Finding a pawn
Lovell looked outside the carriage window with a blank expression.
He was born and raised in a backwater town, and he had never left, but was now being escorted by an armed escort outside the walls he had grown accustomed to.
If you look at it from another perspective, this is exactly the kind of tourist outing that I always hoped for.
The carriage moved along a crude path in the forest.
Although Lovell's sense of adventure was having a rather memorable time in his new surroundings, he couldn't help but curse the bumpy road he was forced to endure.
His appreciation of nature was only further soured by the rattling noise heard coming from ahead.
One of the prisoners had slipped on the damp dirt and fallen to his side, dragging the others who were chained with him.
" Get up quickly, you fool. You are weighing us down."
His fellow prisoners quickly turned on him and threatened to kick him should he delay them further.
Lovell looked at this develop and couldn't help but laugh at the dream of going outside the walls.
" Be careful what you wish for because it just might happen."
He threw a glance towards the ever-composed gentleman who sat across from him and asked a question that had been floating around in his mind.
"What exactly did they do to end up like this?"
Anthony looked at Lovell and responded,
"I can't say for sure. I'm not the one who captured them. The Princess handed them to me when she arrived and told me to do with them the same as we were told to do with you. I mean, of course, the place she told us to bring you to. As for why they are in that condition, I imagine they must have behaved the same way you did."
Why then are they in chains and we are not?
Lovell withdrew his attention back to the prisoners who marched outside.
Night was descending upon them, so they sought out shelter after diverging a little from the road.
The prisoners huddled together around a tree they found close to the small camp the knights had made for themselves.
Of course monopolized the fire they made and did not share it with the prisoners.
Lovell and Derek were told to remain in the carriage with one knight there to supervise them.
Derek was not exactly sure what Lovell was thinking and started to grow impatient.
He turned to the knight and asked in a rather annoyed tone,
" Why are we wasting time here. Shouldn't we be on the road?"
The knight didn't offer him a response and remained quiet.
Immediately after, the sound of the carriage door opening floated in the air, and Sir Anthony's figure entered through the door.
" When I heard that you two decided to not only steal from a Dreadborn but also fight one, I couldn't figure out whether you were brave or stupid. Now that question has been answered."
Derek scoffed in response to the insult," Why don't you enlighten me, oh, wise and honorable knight of Gravia?"
Sir Anthony did not take too kindly to being mocked at but still offered an answer.
"Only a fool would not know why the walls were built in the first place. Most of the roads between the remaining human settlements are populated with Horrors. Dreadborns tend to hunt them down during the day, but there are so many of them that it hardly makes any impact. At night, not only are they more dangerous, but they also tend to attack anything they see moving along the roads. I, for one, would rather not end up as fertilizer for one of these trees, hence the camp. C course, if one of those monsters does attack, we have a rather dependable warning system."
Lovell's posture shifted when he heard the claim.
This bastard is warning us.
Even though those guys out there are meant to go to the same place as us, he is ready and willing to sacrifice a few of them if we come across something they can't handle.
Is this his way of telling us we are all disposable?
Honorable indeed.
Lovell spoke nothing on the matter and held back as his friend and the knight went back and forth with their conversation.
He looked outside the carriage window and saw the youth who had fallen in the afternoon.
He had a rather slim appearance and was covered in dirt from head to torso.
What stood out to Lovell was white hair and red eyes.
He wasn't that bad to look at himself, but he felt a little inferior when he compared their looks.
He often heard that girls his age liked 'pretty boys' but never really knew what that meant until now.
He wasn't sure what awaited them when they arrived at the academy, but he knew he needed a force to direct like he had done with Sleight of hand.
He wasn't going to survive if he couldn't control certain things moving forward.
A plan slowly took shape in his mind and proceeded without wasting time.
He knocked on the wall of the carriage, drawing the attention of the knights.
"Not to complain about the warm hospitality you have been showing us, but we have been in this carriage all afternoon and haven't left this this till now. I need to water the garden, if you know what I mean."
Anthony looked at Lovell as if he was considering something and agreed to the suggestion.
" Let one of my men escort you. These woods are home to some very bizarre Horrors. We wouldn't want our guests to suffer any difficulties while under our supervision.
Marcus, go with him."
The other knight in the carriage responded and opened the door.
The opening door drew the attention of the prisoners.
With winter approaching, the temperature was already cool, and the dirt was damp.
When they looked at the well-dressed youth walking towards them from the carriage, jealousy and envy took root in them.
Some showed expressions of anger, others of envy, others were simply resigned.
Even the youth who had fallen had his attention on Lovell and the knight beside him.
No one made a move, but the eyes of hostility told Lovell all he needed to know.
He deliberately walked closer to the white haired youth who looked to be about his age and pulled his hand from his pockets.
Lovell stopped walking as he stood beside the youth and threw something to him.
Marcus was immediately alerted and shifted to a stance with his weapon drawn.
Lovell looked at this with an amused expression and explained to the easily triggered knight.
"No need to get so emotional, my good knight. I just saw how cold it is outside and remembered this guy from the afternoon. I gave him a little present to commemorate our meeting here since we will all be attending the academy together in the future."
Learning that Lovell would be attending the academy together with them, the prisoners were shocked.
They had mistaken him to be of nobility, given that he was riding in a carriage that had an armed escort, but they did not imagine him to be going there himself.
Marcus was a lot more curious as to what exactly Lovell had thrown to the prisoner.
The youth then looked down at his hands and grabbed a corner of the item and stretched it between his hands.
A white handkerchief was produced, and the worries Marcus had quickly vanished.
He shot Lovell a glance and said, " Dear guest, we should not delay returning to the carriage any longer. Let us be done with this quickly."
Lovell spoke in a relaxed tone as his plan bore fruit, "Of course, of course, sir Anthony would return to work treating us as prisoners if we went against his order. We should be going."
He turned his back on the prisoners and continued deeper in the woods.
...
After Lovell was finished relieving himself, he turned to look for the knight appointed to guard him and hopefully guide him back to the camp.
His eyes moved around but he couldn't find the knight.
The poor lighting only increased his difficulty.
He moved around a little, trying to retrace his steps, and then saw the figure of the knight standing still a short distance away.
Before Lovell called out to alert the knight, he noticed that the knight was acting strangely.
This knight had suddenly left and was now standing still as if he couldn't move.
Lovell was instantly put on alert and decided to approach while using the trees as cover.
What happened? What is he looking at?
Lovell, displaying the skills be acquired as a thief, carefully maneuvered the trees and came close to the knight without making any sounds.
After tracing Marcus's line of sight, Lovell's eyes widened.
He unintentionally took a few steps back and stepped on a twig.
The sound wasn't particularly loud, but Marcus reflexively turned to look at Lovell with the same shocked expression.