Savior! Redemption in Another World! - Chapter 87

After securing the campsite and arranging a better rotation of watches, we could finally go back to sleep.

Thankfully, no other group aimed for Teresa tonight, allowing the rest of the night to pass peacefully.

///

Shifting awake, foggy-eyed, and slightly drained, our usual morning routine was broken today.

Stepping out of and subsequently dismantling my stone hut, I found both Teresa and Ivy already awake, happily chatting around the fire.

“with a honeycomb and a do- g’monrin little faery,” Ivy said, breaking out of her story and waving to me as I approached.

“Can we please stop with the nicknames?” I plea through a disgruntled tone.

Ever since I began to practice and utilize my wings a bit, the name Dead Faery had been stuck to me instead of anything ice-related. Thankfully, the name eventually evolved into the more passable ‘Little Faery’ on account of my age, but it’s still cringe.

Why can’t people just call me by name? Or at least a better moniker.

“Nope! Not as long as you react so funny,” Ivy said with a chuckle, as Teresa was also giggling at my expense.

Ugh, god damn it.

Taking a seat around the morning fire and cooking up my breakfast, eventually, we had to discuss the elephant in the room.

“So, we’ve hit a bit of a block,” Teresa said, sighing as she bit the metaphorical bullet and brought it up. “Not only are we through yet another horse, but we’re also still over a day’s journey by cart from the capital. If we were to walk with just the stuff on our back and in our bags, then it would be three days’ worth of travel. However, I for one don’t feel very good about leaving behind the cart that’s done so much for us.” Teresa said with a grumble.

Hmmm, I somewhat agree, but also that’s stupid.

The main issue is that we long reached the point of relying on the cart for not only transportation but also storage. We would have to give up a good amount of our belongings in order to move without the cart from now on.

“Well, I know and agree that we can’t abandon the cart, but what other choice do we have? We’re too far to reasonably wheel the cart into town and buy a horse, yet we’re so close to the capital that we can basically smell it. Aside from the physical issue of dragging it, I can’t imagine it would look good for royalty to arrive in a cart with no horse.” I say, playing a bit of devil’s advocate. If it comes down to it, I say we take everything we can fit in our bags and on our backs and ditch it.

Memories or not, it’ll just become a liability.

Flare steps out of her tent with a yawn, collapsing it and throwing it in the aforementioned cart before walking over to the morning fire to join the discussion.

“Mornin’ everyone,” She says, sitting down with another huge yawn.

“Good morning, we were just talking about what to do with the cart, given there’s no conveniently close town this time,” Teresa said, as Flare stretched a bit and began to cook her breakfast.

“Fuck the cart. If it’s gonna be a hassle, why not take all of our stuff, set it on fire, and move on with our lives?” She said, shrugging as if she was indifferent to the decision.

“Well, what if we-” Ivy begins to say an idea, but is interrupted by an ear piercingly loud explosion, blowing us all out of our seats. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem as if whoever launched the attack has good aim, unless we weren’t their target.

Shooting my head in the direction of the explosion, I realize just how wrong I was. My and my stupid big-mouthed brain!

The explosion was centered entirely on the cart, reducing it to wood and ash in a matter of moments. It’s a miracle that no shrapnel hit me.

Glancing between the rest of my party, they didn’t come out as lucky as I had.

Ivy’s back had been to the cart, leaving it littered with shrapnel, with a particularly large piece piercing through her right shoulder.

Flare was faring no better, having her whole left side pelted with the impromptu wooden projectiles. Whilst nothing over four centimeters in diameter was stuck anywhere, the sheer amount caused her and Ivy and collapse on the spot.

Thankfully, Teresa was on the opposite end of the fire, giving her a few precious milliseconds to react and hit the deck.

However, she was still hit by a few stray bits of wood.

Instantly, I conjured a thick dome of ice around the party and extinguished the fire. The ice should let some of the morning light in, allowing us to both see our injured party members and each other.

“What the hell was that!” Teresa yelled, pulling the shrapnel out of her first and Ivy immediately after.

“I have no idea. I guess we’d gotten too used to night raids.” I say, dashing over to Flare and tending to her, pulling the shrapnel out and healing every would it left.

She’ll feel the pain when she wakes up, but for now, I’m not going to be able to count on her for any help.

After removing all of the main pieces of shrapnel and healing all of the immediately life-threatening wounds, I picked her up and gently placed her next to the unconscious Ivy.

As Teresa and I looked into each other’s eyes, we both knew our respective roles.

Instantly, I launched myself out of the ice dome, shrinking and strengthening it, giving Teresa just enough space to get to work.

Once the dome was one-third the size and three times as dense, I conjured two additional barriers, one of wind and another of ice. Healer’s Palace was complete, the defense formation Teresa and I had planned out in case of emergencies.

Teresa would heal all of the injured party members, whilst I would keep them safe and buy time. If a foe was strong enough to incapacitate the rest of the party, I had no hope of winning alone.

Although the situation had changed, the formation and idea were the same.

Once I was outside of the dome, I quickly focused on the real task at hand. Finding the attacker.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to look too hard at all.

“Well, that’s quite unexpected, I would have thought my Special Delivery would incapacitate the lot of you. Color me impressed, Ice Blood.” A menacing voice said, as a black-cloaked man slowly descended from the sky, landing a mere ten metes from me.

“Why attack us in the middle of the day?” I ask, both curious and relieved.

Most of our attackers wouldn’t give a conversation the time of day and elected for instant action. The more I could make this guy talk, the more time I can waste for Teresa to work her magic.

“I never understood why amateurs always choose to attack at night. It’s when people are most vigilant, almost expecting to be attacked. During the day, especially the morning, I’ve found people tend to be relaxed. My turn, why are you protecting the Jeralik?” The man asked, his voice slightly muffled behind a thick black mask of cloth.

“I’m her bodyguard, officially hired and licensed through the adventurers union. The pay is good, and she’s not a bad person from what I’ve seen. Who are you? Why are you attacking us?” I ask cautiously. Please keep talking and give me time to channel more spells.

“For reference, I’m only after the head of the Jeralik. If you want to make the amicable, you could fire off a few spells, let me hit you once, drop your defenses, and let me kill her. That way you and your party live with minimal injury, and we don’t have to have a long-drawn-out fight that ends in the same way.” The black-cloaked man remarked, flipping something between his fingers. “As for my identity, consider me the opposite of someone like you. You were hired to protect the Princess, I was hired to kill her. In fact, if not for your efforts, Prince of Frozen Blood, I may have never been able to get a job this lucrative. For that, I thank you.” The psycho said, giving me a slight bow.

Now I know I have to fight him, but there’s something I need to ask beforehand.

“Where the hell did that nickname even come from? I’m no prince, nor anything of the sort.” I ask this one out of pure curiosity.

“That’s simple isn’t it?” The man says, chuckling slightly before continuing, “You’re an ice mage, known for freezing people solid, blood and all. Hence the name Ice Blood or Frozen Blood, which are for all intents and purposes Mask Names, given to those in my line of work. Since you were so skilled at ice magic and ruthless enough to freeze someone to death, you were originally thought to be someone from our line of work. However, instead of attacking the royals, you protect the princess, hence, The Prince. Combine the two, and you get your little nickname. Satisfied?” He said, chuckling as he explained why so many of our attackers had referred to me like that.

“Yep, and I’m guessing we’re gonna have to fight now? Since you don’t seem like the type of guy to just back off.” I remark, getting into a fighting stance.

“So it seems..” He says, his voice hardening as he too dropped into an offensive stance.