Ep.2 - To the Kingdom of Albator (2)
Ep.2 - To the Kingdom of Albator (2)
***
The wagon headed toward the kingdom.
Unlike a comfortably cruising car, or the smooth KTX I'd occasionally take when heading to Busan, it was rough and jolting — but it didn't feel that uncomfortable either.
It was a cart meant for hauling cargo or prisoners, so how could I even think about comfort?
I was just grateful I didn't have to hobble on an ankle with shattered bones.
"Hngh..."
The only discomfort came from the throbbing pain in my swollen ankle.
Everything else was fine.
No. The pain itself was bearable.
I had to bear it.
Don't groan over this measly pain. Don't let any tears show.
The wagon had already passed the dense forests and mountains, now distant behind us,
and ahead, we had to press on toward what we couldn't yet see — so let's get it together.
Deolkeong, deolkeong-
The wagon wheel caught a rock and jolted harshly.
The trembling was enough to toss his anguished heart this way and that, but Delin clenched his teeth and endured it.
This man, after regaining his physical freedom and safety, had reflected on what happened in the thieves' hideout and grown all the more!
The groans that had escaped his own mouth, not to mention the days spent pinned under women's backsides and wheezing — indeed, they had been no small shock,
yet resolving to change and steeling one's resolve — is that not a difficult feat!
Furthermore, Delin had also been granted a very special and broken [Save&Load] ability,
so as long as he acted wisely, what could he possibly fail to accomplish!
Let us all cheer Delin on, and immerse ourselves in his tale once more.
...
"The gate is upon us! Bind those thieving bitches tighter so the townsfolk aren't alarmed! And hold today's great achievement in your hearts as you walk with pride!"
"Commander's orders! Rebind the thieves and walk like knights!"
"Commander's orders!"
Knight Commander Neva strode at the very front, her imposing voice resounding all the way to the wagon. At intervals, knights would repeat Neva's words, bellowing loudly to relay the orders all the way to the rear of the procession.
'The gate...'
We were about to reach the gate.
Following Neva, the knight who saved me, I'd finally reached her nation — the Albator Kingdom.
To be precise, the place we were now headed for was Wesbil, situated at the westernmost edge of Albator Kingdom territory. A mid-sized city flourishing by the day under a wise lord.
We were to stop here to restock on water and provisions, and rest for a few hours.
The final destination was Albator, the capital of the Albator Kingdom.
Neva would proceed to the royal palace there, have an audience with the queen, and receive direct commendation for her service,
while Philmark and her thief crew would be sent to the world's worst prison to await their execution day.
'...Well, she made her bed.'
Aside from capturing and fucking me senseless for days and nights, it seemed they had quite the list of sins.
They were apparently infamous, notorious thieves, so they couldn't just be hanged swiftly like ordinary criminals — there had to be some sort of conference with the queens or leaders of various nations.
I guess plenty of people want to kill them with their own hands. And to think they weren't just generic bandit extras like the ones that show up in fantasy novels or manga...
Deolkeong, deolkeong-
With a rattling sound, the wagon moved through the city's interior.
'The city...'
The scenery was slowly coming into view through the open entrance.
The residents' clothes, which looked vaguely familiar,
the occasional strong-looking individuals,
and finally,
the murmur of their voices reaching my ears...
Kkiik-
The wagon stopped,
and the knights following behind also halted their steps along with it.
Their gazes shifted forward.
Probably toward Neva, who was leading the way.
And then, her voice soon rang out.
"Glory to Lady Rozalika, Lord of Wesbil! I, Neva, Knight Commander of the great Albator Kingdom, have captured the ruthless and wicked thief Philmark under the orders of Her Majesty the Queen. En route to the royal palace to deliver this joyous news, I humbly request that you grant our knight order two days' worth of provisions and a place to rest."
Her resounding voice spread far and wide, as if echoing throughout the entire city,
and the glad tidings in her words soon stirred cheers and applause from the residents.
"Long live Neva! Long live Neva!"
They shouted Neva's name in unison.
Through the wagon's entrance, I could see the residents' faces overflowing with joy and laughter, and their loud murmurs finally reached my ears.
"She's finally been caught! That crazy thieving bitch. Death penalty, no question!"
"I was sure they'd come back empty-handed this time too. How did they catch her...? No matter how strong Lady Neva is, this is the infamous Philmark we're talking about!"
"I knew Lady Neva would pull through in the end. I've always said it! Bad bitches all crash and burn eventually."
After that, the murmuring gradually died down and I could hear no more.
I could grasp the reason without even looking.
"Indeed. Lady Neva. You've finally done it... Would a mere two days' worth of provisions and a place to rest suffice, truly? I shall prepare a token of gratitude befitting this great achievement, so please, rest at ease."
The voice that pierced my ears was that of a woman well into middle age, exuding nobility so strongly that I unconsciously straightened my posture where I sat.
Hm.
It was a rather pleasant voice, admittedly.
Now that I thought about it, the lord was a woman too. The Knight Commander, a woman. The entire knight order, all women...
It was all goddamn women, the whole lot of them.
Even the residents I could glimpse outside the wagon were all women...
— no, not entirely, but women were definitely the majority.
'Is the gender ratio different?'
To better understand this other world, I examined the residents a bit more carefully.
If this happened to be a world where men wore makeup or some shit, I really felt like I'd lose my goddamn mind...!
Thankfully, the men I glimpsed here and there weren't wearing makeup or dresses or anything of the sort.
"Phew..."
A sigh of relief escaped me involuntarily.
Seeing that they looked more ordinary than I'd expected, a hopeful vision of the future began to form again.
This gender-reversed world simply didn't have major differences — only disparities in the gender ratio or in which sex occupied positions of power and the like —
maybe women were slightly? physically dominant, I didn't know, but it wasn't a world where men just went around getting fucked like dogs.
What an enormous relief.
That was one weight off my chest.
...With that,
Delin, having formed his own somewhat logical assessment, passed his time in Wesbil.
Of course, even as he passed the time, he only sat in the wagon cautiously examining the scenery outside,
but — knock-knock.
"Delin-ssi? Are you there?"
Around the midpoint, Knight Commander Neva came looking for him, her hands full of purchases, which alleviated the lonely hours.
The break lasted roughly three hours, and during that time, Delin and Neva sat facing each other in the wagon and shared various stories.
Most of the stories, however, came from Neva's mouth — likely the result of the woman's desperate efforts to keep the conversation going.
...
"Really...? Pfft!"
"I mean it! So get this, what that dimwit had to say for himself was that he didn't know a thing! I was so dumbfounded I just grabbed him by the collar and — 'Are you even right in the head?' — and slammed him straight into the ground."
Drawing confidence from Delin's laughter, Neva poured out her stories, even gesticulating with her hands and feet.
Her experiences as Knight Commander were both absurd and engrossing, so Delin found himself enjoying them as well.
However, the other knights passing by clicked their tongues and pitied their commander.
"Even so, is it really right to just rattle on about nothing but knight order stories for hours...? This feels like a lost cause already..."
"Leave her be. Sticking your nose into that kind of thing usually ends in disaster."
Indeed, it might be, for isn't talking about the military when meeting a romantic interest considered almost taboo?
It seemed Neva had likely never heard such advice.
If she'd gone on blathering about the knight order for hours to some other man, wouldn't she have met with bitter rejection?
Fortunately, our Delin was in a situation where he wanted to learn about this other world through all kinds of stories, and unlike other men, he was someone who could find knight order stories reasonably entertaining in their own way,
and so a harmonious, pleasant atmosphere continued throughout their conversation.
From the outside, it might have looked like a blunder by a Knight Commander who didn't know the first thing about a man's heart — the sort that would get her brushed off any second —
but in the end, as long as the two parties involved in the conversation were happy, that was all that mattered. That was the truth of it.
"Another day, I was dispatched out to a frigid border region and... Huh?"
But Neva's story suddenly stopped. Instead, her gaze fixed on Delin's ankle.
"G-Good heavens! Does it not hurt? For it to be this swollen..."
"Ah, it's fine. As long as I don't move it, it doesn't hurt."
Delin said this and then flashed a hearty smile.
It was a poised, mature smile, quite pleasant to see.