“That includes lodging. Do you have any empty rooms?”
An elegant voice replied. The shopkeeper nodded his head and left her table. Several of the male patrons looked at each other and approached her table.
“Excuse me miss, it's dangerous for you to be here alone.”
“That's right! There are lots of dangerous characters around. Don't worry though, we'll be here to protect you.”
With a vile smile on his face, one of them lifted up the lady's hood. Whistles and catcalls could be heard once the hood was removed. The lady was quite a beauty, with her beautiful eyes and elegant nose.
This beautiful lady was none other than Fouquet of the crumbling earth.
“She's really top notch! Look at her skin! It's as white as ivory!”
Another patron attempted to lift up her chin with his arm, but his hand was pushed away by Fouquet. Fouquet gave a faint smile. Another male patron immediately stood up, took out his dagger and placed it on Fouquet's face.
“Aren't chairs supposed to be used instead of weapons at this joint?”
“This is only to frighten you. Chairs can't intimidate anybody right? Don't act so innocent anymore, aren't you here to look for company? We'll keep you company then.”
Even with the dagger pointed on her face, Fouquet showed no fear. With a slight movement, she reached for a wand.
In a instant, she chanted her incantations. With that, the dagger that the man held turned into earth and settled onto the table.
“She's.. she's a noble!”
The men immediately backed away from her. As Fouquet was not wearing a cloak[8], none of them knew that she was a magician.
“Even though I'm a magician, I'm not a noble,” Fouquet said nonchalantly.
“Most of you are mercenaries right?”
The male patrons looked at each other. If she was not a noble, their lives would not be endangered. If they had done that to a noble, they would be killed without any qualms.
“Yes... And you are...?” a veteran of the group replied.
“It doesn't matter. In short, I'm here to hire all of you.”
“All of us?”
The mercenaries looked at Fouquet with a puzzled look on their face.
“What's with the expression? Is it really that weird for me to employ mercenaries?”
“No. That's not what I meant. You have gold, don't you?”
Fouquet placed a bag full of gold onto the table. After inspecting the contents of the bag, the veteran said, “Wow... Isn't this écu gold?”
The bar's door opened again. This time, a man wearing a white mask had entered the bar. He was the same man who had helped Fouquet escape from prison.
“Well, aren't you early.”
Fouquet seeing that man, gave a low “Hmm” as a reply. The mercenaries, seeing that man's peculiar dress, were all quite surprised. “They have started on their journey,” the masked man said.
“I have done what you had told me to and hired all these men.”
The man in the white mask gave a once over at the mercenaries that Fouquet had hired.
“All of you were formerly employed by the Albion royalists. Am I right?”
“That was until last month,” one of the mercenaries replied with glee.
“But the soon to be defeated royalists aren't our employers anymore.”
The mercenaries laughed in unison. The man in the white mask laughed as well.
“I'll fulfill all your monetary desires. However, I'm not like the soon to be defeated royalists, if anyone dares to run away from battle, I'll kill him myself.”
Since departing from the magical academy, Wardes' griffin had been endlessly moving towards their destination. Even though the rest of the group had already changed their mount twice, Wardes' griffin, just like its master, appeared to be tireless.
“Hold on, isn't the pace too fast for us?” Louise, who was on Wardes' griffin, asked. Over the duration of the journey, Louise spoke in a more informal manner to Wardes than when they were reunited. But that was also partly due to the Viscount's request.
“Guiche and Saito are already on the brink of exhaustion.”
Wardes turned back and looked at Guiche and Saito. Just like Louise had said, both of them were holding their reins tightly in fear of falling off. From the looks of it, both of them would collapse from exhaustion before the horses would.
“But I had originally planned to journey to port city La Rochelle without stopping...”
“That would be difficult, it would take two days to reach by horse.”
“If that's the case, why don't we just leave them behind?”
“We can't do that!”
“Why?”
“Aren't we in this together? Furthermore, a magician should not abandon her familiar...”
“You seem protective of them both. Which one is your sweetheart?”
Louise's face immediately turned red and replied, “What... What sweetheart!?”
“That sets my heart at ease. If my fiancée tells me that she already has a sweetheart, I would die of a broken heart,” replied Wardes with a smile.
“But that was only something that our parents had agreed on.”
“Then, do you dislike me, my small and dainty Louise?”
“Please, I'm not young anymore,” Louise replied, pouting.
“But in my eyes, you're forever that small and dainty Louise.”
Louise remembered that dream that she'd had a few days back, where she was back in the courtyard of her home, la Vallière.
The secret boat on the forgotten lake...
Whenever she was throwing a tantrum there, Wardes would always be there to pacify her.
The marriage that was decided by her parents.
The betrothal that was decided since youth. The one that she would be married to. Her fiancé.
At that time, she still did not fully understand what was going on. She only knew that, so long as she was with the man she had admired, she would be happy.
But now, she finally understood everything. She would be married to Wardes.
“I don't dislike you,” Louise replied with a tinge of embarrassment.
“That's wonderful, in other words, you like me?”
Wardes gently hugged Louise's shoulders.
“I have never forgotten about you even after all this time. Do you still remember? After my father's death during the lancer campaign?”
Louise nodded her head.
Wardes began to reminisce and narrated to Louise about the past.
“My mother had passed away earlier, I inherited my father's estate and title. Wanting to make a name for myself, I went to the capital. Fortunately, the highness had a deep impression of my father who had perished in the battlefield, I was incorporated into the Griffin Knights. I had entered the Griffin Knights as a trainee, training was tough then.”
“From then on, you seldom went back to your estate again,” replied Louise while closing her eyes. She too seemed to be immersed in her memories.
“My house and estate were cared for by my butler, Galgann, while I put all my effort serving the nation. After so long, I finally made a name for myself, accomplishing what I had decided upon leaving my homeland.”
“What was it that you decided upon?”
“To ask your hand for marriage once I have made a name for myself.”
“You're kidding right, Viscount? You're so popular among the girls, you have no need to honor your promise to such an insignificant me.”
About Wardes' betrothal. Louise had cleanly forgotten it until she had that dream a few days back. The bridal pact to Wardes was all but a fleeting dream. In her opinion, it was only an agreement made on a whim.
After Wardes had left his estate ten years ago, Louise had never seen him again. Wardes had already become part of her distant memory. Distant memories had suddenly become reality.
“This journey is a good chance for us to regain those feelings we had when you were young,” Wardes said with a gentle and calm tone.