I was still too weak, nevertheless, on my tongue I felt the pleasant taste of some food and chewed it with pleasure.
Delicious.
It was in my thoughts until I opened my eyes and got scared when I saw a woman with absolutely black skin above me.
If I had not been paralyzed, I would definitely have shuddered from what I saw. I didn’t immediately realize that there was something wrong with me, the air became fresh, the sun was blinding my eyes, and a cool, pleasant breeze was blowing. I was outside, not sitting in a damp dungeon.
What's happening?
I asked myself a question, and then a black woman gently asked me:
"Are you awake?"
Her voice...
I recognized her.
"Sigrun?"
I exclaimed in surprise.
"And you look very beautiful, Ilifreeta."
She smiled, carefully placing my body on the cart.
"Rest a little. Boris will arrive soon and we will move on."
"Shall we go? Where?"
"To Ran."
"What? Wait, where am I?"
I looked around, seeing the forest all around and many more people around, sitting around the fires.
"We are free, Ilif."
"Illif?"
I asked again.
It was unusual to hear her address me like that. No one has ever called me so affectionately before. Sigrun blinked several times, realizing what she said and tried to explain herself to me.
"Sorry, I decided to shorten your name. Should I call you by your full name?"
Instead of answering, I plunged into thought. I wanted to ask about many things, but what I heard and saw was definitely not the prison where I spent my last days. I really was almost free. Wasn't she lying to me when she told me I could get out too? What about my child, Monrid’s child? How should I deal with him? Will I have to give birth? Does it b-hurt? How scary.
While the wind whistled in the distance, somewhere a couple of old men were grumbling, a voice, one of whom I remembered very well. It was the same old man who kidnapped me from the palace along with Agnes. Their voices almost turned to screams while they were discussing something. I didn’t recognize the voice of the second old man, even though he sounded much more restless.
"Do you understand what we've gotten ourselves into?"
“How should I know? I was paid, and I have to work for coins.”
"But they..."
The old man stuttered.
"They attacked the city. You heard those sounds, didn't you? And the screams, did you hear them?"
“You heard, so what? I’m repeating to you that I work for money. I’ll take anyone, any way and anywhere, that’s all, I don’t need more. It’s not for me and not for you to ask questions here, clearly?”
The second old man was clearly angry, almost gritting his teeth.
“Argh~! You don’t understand anything! You just want more gold and where do you want so much?”
The sound of jingling coins was heard.
“Entire regions! You’ve never seen so much in your life! This is definitely enough for five lives!”
"Keep quiet or they might do the same to us."
“Are you telling me to be silent after this?”
"Yes. Just bite your lips and do as you're told before we get sent to Soda's garden."
The couple of old men fell silent, and Sigrun, hearing this whole conversation, sighed sadly.
"They think we don't speak Lakuus."
Said the black woman.
“Thanks to these rings, we know the local language.”
She showed a green stem wrapped around her middle finger. It looks like she was talking about him now, although I barely understood how this thing helps her understand language. Wait…
"You don't know Lakuus's language? Why? I mean... where are you from?"
Sigrun smiled.
“What a stupid question? However, I’ll answer anyway: we’re not from here.”
“Not from here? That is, you are from another kingdom? Are all the people there black too?”
"And you are quick-witted."
Sigrun nodded in agreement.
"I'll tell you a lot more in confidence."
She leaned closer to me and said quietly:
"I am from another world, whose name is Alsis."
I widened my eyes, not believing what she just told me. Sigrun is actually from another world, is it really a “heavenly guest”? Or could she be a messenger? How did she even end up here and why does she look like that? I couldn’t keep these questions in my head:
"Who are you?"
"I'll tell you everything in order, but first I need to deal with someone."
At that moment, a dark-haired man approached the cart. He was very attractive and muscular in appearance, even though he was dressed in some strange spotted green clothes, his face remained just as pleasant and confident.
Beautiful.
I appreciated his appearance without taking my eyes off him.
It turns out that such people exist? Oh Sod, he looks like he stepped out of a Mille'et painting.
His attractive gaze turned to me, which made me feel a little uneasy, or rather awkward. I felt strange when he looked at me, and for some reason I wanted to look away from him. This is the first time this has happened to me.
"Lecite"
Sigrun turned to him with a malicious grin.
“I see you had a lot of fun last night.”
The attractive man swallowed his saliva and looked away. After Sigrun’s words, his former confidence simply evaporated and for some reason he became shy.
"Yeah... it just happened that way..."
Lecite said and fell silent for a moment to then ask.
"She was loud huh?"
"You too."
Sigrun grinned, patting the man on the shoulder.
“You moaned like some kind of bull. Oh, and you were loud. I jumped up when I heard you. But tell me, is everything okay with Camelia?”
"Yes."
Lecite said extremely seriously, trying to restore confidence on his face, but he clearly failed.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"I didn't think she'd call me for «this»."
"Oh?"
Sigrun tilted her head in surprise.
"So it was her initiative?"
What are they talking about?
I didn’t understand until Lecite nodded, answering Sigrun.
"Yes, this is her initiative."
Lecite answered, and then massaged his forehead with his finger, shaking his head at the same time.
"She was pretty skilled. Oh God, how old is she anyway?"
"Fred said she was about sixteen."
"Sixteen?!"
Lecite was surprised, widening his eyes and becoming slightly quiet, looking around at those around him.
“I won’t be imprisoned for seducing minors?”
"It was her idea, not yours, so calm down."
Sigrun calmed him down.
“When Boris arrives, go to Fred so he can examine you. Maybe you caught some kind of infection last night.”
"Okay, I'll do that."
Lecite said, and then looked away at me to then ask with curiosity.
"Who is this?"
“I’ll explain later when we’re all gathered.”
"Okay."
Lecite answered and left, leaving me and Sigrun alone again.
"What were you talking about?"
I asked and received a rather mysterious answer from her.
“You are still too young to know this. I think when you grow up, you will learn the wisdom of adulthood.”
"You said he moaned..."
She shuddered.
"Let's not talk about this."
Sigrun shut me up and then asked, deciding to change the topic.
“You wanted to know who I am, right?”
I nodded and then Sigrun began a long, long story. I learned a lot of surprising things from her in those very moments. It’s unlikely that I can believe all this so easily.
***
The golden-haired princess closed her eyes and fell asleep after my long retelling, and I sat down at the edge of the cart, drinking some water from the flask. The sun was setting, and Boris and the rest of the platoon were not there yet. They are delayed, most likely they may get into trouble.
I really don’t want to believe that this is the case.
I shook my head and suddenly an old man, whom Incartia hired in that city as a coachman, turned to me.
Honestly, I didn’t expect him to tell me at all. He will probably ask why I look like this or ask about payment, but it turned out he was only venting his dissatisfaction on me, like all old people living out the last years of their lives.
"I know you wizards, you are all the last scoundrels."
The old man grumbled.
“At first you pretend to be good, you give a lot of gold, and then it turns out you want human blood.”
His voice trembled, as did his hands. You could see in his eyes how afraid he was of me. Apparently he was expecting a sharp answer, or maybe he said that on purpose to provoke me, but without receiving a sharp response, he did not stop there and, swallowing his saliva, continued:
“I’m turning gray from all this, I’m about to die, and I... and I... tch~... and I’m here, helping to commit a crime.”
"What are you even talking about, old man?"
I asked him.
“I shouldn’t be here. I just needed to take you away on a cart, that’s all. Why am I helping you villains? Who are you anyway? And where did you get the edges from?”
Should I tell him or not?
I thought about it and shook my shoulders.
“Look, to be honest, it’s still clear to me? Can you just be a mercenary? Is it really that hard?”
"Why are you black?"
Argh~! I knew it!
I got angry.
“I was born this way. Are you satisfied with this answer?”
"Why are you doing all this? Why are you killing people?"
"This…"
I fell silent. I was unable to admit what had happened, and therefore I did it with difficulty with my head down.
"Listen...it's my fault."
The old man, hearing my words, only bowed his head.
"What have you done?"
"I just wanted to save the child, but I accidentally killed the guard."
The old man clicked, expecting something like that.
"And then you were caught, thrown into prison, and your magician friends decided to get you out, am I right?"
I nodded.
“This is all clear, but what is she doing here? It’s a princess!”
The old man pointed to the sleeping Ilifreeta.
How does he know this?
I was surprised and looked sternly at the old man, forcing him to bite his tongue a little.
"That's strange... how do you know she's a princess?"
"Well...uh~..."
The old man shook his head in different directions, but finding nothing in the end, he simply sighed and confessed everything.
"Okay, I'll tell you how it happened."
"I'm listening."
I crossed my arms over my chest and began to listen to the old man.
“There was one thing, I helped a mercenary with a kidnapping. The work was not dusty, she just needed a cart that could deliver the loot quietly without attracting the attention of any guards. I didn’t know that she would be hired to kidnap a real princess. Usually she works in any way little things..."
"Get to the point."
I pressed the old man.
"Okay, okay."
He waved his hands.
“In short, then I took her to Itsqueen, drove through the checkpoint, bribing the guards, and then, having reached the alley, Agnes carried her further in her arms. But I don’t know where she took her anymore. That was the end of my work.”
After the old man’s words, I fell into thought.
Ilifreeta was in the count's dungeon. It is quite possible that he organized the kidnapping. But could some count organize something grandiose? There must have been some kind of plan or some outside help, but whose?
It seems to me that there was some kind of incredibly large-scale conspiracy lurking here for these places, which is why I asked the old man a question:
"Do you know who wanted her kidnapped?"
“You ask who needs this? How do I know what Agnes was told? It was her task, you need to ask her.”
"Fine."
I nodded.
"Where is this Agnes?"
“I don’t want to know where this crazy woman is. Somewhere in Itsqueen she’s fucking some bully. From the day she took the princess away, I haven’t seen her anymore. She didn’t even give me the gold that was promised.”
"Apparently they paid her a lot if she immediately disappeared."
I suggested, but the old man shook his head in response to mine.
“It doesn’t look much like her. If she takes a loan, she always pays it back. She keeps her word, but doesn’t keep her nasty tongue.”
Hmm~... strange... this mercenary disappeared on a mission. And it is unclear who specifically ordered the kidnapping of the princess.
I thought about it and decided to interrupt the conversation with the old man.
"Okay. Please keep quiet about this."
“I don’t have much time left, I’ll bury this in a grave if someone digs it for me.”
I grinned at which the old man shook his hands, slightly panicking:
"Not now! NOT NOW!"
***
Furgur did not trust Camellia while he was guarding the camp along the way and often glanced sideways at the young sorceress. He doesn’t want to know who this nasty person is, but her power is directed in an evil direction, which means that he needs to keep an eye on her. After all, no one knows where she will direct her magic, who else she is going to harm for the sake of her personal ambitions.
However, this time he was worried not only about the strange sorceress, but also about a familiar face in which he immediately recognized the paralyzed princess Ilifreeta. He thought that she was still in the palace, surrounded by all sorts of high-born rabble. What a surprise he was to learn that along with the black woman, the strangers would also drag her out.
While the group was waiting for the arrival of Boris and his men, Furgur decided to leave his post for a while and approach the cart, where the sleeping princess lay covered under a blanket. Seeing her face again, he was finally convinced that it really was Princess Ilifreeta and he had not imagined it. This time she looked a little older than the last time he saw her. Even if she wakes up, it is unlikely that she will recognize him since they only met once in their lives.
Furgur wondered what happened in the palace and why the princess was in Itsqueen's dungeon. He knew a little about the affairs of the royal court and could correlate some of the events that could have happened there. Before he left the royal guard, he trained new recruits in archery, after all, he was from a clan of hunters from the northern lands of the kingdom and had to handle a bow since childhood.
Having decided that such a life was of no use to him, he decided to try his luck in a big city, but even there the services of such lone hunters were practically useless, and therefore Furgur decided to join the army, where he killed a man in the first battle, and what if to be more precise than the robber, first wounding him in the leg and then cutting his throat.
From then on, Furgur climbed to the top of the mountain and rose to the rank of golden centurion, becoming a member of the royal guard. He personally swore allegiance to King Leff and pledged to protect the crown from adversity and danger. If everything was very clear with external enemies, then with internal enemies everything was completely different.
The royal family in the eyes of the people has always been unattainable, majestic and wise, but seeing them with their own eyes, all these images shattered like glass. Greedy, arrogant, cruel, lustful and immensely stupid. They were used by everyone who could, and they themselves lived in vain through the labors of their own people, wasting gold on unimportant things. Even the king, who at first glance seemed like a wise ruler, was greedy for life, he was a real madman who did not believe that he would ever die.
Queen Bentia turned out to be much worse, she set up everyone she didn’t like. Furgur often saw how Prince Monrid cut off a man's head, and then bit off a piece of human flesh, and all this in front of the laughing queen, who was drinking a fragrant drink from a cup while behind her back Slakersh seduced the maid by lifting her skirt and putting his fingers in the girl's mouth. And Furgur was thinking about telling the king about all this, when suddenly he was warned. Someone pushed him and said quietly:
Don't do anything rash.
At first, Furgur did not understand anything, but decided to listen to the words of the stranger, who turned out to be the king’s chief adviser. His face said it all, he hid his true emotions behind a mask and did everything possible to please the royal family. Furgur didn’t know him well, but decided that he would keep an eye on him until, in the end, he was almost thrown into prison for this surveillance.
He sat in the cold for a whole week, not knowing why he was so punished, but when this week passed, Furgur asked the chief adviser a question and received the answer:
You didn’t heed the rules here, which means you won’t survive. Either do what you're told or get out of here. The mob has no place here.
Furgur listened to these words again and this time, having finally decided everything, he submitted his resignation from the post of golden centurion, master of the bow. His oath of allegiance was broken, and he was forever banned from serving in the royal army, deprived of all ranks and privileges.
At that moment, the hunter realized that the upper world was not for him. There he is just a mouse surrounded by hungry wolves, crazy creatures with limitless possibilities and enormous ambitions. What could he achieve there? Play the role of an obedient dog? How could he fulfill his oath of allegiance when the courtyard was in such disarray? This yard is cursed, and it will soon devour itself if anyone tries to fix anything.
Furgur did not know the answer to the question, however, he decided to live as he saw fit. Both the upper world and the lower world did not accept the weak, but if in the upper world you were limited by the rules, then in the lower world only your own strength and perseverance. He went to wander throughout the kingdom helping everyone in need. Furgur tried his best to improve his archery skills and became a well-known adventurer, receiving the name arrow.
It doesn’t matter what kind of work he’s offered, maybe he needs to strangle a baby and he’ll take it on, but the more work he has, the better for him. And it is desirable that this work brings him benefit, but for now he is experiencing financial difficulties and is forced to constantly carry out someone’s orders, sometimes without even having time to do anything.
This was the case until he came across an advertisement from Incartia. This is how his story reached its present moment. Furgur is now here and serves the sorceress Incartia along with another sorceress Camellia. He was afraid that the second sorceress would interrupt his work and disturb everyone, and therefore he carefully watched her.
Someone is coming.
the old man shouted and Furgur saw as many as five carts on which strangers were sitting, including Boris, were heading towards the camp.
Here they are.