Chapter 27
**Line 1:** CHAPTER_TITLE: The Patroler
“Here it is.”
The next day, Igor placed his sword on the table in the chief’s house.
The Patroler’s blade bore the names of the people who had wielded it. It would serve as proof.
Ion had intended to return to the commander of Bolda Fortress, Josip, and argue the matter over with him.
But after speaking with the priest Silvio, Ion had decided that delivering Igor’s sword to him would allow the villagers to leave safely and buy time for them.
‘I’ll think about the rest of it when I get back.’
Holding Igor’s sword, Ion left the chief’s house.
The chief, hunter Fedinka, the priest Silvio, and the entire village had finished preparing to leave, each carrying a heavy pack on their backs.
Now a large pack rested on Igor’s back as he bowed his head low in front.
“Thank you, Sir Ion. Thanks to you, I can leave with the villagers.”
“May you reach your destination in safety.”
“Thank you.”
Including Igor, the chief and all the villagers bowed repeatedly in farewell.
After sending the villagers off, Ion grasped the reins that Jan had brought back at dawn and walked. Lotte trotted alongside him.
“Let’s head back to the fortress.”
·
·
·
—CRUNCH!
Lotte, the red wolf, seized the white wolf’s nape and shook it violently.
The white wolf thrashed its body in an effort to escape the red wolf’s teeth, but the more it struggled, the more blood flowed. Its strength drained away until its body slumped heavily.
Waiting until the white wolf’s breath finally stopped, Lotte released its head. With its tongue, she licked the blood smeared across her mouth and fur.
Tail wagging, she bounded over to where Ion had just cut the white wolf’s throat.
—Bark! Bark!
Ion watched Lotte bring down the white wolf, then petted the red wolf when she approached.
While Ion battled the ten white wolves alone, Lotte had attacked and slain three of them one by one as they tried to strike at Jan.
She had come for praise.
Ion pulled a fistful of dried meat from his pouch and fed it to her.
The white wolf was an Ice Wolf from the far north, so named because its thick white fur blended perfectly with the snow. It hunted by waiting in drifts, then lunging.
Yet despite that ambush, Lotte’s sense of smell and Ion’s guidance had betrayed it. They fought anyway.
In these cold lands, the Ice Wolves were slightly larger than ordinary wolves, and Lotte was bigger still, so they had not been pushed back.
A day had passed since they left the village, and the beasts and monsters had grown more numerous on the return trip than when they had gone out.
For that reason, in the morning they had even caught two frost rabbits fleeing from something.
It was still early for dinner, but they had spent the day fighting wolves, so they might as well stop and warm themselves a little.
They cleared the snow beneath a tree and built a small fire.
The canvas for the tent was spread wide to block the wind.
The tent was only large enough for one person to fit inside, so this way both Jan and Lotte could stay protected.
The rest of the supplies were piled against the trees to form crude walls on one side.
A wall was left open like a makeshift house, and the frost rabbits were placed inside to roast.
They gave Lotte a larger piece than she usually received and let her eat.
The smell of the rabbit meat sizzling over the fire made it taste even better.
Satisfied with their meal, Ion fed more wood to the fire to keep it burning as the others prepared to sleep.
Lotte, who had been gnawing on the bones, lifted her head.
—Rumble…
Something suspicious was coming.
Ion drew his sword and glared in the direction Lotte was staring.
Four yellow dots appeared on the map. Moments later, three figures in wool cloaks approached, with one small child carried on the back of the middle one.
The moment their faces became visible, they halted. The man carrying the child stepped forward.
“We are travelers passing through. You look like you’re freezing. May we warm ourselves by the fire?”
Alert as Lotte had been, she lowered her head and continued gnawing on the bone as if nothing were wrong. Ion sheathed his sword.
“Sit in the empty spot.”
“T-Thank you.”
In response to the man’s words, the man and the rest of the group gathered around the fire.
Everyone but the man who appeared to be in his forties were children.
A young woman in her late teens sat beside two even younger siblings, watching Ion and Lotte with wary eyes.
The man who seemed to be the children’s father lowered his head further upon seeing the armored Ion.
“W-We didn’t realize you were a knight.”
“Where are you coming from at this hour?”
The children and the man alike carried enormous packs. They were clearly people who had been traveling long distances.
“Ah, we used to live in a village near Kemni Fortress in the far north. But the monsters made it impossible to stay there, so we’re heading to the central region this time.”
“Didn’t the Patrolers stop you?”
“We never saw them arrive in time to block us. After the village was destroyed, they appeared too late and could only watch us get torn apart by the monsters.”
His brow furrowed as he added, “We don’t trust either the monsters or the Patrolers anymore. We’re leaving the north behind us.”
Whether these refugees would find a better life in the center was uncertain, but at least it was warmer than here, so it might be the right choice.
“What kind of monsters attacked your village?”
“We’ve seen wolves and bears countless times and could have run, but this time trolls and snowmen appeared.”
“Snowmen?”
“They looked just like snowmen, swinging snow-covered arms or hurling balls of snow.”
Just listening to the description made it hard to understand.
“They were some kind of snow spirit or something. No matter how much the Patrolers hacked and slashed, the snow reformed and attacked them again.”
“The snow reformed and attacked?”
“Yes. As we descended, the snow spirits descended with us as well. That’s why we’re heading for the central region where there’s no snow.”
Ion had never encountered or seen a spirit before, but he had heard that such creatures existed and were nearly impossible to kill.
He had no idea how one should be slain if they ever ran into such an entity.
—Grrrr!
The children sitting by the fire looked at Lotte gnawing on the rabbit bones and seemed hungry.
Ion took the remaining rabbit meat and threaded it onto skewers.
* * *
“Thank you.”
The man who was a refugee introduced himself as Roman.
Roman’s family had traveled with Ion for two days.
Roman’s family would continue south as planned, while Ion had to return to Bolda Fortress.
Ion and the Roman family parted at a crossroads.
“We don’t know how to thank you for protecting us and giving us all these supplies.”
“It was only a short while, but you were traveling together. It’s nothing.”
“Still… thank you.”
They had encountered another Ice Wolf on the way and dealt with it. They had also caught frost rabbits to eat.
They had given Ion the wolf skins because he had plenty of money on him and told him to take them. The rabbit meat was his anyway, so they had simply given him everything left over.
Roman had lost his wife to a monster and fled south with his three children in a daze.
At least his eldest daughter, Irana, had taken care of his younger son Sasha and younger daughter Alisa.
Now Sasha, ten years old, and Alisa, eight, were fussing over Lotte, but Irana was desperately trying to calm them down.
Irana had initially treated Lotte as just a big dog until she saw her fighting the Ice Wolf the previous day, after which she had tried to keep her siblings away from the red wolf.
Lotte, however, paid them no mind.
The children said their goodbyes with regret, bowing repeatedly to Roman and Irana as they left.
Ion petted Lotte, grasped Jan’s reins, and continued walking.
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·
The next day, they arrived at Bolda Fortress.
They went straight to the commander, Baron Josip, and placed Igor’s sword on the desk.
“Igor is dead?”
“Yes.”
Josip drew Igor’s sword and examined the name engraved on the blade and sheath.
He glanced at Ion and asked, “Did the man say anything before you killed him?”
“No. I didn’t hear anything before I cut his throat.”
“Where did the man’s body go?”
“We were attacked by a pack of Ice Wolves on the way. It looked like they took him.”
Josip lifted his head at the mention of Ice Wolves.
“Ice Wolves? They came all the way down here?”
“From what I’ve heard from the refugees we met afterward, monsters have been increasing from the north.”
“They always say the same thing. The number of monsters has increased, but it’s nothing compared to last year.”
“I see.”
Josip listened to Roman’s story and snorted.
The attitude made it clear why Roman didn’t trust the Patrolers.
Josip pulled two gold coins from his pouch.
“Here. Two gold. You worked hard.”
“Thank you.”
Ion tucked the gold into his pouch.
He considered whether to mention that he had deceived the client, but it seemed unnecessary right now.
This was probably not the end of the matter.
“Where do you plan to go next?”
“I was heading farther north, so I’ll keep going to see the Ice Wall.”
“Hah, even a little farther and it’ll be much colder than here. Be careful.”
“I will.”
Ion bowed and left the commander’s room.
He had spent the night at the outside quarters he had stayed in before and left Bolda Fortress the next morning.
This time he headed northeast, the opposite direction from the village.
After about ten days traveling northeast, he would reach the territory of Yetev. That was his destination.
* * *
Two days into the journey.
Snow had begun to fall, erasing the old trail, so they followed only direction and kept going blindly.
The direction was clear on the map, so there was no confusion.
Halfway through, Lotte perked her ears and glanced behind her, then tapped Ion’s leg with her nose.
Someone was following them.
“I know. Just pretend you don’t.”
Lotte tilted her head, then caught on and turned around, but kept her ears perked.
Ion, too, knew someone was tailing them.
Unlike Lotte, he couldn’t smell or hear them, but he had been alert since leaving Bolda Fortress, so he had noticed.
About ten Patrolers were following, cloaked in white to blend in with the snow, so they were hard to spot at first glance.
Ion hoped the Patrolers would approach first and kept pretending to travel for two days, but they still hadn’t caught up.
‘Maybe some of the men who got punched at the inn are mixed in? That would explain their caution, at least.’
As darkness fell, they set up camp again, built a fire, and ate a simple dinner.
“Wait here.”
He warned Lotte, who was gnawing on the rabbit bone, drew his sword, lowered his stance, slipped behind the tent, then circled wide to approach from the rear.
The Patrolers, unlike Ion, hadn’t even built a fire. They huddled under their cloaks.
Clearly lacking discipline, all but one were exchanging water skins and drinking while ignoring Ion’s fire.
They must have brought alcohol.
Their drunken conversation carried clearly through the quiet, snow-filled night.
—Let’s do it today. We’ve come a long way already if we’ve traveled two days.
—They still haven’t noticed us, so let’s go.
They had done well.
It was better to strike before the enemy could attack. This was the perfect moment.
—We have to be careful. He’s no ordinary fighter.
—We heard. There are friends who got punched and sent flying.
—That’s right. I saw it. We really have to be careful.
As expected, the one who had witnessed it was among them.
—If we surprise them in their sleep at dawn with all ten of us at once, we can win no matter how strong he is. Numbers win every time.
How wrong that thinking was, Ion wanted to show them, but he held back a little longer until they moved to strike.
And then, just as they began to break into the dawn.
The Patrolers rose and drew their swords, heading straight for the fire.
Ion followed them quietly from behind.
At the same time he clamped a hand over the mouth of the rearmost Patroler and drove his sword into the nape.
—Thwack! The sword sank deep. The Patroler let out no scream as his body collapsed. Ion caught him silently and laid him on the ground, then moved on to the next.
He dealt with one more Patroler and lowered him to the ground. The man ahead of him casually glanced behind him, then stopped.
“…?”
In the brief moment he didn’t understand what was happening, Ion kicked off the ground and leaped, swinging his sword wide.
—Slash! The blade cut one man’s forearm clean off and the other’s side in half.
“Aaaagh!”
“Kuk! Enemies!”
“Attack!”
The startled Patrolers charged forward, stabbing their swords in unison.
Ion didn’t dodge. He struck hard, and—Clang! The swords of the attackers shattered at the tips.
“Our swords broke!”
“Run! Run!”
Faster than the warning, Ion closed in on the Patrolers who tried to flee, swinging his blade in wide diagonals left and right.
He wielded the sword of Pain, which inflicted overwhelming cutting power.
As Ion swung, the Patrolers’ hands and feet were severed, chests slashed open.
“Khhuk!”
“It-It’s a monster!”
“We can’t win! Run!”
The fallen comrades were left behind as three of them fled.
—Bark! Bark!
Lotte had heard the fight and charged forward.
“Aaaah! G-Get away!”
A Patroler, swinging his sword at Lotte to threaten her, was bitten in the arm at the same moment Ion thrust his sword toward him.
“Kehk!”
The Patroler fell clutching his arm, still struck by Ion’s blade. Lotte chased the fleeing man and clamped her jaws on his leg, tripping him.
Lotte leaped onto the fallen Patroler’s back and clamped down on his neck.
“Grrr!”
Leaving the groaning Patroler behind, she raced after the one who had fled alone.
Ion, still in his armor, caught up to the runner in no time and drove his sword into the man’s back.—Cough!
The wound wasn’t deep, but the force sent the man tumbling forward and rolling on the snow.
Before the fallen Patroler could rise, Ion drove his sword straight through his heart and ended him.
Then, as he returned, he silenced the remaining Patrolers who still breathed and searched their pouches.
They carried only copper coins, so the only useful item was their weapons. He collected the swords.
He tied the recovered blades together and carried them to the dying fire, adding wood to keep it alive.
‘Well, then I have no choice but to go back.’
When dawn came, he would return and meet Josip, who had sent them here.