He is a nobleman

I didn't know if it was a magic spell that created a ball of fire or if it was a torch, or maybe an oil lamp, or any other kind of ordinary fire. All I knew was that a ball of fire was about to enter the carriage through the smashed window, and if it didn't manage to enter, the carriage would be set on fire.

I had to get out of this thing.

Once I turned around to head out of the carriage through the door on the other side, I saw Alaric sprawled on the ground in front of the door and hugging one book in his hand as if that thing would protect him.

"Get up!"

I rushed to the other side and I yelled loudly. The young master was looking around in a daze, slightly trembling on his spot. He flinched at my yell and raised his head.

"W-what?"

"Get the fuck up-"

FWOSH

Something moved in through the window and landed in the carriage. It looked like a ball of cloth wrapped around each other, a burning pile of cloth.

The burning cloth landed inside the carriage which it's floor was covered with books. The book closest to the flames instantly lit up and started to burn at a fast speed, spreading the flames to the other books around it.

"F-fire!"

Alaric stuttered as he moved his body back so much that it hit the carriage's door. His eyes which were reflecting the flames that were spreading inside the carriage were so wide open that they looked about to bulge out of their place and his face looked flushed and pale at the same time. He was frozen on his spot as if struck with panic and thus unable to think properly.

The fact that he was panicked didn't mean I would stay here and wait quietly to turn into roasted meat!

'I'm burning! The fire is literally burning my pants!'

"Move aside!"

I took a big step towards Alaric, pushed him aside, grabbed the door handle that was slightly hot, opened the door wide, then kicked Alaric out of the carriage.

"Aah!"

POF

The man's scream was cut off the moment he landed on the ground face first. I guess he ate some soil when he hit the ground, but that's better than being burnt alive, right?

After Alaric was out of the way, I also jumped out of the carriage. I rolled a few times on the ground to put out the fire that was burning my pants before getting up and looking around.

I could see a bunch of people clad in black cloth surrounding the carriages from all directions. The young master's carriage was already burning and the other carriage that belonged to the servants had its body cracked. As I swept my gaze around, I saw Ranger and Ralph outside of the servants' carriage, standing close to each other and behind Liam's back, who was pointing his sword at the people in black.

One of the horses was injured and was bleeding from its belly, two were on a rampage, and one was nowhere to be seen. The rest of them were moving around nervously and rubbing their hooves on the soil.

The soldiers and the knights were all on guard, ready to engage in a battle. Some of them were running towards the young master's carriage while eyeing their attackers at the same them. When they saw that we were out, the head of the knights heaved a sigh of relief first before ordering the soldiers to surround us.

"Young master, Ian!"

Both of us turned our heads towards the voice calling for us, which belonged to Old Ranger. He was being held back from rushing towards us by Ralph and Liam, so he instead called us to go to him. Indeed, Liam, as the young master's personal guard, was much more capable than ordinary soldiers. In addition, the soldiers and knights couldn't rush to us as the enemy was surrounding them from all directions and as a result, the young master and I were left unprotected.

"Let's go!"

I grabbed Alaric from the back of his collar and pushed him forward. The dude stumbled to his feet at first, but he soon regained his balance and started to rush to where the knights were.

'Who are these people?'

I looked at the attackers as I moved forward. They were more in number than us. I can't tell if they are ordinary fighters or have mages mixed with them, and neither can I estimate their strength. All I can say is that they must've ambushed us from back and front at the same time, resulting in the current situation where the center part of the convoy, which was the young master's carriage, remain the last place that was attacked and thus the last place that the guards could rush to.

"You brainless shit, why did you burn the carriage!?"

At that moment, someone's voice came from somewhere in the end, and before anyone could understand where the voice was coming from, a figure flashed in the darkness and landed in front of Alaric with a thud.

"Who was the one who threw that fire? I'll fucking peel out his skin! Don't you shitheads understand? That one was the most expensive fuck in the whole convoy!"

He yelled with a hoarse voice as he swung his sword around angrily, resulting in Alaric hurriedly throwing his body backward in an attempt to dodge the sword. He collapsed to the ground once again, the book he was still holding fell out of his grasp and rolled around.

"B-boss that's..."

"We'll put out the fire right now!"

"Hurry up and take all the valuables!"

The attackers started to talk and move all of a sudden. Some rushed towards the carriages and some attempted to take control of the horses while the rest engaged in a fight with the knights.

'They are bandits!'

We got attacked by bandits!

"Phew!"

I heaved a sigh of relief as I realized what was going on. These people were just thugs, which meant they would probably leave us if they got what they wanted. Well, there was the possibility of them killing us after rubbing us naked. Still, compared to the first theory I had, which was that these people were assassins sent by the young lady to murder Alaric, the situation seemed much better. Ordinary bandits didn't have that much strength compared to assassins!

"Oh!"

Suddenly, the man that had landed in front of us who looked to be the bandits' boss, gasped as he glanced at Alaric who was trying to get up. The man's lower half of his face was covered with a black mask, so all I could see from his expression was a raised eyebrow and a pair of fierce eyes.

"Those clothes look expensive..."

The man raised his sword and pointed at Alaric.

"Hand them over."

"S-sorry?"

Alaric stuttered and his whole body trembled as soon as he saw the blade pointed at him. He glanced once at the blade, then at his clothes, and finally at the bandit. He swallowed his saliva, and as if deciding that he wouldn't lose his dignity to some thugs, he shook his head from side to side with a slight frown.

"Hoh! Look at this brat!"

The man took a step forward and leaned a little bit towards Alaric, who was still sitting on the ground while also moving his sword closer to the young master's neck.

"Can't you understand the situation you are in? Hand me all your belongings as well as those silk cloth!"

The moment the man moved his sword a little bit closer, a shout was heard from behind the man.

"Y-young master!"

It was a kid's frightened scream. A few meters to the front, I could see Liam rushing towards us while Ranger was covering Ralph's mouth in the back.

"Young master?"

The thug raised his eyebrow again. His action of moving the sword closer to Alaric caused Liam to stop moving out of fear that the boss would actually stab the young master if he rushed. The thug tilted his head a little bit, and examined Alaric, then me, and then the surroundings, before he suddenly burst into laughter.

"Pfffftt! Look here! Look! Look at this bastard!" He straightened his back and pointed at Alaric with the tip of his sword. "This motherfucker is noble! He is a noble's bastard!"

The area went silent for a few seconds before a loud scream from one of the attackers broke it.

"Kill him! Kill the noble! Kill all nobles!"

Following him, loud voices and screams rose up one after another.

"Kill the nobles! Kill the enemy of us commoners!"

"Slaughter him!"

"Tear him apart!"

"Kill the noble! Kill the noble!"

All of the bandits who were busy taking the jewelry and the money had abandoned what they were doing and instead picked up their weapons.

'Shit!'

I was wrong at thinking that the situation was not that bad!