Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Star Feast (2)
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It didn't take long for the Yuhyeolmogi knights, who had emerged from the heart of the encirclement, to deal with all the bandits.
“Ughhh…”
*Gurgle.*
The bandits screamed, not knowing when or how they were struck, before melting into pools of blood.
“P-Poison!”
“H-Hieek… Save me…!”
The few survivors fled, completely terrified.
Greta Giftrang didn't even spare them a glance.
She merely examined the small esquire in her arms.
“Hah.”
The boy's body, limp and unconscious, was covered in wounds.
His armor—slashed, pierced, and torn—was in tatters, and none of the wounds visible through it were shallow.
“How could he, with such a small body…”
She let out a gasp of admiration.
Though she was a woman whose emotions rarely wavered, this time, she was genuinely surprised.
She had long noticed the young esquire's extraordinary nature and had instructed her nephew to make a place for him, but she never imagined that a boy not yet fully grown could accomplish so much while surrounded by dozens of bandits.
She scanned the corpses of the gang scattered about and the discarded weapons.
That alone was enough for her to picture the young esquire's desperate struggle in her mind.
A chaotic melee.
Surrounded by enemies on all sides, he must have fought a grueling battle.
Faced with a physical disadvantage and numerical inferiority, he would have had no way to fell his enemies without getting hurt. For every one he took down, he must have suffered a grievous wound in return.
With his body battered, he must have tenaciously clung to the enemy to buy time for the refugees to escape.
His spirit and resolve were truly astonishing.
It was something that could not be imitated with mere willpower.
No. Simple willpower alone would not have made it possible.
There must have been a limit to what an underdeveloped body could do against able-bodied bandits.
“Was he protected by a star?”
Greta's gaze turned to the sky.
The roaring thunder and the writhing lightning were gone.
And yet, the night sky she looked upon was anything but silent.
In fact, it was more clamorous than ever.
“What on earth have you all seen to be in such a frenzy?”
The dark clouds had not yet fully cleared, yet the impatient stars were eagerly showing off their forms.
They looked as if they were campaigning to be noticed.
It was a rare phenomenon.
Wasn't the reason she, who rarely left her family's estate, had come all this way because of the stars' unusually loud clamor?
She had wondered who could have possibly drawn the attention of the stars like this.
To think the one responsible was such a small child.
“Do you all covet this child so?”
The stars remained silent in response to her question.
She hadn't expected an answer, and there was no way they would give one.
But it wasn't difficult to discern the stars' intentions.
The young esquire's astonishing fight would have been impossible without a star's aid.
She didn't know for sure, but there had to be a star among them that had taken notice of the child and lent him its power.
“Tsk.”
Greta clicked her tongue as she scanned the night sky.
*Shiver, shiver.*
The small esquire in her arms was trembling like a leaf.
His complexion was so pale it was almost blue, and his breathing was faint.
“This is not good.”
None of it was.
The child, who had suffered wounds his small body couldn't handle and fought for so long in the rain, was in a condition beyond ‘critical.’
An ordinary person would have died ten times over.
The only reason the child was still breathing had to be the stars' intervention.
Of course, she couldn't be completely at ease.
“Wretched. How wretched. If you were going to take him in, you should have done so completely.”
If they were malicious stars, they might use this opportunity to inflict some kind of disability or restriction.
Stars reveled in humans who overcame trials, but they were also malicious beings who rejoiced in humans who crumbled under them.
“Tsk.”
Clicking her tongue again, Greta tore her clothes and staunched the child's wounds.
She poured the family's secret elixir on the child's wounds and trickled the rest into his mouth.
After finishing the first aid, she wrapped the small body in her cloak.
“The esquire is…”
Just then, the mercenaries approached hesitantly.
They feared Greta, but they didn't back down.
It seemed they were determined to hear about the young esquire's condition from her own lips.
Their concern for the young esquire was truly commendable.
“I've administered the family's elixir. He should show signs of improvement soon.”
And so, in a rare, gentle voice, she informed the mercenaries of the young esquire's condition.
“Ah…”
The mercenaries finally let out sighs of relief.
Greta watched them with interest.
The recently formed Relief Knights.
The bond between the young esquire and them must be shallow at best.
It seemed that even those who lived rough lives were not without respect and admiration for a righteous person.
“My lady.”
As she was observing the mercenaries, the prodigy whose talent she had valued and taken in approached and spoke to her.
“If I had known you would come, my lady, he wouldn't have had to put himself through such an ordeal.”
But his first words were truly disappointing to her.
“It seems a precious elixir was wasted for nothing.”
His blatant belittling of the young esquire's righteous act was truly pathetic.
Greta frowned.
Greta couldn't tell whether it was his inherent nature and capacity, or if an inferiority complex toward someone who made a choice he couldn't—stemming from a defeat he had yet to overcome—was influencing the prodigy.
What was certain was that among the countless stars shining in the sky, not a single one would be watching the prodigy.
Perhaps even the star that had once noticed and protected him was now having second thoughts.
Stars were, after all, terribly fickle and demanding beings.
She could see the deeper despair and frustration the prodigy would soon face.
But she did not bother to speak up and shake the already precarious prodigy.
The taste in her mouth was bitter.
At this rate, he was no different from a flower blooming in a garden.
She had thought he was a talent who could one day take on a key role when he finally stepped out of the main family's shadow and made a name for himself.
But all she had confirmed was a vessel far too small for his precious talent.
Suddenly, the void left by the eldest son she had cast out felt vast.
*Flinch.*
Lost in such thoughts, she frowned.
“How strange.”
She was having an unusual number of stray thoughts today.
Perhaps seeing the young esquire's struggle had made her uncharacteristically pensive.
Shaking off her thoughts with a click of her tongue, she gave an order to a Yuhyeolmogi knight.
“Find someone to tend to the child's wounds and bring them here.”
Wary that the young esquire's condition might worsen during travel, she turned toward the nearby military camp.
Iden watched Greta head for the camp, his face filled with resentment.
“Why must the family head go to such trouble herself…”
Tearing her fine clothes to tend to the wounds of an esquire of unknown origin.
Using the family's priceless elixir without hesitation.
Not shying away from getting the hem of her always immaculate coat stained with blood and dirt.
All of it was unlike the family head's usual behavior.
*‘To summon two sword shadows already. My expectations for you are truly high.’*
*‘If you keep trying, becoming the greatest knight in the West won't be just a dream.’*
*‘When the family stands tall in the future, I will let you carry its banner.’*
*‘Well done, Iden.’*
The fact that she, who had praised and encouraged him but never once held him in her arms, had now embraced an esquire of unknown origin whom she had just met today—Iden simply could not accept it.
*Gnash.*
A venomous light flickered in the once-brilliant prodigy's eyes.
*Glance.*
*Nod.*
Not far away, the mercenaries of the Forsaken Hounds, who had been watching, exchanged glances.
* * *
“I see the bandits' stronghold ahead!”
Less than two days after leaving the camp, the assault party was able to find the bandits' stronghold.
“Hieek! It's the Giftrang knights!”
However, contrary to the prisoner's confession, the stronghold was guarded only by ordinary bandits.
The unidentified sorcerer who commanded the three Grendel brothers was nowhere to be seen.
“All units, charge!”
The assault party immediately charged the bandits' stronghold.
The crudely built wooden palisade couldn't stop them for even a moment.
They trampled the bandits, who couldn't even put up a decent fight, in a single breath.
It was an overwhelming victory.
But instead of rejoicing in victory, Gunther immediately hurried back.
He had a bad feeling.
If the enemy had lured their main force away, those left behind could be in danger.
He was anxious.
Gunther rode like a madman.
The still-damp ground was not ideal for riding, but that didn't matter.
Right now, his only thought was for the safety of the esquire he had left behind.
“Knight Gunther?”
And so he arrived at the camp, having ridden without rest.
The mercenaries stared wide-eyed at him, who had returned alone.
Gunther's heart sank.
The esquire, who would normally have come out of the camp to greet him, was nowhere to be seen.
This bothered him so much that he searched through the barracks like a madman.
“Knight. The esquire is in this barracks.”
A mercenary from the Forsaken Hounds who had caught up with him guided him to the central barracks.
“—So, do you know what my Master said?”
“—I wonder. I can't imagine at all.”
“—Oh, Lady Greta. You have to use your imagination.”
The sound of a quiet conversation drifted from inside.
*Fling.*
Without a second thought, he flung open the barracks door.
“That's not begging, it's alms-seeking… Huh? Master?”
The esquire, who had been lying in bed talking to some woman, widened his eyes.
“Why are you back so early? I thought it would take about five days.”
Unaware of his master's inner turmoil, who had ridden day and night with a worried heart, the esquire's casual tone was almost infuriating.
“You wicked esquire. You see your master and don't even know to get out of bed…?”
As he let out an inward sigh of relief and began to nag, his eyes fell upon the esquire's pale complexion.
Blue-tinged lips, dark circles under his eyes.
He could even glimpse bandages beneath his collar.
“Your state is…!”
“Oh, this? I was injured a little.”
At the esquire's brazen words, Gunther's face contorted.
For someone who was ‘injured a little,’ the amount of bandages wrapped around his body was not small.
He was clearly seriously injured.
“What in the world happened? No. Didn't you promise me! That if the situation turned bad, you'd retreat to Komlat without a second glance!”
Furious, Gunther unleashed a torrent of scolding at the esquire.
“Don't be too hard on the boy.”
Just then, a calm voice was heard.
It was the woman who had been cheerfully chatting with the esquire moments before.
“And who are you to interfere in a conversation between a knight and his esquire…”
“M-M-Master!”
As he gruffly asked the woman's identity, already in a foul mood, the esquire, his pale face turning even whiter, called out to him frantically.
“This is Lady Greta Giftrang, the head of Komlat Giftrang! Lady Greta, this is my master and the captain of the Relief Knights, Sir Gunther!”
But there was a reason for his fuss.
“I am the freelance knight, Gunther.”
At the appearance of an unexpected big shot, Gunther belatedly straightened his posture and offered a greeting.
“Greta Giftrang.”
The friendliness that filled her face as she returned the greeting was somewhat unexpected.
“If it's not too rude for a first meeting, I'd like to make a small proposal.”
And her proposal was even more unexpected.
“Would it be alright if House Giftrang oversaw this child's Starseeking?”