Infinite Arrow-Chapter 42 - 40: Escort (3)

After searching every house with the help of the knights, they found out that every single villager had been killed. All of them died with a single stab wound on the neck and a chunk of their limbs missing with a few claw marks on their skin.

Enrid took most of the bodies to a large house and stored them there. Fortunately, he didn’t pile them up like a mountain. He respectfully arranged them and covered their corpses with the cloth found inside their homes.

Enrid opened the door and left the large house with the expression of a disgusted man covering his nose, he closed the door and went to his allies who were currently gathered outside of the carriage.

"How many deceased in total?" The mage asked with her head facing the ground, her giant hat covering her expression. Honestly? It’s for the best. There were...

"Including kids? Thirty adults, and twelve children. In total, the deceased are forty-two villagers. It’s a massacre." With his report, it confirmed that every single villager had died.

"We saw claw marks and a stab wound on every victim. It’s most likely a serial with a personal murderous pet that did it." Arnheud proposed an idea of what the suspect looks like and has.

However, she was refuted by her superior. The eleventh shield of the kingdom also proposed a suspect.

"A bunch of trained assassins with incredible coordination. Just like the ones that attacked us in the forest– It’s probably them...!" With sound logic, it is indeed more possible that a group of trained assassins did it.

"Ombra Fattoria..." Mumbling, Esther mentioned the organization that was trying to kill the princess.

However, one of them still isn’t convinced.

"Impossible, they wouldn’t kill their own like that...! We don’t have a motive yet, so we shouldn’t jump to a conclusion immediately!" Trying her best, Arnheid attempted to persuade the others that they shouldn’t blame it immediately on the group that has been following them.

"Y’know, for a knight that is supposed to be protecting the princess from said organization, you seem to be protecting them." In a confronting tone, Enrid mentioned how weird her behavior is when it comes to the Ombra Fattoria.

"Igh–..." She couldn’t deny how weird her reaction was either.

"Do you have any connection with said organization?" Suddenly, Cliff asked the question instead of Enrid. However, his tone of how he asked is pretty different. It wasn’t aggressive nor pressuring. It was genuine curiosity, and if she answered, they might get some answers.

She kept quiet, it took a whole minute of silence and rising tension for her to finally speak.

"...I knew the leader of the Ombra Fattoria, I...was the one who executed him."

Everyone’s surprised. Not a single bit of their expression showed no reaction, they were all shocked.

"We knew you had some connection but I didn’t know you were the one who..." Enrid was about to say something but was stopped by Esther. Arnheid is sensitive about it and mentioning that she’s the one who did the deed will only make things hard to gather information.

Arnheid noticed Esther’s kind gesture and smiled before continuing to speak again...

"Before I was appointed to my current position as the twelfth sword of the kingdom, I was a squire following orders of a certain noble..." She sat down at the edge of the carriage, with her armor clashing with the wooden edge of the vehicle, creating slight metal noises.

"He is the worst person I’ve ever met, even other nobles wouldn’t dare involve themselves with him... but he sponsored my teacher and me, so we had no choice but to obey his command. We were his private guards and... executioners." She held her sword and ran her fingers through the intricate scabbard. Despite being a traumatic memory, she had no choice but to wield the sword. She sighed, her golden hair flowing with the wind.

"Then one day, we encountered the leader of the formerly peaceful group known as Ombra Fattoria." Then, her grip on her scabbard tightened. Her entire arm shakes out of intense emotions that she’s venting out.

"One of his members accidentally fell onto that noble’s table and ruined his shirt... He pressed vandalism charges and attempted assault. Everyone knew...! He knew that they weren’t trying to attack anybody but...!" Her right hand balled up into a fist, her eyes showing such intense rage and remorse. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Because the people were afraid of him and didn’t want to mess with him... They agreed that the person who ruined his clothes shall pay for his crimes... but... the leader stepped up and begged the noble to be the one punished instead... The noble saw the opportunity and..." Before she continued, Cliff interrupted the story by walking forward.

"We get the gist now, you really shouldn’t continue any further if you don’t really wanna remember it." Cliff empathized with the knight, but he knew that they shouldn’t stay here any longer.

The eleventh shield, Reinar can be seen handing a letter to a bird. It flew away after receiving the letter and went towards the direction where the City of Ordelia was located.

"I have sent a message to the army of Ordelia about the situation here. They’ll come to this town to investigate and perform a burial for the dead villagers." What a professional. A role model for all knights, though he is a bit too large. He would probably count as a barbarian or a tank if he was a playable character.

"Let’s move onward. Unfortunately, it’s not our job to deal with this. Would that be fine to all of you?" Reinar asked. Luckily, he isn’t that forceful or rude. Just straightforward, but he could at least show a few empathetic words. But then again, he probably saw this kind of thing before.

Everyone went back to the carriage, where the princess could be seen organizing the box filled with minor health potions that they bought from a certain shady alchemy shop mixed with Cliff’s creations.

She noticed that they’d returned and she went back to her spot happily, waving her arm to say hello to everyone. They all smiled, Reinar and Arnheid sat together and started conversing with each other. Enrid went to the front of the carriage to be the one who maneuvered the horse.

Meanwhile, Esther went back to the map board that they’d set at one of the pillars that holds the carriage together. She started mapping out routes and roads that were available and safe from thieves, they did receive payment after all, the least they could do was to avoid being attacked by nobodies.

Cliff went and sat beside the princess, waved his hands and started polishing his arrows.

The princess tilted her head sideways "Mr.Cliff, why are you wiping your arrows? Are they dirty? They don’t look dirty to me." For a princess who wants to become an adventurer, she doesn’t know much about maintaining a weapon in good condition. Then again, she’s also a sheltered princess– but wait, her dad told her many things– surely he taught her about this– well, it’s better to just inform her than overthink about it.

"Do you know that air contains something that degrades items? If you don’t clean it, it’ll get rusty and its durability will decrease over time." Cliff warned the princess on how to keep your weapon from degrading, like a tutor.

"I...My mother refused to let me handle a weapon– Father used to argue with her about it. He told her that... I have to know how to fight to protect myself..." The princess looked at the ceiling, her feet waving around as she sighed.

That’s a good father.

Cliff’s eyes brightened up like he was reminded of something. He searches his waist around for a few seconds before pulling out a sheathed dagger and presenting it to the princess.

"Princess, look at this dagger."

He slowly unsheathed it and revealed a beautiful pattern on the blade and the handle having a gorgeous intricate design. The blade is not rusty, it is well-maintained.

"This is a dagger made out of the fang of a powerful monster, it is very sharp– wanna hold it?" The lad offered as he slowly sheathed it back. The princess didn’t know what to do, her body was hesitating whether to hold it or not. So, she turned her head around where Arnheid could be seen and looked for her validation.

Arnheid noticed what was happening and took a few seconds before finally nodding and smiling softly. The princess smiled and immediately went to grab the dagger and analyze it on every side.

"WOAH–! It is so..! Heavy but beautiful! Haha!" She slowly unsheathed the dagger and touched the broad part of the blade. It is smooth and sturdy, and its reflection is so clear that people would think it’s a mirror.

Y’know, seeing a child so happy about holding a dagger is making my parent instincts kick in and grab it away from her.

But seeing her so careful about it makes him think that he shouldn’t. Then, he had a great idea. Seeing how she doesn’t have anything to protect herself other than her knights...

"Princess, that’s my gift to you. Please, take it for your safety." His voice softened and relaxed because it was such a nice dagger and she could put it to a better use instead of him.

"W-wha! Are you sure??? You won’t have a dagger to use thou–" Before she could even finish her sentence, the lad revealed the inside of his cloak and a bunch of throwing knives could be seen stored in it.

"O-oh. You have more– well...! Thank you, Mr.Cliff! I’ll treasure it and use it for emergencies!" With her smile bright as the sun, she strapped it onto her waist where it is hidden thanks to her cloak.

[ The "Verminous Dagger" has been removed from your inventory. ]

That’s fine. To keep this girl safe, she’ll need it.

Cliff gazed at the road ahead, where the walls of the City of Ordelia can be seen from afar.