Behemoth's Order
"Have you sent a message to the king that Princess Anastasia will arrive late?" Royal guard swordsman spoke to the smaller royal guard with a worried expression.
"Shhh ... You better lower your voice, your voice that is worried can make princess hear it." In a low voice, the mage royal guard immediately put his index finger to his lips to give his friend a quiet signal.
"Oops ... I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was making a loud sound." the royal guard swordsman tried to be calmer.
"When Princess Anastasia did not immediately come out of the party when the other royal princesses had returned to their respective horse carriages. Actually, I had tried to send a message to the king with a magic scroll, but strangely enough, the Magic Scrolls that I used didn't work even though I tried. repeatedly." He spoke in a whisper to the royal guard swordsman.
"Is this the work of Behemoth's Order?" His face was a little surprised after listening to the mage royal guard explanation and guessing at the mastermind that caused the Magic Scrolls to malfunction.
"I didn't know that one of the Behemoth's Order members possessed such forbidden magic, magic that can cancel other people's magic." The mage royal guard was still focused on spurting his horse.
"What do you mean by Deviation Magic?" The royal guard swordsman gulped as he guessed the type of magic used to cancel his partner's Magic Scroll.
"Yes, I never thought that there were still those who used this type of Deviation Magic. Even though it was still the worst kind of magic, it was still forbidden to use. Even I didn't realize that someone activated it on me." The mage royal guard firmly gripped the horse's rope, annoyed that he didn't notice the magic activation aimed at him.
"Wouldn't it be dangerous if we continued traveling? Or should we return to the Nudora Kingdom?" A royal guard swordsman gave advice to his partner.
"It would be even more dangerous if we returned to the Nudora Kingdom. When I failed to send a message to the king, I felt that it was not right there. I can't leave Princess Anastasia there any longer." The royal guard witch has already explained the dangers if they return to the Nudora Kingdom.
"I never thought they would move faster. But, whatever happens, I will try to do my responsibility as a royal guard. My pride is at stake now." The royal guard swordsman prepared himself for all kinds of attacks that would strike Princess Anastasia.
"We can't take the risk of fighting Behemoth's Order members because we will also be going through a dangerous jungle. We better have to increase our speed and get past The Pygmy Wild Jungle before dark." The mage royal guard spurred his horse faster.
"Is the night trip from the south as scary as they say. Are we going through a jungle filled with beasts? Or a haunted jungle?" Just imagining what would happen, Anastasia was already shivering.
Anastasia began to look out of the window. The sky, when she left the Nudora Kingdom, was yellowish red, now dark and cloudy. The royal guard swordsman was turning on the horse-drawn carriage lights to illuminate the path they were about to enter the lightless jungle.
The jungle is big, shadowy. A cacophony of wild sounds, most of which are insects, adds to life in the forest and is occasionally supported by a large beast's sounds in the distance.
"Did I really come this way this morning? I don't remember leaving when my horse carriage was coming this way. It really gave me the creeps." Anastasia was surprised by the difference in jungle atmosphere during the day and at night.
After entering The Pygmy Wild Jungle for a while, the horse-drawn carriage started to slow down and got slower until it stopped.
"What happened?" Anastasia glanced out the window and raised her voice slightly at the royal guard.
"There is a big tree trunk blocking the way of our horse-drawn carriage. Please don't get out of the horse carriage." The mage royal guard has reported the situation outside the horse-drawn carriage to Anastasia.
Without getting off the horse carriage, the mage royal guard managed to get rid of the large tree trunk blocking Anastasia's horse carriage journey, and they continued their journey.
"Whoa, the smaller royal guard turns out to be a mage. He can get rid of that obstacle easily."
Their journey wasn't too much of a hindrance, just a beast attack. It could easily be overcome by the royal guard swordsman. Until the horse carriage was almost out of The Pygmy Wild Jungle.
"Don't you feel that the jungle is too calm? It looks like someone has been passing through this jungle." the royal guard swordsman had a bad feeling.
"Whoa!" the mage royal guard immediately pulled the horse rope to suddenly stop the horse carriage. Several people with hoods block Anastasia's horse carriage.
Anastasia managed to hold her body from falling because the horse carriage stopped suddenly with her hands.
There was the mage royal guard voice from outside. "Princess Anastasia, I'm sorry for stopping so suddenly. Please don't get out of there. I've already given reinforcement magic to the horse carriage. You will be safe inside. There are strange people outside asking for lessons. So wait a moment."
Anastasia, who was curious about what was happening outside, immediately looked at the window in front of her. "Whoa! Who are they? They look like they have evil intentions. What do they want?" Anastasia asked the mage royal guard.
"They only want you, princess. They are an evil organization that not only seeks money but some evil purpose." The mage royal guard answered Anastasia's question while getting off the horse carriage.
"Looks like those Behemoth's Order members will not move away until they are given the pain." The royal guard swordsman spoke to the mage royal guard and jumped down while clenching his fists.
"You better not let your guard down. We seem to be surrounded. I didn't expect that there would be this many members of the Behemoth's Order." The hooded man has circled Anastasia's horse carriage without them noticing.
"Leave the princess who is in the horse carriage unopposed to us, if you don't want to get hurt." One of the hooded men walked ahead of the other.
"Are we going to be as stupid as you think?" Before he finished his words, the royal guard swordsman immediately drew the double-edged sword from the sheath on his hips and slashed through all the hooded men.
* SWOSHH *
With the mage royal guard's help, they managed to finish off all the hooded men unharmed.
Anastasia, who saw their fight, could only sit with her legs trembling in fear as she watched them finish off the enemy. She first saw so much blood.
"Isn't this too easy?" The royal guard swordsman approached the hooded man who spoke so arrogantly and took off the hood.
"Thankfully, they were able to defeat that strange group safely." But Anastasia, who already felt safe, did not notice a man with a unique mask lurking outside the horse carriage.
She didn't know what kind of magic the masked man was using, but he was able to break through the horse carriage and managed to grab Anastasia and pull her out.
"Damn, they're not members of the Behemoth's Order. They're just ordinary bandits. Princess!" The royal guard swordsman realized too late that the bandits were just baiting to make it easier for the Behemoth's Order members to kidnap Anastasia.
"Haha! You bastards, due to your ignorance, I can easily kidnap your princess." The masked man appeared from behind the horse-drawn carriage with his right hand over Anastasia's mouth and his left hand carrying her hips.
Anastasia's strength was still not enough to resist the masked man's firm grip. He was a thin, tall man with black hair with a strange mask on his face.
"You damn coward." A smaller royal guard quickly activated ice magic to freeze the masked man. But the masked man quickly took out the knife in his hand."Would you like to see the cut on your master's neck?" The masked man rubbed his knife around Anastasia's neck.