The Emperor— the most powerful person had acknowledged her and given her the privilege of being the only one he confided in.
She couldn't even imagine that he would use and discard her.
Sigrid smiled at Beramund.
"Even if His Majesty pushes
into danger like this, I'll walk that path with honor and a smile."
Beramund covered his face with both hands.
'She's not even brainwashed—!'
Or is she?
There was no way to convince her. She was like soone trapped in a cult. He let out a long sigh. Sigrid slowly stood up and said,
"Don't you hear sothing strange?"
"A sound—?"
Beramund perked up his ears. In the distance, he could faintly hear the sound of a watermill grinding, and in between—
"It's the sound of hooves."
Beramund muttered, sticking to the window. Sigrid glanced out the window and then pressed herself against the wall, saying,
"Two knights."
"Can you fight?"
"In this state?"
Both of us are completely battered, aren't we? We just crossed the river, didn't we?
But feeling the rippling aura, Sigrid nodded. Beramund said, "Good," and drew his dagger, muttering,
"I wish Karsus were here."
The wanderer Karsus? As Sigrid pricked up her ears, Beramund continued,
"Let's try not to hurt the horses."
"Understood."
"Then we need to ambush them first..."
Beramund glanced at Sigrid. When Sigrid asked, "What?" Beramund grinned and said,
"Let's tear your clothes a bit."
The two knights surveyed their surroundings.
"Seems like there's no one here?"
"We need to search every house."
"Can't we just burn it all down?"
"Want to get scolded by Lord Mihas?"
"Damn that slippery black devil. Was he really on that boat discovered downstream earlier?"
"Who knows, it could just be a decoy to draw our attention. Or it could be a boat that drifted down from upstream."
"Even so, would they still be dawdling around here?"
"They must be tired, so they couldn't have gone far."
"Are we sure they ca out of the mine?"
"They're still investigating that too."
Grumbling, one of the knights dismounted. Normally, they would bring soldiers to search, but currently, the soldiers were combing through the reeds by the riverbank. They hadn't planned to co up this far, but two of them ca to check on their superior's orders.
Rustle.
At the small sound, the dismounted knight drew his sword.
"Who's there!"
"I-I-It's—"
"A woman...? Show yourself!"
The knight still on horseback gripped his spear. From behind a building, a woman staggered out. She was barefoot, wearing tattered clothes, with her hair in disarray. Clutching her torn shirt, she quickly prostrated herself. Her silver hair fell, revealing pale skin.
"P-Please spare ."
"What? Why were you hiding? Huh?"
"I-I thought you were other soldiers—"
Lying prone, Sigrid felt the other approaching. Feeling the sword tip on her back, she swallowed. But she soon realized it wasn't ant to cut her, but to flip her hair completely over, intending to see the bare skin between her shirt.
"Other soldiers? Have other soldiers been here?"
The mounted knight asked, and Sigrid nodded in response.
"A black-haired man?"
Sigrid swallowed. The knight standing in front of her snickered and said,
"That bastard said he likes won, don't tell
he ca here and had his way with this one?"
"Watch your language, she's right here."
"It's obvious how a woman left alone in a village like this survives."
The knight tapped her cheek with the flat of his blade and said,
"You, lift your head."
Sigrid slowly raised her upper body. Then, quick as lightning, she lunged at the knight and stabbed his neck with her dagger.
"Gak—?!"
The knight's eyes widened in shock.
"You—!"
The mounted knight thrust his spear without hesitation. Sigrid used the dead knight's body as a shield to avoid the spear and rolled on the ground. Then Beramund, who had approached silently, stabbed the mounted knight in the side. Even plate armor was useless against a sword wrapped in aura. He then slashed upwards to remove the sword. The knight spewed blood and fell sideways, and Sigrid quickly grabbed the reins of the rearing horse.
"Shh— Shh—"
'I miss Echo.'
Rembering her precious steed, Sigrid struggled to calm the horse. Beramund removed the knight's corpse that was stuck in the stirrup and grabbed the horse's head.
"What—"
As Sigrid frowned, Beramund rcilessly exuded killing intent towards the horse, and it imdiately beca docile. No, it wasn't just docile; it was visibly trembling.
"Good boy."
Beramund patted the horse's neck.
"That's so violent—"
"How else would you ta these war horses?"
Beramund said as he brought over the other horse.
'He has no problem killing people, but exuding killing intent towards a horse is violent?'
Beramund wondered what Sigrid's standards were as he mounted the horse. He sighed and said,
"And then we ride the horses desperately until we collapse from exhaustion and die as soon as we reach the main force."
"Stop saying useless things."
Sigrid said as she stripped the clothes off the dead knight. Since she hadn't removed the knife stabbed in his neck, blood had only slightly spilled around the neck area. After changing into the tattered clothes and tying up her hair, Sigrid swiftly mounted the horse.
"Can you ride? You won't die from excessive bleeding if your wounds open up, will you?"
"Didn't you just tell
to stop saying useless things?"
Beramund looked down at his leg wound, felt his side, and said,
"Well, it'll hurt, but I don't think I'll die from it opening up. Let's go."
Beramund kicked the horse's side, and the trained war horse imdiately started galloping. They crossed the river and rode straight along the road. After riding for a while, Sigrid asked,
"Are you sure this is the right way? We're going in circles."
"We need to go around to shake them off. We're going to cross the Beril Mountains."
"I don't want to die."
"Utulu has been assigned as the pursuer, so we either cross the mountains or face him."
Having overheard the knights' conversation earlier, Beramund completely revised his plan in his head. Rather than face Utulu in this state, it was better to cross the Beril Mountains.
At those words, Sigrid started riding silently.
Eventually, they abandoned their horses that collapsed from exhaustion and gathered their remaining strength to enter the mountain range. A harsh, rocky mountain where snow accumulated even in midsumr.
Above all, the problem was the magical beasts that kept appearing. Sigrid supported the pale-faced Beramund. Beramund muttered,
"What if I really have to cut off my leg?"
"Then you'll beco a one-legged knight."
"Ha."
Beramund laughed shortly. Extre fatigue was overwhelming him. Sigrid also felt her knees trembling. Even with using aura, the foundation was still her physical strength.
Her body was screaming that it had suffered too much over the past few days.
The mountain night fell instantly, and the two huddled closely under a slightly tilted rock. Beramund poured the last of the dicine into his mouth.
"We should have brought so sweet potatoes."
Sigrid muttered. Beramund chuckled and pulled her shoulder to lean on him, and Sigrid awkwardly rested her head on his shoulder.
"There. I'll catch a rabbit for you tomorrow."
"Shouldn't you be the one sleeping, Captain?"
"It's an order. Sleep first."
At those words, Sigrid obediently closed her eyes. In truth, she was too exhausted even for this banter. As soon as she closed her eyes, Sigrid fell asleep.
Looking at the sleeping Sigrid, Beramund placed his hand on his sword.
Perhaps it would be better to kill this woman here. But he couldn't do that. Beramund poked Sigrid's cheek.
She doesn't even wake up after just falling asleep. That shows how tired she must be.
'I'm this exhausted too.'
It's natural for this woman, smaller than him, to be tired. Beramund sighed.
'In any case, she saved my life.'
Beramund rested his chin on his hand, gazing at the mountain darkness. Slowly, Beramund stretched his legs. The wound he peeked at had healed considerably, appearing pink. He removed the bandage.
'It's in decent shape considering how much I pushed it.'
It hadn't even festered. Beramund spread his hand. His right hand was slowly enveloped in black aura before dissipating like mist in an instant.
'No problems with the aura either. Good.'
Beramund subtly adjusted his position to let Sigrid lean more comfortably. His mind was complicated.
'She's really— really an annoying woman.'
Annoying and pitiful, and then annoying and unfortunate.
'Well, I can barely take care of myself.'
Beramund covered his eyes with the back of his hand, smiling bitterly.
Regretting not being able to die, this was a new chapter of life he had never imagined.
If I survive and return like this, where will they throw
next?
And—
'That court magician...'
Beramund thought of Arkana. Although he was a man who barely showed himself on the surface, he must be doing sothing with the Emperor, given his position as court magician.
They had passed by each other just once.
'That guy is completely insane too.'
His eyes were not those of a normal person. Why are there only such madn in this court? He envied the wandering Karsus at this point.
But he couldn't just abandon everything and leave the palace.
'I'm a knight too, after all.'
There is a lord to serve, a place where he is needed, and people to support.
Beramund brushed aside Sigrid's hair. Her looks aren't bad, so if this silver hair were well-maintained and she wore a proper uniform—
Imagining this, Beramund closed his eyes.
'Let's stop.'
Although they're lending and borrowing shoulders now, they will surely et as enemies.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
'Sothing slls delicious.'
Sigrid's eyes snapped open. Swallowing the saliva pooled in her mouth, she looked around.
"Awake?"
"Lord Lunatil?"
"I said I'd feed you rabbit, didn't I? Though it's not rabbit."
He pointed to the campfire in front of him. Sigrid looked around blankly. It was bright all around, with the sun high in the sky.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Quite a while."
"You should have woken ."
"This will probably be our last rest. It's important to rest when you can. And now you need to eat."
Sigrid ca to the campfire and sat close to him, growling,
"Did you rest? You're not expecting
to carry you across the mountain range, are you?"
"I rested. And what, are you going to carry
if I get tired?"
When he said this with a laugh, Sigrid replied, "That's my duty," and looked at the fire, asking,
"Is it okay to light a fire? Aren't we basically announcing our location?"
"There's hardly any smoke, it's fine. We need to eat to survive."
Saying this, Beramund handed Sigrid a skewer. It was a flat, long piece of at, like a prepared fish. Sigrid took it and asked,
"Is this snake?"
"Yeah. It was just there."
A normal woman might faint, saying, "Snake?!" But Sigrid took a big bite without a word. He was right. They needed to build up their strength by eating.
'So I can carry this man across the mountain range if he collapses.'
Without salt or spices, it couldn't be called tasty, but the two ate the snake without complaint.
Over the course of a week, Beramund and Sigrid fully understood why people called crossing the Beril Mountains insane.
And that was without any equipnt or preparation. If the two hadn't been aura masters, they would have died long ago. As she climbed by digging her fingers into the ice wall, Sigrid said,
"We should have faced Utulu."
"...Seriously."
"Oh, damn."
Sigrid cursed, and Beramund, now too tired even to swear, just drew his sword. He pressed himself against the ice wall and watched the approaching magical beast.
"Kyaak—!"
As the beast approached with a strange cry, Sigrid kicked it with one foot. It was an acrobatic feat, holding onto the ice wall with two hands and one foot. Beramund cut it down from below. The beast fell, bleeding.
"Let's hurry."
At his words that the blood sll would soon attract others, Sigrid gritted her teeth and climbed up. After climbing to the top of the wall like that, and then descending a similarly steep path—if it could be called a path—they finally began to see the end of the Beril Mountains.
When they arrived at the main force, both looked like beggars. No, even beggars wouldn't look this ragged. The soldiers recognized the two thanks to Beramund's odd eyes.
Beramund said, panting,
"Good thing I didn't get rid of one eye."
The operations departnt was thrown into chaos at the news that the two had returned alive. Everyone looked incredulous. No one praised Sigrid, nor did they welco Beramund's return. They just looked shocked until Beramund irritably said, "Bed and food," and only then did they fumblingly provide tents for the two.
A escort carriage to return to the capital was quickly prepared for the two injured people. Even after returning, Sigrid spent several days sick and sleepless.
She would wake up from nightmares between shallow sleeps.
But it was still okay.
'I completed the mission.'
His Majesty would surely be proud of her. Proud. Now he'll entrust difficult missions to
instead of Beramund.
But Emperor Yuri said nothing.
As Sigrid recounted how she had rescued Beramund, he listened with a stony face. Sigrid's proud tone gradually faded, and she finished her story quietly and briefly. Even Sigrid could tell. That he was very displeased.
"Go and rest. I'll give you a month's leave, so don't co to the palace and stay at ho."
Receiving a reward leave that was no different from confinent, Sigrid withdrew from the palace.
"I told you so, didn't I?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)