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358. Lena Ep – Great Warrior, Boris

“Leo. Please… just stay healthy. Oh God, please let my child…”

“Then shouldn’t you have taken better care of him? You…”

“What?! Are you saying I neglected him? You and your soldiers can’t even see the child leave the castle while pretending to protect it?”

What a mess.

It was my first time witnessing Rayna’s mother and father fight, and it was also my first time being so distracted during training.

I put down my sword that I was swinging aimlessly and looked up at the sky.

Dark clouds.

The thick clouds were making the southeastern sky gradually lower.

It was a sign that winter was approaching, as the wind was turning into a cold breeze.

The warm winds from the south had cooled sharply and were gathering, which we called the “Snow Sea.”

The Snow Sea would gather like that for a while, then overflow like a tidal wave when the autumn winds blew with all their might.

…So, heavy snowfall was coming soon. A snowfall that would blanket the north in an instant.

“Ray. Aren’t you worried at all?”

I scolded Ray for no reason. As always, Ray, who was silently training, didn’t even flinch at the mention of his missing brother.

As if he already knew.

‘…Ugh.’

I must be going crazy. I hoped my voice hadn’t reached Ray as I sat on the porch. I didn’t feel like training yesterday or today either.

At that moment, I felt a commotion coming from the house behind me. I rushed in. A knight had entered the living room.

“What did they say? What happened?”

My question was ignored.

Not deliberately ignored; it was because Dad was raising his voice seriously. Dehorman Ainar, my father, was questioning the knight.

“Shouldn’t we send soldiers out to search first? Our tribe’s hunting teams are already out scouring the mountains, and how long are you going to just twiddle your thumbs?”

“The Young Lord is proceeding according to protocol, so please don’t worry too much.”

“No, there’s a child missing, so what’s protocol? Hey, could what you just said be considered as something even the neighbors would agree with?”

“…”

“And why did you even come to our house in the first place? Hurry and tell Noel what this ‘protocol’ or whatever nonsense is.”

Hmm. The knight awkwardly cleared his throat.

“As I said, the Young Lord is proceeding according to protocol. Parents who have lost a child are given leave, and to maintain their peace of mind, we do not inform them until there is some result, good or bad. According to the Young Lord’s instructions… I’m here to convey his words.”

“What?”

“The… please bring someone who closely observed the child apart from the family. Dehorman Ainar, you, your wife, and Lady Leira Ainar, please come with me.”

Oh dear.

Our family went to the Lord’s Castle, following the knight.

Since we were going to meet the Young Lord, normally Mom would fuss over her outfit, but it seemed she had no such luxury now.

All she did was grab a scarf by the entrance and wrap it around my neck. It was as if she empathized with Rayna’s mother.

“Oh dear, what should we do…”

She muttered, fidgeting with my clothes as if she should have done this for Leo.

Eventually, we arrived in front of ‘Daniel Kazak,’ the Young Lord of Abrival Castle and the Kazak Barony.

The young man was buried under a heap of documents in his office.

Seeing him like that, my earlier rage dissipated a bit. He must have his reasons for being buried in work, after all, he was a smart noble.

The first impression I had of the Young Lord was also different from what I expected.

He had a gentle and kind appearance. He dressed neatly in gray and white, almost like I was meeting a clergyman. The Young Lord opened his mouth.

“I apologize for calling you this way, Great Warrior. I have something to ask you. Today, it’s not as a Great Warrior, but as a witness to the incident.”

With that, the Young Lord cut off my father’s impending explosion. He drew a line, indicating I shouldn’t add anything since I was called as a witness.

He sat our family down and started asking trivial questions.

Had the child behaved differently on the day of the incident? What was the relationship like with the parents, and how were his friendships? He also inquired about his interests and his relationship with Elder Boris.

My father answered as he saw fit, and my mother did too. Surprisingly, their answers differed just a little.

“He was not interested in swordsmanship. According to that friend Noel, it seems he had no particular talent for it, so he didn’t teach him.”

“Oh? Is that so? That’s strange… I saw him wielding a sword the other day. It might have been a mistake since it was at midnight, but still.”

“Eh? Leo? Perhaps you mistook Ray…”

“What kind of eyesight do you think I have? How could I confuse those two with such a size difference? But I’m also not certain. I saw it in my sleep.”

“What time was it? I heard the child is only 12. Was there a tendency for the parents to neglect him?”

“No!”

“No!”

Mom and Dad shouted in unison. Young Lord Daniel Kazak seemed to be considering the possibility of the child running away due to family discord.

Mom was vehement in her defense.

“That’s not true. Ibera and Mr. Noel were good parents. Leo is a kind child who is emotionally stable. There’s no way he would run away!”

“…I see. But why was the lady up so late that night?”

“To use the bathroom.”

That personal detail made me flinch. But the Young Lord wore an expression as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and Mom seemed unfazed.

From what I later heard from Dad, he said as you age, you get up to go to the bathroom more often… Anyway, I also received a question.

“Lady Leira Ainar, you often interacted with the child, right? How were his friendships?”

“They were normal. He got along well with other children…”

“He wasn’t ostracized for being a civilized person?”

Whoa.

I was shocked to see how differently Leo was perceived. Also, it was startling to see this issue brought up in connection with discrimination between civilized people and natives.

I was momentarily flustered but quickly retorted, chuckling slightly as it felt absurd.

“No way. Leo’s relationships were good. And while it’s true he was a civilized person, he was a bit different. He was more like a member of our Ainar tribe.”

“Why is that?”

“He was born here. Unlike Ray. As far as I know, Leo participated in almost all events, right?”

Mom and Dad nodded.

Young Lord Daniel wrote that down and pondered for a moment before speaking.

“That child was no different from an Ainar tribe member… Is that so, Great Warrior? What kind of person was Elder Boris?”

‘An old man who’s lost his wits.’

That’s what I thought. I expected my father to give a meager evaluation as well, but surprisingly, Dad responded differently.

“He was a great warrior. He was back in the day.”

“Huh?”

The strange sound that escaped me was ignored. The Young Lord nodded.

“According to the records, he was the previous Great Warrior of the Ainar tribe, awarded a commendation from the Cross Church, and had a history of being exiled from the Aisel Kingdom… I don’t know how credible these claims are, but it seems he has a debt relationship with Duke Tertan of the Conrad Kingdom. They say he sunk one of the duke’s search vessels and got away with just a rock, implying he led quite a turbulent life as a warrior. But here lies the problem, Great Warrior.”

“What is it?”

“The chief said there’s no need to search for the child. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there were testimonies confirming that Elder Boris was with the child.”

“I have heard, but that’s nothing more than an unbelievable rumor. A horse as large as a wagon carried him off. Unless it’s a monster, a horse that big cannot exist. Even its hoofprints have yet to be found.”

Young Lord Daniel Kazak rubbed his chin in contemplation.

After a while, he spoke with a business-like demeanor.

“I’ve interviewed many apart from your family, but everyone unanimously agrees there’s no possibility of the child running away. So, it’s hard to believe, but we might have to assume Elder Boris took the child. Anyway, Elder Boris has also gone missing. But at this point, I’m not authorized to withdraw troops to search for the child.”

“What?”

“What did you say?! How come?”

“You just mentioned that this Leo is an Ainar tribe member. Since a respected elder of the Ainar tribe took that Ainar tribe child, it is not within my jurisdiction. Ah, just a moment. My statement isn’t finished yet…”

I started shouting.

I was throwing colorful insults, not cursing, but my parents joined in, and the office quickly turned into chaos.

Young Lord Daniel slammed his hand on the table to silence us.

“Please listen till the end! It’s not that I can’t help in finding the child. I genuinely cannot take soldiers under the pretext of searching for a child since the Kazak Barony has no jurisdiction over matters arising between members of the Ainar tribe. However! I can lend you soldiers to search for traces of a monster. This is related to the security of Abrival Castle. So shortly, I’ll organize a search party and you can report any findings regarding those massive hoofprints, now you may leave. Please do not speak of this to the chief knight yet.”

And just like that, our family was shooed out of the Lord’s Castle. We didn’t speak on the way out, but now I had something to say.

“What a funny lord. Is he kind or just stubborn?”

“Right? I guess he’s not lacking considering he’s from the Kazak Barony.”

The Kazak Barony had ruled over the Abrival Castle, where our Ainar tribe lived, for generations.

Well, I wasn’t entirely sure, but Dad said they were quite benevolent, often taking care of us.

That said, on our way back, I had to ask Dad one question. Was Elder Boris really such a great warrior?

Dad nodded.

“You wouldn’t know since he’s so old. Back when I was young, he was quite the warrior. Even then, he wasn’t young anymore, but he had visited a place called Ice Island. Well… that was the last time. I don’t know what happened there, but after that, he fell into dementia… since he can’t join the hunt anymore, it seems he’s become a subject of ridicule for the young ones.”

Our tribe does not recognize anyone as a warrior if they don’t participate in the hunt.

No matter whether they were a former Great Warrior or whatever.

Suddenly, I felt happy at the thought that I would soon become a warrior myself. In just a few more months, I would be able to participate in the hunt… I shook my head to dispel my excitement.

‘Am I crazy? Leo is missing, and I’m thinking such things.’

I felt ashamed of my irresponsible thoughts. When I returned home, Mom and Dad weren’t as serious as they were when they left with the knight.

Perhaps it was because the Young Lord said he would gather a search party, but the atmosphere had certainly lightened. Even the neighbor, Leo’s Aunt, and Uncle were no longer fighting.

After a few days, the search ended. We felt relieved that no traces of a monster were found. Uncle Noel started going back to work again.

And when the Snow Sea began to pour down and cover the sky, there was no one left who remembered Leo.

As if there had never been anyone to remember him at all. I was too busy shoveling the falling snow.

Ray only occasionally looked toward the southwest… Oh, right.

I will soon become an adult. Yahoo!