“Chief!”
At that time, a young man from the village came running. I was out of breath how quickly I came.
“Oh, it’s a big deal!”
“It’s a big deal? What happened?”
“The knight is here!”
Luke’s eyes widened at the young man’s words. There was only one knight who would come to such a rural town.
‘Knight of the Bernstein family!’
Countess Bernstein. Luke’s father is the head of the family, and one of the noble families with considerable power in the East.
When Luke was 15, the Bernsteins came to Brick Town twice.
To find Luke, the bastard, and bring him to the family. This was definitely the first visit.
“Kid, knight? No, why did the knight come all the way here!?”
Unlike Luke, the village chief’s face had turned pale. who is the knight
Aren’t commoners a nobleman who can’t even look at his eyes and a human butcher dealing with dozens of soldiers?
If he went against his will, he could have killed only one village chief like the life of a fly.
“How many soldiers? How many soldiers did the knight lead?”
The village chief asked in a trembling voice. When a knight led a soldier to visit, it was only up to the village to provide the hospitality.
If there are few soldiers, it is manageable, but if there are many soldiers, it becomes a huge burden.
It was also a matter of how long they stayed in the village.
‘It doesn’t matter if it’s for a short while, but if you’re planning to stay for a while for a reason, the village will fail.’
The village chief’s mouth went dry. My legs were already shaking when I thought of the cost of going to the soldiers.
“There were no soldiers.”
“What? No soldiers? A knight alone?”
“yes!”
“Huh.”
Hearing the young man’s answer, the head of the village quickly rolled. If so, there is a high possibility that the knight is not a vassal of a particular family.
It must be a wandering knight looking for his master, or a mercenary knight making a living by intervening in someone else’s war.
“Then, didn’t there have a family pattern? Something like a picture of an animal.”
“No, there was none of that.”
“Ooh!”
To not wear the family crest means to be dishonored. If so, the possibility of being a mercenary knight was remarkably high.
A knight with no back ship, no connections, and just a daily mercenary job.
‘Then the story is different.’
A mercenary knight with no background or connections was no different from an ordinary traveler.
The difference between status and power may be large, but it was said that no one was looking for it if it was dealt with without even knowing mice or birds.
Seeing the village chief roll his eyes here and there, Luke clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘It’s a plan to secretly kill and shake it off.’
In fact, it was not uncommon for travelers or mercenary knights without connections to disappear like that.
Right now, Brick Village has done the same thing to travelers a few times. The problem is that the village chief is making a pretty big mistake right now.
The opponent was not a mere mercenary knight, but a vassal knight of the Bernstein family.
“Keuheum, Luke. You should go now.”
The village chief shook his hand as if chasing Luke. It was a gesture that he had no intention of participating in handling the article and dividing the goods.
“Okay, then goodbye.”
“Yes. I’ll come back later if I have something to hunt.”
Having said that, the village chief turned around and began to chatter.
He seems to have lowered his voice in his own way, but Luke’s sensitive ears heard it all.
“Please prepare some food for the driver. Don’t forget to take plenty of medicine.”
“Don’t worry. One bite and you’ll fall asleep right away.”
“Good. There’s a fence I know about…”
Luke almost laughed involuntarily. It was pitiful to see him indulging in greed without even knowing that he was tightening his own lifeline.
‘I’ll have to prepare to erase the traces.’
Recalling the events before returning, Luke ran to the cabin. Tonight was the day the knight escaped and came to the cabin.
dark dawn. Luke lit a fire around the cabin and organized his tools.
I prepared things to erase footprints and bloodstains, and I cleaned up the underground hiding place.
‘It’s almost time to come.’
– Come on, grab it!
-Never miss it!
As soon as I thought about it, a raucous cry came from the village.
Torches were lit and human shadows shimmered as if the entire village was agitated.
In the meantime, a shadow rode a horse and headed this way. It must have been hit by something on the way, and the horse collapsed and the person rolled on the ground.
“Kheuk, cool!”
‘You’re here.’
It was a young knight who arrived at the cabin. His armor and sword were taken away, and he was dressed in plain clothes, and his shoulder was wounded by a pitchfork.
“Hey, commoner over there! Hide me!”
‘What’s wrong.’
You talk like that even when everyone is dying. I knew right away the aristocrats’ sense of choice, but I shook my head.
“If you hide it, I’ll reward you later! If you want…!”
“It’s done.”
“What!? No…!”
The knight’s complexion turned pale, probably accepting it as a refusal. Luke opened the cabin door and gestured toward the knight.
“I don’t need a reward, so please come in. There’s a place to hide.”
“Oh, thank you!”
The knight hurriedly entered the cabin. Luke opened the door to the cleverly hidden cellar.
“Go in.”
“Don’t forget this grace. Stake it on my name…”
“Now is not the time for that.”
It was a waste of time to say thank you. Luke pushed the article in and asked for it.
“You must never come out. You must remain still no matter what happens outside.”
“Okay. I swear.”
Seeing the knight’s eyes, Luke was slightly relieved. In the worst case, it would come out on the way, saying ‘I’m going to die fighting!’
In that case, even Luke could not avoid being questioned. Fortunately, the knight seemed to have that level of discernment.
‘Let’s hurry up.’
Luke quickly cleaned up the surroundings with the tools he had prepared in advance. The bloodstains were removed, the footprints were erased, and a few false trails were left.
As soon as the last task was finished, the villagers immediately rushed to Luke’s cabin.
“Luke! Come out here!”
The village chief’s angry voice came from outside. Luke stuck his head out with a bewildered face.
From noble mtl dot com
“What are you doing at night like this?”
“Has anyone been here before?
“Oh, come to think of it, someone came.”
“okay?”
Life flashed in the village chief’s eyes. My nerves were on edge because I had missed the article.
Luke unraveled the answer he had prepared in advance.
“They just knocked on the cabin door and told me to come out.”
“so?”
“I asked who it was because it was the first time I heard it.
“Keep it!”
Hearing the answer, the village chief distorted his face. Doesn’t that mean you didn’t even see where you went?
“Wait a minute, are you hiding something?”
A few suspicious eyes turned to Luke. If the knight talked about compensation in return for hiding it, wouldn’t it be a story that could be passed over enough?
“If you have any doubts, feel free to search. I won’t stop you.”
“Keuhmm! Then let’s take a quick look.”
Despite his imposing attitude, the villagers did not take their eyes off him suspiciously. However, there was nothing to be afraid of for Luke.
‘Look for it as much as you can. What comes out when you search for something you haven’t even learned about tracking?’
Sure enough, the villagers wandered around without finding any traces.
Even with the basement in front of me, I didn’t know the entrance and went over.
It was the limit of a person who lived his life plowing the fields.
“Chief! Here are the footprints!”
“Where are you! Where did you go!”
“It leads to the forest! I step on the fallen leaves half way and I can’t see it well…”
‘That’s what I left behind.’
I tried to hold back the laughter that almost burst out. It is a trace that an expert will immediately notice, but the villagers in the countryside believed it to be real.
“Luke, can you track these footprints?”
“Yes? Me?”
“So, are you a hunter? Help us.”
“Go into the mountains at midnight? Are you kidding me?”
Luke deliberately refused with a straight face.
“You don’t know how scary the midnight forest is, right? It’s a dark forest that even people who have lived as hunters all their lives never enter. But you want me to go?”
“Is that enough?”
“If all the villagers go in together, I will go too. If we go this far, only three people will end up being bitten by the beast.”
The villagers exchanged glances with frowns. Even so, I didn’t want to take that much risk just to catch the escaped knight.
“What do you think would happen if the knight went into the woods at night?”
“I’m not a knight, but I’ll die even if the knight halves come. Fighting well and surviving in the forest are two different things.”
At those words, the villagers swept their hearts as if they were relieved.
Then there is no need to go and kill him. The wild beasts and monsters will take care of it.
“I think we can go back after this, Chief.”
“That’s what I thought too. Luke? If another suspicious person comes along, let me know.”
“Yes. I’ll tell you right away.”
When the situation was over, the villagers disappeared from the cabin like the ebb tide. Even after that, Luke looked around for a while.
It wasn’t until the crowd completely disappeared that I opened the basement door.
‘I passed out.’
Whether it was from severe stress and fatigue, or from overdosing on sleeping pills, the knight was in a state of unconsciousness.
Luke first wiped off the blood, applied medicine, and then applied a bandage. It was a simple treatment, but considering the knight’s vitality and the shallowness of the wound, this was enough.
[Experience increases due to perfect first aid. ]
[The current first aid level is ‘Expert’. ]
When the treatment was over, a pleasant notification sounded. I didn’t even think of uploading it much before returning, but it was a first aid that came right after treating my body a lot.
It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I’ve been able to survive thanks to this skill quite a few times.
‘It went as planned.’
A satisfied smile formed on Luke’s lips as he closed the cellar door.
The same thing happened before the return. Brick villagers robbed the knight, and the knight ran away and came to Luke.
However, at that time, I was not in a good mood, so I did not think of hiding the article. It took me a long time to get out because I was in the middle of my sleep.
In the end, the knight was caught and dragged away by villagers.
‘Later, I found out he was a Bernstein family knight, but I couldn’t tell him.’
No matter what, I couldn’t help and just watched him get killed. The village would be destroyed, but there was a high possibility that Luke would be held accountable.
Thanks to this, the villagers were able to turn into perfect crimes. However, this life flowed completely differently than before the return.
‘Because he gave me grace by hiding it properly, and showed me that I was fundamentally different from the villagers.’
Instead of being entangled with a trashy village, it is like becoming an aloof crane among a flock of crows.
Even if he denounced the village himself, there would be no problem. All that remains is to roast and boil this article.
‘In the next few days, another Bernstein family knight is coming.’
However, the article that comes at that time is a writer who has been strongly influenced by Helena, the wife of the royal family. Before coming here, he must have been secretly ordered to press the bastard.
If he didn’t want to go into the count’s family while suffering all sorts of bullying like he did before returning, he had to make a side for himself in advance.
Luke took out the expensive candles he had hidden in the corner and began to place them. Since ancient times, isn’t the atmosphere the basis of liking?