“Please have mercy… I used to be… arghh!”

“No… no… get away!”

“This does not make any sense! They informed us you had been only a tier two…”

Blood dripped off Claire’s longsword as she mercilessly ran her blade by way of the cowering males shivering at her toes.

Corpses had been scattered throughout the forest flooring and the quick haired paladin didn’t chill out her guard for a second.

The heavy metallic scent of blood hung within the air and Claire’s piercing blue eyes appeared even colder than typical.

Regardless of her place as a holy knight of the Varion Church, Claire at this second extra resembled a demon crawling out of hell.

The killing intent and the stench of demise surrounding her physique was sufficient to make even the bravest soul tremble in concern.

This was not first time that the convoy had been adopted by hostile enemies and she or he must be a idiot to not discover that one thing was suspicious.

Bandits, barbarians, rogue mercenaries…

???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????

It was not exceptional to come across these teams when travelling to the outer areas of the continent, however the sheer frequency of those encounters was unusual.

However why had been they a goal?

There was nothing significantly useful within the caravans and carriages since they had been full of meals and provides.

Was it due to the darkish elves?

It was not a shock that information had leaked a few convoy heading to the outer areas with former darkish elf slaves.

Claire let loose a heavy sigh and took one final have a look at her environment for any hidden threats.

The as soon as stunning forest had now been fully destroyed within the fierce struggle.

Bushes and small crops had been trampled, a number of timber had been sliced in half and the our bodies of furry animals lay lifelessly on the bottom.

Claire took a well-worn handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the blood off her blade. She positioned her longsword again within the sheath.

There have been flecks of blood splashed throughout her face and white armour however there was nothing she might do about it now.

Claire left the realm and walked for round ten minutes till she noticed a carriage with 4 wholesome brown stallions connected to the rope.

Elisa was petting the horses whereas whispering one thing of their ears. She caught sight of Claire approaching from the gap and waved her fingers excitedly.

Claire’s chilly look disappeared and her lips inadvertently curved upwards when she noticed the pleased smile on the previous saintess’ face.

Neither of them had introduced up the kiss within the Governor’s Mansion however there was a delicate change of their relationship.

“Are you damage?” Elisa requested in concern as she stretched out her hand and positioned two fingers in opposition to Claire’s brow.

A burst of holy gentle erupted from her fingertips and Claire felt a surge of vitality movement into her physique.

The small cuts and bruises on her physique immediately healed and even her delicate headache was now gone.

“The place are the others?” Claire questioned after Elisa withdrew her palm.

“Captain Brian took his males to a close-by stream to permit the horses to drink some water and get some relaxation,” Elisa defined as she gestured in direction of a sure course.

“Then why did they go away you by your self?” Claire growled in anger as her hand drifted in direction of the hilt of her sword.

“I particularly informed him to all the time have somebody by your aspect in case of emergencies…”

Elisa listened to her nagging and felt a heat fuzzy feeling in her coronary heart. She had to withstand the urge to kiss these extremely luscious lips.

Captain Brian’s unique plan was to attend till Claire returned however a small pinch of black magic was sufficient to persuade him to vary his thoughts.

Elisa had planted seeds of darkness into the minds of each mercenary escorting them to the outer areas.

It had proved to be a vital evil since a number of warriors had been working for noble households and got secret orders to spy on their actions.

Along with controlling the minds of the mercenaries, Elisa had ordered a number of darkish elf scouts to quietly comply with the convoy with the intention to present backup in case of an emergency.

After all, Claire didn’t find out about these issues since Elisa saved her in the dead of night.

So far as the paladin was involved these mercenaries had been extremely skilled and desperate to obey her instructions.

“You are not listening, are you?” Claire’s exasperated voice snapped Elisa out of her musings.

“No… no… I bought it! I am a poor, weak and helpless excessive priestess who wants safety in opposition to the horrible evils of the world,” Elisa dramatically exclaimed.

She positioned one hand in opposition to her brow and sighed helplessly.

A tragic expression flashed throughout her face as she continued the act.

“Woe is me! For I’m however an harmless lamb who wants shelter from the vicious wolves desperate to eat me up.”

Claire smiled indulgently as Elisa continued to play out the picture of a damsel in misery whereas her eyes gleamed with mischief.

The brown horses connected to the carriage neighed playfully and Claire all of a sudden felt as if the world had gotten brighter.

“Alright that is sufficient… you win okay… let’s simply go meet up with the remainder of them,” Claire lastly spoke.

Elisa stopped her infantile efficiency and stared warmly at her guardian knight.

There was one thing about Claire that made her neglect about her worries and return to a time earlier than she had the load of the world on her shoulders.

Elisa cherished these moments as a result of deep down she knew that they might not final without end.

Because the princess of the darkish elf race, she wanted to fulfil the prophecy and convey a brand new daybreak of hope for her individuals.

“Please,” Elisa whispered softly as she held out her arm.

Claire escorted the previous saintess in a well-recognized method into the carriage after which sat down on the motive force’s seat.

She grabbed the rope in her palm and gently tugged twice to let the horses know that it was time to depart.

After a number of weeks on the highway, Claire’s driving abilities had enormously improved, and she or he might now simply deal with the horses.

The carriage set off in direction of the course of the closest river with the solar shining brightly above them and the birds chirping merrily within the sky.

Quickly a large riverbank got here into view and Claire might see a number of massive wagons and caravans resting a number of meters away from the water.

Tents and mattresses had been scattered round a crackling fireplace the place a simmering pot of soup boiled.

Closely armoured women and men guarded the short-term encampment whereas the lighter dressed fighters had been tending to the horses.

Hidden from view contained in the carriages had been the previous darkish elf slaves who had been nonetheless afraid to be round people.

Claire did not know the way Elisa had executed it, however she by some means managed to persuade them to to not escape through the lengthy journey.

A middle-aged man carrying a heavy axe strapped throughout his again approached the carriage with gradual purposeful steps.

His face was unshaven, and his eyes would dart backward and forward as if he was possessed.

Claire was accustomed to this unusual man since he was the chief of the ‘Scarlet Rose’ which was the identify of the mercenary firm that she had employed.

“It’s good to see you once more,” Captain Brian respectfully spoke.

“The horses are at the moment resting and must be good to go to renew the journey tomorrow. I’ve a number of of my males cooking dinner in the mean time.”

“We’ll make it possible for the darkish elves are nicely fed and obtain solely the perfect care through the journey.”

Claire nodded in approval and put aside among the worries in her coronary heart.

Honestly given the brutal historical past shared between the overseas races and humanity she was involved that the mercenaries would mistreat the previous slaves.

However evidently this was not the case.

In actual fact, Captain Brian and the remainder of his males appeared to deal with the darkish elves higher than they did themselves!

It was truly fairly bizarre…

Claire pushed that unusual thought to the again of her thoughts and centered on the matter at hand.

“That is all good… however why did you allow Elisa unattended?” Claire coldly spoke.

“Did I not provide you with specific orders that she isn’t be left alone? She is a excessive priestess, and her life is price greater than all of us mixed…

“Do I make myself clear? I by no means need an incident like this to occur once more.”

Captain Brian froze in place and a wierd emotion surfaced in his eyes that Claire couldn’t learn.

“My… my… apologies… I do not know what I used to be pondering… it will not occur once more,” Captain Brian stuttered with an unnatural look on his face.

“Are you alright?” Claire requested in a puzzled tone.

Elisa poked her head out of the carriage window and moved her proper hand up and down in a round sample.

Captain Brian’s tense expression slowly relaxed and he replied with extra confidence in his voice.

“No downside! The Scarlet Rose firm will all the time comply with the instructions of our shopper so Girl Elisa’s security might be our primary precedence!” Captain Brian loudly declared.

Claire nonetheless checked out him with doubt however couldn’t inform what was unsuitable for the reason that captain seemed to be his typical self.

Perhaps she was nonetheless on edge after coping with the bandits from earlier…