Chapter 122
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: The Nest
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Meanwhile, as Pernyan and Ruina were crossing the barrier and heading north.
Albinus Bercefe found the letter, just as his daughter had hoped.
[Father. The Demonic Realm is a treacherous place that even you have never ventured into.
There could be a base for dozens, perhaps hundreds of Vile Breeds, or they might have already summoned a demon... *omitted*...]
[...This is not to say that you lack the ability, but to prepare for the worst-case scenario... *omitted*...]
*Crumple-*
The letter was mercilessly crumpled.
“How absurd.”
“The young lady must be of marriageable age. To run away in the middle of the night, leaving a letter behind.”
The Margrave scoffed at his adjutant's words.
“Since the patrol leaves at dawn, I suppose it is a ‘night escape.’”
“You seem quite angry, Your Excellency.”
“I am.”
The Margrave irritably shoved a handful of chocolates into his mouth.
“I never imagined my own daughter would pull a stunt like eloping, something you only see in plays.”
“But you just said it wasn't.”
“If that rascal Pernyan weren't here, it's a dawn patrol. If he is, it's an elopement.”
“You were the one who ordered it, Your Excellency.”
The Margrave didn't respond to his adjutant.
“Still, that rascal isn't entirely useless.”
The Margrave focused on the part about hiring mercenaries.
“Are you just going to let it go?”
“He's offering to hire the Mercenary King for us. That's something we should welcome.”
He knew the Mercenary King was in the north.
But he hadn't even considered hiring him. If Pernyan was going to do it for them, he could only be grateful.
Despite his words, however, his expression was not pleasant.
“I have no face to show my ancestors. To let the tables turn on Bercefe's affairs like this.”
While they did hire some mercenaries to defend the barrier, the main force was always Bercefe.
An unspoken rule that had held for a thousand years was bent for the first time.
Nevertheless, the Margrave had no choice but to accept it.
“It's frustrating, but this is Bercefe's reality.”
*Crack.* The armrest shattered under his powerful grip.
“If swallowing a little pride can save even one more of Bercefe's knights, it is enough.”
His gaze shifted to the recording device on the table. He took in the image of the demon summoned at the academy.
“Perhaps there really is a demon.”
To save Bercefe, he chose to bend Bercefe's pride.
* * *
The air in Bercefe is cold.
It doesn't snow year-round, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the temperature stays below freezing for more than half the year.
“And now…?”
“It's the dead of winter. The weather is like this for most of the year.”
The light sleet that had been falling since dawn had turned into a blizzard, painting the world white.
The patrol team expertly entered a nearby cave, started a fire, and took a short rest.
Various supplies were well-hidden inside the cave.
“A safe house?”
“Something like that. We've set up places like this all over the north in case of emergencies.”
That could mean a blizzard, being chased by monsters, or being left behind and having to return alone.
A place where anything could happen. That was the continent north of Bercefe.
“What do you usually do when this happens?”
“We just keep going. As I said, it's not unusual for it to snow in the north.”
If they gave up the patrol just because it was snowing, they wouldn't be able to go out all winter.
But monsters didn't stop attacking the barrier or building new nests just because of the snow.
“We'll warm up a bit and then head out again.”
“What do you usually check for?”
“Suspicious monster movements, signs of new monsters, or new nests. Things like that.”
The patrol's primary goal was always to identify and prepare for threats approaching Bercefe in advance.
After a short break, the patrol team packed up and set off again.
The harsh snowfall made it impossible to tell which direction they were heading. After about an hour of riding like that…
- *Thump!*
Wooden was the first to react.
‘There are demonic beasts ahead? Are you sure they're demonic beasts, not monsters?’
- *Thump!*
Wooden nodded confidently, but Pernyan couldn't see anything.
“Ruina.”
“Yes.”
“Could it be…”
Just as he hesitated, wondering if he was about to speak nonsense in front of the White Lions, the veterans of the north, a member of the advance party, who was about 100 meters ahead, returned.
“Demonic beasts, about 150 meters to the northeast.”
“......!”
Pernyan glanced at Wooden without realizing it. Wooden crossed its arms and shrugged.
“Demonic beasts? Not monsters?”
“Yes. A pack of 7th-grade demonic beasts, Traden.”
Traden were beast-like demonic creatures with thick black fur.
“How many?”
“Eleven of them.”
“Kill them all and follow their tracks.”
“Yes, sir!”
All the knights dismounted.
“Follow me.”
Leaving two knights to watch the horses, they began to advance stealthily.
“Is there a need to follow their tracks after killing them?”
“To find out where the demonic beasts came from, and why.”
“Whether they came down on their own, or were chased by other demonic beasts?”
“Yes. The former isn't a major concern, but the latter would mean another problem. We need to be quiet from now on.”
Pernyan fell silent at Ruina's words.
Amidst the swirling blizzard, dozens of knights moved with almost no sound.
Before long, faint figures began to appear through the snowstorm. The members of the advance party joined them.
“You're here?”
“What's the situation?”
“They fought with a pack of yetis. There are two yeti carcasses, and they're busy tearing them apart.”
“We'll launch a surprise attack immediately.”
The captain of the White Lion Knights made a swift decision and gave the order.
“Surround them so not a single one can escape. And Sir Ruina.”
“Yes.”
“Protect Lord Pernyan.”
“Yes.”
Since leaving the cave, the White Lion Knights had stopped addressing Ruina as "Young Lady." Ruina also accepted the command naturally.
It was a simple change, but its meaning was clear.
“This is my first time seeing a Traden.”
*Then again, that's true for any demonic beast.*
The knights began to form an encirclement with the demonic beasts at the center.
“Why do you have to kill all the demonic beasts?”
“The barrier doesn't cover the entirety of Bercefe's northern border.”
Like the Altriark barrier that sealed off the Taklakan Desert, Bercefe's barrier was actually a series of eight fortresses built at strategic points.
Naturally, there were bound to be gaps.
“So you're trying to cover those gaps as much as possible.”
“Yes.”
As the two conversed in hushed tones, the knights had already closed in on the demonic beasts.
‘Incredible.’
Not a single sound was made. Even though he could see them, he couldn't feel their presence.
Even if Pernyan could attribute it to the distance and the blizzard, the demonic beasts were completely unaware of the knights approaching right behind them.
And that was why they would die.
*Slice-*
A subtle hand signal.
The heads of the eleven demonic beasts fell simultaneously.
That was it.
“…The White Lions are certainly the White Lions.”
It wasn't for nothing that they were considered the best of Bercefe's knight orders, who fought in the north every day.
“Of course.”
He could almost hear Ruina shrugging with pride in her voice.
“Do the White Lions normally go on northern patrols?”
They seemed like too valuable a force for such a task.
“Not often, but sometimes. Of course, I can't say that my presence, or yours, has no influence today.”
“I understand.”
It meant the Margrave had dispatched his best forces to protect his daughter's life and to avoid conflict with the Fallenberg family.
“Let's go.”
The knights dug into the ground and buried the demonic beasts' corpses. Then, they quickly found the tracks they had left behind.
“The tracks lead straight north. What are your orders?”
“Hmm.”
The captain's gaze flickered over Pernyan for a brief moment, and Pernyan noticed it.
“You don't need to worry about me. I'm not sure if you've heard, but I've already signed a waiver.”
A waiver stating he wouldn't hold them responsible even if something went wrong.
“Yes, I'm aware.”
Of course, that didn't mean putting him in real danger was acceptable.
“First, let's see how far these tracks go. If they extend beyond five kilometers, return. Be careful not to encounter any monsters.”
“Yes, sir.”
The captain sent two knights as scouts.
“The snow is letting up.”
They returned about an hour later.
“The tracks continue for more than five kilometers, but there isn't just one set.”
“This was just a small pack. About four kilometers from here, the tracks split into three.”
“A nearby snow troll habitat has been completely decimated.”
“This isn't just a small group heading south. We need to assess the situation accurately.”
The captain swallowed a groan. Then, he quickly made a decision.
“Lord Pernyan, we will do our utmost to protect your safety until the very end.”
“I've made my own preparations. Don't worry and proceed.”
“Thank you for your understanding. We will follow the tracks. We must find out the scale of their forces and the location of their nest.”
“Yes, sir.”
The White Lion Knights began to head north again.
* * *
“That must be where the snow trolls' nest was.”
Small pits were dug all over the small basin; snow trolls had a habit of digging pits and living underground.
But the place was now filled with the thick stench of blood and corpses.
And a small number of demonic beasts.
“Traden, same as before. Eleven of them. Just like last time.”
“Perhaps a pack of eleven is the standard for Traden.”
The appearance of demonic beasts was a recent phenomenon, and they were still an unknown quantity.
They were only just managing to find names and traces by combing through ancient documents, as much of the data had been lost.
“We've found the tracks, but…”
There weren't three sets, but five.
Considering they came from the north, and excluding that one track, there were four. They each stretched out south in different directions.
As if they were spreading out to scout.
“…Something's not right.”
Pernyan furrowed his brow at the sight.
He didn't know much about demonic beasts, strategy, or tactics.
However, the tracks made one thing clear.
A much larger force of demonic beasts than they had anticipated was heading south.
The captain of the White Lion Knights glanced at Pernyan once more. But, having decided he couldn't just leave this be, he ordered the pursuit to continue.
“We're heading north.”
Ignoring the other four branching paths, finding the source was the priority.
If the scale of this demonic beast force was significant, and they were systematically trying to expand their territory southward, it would pose a grave threat to Bercefe.
They continued for a long time.
The sky was still ink-dark, but the snowfall had weakened to the point where it had almost stopped.
The patrol team encountered two more packs of eleven Traden and killed them all.
“…Is this really okay?”
“I don't know. We don't know much about the habits of demonic beasts either.”
But they weren't unaware that the situation was unusual. A heavy tension flowed among the White Lion Knights.
In that atmosphere, Pernyan couldn't bring himself to ask Ruina anything more.
And after about another hour of riding…
- *Thump!*
Suddenly, from inside his clothes, Wooden began to pound frantically on Pernyan's chest.
‘What is it?!’
- *Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!*
An urgent voice. Frantic hands pounding on his chest.
*Demonic beasts, many, many, many?*
‘That hurts! Stop it!’
The heavy impacts from the tiny hands made Pernyan's chest swell and turn red.
“Ruina, up ahead…”
And a moment too late.
“A massive force of demonic beasts!”
“At least several hundred…!”
The scouts who had been ahead returned.
And they could see it.
Within the vast hill.
The countless piled-up corpses of monsters, the original masters of the hill.
And the hundreds of demonic beasts swarming over them.
The land, stained a dark purple.
“…It's a nest.”
It was a nest of demonic beasts.
Far south of the Demonic Realm, where the demonic beasts were presumed to be, they had built a nest.