“Welcome to Prourene, gentleman!”

  “They can’t hear you, milady…” Eve commented as I threw some quotes in commemoration of the first gliding bomb of this world. “But your plan seems to be working for sure.”

  It was obvious that no one could hear me considering we were some five kilometers away from the allied citadel and the enemy fort both, but it was fun to say. It also helped to ignore the fact we were in an open field of small hills with just a river close by. Although it shouldn’t be easy to approach us faster than the knights in the citadel could, it was a little too dangerous for my taste.

  Perfect in sight, and drawing all the attention I could were necessary conditions for my plan, though.

  The citadel itself was in the only opening of a mountain passage that stood behind the small hills. Everything in front of it was relatively open fields with crossing rivers, one of which had something similar to a small island in the middle. And in this one, there was currently a fort built of wooden palisades and reinforced with earthworks. Quite the few watchtowers and even some enchantments from what I could see, so a little more impressive than expected.

  Especially for something made one day prior.

  The place could probably take direct cannon fire for a while. Even a group of mages wouldn’t be able to just demolish this place, and that’s considering they wouldn’t just receive counter-fire. But that wasn’t enough to save the wooden fort from being set on fire by me.

  “Hells, they’re on flames already… Alchemic fire is a hellish fun weapon.” Elen nodded from over the carriage where she was sitting. “And you got it right in three tries only.”

  Not only a part of the wooden fort was in flames, but random patches of the hills between them and us were too. Two patches, to be exact. Fixing the aim took some work, but now I could send some extra hits and see how the other side reacted.

  “Was easier than expected, but we're only starting,” I said while downing another bottle of the blue liquid that was almost part of my daily diet by now. “Can you keep going, Lhoris?”

  The little elf who came due to peer pressure nodded strongly while already holding another one of my bootleg glider bombs. Or maybe I shouldn’t call an arrow with some fireworks and a bottle of alchemic fire strapped to it a ‘glider bomb’.

  The exact workings were as simple as changing the effect of my boots from making my equipment lighter on the whole to making everything but what I was holding lighter. All I had to do was hold the arrow and pour a lot of mana, and since something super light would glide even if the aerodynamics were horrible, it was only a matter of firing. And since Lhoris could, by her demonstration, fire an arrow some few hundreds of meters away, the thing went very far.

  All in all, a good pairing for this situation, even if an odd one. The only problem was that I needed to pour a LOT of mana to make it work, so it was almost one potion per shot.

  “Next shot! Try to get it a little further inside the fort this time.” I exclaimed as I held the arrow and focused on creating the weight reduction spell before lighting the rocket at the tip. It was getting me tired at a horribly high speed, but I passed the arrow to my archer and moved on.

  Without thinking much about it, the little elf took the projectile and fired it at a high angle while we watched it start to shine and speed up. My eyes didn’t stay on it too long, though. My eyesight wasn’t that good.

  I could manage another arrow before having to go for my fourth mana potion too, so I wanted to fire this one and then leave.

  “Next one. They should be taking us seriously now, so we’re on a timer…”

  I was saying this much while Lhoris fired the next bomb, but the lack of reaction was worrying me. The fires weren’t spreading that fast, but there was still fire, and even then, no one sallied to attack us. I was sure they would prepare an attack the moment the first shot hit. That is, unless I’m missing something again.

  “A little bit of a bummer we won’t fight them.” Elen laid down on the roof of the carriage again with a sigh. “I hoped they would rush us…”

  “It’s better if it stays as is, Your Highness. No reason to risk ourselves…” Eve gave me another mana potion, but I didn’t take it this time. I was starting to feel ill by now, so it could be bad… Another one and I’m not sure how long I could stay awake.

  I still had a bad feeling about this, though.

  Someone daring enough to build a castle so close to their enemy shouldn’t be this slow in reacting. Unless they were underestimating us a lot until now or if they never planned to hold this fort, not reacting was weird. Very weird.

  “Let’s retreat, everyone. We can come back later.” I called out and started to get up from my chair. “Pack everything and let us…”

  I stopped talking for a moment and froze in place. It was not because someone interrupted me or because I saw something, though, but only because I felt a tingling on my cheek and fell back to my chair. Only after my eyes focused away from the knife stuck in the cushions of the chair that I turned to the real surprise: the fact people were closing in from inside the nearby river.

  They swam here? No… Eve or Elen would’ve noticed it. Hell, I would’ve noticed it! Probably. And the guns... How would they…? Oh?! That’s a neat way of using water magic... Or is it air? Yes, it seems to be air. Smart trick.

  My thoughts rushed in a second as I watched the moving soldiers stop a few dozen meters away from us. Most of them weren’t even wet, adding to my magic theory, but that didn’t matter. Counting them and getting ready was more important.

  The enemies were twenty or so soldiers with small muskets and simple shortswords at their hips, with a single odd-one-out being their leader. This one was an average-sized guy, not very muscular and rocking a scoundrel look with light armor similar to the others, but different weapons. He had no gun, instead carrying many knives and one crooked purple and red blade at his hips.

  Very tropey bandit or mercenary villain, but he was quite good-looking still. I was starting to get confused about why this world was so lacking in ugly people even… Not that I would ever complain about it.

  “You seem to be a lucky lady, I’m not someone who misses like this. The name is Willian, by the way.” The rough blonde guy spoke up in a voice that fit well with his rowdy mercenary outlook. “But I recommend surrendering now. You four seem like worthy hostages…”

  “Surrender, is it?” I spoke with my patented bad bitch tone while pretending to not feel a thing about the situation. “Why would I? You were the one who came to the obvious trap, right?”

  “Hahahah! I know how you nobles are, but you’re taking it a little too far, aren’t you? Or are you delusional enough to think two guards and a maid are enough to call this a trap?” He continued while still focused only on me, though it wasn’t that much of an advantage considering he had so many people to focus on everyone else. “To be honest, I suspected it was a trap, so we scouted around beforehand. It gave you the time to attack my new castle, but I'll have your country pay a good deal for you later, so it's fine.”

  I guess he’s not dumb, at least. But considering he didn’t notice that I was walking around with the princess, it seems he’s not some hyper-prepared character either.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  A good chance of getting my fame up, I say.

  “It seems you don’t know me, right? I mean, not surprising since I’m more of staying back and letting my big friend do the hard work, but alas.” I kept putting on airs to keep his attention outside of my shuffling on the chair and the nearby items. “Since we’re at it, though, I’ll present myself as a courtesy… The name is Illia di Supria, Duchess of Supria and hero of Prourene. Nice to meet you.”

  The area got silent right after I finished my words somehow. No one, even the people on my side, reacted to it. It was a little sad even… At least they were too focused on my face to see what I was doing on the side.

  “Pft! Hahahahahah! Damn… You’re for real, girl?!” Willian focused on hurting my feelings and started to laugh after digesting my words. “I mean, okay, let’s say you’re a ‘hero’ like that guy… Aren’t you a little too weak-looking? Even with this weird long-range trick of yours, is that all you can do? Were heroes always this sneaky? The last one I met was all about attacking head-on...”

  Oh? Now that’s interesting. Better try and get this one alive… He must have the origin of Mr. Hero’s curse. Or that would be my plan if I had a reliable way to survive this encounter. Doesn’t seem bad enough to unleash my sword and go crazy, but I’ll keep that as a second idea.

  “Not trusting me, eh? Fair, I’d say. I’m more of a support type if you ask me, but that’s why I have bodyguards, you see? All I have to do is command them from afar and that’s enough… I'm not dumb enough to attract an army without being ready for it.”

  “That’s… Even if that was true, it’s four against twenty right now.” He wearily answered me as I slowly got up from my chair, but it seemed he got what my initial plan was. “And I’m sure we can take you all before the knights from that city reach us.”

  Oh? Did he notice that? I guess wasting time talking won’t work too well then. Some four minutes should still be doable… Wasting time is my specialty anyway.

  “No, no, don’t get weary now. We’re yet to start, right? We still need to… Woah!” And then I tripped down halfway through my words, falling over my ‘luggage’ and turning the tension into dead silence. It didn't stay so as the enemy leader, and even some of his soldiers, started to chuckle soon after, but it was planned this time.

  Shock is much easier to cause when the other side thinks you’re too pathetic to do anything, exactly like the enemies are doing right now. And when the fireworks I used my fall and the distraction to set off went towards them, the shock was easy to see. Some even fired their guns at random due to the surprise.

  “Eve.” Elen shouted out and charged at the surprised group of mercenaries, approaching them almost instantly and trying to slash at the leader. “You really choose the wrong place, dumbass!”

  “Kuh!” Willian blocked the twin daggers with his crooked sword, wincing a little due to the lack of preparation. “Stronger than I expected, eh?”

  “You won’t have time to be impressed for long.” Elen continued to slash, forcing the mercenary guy to continue dodging without a chance to counter. “Though I’ll let you choose how many pieces you want to be after I’m done.”

  “Just one is good enough for me.”

  Willian was clearly on the backfoot against the rogue princess, but there was no worry in his expression. Even as he kept being pushed back and barely surviving the attacks, it all seemed to be going as planned. Which wasn’t wrong to consider since the other soldiers had just recovered too and his retreat made it so they two were deep into the enemy lines.

  “Tch! It took too long…” Elen clicked her tongue as she noticed the aiming guns and approaching mercenaries, losing focus enough to let Willian retreat. And right as he did, the musketeers who could fired their guns, even if none of the shots managed to hit.

  “Don’t go too far, please.” Eve stood by her liege’s side after blocking the bullets with a collection of barriers. “We’re being surrounded already.”

  Almost every one of the enemy’s soldiers were approaching the two of them by now, but I had the feeling they would be fine there. The one guy that wasn’t approaching them was more worrying for me.

  “Keep them both occupied.” Willian ordered the mercenaries before turning his attention back to my hiding spot. “I’ll take the real prize.”

  His movements weren’t as fast as Elen’s, but he got close very fast, only stopping when an arrow came in his direction. More of them came in too, but they were all easily dodged as he continued to approach us. Why they were being so was due to the fact Lhoris didn’t seem to be aiming at any opening or vital point, though. It was almost as if she was just trying to make it so he wouldn’t approach our position, even if I could see some anger in her expression.

  It was only slowing Willian down a little, though.

  “Hey, little one, keep an eye on me!” I shouted to the shortstack as I finally gave up on hiding and tried to draw some attention. “I’ll give you an opening, so take him down.”

  He was already too close to hide or run, so I drew my saber and went towards him instead.

  “Time to surrender, Ms. Hero!” We both clashed, my saber and his crooked sword clashing as I felt Lhoris moving away and keeping her eyes on me. Surprisingly, the clash didn’t numb my arm too much, which was unusual for the people around here. More than that, his movements weren’t fast enough to be invisible and his movements were something I could recognize.

  Both in speed and strength, it seemed that I could keep up.

  So, feeling my winning chances rising, I made a fake opening to try my theory. A theory that was instantly confirmed when the mercenary’s empty hand moved away from his back and a handful of sand passed close to my hair. And his failed sneaky attack gave me an opening to counter, so I did the best thrust I could and even managed to get a shallow wound.

  It did way less damage than I imagined, but it was still some damage. Not a crippling hit at all, but a hit still, and that was more than I expected to get here. Not that the other side seemed to care about it as he continued to move forward and attack with his short sword after recovering from the hit.

  His fast combo wasn't enough to make me not notice the growing magical circle in his free hand, though. So, I timed it with my intuition and raised a barrier right as a mass of mud got flung from the ground towards me, trying to take the opening again, even if I failed this time.

  Some of the mud still got in my clothes and he had to jump back against my counter, but that was it. I had to keep the momentum here, though, so I still lunged at the mercenary without thinking too much. Not that it did much more than force him into some easy parries.

  “Nice tricks, you have. Are they all this obvious, though?” I taunted as my confidence rose up, but Willian didn’t react too much to it. “Funny that you were so confident about it…”

  It wasn’t as if I had a clear advantage here, but I wouldn’t be losing right away. Lhoris was taking care of any soldier aiming at me and Willlian didn’t seem able to break through my defenses right away, so I could hold. All I had to do was hold and wait until Elen and Eve were done.

  A thought that only worsened the hit when I noticed how close to the river our fight took us and the fact that this was also one of his tricks.

  “Something wrong, Ms. Hero?”

  “Damn…” I clicked my tongue as the noise of splashing water got to my ear and I hurried to duck away from the hits. Most bullets ricocheted on the magical circle I hurried to raise but I still felt a pang on my leg and down my belly. And even then, I had to force myself to roll away unless I wanted to add a stab to the mix.

  I messed up.

  Getting confidence and trying to do more than just hold my position was dumb. My guess was that he wasn’t even trying when he reached me. It was more to bring me to a trap than anything, likely because he wanted to capture me, and I fell for it. But I could still turn this mess around, even if only because I never planned to win.

  It was hurting, though. Hurting a lot. Didn’t feel good at all. And seeing the bastard who got me smiling and walking towards me as I crouched a few meters away from the riverside only made it worse.

  “I told you to surrender, didn’t I?” He mocked me as he closed in without a care. Even with the fact he was losing in most areas, it didn't seem this guy was worried, and for a good reason. “I expected a little more, though.”

  “To hells with you!” In a sudden motion that, although very hurtful, wasn't the most insane thing I ever did, I rushed to my feet and threw the one bottle on my belt... And even with the surprise, the damned mercenary simply held it in the air and started to laugh.

  “Really?”

  “I had to try…” I then lost strength in my legs and fell back to my butt with a fake smile on my face. It was an ugly victory, but a victory is a victory, I guess.

  “Fair. I was expecting to have a real fight again, but whatever… I knew bringing my guys would've been too much for this job.” He sighed while still holding the corked bottle in his hand, not noticing that he was exactly where I wanted. “Can you surrender now?”

  “Why would I?” I sluggishly got up with my hands up but then pointed to the bottle in his hands. “Why would the winner surrender?”

  And so, before either of us could react further, an arrow struck the glowing orange flask and both of our lines of sight got engulfed in flames.

  It was a little too close to me, enough for some of the fire to catch on my clothes, but that was fine. Even though one of my arms was actually on fire, I could take it. My consciousness was leaving too, so it wasn’t as if I had that much of a choice anyway.

  And the image of a flaming person running to the river while his soldiers panicked under the sound of approaching cavalry made me smirk as I fainted…