The duke kept his promise and immediately created a space for the refugees.
Watching them begin to migrate one by one into the temporary refuge within the Duke, Frennila and I prepared to leave through the castle gates.
“Please take care on your journey.”
The duke and duchess came out to see us off at the gates.
I had heard that the duchess was quite ill and had difficulty moving, but she had dragged herself out to bid farewell to the child of her dear friend.
“Miss Frennila, was it? My, you remind me so much of Agnes. Please take good care of our prince.”
“You can count on me.”
In response to the duchess’s concerns, Frennila rolled up her sleeves as if to say not to worry and confidently assured her.
Seeing that, I felt reassured.
“Thank you so much. We’ll resolve the issue in the Great Plains and return soon.”
After exchanging final goodbyes with those who had come to see me off, I gazed at the endless northern Great Plains beyond the horizon.
From now on, it was the land of the tribes, a place that had always remained a forbidden zone.
With a mix of worry and excitement, we boarded the carriage, which began to pick up speed as we set foot on that land.
*
“If we head in this direction for about three days, we’ll reach our territory. There’s a hostile tribe, the Staff Tribe, along the way, but if we pass quietly, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Frennila began her briefing in increasingly fluent imperial language, though she still paused occasionally.
Her speech had become much easier to understand.
It was a bit disappointing that her trademark ~dayo speech had disappeared, but it couldn’t be helped.
So, three days, huh?
The Velot territory was closer than I thought.
But how could she pinpoint the location so accurately in such a vast land?
It was fascinating.
The tribes were essentially nomads.
Moving from place to place was their way of life, so they wouldn’t always be in the same spot.
The answer soon appeared.
Screeech!
A sharp cry echoed across the sky of the Great Plains.
A large falcon flew towards our carriage, the one Frennila and I were riding.
“Pipi!”
Screech!
Frennila happily embraced the falcon she called Pipi, rubbing her face against it.
Pipi, despite its cute name, looked quite fierce, but to each their own, I suppose.
I hadn’t seen this side of Frennila before; it felt new.
“Hmm, you look familiar. Have we met before?”
The falcon’s appearance was somehow familiar.
Pipi tilted its head, as if questioning.
“Pipi is a genius falcon. Whether it’s an object or a person, as long as you show him a picture, he can find anything within a thousand miles.”
Frennila boasted about her partner as a genius tracker.
There was nothing he couldn’t find, whether at the northern or southern ends of the continent.
…Hearing this, I remembered.
During my third regression, when I fled the empire for the south.
The bird that flew over my head, it was definitely this one.
Back then, I wondered how Frennila had found me in such a vast empire, but it was this guy, huh?
Sigh, what’s the point of knowing now?
I smiled bitterly and looked at the falcon.
“Let’s get along from now on. Chiki— no, Pipi.”
What’s with this guy, hiding behind Frennila?
It was just a joke about getting along, but it stung a little.
*
Since nothing had happened so far, I had unconsciously assumed that nothing would happen in the Great Plains either.
“I really have become complacent.”
Screech! Scree-screech!
The aerial alarm, Pipi’s warning.
Quickly strengthening our vigilance, I soon sensed something amiss.
From beyond the horizon of the vast grasslands, a cloud of dust was rising, heading towards us—a group of unknown cavalry.
Despite my pride in having 1.5 vision, the distance was too great to discern their identity or even distinguish friend from foe.
I glanced to the side.
I remember hearing in a documentary that nomads have an average eyesight of nearly 5.0.
Frennila, who was looking in the same direction, turned pale, her already fair skin becoming ghostly white.
I didn’t need an explanation to understand the situation.
“Captain, increase speed.”
“Yes.”
Fortunately, thanks to Pipi’s warning, the caravan members, who had been calmly observing the situation, immediately accelerated the carriage to full speed upon receiving the order.
And upon further observation, it was clear that they were indeed pursuing us.
“Miss Frennila, who are they?”
“…They’re the Infected. I didn’t expect to encounter them so soon.”
I thought they were bandits or something, but what? The Infected?
I must be getting old.
Despite living in a modern society where diversity and creativity coexist, my imagination seems to have grown weak.
There’s no other explanation.
I had imagined the Infected as zombies capable of using weapons and running, based on Frennila’s description, but I was clearly mistaken.
‘But they’re supposed to be mindless, aren’t they? How can they ride horses?’
This was the first time in my six regressions that I had seen such an absurd setting.
‘This is bad.’
Our carriage, loaded with supplies, was clearly slower.
At this rate, they would catch up soon.
Frennila and her maid Latia were already standing at the back of the carriage, firing arrows at the pursuers with their bows.
Despite the distance of several hundred meters, their shots were remarkably accurate, steadily reducing the number of pursuers.
But the problem was the sheer number of pursuers.
There were easily over fifty.
The arrows were not enough to handle them all, and seeing Frennila grit her teeth, I made a decision.
“This won’t do, Captain. Throw everything out of the carriage. Start with the heaviest items, throw them in the path of those chasing us, quickly!”
At this point, everything except the golden jasmine petals was just dead weight.
To increase speed, the carriage needed to be as light as possible.
It was a shame to discard even the holy water, but there was no choice.
This was a life-or-death situation.
Crash, thud, bang!
Starting with the boxes of bandages and medicine, followed by weapons and armor, and finally the holy water, the boxes were thrown out one by one, rolling across the grassland and obstructing the pursuers’ path.
The captain had the foresight to set fire to the flammable items, making them even more of a threat to the pursuers.
But it still wasn’t enough.
The Infected hesitated momentarily at the sudden obstacles but quickly resumed their pursuit.
“Ugh, Prince! We’re going to get caught at this rate, do something, quick! Eek!”
The panicking Lii next to me was quite a nuisance.
I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him onto the driver’s seat, then asked the captain.
“Captain, can we detach the carriage while moving?”
“Impossible. The horses would lose balance and fall.”
“Damn it.”
We were running out of things to throw.
The Infected were close enough now to make out their faces.
‘Is this the end?’
Our support team consisted only of caravan members, with Frennila and a dozen tribal warriors as the only combatants, along with one samurai guarding the captain.
With such forces, there was no way to survive against cavalry, especially Infected who needed their hearts destroyed or heads completely severed to be stopped.
“Here, everyone take one. It’s a golden jasmine petal. Crush it in your hand and apply it to your body. It might help you survive.”
But I couldn’t just stand by and watch.
After all I’ve been through, I’ll resist until the end, even if I’m about to die.
I roughly applied the crushed petal’s sap to my body and gripped my dagger with trembling hands.
I remembered Yuria’s face when she handed it to me, saying to take it just in case, even though I couldn’t fight.
Now I really need to use it, damn it.
As we got close enough to see their eyes, the Infected behavior was strange.
They were pulling back their long spears as if to throw them.
No way, are they really going to throw those?
Fine.
The Infected, with their surprisingly strong physiques, hurled the nearly 1.5-meter-long spears at incredible speed, hitting the horses pulling our carriage.
Neigh!
Screech, crash!
The horses fell, and the carriage lost balance, starting to skid sideways.
“Ahhh!”
“Kyaa!”
The screams of the passengers only stopped when the carriage, sliding across the grassland, finally came to a halt.
We’re not dead yet.
Whether it was luck or not, the carriage didn’t flip or roll, so there were no major injuries.
But as I looked around outside the carriage, trembling, I saw the Infected closing in from all sides, leaving no escape.
I drew my dagger as a sign of resistance, but I knew it was futile. The end was near.
Lii and the caravan members were unconscious.
Only Frennila and I were still conscious.
Naturally, we stood back to back, pointing our swords at the Infected.
I thought this life would go well, but in the end, I’m dying with her again.
At least this time we’re not enemies.
“Frennila, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you in the end.”
“…Prince?”
In every regression, you’ve suffered as much as I have.
She looked at me but didn’t meet my eyes.
Just as we were about to make our last stand.
Flash!
Flames rained down from the sky onto the Infected.
Like magic, but with a wilder, more primal feel, it was the tribal magic—shamanism.
The Infected struck by the shamanism writhed in pain before turning into black ash.
“This is the territory of the Staff Tribe. We do not allow the filthy Infected to visit this sacred place!”
Surrounding the Infected who had encircled us was a group of tribal warriors.
Their imposing presence was no less confident than the empire’s royal knights or the magic corps of the law country.
They were the Staff Tribe, a clan that wielded shamanism as their primary force.
Thanks to them, we have entered a new phase.