Surrounded?
Apart from Queen Andonara’s somewhat nervous expression, no one had any reaction.
For one, they were players: they wouldn’t really die, and the worst that could happen was that they would lose equipment and experience.
Secondly, they still had backup—Schuck and the dragoness were just a short distance away.
Roland sighed and said, “Looks like we’ll have to get Schuck over here to help.”
However, Husseret waved his hand and said, “No hurry, let’s wait and see. I think the enemy will slowly surround us, and maybe even communicate with us. There are some things I would like to ask.”
Roland shook his head slightly. “But our first task is to protect the queen and escort her to safety.”
Upon hearing this, Queen Andonara suddenly looked at Roland, her pretty face wore an expression of utter surprise. She seemed to have misunderstood the meaning of Roland’s words about the quest, and thought it meant something else.
None of the men present noticed the expression on Queen Andonara’s face at this point, only the audience watching in the livestream did.
“Oh sh**, that subtle expression on the Queen’s face, she’s truly fallen.”
“All on her own?”
“This… why can’t I have such good luck? I hooked up with a wife and got my banana peeled by her husband[1].”
“Wait! The brother upstairs, you’re the famous flayed man.”
“Encountering the real person, how lucky.”
“Can you tell us how you felt at the time?”
Then the conversation sidetracked, and the interests of the players in the livestream were focused on the flayed man. Women were not as interesting as gossip! Not to mention this was an extremely rare kind of gossip.
And here on the scene, Husseret said to Roland, “Why don’t you take the queen and leave first, while the others stay with me. I’d like to see who is so impressive that they have calculated our escape route so accurately.”
Oh… so it’s Husseret who’s in a sour mood.
He had been a bit stubborn since he was a kid and didn’t like it when people guessed what he was thinking. He had planned this escape route and now they were surrounded by people, so naturally, he wanted to figure out what was going on.
Roland thought about it and said, “Why don’t the postman and Betta escort the queen away first, and I’ll stay behind too. With a spellcaster around, you’ll at least get good support.”
Andonara glared coquettishly at Roland.
Husseret’s gloomy face revealed a rarely seen smile. “No need to be so troublesome, the queen probably only trusts you. Besides, if we stay, we can also bring up the rear.”
The postman was tempted to say that he too wanted to escort the queen away with Roland first, but he looked at the queen’s coquettish expression and immediately understood what was going on.
It was quiet around them, and getting quieter by the minute.
Roland knew that if he didn’t leave, it might be too late. He nodded and said, “Okay, then I’ll take the queen and leave first, you guys be careful.”
“Don’t worry.”
Husseret made an OK gesture, and the others gave Roland a thumbs up, which seemed to have a strange encouraging meaning. Roland felt a little bewildered and wondered what they were encouraging.
Roland then retreated and left with Queen Andonara.
He threw down three magic spiders and summoned a shield-wielding doll.
The three spiders didn’t go into the grass, moving forward in sync with him, but separately monitoring the front, left, and right for any approaching enemies.
The shield-wielding doll, on the other hand, protected the queen.
They walked slowly through the woods, Roland’s expression was somewhat heavy as the net was definitely shrinking and he would have to make a run for it through the gap in the rear before he was completely surrounded.
However, Andonara’s expression was rather relaxed—very relaxed.
She followed Roland’s lead, her face full of smiles.
It was as if they were not on the run, but instead having a romantic night out.
Thanks to the advanced vision of the three magic spiders, Roland avoided the encirclement, and using the magic spiders, Roland saw a heavily armored infantry regiment that was quite well-equipped slowly completing the encirclement.
These were not the city guards under Antis, they were definitely royal guards.
However, this was quite normal. With the queen missing, it was reasonable to dispatch the royal guards.
It was rather strange that the royal guards weren’t deployed previously when Andonara had been kidnapped, which was why Kaka’s suicide note said that politics was a dirty business.
After successfully avoiding the encirclement, they stepped onto the public road.
There was no one on the public roads at this time—after all, it was late at night and no one would be traveling freely except for some merchants in a hurry.
And still, at this moment, there was no sign that the quest was complete.
Roland was a little surprised—exactly where did he have to take the queen?
The surroundings were quiet, and Andonara stood quietly at Roland’s side and also looked at him quietly, not saying anything, but her eyes were bright.
After some thought, Roland asked, “Queen, what are your plans?”
“Don’t call me queen.” Andonara shook her head. “There are no plans, you’re the one protecting me now, so I’ll go wherever you take me.”
“Not afraid I’ll sell you?” Roland joked.
This was just him being a player and simply having fun.
Andonara, however, smiled proudly and said, “Are you willing to? Look at this figure of mine, look at my strength! I can be your sharp spear or your gentle scabbard, where will you find such a good woman!”
This woman was too narcissistic. However, he was curious: “What does scabbard mean? I don’t use a sword much.”
Andonara looked at Roland’s belly and smiled meaningfully and charmingly.
Roland understood immediately.
This woman who had been a wife was quite liberal.
Vivian definitely wouldn’t have been able to say such a thing.
Roland sighed and pretended not to understand Andonara’s words. He looked at the quest. They were several kilometers away from the capital and it still wasn’t considered safe—did he have to send the queen to another city?
Give it a try?
Roland said to Andonara, “Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
“I told you, you’re the one protecting me now, you can take me wherever you want,” Andonara said without a care in the world.
“What’s the closest city to here?”
“The city of Isnas.”
That was also the royal family’s territory, but it wouldn’t hurt to go there to see if the quest would be counted as complete.
He set off with Andonara, only to find a group of people blocking the mud path ahead of him after walking for less than a dozen meters.
The leader of the group, surprisingly, was an old acquaintance of his.
Antis.
He didn’t wear a helmet, and under the moonlight, his shiny, slender eyes, along with his delicate face, had a kind of hazy beauty that made it possible for him to be on par with Queen Andonara in looks.
“Sure enough, I found you here.” Antis waved his hand, and behind him, a hundred city guards surrounded him in a semicircle.
Roland took a deep breath and condensed a ball of blue flame with a radius of half a meter in his hand.
“How about moving aside? You should know the power of this fireball,” Roland said bluntly. “I don’t want to kill my own acquaintance.”
Just as Roland finished speaking, a hidden arrow shot silently at his brow.
Because the arrow was black and even used a special material that was used to target Mages for assassination, Roland didn’t even notice it.
Even the shield-wielding puppet didn’t move.
Seeing that he was about to be in trouble, at this moment, Andonara suddenly intercepted it and knocked the dark arrow away with her scabbard.
[1] Chapter 11 Reference
