Second Arc (His Art of War) - 117. A Nostalgic Meeting I
After Rose managed to make an emergency rope dart from the rope and knives she found in the inn lobby, she walked down the Fortaare Town's quiet street to the west gate. Occasionally she hid between the buildings or houses. Guilt stabbed her heart since she couldn't save the servant, now she could do was save the servant's family and village as he requested. She pressed her back against the last building near the west gate. Her eyes looked at the lonely gate as her fists clenched out of her anger and regret. She realized that there were only a few guards at the gate, either because they were taunted by the explosion sound from the Inn or because the rebels had prepared everything.
Since there were only a few guards, Rose walked over to the gate easily and sneaked out from the smaller door that was on the side of the gate. After that, she quickly hid into the forest near the gate. She looked back to the gate, making sure none of the guards noticed it before sweeping her gaze around her.
'Now I just have to find the horse,' she thought as she stepped deeper into the forest. But then her eyes widened in shock when she saw the horse that had been prepared for her was dead.
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Meanwhile, Angel swung his sword to the last rebel on the path to Ecrin Village. Even though he knew that the village was to the west of the town, he couldn't teleport himself to a place he didn't know where it was. At least he needed to visit the place once. That's why after he had stabilized his authority in Euphorion and mastered this teleportation skill, he had visited some big cities, but of course, he did it undercover. After all, he only left in the evening and returned to White Moon Castle before midnight with his teleportation skill, as if he had never left his castle. That's why he was able to teleport himself to most of the cities throughout the Andromeda Continent.
But not with small villages, since he had never been to Ecrin Village before, he had to come there manually. And since the rebels' request that no one should come except Rose, he couldn't ride a horse because it would catch the rebels' attention. Besides, many traps had been set along the way, indicating that the rebel intended to kill Rose before she even arrived in the village.
Angel sheathed his sword and walked through the dense trees on the side of the path. Traversing the wet ground, fallen branches and tree roots sticking out of the ground, accompanied by the night sky and cold air that bit his skin. But suddenly the faint clatter of hooves came from behind him. He walked over to the main path and waited for who was coming. He had already killed the horse that the rebels had prepared for Rose before. Rose should be returned to town by now.
Since Angel thought it was one of those rebels, he cast some of his 'Demonic Arrow' and prepared to attack that person. But then, his eyes widened as he realized the person that was riding the horse was Rose.
'How could she be that fast ?!'He cancelled his 'Demonic Arrow' as his feet moved swiftly toward her.
"Your Highness! Stop!" He tried to stop her. This was completely out of his plan since he thought about solving this matter without involving Rose.
Hearing someone call her, Rose turned around and realized that a member of Euphorion troops was chasing after her.
"Tsk! He's really stubborn!" she muttered. She managed to snatch this horse from the gate keeper's stables and escape from the Euphorion troops who chased her. But since there were no other horses there, they lost her in less than a minute. That's why she did not expect a Euphorion troop would be fast enough to chase her on foot.
Rose shifted her gaze forward and spurred her horse to run faster. Apart from that, she knew there were many traps ahead, so instead of passing them one by one, she planned to break through with her horse.
Seeing Rose speeding up her horse, Angel exhaled with annoyance.
'So, you want to challenge me?' He flowed his dark aura to his feet to accelerate his speed. In just a minute, he caught up with her.
Rose was surprised to see a masked Euphorion troop suddenly grab her reins from her side, jumped on her horse and sat behind her.
"Your Highness, stop it! It is a trap!" Angel warned as he tried to take the reins from Rose.
"I know this is a trap that's why I want to destroy them!" replied Rose as she kept maintaining the reins in her hands. She planned to break through with the horse. When she got close enough to the village, she would tie a rebel corpse to the horse and put her red dress on it. After that, she would make the horse rampage in the village, while she infiltrated using the rebel clothes and rescue the hostages.
"General Flare has ordered me to take care of it! Trust me!" said Angel as his hand kept trying to take over the reins. He knew he could not snatch it up roughly or both of them would be thrown off the horse.
"You are a Euphorion, not a Zephyrus. I cannot entrust my people's safety to you!" insisted Rose.
"You-"
Before Angel could speak again, their eyes widened as they could see the rebels were ready with their arrows above the trees in front of them. Rose lowered her head. Her head was almost on the side of the horse's. She knew they would be the rebels easy targets if they weren't fast enough.
"Hold on! I'll speed up!" shouted Rose as she sped up the horse.
"Are you insane?!" said Angel in surprise, he didn't expect Rose to be this reckless.
"Yes, I am!" said Rose.
"Tsk!" Having no other choice, Angel followed her plan. The rebels' arrows flew at them from their right and left. Swiftly, Angel's hand emitted a dark aura that created a barrier on their sides to prevent the arrows from reaching them. But Rose was able to take them out of the arrows siege without making a single arrow touch the barrier.
Once they were able to get through the arrows, Angel turned his head around as he cast his 'Demonic Arrow' and threw it at the rebels who were hiding above the trees.
The screams of pain mingled with the hissing sound of his Demonic Arrow was followed by the sound of falling hard objects echoed through the forest. Angel smirked as he returned his gaze forward.
"What sound is that?!" asked Rose in confusion. Her eyes remained focused forward.
"If you want to find out, stop the horse!" replied Angel.
Rose exhaled a deep breath.
"Just forget it, if I ever asked you," she said.