66. The Shepherd Witch
66. The Shepherd Witch
Today, the kitchen is my domain.
Ggumteul-ggumteul.
A living creature lies upon the cutting board.
An Armored Kraken.
It's a monster I happened to slice apart yesterday while patrolling the coastline.
'Today is the day I will finally capture Lucia's palate.'
I believe the reason my cooking has failed until now was purely a matter of presentation.
Braised Frost Bear paws, glacier worm gut soup, battle horned rabbit soup...
Every single one was a highly nutritious health food, yet Lucia's reaction every time was a scream.
It's incomprehensible. They were all delicious.
Today is truly different.
I have adopted a civilized cooking method.
First, I use a kitchen knife thinly coated in aura to slice the tentacles as if filleting them.
Seogeok, seogeok.
The chewy elasticity is transmitted through the tip of the knife.
The key to cooking monster meat is catching that unique fishy smell during the process.
I tuck lemon slices in between and drizzle juice made from the North's specialty, ice strawberries.
Then, olive oil and cheese.
As a finishing touch, I even added blue edible flowers that are said to grow only on cliffs.
I stepped back and looked at the finished plate.
Atop the transparently shining tentacle slices, the yellow of the lemon, the red of the strawberry juice, the white of the cheese, and the blue of the flowers harmonized.
A plating that would make a three-star chef weep.
Kraken sashimi salad, Carpaccio style.
A Northern-style seafood appetizer.
Perfect.
The visuals are good enough to be served at an Imperial palace banquet.
In the dining room, Lucia, Leona, and Freya had already taken their seats.
"Hiik!"
Lucia jumped up from her seat.
"K-Knight-nim...... D-Did I do something wrong......? You're still holding a grudge about what happened last time, aren't you!? I already apologized for the misunderstanding!"
"It's a special meal. Kraken sashimi salad, Carpaccio style."
"Something's wriggling? Is this okay to eat?"
Freya's critique flew in.
"It's proof of freshness."
"Freshness isn't the problem, what's with those flowers?! Aren't those poisonous herbs?!"
"They are edible."
"How are we supposed to trust your standards for 'edible'? You're not planning to feed that bizarre thing to Lucia, are you?"
Leona's sharp remark.
Calling it bizarre, I'm hurt.
I put quite a bit of effort into the plating in my own way.
"Your sense of taste must be corrupted by the Abyss. Same with those fried spider legs you gave us last time; why on earth do you keep cooking monsters when there are perfectly normal ingredients available?"
"Monster meat is high in nutritional value."
"Hiik! As I thought, you're trying to fatten me up!"
Lucia covered her mouth with both hands.
Watching that reaction, I sometimes wonder.
Is my cooking really that scary?
My cooking always guarantees taste and nutrition.
It's just that the visuals have a little, just a tiny bit, of a wild flavor.
It was then.
"Move, move! Eris-nim is coming through!"
Kwang!
The dining room door burst open, and pink twin-tails fluttered.
Eris.
She was wearing a safety helmet askew. It seemed she had just finished work at the wall repair site.
A single snow squirrel sat gallantly upon her shoulder.
"Everyone, pay attention! Eris-nim caught some suspicious bastards!"
Eris shouted triumphantly.
"Haah......."
Lucia let out a deep sigh.
"Eris. If you've bullied my maternal uncle again, this week's chocolate pudding is completely confiscated."
"Eh? No! I'm telling you, it's not a penguin this time!"
"Last time you caught a snow rabbit and insisted it was an assassin."
Freya said indifferently.
"Everyone always doubts Eris-nim! When has Eris-nim ever lied???"
Everyone's eyes met.
'Always.'
Everyone felt the same way.
"I'm telling you it's for real this time!! It's true!!"
Eris stomped her feet.
The boy who cried wolf—no, the Shepherd Witch.
Eris's credibility had already pierced through the floor and reached the underground bedrock water.
"While I was repairing the wall, I caught these guys trying to sneak in through a dog-hole!"
Eris huffed and yanked on a pink thorn vine.
Jil-jil-jil.
The vine dragged something in.
Three humans, tied up tightly, tumbled onto the dining room floor.
Black clothes. Leather gloves. Hoods covering their faces.
No matter which angle you looked at them from, they didn't look like virtuous citizens.
"......Huh? They're actually people?"
Freya's eyes widened.
"Now, everyone! Let's check the loot!"
At Eris's signal, a swarm of snow squirrels appeared from somewhere and jumped onto the spies' bodies.
Bbol-bbol-bbol.
The snow squirrels began to pick the pockets of the ruffians with practiced skill.
Contrary to their cute appearance, their hand movements were fast and precise enough to put a back-alley pickpocket to shame.
Jjik! Jjik-jjik!
One squirrel ran over with a silver button in its mouth and placed it on the table.
Dalgurak.
An eagle crest was elaborately engraved on the surface of the button.
"......This crest is."
Lucia's expression stiffened.
"The crest of Margrave Eisenhardt......?"
The snow squirrels continued to deliver the loot.
A small magic power detector.
Poison needles for assassination.
A sketch map detailing the terrain of Frostgard.
And even a scrap of parchment labeled 'The Princess's Daily Schedule'.
Eris had truly caught spies.
The air in the dining room sank heavily.
Eris looked around with a flustered face.
"Why is the mood like this? Didn't Eris-nim achieve a great feat?"
No one answered.
"Aren't you going to praise me? Huh?"
The witch's voice echoed pitifully.
*
An emergency strategy meeting was convened.
The location was the grand conference room.
The attendees were the core powers of the North.
Lucia, Freya, Sir Brynjolf, Leona, and the penguin.
I stood with my arms crossed, having made the three spies kneel.
Eris was waiting in the corner in spectator mode, eating the Kraken Carpaccio with the snow squirrels.
Now then, let us begin the interrogation.
'Who sent you? What is your purpose? I am a humanitarian Black Knight. If you speak honestly, I will return you to your families.'
[Intimidation Roll Success]
"I shall flay your skins alive and hang them in the square. Of course, your families will be next."
No, no, no.
"......Shouldn't you start with questions first? What's the point of doing the torture first?"
At Leona's words, the spies' faces turned ashen.
"I-I'll talk! I'll tell you everything, so please spare me......!"
"Just my family, please......! My wife and children know nothing!"
"W-We are the advance scout team that infiltrated under the orders of Margrave Conrad!"
"Count Conrad?"
Lucia furrowed her brows.
"Why would he come to Frostgard......?"
"That's...... Currently, the Count is marching north leading the Imperial Knights and the Magitech Corps! The pretext is......"
The spy gulped as he glanced at me.
"To liberate the North, which is ruled by the wicked Black Knight, and to rescue the kidnapped Princess Her Highness."
"......What?"
Leona let out an absurd laugh.
"And, uh...... rumors that the Black Knight brutally murdered Grand Duke Valter and usurped the position of Grand Duke have spread throughout the Empire......! We only set out to liberate the North!"
Kki-ee-ek?
Valter the penguin, who was sitting on the desk, flapped his wings violently.
"I'm dead? I'm right here, alive and well. ...I've just become a penguin."
The spy's eyes bulged upon hearing Valter's cry.
"W-What is that talking bird?! There's no way such a creature exists! Kuaaak!"
One of the spies rolled his eyes back and fainted.
"Continue."
The remaining spy continued the report while trembling like an aspen leaf.
"B-Besides us, several advance scout teams have already entered the outskirts of Frostgard to identify vulnerabilities in the walls and the size of the forces to report back to the main body. It will take two days for the main body to arrive."
Summarizing the gathered information:
First, Margrave Conrad Von Eisenhardt is marching north leading a large-scale expeditionary force.
Second, the pretext is 'Subjugating the Black Knight and Rescuing the Princess'. A triple pretext of kidnapping the Princess, murdering the Grand Duke, and occupying the North.
Third, several advance scout teams have already reached the outskirts of Frostgard. Information on wall vulnerabilities, troop size, and supply lines has already fallen into enemy hands.
Furthermore, the remaining time is two days.
It means they are right under our noses.
A heavy silence descended upon the conference room.
"......The pretext is perfect."
Grand Duke Valter said while preening his feathers with his beak.
"According to Imperial law, a Margrave has the right and duty to subjugate traitors who threaten Imperial territory. Furthermore, with the added pretext that the Northern Duke was murdered, it would be easy to suppress the backlash from other lords."
"They're aiming for the fact that the North has weakened after the Monster Wave. The timing, the troops, the pretext—everything is calculated."
The penguin nodded at Leona's words.
"Moreover, there's no way Conrad planned an expedition of this scale on his own. He's a man who never fights a battle that doesn't yield profit. The Imperial Knights and the Magitech Corps are the core strength of the Empire."
The penguin's eyes flashed eerily.
"In other words, the fact that he's leading them north means the Imperial family shares the same intent."
"Can't we just fight?"
Freya stood up, slamming the table.
"There's no way Northern warriors would lose to some Imperial scraps!"
"......You still haven't learned how to think with your head, my daughter."
Valter looked up at Freya as if she were pathetic.
"My appa is a penguin, so who am I supposed to learn from!!"
Freya shrieked.
Does that counter-argument hold up?
Since the father responsible for his daughter's education has become a penguin, does the responsibility for the lack of education lie with the penguin side?
"Ahem. The coordinated tactics of the Imperial Knights are on a different level from a swarm of monsters. Furthermore, the firepower of the Magitech Corps is......."
While Valter's explanation continued, I quietly ran calculations in my head.
Kidnapping the Princess.
Murdering the Grand Duke.
Occupying the North.
A massive farce created by three misunderstandings.
Why is the path to a happy ending so arduous?
"What should we do, Knight-nim?"
Lucia looked up at me with worried eyes.
"No problem. I'll crush them all."
[Coercion Roll Success]
"I shall slaughter every last bit of Imperial trash and carpet the ground with their corpses. Let the festival of blood begin."
I only wanted to tell her to be at ease.
Tears welled up in Lucia's eyes.
"P-Please, just don't commit a massacre......!"
......The romance is ruined again.
Two days later.
Beyond the plains where the blizzard had subsided, thousands of elite troops stood in line.
In the vanguard were the Imperial Knights, clad in full plate armor.
Behind them were even magitech catapults shining with geometric patterns.
It was certainly a power of civilization on a different level from the mindless monsters we had faced so far.
"There's a disgusting amount of them. Looks a bit dangerous?"
"They are the Empire's finest. Naturally."
Grand Duke Valter replied, standing at Freya's feet.
In the center of the enemy camp.
A man mounted on a white horse was visible.
A middle-aged blonde knight in ornate armor with a red cloak fluttering.
Conrad Von Eisenhardt. The Margrave known to be the most calculating and cold-blooded in the Empire.
Through a magic megaphone, his voice boomed across the entire plain.
"Aah──! What a terrible and barbaric sight! Only love can save the world, yet the wicked Black Knight has oppressed Her Highness the innocent Princess and trampled upon the purity of the North!"
Conrad placed a hand on his chest and looked up at the sky.
"Oh! Love! Please grant strength to this humble knight! Your knight shall light the lamp of civilization in this land of barbarism! Oh! I shall dedicate the glory of victory to her!!"
......What is with that guy.
The 'most calculating lord'?
That?
"......Has that ahjeossi lost his mind? I don't think he was like that before."
Freya looked down at Valter.
"Conrad was always a cool-headed fellow who was clear about gains and losses. He was famous for not spending a single coin on things that didn't yield profit...... What on earth happened?"
Grand Duke Valter also looked confused.
"Focus. It's starting."
Leona drew her Holy Sword.
Kugugugung──!
The Magitech Corps' catapults simultaneously spat fire toward the walls.
Dozens of magic shells flew in, drawing parabolas.
"Eris!"
At Lucia's shout, Eris, who had been crouching in the corner, jumped up.
"Uuuu......! Do you know how hard I worked to restore those walls!"
Eris gnashed her teeth.
This witch's motivation system is unique.
It's not 'I will protect everyone', but 'Don't break what I worked so hard to build'.
Of course, as long as the result is the same, the motive doesn't matter.
"I won't let them be broken again!!"
Pink thorn vines surged up from beneath the walls.
The magic shells exploded as they hit the vine net.
Shockwaves spread and the vines were torn. However, new vines immediately sprouted from the torn spots and re-wove the net.
Tearing, regenerating, absorbing.
The vines of the witch, tempered by manual labor in the North, were tough.
Peong! Peong! Kwang!
After the flashy fireworks ended, the smoke cleared.
The walls were perfectly fine.
"Eris-nim's walls won't fall from just that!"
Good. Eris will hold the defense.
In that case, my role is one.
The sound of clashing metal could be heard through the smoke.
Under the cover of the magic shells, the Imperial Knights were forming a charge formation.
I got onto the husky sled.
I summoned the Abyssal Sword. A two-meter-long black greatsword materialized in my right hand.
"Let's go."
Keong! Wal-wal!
Eight huskies kicked up a blizzard as they burst through the castle gates.
A dog sled racing across the snow.
The knights' ranks drew closer in the blink of an eye.
"It's the Black Knight! The Black Knight has appeared!!"
"Knights! Close ranks!"
About fifteen knights blocked my path with spears.
Magitech full plate armor.
The latest equipment with glowing magic circuits. Armor that concentrated the Empire's technology.
Impressive.
Impressive, but.
The very idea of trying to stop a dog sled with knights in full plate armor is a fallacy.
I swung the Abyssal Sword in a wide arc.
Paaat──!
The black trajectory drew an arc and blew away the defensive forces.
Armor was dented, and knights rolled across the snow.
With that momentum, the husky sled pierced into the enemy's flank.
The targets are in sight.
Magitech catapults. Three units.
Kwagang──!
A single strike from the Abyssal Sword snapped the carriage of the first catapult in two.
I turned. The huskies made a sharp turn, kicking up snow.
The second. The third.
Successive destruction.
Uooooo-!
Cheers erupted from behind.
Now the battle had begun in earnest.
"Let's go! Let's show those Imperial tin cans a spicy taste!"
Freya brandished her dual swords and leapt down from the wall.
Still dual swords.
But it was different from before.
In her right hand was the Frost Sword inherited from her father. In her left was her original shortsword.
The Frost Sword is heavy. Normally, it's a weight that should be held with both hands.
However, Freya utilized that weight difference to her advantage.
The right side heavy. The left side light.
The asymmetrical centrifugal force created an axis of rotation.
Freya spun her body as she charged into the vanguard.
The Frost Sword drew a circle. The heavy right arm became the center of rotation, and the shortsword in the light left arm followed.
Paat──!
In the first rotation, the spear shafts of the three lead knights froze and shattered. In the second rotation, the shortsword pierced through openings, cutting three armor joints. In the third rotation, the cold embedded in the Frost Sword's blade exploded outward, and the ground within a 5-meter radius instantly turned into an ice sheet.
The current Freya is a flame harboring frost.
Following Freya, the Northern warriors poured out from the castle gates.
And behind them, waddle-waddle.
Kki-ee-ek!
......The penguin had joined the fray.
Valter spread his wings wide and slid down the slope.
Gliding using his smooth belly fat. The acceleration his streamlined body created on the snow was more than expected.
Swaee-ee-ek!!
The penguin charged into the middle of the enemy camp.
"W-What is that bird?!"
Valter can no longer hold a sword. Because he has no fingers.
But.
Uuuung──!
The penguin's wings were masterpieces in themselves.
The cold of the Abyss condensed at the tips of his feathers. As he swung his wings horizontally, crescent-shaped cold slashes flew out.
Paaat!
Jjeok, jjeojeojeok!
Joints stopped, amplification devices turned off, and the steel plate armor became mere iron coffins.
Valter did not stop. He navigated between the frozen knights with his short legs and struck their helmets with his wings.
Kkang! Kkagang!
Using one foot as an axis, he rotated and swung both wings in succession.
The Northern spin-slash had been converted to fit the penguin's physique.
And then gliding again.
Sliding on the snow on his belly to charge into the next dense formation.
He slipped between the knights' legs and froze their knee joints with his wings.
"Raise the port-side defense line! The halberdiers retreat and reorganize the formation!"
Accurate tactical instructions poured out from the penguin's beak.
In accordance with those instructions, Freya and the Northern warriors moved in perfect order.
He still lacks dignity, but he is competent.
"Just what...... is that bird! To think a bird is giving commands!"
Count Conrad was aghast atop his white horse.
Valter the penguin glared at Conrad with wide eyes.
"You scoundrel, Conrad! Do you not recognize me! It is I! Valter Grombalt!"
"......."
Conrad stared blankly at the penguin for a moment, then shook his head.
"Oh, piteous beast. To even mimic human speech! Look at that hideous monster! The rumors that the Black Knight controls a monster army to ravage the North were true!"
At Conrad's shout, the morale of the Imperial army actually soared.
"It's a monster army!"
"The Black Knight commands monsters!"
"Defeat the terrifying monster army!"
......No.
That's just a penguin.
Moreover, he's giving such good commands that he's only fueling the misunderstanding.
Regardless, the battle entered a state of chaotic melee.
I destroyed the batteries, Freya broke the vanguard, Valter disrupted the center, Eris protected the walls, and Leona struck down those who tried to infiltrate.
The coordinated tactics of the Imperial Knights were certainly different from a swarm of monsters. If one was pushed back, another unit filled the gap. If a flank was breached, reserves were immediately deployed.
In terms of individual martial prowess, we were overwhelming, but the power of numbers and organization could not be ignored.
The sun began to set.
By the time the western sky was dyed blood-red, both sides retreated.
Part of the wall had collapsed.
Eris's vines were temporarily filling the gap, but it wasn't in a state to keep holding out.
Among the Northern warriors, the wounded were carried away on stretchers.
The Imperial army was the same. Most of their siege equipment had turned to rubble, and a significant portion of the knightly forces had retreated in a state of being unable to fight.
Under the setting sun, the footprints on the snow split toward both camps.
Subsequently, a white flag rose from the Imperial army's camp.
"......A negotiation."
"What should we do? Should we accept the negotiation?"
Freya asked with a tired face.
"We must. We also need time to reorganize."
The penguin replied, clacking his beak.