By Zephyria The corpse with the entire eye socket sunken in had its eyeballs crushed and buried in the flesh. Below that, discolored teeth embedded in the lower jaw suggested that it was definitely a ‘head’.
It looked as if it had been struck multiple times with a massive hammer, so the knight couldn’t bring himself to look properly and took three or four steps back. He desperately averted his gaze from the car window and looked back at the driver wearing the gas mask. As if there was a reason, the driver, who met his eyes, slightly twisted his covered lips.
“Good stomach.”
Soon, the fluttering red carpet swept the ground and headed towards the stopped rear car.
In the rear car, they were hurriedly picking up a spray and spraying an unidentified gas inside the car.
“He’s coming, hurry.”
“My lord, please bear with it for a moment.”
Along with the apologetic voice, a colorless gas filled the interior. The stench of rotting corpses that stung the nose made him want to vomit.
Hugo, frowning, covered Leonardo’s nose and mouth with his hand for a moment. Meanwhile, the driver quickly pressed the transmit button again, opened the window, and greeted the approaching man.
“You’re working hard in this hot weather. Is there a problem?”
Along with the grinning woman, a horrifying stench leaked out through the window. The 39th captain stopped in his tracks and waved his hand in disgust.
“…No. Proceed.”
His gaze turned to the curtain drawn in the back seat, but he couldn’t bring himself to open it and turned his face away. The driver smiled at him, bowed silently, and closed the window again without saying a word.
Turning around and quickly moving away, the 39th captain returned to his pale-faced subordinate and began to scold him. He couldn’t hear what he was saying properly, but he seemed to be complaining about why he had stopped the wrong escort vehicle.
Beep—
—It seems we’ve fooled them, thankfully.
The lead car spoke first, but the three in the rear car remained silent, thinking that it wasn’t completely over yet. After a while, the 39th captain gestured to his subordinates to open the barricade.
“Send them.”
The two horses behind the obstacles walked sideways, clip-clopping.
The rope connecting the saddle and the barricade was pulled taut, and the obstacles were removed, creating enough space for one car to pass. At the gesture of the red carpet signaling them to pass, the driver of the lead car, who had been surveying the surroundings, slowly began to drive the vehicle.
The rear car also followed closely behind the lead car, holding its breath. They were anxious, but they maintained a slow speed.
Watching the departing escort vehicle, the 39th captain muttered in a low voice, as if he was afraid it would appear in his dreams.
“…How did they die to make the corpse look like that? The smell is like… it’ll get into my clothes.”
“……”
“You know, you shouldn’t be too strict with those who are transporting the dead. It doesn’t matter with this one because it’s already gone bad, but if they say we missed the golden time because of us, things will get complicated.”
“……”
“And what if the real target comes here while you guys are busy catching them… Hey, are you listening to me?”
“Ah, yes. I’m listening.”
The captain of the royal guard glared at the man who seemed to be half-listening, but still gestured to his subordinates to step aside to the left and right. He seemed to think they had unfortunately caught a convoy unrelated to their real objective. But the silent knight quietly observed the lower part of the convoy vehicle.
The front bumper was clearly as clean as new, but the sides and rear were splattered with mud, and the underside of the vehicle was covered with scrape marks. It was a bit out of place, but it wasn’t a reason to restrict passage, so the knight kept his mouth shut. The vehicle had just passed leisurely through the barricade and was now crossing the gap between the six knights.
“Haa….”
At the same time, all three people in the following car breathed a sigh of relief. As the first car, which had passed through, began to pick up speed again, the driver opened the car window wide and presented the lined-up knights with a strong stench.
The person in the passenger seat also quickly opened the window and circulated the air, lest his lord be embarrassed. He watched the foolish guys playing soldier in the side mirror, and pulled down the gas mask he had been wearing to cover his face.
“It might be fortunate that we passed through the checkpoint. Now that we have the justification of transporting a corpse, there seems to be no reason to avoid them anymore.”
“It’s too early to relax. We need to get out of range.”
“Even so, if we keep going like this and arrive at another territory―”
Beep―
―Crack, crackle, screech!
At that moment, a sudden loud noise came from the shared radio. Unlike ordinary radios, this one was quite high-performance, so it was rare to hear static.
―Screech, screech
“……?”
The sharp noise that continued after the connection tone was more convincing that the noise was actually coming from beyond the radio, rather than a problem with the connection. The decibel level was so high and the sound was so sharp that it irritated the ears, and the knights outside the wide-open car window all stared at the convoy vehicle at once.
The two people in the front seat, flustered that the checkpoint they had just escaped from was once again focused on them, hurriedly closed the car windows.
“What, what is it? Suddenly―”
The outside air and sound were cut off, and the three people made eye contact in the rearview mirror. Their eyes were filled with anxiety. The driver stared nervously at the shared radio and the windshield alternately.
Soon, he flashed his headlights and quickly took the lead ahead of the first car. Seeing this, the knights, sensing something was wrong, stopped and watched the rear of the two vehicles.
“What is it?”
They exchanged glances and gave each other signals, but no one immediately followed. However, only the knight who had felt suspicious while observing the vehicle quickly mounted his horse, trying to figure out what was going on with a vague expression.
At that moment,
Screeeeeech―
A chilling screeching sound was heard from far away. The friction of tires loudly announced its presence throughout the forest.
It was an ominous sound, as if the sound waves that had been garbled on the radio a moment ago had jumped into reality, and it was even more stimulating and vividly ear-splitting.
The startled knights looked back at the curved road from which the convoy vehicle had come, not at the convoy vehicle that had passed by earlier. The horse’s snorting mixed with the sharp sound of hooves was gradually approaching. Even thunderous gunshots rang out one after another in the air.
“Isn’t that… gunfire?”
“What, what’s going on?”
“Get on quickly!”
All the knights, who had been murmuring, hurriedly mounted their horses at their superior’s shout. Soon after, what appeared around the curve was a convoy vehicle speeding away and four armed knights chasing after it.
The ragged appearance of those who were rushing in with a cloud of dust suggested that the previous battle had been quite fierce.
Just in time, Hugo, who had opened the car window to check the situation behind him, frowned and sighed softly.
“Oh dear….”
When he focused his eyes and magnified the image of the following vehicle, one of the wheels running at full speed was flat, as if it had a puncture. In the meantime, a proper radio transmission came through this time.
Beep―
―Alpha 1, failed to shake off the target. Maintaining distance, requesting instructions!
The sound quality was getting clearer and clearer.