The Knight with Green Eyes
Elbridge let out a low groan.
Beside him, Matilda stretched her arms wide after spending a long while scribbling away with her quill.
She looked at Elbridge and said, “I’ve finished all the urgent work, so I’ll head out early today. Is that all right?”
Since Matilda was a freelance priestess, she was expected to leave once the sun began to set.
Yet despite their contract, she had pulled all-nighters almost every other day from the end of last year through the start of this one. There had simply been far too much work.
Elbridge answered, “Of course. I’m always grateful.”
“Grateful? It’s only natural that I do this much.”
“The priests from the other temples all know that you’ve gone well beyond the duties of your role, Matilda.”
At that, Matilda flashed a mischievous grin.
“It’s all part of the plan. If I make a strong impression while things are busy, no one will bat an eye when I take it easy the rest of the time.”
“Haha.”
“You must be just as exhausted, Sir Elbridge. Why don’t you rest now?”
“I will. I’ll finish this last bit and then rest.”
Matilda rose from her seat, then clapped her hands together with a small smack.
“Oh, right! I almost forgot the gift.”
“A gift?”
“Just wait a moment.”
She walked over to a corner of the temple and returned with a bottle slightly larger than a handspan, offering it to him.
“It’s mead I brewed myself. Warm it up before drinking and you’ll fall into a deep sleep.”
Elbridge uncorked the bottle and took a sniff. The scent of cloves was intense.
This was clearly not so much a drink for drinkers as it was half medicine.
“Thank you, Matilda.”
She left with light, cheerful steps.
Elbridge soon finished his remaining tasks, warmed the mead, drank it, and went to bed.
At some point, Elbridge found himself watching a small child who was trotting after a certain man.
…What is this?
He studied the child’s face.
The boy’s features were astonishingly similar to his own.
It didn’t take long for Elbridge to realize what was happening. This was a dream.
He was watching his own childhood self.
A lucid dream, of all things.
Under normal circumstances, he would have woken up immediately.
But thanks to the clove-laced mead, tonight’s Elbridge remained asleep.
Lucid dreams were rare enough. Being able to observe himself from the outside made it even rarer.
It felt like watching an incredibly realistic play.
I suppose I’ll just watch…
Elbridge observed the scene carefully.
The man leading the young Elbridge had messy red curly hair. It was a face he remembered.
This must be right after I was first sold. Then the place we’re heading to is…
The boy arrived at an abandoned temple on the edge of a small village.
The man who had brought him said, “Welcome to the Order of the Ivy and the Well. Train hard and become an outstanding holy knight. Only then can your family live in abundance.”
The young Elbridge was led into a room that resembled a storage shed.
The moment the door opened, a stale stench of sweat hit him. Inside the dim space, nearly twenty children were crammed together.
The young Elbridge hesitated before sitting down in a corner.
Not long after, the sound of a bell signaling prayer time rang out.
Ding—ding—
When the boy instinctively clasped his hands together, someone spoke.
“No need to pray.”
The young Elbridge looked at the speaker.
It was a boy who looked about ten or eleven, quite large for his age and already sporting a noticeable amount of facial hair.
As Elbridge watched the scene in his dream, a faint smile crossed his lips.
Back then he looked like an adult to me. Now he’s clearly just a kid.
The young Elbridge asked the bearded boy, “Why? It’s prayer time, isn’t it?”
“The God of the Ivy and the Well doesn’t listen to prayers.”
“Really?”
“This is a slave-trading order. That slave merchant knew the god has no interest in the mortal world, so he set up shop here.”
“Then why does the temple even exist if they don’t offer prayers?”
“Because it would look bad if the order openly traded slaves. They need fake temples like this to pretend they’re legitimate.”
But the young Elbridge still brought his small hands together and prayed to the new god.
Even if he doesn’t answer anyone else’s prayers, maybe he’ll answer mine. That was probably what he had thought.
Of course, the God of the Ivy and the Well had never once spoken to Elbridge.
Still, in his memories, the Order of the Ivy and the Well hadn’t been a bad place. The training was harsh, but there were many children his age and plenty of food.
A female knight with a rather blunt expression appeared. Another familiar face.
This must be after I was sold the second time.
The knight asked the young Elbridge, “Are you Elbridge?”
“Yes, Dame Martina.”
“I’ll start by teaching you how to maintain armor. If you do this well, you won’t earn any knight’s displeasure. How much weapon training have you had?”
Despite her brusque demeanor, Martina was a deep-hearted and kind person.
She was the one who had taught him the basic manners a squire should know, as well as the first lessons on how to handle a shield.
Unfortunately, those shield lessons hadn’t lasted long. She died in the very next battle.
Rain began to fall from the sky.
Elbridge lowered his gaze to Martina’s corpse, her upper body completely gone.
A short distance away, the young Elbridge was trembling violently.
He couldn’t quite remember which order Martina had belonged to.
Almost every holy knight had died in a single battle, and the entire order had disintegrated.
In such cases, squires and apprentice knights were treated no differently than war spoils.
A holy knight with a sharply trimmed mustache approached and stood before Elbridge.
“You are now a squire of the Order of Dusk. Stand and follow me.”
But the young Elbridge’s legs had given out; he couldn’t stand.
He staggered up only to collapse again, over and over. The mustached knight simply watched without offering a hand.
When he finally managed to rise, the boy said, “…I want to go home.”
The holy knight swung his gauntleted right hand and slapped him across the face.
Smack—crash!
The boy who had barely gotten to his feet was sent flying.
“Your brothers are dead! The holy knight you followed is dead! Do not insult their sacrifice! Swear that you will avenge your brothers’ grudge in the Order of Dusk!”
Looking back, it seemed the knight hadn’t slapped him because he genuinely wanted the boy to pull himself together.
He had always found excuses to hit Elbridge even when there was no real fault.
But the young Elbridge didn’t know that. He knew that showing weakness here could get him abandoned on the battlefield.
“…I swear it.”
The young Elbridge followed the mustached knight toward the Order of Dusk.
Similar scenes repeated several times.
Surviving a losing battle by the skin of his teeth, being rescued, then transferred to another order…
Even Elbridge, who had grown accustomed to extreme situations, eventually faced something nearly impossible to endure.
Now around twelve or thirteen, the boy lay at the bottom of a rugged mountain with a broken leg.
Back then I really thought I was going to die.
On the mountaintop, a colossal serpent-shaped demon had coiled itself.
If the holy knight he had served hadn’t shoved him down the slope right before dying, Elbridge would have perished as well.
Dozens of holy knights had gathered again and were marching up to fight the demon.
And every last one of them died.
When the same demon defeated you twice in a row, the standard response was to abandon the fight and wait for it to leave.
The young Elbridge could be seen moving his lips in prayer. But even then, the god had given him no oracle.
Only two futures remained for the boy: die slowly of thirst and hunger with a broken leg, or be killed by the demon that would eventually crawl down the mountain.
Two days passed like that before a miracle occurred.
Four holy knights began climbing the slope.
The serpent spewed clouds of poisonous smoke and crushed the knights with its massive body.
Three died, but the last one survived and succeeded in subduing the demon.
Both the young Elbridge and the present one were impressed.
Even now, that sight is truly…
Just as the holy knight who had slain the demon was about to leave, the young Elbridge squeezed out every ounce of strength in his body and shouted.
“Save me! Please save me!”
Miraculously, the knight heard him. He approached and knelt before the boy.
Golden hair like a field of autumn wheat and green eyes. A dignified build and striking features.
And an oddly playful expression that didn’t match the situation. The image was still vivid.
The holy knight fed him lukewarm water from his canteen and smiled warmly.
“See? I knew there’d be at least one survivor.”
Instead of watching his childhood self, Elbridge looked at the knight with green eyes and smiled.
The knight with green eyes carried the boy with the broken leg on his back and walked for a long time.
The temple they finally reached bore a symbol Elbridge also recognized: an olive branch with three fruits. It was the Order of the Olive Tree.
The green-eyed knight sat Elbridge down on a chair, took a deep breath, and entered a room.
Almost immediately, shouting erupted.
“You son of a bitch! You didn’t just save one kid—you got three of your comrades killed!”
Then came the sound of someone tumbling to the floor.
That wasn’t the end. Curses and dull thuds continued to echo several more times.
“You think you’re the only holy knight here? Get out! You selfish bastard!”
When the door opened again, blood was streaming from the knight’s nose.
Snort—
The green-eyed knight pinched one nostril and blew hard through the other. Blood sprayed out like spit and splattered onto the floor.
He rubbed his jaw, then lifted Elbridge onto his back again and muttered, “Ugh. What a shitty bastard. Even if I said I was sorry…”
The knight carried him out of the temple.
Even the young Elbridge could understand the situation.
The green-eyed knight had acted alone to slay the demon and save the boy, but the price had been the lives of three comrades.
As punishment, he had been reprimanded and expelled from the order. It wasn’t an especially harsh sentence. Any order would have done the same.
Still on the man’s back, the young Elbridge said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Because of me, three holy knights died. And you were driven out of your order…”
“No need to apologize. I’m the one who did wrong. I did something that deserved expulsion.”
With a grunt, the green-eyed knight continued speaking as he climbed the stairs.
“But Elbridge, I hate compromise.”
“Compromise?”
“That’s right. No matter how small it is. Once a person starts compromising, they gradually compromise on bigger things too. In the end, everyone becomes the same.”
The green-eyed knight carried Elbridge on his back and stopped by several more temples.
“Wouldn’t you happen to need a skilled holy knight?”
But he was rejected by every single one.
This was an era when holy knights were always in short supply, yet still they refused him. It wasn’t because his skill was lacking.
“So there’s nowhere left to go?”
“No. There is one place. It’s a bit far, but there’s an order that will definitely take me in.”
“Really?”
At the young Elbridge’s doubtful reply, the green-eyed knight made a big show of being hurt.
“Wow, even you don’t trust me? Man, that stings.”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“My friend is the head holy knight of that order. He looks like a bandit boss, but his skill is pretty decent. The other knights are solid too. They’re on a completely different level from most orders.”
Elbridge, who had been watching the two of them, walked over and stood beside the green-eyed knight.
Late at night.
The green-eyed knight carried the young Elbridge on his back and left the city, walking into the darkness. By now the adult Elbridge had fallen into step beside them.
Deep darkness, the steady rhythm of footsteps, and the trustworthy warmth of an adult’s body. Within that, the young Elbridge’s breathing gradually slowed.
Eventually, the green-eyed knight slowly turned his head toward the adult Elbridge walking beside him and grinned.
“I knew from the beginning that you would grow up splendidly, Elbridge.”
The adult Elbridge smiled back.
“Don’t lie, Sir Leonhardt.”
When Elbridge woke up, the sky outside the window had already grown bright.
The first thing that came to mind was Leonhardt’s face.
Next came the words of the Central Magic Tower’s master.
This clue reaches beyond the individual named Leonhardt and touches the heavens themselves.
Go to the Eternal Lake.
Leaning against the windowsill, Elbridge quietly gazed at the southern sky.