The captain, whose name was Helmut, couldn't help his initial reaction of dismay, but he snapped back into action the next moment.
"Protect the guests!" he ordered his soldiers as he himself spurred his horse forward.
He and the others spaced themselves between the villagers and the Lysean soldiers, who had carefully moved back to surround the black carriage. Thankfully, many of this village’s residents seemed to have opted to go to Oste; this small crowd of people wasn't the village's full population, and most were either too old or too young to do much damage.
Behind him, Captain Helmut heard another man say in a barely audible tone: "Don't draw your weapons. Keep your hands to your sides. Don't make any threatening moves."
It had been spoken in Lysean, which the captain understood a
