Second Arc (His Art of War) - 116. The Princess Has Escaped
- Tang!
The sound of the spoon hit the floor startled Flare and the surrounding Euphorion troops. They turned to Rose in reflex.
"Pardon my clumsiness," said Rose with a slight nod in apology.
"Please be careful, Your Highness." Flare was just about to stand up to pick up the fallen spoon. But Rose got up from her seat and raised her hand, stopping Flare.
"Let me." She lowered her head and pretended to pick up the spoon that had fallen under the table. Her head was covered in the tablecloth. She knew what she was doing could undermine her dignity as a princess, but this was an emergency, she knew something was wrong with the terrified looking servant. After all, Flare followed her wherever she went including in her room, so she decided to open the letter that the servant had given her right now. Her hand quickly took out the letter from her dress and opened it.
'Your Highness, my village was captured by the rebels and they want you to meet them at Ecrin Village before sunrise. That village is to the west of town. They want you to come alone, if you come with someone or report it to Euphorion, they will kill everyone there without exception. They'll make an explosion outside the inn to help you get out of here after dinner is over and have a horse ready at the west gate for you. Please help us. '
Rose gritted her teeth in rage as she clenched the letter in her hand.
'How dare they...' She knew it was a trap and that the rebels' aim was her life, but she couldn't let the rebels kill those innocent villagers either. She placed the crumpled letter under the table and picked up a nearby spoon as her expression returned to normal and stood up.
"Is there something wrong, Your Highness?" asked Flare. She knew Rose had just checked something, but she didn't ask directly.
Rose showed the spoon in her hand and sat down.
"Nothing. I had a hard time finding this spoon." After placing the spoon on the table, her hand took a glass of water and drank it to calm her anger.
"Would you like to return to your room, Your Highness?" asked Flare.
"Not yet. It's too early to go back," reasoned Rose. Dinner was almost over, the explosion could happen at any time.
"Very well."
Rose swept her gaze around her, trying to find a way out other than the front door since it was locked and her eyes quickly caught a window that was slightly ajar.
'They have prepared my escape route well.' She knew the rebel planned to make her look like she was running away. This way her uncle would blame her death on Euphorion's army's negligence. Meanwhile, Euphorion would blame her death on herself because she did not cooperate properly and run away at critical times. And of course, she didn't want that to happen, so she had other plans. It was just that she knew Flare wouldn't approve this plan. On the other hand, she realized how dangerous this plan was if she was done alone, but she had to do it somehow.
- Boom!
Explosion sound came from outside the inn accompanied by the ground shaking. Rose and the others kept their footing, their hands holding anything they could hold around them.
After the explosion subsided, Euphorion's troops got up from their seats and prepared to take orders from Flare.
Flare pointed to two soldiers nearby.
"You and you, bring your squad to check the explosion." Then she pointed to another.
"You and you, take your squad to inspect the area around the inn. Catch all suspicious people, if they resist, kill them. If there is a magic formation, destroy it." She pointed to another.
"You and you, bring your squad to inspect the entire inn. The rest remain near Her Highness," she ordered. This was the same strategy that Angel used when he killed King Xenos, Flare didn't want to be fooled twice.
"Yes, General!" Then they carried out her orders.
Suddenly another servant approached them in weak steps.
"Your Highness... Help us ..." he said with a sob. Euphorion troops marched forward and took out their weapons.
"Back off! Or we'll kill you!" commanded Flare. She could sense magic power from the servant, so she was sure he was a magic-user. While Rose stepped back slowly as if she was keeping herself away from the chaos, but in truth, she wanted to run away.
"My family ... My village ... Help us ..." said the servant with a sob. He opened his shirt revealing an intermediate level explosion formation magic tied to his body. The magic formation was fully charged and only needed a little magic power from the servant to detonate it.
"Remove the magic formation! Now!" ordered Flare. If that formation magic exploded, he would be dead.
Meanwhile, Rose's eyes widened in shock, she did not expect the rebels would be that cruel just to make a way for her. She knew she wouldn't be able to save that servant, so all she could do was get out of here and save the villagers.
The servant shook his head and smiled bitterly. His teary eyes stared deeply at Rose.
"Your Highness ... Please ... Save my family ... My wife is pregnant with our first child. Please tell her that I love her ..." he said as he flowed his magic power to the magic formation.
Flare took out her chakrams and threw them at the servant. Even though that servant was a victim, she had to kill him before the magic formation exploded. While the Euphorion's magic users cast their magic barrier to protect them from the explosion.
- Trang! - Trang!
A sword brushed away Flare's chakrams. At the same time, the light in the magic formation dimmed and was engulfed by a dark aura that finally 'burned' the magic formation to ashes.
"Don't you have any manners? You should convey your message yourself, not ask Her Highness to deliver it," said a masked elite soldier who suddenly appeared near the servant.
"I've taken care of the rebels in the alleys, they won't know your mission failed."
The servant fell on his knees and began to cry.
"Sir, please save my family ... Save my village ..." he sobbed.
"We'll take care of it," replied Angel.
"General, the princess has run away!" shouted one of Euphorion troops as he realized Rose had disappeared from their midst.
Their eyes turned to an open window, it was clear Rose had fled from there.
"We'll chase after her!" said the other troops. While different from usual, Flare was silent.
"There's no need." Angel pointed to the paper under Rose's dining table. Flare took it and gave it to him. He opened the letter and read it briefly before handing it to Flare.
"Let me take care of Ecrin village. You take the troops to Whispering forest, north of this town. A rebel hideout is near the western cliff. Take all the letters in their leader's tent and destroy the place," he ordered. He got this information after he used his Mind Corruption on one of the rebels. And since this was a good opportunity to destroy one of the rebels' hideouts, he wouldn't waste it. So he decided to save the villagers, while his troops destroyed the rebels' hiding place.
"What about the captured rebels, sir?" asked Flare. She couldn't call him 'Your Majesty', because Angel was in a disguise. His troops had also realized this after seeing his dark aura which could destroy that magic formation easily.
Angel moved his hand in front of his neck, imitating the beheading motion, ordering to finish off the others since he knew the rebel leader was in Ecrin Village, not there.
"Yes, sir," replied Flare.
"I'll excuse myself, General," said Angel. Which was answered with a slight nod from Flare and the entire army. He walked towards the exit and swung his hand at the locked door.
- Brakkkk!
His dark aura made the door open by itself.
"General, why didn't you help him? He could not possibly defeat the rebels alone," said the servant with a worried face mixed with confusion.
Flare smirked.
"What do you mean? He's alone enough to destroy a city."