“I wonder if I’m too early.” Gerda the Bridge Troll heard the fight long before she saw it.

  There were four archer assassins still alive, firing down on the elf who’d called her ‘rabble’ less than an hour ago. One Miss Peregrine Fern. The pink haired, green-skinned beauty looked straight out of an anime, arrows appearing like magic as fast as she could shoot them.

  In another timeline, the Grand Pontiff had gone personally to inform the Fern's that Lord Geoffrey had perished at sea. Not because he'd cared. No. The Steward of Life had had a rivalry with Prime Minister Fern since childhood and he'd been looking for anything to bring down Count Valin Fern. The poor girl had been sneaking out somewhere and gotten caught by the high level priest instead.

  Instead of that tragedy, the kind and generous Madame Potts had come up with a different ending. One much more fun.

  And now the girl was here.

  Peregrine's aim was true, but the mage from earlier had raised a barrier to deflect her bolts. The seconds passed in a war of attrition as the elf’s arrows struck the same place over and over and over again.

  Twice, Gerda watched the girl dodge a blast herself by gracefully shifting her position as she launched a counter attack on the fly.

  She was deadly too, as demonstrated by the arrow that finally pierced through their magical defense and hit the mage.

  "Tallan, your [Revive]!"

  One of the archer's in the tree's stopped firing, obviously bent on getting to the mage. From the direction the knight had been thrown earlier, a blast of water shot into the sky.

  “[Shield].” The maid had pale skin and long black hair pulled back into two braids, and had a decent level defense. Great even, for a maid. She stood over the cowering crown prince and set up to defend him.

  As Gerda watched, Peregrine expertly turned and fired at the one archer still in the trees, landing a headshot. He'd revealed himself long enough to fire on the prince and that was enough to seal his fate.

  The arrow he'd loosed deflected off of the maid's shield. There was a moment's reprieve while only the two archers on the hill were left attacking them.

  Peregrine eyed the ridge and suddenly there were three arrows on her bow, lined up for a multi-shot. She yelled. "Now!"

  She released, and the archer's ducked for cover. Without hesitation, the black-haired elf dropped her magic shield, scooped up Prince Deryl and ran for the trees.

  She might have made it too, had the prince not immediately started thrashing. “HOW DARE A MAID TOUCH–”

  One of his elbow’s clipped his rescuer in the eye and she flinched long enough that he wrestled himself free just clear of the protective foliage. He landed with a loud thud.

  “Lish! Duck!”

  Lish did duck, but it wasn’t necessary. Before the arrow could have landed on it's target, Peregrine fired her own [Skill] powered arrow that knocked theirs clear.

  “Yep, too early.” Gerda mumbled to herself as she equipped her Arcane Catspaw Gloves and pulled out a scarf. At least she wasn't too late.

  Her skills had already told her where she could find the treasure she was hunting for, now all she needed to do was get close enough to the prince to steal it.

  …

  This was fine, I told myself. I had three more wooden arrows left in my [Archer’s Quiver], but it was fine. I could make a wild choice and start using magic. Who would even notice in the chaos?

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  The attendant dressed as Deryl had crawled over to the attendant unconscious from horse violence, and was using the injured elf as a shield while praying to his god. He wasn't paying much attention. The third was still off somewhere on a different rampaging horse.

  And Sir Bay was no where to be seen.

  Seriously, how long did it take to fight off one sword wielder? He was supposed to be the Crown Prince's head guardsmen! He was somewhere around Level 58, last I'd checked, and should have made quick work of the fighter.

  “Ach!” The prince screamed as an attack finally broke Lish’s guard and hit Deryl’s ankle.

  I shot three arrows at the archers on the ridge. The first shot missed the archer but hit his bow, shattering the weapon on impact.

  The second two hit.

  Now it was down to the archer from the tree, the archer without a bow, and the currently unalive mage. The second the caster's shield had faltered, I had shot a [Track Target] arrow, but who knew how long the elf would stay down before Tallen got there with his potion. My [Wing Arrow] would've made short work of the fight, but I wasn't about to show off.

  Did I think the crown prince would notice? Probably not, he was too busy grabbing his ankle and screaming. But I'd been meticulous in my disguise for a decade now and I wasn't going to suddenly get lax just because it was probably fine.

  There was the unknown person following us after all.

  "Your Highness!" Sir Bay finally decided to show up, having defeated the fighter in the woods... but not before the woods defeated him, it seemed. His long hair had no less than three sticks jutting out, and his clothing was much the worse for wear. He looked like he'd had a fight with a bimbleberry bush, and lost. "Beg pardon."

  With that, the knight grabbed the prince and dragged him into the forest and behind a tree, the prince cursing all the way. Lish was close behind them. I stood my ground, catching a knife that was aimed at the group.

  It was probably poison, as these things usually were, but I put the thought aside.

  "Stand down, Countess," Sir Bay marched back out of the trees, sword drawn. "Leave the rest to me."

  "Alright-" Of course, that was the exact moment I detected the faintest footfall in an unexpected location. Without a care for my own safety, I spun around and threw the knife into the bushes five paces left of where the crown prince had escaped to.

  “Ack!” Whoever they were, the knife had missed.

  "Ack!" Unfortunately, the arrow that the assassins had fired at me had not. Pain seared through my arm, and it took everything I had not to drop my bow.

  Oh look, it wasn't poisoned. That was nice.

  The archer had either come up with a new bow, or Tallen had finished administering their Revive potion on the mage and was back in action. I feared it was the latter option.

  "[Direct Strike]!" Sir Bay had had enough, and activated a full speed ahead attack, crossing the distance between us and the ridge in a single breath. He leapt into the air and came down hard, landing on someone I couldn't see but could definitely hear.

  They weren't ready for him.

  I searched the woods, but found no more trace of the unknown target. With the last of the assassins busy, I finally moved up the slope and into the cover of the trees.

  "Lish, you alright?" I asked, finding the maid rubbing the back of her hand. For a second I thought she might have suffered an attack, but there was no other signs.

  “We're safe.” She answered, straightening and casting a side long glance at the prince - who was trying to open a health potion but couldn't get a grip from the blood on his hands.

  “Speak for yourself!” Crown Prince Deryl retorted, wiping his hand on his vest and then trying again, finally getting the lid off. He downed the bottle with ease. I nodded and summoned my own health potion. I hesitated unsummoning my bow... but my arm was starting to seriously hurt holding it, so away it went.

  "If you could?" I handed Lish the bottle and she stood waiting. With a grimace, I added the arrow that was sticking out of my bicep into my [Archer's Quiver]. It was the easiest way to remove it, and felt, I imagined, less painful then the other options. Since I hadn't lost much health, I just held out my arm for Lish. She poured some of the potion on it and then put the lid back on. It didn't heal much of my actual HP, but it closed the wound and stopped the bleeding - and for that I was grateful.

  There was still no sign of the person I'd thrown a knife at. The weapon was lodged in a nearby tree.

  I was just thinking I should go and collect it when Sir Bay returned.

  "I finished off the archers, but the mage escaped." He admitted, looking angry. "The carriage is done for. I put out the fire and stored it away for later. I've also sent Lord Bartly to go round up our horses."

  Lord Bartly was pretty close to Lord Bartle, I thought, all things considered.

  "If everyone is healed, I think it best to start walking and clear the area." Sir Bay continued. I sighed; that meant no opportunity to collect my arrows.

  The prince finished his much higher-grade potion than mine, and tossed the glass into the woods. Then he crossed his arms and stated, "I'm not walking anywhere. Bring me a horse."

  Or not. For once I was happy for my obnoxious crown prince. Hand crafting arrows was time consuming.