Chris managed to clear the corpses off the main road. He didn’t care about these bodies being looted or eaten. If he had to kill so many, he might as well leave some evidence to his credit. Not only that, but they were a reminder of his naivety, and his overconfidence. Chris created a small memorial for Tarles off the side of the path. Chris healed the horses that survived, and slowly went to rebuild the broken cart as best as possible.
***
Harriot slowly awoke, feeling a throbbing sensation in her head. The last thing she remembered was a loud banging sound, the horses neighing, and then her hitting her head as the cart lurched to a halt. ‘Bandits must’ve attacked, I need to get up.’ She threw herself up into a sitting position. She looked around and saw the bisected corpses littering her field of view. She screamed, panicked at who could’ve done this.
“Ohh, you’re awake finally. Can you get up on your own?” Serah leaned over, reaching out her hand to Harriot. “W-What happened? How did this happen?” Serah went into an explanation detailing the attack on the cart, Tarles dying protecting Serah and her from the advancing forces, and her supporting Rose in the takedown of the bandits.
Harriot felt terrible, she didn’t help at all, and Tarles was dead. She grabbed a hold of Serah and hoisted herself up. “I don’t feel like I was in a carriage crash. Honestly I’m feeling better than I normally do.”
“Ohh yea, Rose healed everyone to the best of his ability after the fighting ended. Fernando is still unconscious, but he’ll probably be up soon enough. Harriot noticed the bittersweet expression on Serah’s face. ‘She must feel bad about this whole situation, from the way she talked about it, she couldn’t do much either against those numbers. But that still leaves the question, how strong is Rose?’
Harriot walked over to the blond guy, realising how rude she had been to him thinking he would be just some rich kid with an ego. “Hey, Rose right? Thank you for protecting me. I realised I never introduced myself. My name’s Harriot, and it would be my pleasure to be acquainted.”
Rose stood up, after having melded the shattered wood with earth to reinforce the joints and piece back the broken wheels. “It’s no problem, I was hired to protect the cargo, but what even is cargo right? What’s on the cart, ya know? So I was just doing my job,” Rose was itching the back of his head, and turned away a bit.
Harriot put her arm on Rose’s shoulder as she inspected his work, and felt him jump a bit. “So you’re an earth mage and a healer and a swordsman? A man of many talents I see.” Rose shook his head, “This is nothing really, I just used the density of the sediment to lock the wood in place. It’s just like a really big seal.”
Harriot could tell Rose was a bit uncomfortable, and she knew why. He probably wasn’t that close with many other girls as it seems all he’s done is train a variety of skills it seems. ‘Maybe I should give him a little reward for protecting me.’ She leaned in, pressing her chest against Rose. “Wow, I would’ve never thought about doing that, you’re really smart Rose.” Rose began to squirm, and Harriot was about to put her plan to win Rose for herself in action when Serah called out, glaring at Harriot, “Fernando is awake, Rose can you come over here.”
Within an instance he was out of her grip, and across to where Serah and Fernando were. ‘I guess if he can move that quickly away from an awkward situation, when it’s life or death no wonder it ends up like this.’ She stared once again at the corpses, and then returned her gaze to Rose’s work on the cart. It was top notch control, and it seemed he was bored waiting as there were even glyphs carved into it. Harriot sighed, realizing that maybe Rose was out of her grasp.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
***
Rose darted over to Fernando in a desperate attempt to get away from Harriot. He didn’t exactly understand what was happening, but it felt like he was slipping into her grasp. Serah saved him, so he will repay her for that.
Rose looked at the stirring Fernando, “You really have some bad luck don’t ya boss man?” Fernando sat up, beginning to show panic, “Is the cart okay, are you okay? Where are the hors-” he stopped when he took a look around. He noticed the cart back together, all of the horses secured, and that his goods were also there.
“There were so many, how did we survive?” he asked as he finally noticed the pile of corpses behind Rose. Serah glumly chimed in, “We were able to survive thanks to Tarles sacrifice. He defended us, while me and Rose dealt with most of the bandits.”
Fernando nodded, just dumb struck at the scene in front of him. “Wait, these guys were all struck down the same way, who did that?” Rose walked forward, “You better praise me old man, I was able to cut them down one by one. But, I couldn’t do it fast enough to protect Tarles.”
This was the story they decided to go with for the sake of Serah and him. Neither wanted their failures to be known. Tell everyone it was a collaboration, but that “Rose” was still capable of bisecting armored individuals. It was a good enough rumor without gaining too much attention too soon.
“Well sir, you’re going to be late if we don’t get a move on, right?” Rose put his hand out to lift the man. Wrenching him up, they double checked the preparations and headed out.
The rest of the trip was calm by comparison, Chris dispatched some Orcish Boars that approached, but other than that it was just calm, yet dreary travel. The temperature was nice and cool, with a calm breeze. As they got further from the capital, more and more empty fields were in view. It was just a few weeks before planting season and he imagined his family would be pretty busy soon.
He talked with Harriot, Serah, and even sometimes Fernando during the trip. Discussions of future plans, a few fun stories of when they were growing up, and some stress complaining done by Fernando. The general trip had a light feel to it, like the attack was a simple fever dream, but the entire trip Chris kept remembering the feeling of the bones splitting, the feedback from his blade, and the blood covering him.
Anytime Chris seemed to be out of it, Serah would snap his attention back with a weird story, or quirky question. It was enough to distract him for short periods. He didn’t sleep though. Anytime everyone else slept, he had nothing left to distract him. He flashed back to the building he rescued Edwin from. Suddenly it was full, littered with the bandits’ corpses as well as the kidnappers’. All mocking him, “You failed, you’re weak willed,” or admonishing him, “You’re a monster, a killer. Your friends would abandon you if they knew. You’re a disgrace to humanity.”
Chris wandered off into a grouping of trees between the fields. He began weeping, not being able to handle the stress. The feeling of moss against his hands as he sat, staring up into the starry sky. He heard rustling, and suddenly prepared himself.
Suddenly Serah peeked around a large gray tree, “I knew you’d be like this. Talk to me seriously about what you’re going through. I don’t know if I can help, but it’s better than bottling it inside, right?” Serah sat next to Chris, leaning against him shoulder to shoulder.
Chris divulged the scenery in his mind when he’s alone with his thoughts. The room that’s slowly overfilling. The voices mocking him. The absolute hatred he feels for himself for failing both to protect and to not kill. Chris took his mask off, and took a long look at Serah.
“I won’t tell you it’ll all be okay, that it's wrong to think of yourself as a bad person or a failure. What I’ll tell you is that, I trust you, and that you saved me. Never forget the reasons why you did what you did, alright?” Serah smiled at Chris, and pulled him close.
“If it gets rough when you’re alone, then I guess I’ll do my best to not leave you alone, if that’s alright.” Chris nodded, face covered in tears, and cheeks rosy red. That night, they laid holding hands, as a reminder he wasn’t alone. It was enough that he could sleep for the first time in several days.