Chapter 287

“I am Florence, a healing priestess serving Lady Shaulite. It’s an honor to meet you, Medean and Lady Leonor.”

Lacey introduced the priestess, Florence, who appeared to be around thirty years old. She had neatly braided brown hair and slightly upturned eyes that gave her a strong, dignified face. She looked more like a paladin than a priestess. In fact, the mace hanging at her waist had what looked like faint bloodstains on it.

It seemed she had already been briefed by Lacey about their destination, as she had brought along a travel bag and thick winter clothing.

“Take care of me,” she said simply.

After a brief exchange of greetings, we boarded the carriage Leonor had prepared.

The interior of the carriage was cozy yet luxurious. The cushions on the seats were as soft and plush as a bed, and the windows were adorned with velvet curtains embroidered with rose patterns.

Leonor had taken care of everything, from arranging the carriage to preparing the travel supplies, in a very straightforward manner. She had delegated all the tasks to some of the Rose Cross Knight Order members who had remained in the capital instead of joining the Pale Moon Grand Duchy’s forces. It was like subcontracting the subcontracting.

These were loyal members who would make Leonor proud. Even though they were no longer obligated to follow her orders, they not only accepted her requests without hesitation but even volunteered to be coachmen.

Though the way they looked at me with sparkling eyes was a bit overwhelming.

“So, should we head straight for the north now?” I asked.

“No. We’ll make one more stop first,” Leonor replied.

Since Lacey, whom I had trusted, and Asha, who I thought would be helpful, couldn’t join us for their own reasons, there was only one person left to recruit.

—

“The north? Why there all of a sudden?”

Ophelia, whom I met after separating from the others, asked me as if she had no idea what was going on. Had this woman completely shut herself off from the outside world?

No wonder there were so many unfamiliar objects around. It seemed she had been holed up in her lab for the past few days. She really should get out more. She probably didn’t even know that the witch accusations against her had been cleared.

I had no choice but to explain the current situation from the beginning.

“…So, you’re saying we’re going to fight the Beastmen King this time?”

“Well, something like that. Why, is there a problem?”

Ophelia sighed, leaned back deeply in her chair, and lit a magic herb. The smoke she exhaled rose to the ceiling and dispersed.

“It’s not so much a problem… but more like I don’t see the necessity. I’m not particularly close to the Pale Moon, and I have no grudge against the Beastmen. It’s the kind of thing the Empire can handle on its own, so I’m a bit reluctant to stick my head into such dangerous matters…”

Oh.

Come to think of it, she was right.

In the original story, Isabella was captured in the latter half, so Ophelia had a reason to stick around until then. But now, Ophelia had no reason to follow me!

She had already achieved her revenge, obtained Claire, whom she had longed for, and her magic research was progressing smoothly… She’d probably prefer to stay in this lab.

Moreover, unlike in the original story, she had no connection to Damien, so asking her to go save him wouldn’t work.

“I’m grateful to you for helping me achieve everything I wanted. But that doesn’t mean I have to risk my life to repay the favor. I’d be happy to help with anything that’s not dangerous, but asking me to go to the battlefield with you is a bit too much.”

She did feel some goodwill and gratitude toward me, but not enough to follow me into the fire.

This is troublesome…

If I threatened to report Claire’s survival or the soul reversal magic to the Church Order, I could probably force her to come, but that would ruin our relationship.

—

In the end, I couldn’t persuade Ophelia.

This woman, who had already gained everything, no longer desired anything.

To get Ophelia to move in the future… I’d need to bring her information she’d find interesting or an order she couldn’t refuse—like, say, an imperial decree.

I guess you could say the result was more disappointing than I expected.

She did apologize and gave me a bunch of supplies, but ultimately, she refused my request to join us.

It wasn’t exactly ungrateful, but… well, she’s a magician. Her pragmatic side was stronger than I thought.

—

Leonor, who had been waiting outside, shook her head as if she had expected this when she saw me return alone.

“You said you’d bring a magician, but all you came back with was a bunch of luggage. I guess the persuasion failed?”

“Yeah. She said she’d repay the favor but didn’t want to risk her life. It’s a reasonable decision, but… not exactly the answer I wanted.”

“That’s just how magicians are.”

Her tone suggested she hadn’t expected much from the start.

…Well, I had some expectations.

Last time, things went well. We smoked together, talked about how to punish Isabella, and I thought we had become somewhat close.

[Trusting a sorcerer? How foolish.]

…Don’t laugh. It’s annoying.

After boarding the carriage, we finally headed north for real. As I scattered and examined the various items Ophelia had given us in the carriage.

“She did pack quite a bit, though. Healing potions, painkillers, sedatives, stimulants… There are even scrolls and—wow, enchanted weapons? These aren’t cheap.”

“…Stimulants?”

Like aphrodisiacs?

Why would those be in here?

“They’re probably for the horses. They’ll keep running without getting tired while the effect lasts.”

Oh. That kind of stimulant… I thought it was something else.

Anyway, the potions seemed quite useful. If we kept feeding them to the horses whenever the effect wore off, we could probably arrive much faster.

Most of the scrolls were for auxiliary purposes rather than combat. Things like maintaining a warm indoor temperature for a while or detecting approaching presences and sounding an alarm.

High-level magicians really do make…

Even if it’s a scroll, the activation itself depends on the magical aptitude of the person using it, so embedding an attack spell doesn’t really mean much.

And it’s even disposable. It’s like throwing gold coins into a river just to shoot one flaming arrow.

I handed the enchanted longsword to Leonor.

There was a spell on it that made flames rise along the blade, but I couldn’t use it because I had no magical aptitude.

Leonor also didn’t have much talent for magic, so while she could manage to light a fire for a short while if she pushed herself, her limit in a prolonged battle would be heating the blade. Still, that’s something, right?

—

The journey north was as peaceful as it gets.

At least, for us riding in the carriage.

For the horses, though, it probably wasn’t so peaceful.

“Neigh…”

One horse, foaming at the mouth, collapsed as soon as we arrived in the city.

The other one standing beside it was also bleeding from the mouth and didn’t look like it would last much longer.

Guess we’ll have to replace them again. This makes it the eighth horse.

The potion’s effects were still lingering, but no matter how effective the stimulant is, it can’t make a dead horse move.

The knight driving the carriage skillfully removed the harness and handed over the dead horse and the one on the verge of death to the guards.

Soon after, the guards brought her two new horses.

There was no need to pay.

There wasn’t a lord in the Empire who didn’t know about me by now, and no one was foolish enough to refuse cooperation when I was heading north to provide support.

So, we were racing at top speed, sparing no expense on recovery potions and stimulants for the horses.

We made sure to keep at least one horse alive until we reached the city, since losing all the horses in the middle of the road would be problematic.

“I heard the Ka`har tribe treats their horses like brothers, but seeing you, I guess that was wrong information. Brothers? They wouldn’t even treat slaves this harshly.”

Leonor chuckled as she looked at me, lying down and recovering in the carriage.

Was it a bit too much…? Five horses turned into horse meat in just three days. We even replaced three horses that were half-dead.

[ …I’m so embarrassed I can’t even lift my head. ]

‘What’s the big deal? We managed to cut a journey that would’ve taken over a week down to four days, didn’t we?’

Yeah. Before we knew it, we were just a day away from Faelun Castle.

The knight and Leonor took turns sleeping and driving the carriage, and we survived on preserved rations and horse meat.

The air had turned cold since yesterday, as if to prove we’d reached the north.

While the capital was still in late summer, it felt like winter had already arrived here.

I was wrapped in a fur cloak Asha had given me, and the rest of the party was also bundled up in thick fur coats.

“Even after we arrive, you’ll need to rest for two days. You’re not fully recovered yet.”

Florence looked at me with a stern expression and reminded me.

Her healing skills were no joke, and my condition had improved rapidly, but as she said, I still wasn’t in any shape to fight satisfactorily.

“Yeah, we can afford that. The beastmen have retreated for now, after all.”

From what we’d heard on the way here, Ryurik’s beastman army had captured the northern wall and then, for some reason, retreated back toward the Sky Mountains.

Whether that’s fortunate or unfortunate is hard to say.

It’s a huge relief that Faelun Castle wasn’t captured, but the northern wall being reduced to rubble isn’t exactly good news.

“They might just retreat completely… If that happens, you’ve made this trip for nothing.”

“Hmm… I don’t think so. If they were planning to retreat entirely, they wouldn’t have bothered destroying the northern wall.”

If they had retreated back to the beastmen’s territory, by the time they returned, a solid wall would already be in place.

Rebuilding a wall like the northern one wouldn’t be easy, but constructing a basic wall wouldn’t take too long.

The fact that they destroyed the northern wall instead of attacking Faelun Castle shows they don’t plan to retreat easily.

If they started building a wall, they’d come back to disrupt it, and if the size of the reinforcements was smaller than expected… they’d probably go for an all-out war.

It took a while to secure the new horses to the harness.

Maybe it was because the blood of the eight sacrificed horses had soaked into everything, but the horses resisted fiercely, as if they were being led to the gallows.

They calmed down after I released a bit of killing intent, though.

No need to act up.

I wasn’t even planning to give these ones stimulants.

We ran out of potions anyway, so we couldn’t even if we wanted to.

—

And so, we continued toward Faelun Castle.

It was a bit slower than before, but since we were close to our destination, it wasn’t a big deal.

Before we knew it, snow was falling from the sky.

Heavy snow at the end of August. This is why I didn’t want to come to the north…

But I had to come eventually.

Someday, I’d have to go beyond the Sky Mountains.