But these days, there are many women who are active. I don't know about the Queen, but there are the two Great Valkyries and the Saintess. Look, there are three right around here."
Clara let out a sigh and turned back to me. She looked at me with eyes more judgmental than usual.
"That Saintess is exactly the problem, though."
I had shared the information I obtained with Clara. I had her read the documents. Therefore, Clara also knew about the Saintess.
More importantly, that Saintess was terrible.
The religious nation of Zain is a country that worships the Last Goddess.
That in itself is not a problem, and basically, the religion itself worships one of the Goddesses. The problem lies with the successive Saintesses.
(Since most of the priests inherit their family positions, they're practically no different from nobles. And yet, do they decide the Saintess, the top of the country, based on appearance or talent?)
From among the shrine maidens serving the temple, they chose the one with the most superior appearance and talent to be the Saintess, regardless of bloodline.
Because of this, there was an inevitable bias toward those who were exceptionally gifted.
At times, due to the circumstances of neighboring countries, there were examples of noble daughters becoming shrine maidens and then becoming the Saintess. While the High Priests, who held roles similar to ministers, seemed to carry out the actual governance, the Saintess also held power.
And the High Priests were not a monolith.
(A religious nation that constantly picks fights with its neighbors... that's just wrong.)
The history of Zain was also a history of war.
However, it seemed the previous one had been a moderate, as the last twenty years had been limited to minor skirmishes. Before that, it was terrible; the one before the previous one seemed to have had some grudge against Rolfis, as they had attempted large-scale wars multiple times.
(Starting a war just because the leadership changed.)
Upon hearing the circumstances of Zain, the reactions of the successive heads were unanimous. In particular, the Fifth and Sixth Generations seemed enraged.
Starting from the Third Generation.
"The reasons for starting the wars are awful. Honestly, it makes me want to support Rolfis unconditionally."
"I wonder what they were thinking. Shall we carve a trauma into them by repelling them so thoroughly that they can never start a war again?"
"...The reasons for war are too terrible. There is no justification on Zain's side. Absolutely none."
"It would be more refreshing to just crush them."
"I reject that, as we cannot let Liel govern them. Just governing such a country would consume all of Liel's time."
――The possibility of fighting on Zain's side was gone.
The Fifth Generation was a person who, during their lifetime, had been unreasonably invaded multiple times by neighboring lords and had endured it.
Emotionally, they could not forgive it.
Just as I was feeling like letting out a sigh, there was a reaction on my [Search] skill. A yellow reaction was being pursued.
I immediately called out to everyone.
"Someone's being chased. Clara, get back to the porter. Aria, follow me! Eva!"
Calling Eva, I had her look in the direction of the pursued reaction.
Since Eva had the best eyesight among us, I had her confirm it.
"A carriage is being chased. It's a large carriage, so it doesn't look like they can outrun them. But..."
Looking perplexed, Eva told me.
"It's strange, because the people chasing them don't look like bandits. Those people definitely have some story behind them."
Hearing that they had "some story," I pondered.
(A group with a story is being chased? Would it be better not to get involved?)
Then, the carriage began heading toward us.
"Liel, what are you going to do!"
When Eva asked, I decided to help. As I touched the jewel, the Third Generation spoke in a slightly exasperated voice. However, they sounded a bit happy.
"Helping people, huh. Well, sometimes the ones being chased are the ones in the wrong. Though it looks like the pursuers are directing hostility toward us as well."
The Sixth Generation added.
"Be careful. Their movements are different from bandits."
I gave instructions to everyone.
"Clara, operate the porter and get between the carriage and the pursuers. Mei, take your human form. Everyone, board the porter and deal with the pursuers from there."
Once we boarded the porter, Clara began operating it. I moved to the top of the moving porter, held the jewel in my left hand, and summoned a bow.
Eva also came to the roof and readied her bow.
The ones chasing the several carriages were men in robes riding horses.
Seeing us approach, they immediately dispatched three people toward us.
"Ten pursuers... no, there are some in the rear as well."
Their movements were one thing, but their judgment in dispatching three people to us was fast. The Fifth Generation warned me.
"Liel, do not hold back. The opponents have come with the intent to kill. There's a possibility the pursued are in the wrong, but it would be foolish to be killed for that reason."
The Seventh Generation added.
"If the pursuers are also thinking of silencing witnesses, this will be a nuisance. Honestly, at a busy time like this."
Taking a deep breath, I prepared to draw the bow.
Using the [Select] skill to capture the enemy, I fired a light arrow. As the arrow flew toward the three riders galloping toward us, all three immediately changed direction to avoid it.
However, the arrow tracked them and was about to pierce the men in robes on the horses.
One was shot through the chest, and another through the shoulder.
However, the man in the robe who was in the center of the three used the horse he was riding as a shield to evade the arrow. Then, landing on the ground, he ran toward us.
When I fired the next arrow, this time he threw a knife toward the light arrow to block it.
"He saw through it?"
The Seventh Generation's voice sounded.
"I see, he's certainly capable enough to challenge us alone."
Eva shouted.
"Take this!"
She fired an arrow. However, perhaps due to hesitation, the arrow missed. Our party had little experience fighting humans.
As the distance was quickly closed, I returned the bow to the jewel and drew my saber.
(This guy is fast!)
With the jewel still wrapped around my arm, he leaped at us on the roof of the running porter.
In the arm emerging from the robe, a weapon was gripped.
Drawing a spare saber, I parried the short sword held by the man in the robe. I ended up staring down the man who had landed on the porter's roof.
As we faced each other in the narrow space, Eva fired an arrow from behind me.
In that instant, I also stepped forward and slashed at the man in the robe.
The opponent blocked my attack before the arrow, but as the arrow pierced his thigh, his movements slowed. I brushed aside the short sword in the opponent's left hand with my saber and then slashed him with the other one.
(Shallow.)
It wasn't that my step was insufficient.
The opponent had sacrificed his arm to avoid a fatal wound.
As the opponent's left arm flew off somewhere, the Third Generation's voice came from the jewel.
"Liel, kick him away!"
Even with the Second Generation's [All] skill, I felt the opponent's magic swell strangely and felt a sense of crisis.
As I immediately took action, the opponent's eyes widened. Then, the man in the robe who fell from the porter's roof rolled on the ground several times and exploded.
Eva, who was behind me, looked at the man exploding and burning.
"...He self-destructed?"
She had an expression of disbelief. I immediately looked toward the pursued carriage, and the pursuers were turning back.
Then, explosion sounds were heard.
Turning around, the place where the two who had been incapacitated earlier were located was engulfed in flames.
The pursued carriage slowed down and headed toward us.
I realized that the survivor had caused the others to self-destruct.
"What the hell..."
As I muttered, the Fourth Generation's voice sounded.
"We might have picked up something quite troublesome here."
Joining the carriage, we climbed down from the porter and looked around.
The horses the pursuers had been riding had bolted, and the pursuers themselves seemed to have fled far away. Even checking with my skill, the opponents' reactions were fading into the distance.
Aria looked at the burning area.
"Self-destructing... they're not sane."
Mei also climbed down in human form.
"As for me, I think humans themselves aren't sane."
Then, a group also wearing robes stepped out of the carriage. As I braced myself, a small old man removed his hood.
The old man with thinning white hair on his head had a long beard. He was thin and had drooping eyes, but the dark circles under them were so severe that he looked like a villain.
However――.
"Thank you very much for saving us just now. My name is Gastone. By the look of it, you are adventurers?"
I nodded, and Gastone-san bowed deeply.
"I am sorry to ask this after being saved, but would you be willing to take on our request? Of course, we will provide a reward."
From within the jewel, the Sixth Generation's voice spoke.
"This smells fishy. Decline politely. Saving them should be enough."
I was told that, but even if I were to decline, I was curious about the content.
"We've only just finished a request ourselves. There's a limit to what we can do."
Then, Gastone-san said.
"It is not such a difficult matter. I want you to undertake our escort. As long as we reach Beim, there will be no problem. If your request is finished, are you not on your way back?"
It had become difficult to refuse. An exasperated voice came from within the jewel.
Just as I was thinking that if it was only escorting, it might be okay, a person in a robe stepped out of the carriage. Judging by the build, it was a woman.
"Gastone, what about those who were attacked?"
At that, Gastone-san began to panic.
"What! I told you to stay in the carriage!"
Then, other women were also in the carriage, all wearing robes. As he hurriedly tried to lead the woman back into the carriage, the woman removed her hood.
"I thank you for saving us. Also, there is a carriage that was attacked and failed to escape. I would like to ask for the rescue of those people. I will pay a reward."
Gastone-san was pressing his face with his right hand.
Then, I looked at the woman. I thought she looked like the picture I had seen in the documents.
"...Could it be, you are..."
Clara, who had come close to me, also saw the woman's face and began to fluster.
"Liel-san, this is bad. This is very bad!"
Aria asked.
"Eh, what's up with this old lady?"
Mei added.
"Ah~ there was a picture on the paper. This person looks like that picture."
The woman seemed offended by Aria's comment, but she decided to ignore it. Golden hair, and light blue eyes.
I had heard she was in her mid-thirties, but she could pass for her late twenties.
"I am Selma Zain, who served as the previous Saintess of Zain. And, I wish to formally make a request. Would you be willing to undertake the escort of our group?"
The woman calling herself the previous Saintess looked straight at me.
Cold sweat flowed down my back, but cheers erupted from within the jewel.
The Third Generation seemed to be banging on a desk.
"Liel, well done! Let's accept the request of the former Saintess-sama!"
"Now Liel can get involved in this story! And with the diplomatic card of a former Saintess! I wonder how we should utilize her!"
"Don't let her get away, absolutely don't let her get away! Secure them just like this!"
"The fact that she fled means she needed to escape from Zain, or perhaps it's Rolfis's pursuers... this is getting interesting!"
"It is good to do good deeds. Because your daily conduct is good, the Goddess must have granted you luck. Occasionally, you are useful. Now, let's hear the circumstances and think about how to utilize them."
I thought.
(These people are overjoyed even when someone troublesome arrives...)