Chapitre 21: Escorting Lize
Del and Cole helped the knight to load the suitcases into the carriage. If one heard the word "knight", one would think that it was a person in shining metal armor including Del. However, this knight looked like a usual adventurer but with nicer clothing.
"Where Lize is staying?" Del asked.
"Madam Lize, you meant? She is staying in the guild building," the knight said.
"I see. What is she doing in here?" Del asked.
"You adventurers never have manners, don't you? Madam Lize is here to attend a business meeting alongside taking a little R&R on the side," the knight said.
"I see. About manners, I'm an independent contractor, what can I say?" Del just smiled.
"Right…"
Del waited for Lize to come out of the guild building. Three hours later, a woman came out of the guild building. Del expected a woman in a lavish dress to get out of the inn, but no, Lize was not even standing out from the other adventurers.
Calling her part of the royalty didn't fit well either since she looked more like an adventurer. An adventurer usually wore a shirt and pants with lots of pockets. Lize was looking exactly like that. She wore white pants instead of black pants and she also wore leather armor that covered her whole torso.
"I really should buy an armor sooner or later," Del muttered.
The knight opened the carriage door for Lize and she entered the carriage. She immediately told the caretaker to get the horses to move. Del loaded five 7.92x57mm Mauser bullets into his rifle at once using the stripper clip.
Del walked alongside the carriage while the caretaker drove the carriage. Cole was covering for the left side while Del was covering for the right side. The caretaker just kept an eye on the road. There was something that bothered Del though.
He didn't know why the payment for escorting someone from Midham to Begard became so high all of a sudden. He knew that the area surrounding the road to Begard was considered dangerous, but even then, the dangerous area was still bordered by grasslands.
Del wanted to ask, but the caretaker wouldn't even bother to answer him. Del could demand an answer from Lize, but he really doubted that a daughter of a count would want to answer his questions.
"Robert, it might be a good idea to stop in the sweet shop later on, don't you think?" Lize asked from inside of her carriage.
"I agree, madam," Robert said.
"You two are close?" Cole became confused.
"They won't understand you," Del said.
Lize looked at Del, "You can speak demonically? Very impressive."
"Yup, I can speak demonically," Del said.
"How old are you, kid?" Lize asked.
"17," Del said.
"That's quite a young age for an adventurer. Tell me, what brings you into this business?" Lize asked.
"Money, to be honest," Del said.
"I see. Life is hard, isn't it?" Lize said.
"It is."
"My father also got scammed some weeks earlier. I know there is something suspicious about that merchant. The painting was very ugly for its price. Anyway, we rent a bounty hunter to hunt him down," Lize said.
"And that bounty hunter is me, quite a coincidence, isn't it?" Del asked.
"Oh, so you're the bounty hunter. What did you find?" Lize asked.
"Not much, Osmond, the money, and a bloody vampire," Del said.
"Vampire? You survived a vampire encounter? Damn, kid, you're stronger than I thought for an F-rank. Heck, I am asking myself why you're still F-rank at this point," Lize said.
"I think I am still too weak for a D-rank certification," Del said.
The test for leveling up involves sparring. With his weaponry, Del only had two choices. He could either kill his enemy or not doing anything to his enemy. He could easily spar a D-rank with his rifle and kill him in the process.
It wouldn't be good. If he sparred with a sword, he would certainly lose. A magical spell was also an option, but Del hadn't mastered any magical spell so he wouldn't be able to use that to his advantage. All ways simply ended up in him losing the fight or in him killing the opponent.
"Surviving a vampire and you're still calling yourself weak?" Lize asked.
"Yes, more or less? I survive because of my friend right over there," Del pointed his hand at Cole.
"Friend? Your slave, you meant?" Lize asked.
Del sighed, "Yeah, my slave."
Robert intervened, "You know, with that demon on your side, the rank of your party should be at C at the bare minimum, you know?"
"Well, this demon is not as strong as I thought," Del said.
"I see," Robert said.
They continued their journey to Begard. So far, there was nothing suspicious along the way. There was no sign of ambush either. If not for protecting her from bandits, they why would Lize pay so much for just an escort.
"Robert, is Madam Lize a target of an assassination?" Del asked.
"More or less. To be honest, according to my investigation, Madam Lize's assassins are ordered by her own siblings," Robert said.
"Robert! That's family business," Lize shouted.
"I apologize, ma'am," Robert said.
"Ah, I'm dead…"
Assassins and bounty hunters were pretty much the same things. It meant that there was a high chance that Del had to fight bounty hunters along the way. However, a request to assassinate a high-profile person like Lize wouldn't be available at the adventurer's guild. It would be a request from the mercenary guild which meant that Del could be fighting an experienced veteran.
"Robert, are you sure both of us are enough?" Del asked.
"I thought that the demon is enough, but after hearing your testimony, we're pretty much fucked," Robert said.
"Don't be like that, Robert, I can fight," Lize said.
"And kill yourself in the process? No way I would allow that, Lize," Robert said.
"What if I somehow survive while Lize is dead?" Del asked.
"Well, just prepare for an endless wave of bounty hunters coming after you," Robert said.
Del just responded with a nod.
Del became more vigilant with his surrounding. Maybe too vigilant. Even a little bit of moving grass would make him aim his rifle in the direction of that grass. Meanwhile, Cole was just whistling while giving zero to no attention to his surrounding.
"Cole, keep an eye on the bloody road!" Del shouted.
"Man, relax, I know what I am doing," Cole said.
"Fine…" Del sighed.
Del kept an eye on the road. He thought of something. It might be a good idea to check the road up ahead before the carriage passed. That way, he could prevent an ambush at the cost of risking his own life.
"Robert, I have an idea," Del said.
"What do you have in mind?" Robert asked.
"Cole and I will check the road ahead. Can you stay behind us?" Del asked.
"That's quite a good idea. I will move slower then," Robert said.
"Cole, follow me!" Del shouted.
Del ran alongside Cole. Cole was running in front of Del while Del keeping an eye on any hiding spots such as the rocks and the bushes. Hopefully, the bandit would be foolish enough to attack Cole. Besides, Cole was running faster than Del.
Eventually, after they gained some distance from the carriage, Del and Cole looked around for a point of ambush. In the road between Midham and Begard, there were no many places to hide after all. Finding any ambusher would be easy.
If the ambusher attacked from behind, Del could buy sometime using his Kar98 while Cole moved towards the carriage with his sword. Hopefully, that plan worked or Del would basically sign for his own death warrant.
"Cole, run faster!"
Del saw one giant rock that could be an ambush point in front of him. If Cole acted as a decoy, the ambusher might be stupid enough to attack a single demon. However, it was not like the ambusher had much choice but to attack him.
Technically speaking, Del was actually betting on the intelligence level of the ambushers. Why? If he were the ambusher, he wouldn't ambush Lize on an open grassland like that. He would ambush Lize inside of Midham because the guards were rather thinner than Begard. Ambushing someone in an open grassland just didn't make any sense for him.
Del stayed in his place while Cole ran towards the rock. Del aimed his rifle in the direction of the rock.
"Del, why do you need me to run faster?" Cole asked.
Just before he went past that rock, three people appeared behind the rocks. Del's hunch was correct. That rock was an ambush point. Immediately, Del ran away from the rock to gain more distance from the rock while Cole dealt with the ambusher.
Del immediately shouted, "AMBUSH!"
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone