Chapter 188
Chapter 188
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: Return
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty knights, fifty mages.
The first number was shocking enough, but the report of fifty mages was even more staggering.
Not just five or six, or even ten—that was five times as many. For the people of Belluan, who had spent their lives accustomed to at most one or two mages, it was a number almost impossible to comprehend.
No wonder one of the knights asked in disbelief.
“Fifty? You don’t mean five?”
“No, sir. And it’s at least fifty!”
“At least fifty...”
Someone let out a groan that trailed off into silence.
After a moment, one knight turned his attention to Palato, who was smiling softly.
He was Amund, a representative among the knights loyal to Deroy.
“Sir Palato, do you know something about this?”
“You’re not colluding with outsiders...”
Amid the murmurs, Palato shook his head and explained.
“I did receive word in advance. But there’s no need for unnecessary worry. They’re not outsiders.”
“If they’re not outsiders, then what are they?”
“Why, they’re Belluan’s own children, whom we should welcome with joy.”
* * *
“This is Belluan...”
Looking down at the land below, Reno murmured like he was in a trance. The other knights gazed at it with distant expressions too.
Of course, for seasoned travelers who had visited countless estates, Belluan wasn’t some astonishing wonder. But this particular estate they were arriving at held special meaning.
It might be the land where they’d live out the rest of their lives.
Amid them, Arsen and Eloise were savoring pangs of homesickness.
Belluan.
The land of purple earth and twisted thorn trees.
One year after fleeing in disgrace like convicts, they had returned leading forces they couldn’t have even imagined when they first left.
“...We’ve arrived.”
“Yeah. We’re home. Our homeland.”
“Hard to believe we were gone just a year. Feels like a decade.”
Eloise let out a wry chuckle, shaking her head in disbelief.
“I want to see them soon. Father, Luden too.”
“You will. Soon.”
Patting Eloise’s shoulder, Arsen thought of those he hadn’t seen.
His strict yet kind mentor Palato, big-sisterly Zenovia, quiet but insightful Kamin, and ever-laughing, boisterous Weble.
As he recalled them, the library slowly descended toward the ground.
Already cloaked in invisibility, there was no need to worry about prying eyes.
Sure, if someone spotted them mid-descent, they might raise a fuss about people coming down from the sky. But what did that matter?
Moments later, the library settled onto the plains west of Belluan.
Stairs linking sky and earth appeared, and Arsen declared calmly.
“Let’s go down.”
* * *
“Urk.”
“This smell...”
While Arsen and Eloise reminisced over Belluan’s familiar miasma, some of the knights and mages new to the place dry-heaved.
Belluan’s miasma evoked the sickly-sweet stench of rotting garbage, and it clearly didn’t sit well with their stomachs.
For Arsen, who had spent his childhood here, it wasn’t as bothersome as he’d feared. Though after so long away, it still felt a bit foreign.
“Brother, I’m already losing the will to live here.”
“Bear with it. You’ll get used to it and manage.”
After setting them down, the library vanished back into some corner of the cosmos. Naturally, they had prepared a way to summon it again.
Arsen had formally claimed ownership and completed the linking process, so he could call it anytime he wished.
And to prepare for if something happened to him, he’d brought down a portable communicator. No one would need to trek to the southern sacred mountain for a succession ritual if he fell.
Soon enough, the knights and mages began adapting. They were all hardened travelers, after all.
Confirming this, Arsen gave the order.
“If you’ve rested enough, let’s move. We have people to meet as promised.”
They formed ranks and marched east.
Having landed just 3 km away, it took only a few dozen minutes to spot the estate’s border.
“People!”
At the shout, they focused ahead and saw a few small silhouettes. Two armed warriors mounted on what were commonly called oil lizards, Belluan’s native steeds.
Likely border sentries spotting intruders.
They noticed Arsen’s group too, hesitated in confusion for a moment, then bolted in panic.
“Huh, they’re running?”
“Of course. Who’d charge a force this size with a spear and demand answers? That’d be the crazy one.”
Marun scratched the back of his helmeted head at Reno’s point, the metal scraping noisily.
No need to chase the fleeing sentries, so they advanced slowly, crossing into the estate.
Under crisp early-winter air free of miasma, fields of frostbitten wheat stretched out.
“I heard there was plenty of food, but... winter’s here, and wheat’s still standing? Are they so rich they don’t need to harvest?”
One knight muttered in disbelief.
Even if Belluan’s food situation was comfortable, there was no reason to leave fields unharvested. Likely the brothers’ civil war had left no time for it.
Palato had given a rough rundown of internal affairs. People couldn’t even wander the streets freely for fear of being mistaken for enemy spies, so efficient harvesting was impossible.
“Halt!”
Finally reaching the barricade entrance, they spoke with Belluan soldiers for the first time.
The absence of even one knight guarding the barricade proved Belluan’s decline. All knights had joined one brother or gone neutral to protect the estate lord, leaving none for the outer walls.
“This is Belluan Estate! State your purpose!”
The soldier shouting from atop the barricade sounded servile.
Arsen bellowed back.
“I am Arsen, son of Lenoc, knight enfeoffed in Lord Nut’s name! Lady Eloise, the estate lord’s daughter, has returned with a secret treasure to heal him—open the gates!”
Commotion erupted behind him.
Debating if it was true, and even if so, whether to open the gates.
They could have rammed through with Black Lion, but Arsen stood calmly before the gate, waiting for their discussion.
Soon, a man peeked over the barricade and shouted.
“Open the gates!”
Apparently higher-ranked, as the gates began creaking open moments later.
As Arsen entered, the man who’d shouted approached and bowed politely.
“Welcome back, Sir Arsen.”
“You know me?”
“Yes. I fought in the southern war a year ago.”
Looking at him now, the face rang a bell.
Racking his memory, a face surfaced.
“You wouldn’t be Razin? Squire Razin?”
“Yes, that’s me. You remember!”
“I met your brother once.”
After the feast celebrating the southern war’s end, while escorting Eloise to her room, a soldier had thanked him, mentioning his squire brother in the war. This was him.
Arsen asked warmly.
“How’s that friend of yours?”
“Thanks to your concern, he’s still well!”
“Good to hear. Hope we meet again sometime.”
As they exchanged pleasantries, Arsen’s forces fully entered. Surveying them, Arsen told Razin.
“We’re heading to the estate hall. See you later—keep the borders secure.”
“An honor!”
* * *
Ascending to the estate hall, Arsen witnessed the estate’s devastation firsthand.
Only a year away, so nothing had changed drastically, but a subtle gloom hung in the air.
Faces were gaunt, expressions anxious.
Or perhaps the anxiety stemmed from the dozens of knights and mages invading the estate.
Reno noted this in a timid voice.
“They don’t seem thrilled to see us.”
“They don’t know who we are yet. Save Father, and it’ll change. Look forward to it—Belluan feasts are lavish.”
Eloise hadn’t actually attended many herself, but Arsen didn’t point that out.
From now on, she could join official events as she pleased.
Soon, the hill leading to the estate hall appeared. Atop it waited a dozen knights and nearly a hundred soldiers.
They whispered, eyeing Arsen at the fore.
“That blond knight leading...”
“Yeah, Arsen, son of Lenoc.”
“The drunkard knight? The one who left with the lady?”
“What happened in a year to gather an army like that...”
Then, one burst from their ranks.
A familiar face: a knight with a grim expression and prominent hooked nose—Ramun.
He addressed Arsen in his usual curt tone, laced with subtle hostility.
“Long time, Sir Arsen.”
“Likewise, Sir Ramun.”
Gazing up at Ramun astride his Jin, Arsen realized anew how absurdly intense his journey had been.
A year ago, he’d seemed unbeatable. Now, Ramun looked so small.
Like a giant facing a dwarf—as if a casual gesture could crush him.
“Invading the estate with such a massive force... As the estate’s lead knight, I can’t take that lightly. You know that?”
“They’re all here to join Belluan. The estate lord decides if we accept them. Not you, Sir Ramun.”
“And you know the estate lord isn’t in his right mind.”
“That’s why we left—to make him whole again. And now we’re back.”
Ramun’s face darkened at Arsen’s reply.
No one in Belluan could face that look impassively, yet Arsen met his pressure without flinching.
Then Eloise stepped forward beside him.
“Step aside, Ramun. What right do you have to bar me? As the estate lord’s daughter, I have every right to see Father.”
“Of course, milady. But that army following you is another matter. We’ll allow you alone.”
Naturally, if Eloise went up alone and slipped into the inner chambers unseen, these hilltop knights would tear her apart.
It would undermine half of Arsen’s justification for bringing such a mighty force.
“Then pull your men back from the estate hall first. I’ll bring just Arsen.”
“Impossible. Palato and your allies hold the hall. We can’t trust you colluding with them.”
With a shing, Ramun drew his sword.
“Hand over the item to heal the lord first and withdraw beyond the barricade. I’ll verify it’s harmless, then use it on him.”
Of course, the odds of Ramun checking the medical device and dutifully using it on the lord were about the same as a magic beast raising a human infant to adulthood.
He’d smash it on sight, then accuse Eloise and Arsen of bringing scrap.
At that moment, Amund, leader of Deroy’s faction, drew his weapon to join Ramun and shouted.
“Ramun’s right! Order them to disarm and retreat, milady. Anyone can see this is treason—dragging outsiders into the estate’s heart!”
Amund had schemed cleverly, allying with Ramun to isolate Eloise first.
They knew their infighting had ruined the estate. If the lord recovered, he wouldn’t look kindly on Deroy’s knights, prime culprits.
If no replacements existed, he might grudgingly reuse old knights. But if her twenty-odd knights settled in?
Lord Nut wasn’t forgiving toward those who’d targeted him. Neutrals like Palato might be spared, but knights who’d rampaged in power struggles, ignoring their lord’s safety, would be exiled or imprisoned.
Ringleaders might even face execution, breaking unspoken taboos.
Gazing down at Arsen, sword in hand below the hill, Ramun rapidly simulated the battle in his mind.
The outcome looked favorable.
‘No need to fear numbers. We can win.’
Ramun’s calculation wasn’t baseless.
His keen insight had pierced that many of Arsen’s knights had unstable mana—newly awakened novices, still green.
Eliminate Arsen, their apparent leader, crush their morale, and the numerical gap was surmountable.
A year ago, he’d crushed Arsen unilaterally. He had no doubt of victory now.
How much could one improve in a year?
Facing Ramun deep in thought, Arsen slowly gripped his spear.
The bizarre weapon topped with a cone: Isht’s Spear.
Knowing these two knights were the true culprits behind the lord’s poisoning, he had no intent to bandy words for justification.
Neutrals were likely guarding the lord or the barricades. Those here had joined factions, fueling the chaos—no need to spare them.
Belluan’s pests, gathered at Palato’s invitation on Arsen’s request.
Time to clean house.
“All hands, prepare to attack!”
At Arsen’s command, his knights raised crossbows in unison.