I tried to say something to Dirk, but when I was about to reach out and ask him to wait, he was gone.
"..."
"Little Luna… Dirksen is no ordinary person… Even I couldn't sense how he left…" The black cat who had looked after me before I ran into Dirk, Belzemont, spoke, seeing as we were alone.
"He's always been mysterious though. Perhaps he just has some overwhelming talent and luck. He never acts like the reincarnation of some powerful person." I answered as a knock came from the door.
I left my thoughts behind and opened the door to be greeted by the crown princess, surrounded by 2 arch-knights and 2 arch-mages.
"Call your lord out. You're both under arrest." The eldest princess declared. The tip of her sword right in front of me.
"Dirk already said he was gonna go rescue the princess or something and disappeared." I explained.
"When did he leave?" The princess demanded to know.
"Just under a minute ago." I answered. The princess seemed annoyed, but she seemed to believe me. Considering last night I imagined he had escaped her and her guards once already.
"Then surrender. You're under arrest." The princess ordered.
I sighed before placing my hands on my head and getting on my knees. The arch-knight's quickly grabbed me and sealed my core before placing some enchanted shackles on me. Meanwhile the two arch-mages began searching the apartment.
Belzemont looked on warily. I could sense his gaze from the table as he acted like any normal cat. He seemed panicked but I wasn't. So long as Dirk really did manage to save the princess everything should be fine. He seemed pretty confident before he left. I didn't think I would be tortured either, though if they did Belzemont might just break me out and take us away.
I didn't really want to leave Dirk's side. Belzemont said that it was because I developed an emotional reliance on him when I was young. At the time, Belzemont was still heavily injured and couldn't do much or talk a lot. He was still injured now, but he was able to use his magic and go back to his original form now if he wanted.
'Well… Whatever. I can't do anything right now.' I thought as I was dragged around by the arch-knights.
…
"Well. This is new…" I wondered.
I was sitting on a sofa in a train cart. Across from me was Duke Hadzel. Around us were two archknights, a grandmaster mage and 4 knight masters.
"My apologies for the rudeness, your highness." Duke Hadzel apologised.
"Then I don't suppose these could be taken off?" I asked, wriggling around a bit in my restraints. I was tied up with rope that wrapped around everywhere. My ankles, my knees, my wrist, arms and shoulders. At least the sofa was somewhat comfortable.
"Unfortunately not." Duke Hadzel once again apologised.
"Haiz… Can you at least tell me why?" I asked.
"The prince of the Azrel Empire offered something irresistible."
"While I won't say loyalty is a trait of yours. I wonder what could make you betray the empire?" I asked.
"A chance for me to become a demigod." Duke Hadzel answered.
I looked at Hadzel again. He was only a rank-3 and could at most live to 300 years old. From what I knew as well, he had served since the last king's reign and should be about 270 by now. Just looking at him I could practically feel I was looking at an ancient relic. It was no wonder he craved an opportunity to increase his lifespan. Demigods could live over a thousand years old if they were lucky and looked after their body. The oldest demigod on the continent was even approaching 2000 years old.
I sighed. If it was for the sake of extending his lifespan then I could understand. It didn't make me any less mad though. He had killed my three shadow guards who had been with me through childhood. No matter what I would definitely have him killed if I got the chance.
Though. I wondered how I could be saved. I hadn't left any traces behind and no one had seen me.
I hoped my sister didn't blame Dirk for my disappearance, but knowing her she probably would. Well… I'm sure Dirk will be fine. If my sister really tries anything he could probably escape with that ridiculous ability he had. The moment I heard his voice I knew he was lying about using stealth, but it didn't really change anything even if I knew, so I let him keep his secrets.
Bang!
The entire train seemed to shake and the forest scenery whizzing by in the window, covered in falling raindrops, started slowing down.
The train creaked and groaned as we slowed down more and more.
"It seems… We've been discovered." One of the arch-knights said. Drawing their sword as the carriage came to a complete stop.
"How about we-" The rank-4 mage was about to say something when his head flew off. At the same time the other rank-3 knights all had their heads lopped off at once while both arch-knights fell to the ground with deep gashes on their necks as if someone had tried to cut them off but didn't use enough force or a sharp enough blade.
"What!?" Duke Hadzel yelled as he stood up and frantically looked around. I would probably do the same if I wasn't tied up since I wasn't going to hop around like a rabbit, lest I ruin whatever dignity I still had.
Looking around though I saw a rather familiar face standing behind the grandmaster mage's corpse with their sword at the ready.
"Dirk!?" I couldn't help but call out, startled at not only his presence but also his strength. That was a rank-4 mage and several rank-3 knights. All killed instantly. Not only that but even the rank-5 arch-knights hadn't been able to react and were severely injured.
"Jesus christ. Your necks are tougher than steel. If only you were both mages with weak bodies…" Dirk complained as the two arch-knights jumped to the opposite side of the carriage, raising their swords with one hand while their other hand held their necks tightly to slow the blood loss.
"Just hack them to death if you need to." I told him, probably to his annoyance.
"Do you want this guy alive?" Dirk asked, gesturing to Duke Hadzel.
"No. Just kill them all." I answered.
Duke Hadzel must have felt the danger as he quickly jumped over to me, holding a knife to my neck.
"Dare to make a move and I'll kill her highness!" He yelled at Dirk. Pressing the knife against my throat.
"Haizzz." Was Dirks only response as he disappeared. A moment later I felt Duke Hadzel's body go limp and drop to the ground. Turning around I also saw the two arch-knights go limp as their heads were brutally hacked off their bodies with multiple strikes while Dirk stood beside their corpses breathing heavily.
"Wow…"
I was completely shocked at Dirk's combat strength. That was two arch-knights! Killed instantly! Not to mention he had killed duke Hadzel before he could react. Even normal arch-knights would find that a bit difficult to make it before a rank-3 could plunge the knife into my throat at a distance of more than a few metres.
Dirk walked over, however he seemed unsteady and while my core was sealed I could tell at a glance he had probably dropped to below 10% of his mana reserves. It was heavily recommended never to go below 10% in order to avoid damaging your core, but when fighting for your life it was a nigh impossible task.
"Dirk?" I asked. But I didn't even finish before Dirk collapsed and started sleeping soundly.
"Ahh! Wait! Untie me before you collapse!" I shouted, trying to wake him to no avail.
'Ah crap…' I thought as I strained against the ropes before giving up. 'I need to go to the bathroom…'