Chopin's Perspective

An hour into our carriage ride, we approached a fork in the road. "There's a shorter route through the mountain pass with the risk of bandit attacks, or a longer, safer route through the plains," Akira explained, weighing the pros and cons of each path. "Taking the shortcut could get us into tomorrow morning's paper, but the long way might delay us until the evening edition or even the day after."

"Then perhaps the longer route is better, right? Safety first," Bouree agreed with my opinion.

"Hold on, we've just received a magical telegram. The sender is... no good. It’s encrypted and untraceable," Alegra announced while casting the reception spell.

"What? Pressure from Councilor Amadeus on the newspaper? If we don't make it tonight, the story won’t be published?" he explained in a rush.

"Wait a minute. The sender is unknown, right? It could be a trap. They might be preparing to ambush us in the mountains," I interjected, and then Elize added, "But... if this is true, it might have been encrypted to avoid interception by Amadeus. There’s still a slight chance this telegram is legitimate."

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"I see. If it's a trap, that includes us falling right into it. Quite a cunning adversary," I grumbled.

"It might not be bandits," Akira interjected, but I dismissed it.

"No, it's likely a trap set by the family. They’ve orchestrated it so that we feel compelled to take the shortcut, knowing full well it’s a trap."

Gripping the reins tightly, I steered the carriage towards the mountain road. "We need to hurry! If we don't move fast, we won't make the morning paper!" The magic carriage blazed a trail where there was none. As far as our reconnaissance went, this route should be safe barring any landslides caused by thunderstorms.

But if bandits were indeed lying in wait, we couldn’t be sure what sort of obstructions they might have prepared. "Everyone, stay alert!" I shouted, likely audible to all.

About ten minutes later, a blade of wind aimed straight for my neck flew by. "Damn it! It was a trap after all!" I leapt from the carriage sideways.

I hit the ground hard, but thanks to Bouree's protective spell, the pain was minimal. It seemed Bouree and I were thrown off the carriage.

From a distance, I could see Alegra grabbing the reins. "Hurry! Don’t worry about us!" His words signaled the carriage to continue speeding away.

I could only hope they'd make it. "Hey there, big brother, big sister," sneered some bandit-looking characters surrounding us, four in total. At a glance, they seemed like foes we could easily defeat.

Could these really be enemies incapable of such analysis? "So, it’s just a stalling tactic," she realized.

"That seems to be the case," I agreed.