Chapter 9.2 – Hunting Festival (Part 1)

The man returned shortly after daybreak. Judging by the new carriage wheel in his hand, it seemed that there was no potion available to restore the corroded wheel to its original state.

“Damn it, what a mess. Whew.”

The carriage was smaller than usual, so the wheel wasn’t very large. Still, it was cumbersome for one person to carry, so as soon as he arrived, he dropped the wheel and sat down heavily on a rock.

He was the strongest among the mercenaries, which was why he managed to bring it back without further delay.

“I should demand extra payment when we return. So many problems just to kidnap one woman!”

Grumbling with anger, he got up and replaced the wheel.

Ria covered her mouth to stifle any sound inside the carriage, which suddenly tilted and shook violently. If even a small noise was heard and the man came inside, it would be over.

Once the shaking stopped and the carriage leveled again, Ria let out a small sigh of relief. But then, just outside the door, she heard the man’s voice, followed by the sound of him touching the handle, as if about to open it.

“……!”

Startled, Ria curled up tightly and retreated to the corner. Just as the door seemed about to open, it was blocked by Mikel’s voice.

“What’s going on?”

His eyes, which had shown a glimmer of light earlier, were now dull again, like a puppet, as he asked the man. Without a hint of suspicion, the man ruffled his hair and replied.

“I forgot there was a woman inside while changing the wheel. Even though I said it out loud, I was such a fool. I need to check if she’s okay.”

“…Countess, wake up.”

“What? Then you check. Just seeing her face makes me angry. I want to hit her a few more times, but we have a long way to go, and we can’t waste time unnecessarily.”

After finishing his words, the man turned away, and Mikel nodded, opening the door to check on Ria inside before closing it again and climbing onto the driver’s seat.

“Report.”

“What?”

“Are you not doing it?”

“Oh, I’ll do it when we reach the northern border. It’s more important to hurry now. There’s no pursuit yet, but just in case. We’ve already been delayed quite a bit because of the wheel.”

“…….”

“What are you doing? Hurry up and start.”

Mikel looked at the man for a moment, then nodded and drove the carriage.

Ria, feeling the carriage bump along the forest path, sat up from her crouched position. Things had gone slightly awry from the start.

‘…No, it’s okay. I prepared an alternative in case this happened.’

Trying to calm her pounding heart, she recalled the contingency plan she had prepared. But she couldn’t help but grip the dagger hidden beneath her seat tightly.

The carriage continued to travel longer than expected. At some point, the temperature dropped sharply, and the sound of a bitter wind blowing could be heard.

‘What is this?’

Ria, struggling to maintain her balance in the swaying carriage, stood on tiptoe to look out the window. Though not perfectly aligned with her eye level, she could catch glimpses of the sky and the tall trees surrounding them.

“……Snow?”

The landscape she saw was entirely white. Snow piled high on the branches, and snowflakes fell in the direction of the blowing wind. It was completely different from the imperial weather, which had been approaching summer.

Then, a murmuring sound came from one side of the wall. It was from the direction of the driver’s seat, where the man and Mikel were sitting. Ria pressed her ear against the wall to listen closely.

“Yes. Northern border…, the woman is fine…….”

Though she couldn’t hear clearly, she guessed from the words she caught that Sir Mikel was making the ‘report’ he had mentioned. Ria tucked the dagger into her dress and clutched the fabric, pressing her back against the wall next to the door, ready to dash out of the carriage if necessary.

The murmuring stopped. Ria took a deep breath and bit her lip. And then, not long after.

“-Aagh!”

A man’s scream of pain rang out.

“You crazy, ugh, you, you……!”

The man, who had just finished reporting and was tucking the necklace back into his clothes, was caught off guard by a sword suddenly stabbing into his side. All he could do was clutch his bleeding side and barely manage to pull himself to the edge of the coachman’s seat.

“What are you doing!”

It was truly baffling. He had been told the man was brainwashed and had no self-awareness, only following orders. They had seen it with their own eyes all the way here, so it couldn’t be a lie. So why was he suddenly acting like this!

“What do you think? I’m getting rid of a bad guy.”

The man opened his eyes wide at Mikel, who spoke clearly. It was only natural to be surprised, as he had never seen him form proper sentences before.

Mikel, steering the reins and roughly stopping the carriage, raised the sword he had used to stab him.

“Wait, wait!”

The man, his face pale, began to frantically crawl backward. Even as he fell from the coachman’s seat and crawled across the snow-covered ground, he didn’t stop. A trail of red blood stretched like a string across the white snow.

Mikel approached the man with long strides. It was easy to catch up with him, as he was crawling away while Mikel walked on his two healthy legs.

As Mikel, who had quickly closed the distance, raised his sword, his face showed a mix of complex emotions. A sense of relief that it was finally over. And a slight emptiness at how easy it was to deal with those who had caused him pain.

But something unexpected happened. The man, frantically searching his pockets, pulled out a piece of paper and, tearing it in half, thrust it toward Mikel. Immediately, a sticky, dark energy began to seep out of the torn paper.

“……!”

Shock quickly spread across Mikel’s face, which had been frozen in place. He knew exactly what it was. It was the sorcery that had been gnawing at him all this time. Damn, the unlikely event he had considered was happening right before his eyes.

There was no time to wonder how the man could use it. Knowing the worst-case scenario that would follow, he adjusted his grip on the sword and raised his voice.

“Run away!”

Ria, who had been watching them from the half-open door since the carriage stopped, covered her mouth, feeling nauseated by the repulsive sensation of the sorcery. At Mikel’s urgent voice, she snapped back to her senses.

“Hurry and run, ugh!”

The sorcery, which had rushed at Mikel as he shouted once more, wrapped around his neck like a noose. The sound of him choking could be heard. Ria, gripping her trembling hands, flung the door open and dashed out. Instinct screamed at her to get as far away from the sorcery as possible.

The man, who had been smiling wickedly as he watched Mikel trapped by the sorcery, frowned as he saw Ria escaping. He pulled out a healing potion and poured it on his wound, then snatched the sword from Mikel and stabbed him in the side in the same manner.

“I never thought the spell scroll I obtained as a gift from a long-standing deal would be so useful. Who would have thought a puppet would do something like this? I really thought I was going to die.”

As the sword was pulled out, blood sprayed into the air. The man’s clothes and face were splattered with red blood.

“Gasp……!”

Mikel, gasping in pain, lost consciousness, buried in the snow. The sorcery that had been strangling him vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed. The man clicked his tongue at the sight.

“The old man sold that one-time use item for such a high price.”

If it weren’t for this urgent situation, he could have sold it for even more. Muttering regretfully, he kicked the unconscious Mikel and started walking in the direction the woman had fled.