Chapter 39: I’m Sefira’s Solver (3)

The Lillian Kingdom was divided into four lordships based on directions: north, south, east, and west. Under each lordship, there were approximately two or so fiefs, or estates, within which there were various cities and villages. Sefira, the Masters of Archery, was one of the Seven Gates directly under the queen and was located within Lantgen, a fief in the southern lordship.

Lantgen was located near the border. Fortresses and military cities were common near the border since there was always the risk of invasion. However, Sefira’s situation was different. This was because the power beyond the border was the Kingdom of Adeus, also known as the Kingdom of Real Men.

“We will attack on this specific day and time.”

“We do not attack the weak. Only the strong should step forward.”

“Ambush? That word doesn’t exist in our kingdom.”

They did not wage war to conquer, but to fight the strong. They revered and craved battle for the sake of honor. In Adeus, armor was a symbol of cowardice, and using long-range weapons was considered beneath even animals. Their preferred weapon was the fist, followed by blunt weapons like hammers and clubs.

As a result, Sefira, who used bows, was utterly disregarded by the Kingdom of Adeus. The people of Adeus knew even if they invaded, Sefira wouldn’t engage in a passionate fight but would just shoot a bunch of arrows from a distance. Defeating a family like Sefira, whose main weapon was the bow, brought no honor—only disgrace. For this reason, no one in Adeus even bothered to look in Sefira’s direction.

So, paradoxically, the Sefira family was considered one of the safest places despite being located on the border.

“The Hacose Mountains aren’t that rough or deep, so there are a lot of herb gatherers and hunters. You can even spot people from Adeus every now and then.”

On the road to the village of Hacose, Luke was sharing his experiences in an effort to get closer to Keter. Keter, however, simply stared straight ahead, silently listening.

“When I was an apprentice knight working at Hacose Fortress, this huge boar came charging at the fortress. I was completely shocked. We tried to chase it off with arrows, but it wouldn’t stop. Do you know why? Believe it or not, an Adeusian was chasing it barehanded!”

It wasn’t an exaggeration, and Luke still felt his knees weaken whenever he thought about it.

“If you’re a knight, you can take down a boar with your fists without a problem, but that Adeusian... Well, he was just different. The empire calls them barbarians, and I could see why. Oh, look, you can see the fortress tower now. That means we’re almost there.”

Luke pointed at a tower just starting to appear over the horizon.

“Just a little farther and you’ll see the village. It’s near the fortress. The village is about thirty minutes away from the fortress on horseback. Oh, and just a heads-up—Hacose is a bit pricey, so don’t go spending recklessly, okay? Keter?”

Keter, who Luke thought had been quietly listening, gave no response at all. Luke urged his horse forward and went right next to him. Keter's eyes were clearly open, staring straight ahead.

“Keter? What are you thinking about? Hello? We're almost at the village!”

Whoosh, whoosh.

There was no reaction even as Luke waved his hand in front of his face. That was when he began to sense something was off.

“Keter, what are you doing?”

Tap.

Luke impatiently prodded Keter's side with his bow.

At that moment, Keter, who had been still, suddenly grabbed Luke's bow and yanked it. Any ordinary knight would have had their weapon easily taken, but Luke was different. He countered it by twisting the bow, breaking free from Keter’s grasp; it was as if he was expecting it.

Whizz.

The curse that sensed danger worked as a blessing in defensive situations.

“Hm? What’s going on? Are we here?” said Keter, turning his head toward Luke.

With his bow now slung back over his shoulder, Luke responded, “Were you seriously asleep just now?”

“When I get bored, I mostly sleep.”

“Do you usually sleep with your eyes open?”

“Pretty much.”

“I’ve never seen anyone sleep with their eyes open before, especially while riding a horse.”

It wasn’t like they were moving at a slow pace, either. While they weren’t at full speed, it was certainly faster than a human could run. At this pace, the rider’s body normally jolted around quite a bit, so it could potentially lead to a fall if they weren’t paying attention.

But sleeping under such conditions?

Luke thought Keter had to be joking.

“If you were really sleeping, then why did you try to take my bow?”

Keter answered nonchalantly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I’m always on alert.”

“What? How can you stay alert when you’re asleep?”

“There’s no guarantee you won’t get attacked while you’re sleeping, is there? By the way, you didn’t let me take your bow. Impressive.”

“... You’re one to talk.”

That was when the horses they were on began slowing down. Even the horses remembered that they had to slow down around this point, meaning they were going to arrive at Hacose Village soon.

Pulling out the mission from his pocket, Luke said, “Please don’t do anything on your own during the mission. It is a village in Sefira’s estate, but there’s always uncertainty.”

Despite what he said, Luke didn’t think anything would happen. Hacose was quite small; it only took about thirty minutes to walk around the entire village. He just thought that he could show Keter around the fortress after finding the missing knight as soon as possible before returning to Sefira.

* * *

“Huh... That’s weird.”

Luke scratched his head. He looked around the entire village in twenty minutes, but there was no sign of the missing knight.

“Why can’t we find him? We should have crossed paths.”

Luke, who thought they would quickly find the missing knight, awkwardly looked around.

Keter pointed with his chin at the children hiding in the alley, staring at them, and asked, “Why have those kids been following us from the entrance of the village?”

“Oh, it’s because we haven’t given them pocket money. I totally forgot.”

“Pocket money?”

“Hey, guys.”

Luke gestured toward the children to come closer. They didn’t look like they were poor; they wore nice clothes, and they had plump cheeks.

“Here, I’ll give you one bronze coin. Listen to your parents, okay?”

The children looked at the bronze coin Luke gave them and frowned. The fat child who seemed to be their leader, stepped up.

“Hey, you think you have the right to say that after only giving us one coin?”

“Huh?”

Luke was taken aback. One bronze coin wasn’t a lot of money, but it was enough to buy two pieces of fruit or a loaf of bread.

“Ahaha, okay, I’ll give you one more each.”

Three years ago, when Luke used to work at the fortress, the children were excited for just one bronze coin. But now, they looked dissatisfied even with two bronze coins.

“You’re so cheap for a knight. Hey, you have a lot of money, right? You can’t fool me. You smell rich.”

Keter stared at the child who pointed at him, then kneeled down to the child’s eye level.

“You’re smart, kid. You’re right. I have so much more money than this guy.”

“Hehe, then give us some money already.”

“Haha, don’t show me your tongue. I might just pull it out. Is this your money?”

“... What?”

When Keter spoke angrily with a smile on his face, the leader of the children started to slowly back away. However, with the other children watching, he quickly forced himself to muster up some courage.

“M-Mister, you look like an apprentice knight. How can you talk to us like that? I’m going to tell on you to the chief!”

Thump!

Keter thumped the leader on his head.

“Ack!”

The child began rolling around on the floor in pain, holding his head. Keter went through his pockets and pulled out a pouch of money.

“The kids here try to live life so easily. I’m jealous.”

Whoosh.

Then, Keter threw the pouch of money down the dirty sewer.

“Huh?!”

“O-our money!”

The kids, who were about to blame Keter, caught sight of his menacing gaze and quickly bolted away. Keter clicked his tongue as he watched them run off.

“

Tsk

, spineless brats trying to make easy money.”

“K-Keter, wasn't that a bit too much? I mean, they're just kids! And why did you throw away the money?”

“I didn’t throw it away. That was an empty pouch.”

Keter showed the coins still tucked between his fingers as proof.

“When did you take the money from the pouch?”

“My hands are faster than your eyes. More importantly, what’s with the way they treat knights around here?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying. The prices here are steep.”

Luke sighed and shook his now lighter pouch.

“The only people who come to this village are soldiers or knights from Sefira, so the prices have been going up. Even at the stable earlier, they asked for three silvers just to take care of our horses.”

“They must think knights are pushovers. We’re the ones protecting this village. We should be the ones charging protection fees, not paying them.”

“Protection fees? Keter, we’re knights, not thugs.”

“I’m not sure that falls under being a knight.”

“... Anyways, where is the missing knight? This has never happened before. I think we’re going to have to ask the chief.”

“Hm.”

Keter followed Luke and looked around the village closely. At times, he knocked on the floor with his heel. This was an easy mission to Luke, but for Keter, this mission was about finding the secret of this village. Katherine, a two-star knight died on this mission, so the attacker was likely not mere bandits or robbers.

Above all, there are people who came here before us.

Luke, who was solely focused on the mission, did not sense anything, but Keter noticed a few odd things.

Keter could gauge a lot from the little things. Even at the stable, he observed the horses there while Luke paid the keeper a storage fee.

It’s a high-quality war horse. The fact that even its mane and tail are well-maintained means that the rider is a knight well-accustomed to horseback riding.

The horse could be owned by another Sefira knight since the fortress was nearby, but Keter was certain it wasn’t.

Luke said the fortress was thirty minutes away. But these horses ran for at least half a day. Their muscles are still tight.

Anyone who noticed what Keter noticed would be suspicious, as Hacose Village was definitely not a tourist destination. There was also no reason why knights from other families would come to Hacose.

If there were knights from other families here, it would have been written on the mission.

Keter had seen many mission directives before and knew that any peculiarities were always mentioned in them. For a bandit extermination mission, details such as the suspected location of the bandits' hideout, their estimated numbers, and even their origins would be noted.

The fact that no mention of knights from other families appeared in this missing knight's mission meant that another house’s knight had arrived in Hacose without even Sefira knowing.

A grin crept onto Keter’s face as he approached the village chief’s hall. The ground near the entrance was covered in countless footprints. To a casual observer, it might not seem like much, but Keter gleaned much information from them.

Knight’s footprints. Even though there are several of them, their walking patterns and stride lengths are identical.

Only knights could maintain such perfect synchronization. And the clues didn’t end with the footprints.

The war horse I saw in the stable had the faint scent of wild berries. That same scent lingers here.

The reason why Keter followed Luke around was because he thought they might run into knights from another family. However, they hadn’t encountered any, and that’s when Keter became certain: if the knights weren’t out in the streets, they must have gone to meet the village chief.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

While Luke wasn’t as sharp as Keter, he too began to sense that something was off—not through logic, but through his curse.

My hands are shaking.

The closer they got to the hall, the more Luke’s curse was warning him. Finally focusing on the hall, Luke noticed something strange and reached out to stop Keter.

“Wait a second. It’s not just the chief in there. There’s an unfamiliar presence. Feels like a knight.”

“Figured as much,” Keter replied calmly.

“Stop! This could be serious. It doesn’t feel like a knight from Sefira. Why would outsiders be in Hacose? The fact that it wasn’t mentioned in the mission means they’re probably here unofficially. This is a major issue,” Luke said gravely, sounding alarmed.

Luke was late to realize the danger. Keter, already aware of the situation, brushed Luke’s arm aside and grabbed the door handle to the village hall.

“W-wait! I’m not ready for this yet...!”

The door swung open with a loud creak.

“...?!”

Luke’s eyes widened in shock as he saw the people inside. His hands instinctively clenched into fists, and his gaze filled with hostility. The people standing in the hall were people that should not be here under any circumstances.