3rd Person View
From the pathways leading to the City of Touma ruled by Baron Piedmont, a merchant's carriage was travelling and passing the trees one by one. It was mounted by none other than Hain and the Iron Trout tasked by Yukio to protect his probable future bride.
「May I ask something?」
Hain asked a question, her eyes visibly shown she was anxious and nervous. The one to have answered her was the Iron Trout's healer, Tuna who seem to have already woken up from yesterday's incident.
「Yes, what is it miss Hain?」
「What's the City of Touma like?」
The party's fighter named Pine clenched his fists and said the following with confidence.
「It's a town full of adventurers, merchants, normal citizens and it welcomes other races.」
「It welcomes other races? It's a really friendly town. How did they even make them stay there?」
「Well, the Baron or the noble was a kind person who doesn't discriminate unlike the other nobles, you see.」
「I see...」
Hain slowly regained her usual composure. It seems knowing that the town is a friendly place like Murasaka motivated her to be a bit more relieved. The five adventurers seeing this, were delighted to see that she's okay.
「Do you think Sir Fern will be able to catch up to us?」
The healer, Tuna asked. The others were unsure whether he can or cannot but had more confidence that he will than he won't. However, one person thought it absolute. And it was the one who knows him most, Hain.
「He will without a doubt! He's very strong afterall!」
The others were surprised by her statement but noone disagreed.
「Yeah! He has that fast Variant Rafflecia Deer too!」
「Yeah, those things can go more than quadruple the speed of a horse.」
Instead, it was supported. This is just how highly thought of Yukio became just after he had met these people.
「Not only is he strong, he's also handsome and kind!」
Hain suddenly brought in another word of praise, she couldn't handle that the only ones praising her most loved Yukio were the Iron Trout party, therefore she didn't want to lose. The whole group was surprised by her sudden appearance.
「He went to a journey with me because he was worried about me.」
Hain's cheeks became flustered as she continued to talk.
「And he also wanted to become an adventurer to save the orphanage I work in.」
The Iron Trout party listened to Hain's story about their short journey to Murasaka and how she had gained support from him countless times. They were really good listeners since they put on the right expressions at the right times. Like when Hain mentioned Yukio had many unique skills, they couldn't help but gasp and Clint said「So that's why he's that strong.」right after.
「Hey guys, can you fetch me my waterbag there?」
A voice came from the curtains at the front of the carriage. It's where the coachman and the merchant taking them to Touma sat. Apparently, the one who asked was the coachman. His voice was a little hoarse, probably due to thirst.
Hain handed the bag of water to the hand stretched out from the curtains. It was previously placed above a barrel which were once used to deliver a kind of purple fruit.
「Thanks.」
The place went quiet for a while, and Troy the archer started looking outside through the carriage's entrance out of boredom. It was an enclosed space which only had the entrance open all the time afterall.
Suddenly, as he had the unique skill"Enhanced Vision D", he noticed a faint movement around the trees. He flinched and called out to the others just to be sure.
「Everyone stay clear and be on alert! I think something is following us!」
The others were in a state of panic, if it were possibly bandits, there was a high chance they would be outnumbered and easily beaten due to their low levels and puny numbers. But it would be the same to monsters if it had the same conditions.
Once again, Troy peeked from the carriage's enclosed fabric roof and used the"Hawk Eye"skill. But soon after, he fell over on the floor trembling and almost fell off the carriage unless Pine hadn't caught him before he did.
「Yin Yang Wolves... four of them.」
Troy was covering his right eye as he spoke. It looks like it was a squashed tomato and it bled continuously. His HP was going down at a steady rate but it was prevented to go any lower using Tuna's healing magic. Pine and the mage named Grease, hoisted the injured Troy on one whole seating. His bleeding was forcefully stopped by Tuna's healing but it will be a while before he can fight again.
「Coachman, please go faster! Ying Yang Wolves are chasing us!」
「What?!」
It looks like the coach was still alive. There's noone who suffered any grave injuries apart from Troy for now. Suddenly, there was a great spurt of speed as the carriage began to run twice faster than earlier.
「Go for it! We'll have to lose them if we want to live!」
The merchant shouted, there was a tone of worry in his voice but nevertheless, he kept his composure and started turning his head to look around and find the monsters. However, all he saw were trees, trees, trees, and... Brief images of a shadow.
「There really are Ying Yang wolves! Let's go faster!」
「W-We're going as fast as we can already!」
It seems like they were in a pinch. The Ying Yang wolves were monsters mostly around level 28 and they ran as fast as a horse would. They often target people around the ages 14 and above and always spared the lives of children. They're considered as honorable monsters that kill people who sinned and had evil and selfish intentions, therefore they are often seen hunting down bandits that target travellers.
Noone ever liked killing Ying Yang wolves and they were very hesitant to it. The problems for them was why it was targeting them. They only ever target bad people.
Everyone looked at one another in serious expressions. Then Pine asked the coachman and merchant at the front.
「Did any of you do anything bad or illegal?」
「No we didn't! We only ever did sell fruits from other villages and towns!」
「Then that only leaves...」
Everyone's gazes were suddenly fixed on Hain who hadn't talked this whole time. Pine then asked her the question.
「Did you do anything bad before you came here?」
「I don't think I did. I never killed anyone or stole anything...」
Certainly, the girl's personality didn't allow her to be like that. Noone believed she's a culprit and thus, Pine focused somewhere else. Even if she was the wolves' target, they can't just hand her over like a bunch of cowards backing down from paying their savior's debt.
「We're not trash to leave someone behind to save our asses. Please stay here miss Hain. And please keep watch of Troy.」
Clint had ordered the remaining three combatants to remain calm and be ready for any kind of situation. He took out a bronze coin from his pocket and threw it at the carriage's exit. Almost immediately, it was destroyed by a dark gale of wind.
「I knew it, guys don't go anywhere near the exit. Or else you'll be diced up like onions.」
The others gulped and sweat ran down their necks. Clint's creepy remark made the rest of the party feel a bit more uneasy even though he's their leader.
「I-Is there anything I could help with?」
「What can you do?」
「I can do some healing magic and basic livelihood magic.」
「Alrigh, go tend to Troy. He's still gravely injured and his HP isn't fully restored yet according to Tuna.」
Hain slowly approached Troy while bent down and started healing him with magic. The green light brightened some of the spots around his face while she did so.
Meanwhile, Clint, Tuna, Pine and Grease remained crawled on the ground. The magic users had already prepared their spells to use and so were the other two with their skills. However, none came.
Then there was a sudden crunching noise from behind them which came from the coachman's seat. It sounded as thought bones were being broken bit by bit. And the horse's speed gradually became slower.
The bravest one of the lot, who was Pine, was the one who volunteered to assess the situation in the driver's seat. The moment he opened a small portion of the curtain enough for his eyes, he closed it again instantly.
「The coachman and the merchant... they're both dead.」
Hain covered her mouth in fear, the feeling was nauseating to her and they were already starting to smell the blood. Pine returned to where he recently stood and stayed close to the others while watching the silhouettes of two wolves at the Coachman's seats devouring the two corpses while basked in the sunlight.
The worst case scenario finally happened. The horse suddenly stopped from running due to fatique and was mercilessly slaughtered by the four wolves as it couldn't escape it's harness that prevented it from leaving the carriage.
For a few seconds,
They didn't hear a sound from outside. This time, Hain and Tuna came to check by approaching the large open area of the carriage used for entry.
「Are they gone?」
Growl...
Tuna asked and the growl of a Yin Yang wolf answered her question quickly. Taken by surprise, Tuna was unable to move and froze in place due to it's intimidating aura. Taking advantage of that situation, the black and white colored beast tried to pounce on her. But before it could, Hain blocked it's way.
「S-Stop!」
「Miss Hain!」
There was a blunt sound. As thought the wolf hit something hard yet untouchable, it's upper body was pushed back by a spherical barrier that apparently appeared around Hain. It was made of strong turbulent winds that focused on only Hain.
「A barrier, that was a good timing miss Hain!」
「E-Eh? What is this?」
「Huh?」
「Eh?」
Everyone was in a state of confusion. Afterall, a wind of barrier suddenly protected Hain without her permission and everyone didn't have a clue what was going on either.
The Yin Yang Wolf that was knocked upside down by the barrier sluggishly stood up and went to attack again. Only to be pushed back by the same barrier of wind that prevented it to come closer.
「Ah! There are ones from behind too!」
「Quickly, come closer to me! This barrier will protect you!」
Hain wasn't sure what was going on but she found out that when she spreads out her hands, the barrier's effective range widens and she could protect more people than herself with it. The others hastily went to that range and Pine brought along the injured Troy too.
It became a deadlock. The Ying Yang Wolves were unable to approach the barrier or else they would only be sent flying back. From their mouths were blood that most likely belonged from just their recent victims. Currently, the casualties on the Iron Trout party is zero. This lasted for the next 20 minutes.
「If we keep this up, we may be able to hold out long enough for Arch to appear.」
Hain was planning to delay their enemies as much as possible with the wind barrier until Yukio arrives and gets rid of them.
「Y-Yeah, I hope he comes here sooner.」
Everyone was feeling worried and Hain felt distress amongst them. Nevertheless, noone lost hope.
「St-Still, how long will this barrier last?」
「I don't know, but I hope it lasts for atleast days.」
Hain herself was unaware how she had obtained this barrier. She doesn't remember ever learning wind magic. Much less to this level. And even though the barrier had been active for more than twenty minutes now, Hain noticed her MP bar wasn't decreasing at all.
「M-Miss Hain, hows your MP? This barrier has been here for quite some time now... Aren't you getting tired?」
The others were thinking of the same thing too, Hain answered them according to her knowledge of the situation.
「No, my MP isn't decreasing at all. I don't even know where this wind barrier came from.」
The only four people present looked bewildered. It was a weird coincidence to be protected by a wind barrier without casting it yourself, much less maintaining it without having mana decrease.
「Then, should I- Kyaa!」
Beside Tuna, the snout of a wolf was able to enter through the barrier of wind. Everyone was in a state of panic. The wind barrier wasn't able to stop this one wolf's attack but it still looks like it's working on the others and only it's mouth was able to enter.
A single second passed and there was searing and sizzling sound. The wind barrier suddenly changed into a fiery one.
「I-It changed!」
「Look!」
The Ying Yang Wolf that had it's snout pierced through the wind barrier was suddenly forced to withdraw it's head after suffering a few burns from the sudden transformation of the wind barrier into a fiery one. After it had done so, the fiery barrier returned back to a wind barrier.
「Oh~ So that's how it works.」
「!?」「?!」「!?」「?!」「?!」
A familiar voice entered the scene. And from outside the carriage stood Yukio Katakana. Or currently in the alias name, Arch Fern.
The attention of everyone including the wolves were stolen by Yukio, causing the black and white beasts to glare at him hungrily. They seem to have given up on the six people they couldn't get and instead went after the "defenceless" hero. They approached him recklessly and circled around him like sharks targeting it's prey. However, they made a mistake by underestimating this person.
「Dominate.」
The 4 Yin Yang Wolves that surrounded Yukio suddenly had their eyes glow violet faintly for a brief moment. Signifying they were easily dominated.
「For now, stay here and guard the place for me.」
The wolves as if dogs listening to it's master, barked in response to Yukio's orders and spread out in the area as look-outs as thought they were Yukio's pets to begin with.
「Sir Fern!」
「Arch!」
The wind barrier protecting the Iron Trout party and Hain disseminated now that the presence of danger was gone. It was Yukio's"Elemental Barrier"skill that had protected them this whole time. He was satisfied by the result of his rescue, he gained knowledge of what the elemental barrier skill can do. Except for the two deaths of people, the others being fine was top priority for him as of now.
「Are you guys alright? Is anyone hurt?」
「Y-Yeah, but Troy had his right eye punctured.」
「I see.」
Yukio approached the quivering and agonizing Troy and used"High Heal"on him. Fully restoring his HP and restoring back his eyes. Just in case, he healed everyone all in all. Even the former man-eating monsters namely the Yin Yang Wolves that he just called over.
「Thanks again Sir Fern...」
Troy gleefully thanked him for it after, the gold haired hero gave his usual charming smile as a response. The wolves on the other hand, licked his face each time they were healed.
「Did you just tame four Upper-Tier C Rank monsters just now? At once in only a second?」
Finding it hard to believe, Clint asked enthusiastically their benefactor, Arch who just done so.
「I guess.」
「Amazing... You must be in possession of the highest tier of the taming skill.」
Secretive as always, Yukio made his answers blunt and frank to avoid making them think he's the hero. But his guess was not wrong.
「Arch, you're late!」
Hain who was on the verge of tears and in a vortex of emotions, embraced Yukio. Knowing it's his fault this incident happened for being absent, he said it to himself that he'll take responsibility.
To replace the deceased horse that they were to use to get to Touma, Yukio decided to use Heldris in it's place. And to clean the dead bodies both on the road and the carriage, he used the slime that he picked at the beginning of his journey to eat away all the evidence. The vehicle itself didn't take any major damage from the attacks so there was nothing to repair other than clean the bodies and replace the horse.