Horse hooves and the turning of wooden wheels can be heard in the distance, echoing throughout the open dirt road like rapids rushing downstream. The sun shines directly over the land; birds cruising through the clear blue sky.

In the cart, Alden stretches his body out and adjusts his seat.

“Ah~ That was intense, huh?”, says Alden in a sarcastic-sounding tone. “Good thing we hired you, huh, Leor?”

Leor stays quiet, keeping his eyes on the road, scanning the surrounding area.

“Couldn’t help saving a damsel in distress, huh?” asks Alden with a cheeky smirk while nudging Leor’s side with his elbow.

Leor remains silent.

“I apologize for Sir Alden’s behavior. I know he can be a little… talkative, but I assure you, he means well.”, sighs Ceri.

Leor chuckles quietly. “Oh, we can agree on the ‘talkative’ part.”

Ceri giggles and bows her head. “Thank you for saving me, Sir Leor. My name is Ceri. I am a priestess of the Ouranos Family. I travel with Lord Alden in expeditions to spread the gospel of Lord Ludwig.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too.”

The sound of a waterfall crashing into a riverbed catches the trio’s attention. The sound gradually gets louder.

“Does anyone else hear that?” questions Alden.

A sense of urgency floods Leor’s mind, causing him to whip the horse into overdrive.

“Alden! Take the reins!”, commands Leor.

Alden scrambles his way to the front of the cart and switches spots with Leor, nervously grabbing the reins. “Why? What’s happening?”, Alden asks with a shaky voice.

“Goddamn it. I took too long to handle those three guys, and now the Royal Guards are chasing us. Look.” Leor extends his arm and points in the direction behind the cart.

Ceri pokes her head out of the cart to look at what he was pointing at. “E-eh!? What are those!?”

A stampede of horse-like creatures gallop through the air, similar to that of a normal horse, but faster. Much faster. Sunrays peer through their translucent blue bodies, diffracting upon the ground below. Streams of water trail their path, soaking the dirt road and the wildlife underneath.

The armed man leading the pack points at the cart and yells, “There they are! Men, disable their cart and apprehend them!”.

The group of armed horse riders raise their swords to the sky, and swing downward, pointing the tips of their blades at Leor’s cart. Blue magic circles form over the water horses’ mouths. Cocking their heads back and whipping it forward. Arrows made of water shoot out of the magic circles at a rapid speed. Even faster than traditional arrows.

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Leor reaches for his wakizashi on the right side of his back with his left hand, pivots his right leg back, facing the arrows head-on. Draws and swings his wakizashi in an upward diagonal motion, shattering three oncoming arrows at once. Slashes downward, slicing four more arrows.

However, one makes its way through and lodges itself into Leor’s left shoulder. The remaining arrows miss their target and plant into the road.

Leor winches in pain, staggering back a little. “Tsk. Gifts are such a pain” He clenches his teeth, and snaps the arrow stem in half, leaving the arrowhead inside his shoulder.

Alden keeps his eyes on the road as he tilts his head to the side, “What’s happening back there!?”

“Just keep your eyes on the road! We need to get to the forest that's coming up!”

Ceri rushes to Leor and puts her hand on his back as she hunches over to look at him with a worried expression. “Are you okay!? Shouldn’t you take the full thing out!?”

“No… it’ll make it worse. We need to take out those horses.”, groans Leor.

“You can’t kill the horses! They haven’t done anything!”.

“They literally just shot at us. I need to, so we can escape.” He moves his weapon to his right hand. Twists his torso back, bringing his sword above his head, slightly to the right. “They’re not alive anyway.”, says Leor before hurling the sword with tremendous force at the Royal Guards.

The sword rotates through the air in an arch like a tornado.

“Sir, something seems to be approaching us.” says one of the guards.

The Captain of the platoon squints his eyes, cocking his head forward to get a better look. “What is that?”

He realizes it too late. The sword severs the heads of the water horses in the frontline, causing them to dissolve their horse-like forms, and the riders to fall from the sky, screaming as they make their way to the ground.

The other guards from the backline take a sharp dive down to save the falling members.

Leor raises his hand, outreaching towards the guards.

The guards save their comrades at the last second before they hit the ground, scooping them up and hovering close to the road.

In that moment, as the guards are at their lowest height, Leor pulls his arm back towards himself. His sword glows a faint white, slows its trajectory, and bolts back to Leor. Slicing the limbs off of the water horses in its path, causing them to crash into the ground, evaporating as they grind against the dirt road. The royal guards leap off their disappearing steads and roll into the grass on the side of the road.

Leor catches his sword with his left hand. He grunts softly, trying to hide the pain.

“What are you doing!? Why are you catching it with your injured arm!?”, yells Ceri. She glances at his wound and is shocked to find that the water arrow has dissolved as well.

“Nevermind that. Alden, we are far enough. Stop the cart.”

Alden pulls on the reins to signal the horse to stop. “Why are we stopping? Don’t we need to get away?”

The horse and cart come to a complete stop, and the trio hops off the cart.

“Yes, but we’re not getting anywhere with this cart. The Royal Guards easily spotted us because we are the only idiots riding such an old means of transportation.” Leor cuts the reins and restraints that tied the horse to the cart.

The other two watch Leor as he walks up to the horse and strokes its mane compassionately. The horse neighs in a calming and joyful manner. Both of them stand in bewilderment at the strange sight.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could look so… caring,” says Alden.

“Yes, I agree. You look like a majestic prince.” blurts Ceri.

Alden gives her a blank look, while Leor continues calming the horse. Both of them are thinking the same thing.

Ceri blushes a bit and looks away. “Forget what I said! W-what are we going to do now then?”

Leor replies, “Well, we have to leave the cart here and let the horse free. We’ll be traveling by foot for now, through the forest.”

“Through the forest!?”, exclaims Alden.

“Wouldn’t that make the trip a lot longer?”, asks Ceri.

“Don’t worry. We’re just going to take a shortcut through the woods, instead of going around it. Besides, didn’t you want an adventure?”

Alden’s face lights up in excitement. “I’m glad we hired you!” He slaps Leor’s back with a smile on his face.

Leor rubs the stinging area as he glares at Alden.

Ceri puts her hand over her mouth, laughing at their friendly exchange.

The trio makes their way into the forest as the sun begins to set, leaving their stead behind.