Chapter 174: Now, Let’s Return to the Rear Palace

The meal was finished. The three maids from earlier came over and fixed the Queen’s makeup. I had thought they were only guards, but I was surprised to see they could perform ordinary maid duties as well. So they had stopped pretending to be strangers to the Queen.

When the Queen stood up, every gaze in the restaurant gathered on her at once. It was extremely unnatural, but there was no point in worrying about that now. In the kitchen, Browning-sensei’s wife wore a face as if her soul had left her body. Like a haniwa clay figurine?

Today the Queen said nothing about payment and simply left the shop. If this were Japan, someone would probably say "No charge, please just take a group photo with the staff" and then ask for an autograph on colored paper as well.

Outside, people were walking sparsely, and the sky was a clear, piercing blue. Christine and Anisee seemed to have been only background noise for the restaurant and were not following us.

We advanced in the same carrier-strike-group formation as when we arrived. I was a fool for thinking we would be able to return to the Rear Palace without incident. How many times in the past had I thought I must not raise such a flag? But it was impossible not to.

Suddenly, one of the three maids walking in front took a backstep and stood in front of the Queen to shield her. In that instant, arrows struck the maid’s body — don! don! don! The maid’s body collapsed toward the Queen, so I caught her. More arrows flew, but the other two maids reacted and knocked them down with their short swords. The tips of the arrowheads were blue. What was that? Or rather — poison?

After a single beat,

"Attack—!!"

a voice rang out, and the escorts gathered. Lily and Stevie stood at my back. A human wall immediately formed around the Queen.

Arrows continued to fly from front, rear, and sides, but the escorts drew swords from their own mana bags and knocked them down. The maid who had first taken the arrows was already no longer breathing. Her face had turned purple, so it must have been the poison on the arrows. Both the Queen and I had been in real danger — truly a close call. Even if the arrows had been aimed at the Queen, she and I were so close we could almost be said to be pressed together, so it would not have been strange if one had hit me instead.

I held the Queen’s shoulder and drew my sword. I thought the Queen might be trembling, but her expression had only become serious, and her face was a little pale. As expected of the Queen — or perhaps she had anticipated this situation.

There were many flying arrows, and not all of them could be knocked down. Some people were hit and fell. Once the arrow attack ended, there would surely be people charging in. The attackers would not have believed they could finish everything with arrows alone; they would try to kill the Queen before reinforcements arrived. They must have intended an extremely short decisive battle.

We formed a dense formation centered on the Queen and moved to the edge of the road. The street that had been full of passersby until moments ago was now completely empty of people. The dead maid lay in the middle of the road. The arrows were now coming only from the second-floor windows of the houses across the street.

"Return by the shortest route!"

someone shouted. When they said the shortest route, did that mean the route we had taken coming here? Was there an ambush waiting? That seemed dangerous, but if I objected it would only cause confusion. So we moved toward the gate in the dense formation.

The arrows stopped.

"Don’t let your guard down! When the arrows stop, they’ll charge in!!"

Someone who was thinking the same thing shouted. We moved slowly, cautiously. If they were going to attack, I wished they would hurry. The tension of waiting for the attack was intense. It would be easier to just fight already. Ah, but protecting the Queen was the priority. Could I do it?

Just as I was wondering why no one was coming to help, about ten people burst out from a side alley. They held swords and shields. Some carried short spears. The group charged in silence. We numbered about thirty, so if we surrounded them we should be fine — the moment I thought that,

"Go!"

someone called. At that voice more than ten people ran toward the group. Then the fighting began. Hey, hey, is that really all right? Protecting the Queen should be the first priority, right? It’s true that the best defense is a good offense, but if we took an attack from the side now it would be dangerous, wouldn’t it?

My worry turned out to be unnecessary — the attacking group was being cut down one after another.

"Don’t kill them! Keep them alive!"

voices called. That showed how much room they had to spare.

But it wasn’t going to be that easy. From the direction of the gate another group of more than ten people came running. Their swords glittered. Had the strongest of the escorts gone toward the first attacking force? The escorts facing the later group were mostly women.

"Lily! Stevie! Don’t move, don’t be drawn in! Stay around me! No matter what happens, protect the Queen!!"

""Yes!!""

Lily and Stevie answered. The Queen clung to my chest. The composure from earlier seemed to have disappeared. The presence-less maids were also at the Queen’s side, serving as shields.

The later attacking group seemed evenly matched with the escorts in ability, and the fight had become a close contest. I wanted stronger guards, but that was asking the impossible. Still, the escorts around the Queen were being drawn toward that fight.

At that moment,

"Lady Elizabethhhhh—!!"

came a shout, and Browning-sensei came running from the direction of the restaurant. In his right hand he held a drawn sword. He had literally come to help! He wasn’t on the enemy side, right? He was an ally, right?

Lily and Stevie stood in front of Browning-sensei, blocking his path. Seeing that, Browning-sensei stopped. He was breathing heavily with his whole body. He looked truly distressed. Sensei, you haven’t trained enough. After saying so much to me, you yourself had been negligent, hadn’t you? But was this an act? Would he suddenly cut at us?

Lily and Stevie had not lowered their guard. Browning-sensei gave a bitter smile while gasping for breath. But I also did not trust him. Right now I could trust no one.

Several people were running after Browning-sensei. Were they allies? Or enemies? No matter how you looked at it, they were not security forces. Their clothes and equipment were all different!

"Wait wait wait! We came to help! Don’t cut us down!"

They shouted while steadily approaching. People who said things like that were the most dangerous, I thought. Browning-sensei seemed to share my thought, because he yelled,

"Stop! All of you have faces I’ve never seen before! I can’t trust you! Don’t come any closer!"

They did not stop and pressed forward, then shouted

"Uryaa!"

and cut at Browning-sensei.

Kin! Kin!

Browning-sensei deflected the swords. He lifted the deflected sword upward and slammed it down on the opponent. The opponent received it with his own sword, but was pushed back by the force of Browning-sensei’s sword; his own blade dug into his face and blood sprayed.

"Guwah!"

He screamed, sprayed blood, and fell.

Browning-sensei shouted and leapt into the middle of the enemies. That was bad. Hadn’t he come to protect the Queen!? When Browning-sensei’s sword swept sideways, an enemy’s head flew and blood sprayed upward. Covered in blood spray, Browning-sensei no longer looked human. From my perspective he was pure oni!

Overall I thought we were holding off the enemy attack. If reinforcements came we would be able to protect the Queen to the end! — that thought was a mistake.

Kin kin kin! came the sound as Browning-sensei knocked down flying arrows with his sword. From the archers’ perspective, had they decided they needed to take Browning-sensei down? More arrows gathered on Browning-sensei. He handled his sword skillfully, but it was a large sword and could not move finely. At last one arrow struck Browning-sensei’s thigh. His movement stopped for an instant. He could not respond to the arrows that continued to fly. Two, three arrows pierced Browning-sensei. His hands stopped. More arrows struck, and he became a pincushion of arrows.

"Browning!!"

the Queen screamed! I was entranced by the sight. At that moment a dull thud sounded. Looking that way, a maid was standing there, dead after taking an arrow. She had remained standing as if shielding the Queen. I used that maid as a support and shield to hide the Queen.

"Lily! Stevie! Protect the Queen!"

""Yes!!""

Arrows flew, but the two knocked them down with their swords. The arrows were coming from the second floor of the building across the street. Wasn’t there anyone on our side who could use a bow? Even though the people shooting arrows were visible, we could do nothing from here!

"Reinforcements! The support unit has arrived—!"

Cheers rose! They had finally come! They made it in time!!