Crossed Paths, or Perhaps Not (2)
Christine’s words to Theodora were blunt.
“I cannot accept this.”
Inside the tent, before the other knights arrived, the Commander and Vice Commander of the Raven Knight Order had come early to speak in private.
“What exactly can’t you accept?”
Theodora was absorbed in checking the map. It was a vital document painstakingly created by the soldiers and knights who had defended the border with No Man’s Land. Christine frowned at her composed demeanor.
The conversation she had shared with Maxim the night before resurfaced in her mind.
The desperation on Maxim’s face when he said those words had been so raw that Christine had ended up promising not to reveal the truth. That was why her insides were burning even hotter now.
The image of Maxim laughing and saying ignorance is not a sin overlapped in her mind with Theodora’s cold expression.
“Even if we include Knight Maxim Apparte in the investigation team, assigning him to the group heading straight for the cliff area is…”
A spark of fire ignited in Theodora’s icy gaze.
“Putting a knight of such outstanding skill on a defensive mission or any relatively unimportant task would be a tremendous waste. The stronger the knight, the more they must be prepared to sacrifice. Both you and I take turns joining the investigations near the cliff, don’t we?”
Ignorance is not a sin.There is always a reason behind things that cannot be spoken.
Christine bit her lip hard. She did not like the cold rationality on Theodora’s face.
“If Senior… if Maxim Apparte is truly that strong, then why was he removed from the Vice Commander position?”
Theodora’s brow furrowed at Christine’s question. It was closer to a scowl born of irritation.
“Let’s not debate that matter. I simply judged that he was not suited for the Vice Commander role and had him step down. He possesses more than enough qualifications to remain a member of the Raven Knight Order.”
Theodora spoke with absolute certainty.
“But—”
“Do you not trust my judgment? You were in the same order with him all this time.”
Precisely because they had been in the same order, she knew. She had not been by his side. She had not even seen him during all that time.
A subtle tension formed between Theodora and Christine.
“…I will trust you.”
“Good.”
Christine could not believe that personal feelings had not influenced her decision. She stared at Theodora with resentful eyes. Because she trusted his skill without question, she would never waver.
The tent flap fluttered as the Margrave of the Borderlands entered.
“Is the meeting over?”
Christine and Theodora nodded at the same time. The Margrave narrowed her eyes at the delicate atmosphere between them and shrugged.
“Fine. Come outside. We’ll begin the investigation.”
Well-fed and meticulously groomed warhorses with glossy coats flicked their tails energetically. Maxim held the reins of the reddish-brown horse assigned to him and gave its shoulder a few light pats. The horse let out a soft whinny and stamped its hoof against the ground. It was well-trained and responsive.
The horse he had ridden all the way to No Man’s Land was resting in the stable to recover from the long journey.
“Not a bad one at all.”
When Maxim muttered to himself, an unexpected voice answered.
“We gathered fine-blooded horses from all across the kingdom.”
Camilla Fey, the Margrave of the Borderlands, spoke while watching the horses that were restlessly turning their heads in search of grass to graze on. Maxim looked at her with a hint of bewilderment, surprised that she had responded to his solitary remark.
“They are descendants of valiant steeds that rolled through countless battlefields. They never panic even when they see monsters, run long and fast, and if ordered to charge the enemy, they will race forward faster than any other horse.”
“…You’ve taken excellent care of them.”
Maxim replied that way. The Margrave gave a small, dismissive chuckle.
“Of course I have. So they can be ridden at any moment.”
The horse she was stroking snorted in response to her words. Knights and soldiers were mounting their horses one by one. There seemed to be enough mounts for every soldier as well.
The Margrave placed her foot in the stirrup and swung herself onto her horse.
“Maxim Apparte.”
Maxim met the Margrave’s eyes as she looked down at him.
“Yes, Margrave.”
“I understand you belonged to the Raven Knight Order before its recent reorganization.”
Maxim felt a sense of unease stir within him. There was a note of clear disapproval mixed into the Margrave’s voice as she spoke while looking at him.
“That is correct.”
“I am a suspicious person by nature, Maxim Apparte. Even if your skill is enough to remain in the order, the fact that you were once a knight so disgraced that you were demoted to that very order remains true.”
Maxim swung himself up onto his horse in one smooth motion. He could feel the horse’s steady, powerful body through the saddle.
“I will be watching.”
Leaving those words behind, the Margrave urged her horse forward to the head of the investigation party.
“We move out! As previously stated, Team One heads west, Team Two takes the center, and Team Three heads east. Team Two, follow me!”
The Margrave herself would be commanding Team Two. Theodora led Team One to the west, while a knight who had been stationed in No Man’s Land took charge of Team Three. Maxim was assigned to Team Two along with Christine and Paola.
Watching the Margrave’s back as she rode ahead, Paola casually spoke to Maxim.
“Did you do something to offend the Margrave?”
It seemed he had been watching their conversation from the side. Maxim smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“Looks like I earned her dislike without even realizing it.”
“That young lady does have that side to her sometimes. You know, the tendency to form her opinions about people far too quickly.”
Paola shook his head slowly.
“You speak as if you’ve experienced it yourself.”
“Of course I have. Fifteen years ago, I was looked down on quite a bit for being a commoner soldier. I’ve got a temper myself, but… that might be exactly why we clashed so often.”
Paola chuckled with a low, rumbling laugh.
“By the way, why is the Vice Commander—who’s always stuck to you like glue—separated from you this time?”
Paola, who had an uncanny nose for gossip, asked the question. Maxim glanced subtly toward where Christine was. She was watching him from a distance without approaching. When their eyes met, Christine gave him a strange look before turning her gaze toward the landscape of No Man’s Land.
“…Well, you see.”
Paola looked at Maxim with oddly sympathetic eyes. Maxim began to worry that the man was forming some strange misunderstanding in his head.
“Relationships between people can be like that sometimes.”
“What exactly are you imagining?”
At that moment, someone rode up beside Paola and Maxim. It was a group of soldiers serving under the Margrave who had been stationed in No Man’s Land.
“Are you Sir Paola Simon?”
The fact that they even used the honorific “Sir” left Maxim feeling puzzled once again at how respected Paola seemed to be. The man who had always looked like nothing more than a chatty old uncle was apparently someone the knights of No Man’s Land held in high regard.
“There’s no need to call me ‘Sir.’ It’s embarrassing.”
Paola waved his hand as if uncomfortable.
“These are people who received your grace fifteen years ago. How could we forget and omit the proper title?”
“I saw your heroic actions back then as well.”
The soldiers and knights spoke to him one after another.
“It’s amazing that you’ve stayed here all this time.”
Paola clicked his tongue. Indeed, serving fifteen years in such a harsh environment could not have been easy.
“We have continued to stand guard. We have never once forgotten our duty.”
Paola and the knights began exchanging warm greetings. Maxim tried to quietly fall back and observe the scene, but one of the knights glanced at him beside Paola and tilted his head.
“…And I heard the man next to you stayed on after belonging to the old Raven Knight Order.”
Maxim clicked his tongue inwardly.
“Just how impressive must his skills be for him to remain even for this investigation into No Man’s Land?”
The tone was twisted and sarcastic. After he had remained in the Raven Knight Order, Maxim had expected something like this might happen, but facing it directly was far from pleasant.
“He is a capable knight, so refrain from stirring up unnecessary trouble.”
“What good is skill alone?”
The knight gave a crooked smile. He was openly disregarding Maxim.
“Well, as long as he doesn’t piss himself and run the moment he faces the monsters here, I suppose that’s something.”
Paola’s expression hardened.
“Do not criticize him in front of me. Even if we share a connection from fifteen years ago, my comrade right now is this Maxim Apparte. Not any of you.”
Paola rebuked the knights in an unusually firm tone. Maxim was inwardly surprised that Paola had stepped forward so actively to defend him.
“…I spoke thoughtlessly.”
The knights who had been sneering at Maxim about his skill and the like twisted their faces and apologized to Paola. They completely ignored the person who actually deserved the apology—Maxim himself.
Paola opened his mouth to say something more, but when Maxim gave a slight shake of his head, he let it go.
“It has been a long time since I’ve had the chance to witness Sir Paola’s skill with my own eyes.”
The knight smoothly changed the subject.
“I look forward to it, Sir Paola. And…”
The knight turned a displeased gaze toward Maxim.
“The skill of the man you praised so highly.”
Maxim did not feel the knight’s words were worth responding to. When he showed no change in emotion or expression and simply gave them the cold shoulder, the knights’ faces twisted even further.
“Hah!”
The knights spurred their horses and moved toward the front. They even deliberately let out energetic shouts as they left. Paola sighed beside Maxim.
“Those guys aren’t usually like that…”
Paola watched the departing knights with a look of pity. Maxim simply shrugged as if it didn’t bother him.
“They’ve been guarding this harsh place for fifteen years. It’s only natural.”
“…You really are… whether you’re kind or just…”
Paola looked at Maxim with a strange expression.
“It’s not that I don’t get angry.”
Maxim smiled bitterly.
“It’s just that this wasn’t a situation worth getting angry over.”
The people he truly needed to feel rage and killing intent toward were someone else entirely. That was what Maxim believed.
After traveling a long way across the wasteland, the investigation party reached ground that began to slope upward. Massive boulders were scattered everywhere. The Margrave, who had been leading from the front, stopped her horse and leaped down from the saddle.
“We’ll leave the horses here for now. Everyone dismount.”
Following the Margrave’s order, Maxim got off his horse and tied it to a nearby rock. Once she confirmed everyone had dismounted, the Margrave gave another command.
“Begin the investigation. Only those assigned to guard the horses remain behind. Everyone else, follow me.”
The investigation led by the Margrave began. Maxim formed a separate team with the knights of No Man’s Land and walked between the strange rock formations. One of them happened to be the very knight who had spoken to Paola and relentlessly mocked Maxim.
“Your name was Maxim, right?”
As expected, the man approached Maxim with a hostile expression.
“If you’re not a coward, why don’t you answer me?”
Judging by his tone alone, he was no different from the worthless members of the old Raven Knight Order. Maxim frowned, feeling a physiological aversion.
“What, you don’t even have the guts to answer? With no Sir Paola to protect you and no pretty blonde girl’s skirt to hide behind, have you gone mute? Sir Paola is one thing, but to think you’d be doing woman’s work in a trash order like that—have some shame.”
Maxim stopped dead in his tracks. The aura that suddenly radiated from him made the knight from No Man’s Land flinch. Seeing that reaction, Maxim spoke in an extremely dry voice.
“…I can sense monsters. The fact that you keep running your mouth like that must mean your eyes can’t see them.”
The knight’s face twisted in fury and he looked ready to shout, but before he could, a bizarre screech that seemed to tear at the eardrums rang out.
Kyaaaaak—!
A massive six-legged lizard was leading a pack, crawling down the hillside. Maxim narrowed his eyes and glanced at the knight beside him, whose face had turned bright red.
“Are you sure you’ve been guarding this place for fifteen years?”
“You son of a—”
The knight spat and reluctantly prepared for battle.
“If you’re so great, why don’t you kill those Hexapeds yourself…”
Before the knight could finish speaking, Maxim drew his sword.
“Still talking too much, I see.”
Leaving behind the knight who had frozen with a stupid look on his face, Maxim charged straight into the swarm of Hexapeds. He did not need anything like Aura to deal with the likes of these.
From behind came the knight’s startled curse-filled shout.
His mind sharpened to a razor’s edge. Maxim had no choice but to acknowledge that the cold, sharp emotion blooming inside him was anger.
Honestly, he was a little pissed off.
The fact that Christine had been mentioned in an unpleasant way from that mouth had struck a nerve.
The Hexapeds let out grotesque shrieks as they closed in on Maxim. He gripped his sword with both hands and raised it high like an executioner about to sever a head.
The monster’s gaze met Maxim’s. A single moment stretched out as long as a day.
Maxim’s time began to flow again only when he brought the sword down, declaring the execution.
Slice!
The first Hexaped was split cleanly in half. Another one charged in right after. Maxim swung once. The lizard’s maw was torn apart, spraying bright red blood. He swung again. Two Hexapeds’ heads flew into the air. Another swing, and a Hexaped’s torso was severed in two. One strike. Another strike.
Without Aura, relying solely on his strengthened body, the sword he wielded slaughtered the monsters. Maxim’s blade was both extremely complex and extremely simple. Like an oar cutting through water, the sword passed along its path and claimed every life in its trajectory as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The Hexapeds would never know what had happened to them until the very end.
A chilly wind swept across No Man’s Land. Maxim’s sword, like that wind brushing over the wasteland, swept through the monsters with perfect naturalness. It finally plunged into the last Hexaped’s skull and stopped.
The metallic stench of blood, which had seemed suppressed by Maxim’s blade, now burst forth all at once, vibrating through the air the moment he took the final life.
“….What….”
The words trembled out of the knight’s mouth. His eyes were fixed on Maxim, who had turned to face him with a sword stained by monster blood. Not a single drop of blood had touched Maxim himself.
Maxim slowly walked toward the knight, who was staring at him with wildly shaking eyes. The knight met Maxim’s gaze with an expression of pure shock.
“….This is….”
“Still feel like talking?”
Maxim’s golden eyes gleamed coldly as they looked at the knight.