That Which Falls Has No Wings
That Which Falls Has No Wings
After sending the nameless Demonfolk back, I examined the nearby corpses as thoroughly as I could and took everything worth taking.
Of course, I didn't go rummaging through mangled bodies without a plan, just hoping to find something valuable. Seeing as they were bastards who'd latched onto a special operation, I judged there was a good chance they were carrying maps or important documents stashed in something like an oiled leather pouch.
The first one I decided to search was the mage whose arm had been blown off by my needle. Since the surviving Demonfolk had been the captain, I figured the bastard sticking right behind him wouldn't have been some ordinary soldier either.
And sure enough, amid that horrifically mangled corpse, I found exactly what I wanted.
"I was meaning to get a new map anyway, so this worked out nicely."
What I pulled out of his chest were three maps. I couldn't tell if the scales were accurate, but there was a decently sized map with a fair number of cities and place names written on it, a military map of incredible detail centered on the coastline near Itisel, and lastly, a map so large you could barely look at it without unfolding it on a surface, but with astounding detail.
I wasn't sure about the military map, but the other two were such a massive score they brought a smile to my face on their own. The large map in particular was something you couldn't even buy. Try getting your hands on something like that carelessly, and one day the army would drag you off for interrogation, no question.
I searched a little more in case there were any operational orders, but all I found after that was a coin pouch with some silver. Their gear had been smashed to pieces just like their corpses, so there was nothing to salvage. By the time I'd finished the job, moving cautiously to strip them as cleanly as possible, quite a lot of time had already passed.
At the same moment, far in the distance, the city's wyverns flew in urgently, their long howls signaling the end of the incident.
I slung the axe over my shoulder—it had been easy to find, lodged firmly in a dead wyvern's skull—and the sight I beheld was quite the spectacle.
◈
After the wyverns arrived carrying adventurers and soldiers, everything was resolved quickly.
Mandeli paid out a hefty bounty for the achievement of resolving the Demon King's Army infiltration incident, but it was highly likely all of this had happened because of me, so I felt a twinge of conscience and returned the money under the pretense of donating it to the city's reconstruction costs.
Thanks to that, a piddling sum of money got spun into a gratuitously heroic narrative, but since it was obvious the whole thing would die down on its own once I headed to the front and came back, I decided to let it go.
I only learned that this incident had added yet another line of praise to be read aloud at an official ceremony much later, on the day of the event itself, long after I'd returned to the capital.
"No, that's getting added to it?"
"Even if it was only a few Demonfolk, it was an incident that unsettled the region and forced Mandeli to spend money."
The one who told me was Ragnis.
Ever since the orc gate incident, she'd begun to firmly establish her position, and she'd volunteered to brief me on the precautions for this event, using the excuse that she was the one who'd brought me to the capital in the first place.
Listening to her go over today's schedule one by one, wearing a red dress that exposed her unrecognizably solid shoulders, made my head start to ache all over again.
"Why is there so much? Wasn't it supposed to be just getting some recognition and finishing my investiture as a wandering knight while we're at it?"
I'd clearly heard from Duke Lesrom that it would be carried out as concisely as possible, yet it wasn't concise at all. Every major noble in the capital was gathered, the key figures of the royal family were gathered, the remaining members of the King's Ten Swords in the capital were gathered, and the academy's key figures were gathered—in what world was this concise?
But all I got in return was a cold stare from Ragnis. She didn't stop there. When she crossed her arms with a face full of displeasure, her biceps bulged and drew a muffled scream from the fabric of her dress.
She hadn't become an incredible mass of muscle like Yekaterina, but since the dress had been custom-made to prioritize aesthetics as much as possible, even a simple motion like that seemed to strain it.
"This time, you really need to be deeply grateful to Duke Zwinera. He surely worked hard for the Noble Council's influence, but if his side hadn't stepped in, there would have been a week-long festival in the capital."
"...Really?"
"Really."
According to her, during the meetings held about me, the Noble Council's opposition had been immense.
At first, they'd resorted to a certain degree of logical stubbornness, but as things went on, they raised their voices more and more, quibbling over increasingly absurd points and insisting the event be scaled down. In the end, within an atmosphere where the king was forced to accept their obstinacy, this 'concise' event was prepared.
To Ragnis, who didn't know about the relationship between the duke and the royal family, it must have looked like nothing but endless dissatisfaction. But to me, it was a major incident that had unfolded without my knowledge—so major that I almost wanted to express my heartfelt thanks to Duke Lesrom.
"And if you look at it closely, the event isn't even that complicated. It's just that the attendees have their dignity to uphold, so it's being handled a little more formally. We gather at the royal palace, and in front of those gathered, royal and imperial representatives commend your achievements. You come out, receive your medal, and get your investiture at the same time. How simple is that?"
"No, still, in any wandering knight's investiture ceremony in the world..."
I couldn't even finish the sentence this time. Ragnis quickly uncrossed her arms and slapped the back of my hand before I'd put on the gauntlet. The palm strike, driven by recoil and snap, landed on its target with speed and precision the Ragnis of only a few months ago couldn't have imagined.
"If you called it just Eldmia Ega's wandering knight investiture, it would be excessive. But don't you think it's shabby—no, far too excessively shabby—for a ceremony meant to commend the achievements of: a knight's exemplar who dueled the Empire's Hero and won, who in an honorable duel for the honor of the kingdom's margrave killed the Young Lion of Rudra with a single stroke, who is not only the hero who saved the 1st Princess from the Demon King's Army's scheme and the hero who personally executed the kingdom's traitor, but also subsequently rescued the saintess of the Holy Light Cross Order from cultists, protected the people by defeating a demon in the process, not to mention subjugating the remnants of a local rebel army, even subjugating a Demon Dragon that had been lurking beneath the capital, achieving the tremendous feat of severing the orc offensive that threatened the capital, and then returning under his own power to exterminate the very last remnants of the Demon King's Army that had inflicted massive damage on Mandeli Port?"
She rattled off the words like a rapid-fire gun, never stumbling once, speaking clearly without a single sloppy pronunciation, and looked utterly unaffected by the effort. I could only stare in admiration. Then I asked her a sincere question, meeting the way she tilted her chin as if daring me to argue.
"Did you just come up with all that on the spot? That wasn't from a script?"
"Ah! does! that matter!?"
Which earned me one more smack for no reason.
Still, she seemed to find it funny that I'd asked the question with a serious, deliberate composure, and I was satisfied watching her burst out laughing. I put on the gauntlet, and right then, a light knock came before the door opened.
"They say it's about to start. Are your preparations all finished?"
"I was just confirming the Margrave of Levien's tremendous silver tongue. If you'd come in a little earlier, Sheryl, you could've heard it too and been surprised—what a shame."
Sheryl snorted as the inevitable fist came and thumped my shoulder. Since Sir Ekaf had to attend the event as one of the King's Ten Swords, she was participating as the young lady of the Ogatorf family, and her hair, which she normally didn't tie up, was neatly braided and draped over one shoulder.
"You're not even nervous? You're disgustingly relaxed."
"What's there to be nervous about? It's not like I'm dying."
Sheryl had stepped away earlier to help Asilie with her grooming, since Asilie was attending the event as my sole family member. When I asked if it had gone well, she nodded as if there'd been no issue and asked back.
"Truly, the work of Seamstress Gula is something else. But just when did you get acquainted with her, anyway?"
"Ah... a coincidence? It just sort of happened?"
I couldn't say I'd had Duke Lesrom's help, so I gave her a vague answer and received an icy look in return. Fortunately, perhaps because I was always running around getting mixed up in things, she'd apparently assumed I'd simply happened to make the acquaintance somewhere along the way and didn't press me further.
After that, we left the room where we'd been chatting briefly and headed for the hall where the event would take place, each faithfully performing our respective roles.
Soon, I parted ways with them as well, passing among the bustling servants, and went to my designated spot to receive a final attire check from the maids.
With no conversation, just the soft rustling of fabric, my mind grew oddly composed and my thoughts began to settle.
The things piling up and sorting themselves out inside me were mostly all the incidents and accidents I'd gone through so far, and the things I had to do from now on. After spending a truly eventful seven years—far more eventful than I'd ever intended—the thought that I was finally standing at the starting line lifted my mood ever so slightly.
I wasn't excited or happy. The path ahead was clearly going to be one of raging bloodshed; if I were endlessly merry, I'd be nothing but a lunatic. Rather, a faint unease crept in.
After my head was fully clear, only about two words lingered.
Childhood's End. At least hundred-man commander level.
The protection of Lady Epaga, whose existence I could never be sure of anyway, was over. And within the Demon King's Army commanding tens of thousands, my skill was at least at the level of a hundred-man commander. When I reviewed my experiences up to now based on that fact, it felt all the more absurd.
The strength scale in this other world really was warped in some way.
The battlefield where the fighting against the Demon King's Army continued was teeming with disgustingly powerful bastards, yet even after experiencing it firsthand, I still couldn't easily believe it was so hard to spot those kinds of bastards behind the lines. Perhaps, as Luwiming had said, it might even be related to Balance.
I told myself I'd experience it soon enough anyway, but I couldn't help my mind dwelling on those unknown territories.
Because from now on, I had to cut my way right into them.
"Sir Ega."
The maid's voice calling me broke my reverie.
I lifted my head and looked toward the sound, where the maid, head bowed, was pointing behind her at the curtain and speaking respectfully. Already?
"It's time."
Beyond the curtain, the space had already grown clamorous with all sorts of voices. Not only that, but judging by the voices I heard speaking of the glory of the Empire and the royal family and such, I must have let my mind wander for quite a long while.
"...therefore, we stand here to commend Eldmia Ega, who has left behind heroic deeds, in the names of the Empire and the Royal House."
At the signal of the authoritative middle-aged man's voice, the maids drew back the curtains.
I took a deep breath and stepped through the gap in the curtains.
The applause burst out at the same moment, and the first thing that met my eyes was Asilie in a dress, which I'd never seen before, with Sheryl and Ragnis standing by her side to watch over her.
They really were so pretty. The sight of them standing there as if lined up by height almost made me laugh, but I barely managed to hold it in.
Then my teacher's face passed by, and as I walked past Sir Ekaf in his armor, Duke Lesrom, and many others to the place where Esmue and the king stood, my only thought was the light observation that a shitload of people really had gathered.
The formal commendations and responses continued, and the medal bestowed upon me was small and sturdy-looking, just as Duke Lesrom had said. The design was so unassuming that I figured if I just stuck it on my cloak, it would probably look like a brooch.
After King Itisel VII, with a solemn expression, personally pinned the medal on me and stepped back, Esmue, her face endlessly serious, slowly drew the sword she was holding.
Ah, that must be a ceremonial sword enchanted with a lightweight spell at the very least, I was thinking, when Esmue approached me and spoke.
"What more words are needed? His footprints remain not upon selfish desires but upon devotion to humanity, and as he chooses to walk the path of the wandering knight to fulfill his knightly duties and aid the weak far and wide, none shall raise any objection."
The sword she held tilted and came to a stop before my face.
Unlike the knight investiture of my past life, which had devolved into a mere tap on the shoulder and head to avoid a brutal initiation of violence, the investiture here was performed by kissing the blade. So her action now must have meant she wanted me to kiss the sword.
I didn't know why Esmue was conducting this instead of the king, but it was already too late to be flustered, and the king showed no particular reaction, so I cleanly pressed my lips to it. Then the sword she held passed to the king, and only then did I understand what the situation was.
"Whereupon, the Empire and the Royal House have resolved to bless his journey."
"I, the White Star of the Empire and 1st Princess, Esmue Bistim Tel Nua, and"
"I, King Itisel VII, of Itisel,"
"do hereby appoint you a wandering knight of the Empire and the Kingdom."
It was the moment a wandering knight with sudden dual nationality was born.