Chapter 34
 The Talisman Mage
“How many bandits are there?”
A muffled voice reached my ears, pressed against my brother’s chest.
There was a window at the front of the carriage; opening it revealed the figure of the coachman holding the reins. Even though he’s called a coachman, he was large with thick arms. He must be a capable person who can also serve as a guard, tasked with protecting Crown Prince Elvin.
“About ten within visible range.”
“That’s a bit many. Can we handle it?”
“If they are mere bandits.”
“So, you’re saying there’s a possibility they are not.”
“They are well-coordinated and persistently targeting the horses.”
True to his words, an arrow whistled through the air.
But before it could hit a horse, it was blown away by wind magic.
It seems there’s someone among the guards who can use wind magic.
Even if an arrow hit the carriage, thanks to the defensive talismans, it wouldn’t cause significant damage.
“Are there any mages among the enemy?”
“No, not at the moment.”
“I see. Don’t let your guard down.”
My brother let out a slightly relieved sigh and looked down at me, who was gazing up at him.
“Retty, no matter what happens, I will protect you.”
Eeeeeek!
Brother… Brother is trying to stop my heart!
Though tense, his figure, forcing a smile to reassure me, was so divinely beautiful that I wanted to put my hands together in prayer.
And it’s the young Lord Cerios version!
Captivated by this rare sight not even seen in novel illustrations, I forgot to even blink.
Brother’s ice-blue eyes are so clear and pretty…
While I was idly thinking such things in a situation like this, a sudden, loud thud jolted the carriage, causing it to tilt sharply.
In that instant, my brother swiftly pulled me into a tight embrace.
The momentum caused Moko, whom I was holding, to tumble onto the floor.
When I looked to see about Elvin, Ian was shielding him, but Elvin already had his sword in hand, ready to draw it at any moment.
As expected of the muscle-brain prince, always prepared to fight.
“What happened!”
At my brother’s shout, the coachman responded.
“Magic! The wheel has been damaged!”
“So there is a mage after all. It will be troublesome if we get surrounded.”
Ah, I see.
The defensive talismans were placed on the carriage body itself, so they had no effect on the wheels.
I failed. I should have put talismans on the wheels too.
But it’s no use saying that now.
Good thing I made offensive talismans too, just in case something like this happened!
“I will join the counterattack as well.”
“Brother, use these!”
I pulled out a large talisman pouch from my bag and took out several unadorned charm papers.
“What is that?”
In my hand was a charm with the katakana characters for “BAKUHAATSU” (Explosion).
I actually wanted to write “Explosion” in kanji, but the characters were too difficult for me to create.
A shame.
I picked up Moko from the floor and handed him to my brother.
“Brother, please hold Moko. Also, could you open the door just a little?”
“Understood.”
Without asking any questions, my brother opened the carriage door.
A gust of wind rushed into the carriage.
My brother used ice magic to secure the door, which was threatening to slam shut from the wind pressure.
Through the gap in the door, I could see knights, disguised as guards, running alongside the carriage with swords drawn.
I made eye contact with one of them, and he looked surprised, but I turned my face away as if nothing happened.
“Hey, what are you doing? It’s dangerous,” Elvin’s flustered voice came from behind me.
I placed the charm on my palm.
The charm stuck to my palm and didn’t move.
“Protect us.”
As I said this and blew a breath onto it, the charm floated softly into the air and then shot towards the bandits with tremendous speed.
BOOM!
A sound of something exploding echoed.
“Another one!”
I sent another charm flying, and consecutive explosion sounds, BOOM! BOOM!, could be heard from behind.
“One more for good measure! Protect us!”
KABOOOOOOOM!
The charm that floated away seemed to produce a sound with increasing power with each subsequent oneâthe second and third being stronger than the first.
Simultaneously, the carriage slowly began to lose speed.
D-did we get them?
I wanted to open the carriage door to check, but the thought that bandits might still be there scared me from doing so.
What should I do? I still have talismans left; should I throw them just in case?
As I was worrying about that, my brother called out to the knight I had made eye contact with earlier through the door gap.
I haven’t seen him at the Duke’s residence, so he’s probably a knight who came as Elvin’s guard.
“What is the status of the bandits?”
“All have been incapacitated.”
“Good. Stop the carriage for confirmation. You all, apprehend the bandits.”
“Yes, sir!”
Saying that, the knight who turned his horse towards the back glanced at me briefly. His face seemed somewhat stiff.
Well, I get it. Elvin is the Crown Prince, after all; if something happened, it would have been serious. I understand.
I’m glad we managed to repel them~.
Now that I’m relieved, a wave of fatigue washed over me.
Let me look at my brother to heal my tiredness.
Thinking that, I turned around and saw Elvin looking astonished.
He was staring intently at me.
“…The Talisman Mage…”
In the slowly stopping carriage, Elvin muttered softly.
