Six luxurious carriages raced over the plains.
Their motion was surprisingly stable despite the fact that they were galloping over rough ground.
To start, the wheels of each carriage were magic items called ‘Comfortable Wheels’. In addition, the chassis of the carriages had also been treated by a magic item called ‘Lightweight Cargo’.
These unbelievably magnificent carriages commanded an eye-popping price, but just as astonishing were the creatures which pulled them. The eight-legged magical beasts looked like horses and were known as ‘Sleipnirs’.
Calculating the precise cost of fielding six of these vehicles was an exercise in foolishness.
These vehicles ―far out of reach of the merely wealthy― were escorted by a group of riders mounted on powerful horses.
There were over twenty of these riders, each clad in chainmail armor, armed with longswords on their belts and crossbows on their backs.
Yet, a woman rode at the head of all these men.
Alone among all these warriors, she wore a suit of heavy full plate armor. In addition to her full plate, she carried a cavalry lance in the same way foot soldiers might hold a spear. Her helmet’s visor was raised, but the right side of her face was covered by some kind of golden cloth, which made her look quite unique.
Although this band of horsemen were the very picture of mercenary warriors, but their practiced movements and their clipped, precise words were nothing like that of a common sellsword. Their eyes were keen, and their level of alertness was high.
Some might have taken their unceasing vigilance to be a form of paranoia or cowardice, but in a world where magic was real and monsters flew through the air and ran wild over the land, even being on guard against everything they could see was not enough to guarantee their safety.
There were giant spiders which could survive for months without drinking while lying in wait for their prey, formless shapeshifters that resembled banks of fog, unclean monsters that slid through the air, venomous lizards with petrifying gazes that could only be avoided if they were encountered on open ground…
They were all on edge because they were wary of monsters with such deadly powers. However, normal mercenaries did not go to such lengths for alertness.
The thing that set them apart from mere mercenaries were the invisible people in the air. They were a band of riders who were keeping pace with the riders on the ground while under the effects of invisibility magic.
There were creatures called hippogriffs in this world. They were born of the mating of a male griffin and a mare, and these magical beasts had the front half of a griffin and the hind quarters of a horse. Perhaps it was because of their mixed blood, but hippogriffs were easier to rear and train than griffins, and they were very popular as flying mounts.
And then, there were the riders of these beasts to consider.
Flying creatures ―even if they were monsters― would command an extremely high price if they were put on the market. They would not be something that simple sellswords could afford.
Indeed, the entire act of being mercenaries was a facade intended to deceive various people.
The true identities of those on the ground were the Empire’s royal guards, while the ones in the air were the Imperial Air Guard. The latter were elite troops who were shrouded in invisibility mantles that cloaked both riders and their mounts from sight.
Of course, that meant the owner of the carriages was none other than the ruler of the Baharuth Empire, Emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix himself.
There were several reasons why he had disguised his unit like this, but the biggest one was because the Emperor and his knights openly riding through Kingdom territory would cause an international incident ― and that could not be allowed to happen. As such, the exterior of the carriages was more plain than the interior ― although it was still far more luxurious than regular carriages.
In this convoy, the security around the third carriage from the rear ―Jircniv’s carriage― was heavier than those around the others.
Even the roof of his carriage had been refitted and now there were two archers hiding in the luggage compartment.
The interior of the carriage was supremely decadent. Judging by the furnishings alone, it was more akin to a high-class suite than a simple carriage, from the furred upholstery on the walls and floor to the soft and comfortable seats, which had been designed to not cause even the slightest bit of discomfort over long journeys.
Only three people were permitted to share this luxurious conveyance with Jircniv, which meant that total of four people occupied the space of the cabin. Although the idea of four people squeezing into a single carriage might seem restrictive and uncomfortable, that was merely the uninformed imagination of those who had never rode in a first-class carriage before. In truth, all four of them had adequate space to sit in any way they