Once the collecting of reusable equipment had been done, Julia was asked to recover the horse they left a distance away from where the ambush took place. Kazuya already told her of the possibility that there was only a single horse left was high, but she didn't believe it.

"Didn't I tell you so?" Kazuya grinned at her as soon as she came back with a single horse.

"Did you make her go towards that direction because of our horses?" Julia's lips twitched at Kazuya's confident expression.

"The girl's initial escape route was close anyway. I won't take all the credit." He smiled. "Did that girl leave something? Like a letter?"

"How did you know? She didn't leave a letter, but she did leave this…" she held up a token that had the mark of the Eberbach family engraved on it.

"From the way she acted, I guessed that she wouldn't simply steal our horses without leaving anything. I did know a person who acted very similarly to her after all."

"A friend?" she looked at him with doubt. Julia didn't think that he would have any friends with how he acted.

"No. That person died… because of his own foolishness." Kazuya started putting their spoils on the horse.

Julia looked around, the corpses that were still scattered around when she left were nowhere to be found. What was left was scattered pieces of equipment that they judged couldn't be brought with just a single horse.

"Where did all the corpses go?"

"All taken care of." He snapped his head back to the burnt area.

"How did…" she couldn't help but mutter.

"I have my ways. More importantly, is there a nearby village or town? We only have one horse that would be carrying both our spoils and this injured guy."

Taking care of the battle's aftermath took longer than the actual battle. With the loss of a fast horse and the addition of an unconscious person, they would not be able to make it back to the capital today. Unless they wanted to camp without any equipment, they needed a place to go to.

"Can I see the map that you got?" Julia immediately examined the map she was handed. she was unfamiliar with the Eberbach territory aside from the strongholds since she rarely ever had the chance to go to any of the territories under the Eberbach house.

"I've looked at this world's map. Since I didn't have a specific location I wanted to visit, I currently don't know which place we are in from this map." Kazuya hinted to be given an explanation.

"We are currently in the goblin forest." She pointed at their current location on the map. "The people who made this map had taken the trouble to mark all the places where the people from earlier would go through which helps us with our current situation."

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"We have two options… either we go through the forest to the village marked here or go back to where we entered and head for the closest town. It would take much longer to head for the town but the monsters we would encounter should be a lot less."

"You should be more familiar with the places here. which direction do you think we should go towards?"

"The people we killed should have other people waiting for them. I think that going to the town might attract unwanted attention because we have an injured person with us. We're not sure if this person's ident.i.ty is known so it would be better to go to the village and claim that were attacked by orcs."

"Fine…" he held back the urge to laugh.

What Julia was trying to do was only delay the inevitable. The fact that they have taken out the a.s.sa.s.sins sent by the crown would be known as soon as they made their way back to the capital.

-

Meanwhile, riding the horse she found secured inside the forest, Sodina took advantage of the stolen steed's speed to rush towards the capital.

"(I hope the people who rented those horses don't get attacked…)" she thought.

Due to her situation, she was forced to take the horse without permission. Though she did leave one of her family's tokens, she still felt uneasy about stealing one of the horses that were obviously hidden there by people.

Sodina was in a race against time. Not only did she need to escape any pursuers, but she also needed to reach the capital quickly so that the ident.i.ties of those who tried to take her life can be traced.

"(This horse should have been rented from the capital… I should be able to find out who they were once I tell father what happened.)" she glanced at the familiar engraving of the horse lending company.

She hoped that the people who rented the horses were adventurers on a quest. That way, they wouldn't have any problems surviving with a single mount missing, or so she hoped.

It was almost nighttime when she arrived at the capital. When she pa.s.sed by the gate, there was one person who had been waiting near the gates that looked at her not because of her ident.i.ty but because of her mount.

"(Why is a n.o.ble riding on the horse I rented out to the boy?)" the man frowned but could not stop Sodina as she blazed through the streets as soon as she was allowed pa.s.sage.

Acht and Neun were waiting on Kazuya's return near the entrance when they heard the commotion. When they rushed over, they froze at what they saw.

The duke's daughter had arrived alone, and she was not in good shape. Her armor was badly damaged, and she suffered from injuries that would tell anyone that she had been through a tough battle.

"Ojou-sama! What happened!?" they tried to see what kind of injuries she suffered but was stopped by Sodina instead.

"We'll talk later. For now, I want the two of you to return the horse I took back to the blue house company and inquire about the ones who rented this horse. I took it without permission so that I could escape my pursuers. I have to talk to father right away so I can only leave this task to the two of you."

""Understood!"" The two of them bowed and left. Though they were concerned, Elrich needed to be informed of what happened.

One thing was for sure, if those who dared attack the only daughter of the Eberbach house was still out there, they would need to go beyond the reaches of Zweifel kingdom for them to be able to escape Elrich's wrath.

*BAM!!*

Surely enough, no one's guess was wrong. An expensive table was immediately disintegrated as soon as Elrich saw the state his daughter was currently in. Her injuries may not have been fatal but, after hearing about what happened to her and her escorts, how close to death she had been was apparent.

"Send word to the fortress! I want to know who these people are and who they work for! Send whoever we can spare here to catch any traces they've left behind! I WANT THOSE PEOPLE FOUND!" Elrich ordered Zwei and the subordinates behind him.

"""Understood!!""" they pressed their fists against their chests and bowed.

"Zwei, I want you to take the lead on this. From Sodina's story, she wouldn't have been able to escape if she hadn't been lucky. The timing and circ.u.mstances have been too convenient to be a coincidence, so I suspect…" he clenched his fists in frustration and was unable to finish the sentence.

He couldn't bring himself to say that it had been the work of the same kingdom they have worked hard to protect. The power he had built over the years was meant to be pointed at the enemies outside their territory and not within. Though he had people he didn't get along with amongst the n.o.bles, he didn't think that there would come a time where they would actually strike against him like this.

"I will take care of it Elrich-sama." Zwei noded deeply as he understood the severity of their current situation.

As angered as Elrich might have been, there was no conclusive evidence thus far. It still hadn't been concluded that it was indeed someone from their own kingdom that plotted against him. What was clear, however, was that if it was someone from the n.o.bles, or even worse, the king's faction, it meant that they had made necessary precautions to meet the duke's rage head-on.

"(I don't understand… what makes them think that the kingdom can start a war after inciting me to use my forces?)" Elrich lamented. "(Even with the help of the hero, there would barely be enough forces to go against the demi-humans…)" He felt that he was missing an important piece of information.

"Father, I've sent Acht and Neun to find out whose steed I…" noticing her father deep in thought and not hearing what she had to say, she turned towards Zwei who was about to leave the room.

"Worry not Oujo-sama. We will keep an eye out for those people and inform them of the circ.u.mstances." Zwei excused himself.

Though many of the personnel at the Eberbach residence in the capital were trainees, since the duke was here himself, his personal bodyguards were brought along with him. This was the unit that Zwei himself was in charge of.

Having the responsibility to protect Elrich, they also serve as his eyes and ears. This unit was known as the 'Dire Wolves' unit. They were the direct compet.i.tion for the 'Royal Shadows' that was under the crown.

"I see you two are back." Zwei met with Acht and Neun who were hurrying back from their task. "Sodinsama's treatment should be finished by now so I can go to her directly."

"Zwei-sama, are you going to personally act yourself?" Neun was a bit startled as Zwei was not wearing his usual butler attire but the uniform used by the Dire Wolves unit.

"Yes. This matter is sensitive and has to be dealt with swiftly." He noticed the two were acting strangely. "Is there something you need to say?"

The two maids looked at each other before Acht nervously stepped up.

"We talked to the owner who lent the horses. The person who Sodinsama stole the horses from… was Kazuysama."

"The hero?" Zwei frowned. "Why would he…"

The first thing that came to mind was that Julia trying to lead the hero into a trap by bringing the hero to some dangerous place. He immediately dismissed the idea because of the slave and soul contract.

"The man only told us what happened because we were recognized as his companions when we rented horses from him previously. He overheard them talking about going to places that were a distance away from the capital." Neun explained.

"This might be a problem…"

The hero being exposed to danger before he even decided to help was a serious matter. The crown would have an excuse to punish the Eberbach house if it turned out that the hero was injured because his mount was stolen by Sodina.

"Please inform the duke about it as well. I must make haste." Zwei signaled his subordinates to follow as they rushed out.

Now this task had just gotten more delicate. Sodina was asked to go back to the capital to get a chance to befriend the hero. While Elrich had gotten the luck of establis.h.i.+ng good relations with him, this just might turn the tides for them in this sensitive situation.

If the people who have met with Kazuya were asked what they thought the hero valued the most, most of them would answer that Kazuya prioritized his safety above all else. Some might answer 'his return' but they wouldn't be able to deny that the hero cared more about his own life than the kingdom's so-called peril.

While unaware that it was Kazuya himself who was responsible for his own situation, Zwei did not even think of it nor did it ever come to mind. His task now included finding out the status of the hero.

He hoped that they would be able to come across the hero and the former royal guard riding together. From the forest, it should just take them less than two days since they were riding on one horse but, that is if the duo was able to get out of the forest without any problems.

"This…" Elrich's frown deepened after hearing Neun and Acht's report.

"The horse I took was the hero's…? Wait! Why is that bi—princess' do—guard accompanying him!?" Sodina didn't know where to start. There were too much information and too much she didn't know about.

"Zwei should understand how to handle this. For now, you two will take s.h.i.+fts at the western gates and wait for any news about Kazuysan."

""Understood!!""

"What's going on, father?"

"A lot has happened in the past few days…" Elrich began to speak about the eventful few days.

-

Waise Village, one of the new villages that had been built on the northwestern part of the goblin forest. Its population was mostly made up from people who moved from other territories because of the high taxes and adventurers who have retired but still made a living off of the goblin forest.

"(I guess this place is different too…)" Kazuya entered the village looking surprised.

"What's wrong?" Julia asked. She found that Kazuya had acted strangely at strange times.

He was calm and composed in the midst of battle or in front of monsters yet he looked surprised when it seemed like there was nothing to be surprised about. This baffled Julia as she couldn't understand just what goes on inside Kazuya's head.

"Nothing… It's just that this place is different from what I imagined." He fixed his expression and replied.

"Is that so? This village hasn't been around that long so I guess it can't compare to what you've seen at the capital." Julia relaxed. His demeanor seemed so natural at times that it was not hard to forget that he was someone from another world.

"it's already dark out here so I think we need to find a place to stay." Kazuya glanced at the banged and injured man in the horse. "This guy needs to be laid down and have his wounds treated with magic."

"There should be an acolyte or an apprentice healer here from the former adventurers. I'll go see if I can find them. You should ask around if there is a place or stable we can stay at." Julia suggested.

"Alright. I will come back here if you still haven't found us by the time I lay this guy down." Kazuya agreed and they went their separate ways.

The village was currently half the size of what he was familiar with. Waise village was a place that holds both good and bad memories for Kazuya as this was one place he had already decided that he would go to at least once.

"Excuse me, might you be adventurers that came from the forest?" a middle-aged man approached him. "I couldn't help but notice that it seems to be your first time here."

"Adventurers?" Kazuya tilted his head. This was a man that did not seem familiar even in his past memories.

"Yes. Did you not come from the entrance near the forest?" the man smiled. "Please do not get me wrong, our village has yet to have that many places that have accommodations for visitors that are new here. The regular adventurers are already staying with most that have rooms to spare."

"Did you come to me to offer a place to stay at?" Kazuya quickly understood what his intentions were.

"Yes. Your companion is wounded and needs a place to rest. Though it may not be much but I am in charge of a place currently being built. There should be enough s.p.a.ce for you and a few companions."

"What's the catch?" Kazuya raised his eyebrow.

"I don't need gold. My only request is that your able companions help with the construction while your companion is recovering."

"Is it the village head's house? You haven't asked how many companions I had so I a.s.sume it would fit a large number of people."

"Ah, clever young man." The man laughed. "Unfortunately, it is not my house that needs to be built. It is an orphanage. Many children have been abandoned here by parents who were being chased by officials asking for overdue taxes. Though their decisions were harsh for the children, I believe that it is much better than selling them off to be slaves. The pare…" The man failed to notice, but the latter half of his explanation fell on deaf ears.

"Waise Orphanage… She… should be here…"

.