Encounter (2)
How had he drifted this far?
A demonic beast's neck in his grip, Adel slowly retraced the path that had led him here.
He had received his orders. He could stop now. He was free to leave.
What was he supposed to do? Where was he supposed to go?
Adel had sat with the question for a time before arriving at an answer. He wanted to try this thing his comrades had called travel. He wanted to go somewhere he had never seen.
And so, as it happened, he had attached himself to a merchant caravan departing the imperial capital. The itinerary had not been a bad one, as he recalled. Swinging a blade and being drenched in blood had been his every day — and now all he had to do was speak peacefully with someone. He had begun to wonder if that was what travel meant. Peace, simply going on.
Along the way, he had grown close to someone. The man said he was leaving the caravan to return to his hometown. Perhaps because Adel had admitted he was traveling with no destination, simply going wherever his feet carried him, the man had asked Adel to keep him company on the road. He wanted to treat him to a meal once they reached his home.
And so Adel had set his next destination north. Mixing with one group of travelers after another as he went, he had, at some point, without quite meaning to, found himself folded into a noble procession.
The beast thrashed in his hand, letting out a strangled shriek. At the movement, he squeezed — just slightly.
A sickening crunch. Then the creature went still.
Adel slowly surveyed his surroundings.
A great deal of time had passed since the empire had declared victory in its war against the demonic beasts. And yet they still ran rampant across this land, trailing that nauseating stench wherever they went.
That way, then.
He started toward the place the whistle had sounded. In conditions where visibility was already compromised, making a noise that loud — knowing full well it would draw every demonic beast in earshot — could mean only one thing.
They've lost their way.
With that thought, Adel moved toward the sound.
"Something's coming!"
A booming voice rang out from up ahead. Moving with extreme slowness, extreme care — so as not to startle them, so that they could be certain he was human — Adel approached.
"Huh?"
"Wh-what is that."
"A person?"
Adel came to a stop.
These were not the main force. This was a strike team operating independently. They had carried out a specialized mission and seen combat besides — they would be on a knife's edge. Even the slightest suspicious movement could become a problem.
And so Adel stood with both hands raised, waiting in stillness until they lowered their guard and came to him.
"...Who are you?"
At last the knights, weapons lowered, put the question to him. Adel opened his mouth to answer — and hesitated.
"Ah..."
How was he supposed to explain? Who was he supposed to say he was? They would want to know his identity, of course. But he had nothing — not a single thing — to tell them.
After a moment's pause, Adel spoke with care.
"My name is Adel."
"You're all safe!"
Brender felt the tension drain out of him at the sight of the returning knights. Lady Sien had said it seemed the beasts were targeting those moving as a strike team, and as commander he had been sick with worry. Had any of them died or been injured, the guilt would have kept him from sleeping. He could not say how glad he was that they had all come back unharmed.
There was, however, a young man mixed in among them. When Brender asked who he was, the answer he received was absurd.
"What are you talking about. You say he drove off the demonic beasts?"
That was Brender's response after hearing the strike team's account. Even a fifth-rank specimen was still a demonic beast. Their hides were so tough that ordinary blades could scarcely kill them. Unless one was a skilled fighter capable of using Chakra, even a veteran soldier would be in for a brutal fight. How was a young man like that supposed to have dealt with them?
"It's the truth, Commander. Why would we lie?"
"They were everywhere — and then, at some point, it all went quiet. And that young man appeared."
"Good grief... at least say something that makes sense..."
Brender scratched his head, looking at the figure standing there blankly. From this angle or that, he was just a young man who'd barely come of age. His appearance was so shabby that calling him a knight would have been an insult.
Well. He must have used some method other than brute force.
Anyone with combat experience against demonic beasts knew how to drive them off. Sound or scent alone could do the job without much trouble. It was only killing them that was so difficult.
"Is something the matter, Commander?"
"Ah, Lady Sien."
He relayed the knights' words to his lord exactly as he had heard them. Sien blinked.
"I'd like to speak with that person for a moment."
The knights immediately offered to bring him. A short while later:
"Lady Sien. We've brought him."
"Thank you."
A man standing before the carriage. A woman seated within it. Adel met Sien's gaze as she looked at him in silence.
Perhaps taking that silence for rudeness, Brender, standing beside them, was just about to speak —
A clatter. Sien stepped down from the carriage and regarded the man before her.
"Adel, was it?"
"...That is correct."
She inclined her head as she said it, her tone impeccably formal. Brender and the knights around them startled. The woman who would become Lichtenauer's new lord, bowing to a commoner — it was something even a rural noble would never do, let alone the great houses.
"Lady Sien."
"He's someone who helped our knights. This much courtesy is only proper."
Having checked Brender, Sien turned back to Adel.
"Are you heading north?"
"Yes. As it happens..."
"Good. I'd like to repay you as a token of my thanks. Would you travel with us?"
After a brief consideration, Adel nodded. His own companions had been heading north anyway, had they not? Traveling with unexpected company was a little strange, perhaps — but then, his comrade had said that was another flavor of travel. The image of him saying so was still vivid.
"Lady Sien. We should leave this place first."
The fog had not lifted. Lingering here any longer was dangerous. Sien nodded at Brender's assessment, and the knights immediately set about preparing to move.
"All right — one, two, three!"
The corpses of the demonic beasts were heaved into the fire. Their bodies would only draw more of their kind. If it could be done, burning them was best.
The flames crackled and popped.
Watching the fire from inside the carriage, left alone, Sien bit her lip.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm so terrified.
She was Lichtenauer's only direct descendant. And so she had tried — tried so hard — to act as though nothing were wrong, to remain composed. She had swung her sword. She had given commands. She had cut demonic beasts down. Because she had to. Because there was no longer any running from it.
The knights, watching her, might well have thought her worthy of becoming Lichtenauer's new lord. They might have marveled at how strong she was, how admirable.
But she was neither strong nor admirable. She was nothing more than a coward, straining to endure, to hold herself together.
It was not simply that the demonic beasts frightened her. What terrified Sien far more was the thought of others dying or being hurt because of her. The thought of standing before people who believed in her alone — who saw her as their only hope — and showing them something less than they expected. Of betraying that faith, those hopes.
She clenched her hands until the knuckles went white, and tried to steady herself. She must not let them see her shake. She was their lord now, their center. She had to live up to those expectations. That faith.
Holding onto that thought, she gathered the pieces of herself that had begun to come apart. I have to act as though nothing is wrong. That was what Sien asked of herself.
They passed through the forest and reached the northern plains without further incident. A little farther, and Lichtenauer territory would come into view. This was their last rest before arriving at their destination.
Brender had been watching Adel for some time. A measure of wariness toward a man who had appeared out of nowhere — and, exceeding that wariness, a considerable curiosity.
My knights aren't green. They wouldn't have been mistaken.
The demonic beasts had clearly targeted the strike team. And yet the knights in it had not engaged. Then Adel had emerged from beyond the fog. Whatever the method, that young man had driven the beasts off.
What's his identity? He doesn't quite look like a regular soldier.
A free knight in some house's service? No — that was unlikely. Even a free knight wouldn't present himself in such shabby condition. A wandering mercenary, then? But anyone with the practical ability to drive off demonic beasts would never be let go so easily by a mercenary company. This was a world where strength was power, a time when those who could protect others from demonic beasts commanded support. No one would send a man like that away.
And looking at his age, he wouldn't be a retired soldier or a retired knight either.
That they owed the young man a debt was an undeniable fact. Brender himself had no desire to react so sharply. This was a benefactor who had helped his knights — he did not want to treat him coldly. But he was the commander of an escort procession. He had to prepare for every contingency, and worry over the worst. An unidentified person joining the escort was something he had no choice but to be wary of.
I'll watch him a little longer.
So thinking, Brender tossed back his steaming coffee.
Adel himself did not seem particularly bothered. He could feel the gazes studying him, but that was fine. They were escorting someone important — of course they would. In case his presence made them uncomfortable, he had been keeping to the very edge of the group.
"Excuse me."
He looked up to find two knights standing before him. He was wondering who they were when he recognized a faintly familiar face — the knight from the strike team.
"We haven't had a chance to thank you."
Thank him? Adel blinked. Why would they thank him? Had he done something remarkable?
"Thank me...?"
"You came out to help us, didn't you. Of course we ought to thank you."
"Looking at you, I'd say you served in the regular army. Am I right?"
The knights seemed to have decided Adel was a former soldier. After a brief consideration, he figured he would let them have it. If they wanted to invent an identity for him on their own, he was hardly going to object.
"Still, it was dangerous. Charging through demonic beasts on your own."
"Did you learn what kinds they hate during your service? Some sort of scent, perhaps..."
"No. There was no need. I was able to subdue them with my bare hands."
The knights burst out laughing. Perhaps they thought he had answered their concern with a joke. They even clapped, declaring him every inch the veteran soldier.
"I am serious."
Adel did not back down.
"So you're saying you really drove the demonic beasts off with your bare hands?"
"Yes."
"Oh, come now. That's taking the joke a bit far. Even we need a sword, at least."
Perhaps they thought he had a fine sense of humor. Either way, the knights showed not the slightest inclination to believe him. And in truth, that was only natural. Winning with bare hands against a wild beast was nearly impossible. Doing the same against a demonic beast — something far more terrifying than any wild animal — was the sort of claim that would make even a kind-hearted person tell you to stop joking and be serious.
"Whether you believe me or not is for the two of you to decide."
At that, the knights looked a little sheepish.
"Hah!"
"Yaat!"
Shouts of effort rang out from somewhere nearby. Two knights off to the side were engaged in a light sparring match, and with their comrades cheering them on, they were putting on a fairly decent showing.
"Um, Adel. Could you show us, then?"
"Pardon?"
"How about a light unarmed spar with me."
"A sparring match?"
"It'll be a bit different from dealing with demonic beasts, but if I get a taste of your fists I might be convinced. Ah — don't worry. I can throw a punch myself."
At the knight's words, Adel considered for the briefest moment, then rose from his seat.
"Will you be all right?"
To the knights, the question landed like this: he would be facing someone who was a former soldier at best. Wouldn't that sting his pride?
But Adel's actual thoughts could not have been more different.
He could die.