Chapter 61.2
Chapter 61.2
The knights, after gathering the demons’ remains, hung the corpses around. This was an act to lure the ones that had flown away on purpose because they had confirmed that these men had camaraderie.
The rookie knight, still thinking about the battle from earlier, stared into the night sky with his face twisted like he had manure smeared on his face. Then, he heard a rustling noise and felt a presence behind him.
He, along with the other knights who had built the bonfires, branded their swords and scanned where the noise had come from. Soon, however, they sighed and lowered their swords. The approaching sound was obviously a human, a civilian. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been this chaotic.
Soon after, several more people appeared from the forest roads. Standing in front of the knights, Cedric sighed as soon as he saw the emerging figures. The ones who had found their campsite were the chief and the residents of the surrounding village.
“My, oh my! Fellas.”
The village chief ran with a welcoming face as soon as he saw them. Looking behind him, there were young men sloppily holding swords and women dressed in colorful clothes that did not match the mood of the night forest.
He could tell just by looking at them. It was common for heads of neighboring villages or cities to bring their children with them when they went out to hunt the evil demons. Anyway, their visit was late today as this was a forest.
Let’s see. That one over there who can’t even hold a sword properly would be his son and the lady dressed colorfully must be his daughter, right? Cedric thought. He was sure that the village chief would beg him to enlist his son in the knight guild and would want his daughter to comfort Kalion. Wait, why haven’t I let him know the rules of our guild?
If someone gets in a relationship with a person at the mission site, they will be kicked out, and if the relationship turns out to have been made by coercion, they will be executed.
Of course, if the relationship was really meant to be, there was no problem in inviting the significant other to the capital and officially reporting the relationship to the knights. However, many people had such vain thoughts because it was known that the invitation was completely omitted according to the rules and that the knights were finding girlfriends at the mission site.
“What is going on here? I would have told you to refrain from coming out as much as possible until the end of the demon hunt,” said Cedric.
“My, oh my! You remember well. But you knights are fighting tooth and nail, so I cannot just sit back calmly. I’m here to give my strength, even if it’s a little. And you all may be a little hungry, so we brought some food.”
Why hadn’t he known that it would be better for them to sit back calmly? On top of that, unless the knights absolutely needed it, they never ate outside food, fearing it may be laced with poison.
As Cedric approached, thinking he should send them back before they offend Kalion, a low voice came from behind.
“What is going on?”
At Kalion’s voice, Cedric pressed his temple. It was wrong to send them back quietly.
As soon as Kalion approached him the village chief’s daughter rushed forward and greeted him. She seemed to have tried to look elegant but only came across as clumsy and sloppy.
“Welcome, Lord Kalion. I am Freya; we met this morning.”
“I asked, what is going on.” At his cold demeanor despite her politeness, Freya winced for a second before bowing deeply at the waist.
Indeed, she had confidence. She was called the best beauty in the village. The village men would easily grant her any request at the mere appearance of her smile. These days, Freya’s confidence was at its peak since a rich man from the nearby large city continually bought her presents and talked of marriage.
Meanwhile, this morning, when Kalion came to the village to hunt for demons she thought she would pursue Lord Kalion. She couldn’t become his wife since he had Madam Erna, but it was clear that she would be happy even if it was a government position where she would only receive love for her appearance and body. On top of that, they still didn’t have any successor.
Freya didn’t know the detailed reason, but they had no children despite being married for over ten years. That alone was evidence that their relationship was not harmonious. If so, then couldn’t she enter the heart of Lord Kalion, who doesn’t even love his wife? If I birth his child, he might cherish me even more, she thought. She stared at Kalion while filling her head with delusions.
Her face naturally displayed an outcry. The shadow cast on her face every time the bonfire swayed added yet more sense of distance to her beautiful face. Her tall figure suited the commander of the knights more than the grand duke, but her face showed arrogance; she seemed accustomed to dominating and ordering others around.
Any minute now he’s going to scold me to go back, Cedric dreaded. He was about to cover his ears as he prepared for Kalion’s angry voice.
“You, can you come closer for a second?”
Unlike her expectation, he called Freya to come to him. At that order, she smiled brightly while Cedric stared blankly with his jaw wide open. Up until now, he had never seen Kalion tell a woman in that manner to come to him.
D-don’t tell me… His eyes shook mercilessly at this novel scene. He turned around. The knights standing behind him, their eyes as big as dinner plates, were also shocked at what was happening; a few of them were even seen whispering to each other. I thought he was into Madam Erna, but is he just into women in general? Cedric’s face was blanched.
Kalion, not paying any attention to the others, just stared at Freya in front of him. Perhaps Freya’s confidence had shot up as he stared because she soon approached him.
“Oh my!” Then, she poorly pretended to stumble and clung to Kalion, so everyone would know. “I apologize. I’m just scared because I thought there were monsters around… My legs just gave out.”
The knights cleared their throats and chuckled as if they had heard her say “Take me to your tent.” It was at that moment when they stepped in and tried to stop her, thinking it had been a long time since she had done something so classic, so childish.
“Is that so? Then it would be best for you to go home and rest.”
Everyone heard the chilling voice behind them. Every person on the campsite suddenly turned their heads at the voice they had heard. And like everyone else, Kalion, looking there, stuttered with his mouth wide open.
“Er-Ern-Erna?”
Standing there alongside Erna was a pale Orpé.