Heroes to Hunted

After I turned to the outdoors, I noticed there now patrolled two to three men on horseback while wearing rudimentary armor on either side of the carriage. Accompanying the crude gear, they wielded identical swords and bows.

"That's new," Kamida said, pointing to our new guards.

Noticing what Kamida referred to, Takagi replied, "it doesn't matter how many bugs they send; I'll squash 'em all!"

Agawa turned her head and taunted Takagi. "You know, nobody will like you if all you do is start fights..."

"Fine with me. I don't make friends with bugs anyway," he said with bared fangs.

Takagi's narcissism aside, the presence of the new soldiers concerned me.

A changing of the guard was definitely standard for any operation, but a reinforcing of it? That was a red flag anyone could recognize.

Typically, any commander worth their salt would reserve excess forces to preserve their strength. If they were deployed now, their commander was foolish…or something was expected to happen.

Checking our surroundings, I failed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

The tree line was clear, except for the occasional woodland critter. Behind us was a free stretch of empty gravel road, and in front of us was…

Next, I saw a glint of sunlight as it reflected off a lone projectile.mIt whizzed past our carriage, cutting through the air with absolute precision. An instant later, the arrow found its mark in a rear line guard's neck.

"Guhh," he cried out. An explosion of blood spurted from him as he fell from his screaming horse.

I traced the arrow's trajectory and confirmed my suspicions.

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"TO ARMS! Bandits on the cliff sides straight ahead!" a shout accompanied by the alarm of a ringing bell came from the lead carriage.

Suddenly, the once peaceful atmosphere of the forest was replaced by war cries and the throes of death. On either side of us, our protectors desperately sought any cover.

After finding their shields, our defenders loosed a volley of arrows toward the bandits.

I peered cautiously out the carriage's front-facing window to see twenty, no thirty assailants lining the jagged cliffs surrounding the road. Each wielded primitive longbows and sprayed arrows at our convoy.

Our guards' fearful expressions. The overwhelming odds stacked against them; it was an all too familiar scenario for me. It was the same for my subordinates and I on our last mission.

I could've bolted out from the carriage. I could've run out to aid the dying soldiers in any way I could, but I had no responsibility to. Without any orders, my only duty was to myself.

'I already died once; there's no way I'll let it happen again so easily! Still…' I looked out to see a dying man groaning in pain. Below him was a growing pool of crimson. 'I'm sorry.' As much as I hated seeing men sacrificed in a losing battle, it wasn't my place to try being their "hero."

The sound of frantic whipping echoed from the rock walls surrounding us. Then, right on cue, the carriages accelerated to breakneck speed. The few guards left standing defended us with longbows and crossbows while returning to whichever horses were left alive.

While passing by one of the attackers, I heard an alarming phrase. "Death to the Devil King's dogs! Death to Kirina Vlad!"

I locked eyes with the shouting bandit; it was a black-cloaked woman wielding a bow and a makeshift banner.

The banner itself was oddly nostalgic. Lining its frayed cloth edges was a border of red dye. Streaks then converged inward to form a crimson Sun. Though it had minor differences, there was no mistaking it.

'That's Japan!' I thought with widened eyes. There was no doubt that the flag signified my homeland.

The woman fixed her gaze on me; she motioned her mouth and silently uttered a word. A word that concerned me more than her previous phrase. I was never good at reading lips, so I couldn't be sure of what was said. But, what I thought she told me to do was "run."

As she finished, I saw a flash of bright purple light appear before us. Soon after, a thunderous clap shook the ground as the light exploded into an arc of blue electricity.

The fractal arms split and pummeled the cliffs, emitting an ear-grating buzzing noise. The force of the electricity was so destructive it forced the attackers to retreat from the cliffsides. The impact of the lightning fractured the earth, creating a thin smokescreen of dust and pulverized rock.

Despite the fantastic scene, I focused more on the woman bandit, specifically what she said.

'Why would a bandit, attacking us, tell me to run? Why were they waving a banner depicting Japan? Wasn't this supposed to be a new world?' I had many questions, but the heat of battle wasn't patient. I'd have no time to gather answers.

"What the hell is happening?!" Agawa panicked, huddling over from the windows.

Her frantic words propelled me into action. "Just get down and stay down!" I shouted. "And make yourself as small as possible!"

Kamida and Agawa followed my instruction and dropped to what little floor we had. Though cramped, they scrunched up with their hands and knees tucked into their bellies.

Takagi, on the other hand, only scoffed at me. "Hah, this is nothing. Getting scared-"

My veins boiled with anger and throbbed against my skin. "You think this is a joke?! Get the f*ck down!" I was tired of dealing with civilian idiocy.

Again he brushed off my commands. This time, he condescendingly mocked and waved me off.

My irritation peaked when, in my peripheral vision, I saw a rogue arrow flying for our wagon. Based on its course, it was on a direct collision course with Takagi's head!

'God d*mmit!' I was out of time and long out of patience. So I grappled Takagi, paying no mind to his thrashing and complaints, and dragged him to the floor. Holding him was no easy task, but I refused to let his foolish bravado get him killed.

We huddled over the dusty floor while waiting for the projectile to fly through.

We waited...and waited…and waited, but the snapping of an arrow breaking upon contact with the carriage never came. Even so, we all lay there, hugging the bottom of the carriage.

About ten minutes later, a voice ahead shouted, "all clear," and slowed our carriages back to a reasonable trot.

'We're…in the clear?' I turned my gaze upward to see the missing projectile. It was suspended in midair, halfway through the carriage's windowless sill. Around its shaft flickered a blue-green light barrier. It rapidly flashed like static where the arrow was piercing it.

Though locked in place, the arrow trembled violently from the friction.

I got up to study it, cautiously, of course. But, before I could, it launched from the barrier and spun off in the opposite direction. While spiraling backward, the arrow caught on various pieces of foliage, creating differently pitched cracking noises. Eventually, it disappeared far from sight into the darkness of the forest beyond.

I again pushed a flat palm toward the windowless sill; this time, I was repelled backward. Like a magnet of opposite polarity.

"What the h*ll?" I muttered, confused. "What kind of tech is this?"

Even in my modern world, I'd never seen anything like this. I've seen the latest in military advancement, but never an activated barrier with no physical structure. 'Maybe it's magic,' I thought, torn between sarcasm and genuine belief.

Takagi picked himself up from the floor, staring daggers at me. Surprisingly, he didn't say a word. Instead, he took his seat and averted his eyes outside.

Kamida and Agawa soon followed us and returned to their seats.

"That was an ordeal," Kamida said, patting himself down to brush the dust from his suit.

Agawa sighed wearily. "It was more than an ordeal! Bandits? Are you kidding me? I just... I just want to go home," she whined, cradling her head in her arms.

While banter and complaints ensued between them, I was stuck contemplating that bandit's words. "The Devil King's dogs," was she referring to us?

'If what the old man said was true, anything "demon" is our enemy. So, why were we being targeted by people allegedly on our side? Why the hell did they have a Japanese flag?! There was also what the bow-woman said….'

Considering those questions, I was pointed to a distinct possibility. The possibility they weren't bandits at all. Something was very wrong here. Something was being hidden from us.

Every safety alarm within my body blared incessantly due to the bandit's warning and after the attack, the guards for our caravan dwindled to a mere third of their original number.

Since they had become so few in number, I considered the possibility of bursting from the carriage and neutralizing any that'd stop my escape.

Sadly, their weakening didn't change the fact that I'd never survive in the open wilderness. Even with my training, with no food, water, weapons, or even any idea of where I was, running was guaranteed to end up in disaster.

I was stuck. Despite knowing I should leave, there was no way I could. I had to play along with whatever these cultists wanted for now.

'Guess I have no choice,' I sighed and relaxed my body into my seat.

After that, we all retreated into our respective minds to dwell on what had happened. What else did the future have in store for us, I wonder?