On this warmly illuminated road, trees hustled as they were having quarrels with the wind, and birds chirped as they caroled their routine melody.

However, while the wildlife composed their piece in a soothing natural tune, it was abruptly ravaged by a high-speed enchanted carriage carrying a princess within.

They were traversing through a tree-covered driveway that is the interception between the Highland to Midland, as Dragania is positioned at the outskirts of Highland.

This path shouldn't have directly led them to Dragania, but relatively faster as traffics here was near to none.

"Chester, is Mina going to be late for her school?" the silence was broken by a concerned princess.

"Your royal highness, please do not worry. We've been harnessing the carriage to exceed its potential speed," Chester responded while validating with the driver,

"Dannus, how long do you reckon for the arrival?"

"Probably, a ten, sir."

"Make it five, Dannus. We ain't got all day."

"Yes, sir, but I'm not feeling this carriage could sustain the speed faster than it is now."

Chester grunted as he returned to his seat, cerebrating a solution to overcome this.

Across him was a princess seated, fidgeting on the spot, troubled by her impending tardiness.

He then patted that angsty princess, saying in a tender tone,

"Worry not, your royal highness. This one shall fulfill his duty. Deliver your royal highness to your destination on time."

After reassuring Mina, he proceeded to holler at the driver,

"Pass the control, Dannus. I shall personally do the driving!"

Since the function of Mina's carriage required no stead, it was purely operated with mana, and henceforth, it enabled the driver to transfer the carriage control without the need to switch seats.

Still, whoever held control of the vehicle needed to be present in the driver's seat since where Chester was currently stationed provided no views of the route, causing it to be impossible to steer.

But with Chester's competency in arcane skill, the driver seat seemed inessential.

He smoothly chanted a spell that aligned his vision with Dannus's, seeing through Dannus's eyes, and added,

"Now pass the control, Dannus."

"Yes, sir."

Dannus shifted the wheels to Chester, who promptly inserted his portion of mana into the fuel of the vehicle, boosting it tremendously.

"Hold on tight, your royal highness. The road ahead is a bumpy one."

Mina quickly squeezed her hand across the door handle, stabilizing herself from this overcharged carriage.

While they were still en route to the school, an abrupt bellow transpired at the rear of the carriage,

"This is a raid! Stop your cart now or else!"

A gang of bandits stormed unanticipatedly, geared in leather and steel, pursuing them while riding the herd of hárses.

"I utterly forgot this route roamed with criminals. But still, bandits at a time like this really intensify the mood, isn't it," said Chester with a tense but exhilarating demeanor.

"Bandits?! Mina wants to see!" Mina's eagerness also kicked in, craving what was happening.

"My apologies, your royal highness. I highly forbid you to conduct any life-threatening stunt for your safety."

"Life-threatening stunt? Mina doesn't understand what Chester is saying."

"Tarry, your royal highness. Refrain from unbolting any of the windows, and that will be all."

The shout once again posted, interjecting their conversation,

"Did you hear me, you noble bastards! LAST WARNING BEFORE WE FIRE OUR ARROWS!

Since Mina journeyed to her school in a hurry, the guards supposed to protect them were left behind, increasing the chance of them getting ambushed by bandits, which was occurring at the moment.

"Dannus, hold the wheels! I will personally 'bargain' with the bandits."

"Please, refrain from trying something preposterous, sir. You might put her royal highness's safety in peril."

"Don't worry about me, Dannus. I'm aware of the situation. I will finish this up before you can say anything."

"Godspeed to you then, sir."

Chester then returned the control back to Dannus and slid to the carriage entrance, about to unlock the carriage door with his hand settled on the handle but ceased when the princess hollered,

"Where is Chester going? Mina wants to join!"

Upon seeing Chester's queer sudden movement, it urged Mina, pondering over his action and longed to join him, but solemnly rejected by Chester, stating,

"Apologies, your royal highness, this isn't the situation your royal highness should intervene. Please tarry as I commanded."

After asserting, Chester swiftly opened the door and climbed to the carriage's roof, glaring at the rear and observing the bandits.

While the door was still swinging wide open, Mina quickly advanced to the door with her head popping out, probing the circumstance.

She saw Chester menacingly posed on the carriage top, scowling at the bandits, demanding in an ear-splitting tone,

"Turned around, now, you savages! Before I eradicate every one of you!"

"Ha! Not a chance! You nobility scums! All you do is steal from the poor and use it for your own gains! We're here only to take back what is rightfully ours! So, submit or else!" the leader responded with a furious shout while his subordinates shrieked their war cry right after.

"Then, you leave me no choice. May your greed cease upon your feeble death."

Chester then unsheathed his sword, clenched onto its hilt, and posed in a striking stance.

Before he launched his strike, the sword was laced with magical illumination and engulfed in blue flame.

The bandits were astounded by Chester's competency and injected with nothing but stark terrors.

However, their ignorance and determination overcame their frightfulness, convincing their pursuit to linger with the boss taunting, "Your little clown tricks won't scare us!"

"One last warning! You wretched savages," said Chester while wielding his final blow.

"BRING IT ON! Your flaming sword won't make us retreat! THERE ARE MORE THAN TENS OF US HERE, and one of you there! You and what army makes you think you can defeat us!" the leader roared with mockery, scoffing about their presumed upper hand in this fight, continuing to charge on without recognizing their imminent death.

"Then, may your body rest with your ignorance," Chester responded as he launched his attack.

But his attack was halted at the last second, as Mina posted herself before Chester's line of attack, ceasing him to unleash his final blow.

Luckily, Chester could promptly respond to his attack and canceled at the last movement, utterly baffled by her unanticipated arrival.

"Your royal highness, what in the Azemos are you doing up here?! Did you forget my warning toward committing any life-threatening stunts!" despite their distance being a minute, Chester shouted at Mina at the top of his lung, attempting to take heed to her ears, which was only barely audible because of the turbulence from the moving carriage, hindering the sound from transmitting smoothly.

"Mina wants to tell Chester he forgot to close the carriage door! So, she came up here to tell!" Mina responded with a shout too.

Chester was wordless, fumbling against her dangerous causes over such trivial issues. If one was not careful, he might be blamed for her misfortune.

"Is that... the princess?!" one of the bandits asserted, speculating Mina's identity.

"You're right. It must be it!"

"No way! Shouldn't she always be guarded by at least hundreds of guards?"

"That smooth moonlight skin of hers, she must be it!"

"Princess in a quirky uniform? I don't buy it."

The bandits began to quarrel among themselves, debating over her royal presence. But halted by their leader with a ferocious demand,

"Pipe your hole, lads! We're here to pilfer, not question!"

"You're right, boss!"

"We are with you!"

"Let's mug them clean, princess or not!"

Because of Mina's inquisitive appearance, Chester was obstructed from dealing a devastating blow to the bandits, struggling to keep sight of the bandits, mainly the princess who snatched most.

"Your royal highness, this one begged your indulgence to be elsewhere! This circumstance is too dangerous for you to explore!"

"But Mina wants to see what you guys are doing! She doesn't want to miss it!"

He implored her to re-ingress the carriage, but Mina refused, wanting to participate in their play.

Then, an unanticipated arrow shot at them, and Chester reflexively deflected the arrow while pressing Mina into his waist, shielding her from any approaching attack.

"Your royal highness, please take heed of my warning and return to the carriage!" Chester requested once more.

"Did Chester just deflect an arrow?! It is so cool!"

But Mina had already lost in her inquisitiveness, failing to cope with the precarious situation, and utterly disregarded Chester's request.

Chester then hopelessly constricted Mina in his embrace, sighed, and altered his focus to the target up front, trying to defeat the bandits with Mina's meddlesome presence.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Meanwhile, the bandits were terrified by Chester's monstrous dexterity, which was capable of deflecting an arrow without much exertion.

"Did he just..." the leader uttered, losing his words after witnessing Chester's prowess.

Agitation slowly flooded his mind, and he exclaimed out of distress, "FIRE AT WILL!" with his sword pointed at them.

A volley of arrows then fired, projecting toward them expeditiously, where Chester once again single-handedly deflected all of it except for those who strayed and landed elsewhere.

The bandit boss was flabbergasted by Chester's competency once again, his eye and mouth agape, losing his sanity upon perceiving Chester such overpowered dexterity with swords.

"Boss, we can't seem to land any hits on that guy!" one of the bandits rushed to his boss and reported in a perturbed tone.

"I can see that!" the boss replied with a yelp, clarifying his subordinate's obvious statement and urging him to leave him be.

After he had left alone, speculation formed in his mind, presuming the state,

*I think I see it now... That is no ordinary guard nor nobility! From that golden-plated shiny armored to that purplish hair little girl, also his immense competency in both arcane and dexterity from the guard, they must be... the ROYALTIES!*

Instead, interjected with trepidation, he sniggered, bellowing in a joyous tone,

"WE FEAST BIG TONIGHT, LADS!"

"They are no ordinary nobles but royalties themselves! Think about the wealth we can plunder from them!" the boss added.

"Boss, I don't want to break it to you... But... we can't even break through their first defense. How do we even plunder them..." one of the bandits asserted.

"COWARD, have some dignity, lad! You know what! Send me up there! I will handle the guard myself!"

"But boss, I doubt you can-"

"Zip it, Karl! Thrust me up there with that little clown trick of yours, already!" the boss interrupted the bandit and demanded to be launched onto the carriage's top.

"Boss... this is no clown trick but arcane art. You must be more aware of it..."

"What, now you're lecturing me, lad?! Given so that you are good with those little tricks, but still! Can you even beat me in combat?!"

"No, boss, I can't..."

"Well, what's so powerful about this little clown trick then?!"

"But- but-"

"No more of those feeble chatters of yours, and send me up there already!" the boss disrupted his subordinate's warning, urging his exigence to be fulfilled.

The bandit sighed deeply and murmured in a dubious downcast tone,

"Alright... here you go..."

A small luminous magical circle then developed under the boss, springing him above the carriage vigorously, while the hárse also launched to the roadside.

Minutes before, on the other side, Chester remained deflecting the arrows.

At the same time, Mina just subtly gazed at him in his embrace, leisurely pondering over his face lookalike, which was never shown to the daylight and had been concealed in his solid golden helmet ever since.

On the contrary, although Chester was fending off the arrows, he was capable of deliberating solutions in his thoughts, thinking,

*To finish the bandits, I must relinquish her royal highness from my custody. Otherwise, we will be stuck in this endless chase with you, resulting in being tardy. As much as I hate to break it to her, but she's now nothing but a hurdle to my full will assault. Therefore the only solution to rectify this situation is to remove her royal presence from my disposal. Sorry, your royal highness, but this selfish approach is the sole solution to ensure your safety and punctuality.*

After uncovering the solution to this predicament, he turned his back to the bandits with Mina in his embrace, shielding her from arrows.

Chester punctured the carriage top with his fist, gently placing Mina back in the passenger seat while shielding the arrows.

The arrows hit him in the back, with some bouncing off his armor but some trap.

"Tarry, your royal highness!" demanded Chester with his palms opened wide before her, casting a barrier spell, shrouding the carriage's entire aperture, curbing Mina from escaping.

"Wait, Chester!" Mina rushed to the barrier, slamming her hand against the barrier with ripples shaped after the impact.

"What is Chester doing? Mina doesn't want to come back here!" Mina shouted with discontentment.

"For your safety, your royal highness. One must abide by his duty to protect you, even with the most revolting decision," said Chester, swiftly returning to address the bandit thereafter.

Mina then dropped to her seat, frustratedly puffing her cheeks with her arm crossed, grunting in annoyance.

Upon reverting his focus, a sharp imposing silhouette launched before his unwavering eyes.

Landing on the carriage top, and shook the cart upon the impact, jolting both the driver and Mina.

Chester squinted his eyes at the silhouette, and It was the bandit boss.

"Hahaha, it really works!" the boss manically laughed after his landing, praising himself over the docking.

"Works on your own grave, I presume." Chester derisively added,

"Huh... you dare to speak foul to my mighty presence! You little runt!"

After being posed one after another, the body scale of the boss was distinctly shown to be near two-fold of Chester's.

"Look at yourself in the reflection, little runt. Before you think you stand a chance to beat me, how about... growing another spine first!" the boss threatened Chester, lowering his body and mocking his inferior height with a sneer.

Under no sense of caution, a swish sound emerged in a split second, and the boss was decapitated, with sword point in the air.

The decapitating of the bandit bandits sent his followers to go haywire, shouting at him from afar.

Meanwhile, the boss was yet killed, gargling blood while his head rolled down from the moving carriage.

Since they are Demonkins, they won't be killed until the last of their nine hearts are destroyed.

Although the head was no longer intact from the body, it remained to quake around the carriage top, attempting to blind hit Chester.

However, Chester's upper hand in agility evaded all the whimsical attacks from the body without breaking a sweat, instead returning with a sword penetrating through his chest.

Shoving deeper until a heart was reached, a blue flame surged from his sword, inflaming the whole body in a ferocious bluish flame, blazing his body to ash and erasing his existence immediately.

The scene befell even greater havoc among the followers, leaving them dismayed and collapsing their morale tremendously.

Many of them began to retreat and scattered like a hare from a wolf, except for the daredevils, who insisted on carrying on their task, with one of them ranting,

"Cowards! We may lose our leader, but there are still many of us! We still have the upper hand here! Fellas!"

Though the bandit's words were blaring, the runaway's ear had clouded with nothing but sheer terror and trepidation, purging their courage and will to absolute nothing, fleeing as a headless chicken.

Though many retreated, a fair amount stayed in pursuit, pursuing their unfinished business.

"For the rest of us, CHARGE!" the frontmost bandit shrieked as he lifted his sword, pointing to the carriage.

He thereafter pressured the hárse to elevate its speed and mindlessly charged at full speed.

During this persistent pursuit, Chester sullenly sighed as he subtly raised his palms and snapped.

Multiple the luminous light bluish magical circle soon emerged from thin air, projecting spectral lances that blanketed in blue flame from the center, bolting toward them like bullets.

The range of after-explosion of the lance upon contacting was stupendous, blasting every one of them into smithereens.

Until one last survivor, the frontmost leading one, blindly pushed with his luck, allowing him actually to close the distance with the carriage by a fraction.

*Almost there! I will make it! For the gold and glory! I WILL MAKE THIS* a sense of assurance forged in his thought, pushing his mind to be the optimist.

He extended his arm, aiming to land his hand on the carriage, which was just a grain more.

But unfortunately, his luck was depleted before he could land his hand and achieve the unthinkable.

An arrow was flung right to his left eye, dropping him onto the mud involuntarily, cringing in agony.

The inflicted arrow was hurled by Chester, especially an arrow from his armor, who casually watched him in distress while plucking the remaining arrow that jammed into his armor.

The pursuit eventually quelled. Chester sheathed his golden lining, vivid arcane text-carved sword to his golden-coated steel scabbard and rejoined that upset Mina after lifting the barrier.

"Your royal highness, this one had returned and ensured your safety," said Chester while kneeling.

Meanwhile, Mina fully ignored him with an exasperated sigh, tilting her head away.

"Your royal highness...?" Chester raised his voice quizzically, lifting his head by little, probing the silence.

Soon his gaze aligned with Mina's face, that unhappy demeanor of hers threw him in an alarmed state, expressed guiltily,

"Your royal highness, this one is in utmost remorse for his prior imprudent decision deduced to your dissatisfaction! This one is aware it is a disgrace to the honor of the royal knight! Please, your royal highness, punish this one to the fullest, even if it's taking his miserable life!"

"Mina doesn't wanna..."

"But... this one doesn't under-?"

"MINA DOESN'T WANNA! If Mina punishing Chester makes him content, then there is no point! So, Mina, from now on, HATE Chester and will not talk to him from now on!"

In spite of he wasn't punished, Mina's declaration still dismayed him tremendously, pushing him to cower in the corner, blabbering nonsense.

During this awkward situation, an assertion from the driver emerged out of nowhere, "Sir... we're approaching Dragania any moment by now," which recaptured Chester's attention and returned his senses. He replied,

"Wait, Dannus, how much time do we have left, and how much time did I expand on those bandits?"

"Sorry to break it to you, sir. But the clash happened to take up two-thirds of the time."

"So, you're telling me..."

"Her royal highness is a minute closer to being tardy, sir."

After hearing that shocking info, Chester quickly held Mina's face close to his, saying in a stern tone,

"Your royal highness, you might still despise my ludicrous presence for the prior action. But take heed to this one piece of advice, run... run as fast as royal highness can. So your royal highness can make it in time!"

"Mina still doesn't favor Chester's face so close to hers..." Mina then forcibly shoved her face out of Chester's palms and continued with a murmur.

"But Mina will run... not for Chester but for Mina..."

"Then this one is relieved..." said Chester while tenderly patting Mina on her head and returning to his seat thereafter.

After passing through the unpopulated region, their carriage finally arrived at the town square, crowded with all kinds of Demonkins and activities.

The cart then darted through the pathway at blistering speed and jolted everyone who stumbled upon it. Due to its battered and guardless display, many judged the cart and raged against their reckless driving without acknowledging it was the royalties.

After multiple skillful maneuvers from the driver, they arrived, by the ample gate of the Dragania, emptier than expected, probably most already attended to the house room.

Mina then frantically trampled down from the carriage, rushing to her house room, forgoing a proper farewell with Chester and Dannus, the driver.

One minute left before Mina becomes tardy.

Mina sprinted across Dragania, from facility to facility, one hallway to another, crossing each of them in a second without a moment to explore and breathe.

Till the large familiar door revealed before her round purplish eyes, her feet were decelerated, aligned before the door, and she rested with her hand on the wall, panting, recouping from the marathon she completed.

Her head discreetly raised, questioning her endeavor in thoughts,

*Does Mina really need to be this exhausted to arrive at her house room? Mina is now crushed and beaten...*

She then slid her hand against the giant door, deeply breathed, and pushed it to enter, finding Patria waiting for her with a glum expression.

"Princess, you seemed to be late for one minute. Your performance as the representative has already failed everyone on the first day. I'm utterly disappointed."

"What Patria is blabbering about! Mina, pretty sure she arrived on time!" Mina retorted with a chest, sensing her arrival to be punctual.

But in reality, Mina was, indeed, belated for one exact minute, which Patria attested to her by pointing her thumb at the clock through her back.

"But... but... Mina... was assured that..." Mina was wordless, unable to calibrate another ground to testify her punctuality, which led her to fidget on the spot in worry.

But during this tense argument, a sudden young masculine voice interrupted them,

"Yo... Can you both have the conversation elsewhere... I'm trying to walk here..." diverting their attention to him, wondering who they possibly could have blocked.

It was a boy, not taller than any of them but rather shorter than Patria. Ruby pupils for his eyes, and his hair was not far off from his pupils, dyed in cherry red. Who could this boy be? His demeanor depicted nothing but pure delinquency.

Patria replied piercingly, "You couldn't have joined her royal highness for being late, would you?"

"Late? What's that? Something feasible?" he gulped Patria's stern question like it was nothing but instead returned with extra spiciness, a quip.

Patria just menacingly silently glared at the boy, neglecting his quip as her rage didn't manifest, but her eyes did tell the wrath had stirred within.

However, the arrogance that dwelled in the boy made him couldn't care less about the current situation he was in, and he repaid her stare with his own.

The intensity of the stare frightened Mina as she swiveled her head around, finding a way to smother their unwavering flame.

Mina then shifted her gaze at Keena, at the seat they had beforehand, seeking assistance as before.

Upon realizing Mina's gaze, Keena hastily avoided it by turning her head elsewhere, dodging to answer Mina's signal for help, and Mina was devastated by her reaction.

"How long are you going to stare at me like, girl? I ain't got all the time for this gimmick." the boy took the initiative, breaking this awkward silence between them, keening to walk away.

Under this rigid circumstance, Konnaugh was devoted to approaching them, quenching the flame between them, asserting while descending from the steps that lead to the higher seats, which brightened Mina,

"Fellas, why don't we take a step back and take a deep-"

"Return to your seat at once," Patria interrupted before Konnaugh could do anything.

Dismissing Konnaugh without hesitation, injecting him with nothing but dejection as he returned to his seat impotently.

The boy eventually lost his patience, squirming and declaring,

"Oi! Are you in love with me or what! Stop staring at me like that, and LET... ME... GO...!"

But the silence was the response he received.

The boy had enough of this, shoving Patria to the side, ranting, "Move out the way!"

Soon his hand contacted Patria. He found himself dropped to the floor, with his arm immobilized.

He was pinned to the floor by Patria with an armlock, shocking everyone with a gasp, including the handler, who managed to witness it just in time.

While the boy suffered in agony, Patria sternly reported to her handler, Tiandra,

"Ms. Tiandra, I would like to report the misconduct of the following students, who had failed to obey the rules and must be punished. Hopefully, your respectfully could allow me to execute the punishment."

"A... Yeah... yeah... go ahead, young Patria, but first, please... release your housemate from the constraint. I don't wish for anyone to get injured under my supervision..."

"Yes, Ms. Tiandra."

Patria proceeded to release the boy from her grasp, who quivered from the post-effect pain, and staggeringly regained his feet, grunting with resentment.

"You're free to punish the disobedience, young Patria. But remember, no violence," said Tiandra to Patria with a consultative tone.

"Yes, Ms. Tiandra."

Patria responded, veering to both Mina and the boy, asserting,

"Stand at the hall, both of you, till the end of the first period."

"Wait, Mina too!?" Tiandra and Mina both resonated with one another in a surprised tone.

"Yes, under no circumstance, if one was at fault, then that one shall be punished, princess or not, representative or not. Retribution should be distributed in terms of justice and fairness." Patria solemnly responded.

"Mina is speechless..." Mina added after her response and right before the punishment was in play.

After a while, two of them stood in the hallway, plainly accepting their fate of the punishment, and Mina sighed out of dejection.