The female knight Martha straightened and gave a slight nod. Without hesitation, she climbed onto the driver's seat at the front of the coach, taking hold of the reins.
With a light flick and a firm call, she stirred the horses into motion. The coach jolted forward, rolling past the towering gates...
But... as the coach passed the stationed guards at the gate...
"Traitor..."
"Good riddance..."
"Go die already..."
"Rot in hell..."
Unpleasant murmurs could be heard coming from the guards... all directly aimed at the Lady in the coach.
The Lady herself... did not react to the obvious malice directed at her. She remained ever so poised, composed...
"M-my Lady..." the maid Bella stammered, anxious... but also worried for her mistress.
"Do not mind them, Bella," her mistress reassured her.
"B-but... those mean words..."
"It is fine. I fully understand their malice toward me, and they are quite justified in expressing their discontent, so..." She exhaled softly, closing her eyes as she tried to relax herself, "do not mind them, Bella... and you as well, Martha."
The maid fell silent, still not accepting such treatment for her mistress... a sentiment shared by her fellow aide, the knight Martha, who was trying her hardest to hold back her fury.
Both of them understood all too well the "unfortunate" circumstances that had brought their mistress to this predicament, but... they needed to keep themselves together to maintain the last shred of dignity their mistress was still trying to preserve.
Soon... the coach finally left the massive gate's shadow, and as they passed beyond its perimeter, the gate itself began to close...
CLANG!!!
Its heavy clangs echoed like the toll of a bell as the last remaining barrier of safety sealed shut behind the coach—for the Lady and her two aides...
Forever and ever.
The Lady and her two companions now embarked on their journey... into the foreboding expanse of the Garden of Hell.
< | X | >
"U-uhm... My Lady?"
"Yes, Bella?"
"Forgive me for asking, ma'am... but how long till we reach our intended destination?" the maid Bella asked, curious, but ever so anxious.
"Hmm... I wonder..." Lady Anastasia murmured softly, her tone distant.
They'd been traveling for almost half an hour at a relatively normal pace, and they still hadn't stopped.
"Martha."
"Yes, My Lady!" the knight Martha answered without a moment's hesitation. She was, of course, still seated at the coach's driver's seat, holding firmly onto the reins of the horses.
"Do you know the whereabouts of the supposed meeting spot?"
"Ah...! W-well... I'm sorry to say this, ma'am, but... I don't know..."
"I see..."
"B-but, ma'am! I think I remember Alfred saying that we just need to continue traveling straight from the gate!"
"Alfred said so, huh..." the lady muttered, a melancholic smile etched on her visage, "if he said that, then so be it. Let's continue onward."
"Yes, ma'am!" Martha responded, sensing a glimmer of hope in her mistress's voice. But... a thought crept into her mind. "I'm sorry if this makes you worry, My Lady, but... isn't this place kind of... peaceful?"
"Peaceful, you say?"
"W-well, yes," Martha replied hesitantly, her tone now laced with anxiety. "It's just that I've been preparing myself to confront any danger that lurks within this land! But... we haven't encountered anything of the sort..."
"..."
The knight's words, however, did make her wary. Anastasia had expected her perilous journey to be met with life-and-death encounters as soon as she stepped out of the great border wall...
And yet, her journey had been relatively quiet—almost relaxing.
She then looked through the coach's window and observed the scenery of this so-called dangerous landscape.
It was a meadow, filled with nature's wilderness. A few forested patches could be seen on the horizon. To her, it felt like any normal journey she'd ever taken in Florentia, albeit with wilder flora and untamed sights.
"U-uhm, m-maybe the rumors of this place are exaggerated, ma'am!" the maid Bella interjected, trying her best to sound hopeful.
"... Rumors?"
"It has to be exaggerated!" the maid continued, her voice growing more insistent. "Maybe this place is, in fact, peaceful after all! M-maybe this place is just so wonderful that those who know its wonders tried to hide it away from others!"
"Oi, Bella!" knight Martha snapped, irritation evident in her voice. "Don't say something so absurd to our mistress!"
"B-but Miss Martha! We haven't met any dangerous monsters at all! And the scenery of this place is so wonderful too!" Bella kept insisting, her tone filled with unrelenting optimism. "That must be it! This place isn't the Garden of Hell! This place... is the Garden of Paradise...!"
"G-Garden of Paradise...?! What in the world are you saying, Bella?!" Martha exclaimed, bewildered by her fellow aide's strange declaration.
"Garden of Paradise..." the Lady herself echoed softly, her voice trailing off as if caught in thought.
Those words lingered in her mind, tugging a string within her. It felt strangely surreal to hear such a thing—such ironic words describing this supposed hellhole on Florentia...
Was it a sliver of hope that still lingered within her? Or was it just a desperate attempt to cope with the foreboding feeling inside her?
"Sigh, Such nonsense from you, Bella...." the female knight muttered, feeling a bit exasperated. But then, as she turned her gaze back toward the dirt road ahead... something caught her vision.
"Hmm? Wait a minute... what is that?!"
"Martha, is there something wrong?" Lady Anastasia asked, her posture straightening at the sudden shift in her knight's tone.
"I... I think there's something up ahead, My Lady," Martha said cautiously, her grip tightening on the reins.
She didn't tell her mistress what it was... as if the thing that caught the knight's eyes was something that even she could not describe...!
Lady Anastasia turned silent, the sense of foreboding ever so increasing in her heart. The maid Bella herself was frozen in fear, her previous bravado disappearing in an instant, replaced with dread...!
The coach turned silent as it continued to get closer to whatever was "it" that awaited them...
And eventually, they reached it:
A pile mountain of monster corpses.