The arrow struck one of the knights' horses, causing it to buck in pain and throw off its rider. Inside the carriage, Olivyn and the two maids were startled by Winfred's scream.
"My son!? Wha-what is happening!?"
"An ambush, Mother! Please get down! Helina, Nina! Take cover and please protect Mother!"
"What about you, Young Master!?"
"I'm...ugh...!"
Fortunately, the Mana conversion entering his body was minor cliche, so he quickly recovered from the burning sensation.
Winfred refocused, within his range, several more arrows were released, this time hitting the carriage he was riding in and also hitting the panicked coachman's shoulder who didn't have time to take cover.
The arrows did not penetrate the walls of the carriage, but only stuck into them. But that didn't mean Winfred could relax.
The knights immediately took up positions surrounding the carriage to protect it. Winfred used Ping to detect the position of his enemies.
"3...6...10...15 people! Calm down! Judging by how they move, probably bandits..."
Winfred tried to calm himself by repeatedly taking deep breaths. The clanging of metal could be heard from outside; the battle had begun. Despite being outnumbered, Winfred had faith in the strength of the Emerdine knights.
"It will be fine, Mother! Our knights will take care of them!"
"You-you are right...it-it will be fine..."
"My Lady..."
Helina looked worriedly at Olivyn, whose face was pale. Everyone was afraid of the threat outside the carriage, but among those inside, Winfred seemed calmer than the others. Winfred detected that some of the attackers had been defeated and fallen.
Winfred felt a little relieved seeing that the knights were completely in control of the battle, but suddenly he detected five more people from the forest joining the fight.
"N-no way..."
The knights, who had initially held the advantage, suddenly found themselves on the defensive. They had to fight at close range while blocking the arrows coming their way. And then the collapse began.
"Argh!"
"Hey, get your grip!"
"I...can't, my thigh feels numb!"
One of the arrows hit the thigh of one of the knights. The knight groaned in pain, accompanied by numbness in his thigh. Winfred knew that the arrow was coated with poison.
"Come on, boys! Take 'em down quickly!"
The knights' solid formation slowly began to crumble as one of them was injured. The five remaining knights were cornered, even though they had managed to take down some bandits.
"Uehehe! Y'all lose soon, just give up!"
"Boss! I want to play with the maid inside, okay!?"
"I want that mistress!"
The bandits laughed vulgarly after seeing another knight fall due to the same attack as before, leaving only four knights. Twelve bandits against four knights...
Olivyn, Helina, and Nina looked completely pale when they heard the bad news that was about to befall them. However, at that critical moment, Olivyn forced a smile and hugged her son.
"Listen to me. There is nothing in this world that is more important than you, my son. You have to save yourself and go before they surround us completely!"
"Let me help you escape, Young Master..."
"Young Master Winfred, I will protect you!"
Winfred was stunned to hear the declarations of the three people in front of him. How could they throw away their lives to protect a 10 years old boy? To be honest, Winfred is also scared, because this was the first time he had experienced an encounter that truly threatened his life.
Seeing the three people he loved willing to sacrifice themselves for him, anger flared up inside him.
"How could I stay silent after all of that!?"
He took a deep breath and exhaled, then smiled kindly at the three people.
"I will protect all of you. Don't worry!"
"Winfred...? Wh-where are you going!?"
"No...! Young Master!"
"Please stay inside, Young Master!"
Winfred opened the carriage door and quickly got out of the carriage, then closed the door again. Everyone in the battle was surprised, the bandits smiled broadly while the knights showed expressions of pain.
"Haha! Look at this twerp! Playing the hero, aren't you!?"
"Look at him! Are you really a noble, kiddo!?"
That was an unnecessary insult, according to Winfred. The bandits wore dirty clothes and leather armor that looked damaged, as well as weapons that looked chipped. The knights retreated and approached Winfred to try to protect him.
"Young Master, please get back inside!"
"That's right, at least you and Lady Olivyn must survive."
"No, let me fight. Give me one of your spears."
"But-"
"Please, allow me to protect them."
The knights fell silent, seeing the determination in the young man. Reluctantly, one of the knights handed him a spear that was lying on the ground. Winfred then turned his gaze to the two knights who had fallen to the ground.
"Are they dead?"
"No, Young Master. They are just unconscious, but if left alone, the poison will spread throughout their bodies and they will die."
"So we are also racing against time..."
Winfred checked his Mana and was slightly relieved to find that he still had plenty. He then quickly swung his spear, feeling that it was a little heavy but sufficient for battle.
"I'm going to take out those archers. Assist me!"
"Understood!"
Winfred activated Sensor mode and stepped forward. The bandits laughed loudly at the behavior of the 10 years old boy and joined in the attack. Compared to Wayne and Gerdan, these bandits were completely disorganized and lacked discipline, so Winfred easily parried and dodged the attacks coming at him.
Winfred continued to step forward, and the bandits thought the boy was desperate, so they forced themselves to advance. Most of the bandits attacked Winfred while the rest attacked the remaining knights.
"Good. They think I'm attacking blindly because I'm desperate."
One of the bandits grinned widely because he was in Winfred's blind spot, and he confidently swung a sharp attack at Winfred's back. However, the boy somehow managed to dodge the attack quickly.
Winfred retaliated against the attack on his blind spot by slamming the upper handle of his spear so hard into the neck of the bandit who attacked him. The bandit roared in pain, while Winfred continued to step forward.
He repeated this against several bandits, not killing them because his main goal at the moment was to incapacitate the archers. The knights were surprised to see Emerdine's third son skillfully dodge every attack from the bandits, as if he had anticipated them. Thanks to the unexpected help from their Young Master, the knights fight them without difficulty.
The archers behind the trees realized that the boy's target was them. In a panic, they tried to get away, but unfortunately it was too late.
Winfred quickly attacked one of the archers, stabbing him in the thigh and arm until he fell to the ground, dropping his bow.
"Never underestimate your opponents, never take your eyes off of your opponents."
"Aghhh...it hurts! You little bastard!"
Blood flowed along with the archer's screams of pain from the stab wound. Seeing so much blood and the person he had stabbed, Winfred felt nauseous. This was the first time he had truly hurt someone with the intent to kill, but he forced himself to remain strong by remembering his mentor's lesson.
Another archer saw the boy pause and took the opportunity to shoot his arrow. An arrow flew towards Winfred, but he only tilted his head slightly and the arrow hit the tree next to him instead.
The archer was shocked and frightened, because the boy had managed to dodge his attack and was now staring intently at him. The archer tried to run, but Winfred quickly closed the distance between them.
"Wait, wait, wait! Please! I was just obeying orde-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Winfred quickly slashed the archer's shoulder and arm. After he fell to the ground, Winfred immediately kicked the archer's head so hard that he lost consciousness.
Wiping his sweat, Winfred exhaled and refocused. Seeing that two archers had been incapacitated, one of the bandits, the largest one, clicked his tongue with a gloomy expression.
"Tsk! Useless bum!"
Winfred returned to the battle near the carriage and found that there were only five bandits left. The knights were panting but slightly relieved to see Winfred return.
"You should've given up earlier, boy! Now I must kill you to set an example for the other Houses!"
The knights tried to protect their Young Master but were blocked by the other bandits. Winfred faced the large bandit who appeared to be their leader.
"Raaaghh!!"
The bandit attacked Winfred with his large axe, but Winfred was able to anticipate the attack with his Sensor. He skillfully and quickly dodged all of the big bandit's attacks.
"Slippery little bastard!"
After observing the big bandit's movements in front of him, Winfred launched a counterattack. He applied everything he had learned from Wayne, occasionally slipping in feints with his attacks.
Numerous small cuts covered the big bandit's body, and he grew increasingly annoyed that none of his attacks were hitting the little boy in front of him.
Winfred was breathing heavily, he needed a powerful attack to truly defeat this bandit. The bandit smiled slyly when he realized that the boy in front of him was running out of stamina.
"Bahaha! Running out of stamina!? This is your end- agh!"
The bandit stepped forward and was about to launch an attack with his axe, but suddenly the back of his head was hit by a rock, followed by water and then sparks of electricity.
Winfred shifted his gaze to the carriage. Olivyn, Helina, and Nina stepped out of the carriage and each fired their spells at the bandit, causing him to turn his head with a look of rage on his face.
Although it was only a weak spell, Winfred did not waste the moment, and he immediately lunged at the bandit, slashing both of his hands, causing him to drop his axe, and then stabbing him deeply in the shoulder.
"Fuck- fuck! Fuck all of you! Agh!"
The bandit fell down, moaning in pain and thrashing about. Winfred breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. The knights had already dealt with the rest of the bandits. Some were dead, some were seriously injured, and some had voluntarily surrendered.
Winfred ran over to the three of them.
"You foolish son! What would I do if something happened to you!?"
"Mother... I..."
"Thank God you are fine...!"
Olivyn hugged Winfred and cried on his shoulder. Winfred then turned to Helina and Nina, who both smiled calmly and on the verge of tears seeing that he was okay. Then he released his mother's embrace and looked around.
The four of them saw many people lying on the ground, including the knights, and the knights who were still able to stand approached them.
"My Lady, Young Master, are you okay?"
"We are fine...thankfully. How about the rest of you?"
"We will manage, My Lady. But those two..."
They saw two knights lying helplessly on the ground, poisoned. Olivyn then gave orders to the knights.
"Use our potion, I think we still have some left, don't we?"
"Pardon me, Lady Olivyn. Our potion was destroyed in the chaos earlier..."
Helina replied gloomily, and the knights could only resign themselves and hope that their comrades would survive until medical help arrived. Winfred then remembered that he also had a potion.
"Use mine! I know it's not very effective, but at least it's better than not using any potion at all!"
Winfred entered the carriage and took the bag under the seat. He then gave the detoxification potion to one of the knights. The knight was stunned and immediately approached his two companions to provide first aid.
Winfred sat on the ground with trembling hands. This incident would always remain etched in his memory, and without him realizing it, his survival would become an important catalyst in the future.