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286. Engagement Ep – Obituary

“It must have been Dad.”

On the way back, Lera said this. It seemed she had made up her mind that the person who looked at her from the mysterious temple under the Antalop Gorge was Dehorman.

“It definitely had to be Dad. He must have gifted me the sword.”

Fiddling with the sword she had picked up, Laye could only nod in agreement.

It didn’t matter who had actually been watching us. If Lera found comfort in it, that was enough.

Lera looked much brighter compared to when we left, and the two strolled side by side, exchanging the small talk that had been bottled up. On the way back to the camp, they even held hands for a brief moment. But just as they were nearing the camp, someone leaped out and interrupted their peaceful moment.

“We found you!”

“You guys! You said you were just going for a stroll, where have you been wandering around?”

It was a knight holding a torch. Captured by him, they found the camp already dismantled, and the knights were all ready to depart.

“Sorry. What’s going on?”

Ray Dexter arrogantly asked the Knight Commander. Arpen narrowed his eyes disapprovingly as he spoke.

“We got a reply from the church.”

“From the church? Oh, so Count Jacob Modred sent a reply. What does it say? Are they going to open the gate?”

It just arrived today, and what a strange situation at night. I thought they couldn’t open the gate until now and we needed to hurry through, but Arpen shook his head.

“I couldn’t even contact him. Jacob is being accused of treason. And since he didn’t deny it and went on the run, Manubiul is in an uproar. Seems like strange movements are happening with the prince and the knights over there. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“This… Halpas made the first move. The prince is catching on.”

“Seems so. Anyway, this has made crossing the gate difficult. We’ll depart immediately, so pack your things.”

“What are you planning to do?”

Arpen glanced back at the lined-up knights, and Laye thought he had lost his mind.

“What do you mean, what am I planning? We need to break through.”

*

The army’s manual for responding to an attack on the gate goes like this:

During the day, a beacon will flare, and at night, a signal flare will be shot. Through the priest stationed at the gate, communication that the gate has been attacked is relayed to the border lord defending that territory, and depending on the seriousness of the situation, armies are summoned.

Also, not far from the gate, there’s usually a trade city, and in cities close to the border, it’s common for contracted sorcerers to be stationed for defense.

So what this means is if the knights attack the gate thinking they’ll get through, they’ll be met with a military that includes sorcerers. The effectiveness of the knights depends on how capable the border lord is.

Therefore, Laye expressed his concerns.

If there are two Swordmasters and the elite First Knight Order of the Austin Kingdom is serious about it, they might manage to fend off the troops dispatched by the border lord, but then there’s the follow-up, and they’d face significant losses.

Laye advised that they must conserve their strength to face Halpas. However, Arpen replied,

“What are you saying?”

“…I must have misunderstood.”

As if it were natural, he chose a different path, taking a long detour to sneak through the border, aided by the Austin Kingdom’s border defense, guiding them along the least guarded route. In the end, the knights bribed the corrupt ranger chief of the Aster Kingdom to cross the border.

…Seriously, if that was the case, why bother pretending to be cool? He looks around at the knights as if daring them to penetrate the defenses, assuming no one would misunderstand.

Arpen was smarter than he looked.

While he wasn’t really a strategist, he knew how to use his head despite his gruff exterior.

He managed to fool himself for a moment… Well, whatever, because he solved the problem well, Laye began to view him differently.

No, he tried to view him differently, but…

“Hahaha! Did you really think I was going to attack the gate? You have to use your head, you know! Ever since my youth…”

He undermined his own reputation with excessive arrogance. Laye thought he truly was uncouth for a noble.

After crossing the border, Lera, Laye, Arpen, and his knights hurried along the path.

Having circled around the gate delayed them quite a bit. But from here, they were in a foreign land and couldn’t seek help from relay stations, so they had to march slowly, matching the horse’s stamina. No horse in the world could run endlessly…

– Hiiing!

…except for the Kus summoned by Laye, which was as good as new by the morning. Thanks to that, Lera was able to keep pace with the knights, even with her poor horseback skills.

After over a month of marching since departing from Barnau, they had finally arrived near Manubiul, the capital of the Aster Kingdom.

It had been a long journey, but by managing the horses’ conditions and conserving their own stamina, the knights’ condition was not bad. However, mentally they were exhausted, so Arpen decided to stop the knights at a warm-hot spring.

“We’ll rest here for the day. Wash the horses and stretch your bodies.”

Hooray! Cheers erupted.

Without hesitation, the knights threw off their armor and dove into the hot spring. However, a small issue arose.

“Ah—get out of here.”

“Dammit. Acting all high and mighty because you’re a woman…”

“Do you want to die? Get lost while I’m still being nice. Before I draw my sword.”

The gender ratio among the knights was a problem. There were many women among the knights.

The talent of a body that can receive mana doesn’t discriminate by gender. According to research done by sorcerers, the rate at which mana accumulates in the body shows no difference between men and women.

That’s on average. Depending on talent, the speed varies greatly, and it was common for women to be stronger than men, which directly influenced the gender ratio in the knight order.

However, that ratio stood around 7:3, with men being the majority. It was different from the ratio of sorcerers, who were born with the extremely rare talent of mana sensitivity, where the distribution was 5:5; the conclusion from sorcerers was this:

– “A larger-bodied man naturally has the advantage. Mana accumulates evenly and without bias in the body.”

And then it varies in density according to talent.

Knight of the kingdom are individuals who are blessed with talents regardless of gender. Of course, simply being physically superior doesn’t ensure success as a knight; you must also have talent in swordsmanship, so there’s variability in that, but once you reach the level of a kingdom knight, it should be similar.

So if their swordsmanship skills were similar, it was inevitable that female knights would outperform in physical talent. They compensated for the size advantage with density, which became more pronounced as you went up the ranks.

At the very top, positions like that of the Knight Commander were inevitably held by larger men (plus, knight commanders are mostly of noble birth. Noble ladies have a hard time getting opportunities to learn to wield a sword), but outstanding female knights like Katrina often occupied high-ranking positions.

Thus, while the numbers were swayed, the generally lesser-performing male knights were booted out of the hot spring ranks. With the situation like this, Laye decided he would just wash later and sent Lera in first.

“What a bunch of tough guys. Do you really need to throw punches for them to listen? That little brat over there…”

“Wow, did you see that? Did you see mine?”

“As if I could miss it? I’ve been living the knight’s life for a day or two. Don’t worry. Compared to our husband, it’s nothing worth mentioning. If you can’t even handle that, be sure to keep it safe.”

Laughter erupted, and only women remained in the hot spring. There were no barriers of any kind, but since they were all comrades in the knight order, the female knights weren’t worried about being peeked at as they casually stripped off their clothes. Lera shyly joined in.

“Anyway, my husband bought some land near the capital, you know? He’s a merchant, right? Just after we saved up money together, he says he wants to quit business and farm.”

“Really? Does your husband even know how to farm? Farming is tough, you know.”

“I know right? He’s such a scrawny guy, what does he know about farming? I was left speechless. Honestly, I wasn’t too pleased about the land purchase either. It was obvious I’d be the one tilling the soil and weeding… Looks like retirement will be tough for me.”

“Oh? But isn’t that land big?”

“Only that land is big. Hey, men have strength in their backs. I didn’t realize it when I was young, but the older you get, it’s not much help. Ugh—I should have married that guy who was sweet on me back then.”

“Who? Oh, that squire. No way, sis, you married well. I disliked him. He was the type to just show off his looks and make people suffer.”

“Right. Wasn’t he your type back then? Maybe… but did I marry well?”

“You did! If you look long-term, men have to be diligent. Honestly, they all seem the same, but they shouldn’t make their wives and kids suffer. So, is your husband still in business?”

“Yeah. I said I absolutely wouldn’t take up farming. Who was it? The son of the merchant who used to work under us is starting a trading company, so he should be here by the time we return.”

Dunking themselves in the warm hot spring, the knights shared casual conversations. Lera was just awkwardly washing herself and about to leave when someone approached her.

“Your name is… Lera, right? Why are you all alone? Why don’t you join us in conversation?”

“Oh… I’m not a knight, and… I don’t know anyone here.”

“Is that why you’ve been so quiet? Come here. Let’s have some fun together.”

She was a warm-hearted person.

With everyone in the hot spring, it felt a bit off for Lera to be leaving alone. She found herself in the crowd of knights, gradually opening up in conversation. Being the youngest, she soon found herself being referred to as the ‘youngest.’

Various discussions unfolded.

They talked about Malpas, whom they fought in Barnau, and mentioned the names of fallen comrades. The mood darkened as they sighed “Sigh,” shifting the topic.

To change the subject, they hadn’t asked anything about the rookie yet. “Oh right! How did the youngest end up here? I haven’t asked this yet.” As the question was thrown, everyone’s gaze turned toward Lera, making her a bit shy as she covered her body with her arms.

“I have a grudge against Malpas. That… Ray said he knows where Malpas fled.”

“Ah, you mean the person the commander brought? That person’s swordsmanship was incredible… But you two aren’t usually sparring with the commander? I thought I saw the commander also practicing with you.”

Another knight asked. Lera thought, am I a disciple of that guy? After a moment’s thought, she replied,

“I’m just getting a bit of guidance. I’m not a disciple. I haven’t even known him for that long.”

“Wow, your talent must be outstanding. I’ve never seen the commander teach anyone before. You’re a native, right? Maybe that’s why. Oh, sorry if that sounded strange. He has a tendency to avoid taking on disciples.”

Lera curiously asked.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. If you ask him to teach you, he gets really angry.”

“Ah, so you had asked him to teach you too. I did that before, and he shot me such a glare that I ran away in fright.”

“Hahaha! I did that too. Arpen, the commander can be a bit scary. He gets mad a lot.”

“Hmm? Does Arpen get mad a lot?”

“Uncle?”

“Uncle?”

The knights’ eyes were again fixed on her. Lera thought, did I say something wrong? Well, calling the commander ‘uncle’ might be a bit rude, so she made excuses.

“I decided to call him that. He said it was fine… I guess it was because I’m not a knight.”

“Haha! The youngest really is a native. It’s not meant in a bad way. But the commander is a noble, so we can’t address him like that.”

“Right. And honestly, even if he wasn’t a noble, I wouldn’t have the courage to call him ‘uncle.’ It’s too scary.”

But it felt like the point was off.

Lera found it hard to understand why Arpen was considered scary. Perhaps it was just because he was an upper rank, she thought, and kept her opinions to herself as the topic quickly moved on.

“Hey!! How long are you guys gonna keep using that!!”

“I told you! He’d be the first to throw a fit.”

“Giggle giggle. That’s so true. But hey, sis, when did you see that guy’s thing?”

“I didn’t see it. But it’s pretty obvious.”

The women burst into laughter and exited the hot spring. Wiping the moisture away and putting on their damp clothes from the long journey, they passed by the irritated knights, giggling.

“What, what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Though she didn’t know who it was, Lera chuckled along with the older girls. She handed Ray a sponge-like tool for washing.

“Take care.”

“…Yeah.”

Ray briefly gazed at her face. She looked much brighter, which eased his heart.

When the men finished enjoying the warm hot spring, it was time for a meal.

“At least they have some conscience.”

According to one knight, the female knights had gone to the nearby village to gather food, and they were finally able to enjoy a leisurely meal after a long time.

And during the ensuing free time, they each relaxed in their own fashion. Lera went out for a walk with Ray.

“It’s nice.”

“Yeah.”

Lera gently squeezed Ray’s hand. While caressing his rough palm with calluses, perhaps due to the lingering warmth of the hot spring or the earlier amusing conversation about the men’s “things,” Lera kissed Ray.

“…You really seem happy.”

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“Of course not.”

“Then… Shall we do it a little more?”

Lera pulled him closer. Suddenly,

‘Now that we can do whatever we want… There won’t be a dad to say anything.’

She thought. I still have my mom, but Ray is an orphan. No relatives.

Lera brushed Ray’s hair, and Ray looked back at her with intense eyes. Fortunately, Ray’s wasn’t small at all. Rather, it was a bit…

“Uh, Ray?”

“…This is bad.”

Moments later, red-faced all over, Lera scrambled to fix her messy hair and chased after the swiftly running Ray.

“Why is he acting like that all of a sudden?”—she thought dazedly, but she rushed to Arpen and said urgently,

“We need to leave immediately.”

“Hm? Why? There’s no need to hurry. We’re almost there, and we should rest for a day…”

The {Tracking Skill} he had been maintaining was just interrupted. Ray shook his head and whispered.

“Count Jacob Modred has died.”