Chapter 12: On the run
A few days have past as the parties of the Sword and Shield were on the road, avoiding as many villages as possible until they needed to get supplies.
Because of the amount of people that are traveling together, that plan was out the window given their limited capacity without their carriage.
'What a mess this turned into…'
Naofumi would've preferred that he was traveling with just his team rather than Ren and his group, though he was okay with them for now. Him and Ren were discussing more possible techniques they could implement.
With the two having an understanding of each other's abilities, they have found some combos that involve disarming the opponent through Naofumi's shield and Ren's sword delivering the finishing blow.
Others are for escaping should they need to with Ren being the one to stun the opponent while Naofumi pushes the opponent away long enough for the two heroes to escape or formulate some plan.
This was probably the best use of his time, knowing that in the future there will be times he and the Sword hero will need to team up.
While entering the first village in a long while, Naofumi and Ren disguised themselves to avoid getting spotted while their respective party members were protecting the carriage since it has all of their current supplies.
While in the village, the two noticed that one of the knights from the King were showing those within the two footages of injured knights.
More likely the ones that Garfiel had beaten to near death.
"Didn't think they'd be quick."
"They are working overtime, that is for sure." Naofumi commented before turning around towards a shop nearby.
"Come on, I don't want to be here any longer than what we have to."
"Agreed."
The two approach the food vender as they quickly get enough for every party member that will last them at least two days.
"You sure we shouldn't get more? I have the money to get us more—"
"It would be bad if it got the attention of the wild life. There's also the fact that it can go bad."
"...Right."
As Naofumi and Ren start to make their way out of the village, they approach Raphtalia and the others to inform them of what's going on.
"...Shit."
Garfiel was pissed at himself since he was the reason that they are on the run.
Raphtalia and Filo noticed this immediately, prompting the two to pat him on his back.
Naofumi looked at the boy's direction with a blank expression for a second before closing his eyes while saying:
"We should get moving. They will start searching this area soon."
"Understood."
Tersia, Welt, Bakta, and Farrie bowed at the Shield Hero while Raphtalia and Filo nodded at what their master had to say.
Garfiel stood silent along with Melty, the demi human boy feeling guilt from his actions while the second princess paid close attention to the Shield Hero.
She didn't like being with him ever since he found out about her identity since he's been giving her the cold shoulder.
As everyone's packing up, Melty takes this opportunity to follow the Shield hero and the Sword hero while the two step away for a moment to chat.
"I feel as if something's off about this situation." Ren said.
"Explain."
"The villages we had passed, from what Raphtalia and Garfiel had told us, they are spreading this footage fast. It's almost like this was planned."
"Tsk. Wouldn't be surprised if the King had some secret network behind the scenes."
Ren crossed his arms for a moment as he thought about what Naofumi had said.
"I believe this is more than just the king hating you."
"Elaborate." Naofumi sharply said.
"If the king had something like that, he would be the type to send every single one of them to hunt us down. This seems more so to harm your reputation."
"Yes and last I checked, the king did that through her eldest princess."
Ren stood silent for a second, noticing that Naofumi is restraining his anger when referencing Melty's older sister. Careful with his words, he responded to Naofumi's response:
"Yes, however we must recall that knight we interrogated two days ago. He had the three heroes church's rosary."
"There's gotta be a connection there." Garfiel said, catching Ren and Naofumi's attention as well as Melty. The second princess was surprised since she wasn't expecting the demi human boy to be right behind her. Naofumi gave Garfiel a serious expression while asking him:
"What are you two doing here?"
"Here t'tell ya we're ready."
Naofumi gave the boy a cold stare for a few seconds before he and Ren began to walk back towards the carriage's location with Melty and Garfiel by their side.
"We will discuss this topic later." Ren said, knowing that this is something that they'll need to speak in depth.
As the night ends with Garfiel choosing to pull the carriage to give Filo a chance to sleep.
After two whole days of travel, the second night after the visit to the village, Garfiel and Ren had returned from checking the new village far away from the capital.
"Any luck?" Raphtalia asked, hoping that this would be the one village they could rest. Unfortunately, Garfiel shook his head with disappointment.
"They got here too." He responded in a calm expression while looking away from everyone.
"Yes, it seems like now they've added a bounty for Garfiel's head."
"What?" Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty all three said in unison. Tersia, Felt, Farrie, and Welt all just remained silent, feeling sympathy towards the demi human boy. Naofumi remained with no expression for only a bit before asking Ren:
"For how much?"
"Why's that relevant?" Melty angrily questioned.
"I want to know." Naofumi responded annoyed before looking back at Ren. "How much?"
"A lot of gold coins."
"What do you mean by a lot?" The Shield Hero pressed on, wanting a specific number.
"Over a thousand." Ren said, not wanting to give him a specific amount. Naofumi caught on to this though it was enough.
"Why does it matter the amount?" Raphtalia asked, knowing that there must be a reason behind it.
"Lets just say the amount of money offered acts as an indicator of how much trouble Garfiel is in."
"It isn't just Garfiel." Ren added, "But also you and the rest of your party. There is of course a pretty penny for you as well." He looked towards Naofumi when he said that part.
"Of course." Naofumi knew that there was more to it than just Garfiel being the one with a bounty.
"Wait, were we also there?" Bakta asked, curious if anything.
"Yea, all of us are targets"
"Is there any mention of Princess Melty?" Welt questioned, suspicious that there's no mention of her. Garfiel quickly answers this question as well with:
"Yea, she's mentioned though it's more focused on us."
"Of course. Why am I not surprised?" Naofumi turned towards the side as he was frustrated at the current situation.
"Wouldn't the princess be a higher priority for them?" Tersia commented, finding this situation quite unusual.
"Yeah. Kinda strange the king hating you more than being concerned for Lady Melty's safety."
"I doubt this is the king's doing." Ren said as he got everyone's attention.
"Who is then?"
"The three heroes church." Raphtalia said, drawing attention towards herself.
"The three heroes church?" Two of Ren's party questioned this.
"Yes, that could be a suspect in all of this." Ren said as he also was coming to this conclusion that Raphtalia had said.
"What makes you think that, Master Ren?"
Ren looked at Bakta for a moment before thinking back to a few days ago on how he along with Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Garfiel had a captured knight that tried to attack them while they were resting.
He recalled that this knight had something with him, a rosary of the three heroes church. There was also a comment the knight made directly towards Naofumi.
("You'll learn just how grave the sin of disturbing our country's order is!")
He took a deep breath before turning towards Naofumi, having a feeling that he's thinking of the same thing.
"That knight from before had the rosary of the three heroes church."
Naofumi stood silent as Ren was speaking towards him, prompting him to turn towards the Sword Hero.
"It makes the most sense that they would be behind this. They have the manpower and from the way it seems, they probably have spies all around the kingdom to spread whatever message they want."
"But why would they hunt down the Sword Hero and his party as well?" Filo asked, trying to catch up with the conversation.
"It's probably because he's associated with the Shield Hero." Melty added in. Everyone turned towards the second princess as she began to add in her thoughts into the matter. "If the Three Heroes Church is behind this, then they are likely going to start making a reason for why they are going after the Sword Hero and his party."
Ren and his party members looked amongst one another, seeing that they are in quite the situation.
"What should be our next move, princess?" Ren asked as he turned towards Melty, wanting to know what she's thinking. Naofumi was curious to see how the second princess was going to respond to this, prompting him to glare at her. Melty noticed the attention shift towards her, prompting her to cross her arms and close her eyes to think about the situation they are in.
"As we discussed before, the queen holds a lot of power over the kingdom. That also includes the three heroes church. Once we reach mother, we can ask for her help in stopping them from causing anymore trouble."
"How can we be sure that she can be trusted?" Naofumi asked as he set his back onto the tree behind him. "How do we know that this isn't some sort of setup from her? What if she's just like your father? Corrupt as hell."
Garfiel and Raphtalia looked at each other for a moment before turning back towards the Shield Hero, not liking that he's doing this once again. Melty gave an intense glare at Naofumi, having enough of this.
"Don't you dare insult mother! I get that you have issues with father but don't ever say that mother's corrupt!"
Naofumi was about to comment back to Melty's outrage only for Ren to tap his shoulder, indicating that he should refrain from saying anything else.
Ren quickly turned towards Raphtalia, trying to alert her to take over the conversation.
It took her a moment before realizing what Ren was indicating, prompting her to approach the second princess to help calm her down.
"Don't worry, we will go find your mother. If you believe that she's worth trusting, then we are willing to trust you."
Garfiel agreed to this notion as he approached Melty's position before patting her in the head in a similar way to how his captain had done with the little maid Petra in the past.
Obviously everyone was a bit surprised by Garfiel's action with even Melty sort of at a loss for words.
Her faces slightly turns red while Filo begins to shout,
"My turn! My turn!"
"Hehe, aight."
Garfiel turned towards Filo's direction before patting her head as well.
'Hm. So th's what th'Cap'n feels when doin' th's.'
As he thought of this, he turned his attention towards Naofumi to ask him:
"What do ya think we should do now? Shall we place some faith on th's queen or do ya got a better idea?"
"..."
Naofumi gave him a glare before turning towards Melty.
She had her arms crossed as she hated how hostile he is with her family.
He took a moment before responding with an annoyed tone:
"Fine. Let's trust the second princess, for now."
"Don't call me that."
"Hm?" This caught the Shield Hero's attention. "What was that, second princess?"
"Stop calling me that!"
"What's gotten into you?"
Melty took a moment to regain her composure before responding properly to the Shield Hero's question.
"I have a name! It's Melty! So why do you keep calling me 'second princess', Shield Hero? Don't treat me like some outsider!"
"Hey, you call me 'Shield Hero', too."
"If you don't like that, I'll call you Naofumi. So you call me Melty, too."
"..." Naofumi remained silent for a second, hearing the second princess's request. It was an annoying one but nothing he can't handle.
"Alright, fine. Melty it is. Can we start moving? We can't stand around for much longer."
As he said this, Naofumi started to make his way towards the carriage, wanting to get a move on while they have the chance. Melty nodded to this as her and the Shield Hero were on the same page now on how to address each other.
The others just nodded away as they began to follow Naofumi to the carriage, agreeing that they had to start moving.
Once they were all packing up with Filo in her filolial form and Garfiel moving the carriage as fast as possible, Noaufmi and Ren take the chance to be ready for anything to protect their combined parties.
After a few days of traveling, Nafoumi and Garfiel had a discussion with the demi human boy proposing to the Shield hero that they should start going by foot.
"We can't keep goin' with th' carriage anymore, Shield boss."
"What brings this up?"
"From what Sword guy's been tellin' me, many cities are buying into th't bullshit rumor. Those knights'll catch up t'us 'f we don't move fast."
"Hm. Seems like we agree on that matter." Naofumi commented after a few seconds of silence. "We are a big group and even with Filo and you doing double the work to get us out of this shit of a kingdom, it's not enough."
"Then shall I tell 'em or do ya wanna?"
Naofumi gave Garfiel a look before walking towards the carriage, deciding that he needs to be the one to tell them.
As he goes to speak with Ren and the others, Raphtalia approached him while it was just the two of them.
"Are you okay, Garf?"
"Eh? Where'd ya come from? Thought ya were with th'others."
"I was but then I saw you approach Naofumi-sama. I was worried—"
"—th't I'll get n'a fight with Shield Boss? Nah, don't wanna cause trouble."
"I know. And that makes me feel proud of you but something's still bothering you. What is it?"
"Nothin's botherin' my amazin' self!" Garfiel boasted, showing confidence yet the Raccoon girl wasn't fooled.
"No, there's something on your mind. Something that's been bothering you."
"What're ya talkin' 'bout?"
Raphtalia set her hand onto Garfiel's arm while calmly telling him:
"I know that you are still bothered by what happened with those knights."
"..."
Garfiel's smile faded as he had a serious expression, not really wanting to think back to that moment.
Raphtalia saw this and knew that it was going to bother him if this was brought up...however the things the demi human boy says in his sleep indicates that this talk is needed.
"I understand that Naofumi-sama and you are back on good terms, which is good but it's still hurting you inside, what you did to those knights."
"They deserved it." The demi human boy said in a low tone.
"You are right, they deserved it...but it still hurts having harmed anyone the way you did with them."
"...why're ya bringin' th's up anyway?"
"Because it's eating you up. Both when you are awake and when you are asleep. That feeling will keep growing if you do nothing about it."
"..."
Garfiel kept a calm mind during this conversation, knowing that it's something Otto would do, or well recommend to do. He crossed his arms as he thought hard on what Raphtalia was telling him. He knows that she's trying to help, trying to get him through what he has done, however...
"I get it, yer bein' a good friend. Really appreciate th's...but fer now I don't wanna talk 'bout th's."
"Okay." Raphtalia said, a bit surprised by the way Garfiel's speaking. "I'm just worried about you."
"Appreciate it but right now we got important things t'deal with. Besides, already talked 'bout th's t'Shield Boss. I should be good now but thanks."
Once the conversation was done, Garfiel calmly walked away as he joined up with the others, changing his attitude quickly to avoid any unwanted attention.
Raphtalia noticed this and knew that it's only a matter of time before Garfiel's guilt overshadowed everything.
Although she knows that this conversation was taken care of by her master, she knows that it was probably a temporary solution.
She took a deep breath before approaching the others, noticing Filo being angry at Naofumi and Garfiel.
"What?! No! We can't leave it!"
"Filo, I get ya don't wanna leave th'carriage but—"
"—We need to go on foot. You stand out too much, you and Garfiel."
"We don't stand out th't much."
"Yes you do." As Naofumi said this in an annoyed tone, he turned towards Ren and his party members. "Get your stuff together, we need to go."
Ren and the others nodded at what the Shield Hero had said before heading towards the carriage to grab their weapons and whatever supplies they can carry.
Once they got everything they needed and hid the carriage among a couple of trees, they started to walk deeper into the forest to avoid getting caught.
As they were on the journey towards Siltvelt, they ended up encountering a few bandits in the forest.
Before anything had happened, both heroes turned towards each other, both having the look that they don't really want to waste time dealing with simple bandits.
The two nod before taking the lead of their respective parties, trying to signal each of them that they shouldn't draw attention to themselves.
Everyone noticed this, prompting them to keep a low profile.
Unfortunately, one of the bandits spotted Melty which caused him to pause for a second.
One of the other bandits noticed his comrade just standing there, looking at Naofumi and Ren's group.
"Oi! What're you doing?"
"Nothing...something just feels off about one of them."
"The hell are you talking about?"
As the bandits were speaking among themselves, the others were curious on what was going on.
While this was happening, Naofumi and Garfiel were both on edge since the two had managed to hear what the bandit looking at them had said.
Both suspected that it was Melty since out of everyone here, she's the only one in royal attire.
As they prepare for a possible altercation, the bandits all turned towards the group and noticed the one that the first bandit was looking at.
"Hey! Stop right there."
Although the group didn't want to stop, they knew if they didn't, it would be quite suspicious.
As everyone turn their attention towards the group of bandits, the leader of the bandits leads the conversation with:
"Where are y'all heading off?"
"That is none of your concern." Naofumi said as he tried to signal the others to follow his lead. As he and eventually the others followed the Shield Hero, the bandit group quickly began to surround them.
"Now hold on, you didn't answer my question."
"..."
Naofumi gave the bandit leader a death stare, preparing himself for a fight to break out.
The other bandits were getting a bit anxious, itching for a fight.
Garfiel and Filo both moved towards Melty's position slowly, wanting to protect the second princess.
Unfortunately, this only drew attention towards Melty.
"Who's the little girl?" One of the bandits asked, catching the bandit leader's attention. "She seems important."
"It's none of your concern." Ren jumped into the conversation, pulling out his sword. "And I suggest you leave us alone right now."
"Or what?" The Bandit leader spoke as he pulled out a sword of his own, not threatened by Ren at all.
"Show respect to the Sword Hero." Tersia said angrily with the other members of Ren's party backing her up.
The bandits all looked at one another before taking a good look at Ren.
Some were spectacle on Tersia's comment though others didn't care.
They were all prepared to rob Naofumi and Ren's group.
Because of the hostility growing among everyone, Naofumi decided to start attacking the bandit leader.
"Air Strike Shield!"
A green projectile shaped as a shield appeared and managed to land a hit onto the bandit leader's stomach region, knocking him to the ground.
"Kill them all!"
The second the bandit leader shouted this, a fight broke out with Garfiel and Filo being the ones protecting Melty while everyone else fought.
Ren was attacked by two bandits, prompting him to block each of their attacks with ease.
He knows that he could easily beat them however he wishes to know if they have any tricks up their sleeve.
Though he would eventually change his mind when he saw that the two bandits were pretty much amateurs.
He easily used a few skills to not only break his opponents' swords but also knock them out all within a few seconds.
"Seems like you two have a lot to learn if you wish to challenge me."
Tersia with her martial arts skills was able to easily overpower her opponent, seeing that they were more of a novice than she had thought them to be.
Farrie didn't even pull out his axe since he knew that the two bandits that were confronting him were nothing.
He easily overpowered the two by grabbed their heads and smacking them together, knocking the two out.
Raphtalia clashed swords with her opponent, taking the fight serious while her opponent viewed her nothing but dirt.
"Damn demi human! You think you are capable of wielding a sword?!"
"I'm pretty capable." As she responded calmly, she waited for the right moment before disarming her opponent. Once this happened, she held her sword right on the bandit's throat. "Now, why not improve your skills before insulting someone better than you."
As this happened, Welt and Bakta fought their respective opponents with a bit of their skills, with Bakta using his magic abilities to end his fight with relative ease.
"...I expected more."
As he said this in a disappointed tone, Welt continued on his fight.
Although he's good with knives, his opponent was pretty skilled with his dual blades.
He blocked away each attack with everything he finally had before managed to land a kick that helped knocked his opponent to the ground.
Right as his opponent tried to recover, Welt didn't hesitate to knock him out with another kick.
"Tricky bastard." He said as he turned towards his party members, wanting to make sure that they are okay.
As he turned to check, he noticed a bandit charging towards Garfiel's direction.
The demi human boy has himself into fighting stance, ready to protect the second princess with his life.
"Back off or I'll hurt yer ass!"
"Oh really tough guy? Bring it on!"
The bandit charged at Garfiel, prepared to kill him since he views Garfiel as nothing more than a pathetic boy.
The demi human boy gave a serious expression as he prepared to finish this fight in one punch however as he was about to swing, he recalled how he brutalized all of those knights.
Seeing that image and how he had lost control of himself caused him to not only pause but to hesitate.
This hesitation made the bandit smile as he prepared to slice the boy's head off.
"Big talk, aren't you?"
"..."
Before the bandit was about to land his attack, Filo prepared to jump in and help only to stop when she heard Melty say:
"As source of thy power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and slice through my target like a blade of water. Zweit Aqua Slash!"
As she casted a water spell, the ball of water sliced a part of the bandit's cheek while also slicing the tree right behind him in half.
The top half fell onto the bandit, rendering him out of commission as he tried desperately to free himself.
While that was going on, Filo and Melty turned their attention towards their ally.
"Garf, is everything okay?"
"...y-yeah, I'm fine..."
"You sure? You don't look fine."
"It's fine, lil' princess. Let's just get outta here."
As he brushed his issues to the side, Garfiel looked around and saw that everyone was basically done with their fights. The only remaining bandit that's still conscious was the leader, who was currently being interrogated by Naofumi himself.
"If that one's the Sword Hero...then you must be the Shield Hero—"
"If you wish to come out of this alive, you and your pals will not say a single word about us, got it?"
As the Shield Hero said this, he moved his cape up to reveal a couple of orange balls biting onto him. This threat was basically if the bandit leader didn't agree to this, he would be the one being bitten by these orange ball creatures.
"Okay! Okay! I'll keep quiet!"
"You better. I know your face now so if I find out that you or your men didn't keep your mouths shut, I will kill you."
With that threat solidified, Naofumi let go of the bandit leader before turning towards the group.
"Let's go. We wasted enough time here."
Naofumi started to walk deeper into the forest with everyone else following behind him one by one.
The last ones to follow were Garfiel, Melty, Filo, and Ren since the Sword Hero had decided to be on the back of the group to make sure they aren't followed while Garfiel just looks at his surroundings, being reminded of what he had done to the knights when he lost control.
"Come on Garf, we need to go."
Filo said as she pulled the demi human boy's arm. He turned towards the filolial girl before looking at Naofumi's direction, seeing everyone moving deeper into the forest.
He joined them alongside Melty and Filo, who were both worried for his sake.
Ren noticed this, following behind once he knew that he was the last one following the Shield Hero.
As it was reaching night time, the group rested up as they had been walking without stopping for hours.
As they were resting up, Filo approached Raphtalia to ask her:
"Can you help Garf? He's been acting weird."
"Weird?" Raphtalia was a bit curious on what Filo meant by that. "What do you mean by weird?"
"He just doesn't seem himself."
"Hm."
Raphtalia turned towards Garfiel's direction, seeing that he's just on his own in deep thought. She took a second before patting Filo in the head while telling her:
"I'll talk to Garf. For now, stay by Melty's side."
"Okay."
Filo nodded before approaching Melty to keep her company.
As she does this, Raphtalia smiled for a second before turning towards the demi human boy with a concerned expression.
She waited for a moment before approaching him, wanting to check up on him.
Once within a few feet away from him, she waited until he noticed her presence.
"Oh. Hey Talia, does Shield guy need me or somethin'?"
"No, Naofumi-sama is busy speaking with the Sword Hero. I'm just here to check on you."
"...I'm fine. Just been thinkin' 'bout home."
"Oh. Anybody in particular?"
Garfiel was silent for a moment before responding with:
"Nothin' particular. Just those in the princess's camp."
"Princess's camp?" Raphtalia tilted her head as she was curious on what Garfiel meant by that. The demi human boy realized that Raphtalia had no clue what he was referring to. This prompted him to give context to what he was speaking about.
"T'make it easy t'understand, in th'kingdom of Lugnica, there's th's royal selection goin' on. There five camps all havin' a leader th't's a candidate fer becomin' king of Lugnica."
"I see, so you were a part of those camps."
"Yes, though I was a bit new since I joined recently. My sister, Frederica, had been a part 'f it fer a long while."
"Ah, understood. So you miss those you knew in the camp you were in."
"Yea, been wondering what they're doin'."
As Garfiel looked at the night sky to think about everyone in the Emilia camp, he thought about how Otto and the captain were probably worried for his sake since he disappeared on them.
'Poor Cap'n, he probably's gonna suffer to Ram compared t'Brotto.'
As he was thinking about this, he sensed that something's off.
"Is something wrong?"
"...Hold on."
Garfiel looked around, sensing that someone was nearby.
"Someone's close by."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
As he said this, he quickly charged at the shadow figure and managed to grab his neck while saying:
"Who are ya?!"
"It's me..."
"Who?"
"...we fought in the wave..."
Garfiel paused as he took a closer look, realizing that it was one of the knights that were on Naofumi's side.
"Shit! Sorry!"
Garfiel set the knight down, feeling guilty that he was harming a fellow ally.
"What's going on?" Naofumi said as he and Ren were curious on what was going on, having heard Garfiel's shouts.
"It's an ally of ours!" Garfiel responded. The two heroes were skeptical at first when hearing this until seeing the young knight that fought hard in the previous wave.
"You. What are you doing here?"
"I was hoping to find you Shield Hero."
"For what reason? What are you doing all the way over here? Away from the capital?"
"Half of the knights are here looking for you and the Sword Hero."
"Wait, then what about Garfiel?" Ren asked.
"We were informed that finding him would require us to find either of you."
"I see." Naofumi crossed his arms as he thought of the information they were just given.
'Seems like that Trash King knows what he's doing. Though it's a bit overkill to send half the army to find us.'
"Are you here to turn us in?" Raphtalia asked, prompting the knight to immediately respond with:
"No no, I'm just here to warn you. The other two heroes are also nearby. You should start running while you still can."
"Wait but what about you? Won't you get into trouble for warning us?"
"I'll be fine. I just want Garfiel to be cleared of all the charges. I know that he's innocent of those claims."
"..." Garfiel remained silent as he turned around to go and tell the others that they needed to leave. Naofumi noticed this yet he needed to at least ask the knight something:
"Why are you helping us? You don't get anything out of it."
"Because I trust you guys. I know that you are all good people and that someone's influencing the King to make these rash choices."
'Hmph. I can think of the main one influencing that dumbass.'
The Shield Hero turned around as he prepared to leave the area with his party, he had one last thing to say to the knight:
"Thanks for the heads up."
"A-Anything to help the Shield Hero!"
As this was said, Ren and Raphtalia quickly joined the others as everyone started to make their move, seeing that their pursuers were catching up to them.
While on the run now, Raphtalia and Naofumi turned towards Garfiel's direction, noticing that the knight's words got him thinking of his actions that lead them into the situation they are in now.
They know that they can't really dwell on this now, not until they are safely away from their pursuers.
They ran for a while as they tried to keep a distance from their pursuers, Melty slipped up and tripped on herself.
"Ahh!"
"Melty!"
"Lil' princess!"
Filo and Garfiel shouted, others nearby them began to say:
"What was that?"
"I heard the princess's scream."
"Then they are nearby! Move quickly!"
'Damn it all!'
Naofumi was annoyed since now their pursuers have a vague location where they are at. He wants to scold Filo but mainly knocks some sense into Garfiel for making another mess up.
As Garfiel and Filo help Melty get back up on her feet, the demi human boy picks up both little girls in order to make sure neither of them fall behind.
As they were running towards a big rock, they stopped once they reached the edge.
'Damn it! Dead End!'
"What now? That jump's too high!"
As Garfiel said this, Tersia and Farrie turned around to see a couple of knights approaching them fast.
"Seems like we got company." As the martial arts fighter said this, Ren and Naofumi both turn around the moment they heard a familiar shout:
"Naofumi!"
As the two heroes turn to look, they see the Spear Hero jump right in front of them all, ready for combat.
"Motoyasu."
Author's note:
Once again, apologize for having another long time posting another chapter. I did add some stuff from the light novels here so hopefully it makes this a bit interesting.