Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Black-Haired Knight King
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The fiercest war ever had finally come to an end as the spring rains began to fall.
In the warm northern hinterlands where spring had arrived, birds that had migrated for the winter returned, and the flowers that had endured the cold all season began to stir.
But while the north slowly welcomed spring, Wolf Village was overwhelmed with urgent tasks.
The aftermath left by the war had inflicted wounds too severe to heal in a short time.
To defend the village, half of the soldiers and Huskarl warriors who had joined the fight were dead or crippled.
Many lives were lost in the rear infiltration that occurred at the tail end of the siege.
Of course, considering the enemy's scale and casualties, it was a miraculous exchange ratio. But that was just a statistic, not reality.
The joint funeral held right after the war ended, and the people sending them off amid grief...
I had gone through this experience just a few months ago, so I solemnly commemorated their deaths.
If they hadn't taken up their spears, another human territory would have vanished into ashes.
But just as death was always near,
life held great value in the north as well.
The people who sent the dead to their mothers in the north were now ready to begin new lives.
It was the start of the migration.
'Many places burned down.'
In these northern hinterlands brimming with natural bounty, timber was one of the most readily available resources nearby.
Most structures had always used wood, but the war had seen many buildings burn to the ground.
On top of that, communal food stores lost to fire, palisades badly damaged in the siege, and orcs who had survived and fled to the camp...
Migration was inevitable for survival, and the villagers recognized the need as well.
Of course, the Gray Wolf's pack, who had chosen to join us, was naturally in favor.
But there was one problem...
The migration destination was our village.
'You mad bastard!'
I could already hear Red Iron cursing me.
But what could be done?
For us, who were planning a war, accepting this level of troops and migrants was an opportunity that might never come again.
We had to embrace them as family, even if it meant enduring the flood of tasks ahead.
I tapped my forehead and quickly revised the plans I had in mind.
"Milord!"
"Hm?"
A voice calling me snapped me back to attention, and I opened my eyes.
The people gathered in the room were all looking at me in the head seat.
Ah, we were in a meeting.
Because the Gray Wolf had secluded himself, I had ended up in the responsible position.
We had a patrol captain and Blue Hand, yet he pointed at me and ran off.
Thinking of the Gray Wolf leisurely wandering somewhere made my teeth grind.
But work was work.
I cleared my throat and asked,
"Where were we?"
"The issue of crossing the mountains. We need paths for wagons, but there are none suitable."
"I know a path wagons can cross. Have them build the scheduled number."
I had visited this region dozens of times.
I could find a wagon path with my eyes closed, so I told them to proceed with production as planned.
The gathered leaders then murmured among themselves, reviewing the matter.
It wasn't as simple as just migrating.
With so many villagers to move, everything had to be reviewed and accounted for.
But with so many capable people in the village, the plans were progressing smoothly.
Sensing the meeting drawing to a close, I finally set the migration date.
"We'll depart in a fortnight. Remember, safety first."
"Understood, milord!"
It was a harsh road, but as hardy northerners, they could overcome it.
With final words entrusting them with the task, I rose from my seat.
But at that moment, a soldier came sprinting down the corridor and flung open the meeting room door.
Bang!
"Huff, ha! S-sorry, meeting in progress! But she woke up, so I hurried..."
She woke up.
He hadn't said the name, but everyone in the room knew who.
The girl who had been asleep for five days since that day.
Snow-Covered, for whom the villagers had prayed sincerely, had finally awakened from her long slumber.
The people in the meeting room exchanged bright smiles, sharing their joy.
"Hoo..."
Ignoring the caregiver's protests, Snow-Covered slipped out and climbed onto the roof overlooking the village and mountains, assuming her familiar meditation pose.
Voices searching for her echoed from around the village, but they didn't reach her ears.
Snow-Covered quietly breathed in the fresh mountain breeze and the scent of spring.
It felt like waking from a long dream.
The fog that had clouded her mind cleared, leaving her consciousness as clear as a pristine lake.
What change had come over her?
Her body and hands were the same, yet her awareness now gazed upon the world from a higher plane.
Feeling as if she were soaring through the skies, Snow-Covered smiled faintly and said,
"Master."
"You look well."
Even now, the villagers hadn't found her sneaking onto the roof.
But her master had anticipated this quirk and waited at a distance.
Gazing at her with calm eyes that seemed to understand everything.
Snow-Covered spoke her feelings honestly.
"Something's wrong with my body."
"Don't fear. You're seeing what you couldn't see, feeling what you couldn't feel. We call it Aura."
Aura's realms divided into four stages.
Sensing, where one feels Aura.
Cohesion, gathering it into form.
Manifestation, sharpening it like a blade.
Completion, wielding it at will.
Snow-Covered, who had begun Aura training less than a fortnight ago, had entered the first stage.
Even the Gray Wolf had taken half a year for that beginning, yet the child had leaped over it like a lofty crane.
But Snow-Covered didn't rejoice in the realm; like a bird born to roam vast skies, she laughed freely.
There were no fixed paths—achieve endlessly.
Having just set foot on the king's path, Snow-Covered gazed far, far away... toward the world's end I couldn't see.
I couldn't hide the swell of emotion in my chest.
Snow-Covered, who would one day become the great Knight King,
and the new era dawning over the north filled me with anticipation.
Once more, spring followed hardship.
The road ahead was long, and the lessons and experiences under heaven abundant.
I extended my hand to Snow-Covered.
"Let's go home."
"Yes!"
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
The snow that had blanketed the northern hinterlands in white had melted, nourishing grass and flowers.
Even the eternal frozen north had always known this season of awakening.
Countless animals frolicked through the endless green forests emerging from winter's long sleep.
Beautiful migratory birds soared cloudless skies, heralding their return.
I took in all the scenery as I climbed the towering mountain, higher and higher.
At the summit, finally reached, lay a breathtaking view of the plains below—and a wolf.
"I thought you'd left."
"...I needed time to think."
Since disappearing after that day, the Gray Wolf had worried people that their lord's heart might have departed.
The administrator's foolish actions, whom he had entrusted with the village, and the betrayal by his prized disciple Barley Ear had shocked the villagers too.
But despite the leaders' concerns, I urged them not to search for him.
The Gray Wolf just needed time to sort his heart and reflect.
"-----."
A gravestone stood before the Gray Wolf.
It was a crude, ugly human tombstone hewn with a sword strike.
Though he had beheaded the ugly betrayer with his own hand, the Gray Wolf had prepared a place for him atop this harsh peak.
To bear the sin himself,
and let the wretch atone eternally in this barren height.
The Gray Wolf asked me,
"What did it feel like? Sending off the candidates you trained yourself."
"Sad. Regretful."
No matter how I tried to forget, I couldn't.
Even now, closing my eyes briefly, memories with the candidates flickered.
But each ended in heartache, regretting that fierce past.
Some chose abandonment,
some death,
some betrayal.
Those who met for one great cause parted for ten tragedies.
Each time, burying bodies, I numbed my searing emotions.
It was sorrowful.
"Sad, indeed."
To my honest reply, the Gray Wolf, eyes closed long, nodded.
Like a massive rocky mountain, he seemed to acknowledge sadness for the first time.
"But don't give up."
Yet the Gray Wolf must know.
Just as we found life's true meaning through chivalry, the north and countless humans still yearned for hope.
We must shed it, as spring had come today.
And devote our remaining lives to those awaiting the true king's birth.
For the new king, for our Snow-Covered, who we gladly risked all for.
"Come, Gray Wolf."
The peaceful settled life and disciple Barley Ear left only pain behind.
This mountain range, consuming empty years, was now time to fade into memory's edge.
He was unmixable gray.
But when protecting the pack, that gray became a wolf.
"Yes."
Having cast off everything, the Gray Wolf slowly rose, sword in hand.
He strode toward the waiting people, still majestic.
A wind blew just then.
In the vast view below the mountains, the migration column heading east came into sight.
With the Gray Wolf's joining, the villagers had finished preparing to cross.
Ah, almost forgot.
I pulled something from my pocket and held it out.
"Take it."
"Hm, a gift?"
"Snow-Covered made it all night."
The Gray Wolf was famous for sacrificing his right eye to defend the palisade.
Hearing this, Snow-Covered had grieved sincerely and embroidered an eyepatch for him with diligent cross-stitch.
A white eyepatch, unfit for him, adorned with fluttering butterfly patterns.
Childishly simplistic, yet brimming with meticulous care.
Snow-Covered made this?
The Gray Wolf laughed genuinely.
"Does it suit me?"
"No, not really."
"Hahaha! You haven't gotten one, have you!"
Damn him, that good?
Suppressing rising irritation, I led down the slope.
Mountains of work ahead.
Hurry to join the migration and plan, review the unification war to come.
"Thank you."
I ignored the voice from behind. The wolf was one of us now.