Chapter 25: Chapter 24
The final defence line consisted of the three summoned units and a few knights who had killed the assassins, they made another circular line but this time, protecting only a single carriage.
The outer defence was slowly being closed with the help of the knight leader but several strong bandits got in and started to gang up on him.
The other knights could only maintain the outer defence. The battle field looked like a doughnut, in the very middle lay a crushed carriage and two other carriage that remained. Those carriages were surrounded by a line comprised of three summoned units and several knights, those bandits that got in were either trying to break the inner defence or trying to pry open the outer defensive line in order to let their comrades in. Fortunately the knight leader and several knight lieutenants were preventing the line from succumbing from the attacks within.
Outside the donut is where hundreds of bandits are still trying to break the wall made out of steel and flesh. Even further within the battlefield is where the magic knight and several bandit leaders were fighting.
The knight's goal was to try and hold on until reinforcements from the local lords arrives, the magic knight had already sent a messenger bird to several household and with any luck, light cavalries should quickly reinforce them within the next hour or so.
The battle started around 30 minutes ago or so and now all they had to do is hold on for 30 minutes more.
The bandits on the other hand have already used up all their trump cards, the golem was frozen in the middle of the battlefield, their assassins failed to take out the princess, the elite forces were taken care of by the magic knight and the knight leader, and their potions are about to lose effect. The only successful attacks that they made was the phoenix magic scroll and the momentary broken defence line.
The magic knight glanced at the direction of the carriages and saw that the knights can probably last for 10 minutes more.
Looking at the army of bandits it seems they won't be retreating any time soon. Soon the 10 minutes mark have passed and casualties started to emerge.
With every minute a knight is forced to fall back with a broken shield, those who lost their shield now started to focus on the bandits who got in. Although not everyone managed to retreat safely, some knights that were critically hit in a weak spot would fall injured to the ground, those behind without a shield would take the opportunity to pull them back to be treated by the priests. Knowing that they wouldn't last any longer the Knight leader signalled at one of his lieutenants.
A whistle caused the weary knights to jerk in to attention, they quickly pulled out a bottle of potion before crushing it in their hands.
Their wounds closed, their tired expressions changed to a vigorous one and the injured knights stood once more, other than their equipments the knights felt brand new and ready to go for another round.
The bandits however didn't flinch, their potion buff was slowly starting to grow weaker but they also started to get frenzied. Their expressions looked no longer that of a human but more like that of a demon, a creepy grin was plastered in their face yet their eyes showed a different expression.
Fear, their eyes felt like they were begging for mercy. Their actions were no longer human, those who were injured ignored their bleeding wounds and kept on fighting. Some had their limbs cut off of their body and yet they kept on fighting.
Another heavy pressure pressed on the knights, it felt as if they were blocking an ocean wave with their bodies.
It felt as if the bandits are mounting another desperate strike just to break their line once more.
One of the bandit leader noticed the irregularity from their army and upon looking closer he was suddenly terrified of what he saw. He saw his men rushing towards the knights as if they were possessed.
His face grew red in anger before leaving the battle, some of the bandit leader saw his actions, their attention switched to the battle field and their face suddenly twisted in anger.
They too abandoned the magic knight and ran towards the tent where the robed man was. This gave the knight enough breathing room to quickly use their final trump card.
Pulling out a tier 4 magic scroll he quickly spread the scroll open, the scroll floated in the air before starting to release a huge amount of mana.
The scroll flew in the sky and just after a few moments a ball of water appeared in the sky, it quickly grew into a giant bubble the size of a small building.
The bubble then popped creating a small mountain of water that fell like a waterfall. It crashed into the ground and created a wave that washed over the bandits. The knights however were completely unaffected, they instead grew stronger.
The water formed a small lake where the bandits were moving slowly and in pain. The knights on the other hand moved quickly, the water not only boosted their speed but also their strength.
The bandits that were now numbering half a thousand were slowly being cut down like weeds, the knights moved with incredible speed mowing down the bandits one by one.
The bandits unable to move were slaughtered dyeing the water crimson red.
Back in the bandit encampment the bandit leader confronted the robbed man yet said man was nowhere to be found. With nothing else they could do the bandit leader fled to the mountains, the magic knight couldn't capture those leaders as they quickly separated and disappeared on the forest.
With the threat of the bandit army still looming in their heads the magic knight had no choice but to retreat and help the knights clean up before the duration of the scroll runs out
On the midst of cleaning up, a loud galloping sounds echoed throughout the forest. In just a minute or so, cavalries numbering about one hundred stormed the battlefield, and after a few minutes more, another wave of cavalries arrived just in time before the magic scroll lost its effects.
A man who was lightly armored and mounted in a horse accompanied by two more men found the magic Knight who was in the middle of fighting three bandits, the three quickly approached and took down the bandits who were extremely bloody and full of injuries.
"Hail Sire! I am Baron Dave of the house Davidson, My apologies for being late! when i heard that an army of bandits were attacking her Imperial Princess i couldn't believe what i was reading, but it seems these maggots have somehow amassed an army huge enough to threaten an entire territory!"
Another Noble also arrived to introduce himself.
"Sir Solus, My name is Bradley Braderson of the House Braderson, I must also apologise for our late arrival, we have no excuses for this i hope you could forgive our tardiness.
" No need, i will be needing your men to escort the princess to the nearest town, the surroundings isn't safe yet." The magic knight commanded the two and they quickly complied.
"As you wish!"
"As you wish!"
Soon enough the three carriages moved accompanied by a hundred cavalry men and fifty more knights, with the magic knight himself leading the way.
Th remaining stayed to clean up the battlefield, It was already dawn when the group arrived at the Town of Daviddin, a town surrounded by tall walls and high scout towers.
Yulis stepped out of the carriage, greeting the two barons that kneeled in front of her. "Hail your highness! we apologise for our late arrival, we hope that you could forgive us!"
Yulis simply answered their question with a few words. "There is no need for that, although i would like to rest for now since i'm tired for today, we will talk again tomorrow."
"Of course!"
Inside a manor on the top floor, Yulis pulled out multiple scrolls from her inventory, first she deployed a scroll that created a barrier that prevents sounds from escaping her room. Another scroll to hide her presence and a scroll that creates an illusion of her sleeping.
Finally she used the last scroll, the scroll floating in the air before burning into nothingness, Yulis spoke like she talking to someone, her serious attitude made her look creepy. "Message, Code 000361125791417, requesting audience with the master."
A silent pause ensued for a moment before a voice emerged from within her head.
"ah, i heard what transpired at the road connecting Baron Bradley's territory and Baron Dave's, are you alright?" The voice of Princess Lisvian spoke through her head.
"There is no need to worry your highness, there weren't any serious injuries on our end." Yulis replied respectfully.
"That wasn't what i meant, are you alright?" The princess asked again putting a heavy emphasis on the word you.
Yulis was caught of guard because of the princess's attitude but she quickly recovered. "a- I am, im uninjured and the knights protected me well."
Another silence came about, Yulis was a bit nervous due to the princess's words but after another pause she spoke again.
"i heard that the carriage that you were on was breached, that's quite disappointing of the knights that i chose to protect me, if it weren't for your summons your life would have been taken."
"p-pardon?"
"If i were in your seat, then it's more likely for those assassins to have succeeded in assassinating me, the knights that i chose to protect you were the same knights that i would have chosen if i were to travel in long distances like the northern territories. It is unacceptable for them to fail to defend against mere bandits!"
"y-your highness, the knights were outnumbered 8 to 1, i believe they did an exceptional job at keeping them at bay, if not for the summoned giant and the brainwashed bandits then i believe the knights would have been able to perform better."
The princess almost shouted in anger. "That is not an excuse to-.... wait, what do you mean brainwashed bandits?" The angry tone of the princess suddenly switched to a more serious one the moment she heard the word brainwashed.
"w-well, when the battle was entering it's climax, the bandits started to act weird...." Yulis reported to the princess about the events that transpired, after speaking, the Princess fell into deep thoughts.
"that is indeed concerning, a potion that caused them to go berserk, although not rare the appearance of almost a thousand of them is very much alarming. This means that someone was willing to pay thousands of golds just for the potions and now mind control..... Tomorrow you will return immediately, forget about the remaining territories, someone is obviously targeting me and i need you to return safely by my side. "
" Y-yes your highness. " The two spoke for a few more minutes before they ended their call.
The night was quiet and yulis was on the bed sewing some clothes, she was not interested in sleeping and instead wanted to increase her tailor subclass. It didn't take long for a mountain of cloth equipment to form just beside her bed, soon, the sun was already peeking through her windows.
Stretching her body, the mountains of clothes disappeared and Yulis started to fix her appearance. Soon after a servant came and knocked on her door.
Yulis was escorted towards a large dining table, there the two nobles awaited. Kneeling down before greeting Yulis like before.
"Stand up, there is no need for the both of you to be kneeling every time i appear."
"yes your highness." The pair stood up but still didn't sat down and instead stood by the side.
Yulis sighed in her head, is this how an imperial princess lives? it is somewhat annoying. "take a seat, i hope to converse with the both of you while enjoying breakfast."
"we would be honored to!" The nobles spoke with excitement but still reigned in their emotions in order to adopt a more respectful attitude.
While eating, Yulis told the pair about her suspicion aswell as the unusual behaviours of the bandits.
The two Barons were very worried, since that army alone could have easily threaten their people and their territories.
"Your highness, these are the records of the local bandits that we are aware of, the smaller groups consists of about 30 or so peoples while the largest numbered around 80 i hope this information could help." The pair handed over some documents.
The three talked until they finished their breakfast, Yulis now, had to return to the capital where the princess waits.
The return trip was very nerve racking for the knights, any moment now and another army might descend upon them, although they had borrowed additional troops from the barons as precautions they couldn't help but be extremely vigilant of their surroundings.
Fortunately nothing really happened and the caravan with full speed, returned to the capital within a few days.
[Verdesia Empire system announcement, Congratulations to Black Lotus for being the first player to discover a City]
[Rewarding, City reputation, Gold Coins]
[Verdesia Empire system announcement, Congratulations to Black Lotus for being the first player to discover the Capital City Verdant Garden]
[Rewarding, Verdant Garden reputation, Gold coins, Title]
If not for the fact that Yulis was the only player in the empire, this information alone would have once again brought light to the name Black Lotus, although she wasn't really interested in useless thing like fame.
Yulis had to report to her employer, and obviously received a hefty amount of gold which she quickly transferred to her sister, her sister's shock was immeasurable, from the past few days her sister kept sending batches of golds after golds yet today she suddenly received enough gold to probably drown her!
Raella: Sis! where did you get all of these coins?! did you rob the company that you work in?
Black Lotus: My dearest sister of mine, even if you combine all of the guilds within the entire kingdom, their gold reserves won't rival ours.
Raella: B-but where did you get all these?
Black Lotus: It's a chain quest that i accidentally found, although if i somehow fail this quest I'd probably lose my account or something similar.
Raella: What!? Does that mean your currently doing an incredibly harsh quest?!
Black Lotus: Well.... yeah, kinda.
In reality, Yulis did almost die multiple times while doing her quest, without her magic scrolls and summoned monsters, she would have more likely failed her quest.
Plus her knowledge on how to talk and deliberately manipulate information allowed her to get the best probable outcome on some instances in her quest.
Keeping her identity as an immortal a secret also allowed her to reap huge amount of gains in quick succession. In the Princess's eyes, Yulis did an amazing job of surviving and her ability to escape death made her more valuable to the princess.
If Yulis had revealed her identity as an immortal, the Princess would have probably give her less rewards due to the fact that she could come back to life in the event that she dies, but Yulis opted for a short but profitable road.
Yulis might end up dying in the future and if that does happen, she won't have any means to
contact the imperial princess and with that ends her profiting quest.
Ever since the incident with the bandits, The princess haven't given out any quests for Yulis. Yulis was however already prepared for another dangerous quest. When the princess heard about Yulis using several magic scrolls and summoning scrolls, she had quickly replaced them as some sort of rewards.
Her new set of scroll however were much more powerful than before, her summoning scrolls are now tier 2s and her magic scrolls were now tier 3s. This gave Yulis with great confidence and hope that the next time that she faces another great threat, she would have something to protect herself with.
It didn't take long for the princess to send for Yulis, this time the quest was for her to attend a multi national relation conference. A meeting of several nations that are either allies or nations that the empire is in good terms with, the purpose would be to not only enhance their relations, it would also serve as some sort of party for nobles to create connections with.
The princess was tasked by the emperor to attend said meeting, then the Princess ordered Yulis to go. Obviously being exposed, away from the protection of their own territory and with the fact that her enemies seemed to be getting bolder by moving an army against her made her very cautious.
Yulis eagerly accepted the quest and boarded a carriage once again protected by a caravan, this time the numbers of knights were doubled, The magic knight from before also accompanied her with the addition of a tier 4 paladin and another tier 4 great mage. Their escorts also fielded a small army of soldiers numbering around 400 hundred, an enhanced mage unit, an enhanced priest unit, and the servants from last time aswell.
Since they are leaving the protection of their own territory, such measures are normal for a member of the Imperial family.
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