In This Life, I Will Raise You Well, Your Majesty!

The place where Elisha and her party arrived beyond the portal of Barossa was not in the western territory. The party had searched for two adjacent territories, each with a portal, in the central region closest to the western territory.

After crossing the portal to one of them, the party went to the next territory and took the portal there to the west. The portal revealed the path as the coordinates of the starting point and the arrival point was connected to mana.

In order to erase the traces, the party disguised the place of departure because it was obvious that someone would be wary if someone crossed over from the capital due to the current turbulent circumstances of the west.

It was a shallow trick, but it would not be bad in the situation of the western territory, which were busy focusing on internal search.

Of course, it was possible because they had forged identities prepared in advance so that there would be no problems when using the portal.

Perhaps because it was the Zelot Knights, who were dedicated to secret missions, they were good at moving secretly and had no hesitation. Elisha’s party entered Cherin territory faster than expected without anyone blocking, and was currently heading into the center where the baron’s mansion was located.

“I see the 2nd Consort.”

Elisha stared at him and nodded. It was an acquaintance. In the previous life, Elisha herself was the one who had thrown that pretty face into a pit of fire and made it ugly, so how could she forget it?

It was the commander of the Zelot Knights, Zile.

“The people who have been waiting where you are going are now being tracked down after their tracks have been discovered. The size of the pursuit team has grown tremendously because the knights of the duke family and their entourage sensed that there’s something going on and started to rush in.”

After completing the report, Zile waited for Elisha’s instructions. Zile, who had received the emperor’s communication from the safe house set up in the western territory, was obeying the emperor’s orders to fully cooperate with the 2nd Consort.

If it were anyone else, they might not help the 2nd Consort properly after suffering from her merits, but it was not so for Zile.

In any case, the more outstanding the Zelot Knights were, the deeper they should hide.

“Which way?”

“Rotinan.”

Elisha frowned upon hearing Zile’s answer. It wasn’t the direction itself, Rotinan territory of the central region, was bad.

But because the stem extending from the central Pavezzo Mountains, which could be said as the largest mountain range in the entire continent, crossed the territory widely.

Most of the territory was influenced by the reach of the Pavezzo Mountains. No matter how gentle the slope was, it was still connected to the main mountain. Since it was a place that connected the essence of the Pavezzo Mountains, even a single stem would not be comparable to a ridge of any height.

There were many places to hide if you run to such a place, but although it had the advantage of the leaves and grass naturally covering up the traces of even animals… It would be as hard to try to leave.

If they were mistakenly trapped inside and isolated, they could have been harmed by nature, not by humans.

But, as to why they went there, how many options did the chased group, with a young woman and child who had never trained properly, have?

It was a good thing that they had managed to escape with their lives up to that point. Rosenin seemed to be of great help.

“Let’s go.”

Elisha said to the group. The horses ran at the same time, speeding up.

They ran non-stop.

The horses tired before the people, so they had to find new ones nearby.

The number of people who had crossed over to the West with Elisha was less than ten, but when they joined Zile and the others who had come first, the number increased to nearly thirty.

Normally, if a large number of armed soldiers move quickly on horseback, even if they did not enter the main city of the territory, a report would be sent to the soldiers or knights standing on the border and they would be checked. But now there was no one to stop them.

Even if Zile was choosing a path that did not collide with other territories as much as possible, this level of ignorance meant that most of the people who were managing each territory were currently distracted by different things, and it was highly likely that they would be heading towards Rotinan.

“Duke Verdin wouldn’t have been able to reveal the real reason Vera and the child had to be chased, so how the heck did the worms get so entangled in such nonsense?”

During a short break, Zile answered her questions.

“When rumors circulated among the Western nobles that Duke Verdin has sent out people to find his second daughter-in-law, news was released from the duchy. It was said that the duke’s second daughter-in-law had an affair with a young layman. When the duke found out, the two people who chose to run away kidnapped the little master as a hostage in case the duke chased them and harmed them.”

“And whoever kills the two people in the scandal and brings the little master to the duchy will receive a great reward?”

“Yes. And from some point, the word ‘the most precious thing in the duchy’ which was used to describe the little master, was changed to ‘treasure’.”

“There must be some who think that the ‘treasure’ is literally a real treasure and seek an opportunity to take it away.”

This might be why the West’s unrest had expanded faster and stronger than expected.

“The Western aristocracy is closed to the outside world, so only those who are still deeply involved in the West know it, but soon it will spread throughout the empire.”

“We have to clean this up before then.”

Elisha answered.

Vera had done as much as she could. It was her turn to finish the rest.

***

“There they are!”

Rosenin bit her lip at the shouts coming from behind her. She glanced left and right on the road she was running.

On the right side, dry trees stand on the slope that went up along the road, and on the left side was a downhill road leading into a shallowly dug valley. At the beginning of the downhill road was a large rock with its head stretched out like a turtle.

“This way!”

Rosenin rushed to the left with Vera and the child. Controlling her speed by placing a blade on the soles of her feet so she didn’t slip, she moved and crouched in a shady space under a rock.

“Huh? Where did they go? Are they already far away?”

Shortly thereafter, those following them arrived. They seemed to stop and look around.

“They shouldn’t have gone too far, so let’s hurry up! This is not the only road, and if other people drag them first, wouldn’t we be wasting our time?”

When someone took the lead and led the mood, people joined in. Again, the sound of footsteps echoed across the mountain road.

Rosenin, who had been holding her breath for a while even after the movement disappeared, vomited out what she had been holding back, wondering if it was over.

“Haa.”

It was really close this time. Rosenin, who had been resting her forehead on her knees, raised her head.

“Are you okay, ma’am?”

Rosenin looked at Vera.

“I’m fine, but… What about Ash? Will we ever see each other again?”

Vera’s voice trembled, worried about the knight who was separated from them to hold off the enemies.

“It’ll be fine with the brothers Py and Thon. I bought them for a really high price.”

The first to die had been Charles. He hadn’t even been able to get out of the Cherin territory. The second had been Morden, her secret escort. He had died as soon as they had left Cherin territory.

After that, one after another, they died in the order of the lowest price. Money, apparently, did not betray value.

“I’m buying a lot of more expensive mercenaries.”

Rosenin was truly sorry. She had decided to do that next time and tried to raise her body up. At that moment, Benjamin, who was in Vera’s arms, pulled her arm.

“Huh!”

Surprised, Rosenin’s body stiffened.

She frowned as she couldn’t figure out why the little master, who had not been acting like a child so far, suddenly played a prank this late. But soon she realized with an Oh!

Weren’t they hiding in the triangular gap between the head-shaped rock and the downhill road?

Had she jumped up, she would have banged her head hard against the bottom of the rock.

“Thank you, little master.”

Rosenin thanked him with slight indifference. This was because Rosenin was more reluctant the more she looked at that little master who had a strange atmosphere. Benjamin blocked her again as she tried to escape the shade with her upper body bent. Rosenin, who glanced down at the hem of the caught clothes, frowned and shook his hand off lightly.

When she was just about to get out of the shade, all of a sudden! This time, a thick hand came out from the light, not from inside the shade. Rosenin dangled in the air with the hand holding her chin.

“Heehee, here you are! I thought you’d be hiding nearby!”

The man’s eyes gleamed with a grin, as he revealed this. It was like the voice she had just heard. He must have incited the people to send them off, while he stalled and guarded this place!

Was this why the little master kept holding on to her? A cold sweat ran down Rosenin’s back. She hid her arm behind her back without the man’s knowledge and waved it vigorously from side to side.

It was just a signal to Vera and the little master under the rock not to come out. But there was no way the man would not look again at the place where Rosenin just came out from.

The man threw Rosenin up the road and put his upper body through the gap between the rock and the slope.

“Hiiy!”

The frightened Vera leaned back to widen the distance. At the same time, she tried to turn Benjamin in her arms behind her, but the man was one step faster.

The man, at eye level with the child, grabbed the child by the shoulder and tried to pull the child out of her arms!

“U-Uwaaaagh!”

The man suddenly let out a scream. He took his hand off the child’s shoulder and his body trembled.

Blood streamed down the pointed branch that protruded between the fingers that covered the man’s right eye.

Vera couldn’t stay in fear. Vera, who was stepping back, twisted her body and turned upside down. In a crawling position, Vera began to escape to the opposite direction from the side blocked by the man.

Below was a dry valley with a stream with nothing to cover the slope. Not a place to avoid with a child.

Vera’s eyes widened as she crawled with one hand holding her son, who was hugging her neck, in her chest, and thrusting her other hand into the dirt floor. She hadn’t moved far, but no matter how much she moved, her body didn’t move any further.

“Ah…”

She looked down at her child, her mouth shut at the ominous premonition. She held the child up.

And tried to put the child out of her arms.

“Stay here, okay? Benjamin, it’s okay, everything’s gonna be okay.”

The child stared intently at his mother, who struggled to contain her tears, with an innocent face. As if she was the person who needed to be told that Everything’s gonna be okay. Realizing the meaning of his gaze, she smiled faintly.

“I’m glad my baby is not scared.”

For the first time, she gratefully accepted the strange side of her child. Then her body was pulled all the way towards the man.

Kuuuk!

The sloping soil was crushed and crumbled downwards. A cloud of strong dust rose, and her body was also ruined with wounds from being dragged to the ground. But it wasn’t her discomfort that worried her.

“Benjamin!”

The child clasped his mother’s neck with his arms until the end and did not let go.

The man who had grabbed the slender woman’s ankle and pulled her toward himself lifted her up as soon as her body escaped from the shade of the rock.

As she hung in the air with her ankle caught, the hem of her skirt flipped over. It’s been a while since I looked at fair legs. The man stared as if wanting to kill the child who was glued to his mother.

“This bastard of the devil!”

The place where the right eyeball of the man should have been was empty. He still couldn’t believe it. The moment he had put his face near the child a while ago, his right eye had suddenly stung. He had thought the dust had entered.

He couldn’t have imagined that that little master would pierce his eye with a tree branch! The most frightening thing was the actions of the little master after stabbing his eyes. The little master had twisted the pierced branch sideways.

It was a secondary attack that made wounds open and made healing difficult. He had done it instinctively. So the man had no choice but to pluck out his eyeball.

The pain would only be worse had he left it be!

The man had wanted to throw the woman and the child down the valley like this, but he couldn’t.

If he didn’t take the little master to the duke, how could he recover what he lost? Especially the cost of losing his right eye!

The man gleefully climbed over the incline and jumped onto the road.

“Damn it.”

The man cursed. He thought he’d find the strange masked woman crumpled alone, but before he knew it, there were quite a few new guests.