Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Making an Impression (2)
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I left the Young Lord's barracks.
“That wrapped up better than I expected.”
If he had decided to be unreasonable, there was really nothing I could have done.
Not revealing the mage's presence beforehand was a problem, and so was my clumsy act. Infiltrating the military camp was also a problem.
Besides those, most of my plan was like that.
If the outcome hadn't been good, it would have undoubtedly become a huge issue.
But things ended well, and thanks to that, we were able to secure a justification for our actions.
The Relief Knights who saved the Giftrangs from a crisis caused by mages hiding their identities.
A justification something like that.
But that alone was a bit unsettling.
Once during the contract, once at the departure ceremony, and again during this mage extermination.
I'd made the Young Lord a mere sidekick three times now.
No matter how much knights lived and died by their honor, at this point, it wouldn't have been strange for him to throw a fit and overturn everything.
That's why I suggested we discuss the rewards for our deeds.
In truth, to anyone who isn't a knight, this is a truly ridiculous act.
He was about to empty his own pockets to reward someone else, yet instead of regretting it, he welcomed it. Was this the thought process of a sane person?
But knights were never sane to begin with.
Beings who would throw away their lives to save face.
A tribe that would go through fire and water for the sake of dignity and pride.
What I had offered him wasn't just the confirmation of who led the subjugation, but the names of the three slain brothers themselves.
Simply put, you could say I yielded the credit to him.
Of course, this wasn't a decision I made on my own; it was something I'd agreed upon with Gunther beforehand.
A knight, who lives and dies by fame, yielding his own achievements.
An act a typical knight would never commit.
But our dear Master is a Holy Knight, unconcerned with worldly fame.
In any case, the Young Lord readily accepted the deal, and now there was no need to engage in a power struggle with the Giftrang family.
Hadn't the Young Lord, who just moments ago looked like he wanted to eat us alive, promised a great reward, even citing his family's ironclad rule?
The change was so dramatic that even I was taken aback.
No one knew how long that attitude would last.
However, if there was one thing I was sure of, it was that as long as the Relief Knights remained content with practical gains like this, the Young Lord's favor would also continue.
This was all thanks to Gunther.
My part was a stroke of luck, relying on the flimsy bond with the mages and stars who would lend me strength when I was ahead and pull out like ghosts when I was at a disadvantage. Gunther, on the other hand, had performed the incredible feat of taking down two of the three brothers with his own pure skill.
That very beggar knight who I thought would have done enough just by holding out until the Giftrang knights arrived.
Well, all's well that ends well.
Right now, Gunther's identity wasn't what was important.
“This is my spoil of war…!”
Before me was a bow that looked ordinary at first glance.
But a legacy left by a mage couldn't possibly be an ordinary object.
The aberrant medium that had connected the “Faceless Witch” and Grendel.
I carefully picked up the cursed weapon.
Holding it in my hands like this, it did feel somewhat special.
“No way.”
It was just a feeling.
I, who couldn't even form a bond with the Faceless Witch, let alone any star during fifteen years in my past life, had no chance of drawing out the power of a cursed weapon.
Besides, only mages could handle cursed weapons.
I didn't have the slightest intention of becoming a mage and living my whole life hiding in the shadows just for one monstrous bow.
Therefore, this thing was destined to be sold.
“Where should I sell it to get a high price?”
In the central regions, there are knightly orders that hunt mages and an imperial institution that researches their power. If not them, I could just put it up for auction in a major city.
“Hmph, hmph, hmph.”
Already feeling my pockets grow heavy, I hummed as I headed for the barracks.
“It seems the talk went well.”
Gone was the man who had squeezed his eyes shut and pretended to be unconscious. Gunther sat on his cot, greeting me with the most solemn face in the world.
“Mas…ter?”
I was about to snap back at him but quickly shut my mouth.
Next to Gunther, who was wrapped in blood-soaked bandages as if he'd just received emergency first aid, stood the Yuhyeolmogi Knight.
“Little Esquire, you look like you're in a good mood.”
“Knight…?”
It was the same knight who had encouraged me back when I defeated Iden.
“I just heard from Knight Johanna that Goron, the youngest of the three brothers, is still alive. I'm certain I cut his throat properly. I don't know how he survived; his life force is truly tenacious.”
That didn't seem like something the person who had taken dozens of direct hits from magic imbued with authority, only to press on and land a stab, should be saying.
But more importantly…
“Goron is alive?”
“Thanks to that, we have a chance to look into their situation. But first, we need to receive the rights to the prisoner from Knight Gunther.”
She said she was getting permission from Gunther, but her eyes were fixed on me.
“What should we do?”
To Gunther's somewhat belated question, I answered without hesitation.
Let's just hand him over.
Prisoner interrogation is one of the basic skills of an esquire.
However, the methods were quite brutal, and it wouldn't be a pretty sight for someone in this child's body to carry them out.
So, I recommended that Gunther hand the prisoner over to the Giftrang family on the condition that they share any information they find.
As always, our spineless beggar knight actively accepted my opinion, and just like that, the Giftrang family owed us another debt.
“Well then…”
Having finished her business, Johanna was about to leave the barracks when she suddenly brought her feet together.
With a sharp movement, she brought her right fist to her heart in a short salute.
“I pay my respects to the Knight's valor in battle, and I pray your path remains as righteous and unwavering as it is now.”
For a sign of respect to a Holy Knight, it was crude, but for a greeting to a mere Strider, it was quite formal.
“My thanks.”
Gunther, seemingly pleased by her attitude of treating him as a freelance knight despite his identity being revealed, accepted her greeting with a happy expression.
“Our little esquire was amazing, too.”
Johanna, who had quickly returned to her usual sly expression, patted my shoulder.
“You're probably the only esquire in the Empire to have killed a mage before even being knighted.”
At her praise, acting all friendly and calling me “our esquire” as if she'd been doing it all along, I scratched my forearm.
I'm still not used to compliments.
“I just shot a few arrows, and he went *boom* and then *argh*. It was a lucky shot, something like that.”
“If that was luck, then it's even more amazing. It means that incredible luck will stay with you.”
Saying how interesting the story would be when it spread, the ever-mischievous Johanna finally left the barracks, leaving just Gunther and me.
I had many questions I wanted to ask.
“Master.”
I hesitated, wondering how to ask, then slowly opened my mouth.
“You were a Holy Knight?”
“…Is that the best you could come up with after all that thought?”
“I couldn't think of any way to ask indirectly.”
My shameless reply made Gunther's expression turn to one of disbelief.
But he soon nodded with a calm face.
“My goodness. To think the Master was a Holy Knight. The Holy Order must be really going down the… Ouch!”
“Tsk. I was wondering why you hadn't been acting up for a while.”
Even as we exchanged silly banter, countless questions rose and fell in my mind.
Why would someone who was a Holy Knight be wandering around like a beggar?
Why did he take someone like me, with no proven faith or anything else, as his esquire?
What circumstances had led to him being unable to use the power of his Vow?
And so on, and so forth.
“Sigh. Look at these wounds.”
But I didn't voice a single one of them.
Everyone has their own circumstances they can't talk about.
“Where in the world is there a knight who fights by taking every single blow thrown at him?”
“…does not learn how to dodge.”
“Ugh. I shouldn't even bother. Really.”
Grumbling for no reason, I unwrapped and re-wrapped the bandages on Gunther's shoulder and forearm.
“Don't they teach proper first aid in the Giftrang family? Whoever wrapped these bandages did a clumsy job.”
“You little rascal. Always changing the subject.”
Watching me, Gunther chuckled and closed his eyes.
A faint, silvery-white holy energy, like the one I had seen before, began to flow from his meditating body.
I tied the bandage knot neatly and stepped back.
* * *
“Hah.”
Waking up early as always, I removed the gag from my mouth.
After causing a few disturbances due to my daily nightmares, I had taken to sleeping with a gag in my mouth.
“Agh, agh.”
Perhaps because of that, my jaw was stiff every time I woke up, but it couldn't be helped if I wanted to prevent any commotion.
“Damn it. Couldn't I get a break on a day like yesterday?”
I shook off the stiffness by moving my rattling jaw a few times and grumbled under my breath.
I cursed Roman in my dreams, who, without any regard for the fact that I'd run around suffering all day, had relentlessly tormented me, and then I began my daily routine.
Gunther was meditating in the same position as the day before.
I carefully picked up the whetstone so as not to disturb him.
*Shhk, shhk, shhk.*
I honed the sword that had been brutally overworked the day before, making it ready for combat again, and then examined the armor.
“Tsk. This is completely useless.”
The armor, which had been battered countless times by the cursed weapon, had long since become a lump of scrap metal.
“Anton, my apologies.”
With trembling hands, I offered a small apology to the generous Anton who had lent me the armor and then checked my remaining belongings.
Since my “battle” had consisted of nothing more than shooting a few arrows, there was nothing else that needed maintenance.
My future retirement fund, the cursed weapon, was also safe and sound.
All in all, it was a peaceful morning.
“When he meditates, he does it all night long.”
I observed Gunther, who was enveloped in a faint holy energy just as I had seen the day before.
『Aura』
In battle, it acts as armor; in times of peace, it restores the mind and body.
In dark places, it even serves as a lantern.
They say it's an authority unique to Holy Knights, with endless applications.
“Hmm.”
I suddenly became curious.
The day before, the three brothers had said before they died that Gunther's power was incomplete.
That he had been excommunicated or something.
If they had seen correctly, what kind of position did Gunther hold before his excommunication?
Could he have been a high-ranking Holy Knight, capable of not just manifesting an Aura but even materializing a Halo?
High-ranking Holy Knights who possessed Halos were beings even Roman was reluctant to face.
‘Fighting those cockroach-like bastards is no fun at all. Their armor is so damn tough you can't get a good stab in, and even if you do, they just heal in an instant.’
…Hmm.
Whatever the reason, it was clear that high-ranking Holy Knights were among the handful of powerhouses during the Great War.
Of course, I didn't think the beggar knight was that powerful, but I had no way of confirming it.
“Heave-ho.”
I sat quietly on the edge of the cot, waiting for Gunther to finish his meditation.
But he didn't seem to be waking up anytime soon, and I quickly began to doze off.
*Mmm, mmm.*
How much time passed in that state of being neither awake nor asleep?
Suddenly, an unknown sensation chased away my sleepiness.
The crown of my head tickled.
*Stare.*
Like a gaze boring down on me, as if someone were staring so intensely it could pierce through the top of my head.