Chapter 47: Don’t Die on Me

An uncomfortable silence permeated our room after I told them the whole plan. The idea was to use our fastest allies, Diane and Sarah, as bait, escaping town in one direction while I would escort Alicia in the other direction.

Diane’s expression was serious after listening to the fact that she would have to keep the Knights busy while dodging someone shooting at her from afar.

Alicia was clearly sad, with her hand on her chest, as if her heart was being pressed hard.

I couldn’t tell Sarah’s expression. She was looking carefully by the window. Two floors below were the two Knights from the Silver Fang. They seemed to be distracting themselves, talking carelessly.

I also didn’t like the idea of putting them at risk like that, but I couldn’t think of another way to solve our problem.

I felt like trash for letting the worst part of the job fall on Sarah and Diane, but they were our best bet.

If I were fast enough, I would take the risk myself. If I were stronger, I wouldn’t even think of such a dangerous strategy.

“Oi, oi. Why are you guys looking so serious?” Sarah asked, turning herself toward us.

“Well, it’s a pretty difficult task that I am asking you guys to do.” I said to her.

“I agree. It’s not impossible to do, but gathering attention in broad daylight, and the ’sniper’… chances are not in our favor.” Diane said.

“Yeah, but it’s not like we have better options. ’Desperate times call for desperate measures,’ I think. Rick’s plan is the best we have, so let’s do it.”

Diane’s face was still showing hesitation. Sarah opened a big smug smile on her face.

“Or the Royal Bodyguard is not as skillful as it seemed?” she said, trying to provoke Diane.

An irritated smile appeared on Diane’s face. “I’ll show you. Don’t slow me down, or I’ll leave you behind.”

“That’s more like it,” Sarah said in a glee tone, and then she turned her face in my direction. “So it’s settled then.”

But I wasn’t any less worried. Erina is a deadly opponent. Even in the book she was a pain in the ass to deal with, so I had my reasons to be worried about her. I clenched my fists in frustration, looking at the ground to avoid her gaze.

I couldn’t face her when I was sending her to an unfavorable match. But suddenly, I felt a warm and gentle sensation on my cheeks. Her soft and thin fingers were caressing me.

“I’m your Valkyrie. If you believe I can do it, then I’ll happily do it for you. So I’ll just ask you to believe,” Sarah said with a tender voice, smiling at me.

Her kindness was enough to take those bad feelings out of my chest. “Don’t die on me, Sarah.”

“I won’t, Master. But after we meet again, I will ask you for my reward.” she said, giving me a wink.

“All right, I will make sure to reward your efforts.” I replied to her.

“Rick, are you going to be fine? You and Alicia will be alone until we meet again in the next Ironburgh town.” Diane said, staring at me with her purple eyes with a serious expression.

“Of course I will. Alicia is one of my Valkyries now, so I have to take responsibility for her sake too,” I said confidently. “Trust me, Diane, I’ll bring Alicia back to you safe and sound.”

When she heard my words filled with determination, her expression softened with a small smile, and she turned towards Alicia.

“Lady Alicia, I’m asking for your permission to follow Richard’s plan.” The white-haired woman bowed to the princess, waiting for her orders.

Alicia seemed frightened, hesitating to say anything to Diane. Maybe she was worried about her friend who almost died yesterday. It was not only a difficult decision for me, but for her as well.

I put my hand on the blond girl’s shoulder, looking at her green emerald eyes. I didn’t say a thing to her. I just wanted to show that I was by her side.

Her frail semblance appeared a bit more determined with my gesture, which made her reply to Diane. “I permit it. Please be careful.”

The Assassin nodded to the Saintess, with a kind smile on her face.

“We should go then,” Diane said, going towards the window, but she noticed that Sarah wasn’t following her. “Huh? What’s wrong, Sarah?”

While Alicia was talking to Diane, Sarah took the opportunity to put a hood on, covering her body with the exception of her head. She was close to me, avoiding my gaze with blushed cheeks.

“Are you not forgetting something?” she said to me with a pampered voice.

“I don’t think I am.” I responded to her.

“You… I’ll stay away from you for days,” she was visibly embarrassed, but she asked me anyway. “I want a kiss.”

I looked at her with a grim expression. “But you said that you wanted a reward after we meet again.”

“Don’t think of this as some kind of reward. I want something to remind me of you, so I stay motivated.”

I smiled, seeing how cute my girl was when she was embarrassed. I thought about her attitude from early on, which motivated me to keep going. The red-haired Valkyrie deserved me to reciprocate her gesture.

“I see. So I’ll give you a motivational kiss. Consider this a thanks.”

“Of course you should be thankful of— Huh?”

I stopped the tsundere talking of hers with a passionate kiss.

“W-Waah!” I could hear Alicia let out a small cry of surprise, but I didn’t stop. I was too busy feeling the flavor of Sarah’s sweet saliva, using my tongue to caress hers.

I brought Sarah’s body closer to mine, my hand on her rear, pressing her waist against me. I had to control myself so I could stop our kiss.

“I want more~” she said in a pampered tone.

“No way. We are short on time. You’ll have to work hard for your reward.” When I finished saying this, I gave a squeeze to her lower cheek.

“All right.” She didn’t look satisfied, but she didn’t protest either.

“Ahem!” Diane made a fake cough to disrupt us. “I think we should go now.”

As soon as I heard her, I let Sarah go from my embrace.

“All right, but how will we catch their attention?” Sarah asked with an unsure expression, finally covering her head with the hood.

“For now, you just need to do two things. First, make sure to keep your mouth shut, so you don’t reveal that we are coming from this room. Last but not least, make sure not to lose the hood while I’m carrying you.”

“Carrying me? Hey, wait…!” Sarah tried to oppose this, but Diane put the Swordmaster on her shoulder, holding her as if she was a sack of potatoes. “Hey, put me down!”

“Richard, I’m counting on you. Please protect Lady Alicia.” Diane said, ignoring Sarah trying to get free from her. Before I could say anything back to her, she jumped through the window, without her footsteps making a sound.

“Richard, do you think that they will be okay?” Alicia asked me.

“I hope so…” I responded, hoping that they would succeed in their mission. However, a few seconds after they left the room, a scream could be heard outside in the streets.

…

I couldn’t believe in Diane’s acrobatic abilities. With a few moves outside of the window, she jumped to the ceiling of our building as if she had lived her whole life like a cat.

The good news was that nobody saw us, civilians or Knights down there. I knew that Assassins were good at hiding their presence and acting without people noticing, but it was the first time that I saw that kind of ability with my own eyes.

The bad news was that I was being carried on her shoulders. I usually don’t mind making acrobatic moves, because I have to use the best of my mobility to fight, but being carried like this was starting to make my stomach feel weird, as if I was going to throw up.

I thought that Diane was going to stop jumping around after she reached the rooftop. But I was wrong.

“Sarah, hold still.” The white-haired Assassin said to me, but I didn’t know where exactly I was supposed to hold.

I didn’t have time to ask that. Diane picked up speed on the roof, using it to jump once again, this time aiming for the small building across the street.

Thankfully, Diane was skilled enough to make it through. She positioned herself perfectly a few meters above the Silver Fang’s Knights. However, she needed to adjust her hand so she wouldn’t let me loose.

“Hey, you pervert! Where do you think you’re touching?!” I said to Diane, who was grabbing my butt.

“Good work, Sarah, shouting as if I were kidnapping you. Keep doing that to call their attention.” Diane said to me, completely misunderstanding me, which pissed me off even more.

“I’m not complimenting you, you idiot!” I shouted at her.

Without waiting, I did what she wanted. The two guards outside the inn were now looking at us with expressions of shock, thinking that their targets were right in front of them.

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