Gossip: Three Heroes ~Escape from the Kingdom ②~

Aaron had tried to put the Dominance Bracelet on Kanon. We managed to put it off this time, but there wouldn’t be a next. Kanon and I stayed vigilant, aiming for a chance for us to run. After some time, that chance arrived.

It happened while we were out hunting monsters in the name of leveling up, as usual. The request we’d taken from the Adventurer’s guild was to exterminate some ogres that had recently started showing up near a road leading to the capital. There was only one stray ogre that appeared, so the extermination concluded without any problems. It was during our return from that trip.

On our way back, all of a sudden a huge wolf suddenly blocked our path.

“Grrrrrrrr...”

“Ah, that’s an A-ranked great wolf......”

“Why is it here......”

“A-Anyway, we have to defeat it.”

Leonard, Aaron, and Louise all readied their weapons. From their reactions, and the fact that it was an A-ranked monster, I could tell it was really dangerous. It was probably at the level where we would somehow be able to beat it if all of us worked together to fight.

“Kaito, Kanon, Rio, your magic!!”

Leonard raised his voice, and the three of us started chanting our magics. “O blazing ball of fire, burn mine enemies......”

As we started our chants, the great wolf came at us at a terrifying speed.

The moment the gray wolf jumped on us—

“AAAAaaahhh!”

I heard a shouting voice from beside me. When I looked that way, Rio’s left arm had disappeared, from the elbow down.

“The great wolf uses Wind magic!! Quickly, shoot your magic!!!” I heard a voice shouting at us; it was most likely Aaron. The great wolf, hearing that voice, aimed for the three knights next.

This was a chance for us! We can take Rio, who lost the bracelet along with her arm, with us!

“Kanon, heal Rio!”

I immediately started chanting magic.

“O blazing ball of fire, burn mine enemies to nothing! Fireball!”

“O raging arrow of fire, pierce through mine enemies! Fire Arrow!!”

After unleashing a Fireball, I also followed up with the strongest attack spell I had at the moment, a Fire Arrow. The spells exploded on the spot where the great wolf and the three knights were.

“Kanon, Rio, let’s run while we can!!” When I told them that, Rio, who was unsteady on her feet, and Kanon, who was supporting Rio, started forcing their way through the forest along with me. We just recklessly moved our feet to go forward. While we were running, I talked to Rio.

“Rio! Are you all right?”

“............”

Rio’s face was colored bluish-white, and it didn’t seem like she could reply. However, her arm’s bleeding was already stopped, and some new skin had already formed on the stump.

“I used one of our potions, and also a Healing spell, and somehow managed to stop the bleeding! I don’t think she’ll die!” Kanon was the one that replied.

“Kanon! At any rate we need to head west. We’ll run west and into the Kingdom of Marveil!”

“Got it!”

The Kingdom of Reijseger’s capital was basically right in the middle of its territory. This was the road leading south of the capital. If we just head west from where we are, we should be able to make it to the kingdom of Marveil. I also snuck out a compass-like magic item out from the capital with us. At any rate, we went west.

As we desperately moved our legs to go farther, Rio’s legs finally gave out and she fell without power. It seemed that she lost consciousness due to the loss of blood. I carried the unconscious Rio on my back.

“Kanon, no matter what, we head west. Right now, we need to gain some distance, at all costs.”

“Yes. Let’s hurry.”

Wordlessly, we moved west through the forest.

......At that time, I shot my Fireball and Fire Arrow at both the great wolf and the three knights. The spells exploded where they landed, and the entire area was wreathed in fire. It was possible, that right there, I killed not only the great wolf, but all three of those knights.

It’d just be an excuse, but I was desperate then. If we stayed in that country, both Kanon and I would also be treated like slaves. Surely, we would have been forced into wars, and made to fight right at the tip of the spear. That was clear from the way they only sought combat ability from heroes. I definitely didn’t want to spend the rest of my life a slave like that.

Kanon probably also knew what I just did, but she didn’t say anything. That’s just how desperate we were. I’ll take a hard pass on being used by Reijseger as they please. As if I’d ever accept being a slave!!

Kanon and I frantically moved west in a bid to escape.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

When it got dark, we decided to spend the night in the cavity of a large tree. Having had a dinner of some black bread and water out of the food stocks we’d accumulated in our Item Boxes, Kanon and I decided to trade off turns to be on guard.

“I’ll be first. Make sure you rest when you can.”

“I know. Wake me up when it’s time to switch.”

I strained my eyes, staring into the darkness of the night. Every once in a while, I would hear the cry of some animal.

“I’ll never allow us to be caught......” My small voice echoed really loudly. “And, I’ll definitely protect you two.”

It was something like my determination. At first, I was going to abandon Rio, using the excuse that there was nothing we could do. However, the bracelet disappeared, and like that, we managed to run together. Rio lost her arm, but even that might go back to the way it was. There might be some kind of potion or magic to replace a lost arm. As long as we keep living past this point, we can just try to find something like that.

Like this, we managed to run away, all three of us, together. I’ll definitely protect these two.

After a slightly longer-than-planned shift, I switched with Kanon and rested myself.

The next morning, I woke up to find Rio also awake.

“Rio, are you all right?”

“Yes, somehow......”

“Do you remember what happened?”

When I asked, Rio said that she did, kind of. Apparently, after Leonard slipped the Dominance Bracelet on her, she started getting attacked by the feeling that she wasn’t herself after about three days. She started readily saying things she’d normally never say, and she had this kind of weird hazy sense that she wasn’t herself, like she was just watching a movie the whole time.

“The bracelet that you put on, Rio... apparently, that was a ‘Dominance Bracelet’. Once you put that on, you’ll follow the orders of the person that’s the master of the item, and it seems that only the master can take the bracelet off.”

“I see. So that’s why as soon as I put that bracelet on, I started listening to everything Leonard said...............”

“We won’t become anything like slaves. Never.”

“He’s right. Kaito, Rio, and I, all three of us will run away. As long as we get to the kingdom of Marveil, we’ll be able to make things work.”

“Yeah, because the kingdom of Marveil is just about to go to war with this country. Even if it’s found out that we’re heroes summoned from another world, I don’t think they’d send us back to this country.”

“............But, I’m missing an arm. I’ll just drag you guys down with me......”

“What are you saying?! As if that would ever be the case! You’re great at magic, right, Rio? Do you need your arm to use magic? You can fight just fine without your arm, right? Also, you’re by far the best at Healing magic, aren’t you? Rio?”

“Right. It’ll be no good if you aren’t around to use Healing magic, Rio. We’re going to the kingdom of Marveil together!!”

“Kaito, Kanon...... *Snff*”

“Let’s all get to the kingdom of Marveil, no matter what.”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

We swore to each other to get to the kingdom of Marveil together, no matter what.