By Zephyria Hugo instinctively braced himself by kicking the front seat with his booted feet. At the same time, he instantly conjured water from the hand gripping the window frame.
The stream of water that filled the inside of the carriage wrapped around his body, which had been thrown forward by inertia, and protected him. He pressed his back against the seat and supported his neck to prevent strain.
Fortunately, the tilting carriage righted itself with a thud, thanks to the weight of the water.
“Ha—.”
However, not all the impact was perfectly absorbed. Hugo, who had tilted his head back and exhaled a short breath, lowered his tingling right leg from the front seat. Soon, after absorbing the stream of water that was blocking his vision, he tried to get out of the carriage to assess the situation. But for some reason, the door wouldn’t open even when he applied force.
Immediately, when he pulled back the curtain, one side of the window was completely blocked by a wall.
“What’s going on?”
“The carriage crashed….”
“Looks like a noble’s carriage?”
“Check if anyone’s hurt!”
The excited neighing of the horses and the commotion entered through the small gaps. As some seemed to be coming to check on the situation, Hugo opened the opposite door without hesitation.
At that moment, the knights and attendants who had been riding in other carriages rushed over, grabbed the door frame, and asked urgently.
“Lord, are you alright? Are you injured?”
“I’m fine, what happened?”
“It may be dangerous, so please wait inside for a moment. We’ll check it out right away.”
The two knights urged Hugo not to come out and hurriedly ran to the front. The attendant fidgeted, scrutinizing the Duke’s complexion and well-being.
Hugo followed their distracted figures with his eyes, then scanned the outside situation through the door gap. People weren’t crowded together, but the carriages and tanks that had been running were all slowing down. Fearing that there might have been casualties, he left behind the request and got out of the carriage.
As the well-dressed noble appeared, the people who had been making a fuss suddenly became quiet. Some recognized the Duke, who exuded an aura along with the family’s symbol, and bowed deeply.
Hugo, who had no time to be aware of them, strode towards the front of the carriage. Soon, after confirming the situation that unfolded, he furrowed his brow as if he had a headache.
“Oh dear….”
The white carriage, pushed to the corner of the main street, was damaged by colliding with a wall. Moreover, the entire wheel itself was broken off from the front left wheel. Underneath the vehicle, broken pieces of wood and the metal rim of the wheel were scattered in pieces.
“Where’s Howard?”
Hugo first asked about the condition of the coachman who had been driving the carriage. The coachman was surrounded by knights, calming the startled horses. When he discovered his master, he bowed his head with a pale face.
“L, Lord, I’m sorry. Are you hurt anywhere? I deserve to die.”
“It’s alright. How about you?”
“Yes, I’m fine, but… I have no excuse. I’m really sorry….”
The coachman didn’t seem to have any difficulty moving, but he apologized repeatedly, perhaps because he was as flustered as the horses he was driving. There was no room to doubt his skills. Howard was a skilled coachman who had been in charge of his outings for the past five years. Judging that the cause of the accident was something else, Hugo looked around to see if anyone else had been caught up in the situation.
Not only the citizens, but also the carriages of the attendants running back and forth narrowly avoided colliding. It was thanks to Howard’s skill in minimizing the damage even in the midst of the urgent situation.
Hugo, narrowing his eyes, turned his head again and patted the coachman’s shoulder in encouragement.
“I’m unharmed, so don’t worry. There are no casualties either. More importantly, what happened?”
“Th, there was a sound of something breaking from the left wheel. The vehicle tilted as it was, and the horses seemed to be startled and gained speed as the harness was pulled.”
“A breaking sound?”
“It seems that there was a crack in the wheel.”
A knight who was bending his knees and examining the underside of the vehicle added. He grabbed a piece of the fragmented wood and carefully presented it to his lord. Just as he was about to bow his head to check, the Pentagov guards near the main street discovered the accident scene and shouted.
“What’s going on!”
“Are there any injured?”
They approached the white carriage, organizing the stalled traffic on the main street. Then, they alternately looked at the cool man standing in the middle and the symbol of the carriage, and stopped dead in their tracks, equally dismayed. Subsequently, they all placed their hands on their left chests and bowed their heads in salute.
“We greet Duke Hugo. Glory to Laina Rogia.”
“We greet Duke Hugo. Glory to Laina Rogia.”
The fact that the Empire’s Duke had an accident while visiting another territory to attend a banquet was definitely a huge problem. The guards’ voices were filled with anxiety and nervousness beyond bewilderment. They were worried that the accident might have been caused by Pentagov’s lack of control and management.
As a result, the carriages of other families were slowly stopping in the middle of the main street, unable to simply pass by. It was because they recognized the noble Duke of this country in distress. As the gazes were increasingly focused and the traffic congestion was also worsening, Hugo’s knights guarded the surroundings and shielded their lord’s predicament with their bodies.
Hugo, behind them, was simply tilting his head and carefully examining the wooden fragments.
‘…A crack in the wheel? Suddenly?’
Soon, he knelt down on one knee with his knight and looked under the carriage.
As he lowered his posture, not only the guards stationed nearby but also the gathering crowd prostrated themselves on the ground. The ground around the scene of the accident seemed to sink, lowering the height of heads. It was a rare spectacle.
Hugo knew best how thoroughly the carriage was maintained, so instead of suspecting a defect, he checked for pebbles or obstacles that might have struck the wheel. However, the well-paved road was devoid of even a single stone fragment. Moreover, the wheel itself was broken in two, leaving no trace to suggest an external cause.
Eventually, he let out a soft sigh and rose from his position. His attendant quickly reached out to brush the dirt off his master’s knees, but he politely declined and instructed his subordinates.
“If we stay here, traffic will be paralyzed. First, get help from Pentagov to move the carriage, then clear the scene.”
“Yes, I understand. Master, perhaps you should see a physician in case of any injuries? It wasn’t a light collision, so I’m very concerned.”
“I’m fine, so send Howard first. The driver’s seat was damaged, so the impact must have been quite severe. Ah, is there anywhere nearby where we can borrow a carriage or escort vehicle?”
The last question was directed at the guard. The guard, who had been watching his expression, quickly raised his head and replied.
“Ah, yes. There is! Please come this way. I will escort you to a nearby location.”
Additional guards had appeared and unfurled a black parasol over the Duke’s head. Escorting His Excellency along with the knights, they crossed the controlled road. Hugo, protected by the guards, looked back at the scene revealed beneath the parasol as he moved.
‘An assassination attempt?’
The strange Magic Power he had felt before the wheel broke bothered him. It was rapidly approaching and clearly aimed at him. However, it was rare for someone to be so bold as to attempt a nefarious plan in such a crowded place and in broad daylight.
‘If the intention was to assassinate, the window would have been shattered, not the wheel.’
The energy would not have been detected only once. They would have unleashed magic indiscriminately to cut off his breath somehow.
Today, one mentally exhausting incident after another was occurring. With a troubled gaze, Hugo scanned his surroundings and instructed his attendant, who had volunteered to handle the accident, to take photos of the scene as evidence.
Soon after, the group surrounding the Duke quickly left the main road. The murmuring crowd gradually dispersed.
The shadow watching them from the spire also quietly disappeared around the same time.
A manual slide viewer with ten slots, where the film advances with a click of a button.
It was one of the toys that young children played with when they were just beginning to learn the alphabet. By combining the letters inside, they could create various words, and it was once popular as a prop.
One was placed on a small table in a residence located in Libertas.
[LIBERTAS!!]
The toy proclaiming freedom was heavily worn and cracked on the surface. It was so unnatural that it was hard to see it as a vintage prop. Leonardo, sitting on the sofa and tapping the floor with his toes, occasionally glanced intently at the toy.
In front of him, colleagues engaged in a heated debate paced around a large table. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to pay much attention to the leader, who was sitting down for a brief rest.
He guarded the toy alone for about ten minutes. Even though he didn’t press the button, the alphabet film began to advance on its own.
Click, click, click—
The sequentially changing alphabet eventually formed a new word.
The Gold Eyes floating in the air swerved to the side. A faint smile spread across Leonardo’s lips as he confirmed the completed letters.
[COMPLETE!!]
Soon, he expressionlessly rose from his seat and pressed all ten buttons with the palm of his hand. As the film advanced manually once more, the word became unrecognizable.
Leonardo joined the central table where the debate was taking place, as if nothing had happened. As he approached, Terzio was the first to grab his arm and pull him closer.
Miraile, who had been greeting a bird sitting on the windowsill, also turned her head.
“The crowd is starting to gather.”
In an instant, the noisy atmosphere inside the residence quieted down. She, who had been listening to the little bird’s whisper, added softly.
“They’re moving.”