The one who interrupted Jack’s basent magic session was linda. Apparently, it wasn’t just one person but a whole group of people waiting outside for him. If not for his [Noble Aura], he would have been freaking out.
Under linda’s guidance, Jack calmly left the safety of his house and erged outside. A winter breeze carrying the damp sll of rain assaulted his nose. In the front garden of the mansion was a group of twenty elves, all with long silver hair tied up in ponytails.
Jack recognised Beldroth at the forefront of the group from many previous play-throughs.
’One of Queen Kaylessa’s captains ca here personally?’
The short man radiated the aura of a seasoned veteran as he unfurled a parchnt upon noticing his arrival. "By royal decree, I am here to escort Sir Jack Harrington and Miss linda Harrington to the princess, where a eting shall be held between Sir Jack and the princess this afternoon. Failure to comply will result in the use of force and potential imprisonnt," Beldroth read out in a neutral tone.
Jack was honestly scared shitless in front of such a force. While he had played this as a ga many tis, their scrutinising gazes and the glint of their weapons in the sunlight held far more impact now that it was all real. So, he did what he always did. Let his body take control.
The edges of his lips curled up into a smirk as he took a few steps forward. The guards around Beldroth seed apprehensive and nervous.
’Now that I look a little closer, these are not elites at all.’
He looked down at the tiny elf. He found it rather ridiculous how pompous he’d sounded reading out the decree, considering he had to look almost vertically up to et Jack’s gaze. Beldroth was clad in magically enhanced tal armour that perfectly fit his tiny fra. A silvery-white cape hung from his shoulders bearing a silver moon, the crest of House Silvermoon. To his credit, the elf seed utterly unaffected by Jack’s intimidating gaze and glared back at him with the confidence befitting a captain of the queen’s royal guard. Beldroth had to confront many important people every day, so he did not falter under the intimidation of a noble aura.
Jack grinned. "Royal Captain Beldroth, it would be a pleasure to be escorted by such a capable group of soldiers."
The elf seed a little confused about how Jack knew his na but quickly shook it off.
"Sir Jack, please follow—"
"Captain!"
Beldroth scowled at the young elf soldier. "What?"
The poor elf soldier recoiled under his captain’s gaze but stuttered out, "Elaith used Clairvoyance on the surroundings and found a druid in the woods to the north."
Beldroth frowned. "Do we know his affiliation or motives?"
"Elaith concluded that the Druid’s task involves watching Sir Jack’s movents. He could be a forward scout for an ambush as well."
Beldroth nodded to the soldier in agreent. "It seems you are rather popular around here, Sir Jack. It’s not every day a rare class like a Druid is used to monitor soone ordinary."
Jack just let out a long sigh. "So, the sentinels of Veranthos finally made their move, huh?" he muttered just loud enough for the captain to hear.
Beldroth gave Jack an appraising look. "Sir Jack, please enter the car. We will escort you to the capital as soon as possible."
Beldroth led Jack and linda toward the vehicle. linda seed amazed, but Jack had seen these before, both in the ga and back on Earth, so he looked uninterested.
"This is the latest Magi tech from the Research Institute here in Velmira. Unfortunately, there are only five that have been constructed so far, and the princess owns one of them," Beldroth explained with a hint of pride as the group stepped inside.
Jack admired the exterior.
’I believe these cars move by high-powered water pushing against the grooves on the wheels, similar to how I moved my carriage with Psychokinesis by applying so type of force to the top of the wheel to make it turn.’
The rest of the car was like a saloon car back on Earth. It had four wheels and doors. The car’s body was constructed from a black tal that Jack recognised as Dark Steel. It was a magically enhanced standard steel version that naturally repelled magic-based attacks, turning this car into this world’s equivalent of a tank.
An elf wearing a butler uniform stepped out of the car and bowed to Jack and linda. "Young Master and Miss, I shall be your driver today."
Jack and linda entered the car’s back seat and sat down on the white-coloured seats made from a Snow Bear’s hide. Imryll also entered the vehicle but sat in the front seat, clutching a piece of parchnt as if it were a treasure that would float away.
The driver sat in the seat directly in front of Jack and placed his hand over two open pipes. "ᚹᚨᛛᛖᛨ ᚪᚨᛁᛁᛟᛁ (Water Cannon)," the man muttered in runic language, and two powerful jets of water shot from his hands and down the pipes. The car lurched forward and began moving. The slow speed allowed the elves to walk alongside to protect the car from external threats.
Jack still found it strange hearing soone talk in the runic language. It was clearly English, but when it ca out of his or anyone else’s mouth, the world seed to translate it into so weird ancient language that nobody was supposed to understand. Deciding to think about it more at a later date, he lay back and closed his eyes.
He knew the car could reach high speeds if the water mage driving it was powerful enough. Unfortunately, from Jack’s estimates, this man was a C-grade in Water Magic, as his Hydrokinesis skill was sowhat lacking. Despite the ridiculous cost of creating one of these cars and the need to hire a dedicated water mage to drive it, Jack could appreciate the suspension and soundproofing of the car. Climate control made possible by mana-controlled heating stones was also a nice extra during these cold months.
Suddenly, the car ca to a halt, so Jack lazily opened his eyes. Small glass windows reinforced with runes allowed him a view of the outside.
’Oh shit.’
They were surrounded by over a hundred people, all wearing similar black cloaks. They advanced toward the car with animated movents.
"Protect the car. Form a defensive line on !" Captain Beldroth bellowed.
"Don’t be afraid, Mr. and Miss Harrington. This car is heavily enchanted, and the guards are well-trained. We will be fine," the driver comnted.
Jack looked deeply at the mob surrounding the car. Sothing seed off about them. The encirclent slowly got tighter until they got within ten ters of the car.
One of the black-cloaked figures suddenly lunged toward an elven knight. The knight quickly parried the attack with his sword, then calmly chanted a skill, "ᚠᚹᛨᛖ ᛋᚹᛟᛡᛱ (Fire Sword)," and his iron sword glowed red hot.
"Hmm, a C-grade sword art... should be rather effective," Jack mused as he watched the fight. The elven knight swung his sword in a vertical arc and smashed into the black-cloaked person’s head, sending the figure flying a few ters before crumpling on the floor.
"Huh?" Jack couldn’t help but be confused. "Why didn’t he protect his head? That swing was so obvious, yet the cloaked figure did nothing to stop it."
The elven knight also looked sowhat confused but quickly blocked an attack from another opponent. Surprisingly, this foe was also defeated relatively easily.
"See, Sir Jack? The royal guards of the princess are rather impressive," the water mage remarked while watching the fight from his seat.
"It seems so..." Jack absentmindedly agreed.
They were rather impressive as the knights battered and smashed the figures away with their swords and skills, apart from the captain, who was utilising B-grade Wind Magic to enhance his speed, leaving a re blur as he moved. His fast sword swings also knocked back his opponents over ten ters away. The rest of the knights used C-grade sword arts of varying affinities. Although their skill grades were relatively low, their extensive sword training and decent teamwork quickly filled the gaps.
Within thirty minutes, the last of the black-cloaked figures fell to a brutal sword slash from a young elven soldier.
"It seems the battle is over," the butler comnted.
Jack didn’t answer but continued to observe. Sothing felt terribly wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. The fight felt a little too easy for his liking.
The group of soldiers all crowded around a nearby corpse and peeled its black cloak from its face.
"Huh?" they all said in unison as a man with yellow and rotting skin was revealed.
"It’s a ghoul. This is bad," Jack said, surprising everyone in the car. He tried to open the car door to warn the soldiers, but the car was locked.
"Please, remain seated, Sir Jack. It may still be dangerous outside," the water mage comnted, not knowing the danger he was in. "Don’t worry, these are elites. They can handle a ghoul."
"No, I need to—"
Jack was interrupted by a scream from outside. The psychic mage Elaith was lying on the ground with a dagger through his neck. He desperately gasped for air, but his windpipe was filled with blood, creating a weird gurgling noise. A black-robed figure who was missing an arm stood over Elaith. Its lifeless eyes glanced over the group.
A young elven soldier charged toward the ghoul, activating a skill as he ran.
"ᛖᛁᚾᚨᛁᚪᛖᛱ ᛋᛛᛨᚹᛗᛖ (Enhanced Strike)." Just as his sword was about to impact the ghoul’s head, a nearby corpse moved and grabbed his leg, causing him to trip. Then another corpse rose and ramd a dagger into the fallen knight’s head. The man’s death occurred in re seconds.
Then, much to the already exhausted elven guard’s horror, all one hundred black-robed figures rose again. So were missing limbs or even heads, yet they began their march toward the car once more.
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