Nateaser: Reborn As My Love Interest

Dio - Chapter Fifteen

That wicked girl just wouldn't give up.

The blue-haired devil wounded Fang and Bastion and chased us the entire night. She didn't care if it was a three-on-one. The beastman was seriously out of shape when he rejoined us and the ogre was slashed badly while carrying the Princess. On top of all that, this royalty was way more difficult to handle than I expected.

She thrashed, screamed, and clawed into the poor ogre, capturing her became the easiest part of the mission. If only we still had our wyverns, they would fly her home, but ironically it was thanks to the incident where we lost them that we got here this early.

"The boy ran away, but the knight is still after us," Fang reported, fighting for air. "How can she keep up in armor?"

"If my memory serves, she's the Captain of the Guard," I told him during a short break. "Maybe we let our helper go too early."

"Just be thankful your gamble worked," Fang noted, shaking his head. The silver hair was messy from the fight, his nails broke and his fingers bled.

"I have my way with people," I claimed, but he was right. "Well, I'm sure if she realized we lied to her, we'd be dead already."

"You are dead indeed. So-so dead." The Princess joined in, still hanging below the ogre's arm. "Cath will catch up and slice you in half."

She did not appreciate that we snatched her away, she wasn't even scared, just fumed with anger all the time. Bastion pulled the shortest stick among us since he had to carry her, and it didn't help that he was wounded. He was out of breath, and I hadn't heard him utter a single word all day.

"Well, only if she catches up, your Highness." I agreed. "But I won't wait for her. We'll reach the pass soon and it's an open country beyond that, swarming with monsters. We won't be bound to the road any longer, plus our reinforcements are on their way."

That last one was only half a bluff.

Omerta did not rush to help us in the mountains, probably racing for the Princess all this time. We ought to run into them sooner or later, then we could all return victoriously, riding the wyverns home.

We reached the pass itself by noon. If my calculations were correct, they had to catch up to us by the next day at the latest. We were all but staggering at this point, which raised another question.

Omerta could just beat us, and take the Princess for herself. She wanted to wrestle command from me, I could tell, from the moment she joined the champions. It wouldn't make a difference for the Princess, but I was not ready to jump this hurdle in our current situation. We were just as much the hunters as the hunted.

If at least we got our weapons, or a loyal wizard with us.

I wondered if the orc witch or the blue-haired devil was the worst opponent. I was hungry, beaten badly, and ran for a good sixteen hours. A stronger wind could have knocked me over.

I almost saw the old capital from up here, at least the place where it used to be. That was still a few days' worth of walking which was out of the question unless the paladin stopped. Otherwise, we could not evade her long. A single day at best, if we were lucky, but she must have taken a break too, at some point, she was only human.

"Stop right there." I heard an angry voice, just to prove me wrong.

I couldn't believe it when I spotted her barely a hundred yards away. She climbed over the pass and with a last sprint, she could be on us. Fang assumed a defensive stance, but his face was distorted from the pain. If only we had a rope to tie up the Princess so the ogre could fight too...