Carriage

“The Crown Prince’s crowning ceremony is in two days. For that, I have assigned some of you to come to the Royal Palace while the rest to stay here, guarding the Temple.”

At the field where they usually had their morning briefing, Saaya announced some information regarding the coronation day of the Crown Prince.

“There will be 4 carriages in total, with 3 people in each carriage. I will announce the the teams for each carriage.”

Saaya showed a scroll with the details of the carriages. The carriage was pulled by 2 horses each. Each of them was differentiated with a different colour.

“First off, in the white carriage, there will be the Premier, his best friend Xiaohui, and me.”

Dasom flinched once she heard Xiaohui’s name.

“Second, in the golden carriage, there will be the Crown Prince, Princess Yumi, and Zum.”

Haru and Meixia looked at each other and nodded. They put in mind that Yumi was in the golden carriage.

“Third, in the red carriage, there will be the Lord Commander, Arudo, and Meixia.”

This team consisted of the investigation team. They grouped together to devise a plan during the travel.

“Lastly, in the black carriage, there will be the Holy Monastic and Haru. The Holy Monastic personally asked for you, so you’re gonna go with him.”

Haru was surprised that he was coming with them to the Royal Residence. Even though he realised that the Holy Monastic and him were getting closer recently, he didn’t expect him to personally invite Haru to go together in the same carriage with him.

“For the rest of you, stay here in case anything happens. We also prepared some extra carriages in case you are to be summoned. Stay alert, and don’t miss a thing. We will leave after dinner.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The members saluted Chief Saaya. They were then dismissed, to pack up for the things they needed to bring for to the Royal Residence.

At 8 in the evening, the people who were going to the Royal Residence gathered in front of the abbey. In order to ensure the safety of the Premier and the Crown Prince, the Lord Commander ordered them all to wear a cloak with the hood on, to cover their appearances with. Everyone wore the same black cloak.

In total, there were 11 people who were going. The carriages waited for them in front of the abbey. One by one, everyone started entering the carriage. Each carriage was led by a person in charge. The Lord Commander took charge of the red carriage, Saaya took charge of the white one, Zum took charge of the golden one, and Haru took charge of the black one.

Before Xiaohui left, Dasom approached him and gave him something.

“Be careful on your way there....”

She gave him a potion which could replenish some of his fyx during battle. It was a very valuable item, extracted from special flowers that grew native in the nation.

After everyone was on their carriage, it was time for them to depart. The Lord Commander took the lead with the red carriage, while the others followed him right behind.

Amber City, the capital city of the nation, was located in Hupo state. Hupo state was at the centre of the nation, bordering other 4 states by land. It was also the nearest state to Noctilio City, in which the Royal Residence was located. To get to Noctilio City from the capital took around 14 hours of travel, excluding stops.

The route to Noctilio City included hours of travel on a grassy meadow in Chirioptera State. The meadow was a very sparsely populated area, with civvie homes raised livestock as their main profession. There were few trees here and there, but there was mostly grass.

At 11 at night, the leaders of each carriage offered the people they were escorting to have some rest. They would take turns running the carriage so that everybody could have some rest.

Inside the black carriage, the Holy Monastic spoke to Haru.

“Haru, there’s something I have to tell you.”

After contemplating a lot for the past few days, the Holy Monastic finally decided to tell Haru the truth about him. After having visited Premiere Tianming’s grave to ask her for some guidance, he concluded that Haru deserved to know the truth.

“You were born 22 years ago in Rhea Town, correct?”

The Holy Monastic started the conversation, revealing the truth about him.

Meanwhile, in the white carriage, Saaya was running the carriage.

“So, how are you feeling, Your Div––”

“Apologies, Chief Saaya. I think His Divinity wants to have a rest.”

“I apologize. Please, have some rest, Your Divinity.”

Xiaohui interrupted Saaya when she was about to start a conversation with the Premier, so that he could have some rest for the night.

Suddenly, Xiaohui heard something.

“Something’s coming....”

Xiaohui heard a loud sound of footsteps approaching them. He listened to it closely and the more he focused, the more he could visualise what was coming to them.

Suddenly, Saaya stopped the carriage. Since the white carriage stopped, the rest of the carriages also stopped.

“Wait...why stopping....”

The footsteps were gradually getting louder, meaning that whatever was coming to them was getting closer. Xiaohui was getting anxious, especially after Saaya stopped the carriage.

Saaya descended from the carriage and opened the passengers seat’s door.

“I’m sorry to do this, Your Divinity.”

She took the Premier who was sleeping soundly by force, piggybacking him.

“Wait–– where are you taking him––”

Suddenly, the footsteps that Xiaohui heard stopped right in front of their carriage. The final step that it did made a huge vibration, creating a mini quake on the ground.

Xiaohui opened the carriage to see what was outside.

“It’s a troglodyte!!!”

Xiaohui screamed to let other people in the carriage know.

The Premier who was being piggybacked by Saaya took something from his hand. It was a blaster. He then shot it to the sky above him. The light blast created quite some explosion in the sky, attracting some attention.

“IT’S SAAYA!!!”

Saaya got surprised by the voice, because it was not the Premier’s voice. The Premier struggled to get away from Saaya, wiggling his body around. Saaya then opened his hood, trying to see who it was.

“Meixia!!!”

Turned out, it was Meixia who was in the white carriage all along, pretending as the Premier.

During the preparation for the teams going to the Royal Residence, the investigation team–– the Lord Commander, Arudo, and Meixia–– planned to spread different information in order to confuse the enemy. Meixia’s final suspects turned out to be Zum and Saaya, so they made them think that they were in the same carriage as the Premier and the Crown Prince. However, they swapped them by wearing hooded cloaks to hide everyone’s identities. The Premier who was told to be in the white carriage, was swapped with Meixia; while the Crown Prince who was told to be in the golden carriage, was swapped with Arudo. The two of them were actually in the red carriage, with the Lord Commander. Xiaohui and Yumi knew about this plan, so they cooperated by trying to prevent any interaction with the Premier or the Crown Prince.

Meanwhile, a few minutes before the attack, Haru just heard some shocking news about himself.

“What.....that’s not.....possible......”

After hearing what the Holy Monastic told him, Haru was baffled. He didn’t know how to react to that information.

“It’s the truth. You have to accept it.”

Haru had a hard time believing what the Holy Monastic told him. However, after the Holy Monastic explained to him the sequence of events and his experiences related to it, he had no choice but to accept it as the truth. His mind collapsed after hearing it.

Suddenly, the black carriage also stopped after Saaya stopped the white carriage. The black carriage was the only one that was unaffected by the plans made by the investigation team, so they were not informed about the plan at all.

“Wait, what’s happening?”

Haru also heard the footsteps coming towards them. He then started assessing the situation and went outside the carriage to see what was happening.

In front of him, he saw Meixia carried by Saaya, Xiaohui standing in front of the white carriage, and a mysterious figure wearing a dark cloak on a gigantic quadrupedal troglodyte.

“We’re under attack!!!”

Haru shouted to let others know. He stood in front of the black carriage, guarding the Holy Monastic with his life.