Elias started to blame himself for being a jinx. His heart beat sped up, echoing in his ears as he started to panic.
'This is all my fault.'
Elias's fist clenched as he tried to steady himself in the wobbling carriage.
'Knowledge of the future made me blind. I thought I had everything under control.'
His mind scrambled as negative emotions started to come back. The panic hit him like a hard brake in a speeding car, sending his mind into chaos.
'Why the hell did I forget that this world is still the same? The same Lasthaven, the same Radiant Empire, the same fucking doomed world.'
Anxiety and panic drowned him as his self-blaming reached a crescendo.
After coming into this world, Elias didn't have to go through much. Yeah, considering what he would have to go through in the future, this was nothing, just a twinge of struggle. It was nothing less, nothing more.
And...
All of this made him relaxed. Even comfortable. The situation made him think that if he did things perfectly and went through with his plan, he could live through it.
Maybe even win.
But now, now that a situation had arrived like this, where he felt his life on the line, Elias started to panic. Which, in fact, was not that much of a surprise, considering Elias was only acting tough.
And that facade dissolved!
Crash
"Neeigh!"
As the second went on, it all dawned on Elias again: where he was.
'Fucking hell. Calm down first!'
Shaking his negative thoughts off, Elias first took control of his body. Crashing out was not going to help him. Negative emotions were not going to be the weapon for him.
He had only himself and the knights.
Yeah, knights! Where the fuck were they?
Were they taking care of whatever was happening?
But what was happening?
'It's most likely monsters,' Elias thought, concluding the situation quickly.
Nothing else could happen.
Bandits... no. Victor should have already taken care of things like these.
Someone wanted to kill him.
'No, if anyone wanted to, they could have killed me in the castle itself.' Elias shook his head. 'And it's not good for Victor if I am killed. So there's no way he would let me die here, or would he?!'
He shook his head again, his fist clenching tightly, as he could feel his teeth grinding.
'No, he wouldn't.'
The previous Elias's parents' dying, itself, was a big thing. No matter if they were only Baron, the person behind would have already gone through a lot to keep this matter under control.
The imperial court, which investigated matters like these, was not something one could easily corrupt. However, it was not impossible.
And this was also the reason Elias suspected the presence of someone more powerful behind all of this.
Crash
"Neeigh!"
The sound of crashing once more echoed as the whole carriage shook. The neigh of the horse echoed through the forest, making birds fly around as they screamed, creating noises like a bad omen.
Coming out of his stupor, Elias started to calm himself down. Panic was going to only make the situation worse.
Regulating his breath, he felt his heart once more return to its normal rhythm as he glanced through the window.
'I am sure it's monsters.'
Standing up, he opened the small hatch, which was on his front, in the hope of seeing something.
Slid
As he did...
SWOOSH!
An abomination. A creature with a dark, disgusting black color was jumping towards the horses. It has too many eyes, no face, and no mouth. Two limbs, whether they were limbs or not, weren't clear; they grew like twigs from both sides and flailed desperately as the creature screamed incomprehensible words from who knows where.
Liquid seeped from its body like a gutter's waste, with a nauseating smell.
Ba-dump!
Seeing the creature, Elias' eyes widened. He felt his body stiffening and his breath stopping.
However, fortunately, before the creature could reach the horses, an iron hand came tightening around its head and threw it back. Following this, the one responsible for it, the knight, started galloping towards it with a sword.
'Huh!'
Elias felt himself breathing again. His fingers, which had tightened around the hatch's handle, relaxed.
Yet, before he could wonder more, he heard the other knight coming near the carriage.
Sensing this, Elias sat back down.
Reaching and seeing the blank face of Elias, the knight showed a surprised expression before reeling the emotion back and answering as the boy asked in an almost monotone voice.
"What is it?"
"It's nothing to concern yourself with, my lord," the knight named Marian answered. He was a 37-year-old [D-] rank knight, one of the most skilled and experienced knights of the barony. "They are measly [F] rank monsters. Rowan will take care of them in a few minutes."
After hearing the knight's words, Elias felt relieved.
'Thank god. Here I was literally thinking the worst.'
"Hm," Elias hummed, shaking his thoughts. "Take care of it fast. We have to reach the town before sunset. I want to rest."
"Yes, my lord. We will do so."
Knight Marian nodded as he stood near the carriage while the other knight, Rowan, fought the monsters.
After a few minutes of loud crashing and slashing sounds, the noise ceased, pointing towards the end of whatever was going on.
Following that, the coachman pulled on the reins, and the horses once more started to gallop forward, pulling the carriage, as the wooden box rolled forward.
The scene of the battle came in a few seconds as Elias saw the blood and gore thrown around.
'Ugh!'
The twig-like limbs were scattered here and there. The soil had turned into a black and purple color, with eyes and body parts of the monsters littered on the ground like toppings. Elias felt his stomach churn with the urge to vomit. Today, no food was going inside his stomach.
'Ah, I want to go and just sleep.'
Elias closed his eyes, not wanting to see more, while feeling really tired. His head hurt the most, like having a splitting migraine.
If worries were enough to make him this tired, what would happen to his future?
'Whatever. That is future Elias's problem.'
Not wanting to go through another panic attack, he relaxed, waiting for the imminent stop.
Fortunately, nothing happened in between in the small remaining journey as they reached their destination, and Elias could happily throw himself on the bed.
The room was utterly cheap, considering his previous one. But to Elias, this felt like heaven.
The back and ass that had turned stone due to sitting in a carriage for too long made his body stiff and sore. And exhaustion from the journey made him close his eyes as he drifted to sleep easily.