Pursuit

Allen leaped out of the magic ship with Cecil in his arms.

They were more than a hundred meters above ground, but he was almost certain that he would be fine with his current stats thanks to his level and card buffs.

Several seconds later, he slammed into the ground with tremendous force, feet first. The impact caused the beautifully laid stone pavement to shatter into a thousand pieces.

'FUUUUCK, that hurt!'

The bones in both of Allen's legs snapped, unable to bear the shock of the landing. However, he immediately used a Leaf of Life to restore himself to full health the next instant.

He checked to see if Cecil had gotten hurt during the fall. To his relief, aside from a few stone fragments that had hit the mantle she was wrapped in, she was entirely fine.

'All right. As expected, we managed to escape without Cecil getting hurt, although I did end up using a Leaf of Life. Honestly, the shock didn't even travel up to my arms. That Endurance stat is really showing its worth here.'

Allen's understanding of Endurance as a stat was that it served as a shock absorber for all physical damage to his body. From what he observed in himself every day, having higher Endurance did not translate to having more muscles.

Rather than his body getting bulky or his skin becoming as tough as metal, it was as if there was a protective membrane around him that helped alleviate incoming damage proportionate to the stat.

This time, Allen had just fallen more than a hundred meters with his and Cecil's weight combined. It was not surprising that he had taken damage—his legs did shatter—but thanks to the effect of the Endurance stat, the shock from the impact had been suppressed, leaving Cecil unaffected.

"Lady Cecil, I will free you from your restraints now."

Just in case, Allen had used a Leaf of Life on Cecil as well right after the fall. Even so, he still carefully checked to make sure she was fine, then used his short sword to slice through all her ropes.

"Allen! How could you just—!"

The moment Cecil was freed, every inch of her body expressed her indignation toward Allen's unbelievable actions.

However, Allen had no time to hear her out. He wrapped his mantle around her shoulders once again.

"I'm truly sorry, milady. The magic ship will be landing soon."

'This should do. It'll provide some protection just in case any pursuers shoot arrows at us.'

"Allen, listen to me! Where'd you take this cape out from?! And what was that just n—"

"Lady Cecil!"

"Wh-What?"

"Our top priority at the moment is to take you somewhere safe. Therefore, we will leave this place immediately. Please climb onto my back so I can carry you."

Allen's tone was firm and brooked no protest. It would be hard to run with Cecil in a princess carry, so he was planning on giving her a piggyback ride instead.

The magic ship seemed about to land at any moment. Despite being disgruntled with the current situation, Cecil still obediently did as Allen requested.

"Wha— You're going too fast!" Cecil cried as Allen started sprinting faster than a horse.

"Please hang on tight! Take care not to bite your tongue!"

'We've got no time left. Horos, guide us to where we need to go!'

Four owls appeared in midair, then dispersed to provide Allen with a comprehensive view of how Carnel City was laid out. He quickly worked out the shortest route to a city gate, then headed in that direction as fast as he could.

'Nice, Dagrah went to report what happened to the Viscount. Yes, please give us more time to get a head start.'

All this time, Allen had been using the Bird G left inside the magic ship to continue keeping an eye on the situation onboard.

He watched as Dagrah went to find one of Viscount Carnel's men and explained how Allen and Cecil had escaped through a lower maintenance door of the ship.

The Viscount asked in an agitated voice, "They're alive, right?! Tell me they're alive!" However, Dagrah could only shake his head and say that there was no way to confirm until they were back on ground.

He was currently in the middle of explaining that, considering the altitude, there was definitely a chance that both children had died.

While on the fly, Allen quickly changed his card distribution.

___

Insect D: 44

Bird G: 2

Bird D: 4

___

'The kidnappers seem really flustered. After all, this world has never even heard of a Tamer class before. My Summons were probably a huge shock.'

In the games that Allen had played in his previous life, there had been a class that functioned similarly to Summoner: Tamer.

The main difference between the two was what kind of creatures they each used to do their bidding, with Tamers using monsters they encountered and tamed and Summoners calling forth beings not normally found in the wild.

As he ran, Allen recalled when he had broached the topic with Raven. The adventurer had said emphatically, "There's no way anyone can tame a monster!" Based on that, Allen had concluded that this world did not have Taming as a class—the idea had never even occurred to the inhabitants.

This explained why the kidnappers had been so bewildered upon seeing Allen's Summons. If this had been a world where everyone understood the concept of Tamers, their reactions would have been very different.

The gates of Carnel City were still open. When Allen produced the crest of House Granvelle, the guards let them through without giving them trouble, being good enough at their job to recognize the crest from a neighboring realm. Allen was aware that, as a boy in a servant's uniform carrying a girl on his back, he looked quite suspicious. However, it apparently was not enough of a reason for them to detain him.

'All right, we're out. The mountain range is that direction, right?'

The stars shone brightly, illuminating Allen's way as he took off at a run. The first order of business was to distance themselves from Carnel City. Once they got their bearings, then they would head back to Granvelle City.

'It's a relief we managed to get out of the city. Now we'll have to find the White Dragon Mountains and take a detour around the north of the range. I wonder how many days it's gonna take us...'

After running for a while longer, Allen finally stopped to allow Cecil some rest. She stared as he openly took out an illumination magic tool, water, and foodstuffs from Storage.

A little time into their rest, however, the Bird D that Allen had instructed to remain on standby above the magic ship landing pad caught sight of a troubling development.

A group of people had gathered around the conspicuous crater in the pavement where he and Cecil had landed earlier.

'Looks like Viscount Carnel's giving out instructions...and Dagrah's there too. I guess without our bodies being there, it's pretty obvious that we survived.' The Viscount was gesticulating furiously at the men grouped around him.

As Allen continued keeping an eye on the situation through Bird D so as to glean any information he could about any prospective pursuers, he noticed Dagrah cutting the Viscount off and making some sort of argument. The Summon was too high in the sky to hear what was actually being said.

However, just as Allen was focusing his attention on the Shared feed, Dagrah's body blurred for a split second, followed by an aura bursting out from it. The next instant, he took off in a flash.

'Damn, he's fast! I knew it; he must have a class similar to a Scout. His Agility stat has to be at least Rank A, if not S.'

As Allen continued watching, Dagrah made a beeline for the gate that Allen had left from.

'Hm? He's heading out of the city?'

After passing through the gate, the hit man continued running.

'Wait, don't tell me he's...?'

Allen finally realized that Dagrah was running in a straight line right toward Cecil's and his current location.

'Shit! Oh, shit! How is he...? He's gotta be using a skill!'

Judging by how quickly Dagrah was closing the distance, it was clear that he could tell where Allen was, perhaps thanks to the help of a tracking ability tied to his class.

"Lady Cecil, I'm very sorry. There are already pursuers on our tail, so we must resume moving immediately."

"Huh? O-Okay."

Dagrah was fast, true, but after rearranging his cards just now, Allen now had more than 2,000 Agility. Despite being handicapped by shouldering Cecil, he should be able to stay ahead for quite a while longer. And so the game of tag began.

Sure enough, Allen stayed ahead, but he never managed to actually throw the man off his trail. He tried various tricks, such as veering in a completely different direction and purposely crossing a river without using the bridge, but nothing seemed to faze the hit man. Even though he was lagging behind quite significantly, Dagrah still managed to stick closely to Allen's trail.

'The Scout class sure is capa— Oh look, a town!'

The Bird D that was scouting ahead had just spotted a sizable town. Its gates appeared to be closed, but Allen still veered toward it. Soon enough, they got close enough to where even Cecil noticed the watch fires that dotted the town wall, giving it away.

"Are we going into that town?"

"Yes, milady."

"But the gate looks closed."

"It does indeed. I'll think of something, so please play along."

'Here goes my attempt to lose Dagrah using the town.'

"You there! Stop!"

When Allen approached the gate, the guard on lookout barked at him.

A boy in a servant's uniform carrying a young girl on his back dashing toward the town at an incredible speed this late at night naturally cut a very suspicious figure.

Not only did the guard look wary, he even brought his spear up. However, Allen, who was making a show of panting heavily, purposely ignored the man to talk to Cecil in a reassuring tone. "Phew, what a relief. We've finally reached a town, milady. Please hold on just a little longer."

"O-Okay..."

Only then did Allen turn back to the guard. "Mr. Guard, I'm really sorry, but can you let us into the town, please?"

"Y-You know I can't. We closed this gate ages ago. There's no way I can let you in. Besides, you seem awfully suspicious, arriving at this time of night."

"But we aren't suspicious at all, Mr. Guard." Allen produced his crest.

"So you're from House Granvelle..." The man faltered slightly. However, the fact still remained that someone from the family of the Baron of the neighboring realm arriving this late at night made very little sense. "Wh-Why are you even out this late?"

"Unfortunately, our carriage broke down a distance away. It's in such bad shape that it won't be able to move anymore without attention. However, milady insisted that she could not bear to sleep outside."

Allen lied as naturally as he breathed. He made a show to convey how troubled he felt dealing with a broken-down carriage and a demanding mistress.

Cecil was left dumbfounded at suddenly having all the fault shoved onto her, forgetting to back Allen's claim up.