Chapter 27
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Kingdom Order Mission (2)
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Even though they had been assigned a Kingdom Order mission, the other Junior Knights didn't find the situation strange at all.
On the contrary, they accepted it so naturally.
Roin quietly spoke to Remina, who was standing right beside him.
"Aren't Kingdom Orders normally only for Mid Knights and above?"
"That's what it used to be, apparently. But I heard that now even Junior Knights can take them on."
"Since when?"
At the very least, during Roin's previous life while he was attending the Loud Swordsmanship Academy, that hadn't been the case.
Which meant the policy must have changed midway.
Remina's answer was this.
"Redinus Year 875. From then on, all nations changed the system to allow Junior Knights to undertake Kingdom Orders too."
The moment he heard that, Roin fell deep into thought.
Redinus Year 875.
'That would be...'
The exact year Rodri disappeared.
The reason Junior Knights could now undertake Kingdom Orders wasn't due to any good intentions.
After the suppressant known as Rodri vanished.
The villains who had been hiding in the shadows, suppressed by Rodri's pressure, began crawling out into the light one by one.
No longer needing to watch out for Rodri, they resumed their overt activities disrupting the world.
Even the recent Preba terror incident, when viewed in the broader context, was connected to Rodri's disappearance.
That's why nations everywhere were desperately trying to find the missing Rodri by any means necessary.
'This damn continent can't function without me, huh.'
Even though he was just one man, Rodri wielded influence greater than that of an entire nation.
Everyone wanted Rodri's return.
Except for one person.
Rodri himself.
'I've done my part. They can handle the rest on their own.'
In this life, Roin had resolved to live solely for himself.
'It takes about five days to reach Sendri from here.'
The expedition was set for tomorrow morning.
Until then, each trainee had to pack their gear.
The instructors had given the trainees a list of guidelines.
What to pack in their gear.
Essential items were listed out: canteen, medical kit, sleeping bag, cold-weather gear, and so on.
But packing all of that would leave no space for beauty products.
Roin made his decision.
"No chance of getting hurt, so the medical kit's useless. Status ailment potions? Nah. Just smash the monstersno need for that stuff. Let's see. What else can I skip?"
To him, the top priority items were beauty products.
Early morning.
The Junior Knights' faces, on the eve of departure, were rigidly tense.
Even though it was part of the training, this was a real situation now.
One wrong move, and they could lose their lives in this battle.
Their lips were parched at the thought.
Amid it all, one person alone showed no tension.
The boy slathering sunscreen thickly on his face: Roin.
The surrounding Junior Knights stared at him with bewildered looks.
A situation where they might lose their lives, and here he was casually applying sunscreen.
They couldn't comprehend what was going through Roin's head.
They probably didn't know.
That for Roin, skin troubles were far more painful and agonizing than fighting monsters.
A moment later.
Barton appeared.
"Everyone ready, I assume."
"Yes!"
"We're heading to the Goddess's Lake in Sendri. The monster numbers are much lower there than in central Sendri, so no need to be overly tense. But emergencies can happen, so don't let your guard down."
"Yes, understood!"
"Instructors, control the trainees and move out."
At Barton's command, the instructors sprang into bustling action.
Sendri was also famous as the place where the goddess Sindia had descended to the human realm and stayed briefly.
However, as Barton mentioned, monsters had recently begun appearing around it one by one.
The religious order devoted to Goddess Sindia had tried to exterminate them using their own paladin order, but the numbers were greater than expected.
The sightings were spread over too wide an area as well.
In the end, they formally requested aid from the Delont Kingdom, leading to this Kingdom Order being issued to the Loud Swordsmanship Academy.
They wouldn't walk all the way to Sendri.
Each trainee was provided with a horse.
Even riding nonstop, it was a five-day journey.
Gripping the reins, Roin inwardly clicked his tongue.
'This is gonna suck.'
Monsters weren't even on his mind.
They'd surely camp outdoors along the way. How to protect his skin from bugsthat was his biggest worry.
Sendri was located deep in the forest.
Meaning they had to pass through brush-heavy terrain no matter what.
On the third day since departing the academy.
"March ends here! We'll camp in this spot. Execute!"
"Execute!"
The moment Roin had dreaded most arrived.
They built a fire and laid out sleeping bags nearby.
After a light dinner, Roin pulled something from his bag and applied it to all his exposed skin.
Remina, assigned to the same squad as Roin, tilted her head at the sight and asked.
"What's that?"
"This? It's like bug-repellent cream to keep the insects from biting."
Among the bugs in the forest, there was one called the 'painkwi.'
A tiny creature that fed on blood from living beings. Once bitten, the skin swelled up red like an inflammation.
Skin trouble was a given, and in severe cases, it could lead to illness.
Once he felt it was enough, Roin offered some to Remina too.
"Want some?"
"Nah, not really."
"You gotta take care of it from childhood, or you'll suffer later."
"......"
Every time she heard Roin say things like that, Remina thought to herself.
'Is this kid really our age?'
Sometimes he seemed far too mature for a child.
The ruins of Sendri began to come into view.
Barton headed with the trainees to the temporary headquarters of the paladin order, who were still fighting the monsters.
While Barton and the instructors held a strategy meeting on how to exterminate the monsters, the trainees were ordered to stand by.
In the meantime, Roin surveyed the Sendri ruins.
'I remember this place being occupied by Ratio's remnants back then.'
Worshippers of the Demon God.
They had been conducting black magic experiments here.
The monsters continuously appearing here were surely an aftereffect of those experiments.
'I thought I'd wiped them all out. Didn't expect remnants to linger.'
Like cockroaches.
Barton emerged from the meeting.
He led the trainees and instructors toward the Goddess's Lake.
While moving steadily rightward from the center of the Sendri ruins.
"Wow......!"
"Look over there."
"Amazing."
The Goddess's Lake began revealing itself before them.
Normally, a 'lake' evokes clear blue freshwater.
But the Goddess's Lake was different.
The water itself had a yellowish tint.
Followers of Goddess Sindia revered the yellow-tinged water from the Goddess's Lake as holy water.
With monsters emerging from a place like this.
'No wonder it gets under their skin.'
She could start to understand the priests' feelings a bit.
As they entered the mouth of the Goddess's Lake, monsters began appearing one by one in the distance.
Monsters in skeletal form with chunks of flesh clinging to them: kaib.
Barton drew his sword first.
"No solo actions allowed! Always engage in teams!"
At Barton's command, the Junior Knights formed up with their pre-assigned teammates and advanced.
Even as trainees, they were full-fledged knights.
But they had zero real combat experience.
Some Junior Knights were already trembling.
This was probably their first time seeing monsters with their own eyes.
It would be a lie to say they weren't scared.
Remina's pupils shook unnaturally for her.
She shouted to Roin.
"Roin! You heard the training captain earlier, right? This time, absolutely no solo actions......!"
Turning her head, Remina trailed off.
No matter where she looked, Roin was nowhere to be seen.
She urgently asked the other teammates.
"Roin! Has anyone seen where he went?"
"Roin, you mean......"
The teammates all raised their hands at once.
As if they'd rehearsed, they pointed in the exact same direction.
Remina turned her head in that direction.
Soon, they witnessed an absurd scene.
Roin, wielding a longsword, mercilessly slaughtering kaib alone.
"You monster bastards!"
Slash!!
"Wasting my time!"
Thud!
"Get lost already!"
Crunch!
He single-handedly annihilated five kaib in an instant.
But something even more chilling caught their eye.
Not a single drop of blood stained Roin's body.
"You little shits, acting all tough."
Roin stomped on a kaib wriggling with its upper body severed.
At that sight, Remina and the teammates were left speechless.
'Just hurry up and wipe these out so we can go home!'
That single thought filled Roin's mind.
But the kaib numbers were more than expected.
Kaib were classified by size: small, medium, and large.
The ones Roin had taken out so far: two small, eight medium.
'No large ones?'
Kaib weren't monsters that moved of their own will.
As undead-type monsters, they were controlled by someone.
The controllers of small and medium kaib fell into two categories.
A black mage issuing commands.
Or a leader-figure among the kaib directing them.
The latter was usually a large-sized kaib.
'From the movements, it doesn't seem like a black mage is directing them.'
A large kaib with its own will was likely manipulating the minions.
Having faced kaib multiple times before, Roin could easily deduce this.
'Where are you, you big one!'
As he roamed around the Goddess's Lake like a madman searching for the leader kaib.
'No way.'
Roin halted, his gaze shifting somewhere.
That place was...
'The Goddess's Lake... hiding in there?'