Chapter 14 - When The Going Gets Tough

You can do this Euryale!

The pale green demon smacked her cheeks trying to psych herself up a little.

She found herself in an open area in a forest a little ways outside the city. It was the spot she knew the visitor from the capital would soon be passing through.

Oh…I haven’t done this in so long. I’m out of practice.

She held her head with her hand, fingers tangled in a mess of purple waves.

She hadn’t used her powers in a while. Years actually. She tried to think of the last time. Certainly not in the past two years. The world had been oddly at peace. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t use her powers during the Demon King’s invasion either. She hadn’t even fought.

Few had. Their army’s vanguard swept the continent so quickly in the absence of any hero with the power to fight back that many demons like her hadn’t needed to do much of anything.

Not that Euryale was much of a fighter. Xorn wasn’t wrong when he called her a bookworm. She much preferred avoiding conflict and enjoying the comfort of her collection of books. She loved her collection. Even if it had cost a small fortune to amass the volumes.

She remembered why she was here. All the money she had…borrowed…to fill out her collection over the years was now in danger of being found out and she needed to buy time to solve that problem.

She knew she couldn’t just sell everything and put the money back. Even if she found buyers, a difficult prospect at the price and quantity she would need to sell, she couldn’t just put a huge sum of money back into the castle’s coffers. She needed time. Time to change all the accounting records so the money wouldn’t be missed even if someone conducted a review.

And that meant the visitor on their way to town, on their way to discover her…misappropriations…needed to be dealt with.

A bead of sweat dripped down the back of her uniform. She realized too late she should have worn something less noticeable. Less identifiable. But that realization came too late and she didn’t have time to run back to the castle to change. And what would she even have worn? She doesn’t skulk about the woods. And she was no adventurer.

No! I can do this. My power has never failed me when I need to use it. I just need to pour every ounce of my energy into it. I only have one chance, so even if I exhaust myself, as long as I kill the envoy it doesn’t matter if I completely deplete my mana.

Ugh…I knew I should have kept up training like Taia always said…

She looked around to find a place to hide.

There!

She spotted an especially thick oak tree that would provide cover. From it she’d have a clear view of the side of the vehicle the envoy should be travelling in.

Vehicle. Carriage? Wagon? Oh no, what if it’s covered? What if I can’t even see the envoy?!

She wracked her brain trying to think of what she could do if she couldn’t see inside whatever vehicle was coming her way.

Think! Think! If it’s covered then…that means the envoy has a driver. A driver to guide the horse. The horse! Right! As long as I stop the horse no matter what kind of vehicle it is any person inside will be stuck and have to get out!

She mentally patted herself on the back. Until she thought again about what she was going to do.

I’m…really going to kill someone. I…think it’s the first time.

Sure, it’s probably just some human or demi-human. Most of them don’t count. Right? Xorn certainly seems to think so.

She thought about the humans and demi-humans she knew.

Wait, is Mr. Witt the only one I’ve spoken with? He’s actually really friendly and nice. Clever too. Are all humans like him? If they were, maybe they aren’t so bad.

Stop! You’re just trying to talk yourself out of this!

Even if you know Mr. Witt that doesn’t mean you know this human or whatever they are. Yeah! If I don’t do this…

She thought about the consequences if the liberties she had taken with the Viscount’s budget were discovered. She shuddered. Xorn was scary when he yelled about his reduced guard staff, but the Viscount…the Viscount was genuinely terrifying when he wanted to be.

She balled her hands into fists and prepared herself once more. She would do this. She had to.

Before she could worry any more she started to hear the faint sound of hooves.

There!

On the very edge of what she could observe of the forest she saw a horse drawing a carriage. A closed carriage. She mentally groaned.

The carriage was far fancier than she thought to expect for such a simple financial envoy. It was gilded along the edges and she could make out purple curtails covering its windows.

A single driver sat at the front driving the horse. He was wearing a neat blue uniform with a matching feathered cap. The livery seemed oddly familiar but she couldn’t place it.

She put the uniform out of her mind as she focused on the driver himself. He was large. Very large. With muscles almost a thick as Xorn’s. From this distance she couldn’t tell if he was human or a tall dwarf, but she could make out the massive battle axe laying beside him and immediately realized his strength likely was honed in combat, not on some farm.

The vehicle drew closer. Euryale anticipated her moment would come soon. She was just waiting for the right moment when she would have the optimal aim for both the driver and the door of the carriage.

It’s time.  No more doubts.  I have to do this.

She steeled herself and stepped out from behind the tree, her eyes fixed on her target.