Herscherik (Reincarnated Prince Series)
Chapter Six: Borders, War and Strangeness Part One
Roy had a hidden trembling self in the bush and was shrinking.
Until yesterday, I thought I was supposed to join the Expeditionary Force and go to the fort without a thing. But today, in the country, we were ambushed by the Imperial Army. And Roy fled with a selfless obsession to escape the sword of his sword.
(I am………………………)
In the back of my brain are the coworkers I had a conversation with yesterday who bled out and fell. Just remembering that, Roy couldn't stop himself from trembling.
(I couldn't...)
It was useless for the prince's knight to teach him how to handle a sword. I want to live, I think. But I wasn't prepared to do anything to live. So even when the enemy soldiers were about to kill me, I couldn't pull out my sword and ran away with it first.
The fear of that time and the emotions of my pity are cloudy and I'm about to cry zero.
I heard someone pull in.
(That is………)
Face out of the bush where you were hiding, and turn toward the one where your voice spoke. At the end of his gaze was by the river. Indeed, Roy recalls that the river is a river that flows from the mountains north of the kingdom and branches off on the way to the Duchy of Parche and the Atorad Empire.
A small figure sat up and coughed up by the river.
"... Oh, I thought I was gonna die. I really thought I was going to die this time. I got drunk after being flushed down the river...... ugh.
It was a young voice. I hope I die. The tone sounded like somehow I could afford it. Roy stares at the figure. The shadow was someone Roy knew.
"Your Highness Hershelik!?
Forget he's hiding, too, and Roy rises out of the bush.
The little shadow called to Roy shook his shoulder for a moment and turned his face toward the voice.
"Yes?"
Hershelik turns his eyes round and surprises Roy as he rushes over from the bush. And when he came to the side, he gave him a relieved look.
"Mr. Roy, I'm glad you're okay.
"No, I am………………."
He's escaping, I can't tell you, Roy. Hershelik perceived him like that and hit Pong and his arm with a small hand.
"If you're alive, you'll figure it out.
Roy felt a little light-hearted by the words. Hershelik takes off his jacket, confirming him laughing unconsciously.
"Well, I wonder where this place is...... huh"
But when he tried to take off his jacket, the pain ran on his left arm and Hershelik distorted his face.
(Wasn't it just intact?
Hershelik punches his inner tongue.
Hershelik fell to the wild river beneath the cliff after being surrounded and cornered by assassins on the cliff. A normal child would have died, but Hershelik had a very useful tool.
(That's really amazing, this pocket watch.
Yes. Be aware of the pocket watch you put in your pocket.
It was Hershelik's perception that this pocket watch captures the magic around him and can activate magic. But Ciro, a magician and familiar with ancient magic and magic equipment enough to make his own, discovered that this pocket watch was not all that functional.
One of its discovered abilities is the memory of multiple magical formulas. Another was the ability not only to convert floating magic, but also to store magic. Ordinary magic tools have a constraint of one magic formula per tool, and the magic power to activate it must be in front of them. However, pocket watches, which are an ancient heritage, can store multiple magic formulas, and can even store a certain amount of magic. And that magic can be used to develop magic ceremonies.
It is exactly the kind of magic tool that is used for Hershelik without magic. It is a pocket watch that was a smartphone when I thought it was a gallery.
Shiro said, "Why didn't you notice?" He gave me a frightened face, but I have no magic writing, and I hope you won't say anything to me about magic, "Hershelik said.
Anyway, thanks to the pocket watch, Hershelik didn't have to die because of the junction magic prepared by Shilo, even though he was flushed by torrents.
However, I immediately thought that the magic could be used by the chaser, and it was flushed to some extent to activate the magic, but by then I hit my left arm and it seemed to hurt.
(You were just lucky you weren't the right person.
Hershelik suppresses his left arm.
It's not just injuries. Hershelik thinks Roy was lucky enough to get to land and where he was flowing.
Hershelik would have drowned had he not been able to reach the land and the magic of his pocket watch been cut off while it was being flushed, and it would have been difficult to get back here if it had been on the other shore.
(I could win the first bet.
Once again Hershelik thanked himself for his good luck and the strength of his battle luck.
"Your Highness? Could you be hurt?
Roy says worryingly to Hershelik, who has shut up.
"Yeah, I think I hit my arm a little. I'm sorry, but can you help me take it off?
Hershelik takes off his jacket while he is suffering from pain in his arm and asks Roy to pull the lining on the back of his jacket. Then there was a map of this neighborhood made of cloth. It is, of course, what Hershelik asked Khlo to make. Because it was waterproof, the terrain, letters, and symbols could not be read, even if it was wet and flushed into the river.
"I've got it ready.
Hershelik says to Roy, looking strangely at him, as he glances over the map with his dominant index finger.
"The place that was ambushed is around here. Suppose it was around here that I fell into the river and got flushed..."
Yep, whining like a solitaire, snooping around the river part on the map and surrounding the current location.
"From the terrain. Around here, I guess.
"Probably, yes.
Roy nods with some anxiety at Hershelik's inquiry. I fled with selflessness, but given the direction and distance I traveled, I thought it was Hershelik's place of instruction.
"All right, the closest thing you can find is this village. Mr. Roy should come with me for now.
"…… Yes.
To Hershelik's words, Roy had to nod.
When the mist cleared I kept walking, I saw a small village at the end of my gaze. However, when there was a village there became a past form.
"This is……"
As in the case of the village, Roy complains.
Not a single person is found, the houses are destroyed, and the fields are trampled and vandalized. The small village visited was devastated.
"Probably attacked by the Imperial Army...... Ouch"
Hershelik gave in to pick up a stuffed animal that fell to the ground, but the pain runs on his left arm and distorts his face. Still, however, he reached out and lifted the stuffed cotton stuffed rabbit that would have been trampled.
"Your Highness, I'm still injured..."
"I'm fine.
Hershelik answers Roy's concern by shaking his head.
The pain in his arm was insignificant to the people who lived in this village, Hershelik thought with a bitter, bitter face.
This place must have been an Imperial Army passage from where it was ambushed. You can't miss out on enemy humans. After the looting of supplies, the houses must have been destroyed.
"……….
Potsuri and Hershelik whine and hug the stuffed animal.
"Your Highness?"
Roy leans down on one knee next to the immobile prince, looks at Hershelik's expression and rounds his eyes. But I didn't care about Roy like that, and I got my hands on Hershelik's stuffed animal.
"I hate war.
Yes. Hershelik's eyes, who shrugged again, were filled with anger and sadness.
Roy doesn't know what to say to Hershelik, but he opens his mouth with determination.
"…… Your Highness, I have something to tell you.
That's what General Seguin said when he was ambushed. And how he was running away with his own army.
Hearing Roy's words, Hershelik nodded.
"I see that General Seguin..."
Hershelik shrugs so shut his mouth.
Hershelik was spinning his head silently, but Roy saw the look as something else. On second thought, he is royal. It turns blue to think that even if a civilian himself speaks ill of the aristocracy, he can believe it, or rather he could be punished.
Hershelik looks at Roy when he sums up his thoughts with such Roy on his ass.
"Mr. Roy, I'm sorry, but horses and carriages...... will you look for more food or something? I think there's a little bit left.
"Eh?"
Roy stunned by Hershelik's unexpected words. But Hershelik kept saying that to him.
"We're going to the border fort now.
Roy turned blue in a different way to that word earlier. The army that was on its way to the fort was disintegrated by an ambush by the Imperial Army. Then even toddlers will know what is happening to the current border fort. It is only a matter of time before the border fort, guarded by only thousands of soldiers, and the more than 10,000 imperial armies confront each other. Hershelik, the royal family who misses such a place, is on his way to the same place as suicide. Besides, that word from General Seguin caught my eye.
'Isn't it different from the story of His Excellency... that His Excellency will only hand over the Prince to the Empire...!
What does that mean? But if Hershelik went to the border fort, it was hard to believe that he would be safe.
"It's dangerous! We'd better go back to the king's capital……………………………."
"Right. Maybe it's safer now.
Hershelik shook his head while affirming Roy's words.
"But I have to go.
It was not the anger and sadness that just existed in Hershelik's eyes like that, but the light of determination.
"Mr. Roy, if you don't want to go to the battlefield, let's split up here.
"But..."
Roy can wolf at Hershelik staring straight at him. Hershelik laughed to reassure her of the appearance.
"It's okay, I'll write a piece to make sure you can't be punished for leaving the army on this one. Because you escorted me so far to help. But if I can, I want you to tell my father and my brothers everything Mr. Roy saw and heard when he returned to Wang Du.
Brightly Hershelik said in an effort to reassure Roy. It would be a mistake to leave the army. Depending on the time and the circumstances, there is also the possibility of the death penalty for a felony. But if there was only one stroke of Hershelik there, Hershelik thought that his brothers would somehow protect Roy.
But Roy couldn't accept Hershelik's words.
Even though the young prince was about to head to the battlefield, I felt sorry for myself just shivering. If I come back alive with this, I can't put my chest up against my own family. And when I looked at Hershelik, I thought I had to do what I could.
"Your Highness, please let me come with you.
"…… Thank you.
To Roy's words Hershelik did not say much, but only thanked and smiled.
Soon Roy moved on to action. I miraculously found a cover-up carriage that remained unplundered by the Imperial Army and a wandering horse that would have escaped and returned at the time of the raid. Slowly approach to avoid escape and catch the horse to connect with the carriage. Then, after gathering food from several private houses, he pulled the horse and led it to the place where the prince waited.
Then Hershelik moved in front of the fence surrounding the ruined fields.
"Your Highness, I have prepared a carriage… Your Highness?
"Mm-hmm. Thank you, Mr. Roy. Oh, Mr. Roy, can you steer the carriage?
That's what I say and look back Hershelik. There was a handkerchief tied to the fence where he was.
"Yes, you can. I also loaded the food and water I had left... Your Highness, what is that?
Roy doubts and twists his neck. The handkerchief is made of silk that looks expensive, but the question is not about the handkerchief material. Why is that tall handkerchief tied with a bow tie to a fence that is still about to collapse?
"Kind of.
But Hershelik, who misled Roy's doubts with a vague grin, approaches the carriage.
"Shall we go then? It's midnight to get out now and go without a break pinch and get to the fort...... I'm sorry, carriage man, please.
Saying so, Roy could not pursue Hershelik aboard the carriage in front of him, and nodded and drove himself aboard the carriage.
After they leave, one shadow appears in the small village. The shadow finds a handkerchief tied to the fence. And after seeing how it tied, he sighed heavily, and the shadow also left the village behind.