"AHH!!"
Shelly woke up screaming.
"W-Wha-What is it?! Are we under attack?"
The shout surprised Arthur, making him spring to his feet causing Maou to drop to the floor. The head-first fall woke Maou. He grabbed his aching head, crying out in pain.
Suddenly, Mr Frederick opened the small window to the carriage and anxiously inquired.
"I heard a scream! Is everything alright?"
"Um… Everything's fine. I just had a nightmare, is all." Shelly replied panting.
"Uh… May I then ask what happened to Sir Arthur and Sir Maou?"
Looking at the others, Arthur stood in a fighting stance half asleep with drool on his face, struggling to keep his eyes open. Maou rolled on the floor, holding his head in pain and near tears.
Shelly's head tilted down, voice weak and her cheeks red with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
"No need to apologise, but I think you'd all appreciate some fresh air right now."
"Yes… I'd love that."
When the carriage stopped, all three stepped outside. Their eyes saw the beautiful Azure blue sky above them as they walked onto a small clearing next to the forest. They lay flat on the soft grass while a soft breeze went back and forth across the grass.
Mr Frederick, while the others relaxed, prepared a huge cloth with utensils, cups, teapot, napkins and plates with triangular-shaped sandwiches, watermelon slices and two bowls of water for the horses to drink while they ate the grass.
"Wow! This is amazing! What is it?" Maou asked with his mouth full.
"It is a ham sandwich made of bread, soybeans and boar meat from Landon Town, Sir Maou." Answered Mr Frederick as he poured Arthur a cup of tea.
Shelly took a sip of the tea and her eyes widen in astonishment.
"Oh my! This is beyond good. What kind of tea is this?"
"That would be my signature brand of herbal tea. I am glad you like it, Lady Shelly."
Maou held between his fingers a white cube. He closely examined it before giving it a careful lick of the tongue.
"Hmm!! What is this?!"
"That is sugar. You add it to the tea-"
Maou threw the cube of sugar in his mouth before Mr Frederick finished his sentence. Everyone was stunned by his actions.
"It's sweet! I want more."
Maou threw another three cubes of sugar in his mouth but Shelly stopped him before he could get another.
"If you eat it like that you'll have a stomach ache."
"Ha! Fine." Maou sighed with his mouth full of sugar.
Mr Frederick watched as they ate their fill and lay flat on the grass. They took in the ambience of the environment. The majestic combination of the various shades of green on the clearing, the sound of the leaves shuffling as the cool, soft and fresh winds roamed by every so often. The sun was like a warm blanket across their bodies. In mere minutes, the three younglings drifted off into a peaceful nap.
Mr Frederick sat in silence sipping his herbal tea and munching on a watermelon slice. With a gentle smile on his face he stared at the sky, he looked to be at peace but the unwelcomed visit of bandits ruin the serenity of the picnic.
The bandits from the Inn, masked in black with weapons, approached Mr Frederick in a threatening fashion. They maliciously snickered and some spun their daggers in-between their fingers to show their evil intentions. They waited until the carriage was far away from the town before revealing themselves, just so no one could interfere with them. The leader of the bandits stepped forward with a happy smile on his face. He was of a tall and muscular build with a rough bearded face.
"We were watching your cutesy little family picnic and it put me in such a good mood. So much so, that I've decided to cut you a deal… since I'm such a kind-hearted man."
The other bandits chuckled to themselves at their boss's joke.
"Give us everything in the carriage along with your cute daughter sleeping there and you and your two sons get to live."
The leader peered at Shelly's sleeping body while licking his lips.
"I can understand why you would take our belongings, but if I may ask, what do you plan on doing to the young lady? And I warn you to answer carefully."
Mr Frederick calmly spoke without once looking at the bandits and casually finished his herbal tea before putting down the cup.
"Are you sure you wanna know, Gramps?" A criminal grin crawled on his face.
Mr Frederick had a calm but threatening tone to his voice that even the air became silent to listen to him. He stood up, still having yet to make eye contact with the bandits.
"You don't have to answer me. Rather, it's best you don't answer my question, because if your answer is something distasteful. I would have to drastically hurt you and your fellow men."
His words made the bandits click their teeth, raise an eyebrow or look at each other in disbelief while Mr Frederick started stretching.
"Oi! Oi! Gramps! I was in a good mood but now you're starting to piss me off." The bandit leader's grin dropped and turned to an annoyed look. "Just take the deal and get the hell outta here before you get me angry."
"It has been quite a while since I've fought…" Mr Frederick took a deep breath before he continued. "...Sadly, you all won't even serve as a good warm-up."
"Oh! So you want to fight. Quite the balls you've got their old man and since you want to be like that, my generous offer from before is off." He fixed his gloves. "I'll be taking the carriage and killing your sons as well, but before that, I'll crush your old feeble skull first!"
Mr Frederick stopped stretching and fixed his gloves on his hands as well.
"I must apologize but I seem to have forgotten something important over the years."
"Ha! It's too late to apologize now old man. You decided your fate already." The man cracked his knuckles in his palms.
Just then, Mr Frederick faced the group, looking at all seven of the bandits with a death glare he said.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not begging for my life. I have just forgotten how to hold back my punches, so please don't blame me if you leave with any broken bones."
Before the bandit leader could realise, Mr Frederick disappeared then reappeared in front of him, slipping past his defence and planted an uppercut in his guts. The hit lifted him off the ground and his eyes popped. That supposed mighty badass had the air knocked out of him. He dropped to his knees, gasping for air. Mr Frederick slammed his knee into the man's face. The hit broke his nose with blood gushing and he crashed to the ground. In five seconds he was down.
"Your leader is down. Are you all sure you want to continue this meaningless one-sided fight?"
Mr Frederick glared at the dumbfounded bandits.
Four bandits darted towards Mr Frederick, aiming to slash and stab him. He dodged the swift slicing attacks, ducking and weaving with grace like a leaf falling from a tree in spring.
"Are you trying to kill me or give me lovebites?" Mr Frederick was annoyed off by their underwhelming attacks. "If this is all you have, then I'll end this right now."
Mr Frederick caught one of the attackers by the wrist that held the dagger, then used his index finger to direct five quick jabs to his throat. Mr Frederick released him and the attacker slowly backed away clutching his throat, gasping for air.
The second attacker swiped at his neck with a short sword but Mr Frederick effortlessly swung his hand like a sword, breaking the blade then kicked both the attacker's feet off the ground. He struck the dirt hard and Mr Frederick stepped on his throat, pinning him to the ground. He tried removing Mr Frederick's foot but was too weak to do so.
The last two attackers both charged at Mr Federick with their daggers, hoping for a direct hit. Mr Frederick, with perfect timing, grabbed their wrist and twisted it which forced them to drop their weapons. Mr Frederick grabbed them by the hair and glared into their pitiful souls. They cowered in fear as they saw the face of a monster smiling at their prey, like a hungry hawk to a weak mouse. Mr Frederick slowly pulled their head away from each other and slammed them together. They fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
"Who's next?" Mr Frederick looked to the two remaining bandits.
"P-Please don't hurt us! We give up! You'll never see us again if you let us go, kind Mister."
They were shaking and begging for their lives, refusing to go near Mr Frederick.
"Good boys. Now take your friends and leave before I have to kill you."
Mr Frederick walked away, removing his foot from the bandit's neck. They all scurried away, dragging their leader. Some limped away with tears in their eyes, even leaving their weapons behind.
"It's best I remove these before they wake up." Mr Frederick bent down to pick up the weapons but jolted out of surprise when he heard clapping.
"That was awesome! You're really good at fighting aren't you?"
"Sir Maou. I must have disturbed your sleep, I apologize."
Maou sat up and started eating more of the sugar cubes.
"Where did you learn to fight?"
Mr Frederick continued to remove the weapons.
"I used to be a part of the military. I was captain at one point but I decided to step down and leave."
"Why did you leave? You can still fight really well."
"The only way to live a stable life when you're poor in the capital is joining the military. Like everyone else I trained and worked hard to rise to the top of the military rank for the money. I regret my decision to go there. Even money couldn't justify the amount of killing and immoral things I did. Eventually, madness took me over. The terrifying screams of those I killed; humans and non-humans alike, haunted me, keeping me up every night."
Mr Frederick stared at his reflection on the dagger while sliding his finger across its blade, reminiscing his traumatic past.
"Like a madman, I roamed the streets of the capital unable to find peace but I was rescued by what I can only describe as a goddess. Madame Elisabeth, Arthur's mother. The days she took nursing me back to health and taking me as a part of her family despite what I had become, I will never forget. I am forever indebted to Arthur's mother."
Mr Frederick pulled out a ring from in his suit, rubbing it with a nostalgic but sad look on his face.
"This 'Madam Elisabeth', is she dead?" Maou questioned, observing Mr Frederick's reaction to the ring.
"Yes…. Unfortunately, her body was weak and she was expected to die at an early age but her stubbornness said otherwise." He smiled to himself a little then quickly looked grim once more. "She gave birth to three healthy and lovely boys but passed away shortly after giving birth to Sir Arthur, her last child."
"That must have been hard for Arthur." Maou had a sorry look while eating the sugar cubes.
"He did. Out of all the children, Arthur is the only one who doesn't know what his mother was like and his brothers blame him for her death even though Arthur had no control over the circumstances."
Mr Frederick took in a deep breath then exhaled while putting away the ring in his suit.
"I'm sorry for ranting like that. This old man's story must have bored you."
"Bore me? I liked it."
Mr Frederick smiled then bowed.
"Thank you, sir Maou. And if I may beg of you… please, continue to be good friends with Sir Arthur. He has more to offer than being a noble."
Maou's head tilted to the side in confusion.
"What's a… 'noble'? Does it taste good?!"
Mr Frederick slowly burst out into a fit of laughter. Maou's genuine cluelessness amazed him beyond his expectations.
"We need to keep moving if we plan to reach the capital in time." Mr Frederick got off his knees having collected all the weapons. "Sir Maou, I kindly ask that this stay between us."
"Sure! I can keep secrets… I think."
Maou stood up but immediately grabbed his belly with a wrinkled face. The 15 sugar cubes he ate wasn't sitting right in his stomach.
"Oh no! My tummy hurts! Shelly was right." Maou quickly ran to some nearby bushes.
Mr Frederick worriedly watched Maou leave then went on to pack away the cloth and utensils used for lunch and soon after woke the rest.
"Sir Arthur, Lady Shelly. It's time to wake up. We still need to cover more distance for today."
Shelly made her way to the carriage half asleep, walking like a newborn dear.
"No... It's so nice here. Just five more minutes." Arthur rolled over wanting more sleep.
Mr Frederick lifted Arthur off the grass and carried him to the carriage. Nicely seating him without disturbing his sleep. Soon thereafter, the carriage was once more moving.