A Wandering Knight's Tale
A woman sat across from Ion. She looked unfamiliar at first, yet her presence felt oddly familiar. And on the map, she was marked with a blue dot instead of yellow. Ion let out a sigh and asked, “Is this the witch Rina Schmitz?”
The woman smiled brightly and nodded. “That’s right. You can just call me Rina. There’s no need to stand on ceremony between us.”
“Between us?” Rina pouted, acting shy. Her appearance was quite striking, even if it was different from the one Ion remembered. “You helped me wake up after I was sleeping, so we’re special, right? Plus, our lips met.”
“It was after you used magic to move me, wasn’t it?”
“So you don’t like it?”
“There’s nothing good about it.”
“Why? I’m still young, you know.” The witch Rina twisted her long hair and tied it up, exposing her neck where a faint line was visible. Ion pointed at the mark. “You’re the type who can switch heads, right?”
“My head… I can’t help it. Maintaining this body takes a lot of power.”
“So you kill women and attach their heads?”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter male or female.” Rina rubbed her face with both hands, and her appearance shifted to that of a man in his thirties. The sight of a slender woman’s body paired with a rough man’s face was bizarre. “I do it like this.” Then she rubbed it again and reverted to her original face. “I mainly use it on male thieves who target women passing through alone.”
“I can’t believe it. Is that real magic?”
“Yes. I manipulate mana, so it’s magic.” She raised a finger, and a small flame flickered at the tip like a candle. Ion found the flame more intriguing than changing faces. “This isn’t the only magic.”
“Impressive.”
“This is the simpler one, yet you find it more amazing.”
“Creating something from nothing can only be impressive.”
“Exactly. That’s how you should think.” Rina shrugged and extinguished the flame, then glanced at the sword sheath at Ion’s waist. Ion drew the black sword, the one belonging to Klaus. “This is the ‘curse’ you mentioned?”
“Yes. It’s a longsword named ‘Pain’. It’s one of the three legendary twin swords. It’s also called ‘Vam’ in the same vein.”
“I prefer ‘Pain’.” Rina pointed to the middle of the blade. “Yes. It was forged by an ancient giant blacksmith. Ancient magical runes are carved into the hollow sections of the sword.”
Ion remembered that spot glowing faintly when he first held the sword. He adjusted the angle and saw strange characters in the firelight. “The runes say ‘Pain to the enemy!’ ‘Pain’ is solid and cuts the opponent better. Sharpness is the ability.”
He had experienced sharpness in battle, but the solidness pleased him most. “If these weren’t twin swords, I’d never be jealous of them.”
“The twin swords are also like this one?”
“The other two are ‘Wrath’ and ‘Need’. But I don’t know where they are or who holds them. Their abilities are a mystery.”
“Hmm, so as long as I’m careful with the siblings that came from the same batch, it’s fine.”
“That’s right.” Ion nodded and sheathed his sword. “Besides the sword, is there more to the story? Did you come to tell another prophecy?”
“It’s not a prophecy, just rational deduction.”
“Fine, whether it’s deduction or prophecy, what were you here to talk about?”
“I just stopped by. It’s nice to talk like this, face to face.” A woman whose face changed every time didn’t seem like someone for casual conversation. And they weren’t even on those terms anyway. “….”
“Um… is something missing? Yes. Then let me add one more thing: go to the church and pray. If there are good things, donate too.”
“The church?” Rina smiled lightly as if chatting, but to Ion it sounded different. “I don’t know what abilities you, a knight, have. But I know you’ve received the divine blessing. The gods don’t hand out blessings often, so you should always be grateful.”
“Do witches believe in the gods too?”
“Of course. The god who controls all the mana in the world is the one. Besides, the priests are trying to save people wrongly accused of being witches. I donate often.”
“Ah, I see. It’s no wonder the church and witches aren’t on bad terms.”
“That’s right.” Rina stood up. “I’ll be going now.”
“Don’t do anything weird.”
“Aww, I was hoping for one more kiss, but it’s a pity. See you later.” Rina pouted, then waved her hand. The wind followed as if it were her hand, and she flew lightly into the sky like a falling leaf and vanished. Ion opened his mouth in surprise and chuckled. “Whoa, impressive.”
He tucked the lantern left behind and tilted his head. “In the end, all that came to talk about was the sword and to donate.” Without the church, there had been no further directions. Ion patted the yawning Lotte beside him and asked. Lotte neither guarded nor ignored Rina’s scent. “Isn’t it strange? Don’t you think I’m a strange person too?”
Ion added wood to the campfire and stoked the flames. Because of the border between central and northern regions, it somehow felt colder.
* * *
After traveling west for a week, he entered Grammen Estate, one of the northern estates. The cold had deepened, but it was not yet the real northern winter. The innkeeper Basinka said that the real chill began only after crossing the mountains above Grammen. Still, it was cold. He visited shops, bought thick gambesons, and changed the cloak to one with thick fur. The north was divided into two kingdoms, Norberg and Berg, with Berg being the dwarven kingdom on an island. So, in truth, the north was nothing more than the kingdom of Norberg. Though the five kingdoms of the central region were almost the same size, the northern population was far less than half. The north was a vast, sparsely populated, freezing land.
“It gets even colder once you cross the mountains.”
“Really? It’s already cold, and you say it gets even colder here?”
“It’s not even cold yet.” Basinka, the innkeeper of Grammen Estate, brought out the meal with a blunt reply. She was kind, but her speech was rough. It was unusual that there was no beer at the table. The standard meal was watery soup with no ingredients, hard and large bread, and meat skewers. To drink, a white liquor was served, and it warmed the stomach like a potent spirit. “One glass of this and your stomach will warm up and you’ll feel looser.”
“Hmm, truly so.” The bread was so hard it could have been used as a weapon, but soaking it in the thin soup and eating it softened nicely. Finally, the skewer meat was rabbit. “The rabbit seems a bit large.”
“Yes. It’s called the frost rabbit, common in the north. A little bigger than other rabbits and has better meat.” According to Basinka, the skewered rabbit was torn apart and roasted with herbs to remove the gaminess. The meat was chewier and firmer than ordinary rabbit. “It’s not tough at all.”
“Yes. Other rabbits have little fat, so they’re tough, but the frost rabbit has fat, so it’s perfect for roasting.” As Basinka said, the rabbit meat was lean and pale. So stewing it gently was more appropriate than roasting. Eating it this way also paired nicely with the spirit.
—Crack! Crack!
Lotte gnawed the rabbit bone at Ion’s feet. Watching Lotte, Basinka’s mouth curled up. It seemed an awkward person liked cute dogs. Lotte was a wolf, but she looked like a big dog eating that way. After the meal, Ion asked Basinka. “What do I need to do to take on quests here? In the central region, I went to the constable, so is it the same here?”
Basinka, wiping the table, thought for a moment. “The knight probably won’t get any quests. Those are usually handled by the patrolmen themselves.”
“Really?”
“If you continue north for another week after crossing the mountains, you’ll reach Bolda Fortress. Ask the fortress commander for a quest.”
“Understood. Since I have to go north anyway, I’ll stop by.” Norberg in the north had patrolmen who traveled vast territories. They were like soldiers, mainly tasked with clearing monsters crossing the Ice Wall, but they also hunted monsters tormenting the residents across the entire north. Yet, from Basinka’s words, they didn’t seem especially welcome. Ion had heard before. Norberg lacked funds to properly feed and manage the patrolmen. They received support from the central and southern regions as needed. Every few years, when monsters from the Ice Wall invaded in large numbers, the northern patrolmen blocked them. Naturally, there were times they couldn’t stop them all, and when that happened, the central and southern regions suffered too. That was why they provided food support. But too many people skimmed it off, so the patrolmen who needed it never received it fully. That was why such patrolmen sometimes turned into bandits, which gave them a bad reputation.
‘I need to prepare supplies for the mountain crossing.’
After preparing food, he left Grammen Estate two days later. The warning about the mountain crossing had not been exaggerated. It was not an especially high mountain, yet the cold felt like crossing a border. Snow had not fallen, but the icy wind made building fires at night difficult. To prevent wildfires in this dry cold, Ion dug a pit and built a hearth. It was convenient to later cover the dirt, but it was still a bit insufficient to warm the cold, so he slept closely with Yan and Lotte. According to Basinka, it was a week’s journey, but because he kept resting from the unfamiliar cold, they arrived at Bolda Fortress, surrounded by a long wooden fence, after ten days.
* * *
Upon arriving at the fortress, Ion introduced himself and his purpose immediately, but he could not meet the responsible person right away. Of course, he had expected that. Following the patrolman’s guidance, he sent Yan to the stable and waited at the patrolmen’s dining hall with Lotte. Unlike the inn, there were no set meal times, and no one was eating. The patrolmen sat at the tables resting. Even when he had been guided in, the patrolmen looked unmistakably like soldiers. But they were not disciplined soldiers; they were lazy, cunning ones who worked casually. Even now, sitting at the table, they tore at dried meat and fed it to Lotte while chuckling.
“What’s that? A dog?”
“No, it’s a wolf.”
“Dog or wolf, you’ve got it good. Eat meat too.”
“Yeah. Where did you come to play?”
Ion chuckled and looked at the patrolmen. Three patrolmen, as if about to be called to the front lines, were lounging and chatting. Other patrolmen around them watched the situation with interest. The patrolmen wore dark gambesons and fur cloaks. Longswords or shortswords hung at their waists. ‘No need to get blood here.’
But the ones mocking him needed to be taught a lesson. Ion grinned and stood up. Even as he approached the three, they did not move. One noticed Ion standing right in front and started to rise, but Ion pressed down on his shoulder. “…!” The patrolman who was trying to stand felt the force and widened his eyes, and the others sitting nearby stood up as well, but Ion warned them. “If you draw your weapons, I’ll cut your throats immediately. Come unarmed! I’ll fight you!”
The hands that had been reaching for weapons stopped. Two of them glared at each other and charged forward, fists swinging. With his left hand still pinning one’s shoulder, Ion swung his right palm. Crack! Slap! He struck the cheek of the patrolman swinging his fist so hard that the body spun once and crashed to the floor. “Gah!”
“Kyaaah!” Two of them fell and crashed into the table with a clamor. When one of their own fell, the other patrolmen watching from their seats jumped up in surprise and grabbed their sword hilts. At that moment, one patrolman entered the dining hall. “Ion! The commander is calling you!” The patrolmen who had been about to rush stopped in their tracks, and Ion relaxed the force on the left arm pinning the shoulder and looked at the others. “Too bad.”
The patrolmen who had grabbed their sword hilts released them, seeing the icy smile on Ion’s face. Ion and Lotte followed the patrolman who had come to fetch them. The patrolman whose shoulder Ion had pressed had let out a long sigh. “Haa! P, people’s strength…” The other patrolmen helped the two who had been knocked out by the cheeks back to their feet. “These friends are completely unconscious?”
“You hit their cheeks and they flew off like that?”
“What kind of knight is this?” The patrolmen asked the one whose shoulder had been pressed. “How come you couldn’t move at all?”
“It’s not human strength. I, I didn’t even flinch. If you had drawn your swords, you’d all be dead.”
“Is that all?”
“Yeah, that’s all.” The patrolmen looked at the door Ion had exited through. Ion, who had left the building, was guided to the top-floor room of the three-story building inside the fortress. On the desk sat a man in his forties reading documents, who looked up at Ion and Lotte as they entered. The man, who paid more attention to Lotte than to Ion, pointed to the chair opposite him. “Sit.”
“Yes.”
“I am Josip Bisotski, Baron of Bolda Fortress.”
“I am a free knight, Ion Rise.”
Josip nodded at Ion. “It took some time to look into who had come. You are a very famous person, Ion.”