Chapter 31 : Treia Border
We were on the path in the middle of trees, towards the border of Treia Kingdom, said to be made by Treia and Ponsonia over 50 years ago. 50 years ago, Treia and Ponsonia were in alliance against Garland Empire invasion. Both countries built several lanes like this as connection between both countries. After the invasion was defeated 25 years ago and empire became busy with domestic war, the alliance was dissolved but merchants kept travelling between these two landlocked countries. Merchants paid nobles to maintain the roads. The path we were using now was the least maintained road as the route between Shira village and Treia border was rarely used as it was in a forest.
Treia was a larger state than Ponsonia, and lands were awarded and governed by noble families, unlike in Ponsonia where many land were governed directly by royal family. Noble ranks were similar in this large region from Polpo until Olga Federation, but power bestowed onto nobility varied.
I, in my full body armour, was sitting on the driver seat while maneuvering the 3 horses. The 6 girls were either sitting and lying inside the carriage. As I could store our stuffs in unlimited dimension, our carriage only carried seven of us. From time to time, we would be attacked by wild beasts like board, monkeys, and bears.
"Hei, it shouldn't be that far from the border. " The boring Lily who had resting her chin on the window between the driver seat and carriage, suddenly pointed to the front.
As my sight was average, I saw nothing. About fifteen minutes later, I started seeing miniscule silhouettes. They looked like men walking back and forth within small area.
Brita and Lily, the eyes of "Kingdom" mercenary team, became restlessness.
"Girls, wake up. About ten men with weapons. Be on guard !" Brita shouted. The girls prepared their equipments.
We arrived in the twinkling of an eye. There were thirteen men donning the light armours of the same type and colour. Each of them had a short sword, and shield. However, they appeared to be carefree and lacking in discipline. Some of them were sleeping and drinking. There were bottles scattered everywhere. The men and the place smelled like stinking liquor.
Seven Armen people entering a border of another country seemed to be quite a stir.
The men stopped us and spoke harshly. Several of them introduced themselves soldiers serving Viscount this and lord that, it's too troublesome to remember the names.
"I am Adine, a mercenary. We wanted to look for a job in Treia." I said while showing my guild identification.
I sensed their eyes had been gazing to the inside of the carriage. My instinct told me these guys were horny.
"The girls..?" Two of the men pointed to inside the carriage.
"Members of our mercenary team.... The girls are strong." I added the words "the girls are strong" on purpose.
All the men were now standing and smirking.
"Your name, mmm, Adine? Come down and follow us." A guy who looked like their captain ordered me. I didn't immediately obey. Let me see his Status.
Name: ????
Age: 37
Race: Human
Job: Warrior
Stamina: 9
Hand Strength: 18
Hand Speed: 16
Body strength: 18
Leg Strength: 14
Leg speed: 10
Durability: 12
Reflex: 11
This man, has the best attribute among the thirteen men here. I considered him the stronger than most fighters I met during my time in Pond. I maybe able to somehow beat him in one on one battle but there were other twelve trained soldiers here. I estimated the girls would be subdued by them who were more numerous, experienced and stronger. I signaled to the girls with my eyes and followed 4 persons including the captain into the wood.
During the walk, they were asking and chatting about meaningless things. I just was entertaining them while touching my light sword.
Finally, we reached a cliff. Beneath it, there were trees and rocky ground.
I sensed bloodlust.
"Just to confirm one thing. Are you really Treia's soldiers?" I asked as I was being pressured to edge of the cliff.
The captain smirked.
"As you will die anyway, hmmm.." They looked at each other and smiled.
"We are indeed Treia soldiers. We serve Viscount Romeo. We are bored here. No women." The captain said nonchalantly.
"6 beautiful girls. We shall keep them as our sex partners. There are enough booze and food here. They are better off with the government men than roaming aimlessly with the likes of you." He continued.
Two men attacked me but hit air. Another man also swung his sword but hit my hand, protected by armour. The captain swung his large sword and I somehow managed to parry it. The three men rushed again but I kicked and punched them away. The captain kicked my stomach. At first, I thought my strong body could withstand that but his kicking technique enable a stronger kick that his actual leg strength attribute. So, this was the ability of skill and experience.
The kicked made me flew backwards and fell violently from the cliff to the rocky ground.
I lost my consciousness for a while. After a brief moment, I woke up.
Now I was lying on my back under a cliff. Damn, that was high. I heard the were laughing. I underestimated the enemies' ability because spending too much time killing brainless monsters.
Blood flew freely from my fractured skull due to the impact of falling from the cliff.
The ground was dyed black after being soaked with my blood.
Far above, far from my sight, four people were standing.
They left with their rotten smiles plastered on their self-righteous faces.
I had no longer had the strength to move my body. Standing was impossible, I couldn't even lift my limbs. I already gave the instructions to the girls to escape into two separate groups of 3 girls each. Brita, Marcella and Lily in one group while Leliana, Gabriela and Mireille in one group. They should have no problem doing that when I drawing 4 other men including the powerful captain away.
****
I opened my eyes as I regain consciousness. I managed to stay alive due to my self healing. I removed my helmet.
My body aches, maybe due to lying on bare rocky floor. As I raised my body in sitting position, I touched the back of my head. Something sticky is covering my head and palm.
I moved my hand towards my face, dreading on what I might find. My palm was covered with my own blood. Ghoul like had a black blood. It seemed those men didn't bother to inspect my corpse.
I hurriedly touch the back of my head and there was no wound there. Self- healing?
It seemed Gabriela's healing magic and usual medicine didn't work on a ghoul like me but I had a regeneration ability. I was not sure if I could be resurrected after death though. I stood up and scouted the area.
I then wandered into the forest. I didn't wander aimlessly as every area walked from the area where the carriage was stopped until here were completed recorded in my virtual map. As I uncovered more ground on my virtual map, I climbed towards the higher ground towards where I left the girls.
Based on my status, the "conquered women" were all alive. Thus, the question was whether they could escape the horny men.