Chapter 41: Victory and Return

We fled through the forest shrouded in darkness.

A sudden pain shot through my left arm, which was holding Ventios’s head.

“It got stabbed here too.”

I pulled out the dagger embedded below my shoulder.

A blue light flashed, and soon the wound healed.

“They were at least useful in their loyalty. They charged at me trembling in fear just seeing you.”

Trichitas said, clutching his side.

“You’re hurt too?”

At a glance, half of his breastplate, which had been intact before the battle started, was shattered.

“I grazed a crossbow bolt, and while pulling it out, the arrowhead broke inside. Can’t remove it here, so I’ll have to cut it open at camp.”

“Having good recovery is inconvenient at times like this.”

“If your recovery was weak, you’d have died from shock or blood loss.”

“I’m good at extracting those. Want to entrust it to me once?”

Even in the darkness, I could tell Trichitas was making a suspicious expression.

“You think I’d entrust my body to a knight who can’t even use magic?”

Instead of answering, I looked down the hillside.

“See those torch lights over there? Not many, but they’re steadily pursuing. If we slow down, it’ll be troublesome. There’s no guarantee the imperial family only sent one mage like that.”

“That’s a bit problematic. Still, if there was such a guy, I think you or I would have noticed at least once.”

“They’d have a frost mage at least for the provisions. We crossed several wide rivers on the way here, and even avoiding them, we’d eventually enter the marsh. If we encounter a frost mage during the crossing, we’d freeze to death without lifting a finger. To avoid that, we need to move faster. If you understand, sit down quickly.”

I seated Trichitas on a nearby rock and rolled up the silk shirt he wore under his breastplate.

“It’s in there. Got a dagger sharp enough?”

“There’s the one I just pulled from my shoulder.”

“If our blood types don’t match, the moment your blood enters me, mine will clot and I’ll die.”

There was no concept of blood types, but they were somewhat classified with the term “constitution.”

“I wiped it clean?”

“On clothes covered in blood? Use mine.”

I nodded, took the dagger Trichitas handed me, and slit his side.

“Be careful. If you stab the intestines, it’ll be troublesome.”

“You think I haven’t seen the inside of my own stomach once or twice? Trust me. I’ll extract it cleanly.”

Hearing that, Trichitas made a strange expression.

I gripped the end of the crossbow shaft embedded in his side with two fingers.

The diamond-shaped arrowhead was caught between two muscles on his back and wouldn’t come out easily.

“Trichitas. I’ll have to cut your back once too. Got enough mana left to recover?”

“Barely possible, I think.”

Without hesitation, I plunged the dagger into Trichitas’s back.

I made a long cut through the tensed muscles.

He gritted his teeth, his arms trembling.

Thud, with a sound like a rubber tube snapping, the strength left the muscles gripping the crossbow arrowhead.

“It’s out.”

I handed Trichitas the palm-sized piece of wood and metal stained with blue blood.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Think of it as a lucky charm.”

“It’d be an unlucky charm.”

“Gift a lucky charm to someone you hate.”

“Then I’d like to give it to you.”

“Watch your words.”

I sighed.

Trichitas, having finished recovering, stood up from the rock.

A short silence passed, and he asked.

“Who did you learn that technique from? Do all knights learn it?”

I shook my head.

“No. If a knight bloodline cuts tendons and muscles to extract an arrow, they’d need months of recuperation. What I just did was self-taught.”

“You self-taught medicine?”

“After turning fifteen, I lived roughly for a while. I learned it on my own body then.”

I said with a faint smile.

Trichitas said.

“I thought you only lived preciously. I misunderstood.”

After a moment, he added one more thing.

“For a knight who can’t use magic, you were very impressive.”

“Yeah.”

“For a knight who can’t use magic, it was an outstanding achievement.”

“I’m grateful you acknowledge it.”

“That young noble you faced had remarkable mana control. He’d easily pass the officer-mage exam’s control section with top honors.”

“That much?”

“Wind has a strong tendency to scatter. Anyway, since you took down such a guy alone, this mission succeeded entirely thanks to you. I’ll report it properly.”

I forcibly suppressed the pleasant feeling rising within me.

Who knew what scheme he might be hiding.

“Forget it. If you, a lightning mage, had faced him from the start, you might have downed him in one strike.”

“Impossible.”

It was an unexpected statement.

“Why?”

“It’s night, so I can’t hide the light of mana. Comparing just lightning and wind, I’m naturally faster, but he’d send wind blades before I could gather lightning.”

“Didn’t you hide it well during our first meeting?”

I still remembered him shooting lightning at Seongbaek from behind a tree.

Trichitas shook his head.

“You and Seongbaek were both exhausted, so your attention was dulled—that helped a lot. Of course, at that distance, even if you noticed, you’d have been hit one-sidedly, but that guy is a mage capable of long-range attacks.”

“He’d counterattack?”

“Exactly. So it’s thanks to you—no, thanks to you, sir. You were impressive.”

This time, the modifier “who can’t use magic” wasn’t attached.

Both he and I were aware of it.

“Let’s go quickly. The laborers might already have been eaten. I don’t want to row.”

“I agree. The torches behind us seem to be getting closer too. They must have found our traces.”

“Traces?”

“Did you expect no footprints on this soft ground? With your breastplate weight added, your body weight easily exceeds 100kg?”

“Then let’s go faster.”

***

“Eighty percent of the food supplies were completely burned, and the lower laborers were annihilated.”

“Annihilated?”

“It means not a single one survived.”

The earth mage, a distant relative of the imperial family and overall supervisor of the reclamation site, listened to the report while smoking a cigarette.

“The monsters?”

“Annihilated. I counted all the heads, so it’s certain. Thanks to the efforts of the knight and soldiers Lord Ventios brought.”

Grind, the supervisor ground his teeth.

If they hadn’t brought the monsters in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.

“The knights and soldiers?”

“Two knights, seven elite soldiers, and three warhorses survived.”

“We can somehow control them!”

The supervisor gazed at the devastated camp landscape.

“We can’t continue the construction like this.”

“Yes.”

“We’re inevitably bankrupt.”

“Yes.”

“There’s only one way for us to survive. We have no choice but to appeal to the direct imperial elders that this was an invasion by the Intezeruto.”

The young earth mage giving the report widened his eyes.

“Uncle. For nearly a hundred years, relations between the imperial family and Intezeruto have only worsened endlessly. If we report an invasion here…”

“Yes. It’d be war.”

“Many people will die.”

“If we do nothing, only I’ll die. That can’t happen.”

Poison glinted in the supervisor’s eyes.

The young earth mage hesitated for a moment before asking.

“How do you plan to convey it? The pureblood imperials won’t even glance at ruined folks like us. Even requesting an audience would take months. They might brand it as a scheme to embezzle construction funds.”

“We might be like that.”

The supervisor turned his eyes to the two knights organizing the bodies.

“But if it’s words from Ventios’s dead knights, they’ll believe it.”

The supervisor’s eyes flashed.

“Sirs. Come see me for a moment.”

The young earth mage bowed his head and withdrew.

The spark of war was steadily raising its head.

***

A month and a half passed, late spring gave way, and early summer arrived.

In the meantime, no imperial figures or monster shadows appeared.

Around the time insects began swarming in earnest in the marsh, a letter arrived from the main house.

“Sir Anplus. A letter has come. ‘You have thwarted the imperial conspiracy and eliminated the mastermind, so your merit is great. In reward for your devotion and loyalty, return to the main estate.’ Pack your things!”

Trichitas, greeting the messenger, shouted from atop the hill.

Anplus burst out of the tent, looked at the sky, and yelled.

“I’m going back!”

Mission complete.

It had been 50 days since freezing Ventios’s head solid and sending it with the letter.

“You’re finally returning. Thanks to you, sir knight, both this project and our lives were saved.”

The site supervisor bowed so deeply his forehead nearly touched his feet.

“Soon Temeratia will come and take over my gratitude duties. She’s an outstanding mage, so she’ll be of great help.”

“I’m merely grateful for your care into the future. Please accept this. It’s my small token for a safe journey.”

The small leather pouch was heavy.

“I’ll decline. Give it to the families of the injured and dead laborers and knights among the old ones.”

“Shares for them are already prepared. This is yours, sir knight.”

After one refusal, Anplus reluctantly accepted the pouch.

“Thank you. I’ll use it well.”

As he headed to the carriage, the laborers prostrated themselves.

“My lord. Take care on your way!”

“Sir. Thank you for saving us.”

“Thank you for dispatching the old ones.”

“You are the divine knight who slew the demon.”

“You are the great proxy of fire!”

Trichitas, aboard the carriage, slightly frowned.

“Native faith.”

“Hm?”

“They’re revering you as a hero from their legends.”

Anplus pondered for a moment what expression to make.

Soon, he extended his hand out the carriage window and waved.

“A hero. Sounds nice.”

He muttered softly.

“Sir. Please wait a moment. You must take this!”

Two laborers came running breathlessly, carrying two sheets of beast hide with white base and orange-black stripes.

“Tanning finished just yesterday.”

“If you, sir, hadn’t arrived in time, we’d have become beast food.”

If even a few minutes late, he’d have had to row all day himself.

Recalling that moment briefly, Anplus smiled faintly and accepted the hides.

“Thank you.”

He had won against Lobigos, won against Ventios, and won against the fate that tried to make him row all day.

Having won, it was time to return proudly.

***

“The lord will call for you in the evening, so until then, rest comfortably.”

It was the steward’s words.

Anplus, returned to the mansion, nodded and headed to his room.

In midsummer weather, he had ridden the carriage for a full month.

He wanted to wash his body even a second sooner.

At least the cold water flows strongly.

He flung open the door.

“Huh?”

And in confusion, stepped back one pace.

“Did I enter wrong? This is my room, right?”

Even the carpet on the floor was different.

The carpet, faded and soiled with patterns vanished, had been replaced by one with glossy, soft sheen.

The blue color gave a cool impression matching the ivory walls.

The marble floor, once piled with dust, now shone brilliantly like a polished mirror.

“What’s gotten so much better? Did the lord decide to adopt someone?”

The small desk, chair, bookshelf, and wardrobe from childhood were all replaced with new ones.

Not the finest made of ebony or mahogany, but still fine furniture of alder wood.

They had remained unchanged since replaced once at fourteen, to the point they no longer fit his body.

Anplus gazed at the newly hung curtains with enchanted eyes.

“Not a single fluff?”

It was no longer a room desolate like withered plants.

“Have you returned?”

A maid came out gracefully from inside.

Her wrinkle-free, neat new maid uniform and hair tied even more primly today were impressive.

“What’s all this?”

“I’ll explain gradually. First, please wash up.”

The maid approached and undid Anplus’s armor straps.

She loosened the breastplate waist and shoulder belts, then delicately untied the tightly fastened gauntlet straps.

The pressure vanished, air flowed, and tension released.

Anplus removed his sword and belt entirely, and the maid took them and placed them on the shelf.

“That got added too?”

“While the one who left was away, much happened to those who remained.”

The maid stripped Anplus’s clothes.

The shirt stiff with dried sweat and stained with fatigue, the pants similarly stabbed but unlike his body not recovered, spoke of the grueling journey.

“I’ll wash those myself. Send them to the old clothes repair shop, and they’ll be wearable again.”

“You no longer need to do such things.”

The maid shook her head and guided Anplus to the bathroom.

The floor, once scaled with water stains, was scrubbed shiny like outside.

On one shelf, five or six types of bath salts caught the eye.

“Ah.”

Anplus let out an exclamation, feeling slight dizziness.

In the marble bathtub large enough for five people at once, steaming hot water sloshed invitingly.