Chapter 764 - Side Story 37: Torch in the Bitter Cold (3)
Vatali and Varenchina, despite being siblings, the two who shared similar hair color and appearance were celebrities in the Kingdom of Yuta.
In the early days of the civil war, when everyone pointed fingers at Ekaterina calling her a foolish princess soaked in luxury and pleasure, these were the knights of loyalty who remained by her side.
That alone was enough to define these siblings.
Their skills were also at the level of upper-rank knights, counted among the best in the kingdom.
And now, the two had even reached the realm of Master.
Despite being siblings, their androgynous appearance that made them mistakable for twins, their blind loyalty toward Ekaterina, and their excellent skills as knights—
All of it combined made the two so famous that there was no one in the Kingdom of Yuta who didn't know them.
However, the two didn't dwell on such things.
What they desired was only the wellbeing and peace of their liege, Ekaterina, whom they served.
They were extre queen devotees, so to speak.
Like thread following a needle.
Wherever Ekaterina went, the two siblings always followed.
Even in situations where both couldn't follow, at least one of the siblings would definitely accompany as an escort.
In fact, during the Night of Mystery, Varenchina had accompanied her.
So encountering them in a place like this could be said to be inevitable rather than coincidental.
"To point your sword at soone you're eting after a long ti without warning. Your habit of rushing in recklessly without thinking when it involves Ekaterina remains unchanged even after all this ti."
Rudger was calm even facing a sword that might behead him at any mont.
It was partly because he believed the opponent wouldn't swing the sword.
But even if they did swing it, he was confident he could respond.
"You are?"
The eyes of Vatali, the older brother among the siblings, widened.
Looking so much like his sister that his features were refined for a man, he could guess the identity from Rudger's voice and words.
"Don't tell , Machiavelli?"
"That's right. That was the na back then. I miss it."
"Are you, Teacher Rudger?"
The younger sister Varenchina also recognized Rudger.
She was only looking at his back, so it took her longer to recognize him.
"You two! Calm down!"
Belatedly, Ekaterina grasped the situation and stopped the knights.
The two siblings imdiately sheathed their swords.
"I, I apologize. I mistook you for an enemy about to attack Her Majesty."
"How many tis have I told you to confirm your opponent before responding!"
"But Your Majesty. For a man to approach soone as magnificent as Your Majesty, that can only be explained as having dangerous intentions."
"Could you please not make it sound like only bad n are drawn to ?!"
Ekaterina let out a sigh of exasperation before turning to Rudger.
"You say sothing too."
"Hmm. I understand Vatali. If it were , I'd be wary first if I encountered soone in a place like this."
"You understand well. Her Majesty is certainly soone who deserves such treatnt."
At Vatali's even shaless words, Rudger couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
This guy had maintained the exact sa attitude from the civil war until now without changing even once.
At this point, rather than refuting, he could only acknowledge it.
"More than that, it's good to see you again. These are faces I've missed."
"Yes. Indeed. Though at that ti, we didn't know you were our old comrade-in-arms."
Varenchina recalled when she t Rudger during The Night of Mystery.
She had co there with Ekaterina to make connections with mages.
However, an incident occurred where the ley lines went berserk due to Leslie, the First Order of the Black Dawn Society, and they were unintentionally caught up in it.
"Now that I think about it, we received help from you twice."
"Ah! Now that you ntion it, I had forgotten about that incident!"
Ekaterina exclaid with a startled face.
Rudger stared at Ekaterina in disbelief.
Did it make sense to forget what happened during the Night of Mystery, of all things?
Feeling Rudger's reproachful gaze, Ekaterina hurriedly made excuses.
"Running state affairs makes your head very complicated. Moreover, at that ti it wasn't just anything, but the holy war made things even more hectic."
What happened at the Night of Mystery was very serious, but it didn't escalate to the worst situation.
Although casualties weren't few, a massacre-level event didn't occur.
They succeeded in stopping the most feared ley line rampage.
But what about the incidents that occurred all over the continent afterward?
The fight reminiscent of war that occurred in Isla Machina.
The sleeping sickness incident that put the people of Theon and Leathervelk to sleep.
And then the Demon King's return and the holy war.
Due to the Demon King's return at that ti, it was a very famous story that the enormous forces scraped together by the Lunsis Church vanished all at once.
No less than two Colour Mages participated, and it was a force that included famous rcenary groups and all kinds of skilled individuals.
Additionally, with a Cardinal and the holy nation's troops under their command, that force alone was enough to topple a country.
But they were defeated, and by just one person at that.
How fierce the battle was—the place where the fight occurred was originally the land of death, but now the range had expanded so much more that the map needed to be redrawn.
A legend descended upon the present world, truly.
People unanimously called the incident of that day this: The Demon King's Return.
And the Demon King, captured and transported to the holy nation, led his limbs and demons to start a holy war.
Major incidents that struck the entire continent occurred in such succession.
It was inevitable that the mories of what happened during the Night of Mystery faded in recollection.
"Hmm. Hearing it like that, it does seem so."
"Is that sothing you can say so carefree when you're connected to all those incidents?!"
The reactions of the siblings Vatali and Varenchina listening to Rudger and Ekaterina's conversation were surprisingly calm.
The two had already heard the truth of that day from Ekaterina.
Varenchina asked.
"More than that, I didn't expect to encounter you in a place like this. What business brought you to the Kingdom of Yuta?"
"You must have heard the news that I returned."
Varenchina nodded.
The news that the Demon King had returned and was soon executed was information that the leadership of each nation couldn't not know.
"But well, as you can see, what was executed was a fake, and I survived like this. Of course, not as the Demon King, but as Rudger Chelici, forr teacher of Theon."
"So that's why you ca? Because you regained your freedom?"
"People I t in the past ca to mind. So I was in the middle of visiting and eting them one by one. That's also why I stopped by the Kingdom of Yuta."
Rudger looked back at the forest path he had walked.
"When I happened to co here, it was a day to commorate the dead. So I beca curious about what happened to the comrade-in-arms who was with that day."
Indeed, did he rest as a proper hero?
Rudger wanted to confirm that.
"That's how I ca to this forest and happened to encounter this one."
Rudger pressed down on Ekaterina's head with his palm.
Ekaterina made an "Ack!" sound, but he lightly ignored it.
It was a small rebuke for coming alone to such a dangerous place when she was no longer a princess but a queen.
That's why even the two siblings, who would die for Ekaterina, didn't point out Rudger's behavior.
Except for Vatali's eyes sharpening slightly.
"Still, I was quite satisfied."
As if to show it wasn't just words, Rudger smiled so clearly that anyone could see it.
Seeing that, Ekaterina, who was about to protest about why he was pressing her head, just stared at Rudger with a blank face.
With a gaze that seed to say, so you could make an expression like that too.
"Because you're treating them properly."
Rudger recalled the small grave Ekaterina had made.
It was so crude that unless one recognized it as a grave, it would only look like a pile of stones.
Ekaterina was royalty.
Until the civil war broke out, she had never gotten a speck of dust on her hands.
Naturally, she had never made anyone's grave.
Especially with such delicate hands that hadn't even properly held a sword.
That's why the process of making the grave was unskilled.
The grave that was made was unsightly.
But to Rudger, it wasn't so.
It was a grave that Ekaterina made through her own efforts for soone who fought for her.
For a hunter whose na wasn't even properly known, the queen of a nation had stepped forward herself.
How could that be seen as trivial?
At least to Rudger, that stone grave looked far larger and more brilliant than a royal tomb where an emperor was said to be buried.
"More than that, to think we'd et again like this. I was wondering how to visit, but life is truly unpredictable."
At Rudger's words of gladness, the siblings Vatali and Varenchina also smiled.
As Rudger said, they hadn't expected to reunite like this either.
"It's regrettable. If you had inford us in advance, we would have made thorough preparations."
Ekaterina also muttered in a disappointed tone, as if she hadn't wanted such a eting.
She had wanted to greet him with at least full preparations.
"Don't worry about it. eting itself is what's important, not how we et."
"I wanted to give you state guest-level treatnt. Otherwise, I can't maintain my dignity as queen."
"Rather, that would be more burdenso to . Just doing it normally is enough."
Rudger's words were sincere.
Rather than a seat at a banquet hall with many people, encountering like this in a forest without watching eyes was far more pleasant for him.
"Well, isn't this fine enough?"
It was then that Vatali, who had been listening quietly, offered his opinion.
"It rather brings back old mories."
The ti when they had to gather volunteer soldiers because there were few people.
He was referring to that difficult period when they had no choice but to move desperately with small numbers.
At that ti, they truly didn't know what would happen to their future and felt lost, but looking back after it all ended, everything was a mory.
mories didn't remain only from good things.
They were certainly difficult and arduous tis, but because they overca those adversities by joining forces together, they could call them mories.
"Shall we recall the mories of that ti after so long?"
When Rudger lightly gestured with his hand, branches buried in the snow floated up leisurely.
The branches stacked neatly in one place following Rudger's gesture.
When he lightly sparked a fla, the stacked firewood blazed up in an instant.
Though they were branches wet with snow, it didn't matter. Rudger's mana easily evaporated all the moisture that had seeped between the branches.
Having made a campfire like that, Rudger lightly stamped his foot.
The ground trembled finely, and chairs for four people rose up, surrounding the campfire.
Watching that, Ekaterina and the two subordinates couldn't help but be amazed.
From the perspective of rembering him from his rcenary days, it was surprising that he was a mage, but they were amazed again that his skills were very excellent.
The reactions of Ekaterina and Varenchina, who knew Rudger was a magic teacher, weren't much different either.
The magic Rudger showed at the Night of Mystery that day was certainly remarkable.
But what he was showing now, how should they put it, was sothing different.
Why did creating sothing with magic while reminiscing about the past like this feel far more impressive than the flashy magic displayed in the battle at that ti?
"Let's talk about how you've been."
Seeing Rudger sit lightly in his seat, the three people naturally sat in their respective chairs.
It was certainly an unintended eting.
Even now as they faced each other, they were still dazed as if wondering whether this was a dream.
But even with casual small talk, that awkwardness lted away like snow.
Soon it didn't take long for them to converse while reminiscing about the past.
Yes. Surely it was like this that day too.
When those who ultimately moved forward despite worrying about the future made their resolve, snow poured from the sky.
And now it was the sa.
Even now when they had achieved much and reunited, snow was falling from the sky.
The snow that fell that day and the snow falling now didn't seem much different.
The snow was still cold and heartless.
But there was a difference between then and now.
If then they hoped for a hope they didn't have, now they could speak of the hope they possessed.
Yes.
Like the torch Ekaterina once raised to lead the Kingdom of Yuta that had fallen into chaos.
That heat was still burning at this place.
Ekaterina and the siblings Vatali and Varenchina departed.
Although they said they rested from state affairs for this one day of morial Day, the reason was that they still couldn't be away for too long.
Before long the snowfall stopped too, and the sky began to darken.
Ekaterina told Rudger to sleep over, but Rudger rather declined that offer.
The reason was that he had more people to et separately.
Ekaterina was regretful, but still didn't force him because even if they parted like this now, she had faith that they would et again later.
-Then, see you next ti.
-Yes. Let's et next ti.
The eting was sudden, and the parting was plain but it didn't matter because they had fully enjoyed the process of reunion.
Rudger put new firewood into the gradually subsiding campfire and said.
"I've kept you waiting long."
"Hehe. To show such consideration for this old man."
When was it?
Like a person who had existed there from the beginning, an old man holding a staff appeared before Rudger.
"No need to say so much. Rather, I should be grateful just for being given this opportunity."
"Is that so?"
Rudger looked at the old man standing before him, an old man with a long beard reminiscent of a sage from old tales and an impressive benevolent smile.
"May I sit?"
"Yes. That's why I left the seat."
The old man naturally sat in the chair opposite Rudger.
Making a groaning sound as he sat was a bonus.
"Oh my. Perhaps because I've aged, even walking is difficult now."
"By the way, what business brings Lord Clinton, who should be in the Empire, to the Kingdom of Yuta?"
At Rudger's question, Clinton's smile deepened.
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