Road to the capital

[Volume 3: The capital]

I woke up, after a dream or a memory, it's really impossible for me to know. In front of me was Aisha, and when she saw me wake up she asked me.

(Aisha) Good morning Leo, did you have an interesting dream?

(Leonora) Not really.

I rubbed my eyes and stretched, it seems that I fell asleep, I'm currently in a carriage bound for the capital, I decided to bring with me both Aisha and Irma, since the trip to the capital would be 6 days, and otherwise I would be very bored.

(Aisha) tell me Leo, what are your plans in the capital?

(Leonora) after seeing the king, not much else really, I thought I would do some sightseeing.

I really hated the capital, but I know Aisha hasn't seen it, and I also want Irma to have a little break from her mansion duties.

(Aisha) buff, hopefully something more interesting happens or it will be a very boring trip.

(Leonora) With my luck, I assure you that something will happen.

I hope nothing strange happens, but I know it's going to happen whether I want it to or not.

(Aisha) What do you mean?

At that moment the carriage stopped abruptly, and the coachman's shout could be heard.

Hearing this, Aisha gave me a feline smile.

(Aisha) That's why I like to hang out with you Leo.

I sighed heavily and wondered what it was this time, I looked slightly at Irma, she was sitting with her usual emotionless gesture, if there was a real danger, she would have taken care of it, so it must only be a minor annoyance.

(Leonora) Irma?

(Irma) a group of assailants have intercepted us, it looks like they are shoot a tranquilizer to the driver, that will delay our trip for a couple of hours.

(Aisha) buff, just that, how boring.

I looked at the two again, none of them showed the slightest concern, since Aisha has mastered her blood magic, the attack of a few bandits no longer seems funny to her, and Irma won't act if it's not a real danger, unless I order her to.

Now, why am I so calm? Well, besides the fact that these two are with me, so many deaths have almost completely destroyed my sense of danger.

Before long we heard that the carriage was being surrounded, and people from outside were laughing as they invited us to get out.

No one inside the carriage seemed to show the slightest interest, so the bandits ended up opening the door.

(Bandit) oh what do we have here? A couple of young nobles, eh? We'll get good money in the ransom.

(Bandit) Hey the maid is not bad, maybe we could have some fun with her.

(Bandit) the girl isn't so bad either, and it will be fun to see the boy trying to defend his little girlfriend.

Again, no response from us, so the bandits ended up getting irritated.

(Bandit) Hey! watch us when we talk to you!

He stretched out his hand to touch Aisha, but she just snapped her fingers and the man collapsed.

The bandits panicked and aimed their crossbows.

(Bandit) Watch out, the bitch can use magic!!! Fire the tranquilizers.

The bandits fired their crossbows and a dozen arrows flew in our direction, but before they even got close, the projectiles disappeared, as I looked sideways at Irma, I could see how the arrows were in her hand.

(Bandit) Damn it, quickly run away!

Before the order of what seemed to be their leader, the rest of the bandits hurried to escape, for my part I made a signal to Irma not to let them go, then the projectiles disappeared from Irma's hand and I heard the sound of people falling, I didn't need to look out to know that all the bandits had been paralyzed with their own poisonous arrows.

In little more than a minute the bandits were defeated, so there was silence until Aisha finally spoke.

(Aisha) And tell me Irma, how long did you say the coachman will sleep?

(Irma) Because of the type of sleeping pills used, between 4 and 5 hours.

(Aisha) aah, tell me Leo, what do we do to kill time?

(Leonora) Nobody is going to worry about the driver?

(Irma) I confirmed that he won't die just because of that, young master.

(Leonora) That's not what I meant, but anyway, you can take the reins of the carriage Irma.

(Aisha) If Irma drives, the driver will have to travel with us in the cab and I don't feel like it.

(Leonora) Well, then what do you feel like doing?

She got out of the carriage and examined the bandits.

(Aisha) hmm, they seemed well organized, using sleeping pills with the coachman is not a bad idea, tell me Leo, do you feel like looking for their lair?

I also got out of the carriage and examined one of the projectiles they had dropped, this type of ammunition does no harm, it only has the function of putting the victim to sleep.

But if you ask yourself, how can shooting a wooden stake not hurt you?

Well, I don't know, it's a magical world, the point is that it's an expensive and regulated ammunition that not any group of bandits would have access to.

(Leonora) It's curious at least, however it is, at the next guard checkpoint, you have to give notice.

(Aisha) come on Leo, I'm bored, and besides we have a couple of hours until the coachman wakes up.

I wasn't in the mood, but Aisha wouldn't leave me alone for the rest of the trip if I said no.

(Leonora) since, let's take a look, but do you know where he might be?

(Aisha) no problem, I have paralyzed one, and we can interrogate him.

She approaches the man she had paralyzed with her magic, and kicks him so that he is face up, that man unlike his companions who were technically asleep, this one had his eyes open and was looking from one side to the other desperate, but he was unable to move a single muscle.

(Aisha) let's do this, I will ask you some questions and you will look to the right to say yes and to the left to say no, if you answer with the truth I will remove the paralysis, if you don't, believe me it will be very bad for you, but just to clarify, I have the ability to know when people are lying, so I ask you please don't try it.

The man calmed his gaze and stared at Aisha, in the end he ended up looking to the right.

(Aisha) Well I like you to cooperate, first question, do you know who we are?

The man looked to the left.

(Aisha) Okay, so we were not your target, so you had a specific target?

The man looked to the right and then to the left.

(Aisha) Hmm yes and no, what do you mean?

(Leonora) Aisha, wouldn't it be easier to remove the paralysis and interrogate him normally?

(Aisha) That would be taking the fun out of it Leo.

(Leonora) I give up with you, maybe it means that they did have a target, but they would take advantage of the trap to get more people.

The man looked to the right.

(Aisha) hmm interesting, and tell me did they capture their target?

The man looked to the left.

(Aisha) hmm, with yes and no, it would be very difficult for you to tell me who their target was, and I'm not sure I care either, so tell me have they captured anyone else?

The man looked to the right.

(Aisha) is it someone important? A count maybe?

The man looked to the left.

(Aisha) A viscount?

This time the man looked up.

(Leonora) I think he means he is of higher rank.

(Aisha) So a marquis?

The man looked up again.

(Aisha) Someone from the royal family?

Now I look down.

(Aisha) Hmm so a duke, interesting.

The man looked to the right.

(Aisha) There are only four dukes and two arch dukes, in Karris, this won't be so difficult, so the De Kinner?

The man looked to the left.

(Aisha) The Fliyr?

The man looked to the left again.

Aisha was quiet thinking for a moment, and gave me a feline smile.

(Aisha) Croiss?

The man looked to the right.

----------------------

(Leonora) No.

(Aisha) Come on Leo, it'll be fun.

(Leonora) No.

(Aisha) Come on Leo, aren't you curious?

(Leonora) No.

After interrogating the man, and discovering nothing relevant, Aisha released him from his paralysis, then we continued our journey, we arrived at the capital without complications, and there were no problems in my audience with the king, I received my title and we returned to Quarel to continue with our lives.

~~Leonora, that didn't happen.~~

Stop meddling in my thoughts.

~~Don't try to alter reality.~~

All right... We continued interrogating the man and we discovered more or less the location of his lair, when we freed him from the paralysis he tried to attack Aisha, so Irma knocked him out, and now Aisha keeps pulling my arm so that we go to the bandits' lair... Happy?

~~You know I just want to help you Leonora.~~

(Aisha) Shut up.

(Aisha) Come on Leo, you promised me that I could have fun on the trip to the capital.

(Leonora) Yes, but not at my expense.

(Aisha) Come on, I want to meet your family.

(Leonora) I'll spare you, they are trash, with an exemption.

(Aisha) And if it's the exemption?

Well, I have to admit that you beat me there.

(Leonora) Okay, but whatever happens is your fault.

(Aisha) Okay.

Aisha went almost jumping to where the man told us that his lair was, I followed behind her while I asked myself why I was with this crazy woman.

We arrived at a cliff, where we could see the entrance to a cave, there he had told us that the bandits' lair was.

(Leonora) Irma, go and....

(Aisha) No, don't use Irma, you will take away all the excitement.

(Leonora) All right, Irma, only act if you see that we are in trouble.

(Irma) as you command young master

(Leonora) Well, how are we going to do this, how much mana do you have left? You held the paralysis for a long time.

(Aisha) Hmm, I'm fine, a little over two thirds, I'd say.

Two thirds? That's weird.

(Leonora) well anyway, I'm unarmed, and we don't know how many people are inside, the main thing is information, we need to find out how many people there are, the schedule of the patrols, how long they will wait for the group of highway robbers, if they have any code to identify each other and what it is, then the situation of the hostages and only when we have all that information we can start to elaborate a plan to....

(Aisha) Leo, you take the fun out of life.

(Leonora) even a supposedly perfect plan can fail, but it is infinitely better than the absence of one.

(Aisha) Come on Leo, what can go wrong?

Aisha tried to run towards the lair, but I stopped her and held her tightly by the shoulder.

No you idiot, you have no idea how many times I have seen you die after saying those words, you may be a crazy sociopath with criminal tendencies and an obsession with instilling chaos, but you are my best friend.

She looked at me, but noticed that I didn't have the slightest sign of playing games, so she sighed and calmed down.

(Aisha) well, let's do it your way, what do you propose?

(Leonora) I am satisfied with knowing how many people are inside, I don't think there are many, most of them should be in the group of the highwaymen, but some should stay to guard the lair.

(Irma) young master, do you want me to check inside the cave?

Aisha and I looked at each other.

(Aisha) hmm, ok, but don't do anything more than take a look, and the main thing, don't check the identity of the hostages, I want it to be a surprise.

Irma from one moment to the next disappeared, but before even asking me how she had done it, she reappeared at my side.

(Irma) young master, Miss Lenua, I confirm that there are 4 people inside the cave, they must have stolen a barrel of wine since they are drinking, and two of them are asleep because of the alcohol, so only the other two are still awake, but quite dazed in my opinion.

(Aisha) hmm only 4, nothing I can't take care of with my magic, so Leo, shall we go in?

(Leonora) ok, we go in quietly, you immobilize them with your magic and then tie their hands and feet, but I would be more comfortable if I had a weapon.

(Irma) Young master, would you like one of these?

Looking at Irma, in her right hand she held one of the crossbows of the bandits, and in her left a short sword.

(Leonora) Well, that will do.

I took the short sword, and I will love it to my waist and then I loaded the crossbow with my hands, it was quite heavy and at my age I should not be able to use it, but the training with Luztukru was more effective than one can imagine.

We entered the cave in silence, and after a while we could hear both men drinking, they were sitting at a table conveniently with their backs to us, they only talked about nonsense that isn't worth repeating.

(Leonora) Aisha, I shoot the one on the right, you immobilize the one on the left.

(Aisha) Right.

I pointed the crossbow and fired, I wanted to take advantage and practice my aim so I aimed at his head, it was a big surprise when the man's head exploded when he received the powerful shot from the crossbow.

Ops! my mistake, I could have sworn it was dream ammunition and not real ammunition, come on that's why I like to make plans! Things that can go wrong will go worse.

His companion screamed in horror, but Aisha left him paralyzed and he fell to the ground right in front of his companion's corpse, even with the paralysis the man struggled to scream.

Well, that man will have a trauma or two in the future.

I want to clarify that it wasn't my fault, I really thought the crossbow had sleep ammunition.

But then, Aisha gave me an accusing look.

(Aisha) hmm, Leo, this is your definition of....

(Leonora) I swear, I didn't mean it, I thought it was dream ammunition.

I'm not a ruthless killer, it's a casual mistake, it could have happened to anyone.

Be that as it may, I took the man away from the corpse of his companion, I looked at Irma.

(Leonora) this Irma, when you return home, investigate if he had a family or something, and I don't know, send a ham to the widow, send his children to school, I don't know, do something.

Seriously, I don't like to kill for the sake of killing, only if they deserve it or make me angry, but this one wasn't able to do either one or the other.

(Irma) As you command young master.

Luckily the rest of his companions didn't wake up, we tied their hands and feet, we approached the bottom of the cave, there the bandits had built a small hut where they should have their hostages.

I kept wondering who they had captured, if it was big brother or sister, they wouldn't stop screaming so, we would hear their screams or they would have them always asleep to keep them calm, Liz would be too rare to leave the mansion, and being the only decent one she usually takes control of the duchy when I leave, little sister is an idiot and they would have already killed her for her continuous escape attempts.

The door was locked, but the key was near the door, so I tell Aisha to open the door and Irma to leave for now, I stayed a little behind, while my disguise is good, I don't like to push my luck and be recognized.

When I opened the door, in the middle of the room, there was a little girl with black hair and gray eyes, no more than 6 years old.

(Aisha) Leo, I didn't know you had a younger sister.

(Leonora) Neither did I.