Chapter 344: Let Us Hurry to the Next Town

The knights dove into the enemies shouting waaa!, but the festival is already over.

Her Majesty still had her face out, so I said,

"Your Majesty, would it not be better to leave that and go ahead? If something happens again on the way we will not reach the next town. You are tired of hard bread already, yes."

Her Majesty said,

"Yes. Today I want to rest slow in a bed. Call Blueford."

She spoke to a guard beside the carriage and sent him to call Blueford.

Blueford came at once.

"Your Majesty, what is it?"

he asked. Her Majesty said,

"Let us advance the procession quickly."

but Blueford said,

"The examination of the ones who attacked has only just begun. We must take those people to the next town. If we can, who ordered them..."

"Stop."

"Hah? What?"

"Examining those people is important too, but my arriving at the next town quickly is the highest priority."

"That is so, but then what do we do with those people?"

"Leave them so they cannot move. If needed, stuff one or two into an empty place in a carriage and take them. That will do."

Her Majesty had started to get a little irritated.

"How should I choose those one or two?"

"Think that much yourself! Take them at random! Leave the rest bound here! Have the town guard come fetch them later. If you leave them in a place like this, beasts will gather on their own and finish them. Put up a sign and no one will help them."

Blueford, shouted at by Her Majesty, shrank.

"Hurry. Make us depart!"

When Her Majesty said it through Blueford said low,

"Yes..."

and went forward.

Her Majesty said one word to the driver.

"Advance the carriage."

The driver told the driver of the carriage ahead, that traveled like a message game, and from the lead carriage they began to move slow. The knights at the dropped enemies saw the procession start to move, flustered, and shouted, but it is Her Majesty’s order, so whatever you say is no good. Some shout about defense this and that, but the ones carrying the procession’s defense are me and the three Eisleben, yes?

Leaving the shouting knights the procession advanced. As if yesterday’s terrible day were a lie, a peaceful grassland continued. Then when it became fields houses came into view. Farmers who saw the procession looked up, surprised. I do not know if they know, but seeing the number of attendants they would be surprised, and if they know the Mainz royal crest they would be more surprised.

At last welcome people from the town appeared. At last. At last. Blueford was grilling the lead knights from the town on why they were late. It is not their fault, and the lower ranks get spoken to messily. Even so the town’s representatives came to Her Majesty, trampled wheat in a wheat field to make a plaza, and knelt. The trampled wheat will not be compensated. No mistake.

Holding down the feeling of wanting to go to the town at once, Her Majesty came out of the carriage. Then,

"Yesterday we had a terrible time. From me down, everyone prepared for death."

she said, but the townspeople did not believe it. They did not say it, but their faces said saying such an exaggerated thing. Her Majesty felt that.

"Robbie, put that out."

she said. Being called Robbie in a public place I thought was off, but there I put a wyvern out smooth, again on top of the wheat field. Of course the wheat under the wyvern will not grow until harvest.

"Ooh!?"

A voice of surprise rose from the townspeople. When I put it in the storage bag arrows had been stuck and blood had been flowing, so it was fairly raw. Fresh enough that "we just dropped it now!" would pass!

"Five of these attacked us."

"..." ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The townspeople were struck silent.

"By the attendants staking their bodies we were able to clear out the wyverns. But for that it took time, and we had no choice but to camp inside that gorge. I thought people from the town would come to meet us sooner, and you appear only now! Did you not have the readiness to receive a queen! Not feeling like going to search if arrival is late, do you not think that is negligence! Even if there is a great matter of the country, people whose readiness is wait until dawn because they heard it at night cannot be left with a town’s great matters! This time, as soon as the trip ends, I will report to His Majesty the King! Wait with care!!"

Her Majesty spat words of anger like a raging fire. The townspeople’s color went blue in a blink. The ones in the front row went past blue to white. Humans can change color this easy, I thought, impressed. And Her Majesty has only been angry since morning, but this is not that she is truly angry. She is angry because she needs to be angry. Having to be angry as a duty is hard. I sympathize.

Her Majesty got angry as angry as she would, and ordered me,

"We depart!!"

I answered,

"Yes!"

bright, and stored the wyvern. The lead knights had seen Her Majesty angry like that now, so even without me going to tell them the procession started to move on its own. The townspeople were left in the wheat field with their heads still down. Because Her Majesty had not said they may raise their heads, they have to keep that posture until the procession passes.

—-

Beside the advancing procession, the people from the town advanced through the fields. They were in a hurry to pass the procession and reach the town first, but unlike the highway it is uneven.

They tumbled from horses, fell, got covered in dirt, somehow came out in front of the procession, and ran the road as they were. The people running alongside were pitiful, so they slowed the procession a little, I suppose.