Special Chapter II - Ambush (part 1)

Never... ever believe that a road trip will ever go as planned.

Never.

I never really left the kingdom from the western gate before, but apparently there are only trees out here. After moving for nearly an hour ever since leaving the gate, we arrived at an incredibly dense and tall forest. The trees are huge and thick, and the forest is incredibly dense too. The leaves on top are covering the sun from entering, so we can only see bits of the sunlight on the ground thanks to those leaves.

But really, every time you look around, there are only trees. Trees here, trees there.

I want to see something else, damn it. Give me a wide open field view with mountains in the distance, like the area outside of the southeastern gate.

I can see some animals on top of the branches, all the way from the window at the back of a wagon. I tried very hard not to look childish, but in the end, there wasn't that much to see, so it's useless not to look curious.

The old couples who sat next to me seemed to have this feeling of unease as well. They asked the knights across our seat about the trees that were surrounding us.

"This area is known to be the great forest of Medan. The trees are humongous, and the trunks are tall and thick. It's really one of the best woods out there."

The male knight who sat across the old lady answered their question. In addition to the large size, the wood on these trees are also thick. If this existed back in my world, they would definitely have chopped these into crazy expensive furniture.

Though, I had my worries for something else. I turned to the male knight, and asked.

"Doesn't that mean that this area is also susceptible to ambushes?"

I asked the male knight who was talking. He must have been surprised that I talked, because he expected the oldies to be the one to do most of the conversation.

He turned to me and lifted his shoulders.

"That is... possible. This forest covers nearly tens of kilometres of area. It's very huge."

Since the size of the forest itself was extremely big, it's also very much possible for bandits to ambush the travellers. Plus, these trees seemed to be rather perfect for ambushes.

But since I'm here, is there even a point in worrying?

"But, not to worry. At every cart, there's knights on board. And we are here to make sure that madam Amila doesn't get touched!"

The male knight said quite proudly, and I'm not sure why. After all, this wasn't the nobles carriage, so there's nobody to impress.

Unless…

"I see... That's comforting, indeed."

"What about you? Why are you heading to Veldon?"

The knight suddenly asked me a question that I was not ready to answer. He seemed to be cautious around me, and I guess he's not a complete airhead.

"I--"

"Oh! We are just travelling! Right, dear?"

The old man next to me must have misread the knight's glare and thought the question was for him. As a result, he answered and explained how he and his wife are retired people, looking to find joy in touring at an old age.

They also started to explain their children in the kingdom, who are working hard so that they can go on an adventure in their old age. This story goes on rather long, so I was quite avoided from the question.

The male knight seemed to have cursed himself deep down for asking, while both the female knight and the hooded lady next to him were chuckling.

I tried my best to hold back my chuckles, because if I do, the knight may just become hostile at me.

After explaining for thirty minutes, the old couple finally stopped talking and let the male knight talk.

"Judging from our pace, we will leave the forest before dark, I think."

The male knight looked outside from the window behind his head to see the situation. So far, nothing unusual has happened. But my guess is, since they are putting a knight on every cart, they are expecting something.

A problem will arise.

We are around one and a half hours away from the kingdom already. And to reach Veldon, it would take half a day, fastest. There's still ten and a half hours until we get there.

The male knight sighed at the thought of how long he will have to endure the stories of these two old couples. The other option he had is to switch carts with someone else, but that would mean leaving the person he is supposed to be guarding, which I assumed is the hooded lady.

I'm not sure how old the hooded lady is, but I'm sure she is nowhere above twenty. It's quite hard to look at her face under the hood. She is definitely quite young, probably around my age.

I can't stare at her too much, otherwise it will make the two knights next to her become more suspicious of me, and maybe cause an issue.

Man, how long will we have to be on the road?

"I want to ask. Will there be some rests along the way?"

I asked the female knight in front of me. She turned to me before nodding and answered.

"Yeah. There is."

That's it? No more details?

"E-Exactly when are we stopping…?"

"Anytime when it's needed."

"I see…"

She really is not in the mood for talking, or she is just very wary of me. Well, I don't blame her. Who would be so close with a masked hooded person?

The male knight gestured some apology at me, and I replied with my palms facing him.

And the rest of the trip just felt awkward.

.

Right before sundown, the group finally took a stop. There is a large pond right next to the road, so the leader of the group decided to hit the brakes there and rest. 

Everyone stepped off the carriages to breath the fresh air, and might as well did a slight clean up. And thanks to the fresh oxygen, my mind finally clears itself from being dehydrated.

The pond right in front of me isn't exactly large. It was twenty meters of diameter, and surrounded by sand and trees. I'm not exactly sure how deep it is, but it doesn't matter.

I need to pee… Real bad.

Ever since I switched bodies, I haven't really had issues with peeing, but it's definitely a lot harder to maintain.

Since I can't hold it anymore, I decided to sneak out of the group, all the way to the middle of the forest. I heightened my senses to check for any lifeforms. After making sure no human is within a fifty meters radius, I let myself out.

However, my disappearance seemed to be a bad idea.

At first, everything seemed normal. The male knight was simply sipping the water bottle, filled from the water he took from the pond. His friend, the female knight, is away taking care of the robed lady, so he is left by himself on the side of the pond.

There are also other knights in the distance, but at the spot where he is, he is alone.

And all of a sudden, an arrow shot from far away and landed on his chest.

"GAHH!!"

Everyone around him heard the shout and turned to see. They got taken aback when they saw the arrow on his chest. 

"AMBUSH!!!!!!"

The knights immediately got prepared and formed the strategy, while the civilians and the ones who can't fight hid themselves inside the carriages.

The arrow seemed to have come from across the road, away from the pond. Which means, the archer should be on top of one of the trees.

The knight chief commanded the knights to be on lookout. But, by the time he finished his sentence, an arrow landed on his shoulder.

"Kuhhh!!!"

"Captain! Are you okay?!"

"Of course I'm not, you buffoon!"

The captain pulled the arrow out of his shoulder, not even a slightest worry about the blood spurting out. He walked towards the nearest carriage, and he leaned his back on it before starting closing the wound on his shoulder with a bandage. One of the knights is helping him, but everything else becomes even messier.

The female knight and the robed lady quickly appeared and ran towards the carriage. Before entering, the female knight spoke with the captain and entered to protect the robed lady.

After ten seconds of silence, the knights began to let their guard down. The archer used this opportunity and released yet another arrow. But this time, it wasn't only one arrow coming towards the knights.

Tens of arrows suddenly rained from the skies. It was shot from all the different directions around them.

They are surrounded, and the enemies have arrows. Some of the arrows landed on the knights, while the rest missed.

"There's more than one!!"

"Take cover!! Now!!"

The knights shouted and started running towards the carriage to take cover from the rain of arrows. By the time the knight captain opened his eyes, there were four of his men on the ground in front of him, including the male knight who was shot first.

"Damn it!"

The surviving knights took cover behind the carriages since the arrows were coming from the other direction. But apparently, that's not the case.

The archers are a lot smarter than them. This battle has already ended long before it even started.

More arrows are coming from the direction of the pond, the one part that the knights weren't ready for.

"GAH!!!--"

Most of them screamed when they got shot. One of the knights turned to the captain, and asked.

"What should we do!?"

Some of the knights got hit on the legs, and even on the chest. The captain was too stuttered to think of a plan, so he just couldn't say anything.

He turned around and found that his men were mostly wounded. They started off with 12 knights, and now they are down to seven. There are also some wounded ones, but it's impossible to ask them to fight.

"This ambush is well-planned…"

"Captain!! What should we do!?"

The knight shouted at the captain again. After hearing the question, the captain stood up.

"We fight!"

Before long, steps can be heard from both sides of the road. The enemies finally showed themselves, and there's fifteen of them on each side. They all held their melee weapons, and wore their smirking faces.

"Tch… We fight!!! Don't let them touch the lady or the passengers! We are knights! We surrender to no one!!"

"""Yes, sir!!!"""

The knights all shouted at the same time as they split into two groups to fight the bandits. But in the end, it was never a fair fight to begin with. 

There are over thirty bandits, all surrounding them on two sides of the road, and there might be some more hiding in the trees.

While the knights were fighting, the female knight peeked outside to see the situation, and tried to leave. The robed lady no longer had her hood on. Her short black hair was let down, while her beautiful face looked scared.

The female knight turned to the scared young lady, and she tried asking for permission.

"My lady, I-"

"Go! Help them!"

The female knight nodded and quickly came down from the carriage to aid the back group, because the situation there was worse.

The knight captain is fighting in the front group. With only three other men, he stood his ground against more than fifteen bandits.

Unfortunately, these bandits are trained and strong. They fought a group of well trained knights on the same ground, but since their numbers were greater, the knights had no chance of winning.

The first knight to fall was the one on his left. The captain watched as a bandit deepened his dagger on the chest of the knight, and he opened his eyes widely.

"JAREM!!!"

The captain quickly staggered the opponent in front of him and sliced his head from the neck, vertically. After that, he turned to his left and used his large sword to split the bandit in half from the hips.

DEGG!!

His left shoulder, the one that got shot by an arrow just a minute ago, suddenly got reopened. Blood rushed out and painted the bandage that covered the wound. The burst of pain took away all his focus.

"Kuh!!--"

"Captain, watch out!!"

By the time the captain snapped out of it, he could see the blade of the bandit in front of him just a meter in front of his eyes, rushing at his head at high speed.

"Captain!!"

The knights on his right all shouted his name as the blade sliced his left shoulder.

The captain was able to react in time, avoiding the blade from hitting his head. But as a result, the blade sliced his left shoulder, which was already wounded.

The captain did not take any time. Using the pain as motivation, he thrusted the bandit in front of him with one hand using the large sword. After throwing the corpse of the bandit away from his blade, he glared at the remaining bandits with a fierce gaze. 

The bandits around him became scared. They all forgot about their advantage in numbers when they see the fearsome knight captain in front of them.

The knights who were still able to fight were able to regroup right next to the captain.

"Captain!"

"I'm good! Though, I can't use my left arm anymore, and there's still tens of them. Not to mention the ones on the trees. We should hurry up and help the ones on the back!"

""Yes, captain!!""

The knights all shouted at the same time. They have all received a new power from the captain's words. But in reality, the captain was already extremely wounded. 

The wound on his left shoulder had rendered his left hand useless, and his head is already sweating profusely due to holding the pain back. He can't think straight, and it's only a matter of time before he falls to the ground due to blood loss.

But, the bandits took no such chances. In a flash, an arrow flew past the forest's dense branches, and landed on the captain's chest.

The captain, wide eyed, fell down as blood slowly spurted out from the wound on his chest. His eyes are facing the direction where the arrow came, and at that direction, is a single young archer, taking yet another arrow from the quiver behind his back.

"Heheh… This is an easy farm."

The young archer had an extreme accuracy in his shots. He was the one who shot the male knight all the way from above the trees, and even shot the captain's shoulder. No other archer in this group is as good as him, and thanks to his intelligence, the bandits agreed to make him the leader.

As he picked more arrows from the quiver, he mumbled.

"One down… two to go."