A total of 4 military carriages pulled by couple of horses treaded the paved road away from the kingdom.

The sun had just started to set when Shin and the band of female knights which is led by Emilia departed from Saint Eli.

Right now, the calm breeze of the night gently caresses Shin’s cheeks as he slightly opened the window to get a glimpse of the moon.

‘Why does it look different here?’ he muttered in his mind.

Their destination is a certain distressed village on the north several miles away which happen to be the village of Clarisse whom she left for her own reasons.

Just before they departed, Clarisse opened up to Shin for the first time.

After learning the dilemma from her, Shin is even more dedicated to take action.

Although aside from the issue concerning Clarisse, Shin also has a more pressing matter currently at hand.

His original purpose being sent from this world has just begun.

He knew that this would come someday. It’s just that he never expected this to arrive a little too early. Regardless of their level, Shin hadn’t ventured far enough to discover this world to gain better understanding.

His task may be too early for his level; nonetheless, this should serve as a method for grinding.

The quest was given to him directly from peter himself so from the start; he already suspected that the matters about the village have everything to do with demons.

With the quest as his basis, he suspected that they might have started to move from a hundred years of idleness so he needs to investigate further to prove his suspicion.

He never told anyone about this thing.

It might be too early for them to know about him, about the real Shin, so for now he needs to keep his secret as long as possible. It might be unfair for the girls but for him, this is necessary.

*kara kara kara*

The sounds of hooves withered away Shin’s chain of thoughts.

Shin has been staring outside of the window for a while so Emilia started to talk to him.

“You seem to thinking there. What do you have in mind, I wonder?”

Upon hearing Emilia, Shin lifted his face away from the window and faced her as he smiles. He wanted to answer Emilia but as always, Tia was there to interrupt them.

“Probably lewd. ah ah~ that’s why men are the worst. “

“It’s nothing. There’s this thing I am concerned of but it doesn’t matter at the moment.”

Being ignored again, Tia grounded her teeth and stared daggers at Shin and looked away with a ‘hmmp!’.

The carriage they were riding has a 3-seater couch in both sides. This is rather small compared to the luxuriously designed carriage back in Emilia’s mansion so every time they hit a rock on the road, the carriage shakes uncomfortably.

If a noble should ride this rugged transportation, they’ll surely complain yet surprisingly or unsurprisingly Emilia didn’t voiced out a single complain. Tia wanted Emilia to ride her expensive carriage but since they are on an official mission, they cannot bring such eye-catching transport.

The seating arrangement inside was, on the couch facing away which is basically at the back from the driver were Clarisse, Emilia and Tia with Emilia in the middle. And on the opposite of them were Yuffa, Tanya and Shin.

It would take a day and a half to reach Celesta village so they have plenty of time to rest. This should benefit Emilia and Shin most but both of them didn’t show any hints of tiredness.

Unlike the two of them, Yuffa closed her eyes and leaned at the side while Tanya is on her lap making peaceful sleeping sounds.

Shin took out blankets from the bag nearby and put it on Tanya and Yuffa respectively.

Looking at him, Emilia called Shin and gestured to lean over.

“What is it?”

She placed her hand on the side of her lips so that no one other than Shin could hear her voice.

“Are you into older women?”

Shin nearly spat out after hearing Emilia’s whisper.

“Where did that came from?”

“It’s not important. So, what is it?”

Emilia asked again curiously.

“Yeah Shin, are you into Yuffa-san type?”

“Hah! He's probably into that big melon type. How indecent”

Despite the ruckus coming from the wooden wheel of the carriage is making earlier, Emilia’s whisper clearly echoed inside when they happen to pass on an even road.

Fortunately, the subject was asleep.

Clarisse and Tia butted in with different reaction and question. The former asked curiously while the latter spats out her honest opinion.

“Why ask me that all of a sudden?” asked Shin

“It’s nothing. I’m just somewhat curious. Yuffa might held feelings for you”

“Me too! I agree with Lateran-sama”

“I’m not interested even the slightest”

(Clarisse still calls Emilia with her last name because she still hasn’t gotten close enough to call her with her first name albeit Emilia insisted that she do)

Why do girls likes these kinds of topic? Shin can only wonder.

Deep inside, Shin isn’t a complete blockhead.

He is aware of the beauty that each girl around him possesses. It’s just that he knows his place and own value so he doesn’t think of himself as someone who is the subject of interest from the opposite sex. In that logic Shin will never assumed that someone would hold affections on him. And because of that kind of thinking, things like interest will remain blank for the time being.

Just as Shin is thinking about that, the carriage made a sudden stop.

The force of the stop made Shin tumbled towards Emilia.

The horses that pulled the carriages neighed in fear.

His head collided in her chest. Unfortunately, Emilia was wearing a breastplate so instead of colliding with her bosom, he was met with cold hard steel.

As for Tanya and Yuffa who was asleep and didn’t expect that even more than Shin, tumbled forward more forcefully. Luckily, they were caught by Clarisse.

Their sleepiness vanished in an instant.

“W-what happened?”

Yuffa said as she looked around.

“Hey, are you okay? What is happening?!”

Emilia shouted towards the driver.

Tia was about to open the door but it suddenly swung open.

A female knight was standing outside.

She saluted and reported the situation in a hurriedly manner.

“Pardon me Emilia-sama, it’s a group of night hounds. The leader of the pack is blocking the road and the first carriage is unable to move. And as we speak, the underlings are currently surrounding the entire area, waiting to attack. That’s all”

“Thank you” Emilia nodded. “They must’ve smelled the food we’re carrying. Tell the others to ready their weapons. Even if the night hounds are only lv. 13, do not underestimate their numbers. Act in groups, secure the perimeters around the carriages!”

“Orders received!”

The female knight saluted again and left in a hurry.

Clanking sounds filled the surrounding.

The band of female knights got out of their carriages together with their weapons and formed a circle around.

The night hounds have black furs. They can blend easily in the dark so they are fairly formidable enemy at night. They are fast and agile but their downside is that, their yellow glowing eyes blow out their cover at night.

Emilia got off the carriage together with Tia. Shin followed after.

“You can just sit back, Shin. Just this much is easy for us”

“hmm? Ah no. I’m just stretching my legs. It’s a bit cramped in there”

“Even at this situation, you’re calm as ever”

“Isn’t that because you and your knights are here?”

“Is that really the case I wonder?”

After Emilia said those words, she unsheathed her rapier out from its scabbard and raised it in front of her. Tia joined and lined up together with the other female knights.

“Girls, guard every direction. I’ll deal with their leader”

((((Yes ma’am!))))

The female knights saluted altogether. They raised their guard and pointed their weapons to the nearby hounds.

The leader of the pack is twice the size from the normal hounds and 5 levels above them [Superior Night Hound lv 18]. It stood nearly five feet with two heads together with 2 tails. Just the size alone can make someone shiver in fear.

But even so, judging by what Shin have seen so far from Emilia’s skills, this should be easy for her.

Sensing the danger coming from the knights, the surrounding hounds started to growl showing their sharp teeth while scratching their claws on the ground.

All the while that this was happening, Shin came back to the carriage to see if the girls are safe.

There he found that Clarisse was preparing her bow ready to go while Yuffa was holding the sleepy Tanya who’s rubbing her head probably from the fall earlier with her other hand, the other was her staff.

By the looks of it, they wanted to help.

“I was about to call you girls for something. But I guess there’s no need, huh?”

“We can’t just stay in there without doing anything. We want to fight too.”

“Clarisse-chan is right. They allowed us to accompany you to your travel so it is our time to repay their kindness. I want to help”

“I see. Oh- does you head hurt Tanya-chan?”

Seeing that Tanya was rubbing her head with tears on the corner of her eyes, Shin also rubbed it gently where it hurts.

“It will be okay. Don’t ever leave Yuffa-san’s side, alright?”

“Auuu~ alwayyt~ “

Shin smiled at Tanya and face Yuffa and Clarisse.

“Um, Yuffa-san, can I order you to join the others? But don’t line up with them. Stay within the circle and support them with your buffs and healing skill in a safe distance”

Yuffa accepted the instruction and left after replying ‘Okay’.

“Clarisse, climb with me on the roof of the carriage. Let’s use our range advantage to support them from the back”

“Okay. Though I thought you’d mow down those monsters in one go”

Said Clarisse as she teased him.

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong”

Without waiting for her reply, Shin jumped on the top of the carriage.

He immediately released magic and summoned his usual twin pistols; twin desert eagles. Clarisse followed right after.

The situation was on a standoff until the [Superior Night Hound lv 18] opened its jaws and lets out a howl. Serving as a signal, the surrounding hounds immediately pounced towards the defending female knights.

Yuffa casted her elementary magic [Minor Defense Aura] to the knights.

They stood their ground and fended off the hounds.

But the attack didn’t end there.

The hounds were now circling the defending knights trying to look for a weak spot.

Meanwhile, Emilia is staring eye to eye to the leader of pack in front her, waiting for it to attack. It also glared its piercing eyes trying to intimidate her but it wasn’t effective.

Unable to wait any longer, Emilia attacked first and dashes off [Riposte]. She was aiming at the head of the monster.

The superior hound reacted fast. It stepped back and rotated its body furiously [Tail Whip] to counter her attack.

Emilia then stopped momentarily to avoid it but immediately right after that, she began her second strike by rotating her body 180 degrees and unleashed her super-fast attack.

From the others point of view, her rapier won’t reach because of her weapon’s length and the distance between her and the superior hound.

But her attack wasn’t just and ordinary stab.

She imbued her rapier with lightning magic and thrusts it forward [Lightning Blade Reach].

Her weapon extended few meters and find its way thoroughly to the target’s body from its mouth to its rear.

The hound didn’t make any sound.

Its lifeless body dropped to the ground. It turned into tiny lights and disappeared.

An instant death.

The monster didn’t have any chance against Emilia at all.

She wasn’t just the female knight commander just for a show.

Even for a mini boss like [Superior Night Hound lv 18], Emilia didn’t break a sweat. It was too easy that it was boring.

“That was fast. It looks like you’re done too”

Emilia sighed before turning her head to direction of the voice.

“It was rather boring. Compared to mine, yours was even faster.”

“Why would you assume it was me?”

“Like I didn’t hear those countless explosions coming from that stave of yours earlier”

“I didn’t get any chance to strike down those hounds. How vexing!” Tia inserted.

“I only managed to strike down 3 hounds. It’s good enough for me” Said Clarisse with a smile on her face.

Emilia looked around and found that there were no more monsters. She then sheathed her rapier. “Good job everyone! Now go back to your respective carriage. We will continue on our journey”

((((Yes ma’am!))))

Everyone took action and boarded.

The night hounds ambush only lasted several minutes. It was so brief that it felt like nothing happened.

Moments later, the sounds of a whip resounded, the horses neighed and started to pull the carriage.

With that, Shin and the band of female knights resumed towards their destination.