Golden Cross: Chapter 12

Chapter 21.  The Road to Roidenponsk 3

However, Eugene was already sensing the force that was after him.  Having discovered the barrel of a gun as he turned his eyes, he quickly decided.  There was not a second to hesitate.

‘Like the maestros, I’ll block them even though I’m not able to hit away the bullets.’

Paang!

He felt the projection of the bullet from the point it left the gun barrel to the point of it reaching his chest.  He couldn’t see the actual projectile, but Eugene quickly drew that line with his sword.

This was the most shrew decision from what his current capabilities were.

Chaang!

The loud clanging sound was made as the bullet accurately hit the side of the sword.   Unable to withstand the impact, the wavy sword broke apart, and its debris made lacerations on Eugene’s face.  However, Eugene quickly ensued to kick hard the abdomen of his horse.

Wheee-ing-.

The surprised horse hurriedly dashed forward, and Eugene held the horse rein in one hand then held the sword in the other.

 “Yeeyat!”

And in the same motion, he staked what remained for the sword into the captain’s forehead.  Puck!

The noise of steel penetrating the skull was short.  However, it was enough to put the enemy troops in the area in fear.  With the sword pierced into his forehead, he shook wildly and fell off the horse.

 “Captain!”

 “Shit!”

Seeing their leader fall from his horse in such a vain way, the enemy gave up on fighting, in the end.

They did not engage in the fight with their lives on the line to begin with.

There was no need to stake their lives to a war which they were paid to fight in.

 “Run!”

 “Giddiyup!”

The number of the ambushers which were running away didn’t even make up a half of the original number.

As it was something that they could not have anticipated, this was sufficient enough to cause great confusion among them.

 “Well!  You think I’ll let you off that easily!”

Although Eugene could not capture everyone, he decided to capture at least one, alive.  It was quite important to learn how this ambush came about.  There was a touch of Maxmillian, but that was not sufficient.

Tuurek-Tuurek-.

The horses ran clamorously and thick dust rose up and covered the area.   The enemy was only mindful of running away after learning that Eugene was not an ordinary person.

 “Giddiyup!”

Accelerating faster, Eugene pulled out the rope tied to the saddle.  He came close to the one who fell behind the most.

 “Uuuuuahk!”

The subject resisted hard when Eugene approached close.

 “Don’t come!”

At the moment when he screamed again, Eugene threw the rope, and the man’s horse took off with all its speed, leaving behind its rider, up in the air.

 “Who sent you?”

 “I do not know!  I don’t know!”

The prisoner showed fear on his face, but kept his mouth shut for a long while.  Eugene subtly signaled to Dainsfelt with his eyes, and after nodding, and along with his soldiers, they took away the man.  The rest will be done by them as they knew how.  Eugene decided to comfort Ava who was in shock.

 “Duchess.  Are you all right?”

When Eugene entered the carriage, Ava dashed into his bosom.  She looked to be in quite a shock as her breathing was heavy.  Although she was posturing to be a strong woman, there was no hiding her condition as her body shook lightly.

 “Is everything over now?”

As Ava rushed toward him, Eugene put additional pressure in both of his arms.  As he hugged her firmly, she felt rather safe.

 “Please, do not worry.  We’ve took care of them.  They looked to be a simple group of robbers.”

Eugene went about telling her a small lie to keep her relaxed, but he wasn’t someone to be fooled.

 “They were sent by Maxmillian, right?”

 “….. It seems so.  Only that they weren’t sent here to eliminate you.  They looked to have just wanted to scare us by killing a few of the escorts.”

Maximillian knew that she was being protected by Eugene, a provost.  However, seeing that he did not dispatch someone who could match Eugene in a combat was a definite signal that it was only a warning.  It was only that thanks to Eugene’s unexpected action, the situation might have ended in somewhat differently than he had originally pictured it.  Hence, Ava was more deeply drawn to Eugene.

 “You’re bleeding.  Eugene.”

Having seen the scratch marks on Eugene’s face from the debris, she quickly took out her handkerchief and pressed it down on his cheek.

 “Because of me…..”

Sadness spread through the beautiful Ava’s face.  Eugene subtly held her hand.  And pulling her to him, he kissed her on her lips.

 “Ah!”

Ava was startled, but she remained still like a cat while Eugene kissed.

At the end of the short and wistful kiss, she blushed as she dropped her head.

 “I don’t know.  Why, so suddenly.”

Instead of replying back, Eugene repeatedly kissed her cheeks and went out of the carriage, and Ava blankly looked at him.  It was an expression which would surely set fire on any man’s heart.  After barely closing the door, Eugene felt his heart palpitating, but he did all he could in order to get his emotions in check.

 ‘I didn’t even fathom it, but I might actually beat out all the wooers.”

Eugene couldn’t be sure, but he was feeling happy as he thought about the prospect.  Only that he was feeling guilty to be having such calculating thoughts on Ava whose attitude was sincere and naive.  However, as his heart was not unfaithful, he did not have the intention of denying his feelings.

 ‘Will take the natural path as it develops.  However, I can’t lure her, on purpose, in order to achieve my goal.  If I do that, god will not accept the righteousness of my revenge.’

It might be the most prudent decision to leave the fate to the gods.  It was more urgent to demonstrate his trustworthiness as a soldier than to win over Ava’s heart.

 “We’ve finished the interrogation.”

Dainsfelt approached then.

 “What did he say?”

 “He knows almost nothing.  He said that they were commissioned by a big man, but they were told not to harm the woman in the carriage.  He also heard to retreat after an appropriate level of ambush was successfully launched.”

It seemed that Eugene’s estimation was correct.

 “I see.  But then how did he?”

Then Dainsfelt made a small motion to draw a line across his neck with his thumb, and Eugene nodded as he told him for the job well done.

Unlike Landgraf’s other territories, Roidenponsk was a well known, small city with beautiful nature and pastoral scenery.

Farming was the main industry in this region, and as the land was fertile, there was plenty of food.  On top of that, the grass land was expansive such that ranching was well developed, so cheese and milk could be purchased at cheap price.   Eugene liked the endless, expansive farming land of Roidenponsk.

 “Isn’t it beautiful?”

As if she was happy to be back to the region, she talked a lot with the sliding window open.  As to prove that she was well liked, people came in droves, like the clouds, to welcome their female master.  Ava got off the carriage and greeted every one, and as a result, it took a few days to reach her castle, Rothstein, which was at the center of the region.  Rothstein was built with impressively elegant red bricks, and was picturesquely placed next to a leisurely flowing river.  Eugene and his men were greeted with the highest level of honor from the castle.  The escort guards returned to their unit after plenty of recuperation, but Eugene stayed at the castle.  As if he knew that was going to happen, Dainsfelt took out a piece of paper from his coat.

 “Landgraf asked me to give you this if you were to remain here.”

Upon examining it, Eugene found that it was his contract.  Since he has obtained this, there was, now, no one who could come after him for deserting his post.  Of course, Myrus Landgraf approved of him going AWOL from the moment that he allowed Eugene to be the bodyguard, but it became more clear as he had the contract in his hands.

 “I owe Landgraf.  Please tell him that there will certainly come a time for me to repay him, in the future.”

 “I’ll.  Please keep safe.”

 “I, too, wish you safety, lieutenant.”

Eugene took his rest while staying at Roidenponsk.  As he had been mentally tired these days, the peacefulness of the pasture comforted him.  He was able to relax for a while, thanks to the Blue Force’s victory, last time, which took Roidenponsk out of the danger zone.  Of course, the winds of war could blow at any time, again, but right now, this was the time for relaxation.  As the days passed, he became closer to Ava, and even the servants of the castle began to whisper their relationship.  Ava and Eugene grew to depend more on each other.  In the mean time, the empire’s duke Maximillian has sent several letters, professing his heart to Ava, but she either courteously turned them down, or ignored them.  Her eyes were beginning to fill only with Eugene.

 “Get up!”

Entering the room in long strides, Ava turned up the blanket.

 “Ah, please, a little bit longer.”

It was still early September, and in the early morning, the warmth provided by the blanket was a must.  Eugene resisted half asleep, but soon, he was overwhelmed.

 “We were going to go pick orna fruits, today.”

Orna fruit was a member of nut and seed family, and normally consumed by crushing it into bread.  It flowers in early spring, and bore fruit in early fall, and Ava has been excited about picking them since a few days ago.  Of course, during this time, the servants would go pick them, but Ava wanted to go alone with Eugene, this time.

 “Hurry!  Aahk!”

Ava who was rushing fell with a loud scream, all of a sudden.  It was because Eugene pulled her arm towards him to bed.

 “Oop!”

Eugene baptized her with kisses.  Ava kissed back then after pinching Eugene’s waist, she ran off.

 “Hurry up, you fool.”

Eugene smiled as he watched her exit, and got ready to go.  After breakfast, prepared by the servants, they were able to leave with a basket to carry orna fruits, and packed lunches.  A cool wind blew over the expansive grassland.  Fall was certainly drawing close.  They leisurely rode their horses and went up the mountain.  In fact, rather than a mountain, it was more like a hill, and it was filled with orna trees.  It was a privately held property so that it could be entered only by the land owner or someone having the owner’s permission.

 “How much are we going to pick?”

 “I’m not going back until the basket is full.”

Ava replied ambitiously when Eugene asked.  They talked to each other informally as they were close enough, now.

 “I don’t think we can fill that basket until the evening?”

In fact, the basket was quite big.

 “No worries.  Someone will be working really hard for me.”

 “Hh.  Certainly you must be a duchess.  You have so gracefully expressed that you, servant, must fill this basket.”

 “Ahahahah.”

Ava happily laughed out loud.  As they were making small talks, they arrived at their destination.

 “It is funny to be calling this a mountain.”

In response to Eugene’s honest description, Ava stressed that it was really a mountain.  She said that it was one of the rare places with the high land inside her territory which is mostly flat.

 “I suppose as you said, it could be a high mountain.  And it was also said that there was a sorcerer’s laboratory in this mountain.  However, that crazy sorcerer’s experiment caused a great explosion, and the mountain blew up.  Hence, only this small mountain has come to remain.”

Eugene opened his eyes narrowly.  No matter how, it seemed ridiculous. 

 “Is it true?”

 “Of, of course.”

 “Well, OK.  If you kiss me now, I’ll admit that this is a mountain.”

 “You, pervert!”

Ava’s rein was whipped in Eugene’s direction, but he has easily dodged it.  And carrying Ava, he helped her down from her horse.

 “Let’s go.  We have to pick a lot, today.”

She whistled happily as she took the lead.  She was wearing simple pants, but she was still beautiful.  Eugene was drawn to her exposed pale neckline, and raised soft brown hair.  For some reason, she was growing more beautiful each day.

 “This way!”

Walking bravely ahead, she led Eugene to a location filled with orna trees.  As the fruits were bountiful there, all they had to do was to shake the trees and gather the fruits.  They concentrated on gathering the fruits for a while.  Perhaps, as the harvest was plentiful, it was more fun than anticipated.  However, there were also as many green colored stones as there were fruits.

 “Ava, what are these stones?  Very unique coloration.”

 “Well, I’m not too sure either.  There are a lot of them in this mountain.  It’s not that important, so don’t pay much attention to them.”

 “OK.”

Eugene initially thought that the stones might be something special, but soon he lost interest in them as there were so many.  He thought that if the stones were rare and precious, there couldn’t be that many.  He focused back on the fruits again, and made small talks with Ava.

 “Aaah!  You!”

As the tree was shook while Ava was sitting under a tree, she got pummeled by the falling fruits.

 “I’ll get you back.”

She threw her basket as she rushed toward him, and Eugene ran off, smiling.

 “The fruit fell inside my clothes.”

She put her hand inside her shirt, and Eugene blankly stared at her.

Her beautiful breast was visible momentarily.

 “What are you looking at?”

 “If it is difficult, I could help you.”

 “What?  You, pervert!  Ah, no don’t come!  Aaahk!”

This time around, Ava ran off, smiling, and Eugene chased her.  Certainly, the two looked to be in love.  This forest in the small mountain has become their complete playground, and Eugene and Ava ran around playfully, like country kids.  Then Eugene finally caught up with her, and she fell down.

 “Are you all right?”

Of course, Eugene caught her before she hit the ground.  However, in the process he landed on top of her.

 “….You, again.”

Ava turned her head, flushing.  She did not say anything.  Unable to hold back, Eugene kissed Ava’s neck.  It felt slippery due to sweat, but he only stopped after a while.  But, he was not finished.

 “Eugene….”

She called him in desperation, and he drew closer to her.

 “Eugene….”

 “Eugene…..”

 “Eugene….”