"I did it! How is it? My tailoring skills!"
About two hours later, the seamstress woman opened the bedroom door and stepped out.
Behind her came the princess.
The princess's long hair had been noticeably shortened overall, and the back was now styled in a braid.
Her outfit had changed from the conspicuous dress to a simple combination of a white blouse and a short red skirt.
She was also wearing a shoulder bag. It probably contained the ancient documents she had brought out from the castle.
Her overall appearance could be described as having had its edges smoothed out.
"How... does it look?"
"Yes! I think it's cute!"
"No, that's not what I meant..."
"Ah, this should make her look like a somewhat charming town girl. Hey, big brother, say something too."
Prompted by the shopkeeper, I took another look at the princess's appearance.
Indeed, it was clothing that many people with similar styles might wear.
"Yeah, this way she looks like an ordinary townsperson, not a princess."
"No, that's not what I was asking... You're the same as always, big brother."
I didn't really understand it well, but as long as it allowed her to hide her identity while traveling, that was enough.
"Also, calling her by name might give her away, so we should think of another way to address her."
"You're right... How about Mel-san?"
Fatima quickly suggested a candidate.
Probably short for Merletta.
"Well, it feels a bit too straightforward, but there's no point agonizing over it too much. That should be fine. What do you think, Princess?"
"Yes. I'm okay with it."
The princess answered, then quietly repeated "Mel" to herself several times as if to convince herself.
"Nice to meet you, Mel-san!"
"I'll call you that from now on too. Feel free to call me by name as well."
"Likewise... um."
Mel made a slightly troubled face, and Fatima suddenly seemed to realize something, her expression brightening.
"Ah, that's right! We haven't introduced ourselves yet! I'm the swordswoman Fatima. And this is the magician Ark-sama. We're both C-rank adventurers, and we form a party together."
We had gone through so much that we hadn't even given our names until now.
"Understood. Nice to meet you, Fatima-san, Ark-san."
We introduced ourselves and exchanged handshakes.
"All right, preparations are complete. The carriage is waiting right in front of the shop. If the three of us act confidently, we should be able to leave without drawing suspicion."
The shopkeeper pointed outside the window, where a carriage was indeed stopped.
"Um, thank you so much for everything."
Mel bowed politely toward the two.
"Don't worry about it. Just make sure all three of you come back safely."
"With Boltana's hero along, nothing's going to happen!"
The two replied casually.
Seeing that seemed to relax Mel's tense expression a little.
They opened the shop door and stepped out into the back alley.
Right away, their eyes met with the male coachman waiting in front, and he raised one hand with a smile.
He looked to be around forty. He wore a somewhat thick robe that seemed suited for travel.
"Hey! Glad to see you. You folks saved our town, so we've got a debt to repay. I'll take you all the way to Trasvelm."
"Thanks. We'll sit in the back, then."
"Gale-san! Thank you so much!"
"Thank you for everything."
"Don't mention it. Everyone in this town was helped by you folks. Now go on, get moving."
Once we climbed into the back, a sharp crack of the whip rang out from the coachman's seat.
The vibration of the carriage slowly starting to move came through.
As it turned the corner to enter the main street, the shopkeeper and the others were completely out of sight.
Looking out from the back at the street, Cretias soldiers walking around stood out. Deciding to leave town early had been the right call.
After the carriage had traveled for a while, the vibration suddenly stopped.
"Hey there, soldiers! Something wrong?"
"We're conducting an inspection right now. We'll need to check the contents of the back."
"Heh, that's fine... but it's just adventurers in here, y'know?"
"I see. Still, better safe than sorry."
After that exchange, the soldiers peered into the back.
The soldier stared at the three of our faces for a while.
"Hey, you there, woman. Show me what's in that bag."
The soldier suddenly spoke, and Mel's body twitched.
That bag should contain the ancient documents.
(...No way. Have orders gone out to recover the ancient documents too?)
"Th-this has nothing in it..."
"What's that? Can't show it? ...Suspicious bunch! Get off the carriage right now! Or else—guah!"
In the next instant, Fatima swung her sheathed sword and struck the soldier trying to climb into the back square in the face.
"Coachman!"
"Got it! Hold on!"
At Fatima's signal, the carriage lurched forward at full speed, passing straight through the town gate and out onto the highway.
"Wha!? Where do you think you're going! Stop! The one in that carriage is probably Lady Merletta! Report to the higher-ups immediately!"
Another soldier shouted, and nearby soldiers immediately began to gather.
"Coachman! Can't you go any faster!"
"Sorry, this is as fast as she goes! Ah, damn! Trouble! Those ones are faster!"
Hearing the coachman's voice, I looked back again. Mounted soldiers were chasing after our carriage from behind.
There were probably more than ten. Since we were in a carriage, their horses were obviously much faster.
If this continued, they would catch up and surround us in no time.
"Water, seize my enemies within your flow—"Water Blast"!!"
The moment Mel chanted, a large volume of water suddenly appeared in the air ahead of the carriage back and surged toward the approaching soldiers.
"Magic!? Uwaaaaah!"
The soldiers and their horses were swallowed by the oncoming water and swept off to the side of the highway.
"Mel-san, you can use magic!"
"Yes! Just a little, but I can use water-attribute magic and healing magic!"
Mel seemed to be the type of magician capable of both recovery and attack.
"Stay still!"
Another group of soldiers came right up beside the carriage back.
"Haa!"
"Guoh!"
Fatima struck them back with the sheath just like before.
I also attacked them bare-handed in the same way.
Little by little, the number of soldiers was decreasing.
If we could keep taking them down like this, we might be able to escape all the way to Trasvelm.
The moment I thought that, I saw something flying through the air toward the coachman's seat.
I immediately stood up on the coachman's seat and deflected it with the broadsword I had drawn from its sheath.
That was clearly an attack.
(...But from where?)
As I looked around, I spotted a shadow in the sky above.
Eventually the shadow approached us and gradually grew larger.
Matching the carriage's speed while flapping its wings in the air was a monster covered entirely in light blue scales with enormous wings—a dragon.
And on the dragon's back was a figure clad in blue armor holding a longbow.
"Ark-sama, that dragon... it has someone riding it!"
Fatima seemed to have noticed the flying dragon and shouted.
"A dragon!? Why is there a dragon on a highway like this!?"
Perhaps because she heard the two of us, Mel also crawled from the back to the coachman's seat.
"That's... no! That's Iria, a knight of the Cretias Kingdom's knight order! Her weapon is a bow boasting the greatest range and accuracy in the entire order! If we stay like this, we'll be picked off!"
(...Soldiers followed by a knight, huh...)
The knight riding that dragon was probably the commander of the soldiers who had appeared in Boltana.
The attack just now toward the coachman's seat was undoubtedly from that knight.
The arrow I deflected with my sword had felt considerably heavy. It was clearly not an ordinary one.
The dragon rose back into the sky, then fired another arrow toward the coachman's seat.
I knocked it away again with the broadsword.
"No way... to actually deflect one of Iria's arrows with a sword!"
Mel muttered with wide eyes at what had just happened right in front of her.
(...This is bad.)
The broadsword I had received from the shopkeeper already had cracks in the blade. That had been quite a heavy blow.
Even if I could block it, it would probably only be one more time.