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The sudden jolt and abrupt stop nearly sent the lightest and smallest passenger, Euphemia, flying from her seat, but Emil, reacting instinctively, dropped to one knee and steadied her.

“Kya!?”
“Pardon me, Lady Euphemia.”

“…What’s happening?”
King Aulanthia, seated without any sign of panic, calmly asked Emil.

“It seems an unexpected situation has arisen. I shall go and confirm.”
“…Very well.”

Bowing respectfully to Euphemia, Emil then offered a formal bow to King Aulanthia before opening the carriage door.
The King gave a nonchalant nod, and then, as if remembering something, added,

“Are you alright, Euphemia?”
With the expression of a genuinely doting father, he addressed her.

“…Yes.”
Euphemia answered in a firm voice, and the King, seemingly satisfied, smiled and nodded.

★

“Why are we stopping right in the middle of the road?”

When Emil stepped outside, he saw that both horses pulling the carriage had collapsed.
One appeared to be completely dead, foam coming from its mouth, while the other crouched motionless on its legs.

“I-I’m terribly sorry… it seems one of the horses had a heart attack and died, and the other broke a leg trying to compensate,”

the elderly coachman stammered, clutching his hat to his chest.
The knights escorting the carriage dismounted, unsure what to do, and looked to Emil for instructions.

“Hm. The horse with the broken leg is unfortunate, but it will have to be put down. As for replacing the carriage horses… if it were just one, we could borrow a horse from someone and have one person ride double, but with both gone, it’s going to be difficult,” Emil said aloud, organizing his thoughts. “From here, it would be faster to ride straight to the capital and arrange replacement horses or a carriage. Someone should go ahead immediately.”

“—Then Alan’s horse is the fastest. Let’s have Alan deliver the message,” said the leader of the guard.

A young knight on a flax-colored horse said, “Understood!” and prepared to mount his steed, when—

“Ah, wait a moment,”
King Aulanthia suddenly appeared from inside the carriage.

‘——!’

The knights immediately went down on one knee, and the coachman prostrated himself.

“Be at ease. You—Alan, was it? If you’re going to deliver a message to the capital, tell Tommaso at the mansion to go to the palace on my behalf. At this rate, we won’t make it on schedule anyway.”

Then, in a low voice, he added, “He won’t act unless we give him explicit instructions,” audible only to Emil, whose ears were keen.

“—Yes! I’ll carry out your command! Excuse me!”

With a deep bow, Alan swiftly mounted his horse and departed with a brisk, confident stride.
Watching Alan’s figure shrink in the distance, King Aaulanthia shrugged lightly and said,

“Well, looks like the fun will have to wait.”

and turned to return to the carriage—when, at that very moment——

“Watch out, Your Grace!”
Almost at the same moment, Emil cried out in alarm, several arrows sliced through the air, aiming for King Aulanthia’s back.

“—Hm?!”
“—Tch!”

As the king spun around reflexively, the arrows seemed to strike an invisible barrier and were deflected as if by an unseen wall.

““—Who goes there!?””
Responding to Emil and the captain of the guard’s challenge, a group of some twenty armed figures sprang up from the thickets lining both sides of the road, pointing the tips of their weapons at King Aulanthia with murderous intent.

“Hm. Most of them are beastfolk. Have they fallen into thievery for lack of work? No, their hostility is explicit—perhaps raiders posing as night thieves?”

Even faced with such blatant menace, King Aulanthia remained composed, appraising the attackers and speaking calmly. His serene demeanor caused a ripple of bewilderment among both sides. The only one who remained unshaken was Emil.

“Your Grace, their equipment is below standard, and their training is average at best. However, their numbers are somewhat large, so there’s a nonzero chance things will go south. For safety, please evacuate into the carriage with the young lady,” the leader of the escort assessed the disparity in force and advised swiftly.

“I see. I’m in an agreeable mood today and would have liked to cut someone down for old times’ sake, but very well—I’ll leave it to you,”
King Aulanthia said, half-joking, half-serious, and began to return to the carriage with a casual wave.
At that moment, the carriage door opened from within, and out stepped a pale-faced Euphemia, restrained by the coachman, who had a knife pressed to her throat.

“P-Princess!?”
“Oops, don’t try. Make a movement, and your princess’s head and body will be separated.”

The coachman snarled, thwarting the knights’ attempt to act.
The old man’s fierce, forceful words—so different from the timid figure he’d shown earlier—made the knights grind their teeth.

“Especially you. You’re dressed like a butler, but you’re a mage, aren’t you? You were the one who stopped those arrows just now, right? To be able to do that without incantation is no small feat. But if I sense even the slightest odd fluctuation of mana, I will slit the princess’s throat immediately. Do not do anything foolish—understand?”

Emil had no choice but to freeze on the spot, pinned by the shrewd, unyielding gaze. Yet—

“You’re not quite what you appear to be either, are you? I didn’t notice at first, but the cleverly hidden mana capacity, and the different power masking it… yes, I remember now, this is spirit arts, isn’t it?”
“Oh? You figured that out well. Do you happen to know a spirit user? Well, it doesn’t matter. Since you’ve seen through me this far, there’s no reason for me to keep this dreary old appearance.”

With that, he grinned sharply. The frail, kindly-looking old man’s form twisted, and though his height remained the same, he transformed into a man appearing to be in his mid-twenties.

That alone was astonishing, but everyone—except the attackers—was rendered speechless when they took in the man’s features: silver hair, red eyes, pointed ears, and skin black as if painted in ink.

““““““D-Dark elf!?””””””