Inside the carriage, Felicia sat and devoured her snack. Her face looked annoyed and tired.

Allen looked at her face for quite a long time.

"What?" said Felicia in a slightly angry tone; she realized that Allen had stared at her,

"Nothing," Allen said as he averted his face while covering his mouth with his scarf.

'She looks like a rabbit chewing biscuit,' Allen thought.

She had eaten it with gusto for two minutes. When she realized there was nothing more she could scoop out of her snack bag, Felicia bent her head.

"Allen... about that time.."

"Hmm? Which one?"

"When with Mr Brian, I said what I liked about you-"

"Aah.. You don't need to explain; I know you lied to get home quickly. I'm pretty good at reading other people's lies," Allen replied.

"It's good that you understand. After all, I already have Mr Waldo."

When he heard that name, Allen couldn't help but become more curious.

That's because he felt he had heard that name before and thought it was important. So he asked

"Who is Waldo?"

Hearing Allen ask that question, Felicia immediately perked up

"He's the most important person in my life!" she said as she stood up slightly.

"No, I'm asking about his existence as a human being, not your opinion of him."

"He's a wonderful person!"

"No, I told you I wasn't asking about-"

Felicia then continued

"Mr. Waldo is the one who saved my life."

Felicia's expression changed, and she smiled like the happiest person in the world, making Allen unable to take his face away from Felicia. Now he began to wonder, what could make this girl smile so happily?

"The night I met Mr Waldo, I felt reborn. He was the reason I lived and wanted to become stronger, all for that person only."

"You live for someone else?"

"That's right! I live to make him happy. That's the path I want to take in life, and that's how I achieve my happiness. His happiness is my happiness too."

"His happiness is your happiness..."

'So that's why she can smile like that...' Allen thought.

Allen had never seen such a smile. There was no pretense in it, and there was no sadness in it either, unlike the ones his mother and Isabelle showed.

'did I used to smile like that too?' he thought.

"Allen, one day you will meet the person who will become your happiness," Felicia said happily.

"I've already met her."

"Eh?"

Allen's expression changed, and then, while covering his face with his scarf, he said,

"My mother... My happiness is my mother."

'And the ones who took it away were the humans.'

"I see... I don't care about your past anyway," Felicia said while trying to scoop up another bag of snacks.

-BRUAG

Suddenly the carriage shook from its sudden stop, and it seemed to have hit a rock so violently that Felicia almost fell off. If Rachel hadn't grabbed her right away, Felicia might have been seriously injured.

"AW! What the heck?! What is that coachman doing?! He's making a mistake like this again; I will ask father to fire him!"

Allen then looked at Rachel while holding his left shoulder. That is Allen's signal for something dangerous.

Seeing Allen's signal, Rachel's face turned slightly pale, and she nodded.

"Lady, I'm sorry; please calm down," Rachel said as she covered Felicia's mouth.

-KNOCK KNOCK

From outside, someone knocked twice on the door.

"What's wrong?" asked Rachel.

Allen immediately got ready; he squatted on the chair while holding his sword.

"Please excuse me, Lady. It seems that the wheels are a little damaged by the rocks, so I'd like to replace them. Could you please get out first?" That was the coachman's voice. Rachel immediately replied

"Why do we have to get out? Can't you fix the wheel while we're inside?"

"Um... That would be difficult. Because the wheels have to be lifted first."

"Alright, please open the door. I am currently holding my lady."

The coachman opened the door.

As he opened it, he became confused.

"Wait, why are you alone inside? I was sure I heard Miss Rachel's voice earlier?" The coachman could only see Allen alone in the carriage.

"That was my voice," Allen said.

"Wh-what?"

Allen jumped toward the coachman and stabbed him in the shoulder.

"AKH!"

Then, when Allen got out, he looked at the wheel.

'There's no problem with the wheel! This coachman is up to something!

The signal given by Allen to Rachel was that there were many people following them. And they weren't just regular people; they also had killing intentions.

As soon as Allen confirmed the wheel, he looked inside the carriage and said

"Rachel, do it!"

Rachel's god's blessing may cause her to be overlooked by her surroundings. Allen was unaffected by her god's blessing because he had seen her since the beginning.

-BRUG

Rachel once again made Felicia faint by chopping her lower neck.

"Forgive me, Lady."

-SYUUUT

A long arrow shot into Allen's back. But the arrow couldn't enter his body; it only stuck slightly in the back. Allen picked up the arrow and threw it back where he had received it.

As a result, there was a scratching sound from behind a bush in the forest. From there, a man immediately ran towards Allen.

Allen immediately threw his long sword at the man and pierced his neck.

"D*MN, THEY'VE ALREADY NOTICE OUR PRESENCE!" Then from all directions, many adult men suddenly appeared, coming out of the underbrush.

They were the bandits who were trying to loot Felicia's carriage.

"One, two, three, four... there are twelve of them. Do I need to fuse with Reig? But it's still a long way home; if I fuse, I'll get tired and won't be able to handle the other bandits on the way."

Allen's two hands then grabbed something behind his head, more precisely at the back of his neck. He pulled his dual blades from inside Reig's body. Rachel peeked out, seeing with whom Allen was fighting.

"Bandits, but it doesn't seem like ordinary bandits."

The bandits were wearing various clothes. Not the usual diverse clothes, but clothes that looked as if they were working inside the city. Some were wearing aprons; some were carrying iron hammers in their hands. And most of their clothes were stained with blood.

They were, somehow, looking at Allen with scared faces. Their bodies were thin, and their eyes were slightly blackened.

"They were not experienced fighter," Allen thought.

Allen looked at their trembling bodies, some holding swords carelessly with careless postures.

"DIE!" one of them ran toward Allen, raising their sword like a mace. Then followed by several others.

'They're amateurs. The only strong one is probably that archer,' he thought.

Then Allen, without hesitation, threw one of his blades at the nearest person. The blade pierced his neck, causing him to fall. But before his body reached the ground, Allen immediately jumped on the person's body, stepped on his body and took back his blade. He did this in just a second.

Allen then threw the bandit close to him with his right blade. With his scarf, he pulled another bandit in front of him and stabbed him with his left blade. Allen used the same technique with others: throw the blade, bind and pull the enemies with the scarf, and retake the blade.

"Amazing," said Rachel, who saw Allen move so quickly that he defeated all the bandits with just one strike.

"HIIIII!!!!" Finally, one person was left hysterically scared beside the carriage. Allen's scarf tied up his body, so he couldn't escape.

"ALLEN! DON'T KILL HIM!" shouted Rachel.

The man was immediately shocked because Rachel seemed to have magically appeared beside him.

Rachel placed the unconscious Felicia on the seat and then got off the train.

"Whose orders are these? Why did you attack us?" Rachel asked.

Bandits didn't need an elaborate reason to attack a passing noble carriage for money. But Rachel's suspicions had nothing to do with that. From their clothes and the way they fought, they couldn't be ordinary bandits; they were too weak. Weak bandits would avoid a noble carriage of the earl's class or above because there must be a strong personal knight inside. So bandits who target noble carriages must be pretty confident in their abilities.

"I-P-P-P PLEASE PARDON MY LIFE!" exclaimed the man

"Answer my question first!"

"W-we were sent by a Norttish girl with white and slightly black hair!"

"Norttish girl?"historical

'Who? Is he joking? And her hair... does anyone else have two-toned hair like Allen?'

Then Rachel continued

"Answer my questions, and not only will your life be spared, but we'll also give you some money, so be honest."

"I'M NOT LYING! We were sent by a Norttish girl! Her clothes are strange, and her way of speaking is scary too!"

"Why would she tell you to attack Earl Boldenville's carriage?"

The man showed a confused face,

"Earl Boldenville?"

"You don't know that you attacked the earl's litter?!"

"N-no! I didn't know about that! That Norttish girl told us to rebel against the baron of Andoram! We attacked the carriage to increase the cost of our rebellion!"

"Rebellion?"

"That's right... Barony Andoram has gotten very rotten. The taxes in our territory are higher than in other territories, and we're not allowed to leave Andoram territory with our goods, so we're all starving."

'I thought they were doing this on someone's orders, so that means it has nothing to do with Lady Felicia... should I turn a blind eye to this.'

"Allen, let him go; we have nothing to do with this person," Rachel said.

"Don't order me around..." muttered Allen as he took off his scarf.

Rachel took a money bag from her pocket and gave it to the man.

"Go; you can use that money to flee Andoram territory with your family. As for this matter, I'll try to discuss it with our lord, Earl Boldenville. But don't get your hopes up, our lord is a bit.. prudent."

"Tha-thank you!" he said as he ran from there.

After they could no longer see the man, Rachel looked at the unconscious coachman.

"What are we going to do with him?" asked Allen, who walked over.

"Leave him here. This coachman was only promised a share of the profits. Since the coachman conspired, I originally thought this was an order from the Andoram barony."

'And I think it's also Lord Boldenville's order. He probably wants to kill Allen, and since he knows my god's blessing, he believes I can bring Felicia back to the manor alone. But hopefully, it's all just my imagination... I believe Lord Boldenville still loves Lady Felicia,' Rachel thought.

Then Rachel looked at Allen,

"What?" asked Allen

"Are you okay?"

"As you can see, I'm fine."

"No... I mean... I'm the one who asked you to kill the people who endangered Lady, so you don't have to feel responsible about them."

"I killed them, and I did it because they were trying to do the same thing to me."

"But Lady Felicia certainly wouldn't have asked you to do this."

"Of course, isn't that why you made her faint? So that she wouldn't have to know that I killed people because of her?"

Rachel averted her face, feeling guilty for Felicia and Allen.

'A child this small, he shouldn't be used to killing others, but I have no other choice; it's all for Lady,' Rachel thought.

After that, they continued their journey, with Rachel riding the horse.

.

.

.

"Hey, wake up. We have arrived," said Allen.

"Hmm, stop it..." muttered Felicia.

Not waking up yet, Allen continued to poke Felicia's cheeks more roughly.

Felicia then slowly opened her eyes.

And when she opened her eyes, she could see Allen's face above her, looking at her with an annoyed face.

But she didn't care about Allen's annoyed face; her eyes immediately widened in surprise at the sight of Allen on top of her face. Currently, her head was on Allen's thigh; she was sleeping comfortably on his lap, and she remembered that she was a little delirious. So Felicia immediately raised her head to get up, but

-BRAK

"OUCH!"

Their heads hit each other because Allen lowered his head to wake Felicia up, and Felicia immediately woke up without thinking.

"DON'T IMMEDIATELY GET UP LIKE THAT!" shouted Allen.

"WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?! WHY AM I SLEEPING ON YOUR LAP?!" shouted Felicia with a bright red face.

"That's because you fell asleep on the way! Because Rachel replaced the coachman, she forced me to let you sleep on my lap!"

"Wha.. what? Why would I sleep there?! What was Rachel thinking?!"

"I don't know either; she just insisted on forcing me."

Then Felicia held her head and thought

"Falling asleep on the road? Me?"

"Yeah."

'When did I oversleep? If I'm not mistaken, someone knocked, and... oh no.... My head is spinning the more I think about it.'

[Illustration]