Never fight on equal terms—no matter how dirty your tactics are.
Those words of his old instructor from the Empire rang through Fritz’s mind. With a quick shove, Ludolph beside him was awakened.
“Wake up,” Fritz calmly said as he held his pipe. “We got company.”
“Company?” Ludolph seemed confused at first before he frowned. He looked outside of the carriage, then, with a shout, he ordered the soldier manning their vehicle to halt. Swiftly, Ludolph was out of their carriage, sword drawn as he analyzed the forest around them, which remained still and silent.
Fritz, on the other hand, while his senses were dull compared to his previous body, heard the telltale signs of people sneakily moving. Deciding that it was a good time for some ‘on-field testing’, he grabbed his stinger crossbow and left the carriage.
As Royal Messenger, I represent the Queen. It is important to always represent her professional calmness to the world.
That silent reminder made Fritz walk through the fields with purposeful calmness, his crossbow slung at his shoulder. He looked to his side, where he noticed movement from what appeared to be masked figures. Figuring that Fritz found them, they ended their charade and came out, machetes and traditional crossbows already drawn out.
They quickly surrounded their carriage, nearly a platoon worth of men, all masked and wearing black clothing. Fritz laughed.
“Are you all insurgents, perhaps?” Fritz asked. “Or are you bandits? What is it? Would you folks please tell me where you came from?”
Cautious, but also hopeful. Fritz analyzed the way they took their positions, or how they slowly inched toward him. They still somewhat fear me, but they seem to have received information that I can be stopped and are acting on that information.
It made sense. As Royal Messenger, challenging him had a reputation of…not ending well. Of course, the situation drastically changed since the incident, after the leak and rumors surrounding it, so of course…whoever sent them must have reassured them that they could take more forceful action.
Still, perhaps due to the duel, the idea that he was severely weakened became somewhat discredited.
Good, the more cautious and fearful they are, the better.
“Stand behind me, Fritz,” Ludolph said, his frown clear as he placed himself in front of Fritz and their foes. Behind Fritz, the soldier who dismounted from the driver’s seat kneeled, his stinger crossbow aimed squarely at the unknown hostiles. “These guys don't seem to be strong. I got this under control.”
“Awful to underestimate people like that, Ludolph,” Fritz said. “After all, if you mess up, those crossbows and machetes can cut through a lot of flesh. So how about we do it in a different manner instead.”
When facing stiff opposition, sometimes, you must baffle them to buy time.
Fritz calmly passed by Ludolph, placing his gloved hands on the dull part of Ludolph’s blade, urging him to lower it.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Ludolph asked.
Just watch.
“Gentlemen,” Fritz spoke out with a business-like smile. “As much as I’d like to avoid a pointless fight, I see that you are all quite interested in it. But, is it worth it? After all, me and my colleagues here simply want to pass through this road. If there are tolls to be paid, then goodness, we are quite open to paying it.”
“Shut your trap,” the leader of the group replied. He aimed his sword at Fritz’s neck. “We will let those two go if you surrender yourself to us. We don’t need them anyway. If you do not, blood will be drawn.”
“Is that really necessary—?”
The man’s eyes glowed a reddish hue, his sword also glowing a fair bit. It must be sword arts, and the man was a soul arts user.
“You have six seconds to decide, Mr. Rolentz,” the masked man growled, clearly intending to cut them down. “So what is it?”
“That’s quite unfortunate,” Fritz sighed.
Five.
Four.
“I thought we could have a civil discussion instead,” Fritz lamented as he removed his gloves and placed them in his pocket.
Two.
One.
He then audaciously laughed at them.
“But, I see how it is. We’re doing it mano-a-mano, eh?”
A sudden pulse of purplish light washed through the fields, as Fritz deployed his signature skill, ‘Arcane Suppression’. As he had expected, everyone around him was immediately disoriented by the pulse, which stripped their bodies and the environment around them of its mana.
“W-what?” Ludolph shrieked behind him. “I can’t use my soul arts when you do this, asshole!”
“You’re used to it anyway, aren’t you?”
“At least warn me next time!”
The first shot from the soldier behind Ludolph rang out, sending a bolt straight at one of the masked figures. While it lost its enchantments, the bolt still sliced through the man’s unprotected body, especially when there were no wards nor magic to protect him from the mundane arrow.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Fritz tactically backed off, as Ludolph met their leader’s blade with his sword. Arrows began flying left and right, both from the singular soldier supporting the two and from the enemy’s side.
Unfortunately, their enemy’s crossbows only had one shot each, and all of it quickly missed. The masked soldiers who fired their crossbows immediately switched to their machetes and charged in after emptying their weapons.
Fritz on the other hand joined the soldier behind him. With a quick pump of its lever, he aimed it at one of their foes and opened fire.
He sent bolt after bolt at the man, then he moved to the next, then the next, until his crossbow ran out of bolts in its magazine. He swiftly threw it at the face of one of the militants, as three of them tried to swarm him.
Drawing out his rapier, Fritz charged at the disoriented fools, his sword quickly meeting their undisciplined slices and attacks. He quickly found an opening, slicing the eye socket of the confused militant who previously received his thrown crossbow.
Blood streaked through his blade after he pulled it out, then he parried a machete strike to his left.
Behind him, the third militant nearly cut him, but a bolt from their friendly soldier’s stinger crossbow struck the man’s neck, forcing the militant onto the green grass as he choked in his blood.
Fritz rapidly dismantled the amateur’s defensive attempts in front of him, the militant’s machete barely keeping up with the rapid strikes from Fritz’s rapier, until it sliced through his chest after a well-placed thrust.
Fritz kicked the man’s bleeding body off to free his sword, before turning it at the rest of the militants that were trying to overwhelm Ludolph. The soldier behind Fritz loaded another clip of bolts into his crossbow, while Fritz sliced through his opposition.
Blood flew through the ground, as three militants found themselves unable to overcome Fritz’s rapid movement, his rapier quickly slicing through them. Even those who tried to flank Fritz found their attempts failing, courtesy of the soldier behind him.
Ludolph’s sword once again met the blade of their enemy’s leader, their bitter fight already reaching its climax—until Fritz drove his rapier swiftly through the man’s neck. Blood gurgled out the masked man’s mouth, pooling through the fabric before he collapsed when Fritz kicked his lifeless body off.
One of the last bleeding militants begged for mercy on the side, his chest sporting a massive wound that bled rapidly.
His call for mercy was answered with a final bolt straight to his left eye.
Fritz turned to the soldier who fired it, raising his eyebrows.
“What’s your name, corporal?” Fritz asked.
“Corporal Heinrich Gottfried, sire,” the soldier stiffly replied, before standing up. “That was a close call.”
“Hah…indeed,” Fritz looked at his sword, as blood dripped from it. “Good work, to us, I suppose. I believe you should receive a promotion soon.”
“Really?”
Fritz nodded.
“Indeed. A good soldier always deserves a better rank,” Fritz turned to his partner. “So, how’s your assessment?”
“You’re damned scary as ever,” Ludolph briefly said, looking around the bloody remains of their enemies. “We have to check first if there are any stragglers. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Same,” Fritz stowed his sword on his scabbard. Then, he went for his stinger crossbow, which lay on the ground. He kneeled to inspect it. “Damn, this thing’s sturdy, huh? I thought it’d break after that.”
“It sure is, Mr. Rolentz,” the corporal proudly answered behind him.
On the other hand, Ludolph already began rapidly moving around their perimeter, searching for any enemy left. Fritz stood up, admiring the weapon which his father designed and produced.
He smiled a bit.
“If only there’s a less bulky version of this,” Fritz shook his head. “One can only dream, I guess.”
“The route ahead is clear,” Ludolph declared, coming back to the area where their carriage was parked. “Corporal, get back in the driver’s seat. We’re getting out of this place fast.”
“Aye, Captain,” the soldier went straight to his post, while Fritz and Ludolph returned inside of the carriage. The wheels of their carriage soon drove quickly through the dirt road, driving over the remains of their defeated opponents.
+++
By nightfall, personnel from Fort Stiglitz finished recovering and cataloging the bodies of the dead militants. Bored administrative officers checked their notes as they discussed the incident in conjunction with the members of local law enforcement, while Fritz and Ludolph cooperated as best as they could with the investigations.
The bodies of the militants were soon stacked into wagons, and carted off out of the military base, while the detective in charge of the case left with his men.
Fritz was near the gate of the fortress, watching as the wagons that carried the corpses drove out. He sighed to himself, as he internalized the preliminary details of the incident.
Local bandits, huh?
At least, that was the current assessment of the newly established Orellian National Police, which had jurisdiction in all of Orellia…at least in theory. In practice, they largely only operated in the lands controlled directly by House Orellia.
While they were only established last year by Cecilia, their efficiency at responding to incidents still astounded Fritz. The organized and professional manner of conducting their duties was something he had never seen before. Having a centralized law enforcement force certainly had its perks compared to archaic ways of keeping the peace used by local lords or towns and cities.
It was a shame that other nobles wouldn’t let them operate in their lands. That would certainly make investigating these criminal groups easier.
On the other hand, he imagined that a report should have reached the Queen by now, but not a whiff had come from the palace yet.
Of course, he doubted that they were simple bandits.
Within hours, the rest of Ludolph’s team finished organizing themselves. A platoon straight out of his unit soon followed their carriage, their wagons driving in a convoy formation on the road. The night continued to wear on to Fritz, but surprisingly, things remained silent in their journey.
“So, what do you think?” Fritz asked as Ludolph yawned beside him.
“I don’t know,” Ludolph replied. “They’re probably just bandits hired to mess with you. I guess Cecilia’s going to have to order another clean-up drive of the countryside.”
“One wonders how bandits remain active in her lands,” Fritz said. “We cracked down on it back then, so the existing ones must have been removed. Then, we bolstered employment with investments in the cities and towns around Glantzstadt. So, is there a good reason why new ones will come out?”
“...None? Then again, there’s always the eternal bottom rung in society,” Ludolph frowned. “You can give them jobs, wealth, everything. Yet they’ll backstab society by committing crimes anyway. Hence why Cecilia still invests some money in law enforcement, even if crime in the crownlands is lower on average than in the crime-infested lands of the nobility.”
“That only works with petty criminals though,” Fritz said. “I think those criminals who attacked us are anything but petty. It’s organized. Someone’s still trying to send me a message.”
“In that case, what message are you planning to send them?”
Fritz crossed his arms, before smiling.
“That’s what I’m formulating.”
You move fast, ‘Sophie’.
Cautiously, Fritz took out the two elixirs that Cecilia gave to him. Ludolph looked at the two vials as well.
“Are you going to drink it now?” Ludolph asked.
“Yep. Should be safe until we arrive at Wiese anyway. I wanna see what this thing can do for me.”