The cart was moving, but Nicholas´s mind stayed behind in that restaurant.
Dominique Foe Yatra.
In all his years of life, he was the first man besides his family and instructor to ever lay a hand on him. At first, he thought of him as any other plebeian acting accordingly to his status, but then his expectations were crushed by his grip and defying eyes.
Bravery? Stupidity? An impulse to look good before Verónica?
Whatever it was, it served well to gain a place in Nichola´s head.
"Heh..."
...
The soldiers accompanying Nicholas inside the cart were out of words. Not even once they have seen a pleasant reaction from the mechanical prince. At least not until today, when a subtle grin was resting upon his lips.
Not knowing how to feel about this image, they choose to stay quiet to prevent any incidents with their comments and reactions.
That would be safer.
"I wonder if we´ll meet again..."
Tomb.
The cart stopped.
"My lord, the road seems to be blocked" Reported the driver.
"What is blocking the way?"
"It´s people, a lot of them are just there, standing still"
"What?"
Nicholas was skeptical, there weren´t any celebrations near this date.
Perhaps a new religion?
Even so, they can´t close the streets without permission, much less when there is a royal cart passing through.
"This is too strange..."
An event such as this, and at this hour could only mean two possible outcomes, Nicholas grabbed his gun and began to gather his mana.
"Can we take another route?"
"I´m afraid not, according to the soldiers, these people seemed to have blocked all routes..."
"All routes huh..."
That was it. Nicholas knew immediately what kind of situation he was in.
"Prince Nicholas, please stay in the cart, we´ll take care of this"
The person who said that was the captain of the order of knights in charge to protect the first prince. He was the captain of the golden wings, and his name was William Andreus Ford, the current leader of the unit escorting Nicholas.
"Be careful captain, if possible, prevent any unnecessary casualties"
"Understood"
With that short exchange, William stepped out of the cart. All the other knights were pointing their weapons at the people standing around them, the drakes were roaring and the guns were loaded.
"Report!"
"Sir! We have been surrounded by civilians, no matter how much we try to speak with them, they do not listen, they don´t even talk back or do anything, they just stay there staring at us"
"I see..."
William grabbed a crystal hanging from his chest, then put it close to his mouth to amplify his words.
"You are blocking the route of the royal family, we will give you three seconds to break your formation, if not, we will be forced to arrest all of you"
...
Just as reported, the people didn´t react to William´s warning, instead, they began to step forward.
This caused the soldiers to tense and prepare for battle, William unsheathed his sword and yelled again.
"Stop! If you get any closer we will use lethal force!"
...
They didn´t listen, they just kept getting closer.
Bang!
A bullet hit the ground near their feet, William hoped that would be enough to stop them for at least a second, but they kept walking.
Another three shots were made, and all of them were completely ignored.
"Final warning! Stay back!"
...
They had finally stopped, but the distance between both groups was too short to feel safe.
Among the tension, the melody of a flute fell. The notes were long but the pace was fast, and the sound was so thin that you could feel it through your limbs.
As if a needle was piercing your flesh and bones and going straight to your brain.
"Hrgh, my head!"
"It hurts!"
"Make it stop!"
Some soldiers began to grieve, their hands dropped their weapons and grabbed their heads, they were clinging so tight to them that it looked like they could fly away the moment they let go.
The drakes, on the other hand, lose the strength of their limbs and fell to the ground, their snores suggested they had fallen to sleep at an incredible speed.
"... Ah ghr haah, AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH!"
As to finish this crisis, the people rushed forward to the knights with bestiality equal to a savage. Even though they were ordinary people without combat training or magic, their numbers overwhelmed the guards.
"Defend yourselves! Do not let them get near the prince!"
The knights prepared their weapons, as expected of a special unit in charge of the royal family, their weaponry was one of the most powerful that the kingdom could offer.
Semi-automatic rifles, halberds, and swords infused with magic, unbreakable shields, and armors that inspired respect among their comrades.
They could have fought with all their might if their enemy wasn´t the people they were supposed to protect.
What´s worse, they didn´t know the reason for their actions, so the guilt of killing a possible victim will haunt them for as long as they live.
But they had to do it, if not, they would be defying all the things they stand for as the protectors of the first prince.
And that is something worth the burden.
Ordering the knights in front of him to give him time, William prepared his magic.
His sword shined brightly enveloped by a green light. The wind swirled around his body as it slowly became his weapon.
With this, I can clear a route for the prince to escape!
He raised his sword over his head, a tornado dancing around the edge, waiting for his owner to toss it and let death overcome the living.
William stared at his targets, he saw afflicted faces overwhelmed by madness and pain.
He knew these people weren´t doing this on purpose, but no matter how much he tried to prevent it, not killing them would only put the prince in danger.
Please... Forgive us!
"Soldiers! Move aside!"
The knights pushed back the civilians one last time with their great shields, making them lose their balance. They used that moment to step out of the way and prepare mentally for what was about to happen.
William stomped the ground with his right foot, and following the motion of his body, he swung down his sword...
"KREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAK"
The shriek of a beast messed with his concentration for a second, but he quickly regained his senses and resumed his actions.
Or that was his intention...
"That won´t be necessary, sir"
"What?!"
William suddenly froze, no matter how much he tried, his limbs would not do what he wanted. Following the tension on his wrist, he noticed that a black tail was holding him just like the shadows enveloping the raging civilians.
"Grrrreeeaak..."
A line of terrifying teeth appeared beside his face, a red eye saw directly into his soul while a pair of terrible claws pushed him down to the ground.
"Hrgh!"
When his head hit the ground, the magic on his sword dissipated into nothingness, it was then when the monster let go of him.
William quickly got on his feet and created distance between himself and the creature, his breath had increased in pace along with the fear embracing his heart.
"W-What is going on?!" He asked with a sword up and his eyes locked into the black drake before him.
"Hiiiiiisk!"
The thing took a battle stance that made obvious its intentions to slice his flesh. William´s grip became harder on his weapon when he noticed that the drake was right beside Nicholas´s cart.
"Stay away from him!"
William charged forward. His mind was steady and ready to die if that gave Nicholas a chance to survive.
"Twilight, stop playing and come here"
"Huh?!"
"Grrr..."
The drake blended with the shadows and disappeared from the sight of William. He used this opportunity to get in front of the cart and guard it with his body.
"You´re pointing your weapon to the wrong enemy, knight of the golden wings"
"... You... You´re that man! Back in the restaurant!"
The drake had reappeared, but now it had the company of a man. His silver hair was surfing through the winds in a ponytail and his hunting yellow eyes seemed to glow thanks to the color of his skin and the darkness of the streets.
All the remaining knights pointed their weapons at him and his beast.
"Are you behind all of this?!"
"Look around, if I wanted to harm the prince, do you think I would be doing this?"
"What?"
Following my instructions, William saw our current surroundings and noticed how my shadows had captured all the frenzied civilians.
"You´re... an irregular..."
"A very clever observation, now, you can either use this chance to move and get the prince and your men somewhere safe, or keep growing flowers under your feet until I run out of mana and all these people start throwing themselves at us again"
William´s eyes wandered around for a couple of seconds, it was when I heard the click of his tongue that I knew he had taken his choice.
"Wake up the drakes! We´re getting out of here!"
"Yes, sir!"
As I expected, he chose to leave.
"I´m afraid I can´t let you do that, darling"
"!!"
Up on a rooftop, the voice of a woman came from above. I was able to tell how beautiful she was even from my position below.
Her mature figure was covered by a thin long dress and an oversized hat was resting on her black hair. There was a flute in his right hand, surely the same that had caused all of this.
"So you´re an irregular too"
"Fufu~"
She showed me a flirtatious smile, but the only feeling that came out of me was the striking spear of danger.