Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Heretics on the Loose
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The short workout session came to an end just like that.
It looked like the more senior knights among them were heading toward Dad's study.
I watched them for a moment, then slyly reached out toward one of them.
A particularly burly knight extended his hand as if mesmerized, scooped me up in one go, and immediately drew glares from those around him.
"Hey."
"Don' scold 'er. Mariella wants to see Dad so bad she's beggin'. Says she wants to go."
If something big had happened, I needed to know too, so I could deal with it somehow.
I came up with a suitable excuse and pulled the most pitiful expression I could muster, leaving the knights looking troubled.
But none of them told me to get down.
How could anyone stop a three-year-old who wanted to see her dad for the first time since she was born?
"Let's take her along for now. If the captain says to send the young lady back, we can do it then, right?"
"Yeah. The summons comes first anyway, so let's hurry. The captain'll decide."
Exactly!
And so, I arrived at Dad's study cradled in a knight's arms.
I caught Dad raising an eyebrow briefly as he saw me being carried in.
"The young lady said she wanted to see you, Captain."
Time to do my best not to get kicked out.
I wriggled until he set me down, then crept over toward Dad's desk.
"Wan stand hewe."
The spot I pointed to with my finger was a narrow space beside the desk.
If I stood there, no one would really notice me during the meeting.
I'd begged the knights to let me come along, but I had no intention of being a nuisance or bothering anyone.
I just felt anxious not knowing what was going on in this house...
Dad stared at me silently for a moment.
Was he thinking I was a bother?
A little scared, I looked up at him.
"Come here, Ella."
For some reason, I toddled over when he called me.
Dad scooped me up effortlessly and sat me on his knee. I went stiff, rigid as a wooden doll.
...I thought I'd get chased out.
Dad turned his head toward the knights, who had their mouths hanging open wide enough to touch the floor, and they all yelped in surprise, snapping their jaws shut.
"Kira, explain again."
The person Dad called Kira was a female knight whose clothes were a total mess, like she'd rolled around in mud.
The name rang a bell.
I mulled it over quietly and remembered she was one of the knights who'd joined Walter in escorting the prisoners.
She wasn't on Walter's level as Dad's adjutant, but she was trusted enough that Dad would appoint her as his proxy. So why was she here looking like that? What about her mission?
"The heretics we were transporting to Kalena escaped."
"What?"
One of the knights who'd been hastily summoned let out a startled cry.
"The carriage slipped on the mountain path. Right then, the heretics broke free, put up a fierce fight, and several were taken—including Sir Walter."
I recalled the relentless rain that had been pouring down.
It had started raining the day Walter set out. If they'd gone through the mountains, the paths would have been slick with mud.
'Walter, captured by those heretics.'
The eerie eyes and stench of demon poison flashed in my mind reflexively.
Along with Walter's kind, smiling face whenever he looked at me.
The thought of him in the hands of those terrifying people...
The war prisoners who'd been locked in the interrogation room the whole time had been in wretched shape.
Their grudge must run deep.
"While we were hastily pursuing them, we saw two nearby villages at the base of the mountains get raided."
Dad, who'd been silent until then, finally spoke up with a question.
"Scale of the damage to the villages?"
"At least sixty-three dead, and we haven't even fully assessed the injured yet. There were so many wounded that we couldn't continue the pursuit."
Sixty-three ordinary people, living their lives oblivious to it all, dead.
This was definitely big trouble.
The knights who'd been happily playing with me just moments ago now had faces hardened to a frightening degree.
Amid knights whose throats were flushing red like they might charge out any second, Dad was the only one who seemed to maintain his composure.
Dad's voice was chillingly cold.
"Have you tracked their movement route?"
"The Takiten Barony nearby has chronic monster problems. They're probably heading there to stock up on more beasts."
"A barony won't have the forces to handle heretics on their own."
"Yes. You'll have to step in yourself, Captain. We're sorry, but we can't handle it alone."
Dad had to head into battle again?
"Among the captured prisoners was one of their high-ranking priests they call a high priest."
"Yes. He's especially dangerous. He once summoned monsters and wiped out an entire unit."
"We'll move quickly to prevent more civilian casualties. Kira, scout the projected route. Max, check supplies. And..."
Tactical discussion flew back and forth rapidly.
True to their long frontline experience, they grasped Dad's orders in an instant.
The knights scattered swiftly to carry out their commands.
Before I knew it, only Dad and I remained in the study.
Aside from the few who'd barely escaped, all the uninjured knights had fallen into the heretics' hands.
The only forces to move with Dad were the rear-guard knights still recovering from wounds.
'Against an enemy who annihilated a whole unit.'
Even to me, who knew nothing of war, our side seemed overwhelmingly disadvantaged.
Would Dad be okay?
I knew he was strong. I'd even seen the power he wielded firsthand.
But knowing that didn't stop the worry.
Maybe my concern overflowed in my eyes, because Dad reached out and gently wiped the corner of them.
"You wear your heart on your sleeve, don't you?"
Well, because we...
Um.
As I struggled to find words, Dad continued softly.
As if to reassure me, his tone was gentler than usual.
"Looks like I won't be able to spend your birthday with you this time either."
"S'okay."
"No, it's not okay. I'm sorry."
My birthday was tomorrow.
The first one I could spend with Dad.
But there was no helping it.
I understood Dad's situation. He was a knight with a duty to protect people.
So even though he had no reason to apologize to me, he kept repeating "I'm sorry."
"Be caweful. Hewetics scawwy."
"Yeah."
"Wast time head huwt bad. Bwack, so knights too. No poison~"
"Demon poison doesn't bother me."
"Does it huwt bad?"
Dad didn't answer right away. He stroked my hair a few times with a smile, then spoke casually.
"Dad's strong, so it's fine."
...Liar.
This refusal to ever show weakness to me was something Dad and Dietrich had in common.
Family traits, huh.
Mariella left the room not long after.
Perhaps because she'd grown up without parental affection, she was heartbreakingly perceptive and quick on the uptake.
Kira returned with the hastily organized tactical briefing materials, holding the door until the girl had fully exited before stepping inside.
"Sorry to the young lady for no reason. Her fourth birthday's right around the corner."
"No helping it."
"We all know you don't mean that. You, who went all the way to the jewelers to buy her birthday gift..."
Kira trailed off, recalling what had happened at that jewelry store.
The coachman's voice, insulting Lucy, still grated in Leopoldt's ears.
Leopoldt's gaze fell on the crude drawing letter on one corner of his desk.
A single, clumsy picture from a daughter whose face he didn't even know, sent along his triumphal return route.
A picture of his wife slipping from his grasp to a place he couldn't reach, and children growing up without him.
His family, all smiling falsely like a lie.
His heartfelt wish.
If everything could return whole, just like in that drawing letter, he could die right there on the spot.
He knew it wouldn't return, and that was why he wanted to die following her.
'Pwease, save me!'
But he had a reason he couldn't follow his dead wife in death.
The hell that bound him to the world, preventing even suicide—and at the same time, the cherished trace that so perfectly resembled the one he loved most.
This year too, his small, young, lovable hell would have to face her birthday without him.
That fact clutched strangely at his heart.