Hearing the sudden voice echoing from behind him, Athen immediately jumped off the carriage while it was still moving.

After tumbling on the road for a second, Athen stood back up before rushing into the field of golden grass, ducking down and taking cover behind the weeds.

Athen wasn't afraid that the carriage would leave him as he knew exactly what was happening.

The carriage was being robbed.

It was not at all surprising to Athen as they were basically in the middle of nowhere, far from any town or city.

Adding onto that, the carriage seemed to be completely defenseless as there was just a driver and two people inside.

Normally, a carriage of this size would have a security escort, but this carriage was left undefended.

In other words, it was just a walking bag of money for any passerby who had weapons.

A carriage of this size would sell for at least five golden coins, which was more than the cost of the entire bar back in Athen's hometown.

Using an opening in the grass, Athen watched as two figures on horses, traveling at a much faster rate than the carriage, galloped past him.

Going around the carriage, the horses treaded on the field of the golden grass before getting back on the road right before the carriage.

After a couple of moments, the horses abruptly halted in the middle of the road, preventing the carriage from moving any farther forward.

The driver of the carriage, noticing the blockade ahead, turned around and looked through the carriage's front window.

After mouthing some words to the men inside, the driver turned back around and halted the horses leading the carriage.

As the carriage came to a stop, the two mercenaries stayed on their horses, not even trying to hide the weapons that were slung around their belt.

After a couple of moments of silence, the mercenary with a sword unmounted the horse before slowly walking towards the carriage.

Looking at the driver, the mercenary said.

"Mind if we inspect this carriage, good sir?"

Hesitating for a moment, the driver glanced back through the window before nervously replying.

"I'm sure there's nothing here that would be of interest to you...if you would just let us pass by and g-"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Interrupting the driver, the other mercenary said from atop his horse.

"We'll decide what's interesting and what's not. And if what you said is true, then why are you scared of a quick search?"

Not waiting for the driver's response, the sword-using mercenary walked closer to the carriage, tracing his finger alongside it.

*CREAK*

Drawing the mercenary's attention away from the driver, the door of the carriage opened, revealing a figure with a black suit and briefcase.

Looking outside at the mercenary, the suited figure hesitated before asking.

"What seems to be the problem here?"

Chuckling, the sword-using mercenary stared at his teammate before shrugging his shoulders and replying.

"Do you have a problem? I definitely don't."

"no...?"

"Then, it seems there is not a problem."

Gathering his thoughts, the suited figure sighed before asking.

"If there is no problem, could you allow our carriage to pass? Unfortunately, we are in quite the rush as we have a flight to make."

Ignoring the suited figure's instructions, the mercenary continued inspecting the carriage before saying.

"I'll be done in less a minute, but I'll need you two to come outside the carriage for me. Does that sound like a deal?"

From inside the carriage, the other suited figure leaned back in his seat before saying.

"Look, Alaric, I'm not dealing with the principal if we're late for orientation. Are you going to do something, or must I get up?"

Sighing, Alaric took a step back before sitting down.

"I tried to warn them...They're all yours, Caldris."

Unsealing his briefcase, Caldris opened it wide before grabbing his wand, which was sharp around the edges, and standing up.

Outside the carriage, the other mercenary also dismounted his horse before walking over to the carriage door.

Noticing that a fight might break out, Athen moved through the grass and closer to the carriage to get a better look.

With his wand in hand, Caldris jumped out of the carriage, landing in between the two mercenaries.

Not giving them a second to react, Caldris pulled out his wand before aiming at the sword-using mercenary.

"Look, you two aren't going to get shit out of us. Either move it or fight for it."

Smirking, the mercenary, seemingly prepared for this, immediately drew his sword before saying.

"Works for m-"

However, the mercenary couldn't even finish his sentence as a large fireball appeared right in front of him before rushing forward.

Diving to the left, the mercenary barely managed to avoid being hit by the fireball, though his pants and legs got burned to a crisp.

Squealing in pain on the field of golden grass, the sword-using mercenary couldn't even muster the strength to stand back up.

All it took was one spell to incapacitate him...

And the other mercenary, standing still with his daggers, muttered

"a-a m-mage."

Regaining his composure, the figure pulled out his two daggers before... rushing at the driver of the carriage.

Jumping over the horses, the mercenary landed behind the driver and immediately placed his dagger to his neck.

Shivering, he screamed out.

"TAKE ANOTHER STEP AND HE DIES."

But, while his attention was completely on Caldris's figure, Alaric, who was still inside the carriage, stood up before also drawing his wand.

Then, the tip of Alaric's wand glowed a light yellow before a sudden spark surged toward the mercenary with daggers.

*CRASH!*

Going straight at the mercenary, the surge of electricity shattered the window before hitting the mercenary head-on.

Losing grip of his dagger, the mercenary fell to the ground before, with sparks of electricity still surrounding his body.

On the other hand, Caldris drew a square with his wand in the air, immediately manifesting a makeshift prison cell that encapsulated the burning mercenary.

Alaric, walking out of the carriage, made sure the driver was alright before also throwing the electrocuted mercenary into the prison cell.

Turning to face Caldris, Alaric sighed before asking.

"Now, what are we supposed to do with them?"