Chapter 160

Heeheeheeng!

The horse, having lost its footing, flailed in the air with a panicked neigh.

And the rider atop it screamed even louder than the horse.

“What the hell! Did I drink too much last night? What the….Why’s the ground getting farther away?!”

“Wait, is this magic? That guy’s a mage!”

Bingo.

For guessing correctly, I decided to reward them with a little amusement park ride.

I rotated my raised index finger 180 degrees counterclockwise.

The two mounted soldiers, now floating about twelve meters off the ground, suddenly plummeted straight down.

Crack!

“Gaaaah!”

One had his arm bent backward unnaturally from the brutal fall, and the other guy…

“Ugh.”

I groaned involuntarily.

There was a real chance the Duville family line might end here.

Still, I kept both of them breathing. If anything, they should be thanking me.

“What are you all doing?! Save Sir Francis! Tear that cursed mage to pieces!”

Thwip!

One cavalryman immediately let loose an arrow.

I caught it midair with telekinesis and returned it to its sender.

“Urk!”

Even though he was wearing armor, the arrow slipped neatly into the gap under his arm.

He screamed and fell off his horse.

“Damn bastard!”

It all happened so fast, but it’s not like the others were just standing around watching.

“Hyah!”

The boldest and dumbest-looking of them spurred his horse forward, followed by two more.

They drew their swords mid-charge.

Shing!

They had some semblance of formation, and confidence gleamed in their eyes.

The kind born from inexperience and arrogance.

“Die!”

The first cavalryman closed the distance, just five steps away.

His sword, held horizontally, was perfectly aligned to take my head off.

The gap closed to a single step.

And just as his eyes gleamed with murderous certainty—

Clang!

His sword suddenly twisted at a right angle, veering away from me.

“What the—?!”

The same thing happened to the cavalrymen charging behind him.

Their weapons crumpled like soggy cardboard.

As the dumbfounded men stared at their now-useless hunks of metal, I stretched out both hands.

One for each rider.

With invisible force, I grabbed them by the scruff of their necks and lifted them off the ground.

“Can’t… breathe…!”

“P-Please spare me!”

Such drama.

I separated them from their saddles and hurled them into nearby trees.

Thud!

The impact made the trees shudder, sending a flurry of pollen into the air like snow.

I gave the same treatment to another rider, then bound them tightly with vines to keep them from moving.

[Casting Druid Gutierrez’s Secret Spell — Living Vines]

So far, I’d taken down six of them, leaving six more.

With half their group instantly neutralized, the rest started hesitating, glancing at each other nervously.

“Isn’t this turning into a disaster?”

“I knew this would happen one day. I told you we should pick our targets more carefully…”

“We’re not retreating. We’re going to get reinforcements! Bradley, didn’t your family have a mage in service? You were always bragging he trained at the Academy!”

“Oh? Uh, yeah. That’s right. Even I think we should send a mage to handle this guy…”

So much for their so-called “noble cavalry”….their discipline was a joke.

As I watched them start turning their horses to flee, I ended the fight with a final declaration aimed at the backs of their heads:

“Who said you could run away?”

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure this qualified as a fight… but once it starts, it has to end properly.

[Casting Earth Tremor Spell]

Rumbleeeeeeeee…

With a deep rumble, the view ahead turned hazy.

Dust from the ground exploded upward to eye level.

The shockwave rippled outward in a circle, like a wake-up call to the forest itself.

Chirp chirp chirp!

Startled birds burst into the sky, darkening it like a cloud, while leaves rained down like a storm.

Once the whirlwind of visual chaos passed, the only things left on the forest path were foaming-at-the-mouth horses and their unconscious riders.

After confirming none of them were still standing, I turned around and opened the carriage door.

During the fight, Dahlia had stayed hidden just as I’d instructed.

“Is it safe to come out now?”

“Yeah. It’s all over.”

Dahlia didn’t say things like “Thank goodness,” or “Are you hurt?”

As if it were only natural that I’d emerge completely unscathed, she simply glanced back and forth between me and the scene outside the carriage and said:

“I’ll need to fix your hair. And brush the pollen off your clothes.”

Now that’s a proper maid.

Maybe it’s because she once had a near-death experience, but Dahlia has a surprisingly steady nerve.

Still, although the fight ended quickly, a new problem had emerged—

The coachman was gone.

He must’ve bolted the moment the fighting started.

I couldn’t really call it disloyal; that’s how normal people usually react.

Dahlia is just… the exception.

Anyway, now I had to figure out what to do with the unconscious knights and the carriage without a coachman.

As I was mulling over the next steps, someone appeared at the far end of the forest path.

Clop clop clop…

Another rider came trotting up on a scrawny horse.

Was this… enemy reinforcements?

Calling him backup felt like a stretch. He looked far too pathetic for that.

“What the hell are you guys doing, lying around here? I said I’d just go take a leak and you all left me behind. Get up! Come on! Didn’t you feel that huge earthquake just now…?”

His voice trailed off as his eyes met mine.

Then he spotted the arrow lodged in the carriage wheel…

And his fellow cavalryman, who had fired that arrow, now lying nearby in a pool of blood.

Trying to understand the situation, he slowly lifted his head—

And saw a few of his comrades dangling from the trees like ornaments.

“…Guess I was in too much of a hurry. Didn’t finish properly. Might need to go back and…”

“Stop right there.”

The cavalryman who had been subtly turning his horse’s head to slip away flinched.

He removed his helmet and gave a polite bow.

“Haha. What a lovely day today, sir. I’m actually not related to these fellows at all, you see? I just have a hobby of taking walks through the forest in armor. Well then, I’ll be on my way now….hope you have a wonderful day as w—”

“Three seconds.”

“…What?”

“I’ll give you three seconds. Get down.”

“……”

Clatter, clank.

The cavalryman’s boots touched the ground.

“Name.”

“Iver of the Marintz Viscount family. Iver Marintz.”

“Too casual.”

“…Sir.”

Perfect timing. I was just in need of extra hands.

As I considered how to make use of him, Iver noticed my stare and asked nervously,

“Wh-Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I just put a curse on you.”

“A curse?”

“If you move more than twenty meters away from me, your heart will melt. So if you don’t want to die like a dog, forget about running.”

“Eek!”

Of course, it was a lie.

But Iver’s lips turned deathly pale as he asked,

“Are you… a mage, sir?”

“If I weren’t, why do you think your friends are rolling around over there like that?”

“Th-Those bastards! I’ve always found them distasteful myself! I mean, who in their right mind goes around provoking passing mages? The nerve!”

Says the man who’s no different from them, putting on airs of innocence.

“Shut up and follow my instructions.”

“…Huh?”

“If you don’t, I’ll bury you and your friends alive and turn you into fertilizer for the trees.”

“We…we’re nobles, you know. If you kill us recklessly, it’s bound to become a huge problem.”

“Fortunately, someone chose to attack me in the middle of a forest with no witnesses.”

“……”

“Wouldn’t you agree? After a bit of rain and some grass growing back, no one would ever know what happened here.”

“What would you like me to do first?”

Iver’s tone had grown noticeably more respectful.

I first ordered him to strip the cavalrymen of their armor and pile it all up before they regained consciousness.

Weapons and the baggage loaded on their saddles were no exception.

It was equipment for a full twelve men, so the sheer amount was no joke. But Iver, not wanting to die, worked up a heavy sweat to get it done.

“Haah… Huff… It’s all done.”

“Now tie up your friends.”

Among the confiscated gear was rope, perfect for binding people.

Some even had ready-made nooses for restraints. It was clear these guys had ambushed travelers more than once.

Now that he was about to be tied up with that same rope, it was a fitting case of getting what he deserved.

“By the way, how long are you planning to keep that armor on?”

“Excuse me? I thought I was getting special treatment?”

“If you like that armor so much, I could make sure those metal plates never come off your body for the rest of your life.”

“Y-Yes, I’ll take it off. I’m taking it off! No need to go that far… Geez. If I’d known, I would’ve just taken it off from the start. Ended up sweating for nothing.”

Now that I’d secured a coachman, it was time to get moving again.

There were two possible destinations.

I could continue the journey to the Winslet County or return to Maronford.

My mind leaned toward the latter.

Judging by the looks of things, it seemed these guys had caused trouble near Maronford more than once, and I figured it was only right to make them pay for it.

The weapons and armor stripped from the cavalrymen were too heavy, so I left them on the ground and only loaded the bodies onto the carriage.

There wasn’t enough space, so I had to throw out the travel supplies that had originally been in the wagon.

If the cavalry’s horses had been in good shape, I could’ve loaded the gear onto them and brought it all along, but thanks to the Earth Tremor spell, the horses had collapsed and still hadn’t woken up.

For now, I decided to leave them behind.

Horses are intelligent animals. They don’t just revert to a wild state in a day or two just because they’re set loose.

“Drive the carriage.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re heading back to Maronford.”

“Wh-What? But if we go there… we’re not going to be treated very kindly.”

So they do know what they’ve done.

“In that case, you’re free to get off. Since you worked for me, I’ll make an exception and let you go.”

“But if you leave me b-behind, won’t the curse melt my heart?!”

“That was the point. Didn’t you get it?”

With the look of a man who’d lost everything, Iver took the reins in hand.