12 – Disaster (1)
Change always came suddenly.
It happened when we left Lehaim Castle as if fleeing, and when the carriage came to the hut without any warning.
It was probably when Hena was preparing dinner.
It was an ordinary day with nothing special. I was playing chess with Sirien. It was a chess game with a predetermined outcome.
I wasn’t playing chess just to entertain. Rather, I was very serious. I never won against Sirien no matter how hard I tried.
To be honest, my pride was hurt. At first, I thought I was going to win, but as my skills improved, I realized that Sirien was letting me win.
But this wicked girl never conceded victory.
In the end, Sirien declared checkmate once again. I knocked over my king.
“I lost. Ah, I really want to win just once. Please go easy on me.”
“No. If Rajen wins, I don’t think he’ll play with me again. Win with your skill.”
“…”
How did they know?
For some reason, I hesitated to say to Siren, “You’re terrible at chess.”
Our rule was that the loser would clean up the chess pieces.
I, enslaved by the desire to win, was carefully picking up the chess pieces.
Urgent footsteps came down from the second floor. Having spent a long time with the siblings, I could distinguish people just by the sound of their footsteps. It was Terion.
“The carriage! The carriage is here!”
“Really?”
As soon as Terion shouted, Siren jumped to his feet.
Hena stopped cooking, wiping her hands on her apron, and I, too, quickly turned my head.
It was only natural for us to go out and greet the carriage.
Sure enough, I could see the faint outline of the carriage in the forest.
It was a familiar sight.
The old, rickety carriage we had ridden in. The same one that gave off a musty smell and stirred up dust. At first, it looked like junk, but now it seemed somewhat endearing.
The only difference was that they had removed the tent this time, allowing us to see the people on board the carriage directly.
The coachman was different from the previous one, and there were several men with hoods pulled over their heads. Including the coachman, they numbered six. Their faces were not clearly visible from a distance.
Terion, who had left before me, was quite a bit ahead.
The men on the carriage just waited for Terion silently.
‘Something feels off.’
A strange sense of unease washed over me.
I paused momentarily, placing a hand on Siren’s shoulder, and whispered.
“Siren, go back to the cabin with Hena.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Just do as I say for now. I’ll come get you.”
At times like this, Siren trusted me.
He followed my words without asking any further questions. With Siren behind me, I hurriedly picked up speed.
I needed to catch up with Terion.
* * *
This world was often filled with power struggles.
There was deep-seated resentment between humans and demons, and like the fictional Siren and the female protagonist, conflicts between humans never ceased.
Thus, it could be said that this world was now the era of knights.
A powerful individual had enough strength to change the course of a war. Therefore, every noble was eager to have an excellent knight in their service.
But not all nobles went to war.
Wartime was shorter than peacetime. The place where knights shone the most was the battlefield, but where they were most often employed was in escort missions.
So, to become a knight, one had to learn to protect others.
Elenzia’s sword.
It went without saying if one was born as the son of Count Bertus.
That’s why I was confident.
‘At least those guys are not knights.’
The basis of an escort was vigilance. No matter how good one was with a sword, if they were stabbed from behind, they would die. If they didn’t properly keep an eye on their surroundings, everyone’s lives would be in danger.
But those people looked as if they were chatting on the carriage while not being vigilant at all.
Moreover, they didn’t even get off the carriage when Therion approached.
It meant they didn’t even know basic manners. They were not suitable candidates to guide the siblings to the castle.
The only better option was the man who seemed to be the leader of the group.
The man who got off the carriage walked up to Therion, step by step.
By that time, I had also caught up with Therion. The man took a glance at us.
“Are you Prince Therion?”
“Yes. Did my uncle send you?”
“Yes. You must be Viscount Lažentus standing beside him. It’s an honor to greet you. My name is Rudebeck. I have been ordered to escort you.”
Therion lowered his guard.
It was because he knew our names.
Count Roxen had said this place was a hideout.
The information about us hiding here must have been kept secret, so these people must have been the ones sent by Count Roxen.
Moreover, Rudebeck wasn’t just aware of our names.
“I heard there were four of you. Is the young lady inside?”
“Hmm? I thought she came out with us, but it seems she left something behind.”
“Is that so? Then we’ll go and fetch her. Hanson, Trang. Go and escort the young lady politely, and don’t do anything rude.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Rudebeck also knew about Ciriene and Hena.
Upon his signal, his two subordinates headed towards the hut.
It felt a bit uneasy, but we didn’t have any intention of stopping them.
In any case, it seemed sure that these were sent by Count Roxen. There must be a reason why he didn’t send a knight or a soldier from the family.
I may not know, they could be fairly renowned mercenaries for all I know.
But as the two of them passed by me, a familiar smell wafted.
I had to decide.
“Huh…?”
I drew my sword.
And I struck.
I ended one of them with a single stroke.
A flustered Terion appeared, but I didn’t have time to explain it one by one.
Hot fresh blood splattered on my cheek. The unique warmth of humans felt quite hot.
From the corner of my sight, a human body crumbled.
Thump. Thump. My heart was beating fast. This was my first killing. It seemed my hand was a little shaky.
It’s okay. It wasn’t enough to disturb my swing of the sword. The delusion that blood was quickly flowing was rather good. It meant my senses had heightened which would benefit my fighting.
It took me several years to commit my first murder after learning the sword. But it seemed like a few seconds would be enough for the second one.
‘Just one more at this momentum…!’
The moment I was about to take down another defenseless one, a cold metallic sound rang out.
It was Ludbeck. A substantial iron sword rushed at me. He decided to abandon his polite attitude, he curled one side of his lip upward.
“A perceptive little brat. It was a performance I painstakingly prepared. How did you know?”
”However you try to cover it up with words, people like you always give yourselves away. The reek gave you way”
“Ha. I guess so? You look high and mighty. Don’t get it twisted. It wouldn’t have mattered whether you noticed or not.”
So you say.
There was too much evidence.
Their attention had never been directed outside. They didn’t seem to consider threats from unknown beasts or unseen followers at all.
Their eyes were purely fixed on me and Terion. Particularly, the gaze in their eyes when they saw my sword was annoying. I didn’t like how they looked at the callus of my palms as if assessing my skills.
They didn’t seem as though they were looking at someone they needed to kill.
The decisive factor was the smell.
A horrendous smell emanated from the underlings who passed by me. It was a smell I had encountered before.
From Noble mtl dot com
A smell occasionally emanated by prisoners brought by my seniors in the knight order – a body odor of cheap alcohol and drugs mixed together.
Those who exuded such a smell were inevitably trash. The female protagonist in a novel would have shuddered.
– When they smoked tobacco made of mulet flowers, it gave off a pungent smell like dirty water. People called those who were addicted to this drug “sewer rats.”
– For the rats with no future, mullet flowers were quite expensive. And the addictive nature of the mullet flowers was enough to instantly break down a human’s willpower.
– Naturally, the rats became slaves who would do anything for money. They turned into useful disposable goods.
No matter what happened, the siblings couldn’t be used as escorts.
If it were the opposite, who knows?
“If you had just followed us obediently, you wouldn’t have to die painfully.”
“Oh, come on. Walking with stinking guys like you would be torture. I’d rather smell a soaked rag.”
“Your mouth is quite crude for an aristocrat’s son.”
I exchanged a few blows with Ludbeck. Fortunately, he wasn’t an extraordinary opponent, but I wasn’t at an advantage either.
This is dangerous.
My reason raised a warning.
Honestly, I couldn’t guarantee victory.
Even if it was a one-on-one match, he wasn’t an easy opponent, and he had subordinates. Due to their movement to block my escape, I couldn’t enter recklessly.
I tried my best, but I couldn’t erase the impression that it was difficult. It was problematic for me to be stuck here.
Well, if this was the will of Count Rocksen, it had to be tough.
I had been a match for knights of Ellensia. Count Rocksen must have had a vague idea of my skills, so he wouldn’t have sent completely incompetent guys.
At least he must have included one useful guy. I could only hope that Ludbeck was the only one.
Terryon was also busy clashing swords with the men around us.
A decision was needed this time as well.
“Brother. I’ll clear a path, so you go and protect Siriene and Hena. I’ll take care of it here.”
“What? And you… Can I trust you?”
“Absolutely.”
As promised, I desperately cleared a path for Terryon.
At the cost of pushing myself, I managed to defeat one of them. Earlier, two men slipped away, and the remaining two were surrounding me.
I had wounds on my left shoulder and thigh from sending Terryon off. There was bleeding, but it wasn’t too deep.
Ludbeck sneered.
“You know what? My employer told me to erase you from this world.”
“Give it your best shot.”
“But there was nothing in the request about killing you nicely, so as long as the job is finished cleanly, anything goes. I heard the young princess is quite beautiful. Won’t her screams be something to look forward to?”
“A rag smell is resonating from your mouth. I’ll make sure to clean that up for you.”
I tried to calmly confront him, but
It became impossible.
My head cooled down.