The answer came a few seconds later.

The mercenaries and the noble soldiers charged forward. Clashing steel rang out across the dirt road as the two groups collided.

Adrian watched the chaotic brawl and immediately spotted three men who stood out from the regular bandits.

Two of them moved way too fast for normal humans. They swung their swords with brutal, explosive power. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Adrian recognized that fighting style. They moved exactly like the F rank mercenaries he hired.

Every time those two bandits hit a regular soldier, the soldier went flying backward. Weapons spun out of their hands from the sheer force of the impact.

That was the terrifying gap between a true knight and a normal guy with a sword.

Adrian knew they could still win this. He turned away from the window and looked down at Claire.

"Claire, what rank of knight are you exactly?" he asked.

She blinked in surprise. She just stared at him while men screamed and died fifty feet away. She always assumed he hired her because he already knew her exact strength.

"Why did you hire me when you do not even know my rank?" she asked, looking completely bewildered.

"I mean, I just felt like you needed to live like a knight." Adrian shrugged. "You were never getting the chance to do it while you were trapped at your father’s place."

Claire froze. His words moved her in a way she did not expect.

Back then, he told her he wanted her to train him.

But after she joined him, he never actually trained with her once. She started to feel like he only hired her because he wanted a trophy knight, and all that talk about training was complete bullshit.

But hearing his true reason now, she felt a deep sense of respect. He had understood her miserable situation. He had read what she desperately wanted and gave her the perfect opportunity to escape her fate.

Little did she know, that it wasn’t exactly bullshit. Adrian suffered from a mild case of ADHD and it looked like it carried over from earth, to this world. He’d be hyper focused on one thing but if it was something that took consistency and discipline, he wasn’t someone who could last long.

She felt extremely grateful, but she did not want to express it out loud. Her cheeks turned slightly red and she cleared her throat.

"I am a D rank knight, my lord." she said quietly.

Adrian nodded. A D rank knight was the third level of knighthood, sitting far above F and E ranks. She was incredibly strong.

"Okay, fine." Adrian said. "If things get serious out there, you will need to get involved."

He turned his attention back to the battlefield. The defenders were struggling, but they were holding the line.

At the start, the bandits were winning because they had two knights pushing the vanguard. But the defending soldiers stopped holding back, and they had an F rank knight of their own.

With one F rank mercenary and one F rank soldier leading the counterattack, the bandits started getting pushed back.

However, the bandits still had ten more people than the convoy guards. Even though the bandits lacked proper fighting technique and discipline, their sheer numbers balanced the scales. The battle turned into a bloody, equal stalemate.

Then, the third extraordinary bandit made his move.

Adrian watched the man standing at the back of the bandit formation. The man raised his hand slightly.

Instantly, Adrian sensed a sharp shift in the mana around the battlefield.

It was a very minor change in the air, but he felt it clearly. As a mage, he still had his mana veins. He could sense mana much more accurately than any knight could.

He knew immediately that this man was a mage. If a mage was actually trying to use spells in the middle of a chaotic physical brawl, it meant they were highly capable. They had to be at least a third circle or fourth circle mage.

Just as Adrian expected, the man raised his hand higher.

Four bright white magic circles materialized in the air right above the bandit leader’s head.

The circles did not spin or move around wildly. They remained completely stationary. The glowing rings were covered in ancient letters and runes.

This was exactly how high level damaging spells were formed. Especially those from third circle and above.

Adrian realized they were completely screwed. He recognized the spell structure. It was an icicle shooter of sort.

The spell would continuously shoot massive, lethal icicles at the convoy as long as the mage provided mana. A single hit from one of those ice spears could seriously injure an F rank knight. The only condition was that it had to hit.

Since it was a third circle spell, Adrian’s theory was confirmed. This guy was a massive threat.

"Claire!" Adrian yelled. "Kill that man in the back! No matter what!"

Adrian knew he had his custom rifle in his spatial storage, but he absolutely refused to use a gun in front of all these nobles and mercenaries. It was a last resort weapon meant only to save his and Aria’s lives.

He had to rely on his magic. He did not know many spells other than Gust and Telekinesis. He was currently practicing Cleanse, but that was useless in a fight.

He looked at Aria sitting quietly on the cushioned seat. "Stay inside no matter what happens." he ordered.

Adrian pushed the carriage door open and stepped out into the dirt.

He looked down and found a small stone near his boot. He grabbed it with his mana. He used the exact same trick he used at the archery competition.

Using Telekinesis, he floated the stone right in front of his chest. He gathered mana behind the rock and fired off a concentrated burst of Gust.

The stone shot forward like a bullet. It whistled through the air straight toward the mage’s face.

The mage saw it coming and just smiled.