The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

There was something strangely familiar about this.

It reminded me of when Alice and I came to Lutetia.

But the situation now was entirely different. This time, instead of Alice, Claire and Leo were with me, and the Sword Saint was also on board.

It wasn’t the luxurious, royal train designed specifically for the Imperial Family. Though it wasn’t exactly outdated, either.

We were gathered at one end of the train car. Several knights and Winterfield soldiers were stationed inside as a precaution, but they maintained a certain distance from us, waiting near the front of the compartment.

I didn’t expect to discuss anything particularly critical on the way back, but that didn’t mean I liked the idea of others eavesdropping on our conversation.

“Is it bothering you a lot?”

Claire, noticing that I had been staring out the window for a while, spoke to me.

“It is.”

I answered honestly.

How could I not be concerned when the Emperor and his children were on this train?

Their compartment had been specially modified. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary freight car, but an additional room had been constructed inside to hold our guests.

Essentially, there was a standard train car, and within it, another sealed room. Even if someone broke through the outer wall, they would still face another barrier. Soldiers and knights guarded the area, and among them was the Sword Saint.

Thick steel was reinforced into both the floor and the ceiling, making it nearly impossible to break through using conventional means.

So no, I wasn’t worried.

But I was still on edge.

“We just crossed the Empire’s border, you know. No need to be so tense.”

“Crossing the border is exactly why we should be tense.”

“...Seriously, you never change.”

I believed that staying at least a little cautious was always necessary.

“We checked multiple times before coming here. I may not know much about this, but according to Alice, there aren’t many nobles who would go out of their way to side with the Emperor. It’s too dangerous. Besides, the nobles already resented him in many ways.”

“Even so, there are still those who remain loyal to him.”

We had been extremely careful when selecting the personnel for this train. If we had simply filled it with knights who once served the Imperial Family, there was a chance that some might still hold allegiance to the Emperor.

A knight’s loyalty was ultimately bought with money. Ordinary knights worked according to their pay and naturally followed whoever provided them with it. As long as the new ruler wasn’t doing anything too illegal, there was no reason for them to betray the current or future Emperor.

But wherever there were people, there were always those who acted according to their own misguided beliefs.

Some might believe that refusing to be swayed by money was the right thing to do. That once they swore loyalty, they should follow it to the grave.

Take the Sword Saint, for example. He was one of those strange individuals who cared little for money or material gain.

Even if they didn’t show it openly, there were people who secretly wished to become heroes. That was why we had been extremely careful in selecting the guards.

In the end, we decided to borrow personnel from loyalist families like the Grace Family, carefully selecting trusted knights from the Imperial Guard, and finally, adding the Sword Saint as an additional layer of security.

The soldiers, at least, were part of the Imperial Army, not private household guards. Of course, even within the army, we had been selective.

“And if, by any chance, someone within the Empire does want to secure the Emperor’s custody—”

“Wow, you worry too much.”

Claire cut me off mid-sentence.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Come on, how do you expect anyone to stop a moving train in the dead of night? We planned this mission to be as time-sensitive as possible. We set up multiple decoys and made sure the opposition wouldn’t have time to prepare. How exactly do you think they’ll stop the train and take the Emperor?”

“......”

I wasn’t so sure.

Claire was saying this to reassure me, but even now, she had a sword strapped to her waist. If anything happened, she needed to be ready to draw it in an instant.

Leo, who had been quietly listening, also remained slightly tense as he sat in his seat.

I wasn’t worried about these two. If something did happen, they would handle it just fine. Their skills were undeniable.

But I—

Would I, without my abilities, be able to respond properly if something happened?

As I absentmindedly fiddled with the grip of the pistol in my holster, I quietly pondered.

*

And as always, ominous predictions had a way of coming true.

“What’s going on?”

“Ah, well...”

At the sharpness in my voice, the train conductor broke into a cold sweat.

The train, which had been moving smoothly, had come to a stop. It wasn’t a sudden halt—the speed had rapidly decreased, but the experienced conductor had carefully slowed it down to prevent derailment.

“There’s someone blocking the tracks up ahead, so we had to stop.”

“A person? At this hour?”

“Y-yes. From what we can tell, they seem to be drunk, but the soldiers have gone to check the situation first.”

I looked out the window. It was pitch dark outside. The sky was filled with stars, but the starlight wasn’t enough to illuminate the surroundings. I could only see what was within the reach of the light spilling from the train’s windows.

At least we weren’t in a forest. It looked like an open plain, the same one I had seen on my way to Lutetia.

“Let’s step away from the window for now.”

I pulled the curtains shut and moved away. To avoid even the possibility of our silhouettes being seen, I stood up and shifted into the aisle between the seats.

This time, Claire didn’t act as if it were nothing.

Anyone could tell that this situation was unusual.

There wasn’t a village nearby. Even if it were a rural town without gas lamps, there should have been some lights visible in the distance.

I pulled out my gun. Claire and Leo unsheathed their swords. In sync with our movements, the knights and soldiers in the compartment also reached for their weapons.

“Y-Your Highness...?”

“This could be an attack. The conductor should stay in this compartment. Can you gather all the civilians on board and bring them to the soldiers’ and knights’ compartments?”

At my command, one of the soldiers responded quickly, “Yes, understood!” and immediately sprang into action. Two more soldiers from his unit followed suit, indicating that this was part of a prearranged emergency protocol.

“I-is the situation really that dangerous?”

The conductor, seemingly experiencing something like this for the first time, wiped the sweat from his forehead as he asked.

“Yes. At the very least, this is not a normal situation.”

I answered firmly and moved.

Walking past the soldiers and knights stationed further down, I reached the very front of the compartment, near the train’s leading car.

Looking through the window in the door, I could see movement on the other side. The soldiers must have started preparing for combat as soon as they heard the conductor’s report.

“How far ahead was this drunk man? Was he far?”

“No, given the train’s braking distance, he wasn’t too far—”

Bang.

Even from beyond the compartment walls, the gunshot rang out clearly.

Bang. Bang.

Two more shots followed.

And then—

...

Silence.

I listened carefully. No more sounds followed.

In the next moment, everyone on the train moved at once.

We hadn’t loaded this train with soldiers and knights just for show. We had trained for this scenario multiple times.

In fact, even with the tight schedule, we had ended up pushing things back here and there just to make sure our team was properly prepared.

After all, this group wasn’t made up entirely of Imperial soldiers.

There was a fundamental difference between soldiers and knights. Even if they all wielded swords, their techniques varied depending on the martial traditions they had inherited.

Though they were from the same country, they were, ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) in essence, a coalition force. Fortunately, there weren’t any families with outright hostility toward each other among them.

But for them to work together seamlessly in a real emergency, they had to be trained.

“Who the hell are these guys?”

Claire frowned as she asked.

“We’ll only know once we see them for ourselves.”

Having checked the soldiers in position inside the train, I returned and responded.

“Are they trying to put him back on the throne?”

“...We won’t know for sure until we see them.”

This time, I answered Leo.

Bang. Bang.

As we spoke, more gunshots rang out from outside. It sounded like our side was the one firing.

Then, overlapping shouts rang through the air—

And then, boom, a loud explosion erupted.

“...At the very least, it’s a relief that they didn’t think to use bombs.” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I commented.

Then again, they could have planted explosives. But the train must have stopped before they had the chance to detonate anything.

Or maybe they wanted to capture the Emperor alive.

Were they sloppy? Or were we just lucky? Maybe both.

“We should get ready as well.”

At my words, Claire and Leo both nodded.