Chapter 31
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Baum Territory's Mine (3)
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“What do you mean by that!”
Obet's shout filled the small cavern.
“Blanc. It seems like you saw something that wasn't there. Everyone gets tense in their first real battle.”
Noel was siding with Obet, questioning Blanc's mental state.
The remaining ten knights looked at Blanc with puzzled expressions.
Under their gazes, Blanc quietly turned his head and called out to his loyal training partner.
“Rakshar, did you see its face?”
The werewolf with gray fur shook his tense eyes as he replied.
“Y-Young master. I didn't see its face either. In the darkness, just two round things floating...”
“It had no face!”
One of the squires let out a sharp scream.
It was the squire who had been struck earlier for failing to hide his tension. He was huddled up, trembling violently.
“It had no face! This place is cursed! We have to get out! We have to leave!”
The squire spat out his words in a frenzy, then snatched up a torch and bolted back down the path they had come from.
The group could only watch the fear-stricken squire flee in stunned silence.
As heavy silence hung over them, unsure of what to do, Blanc's firm voice cut through, seizing their faltering morale and rallying their attention once more.
“My mind is clear. I am a knight recognized by Lord Aselheit. My spirit does not yield to injustice or fear.”
The knights, meeting Blanc's blazing gaze, realized he wasn't scared or delirious.
“I don't know what it is, but something dark and sinister is clouding our minds. Everyone, envelop yourselves in aura.”
Sensing the conviction in Blanc's eyes, the knights complied, wrapping themselves in aura.
Enveloping oneself in aura meant solidifying one's inner world and manifesting it in reality. It not only strengthened the body but also elevated the mind.
As soon as the knights donned their aura to confront the unknown sinister force, the faces reappeared at the entrance where the two knights had vanished.
“Lord Noel? Lord Obet?”
“Why aren't you following? Lord Stefan is waiting.”
Obet, staring at the faces while clad in aura, couldn't hide his horror.
“This is insane...”
As Blanc had said, they had no faces.
Or more precisely, their faces were smashed beyond recognition—no eyes, nose, or mouth distinguishable.
“Rakshar!”
At Blanc's command, Rakshar swiftly nocked and loosed an arrow.
It struck one of the two faces squarely.
“Kieeeek!!”
“Why won't you save us! Please save us! Get us out!”
The two faces let out agonized shrieks before vanishing again.
Even after they disappeared, the knights remained speechless for a long while.
“What kind of bullshit is this...”
Breaking the corpse-like silence first was Sir Hansen, the oldest and most experienced among the ten knights.
He wiped his sweat-drenched face and spoke.
“Sir Blanc is right. Something sinister is targeting us.”
“Damn it...”
The knights, having endured the chilling experience, felt viscerally that this wouldn't be easy.
“We have to save them.”
Blanc addressed the bewildered knights.
“The missing ones might already be dead. But if those abominations truly were Sir Karo and Sir Asat...”
Blanc gripped his sword tightly.
“Didn't they beg to be freed? Even in death, our comrades are bound by these shadows. We must rescue them.”
Blanc was right. They were a search party prepared for the dangers of rescuing Stefan Tolome.
They couldn't falter at a mere glimpse of horror. They were Tolome knights, after all.
“We retreat.”
But Noel, the de facto leader of the search party, thought differently.
“Brother!”
Obet charged at Noel's declaration of retreat in fury, but he had to concede to what followed.
“It's for the best. Better to identify the enemy first, prepare thoroughly, than grope blindly against the unknown.”
As Noel said, they now had some idea of their foe.
Only black mages who sold their souls to demons could emit such sinister, bizarre energy and beguile people like this.
If they exited the mine now and fetched holy water or relics from the Goddess Church, advancing would be far easier.
'This makes things easier!'
Noel's words were exactly what Blanc wanted to say.
Thanks to his memories of his past life, Blanc knew a black mage's curse lurked in the Baum mine.
But he couldn't just waltz into the Goddess Church and demand anti-black mage relics without cause.
So, his plan was to show conviction of black mages' involvement at the mine's entrance, then regroup with Edwin's reinforcements for a proper search.
He knew the way, and with skilled knights, it was feasible.
“But Father!”
“Father would make the same choice if he were here. Are you going to send Tolome knights to their deaths, deaf to reason, swept by emotion?”
This would delay the rescue, leaving Stefan Tolome's fate uncertain, which Blanc had been pondering how to resolve.
But Noel was solving it for him.
'An excellent knight.'
Watching Noel's cool rationality, Blanc couldn't help but admire him. It was surely Noel's call to request aid from the Tolome family.
The Tolome envoys were exceptional indeed.
“We'll retreat. Do you agree?”
It was rare for a knight, ever valorous, to utter the word "retreat."
Seeing them hesitate, glancing around, Blanc stepped forward.
“Brother's judgment is sound. Knights must be brave, but also wise. I support him.”
“That's... right! Knowing when to withdraw is a knight's duty!”
“Blindly pressing on, ignoring what we can do, isn't courage! Let's prepare and return!”
With Blanc's words, the knights chimed in eagerly. Pride aside, Noel's advice was the right call a hundred, a thousand times over.
“Then let's move.”
Having secured the knights' agreement, Noel took the lead again, heading back the way the squire had fled.
But...
“This is a disaster...”
The slimy downhill path they had descended was gone, replaced by a massive wall blocking their way.
It was the second day.
The search party had been trapped in the mine.
“Damn black mage bastard. If I catch him, he won't get away alive.”
Obet spat harshly, grumbling.
The group wandered aimlessly through the dark mine.
Thanks to the squires' thorough preparations, they hadn't gone hungry yet, but that would end tomorrow.
“Feels like we're going in circles.”
“I feel it too.”
Even without Noel and Obet's words, everyone sensed it.
They were lost.
Tigor Baum's mine map was useless. It was crudely drawn to begin with.
“Should we have taken a branch instead of breaking that wall?”
“Wouldn't have mattered. We're already in the trap of something sinister.”
Seeing the wall block their exit, they had meekly turned back and chosen a fork.
Fortunately, Sir Bauer among them wielded a war hammer as his main weapon.
The reason was simple: he was a powerhouse.
With Sir Bauer's ferocious hammer blows, they smashed the blocking wall and proceeded confidently. But in hindsight, that's when they got lost.
Had they picked one of the three forks, they might have had a reference point to compare with the crude map.
Sir Bauer now eyed the group warily, wondering if he'd made a mistake.
Anyway, since then, they had wandered without direction.
For two full days.
“If something had just jumped out, it wouldn't feel this stifling.”
As Obet said, if enemies had attacked or they'd found the missing knights, it wouldn't be this frustrating.
Their only gain from two days of walking was an answer to why Karo and Asat's faces appeared to them but not to Blanc and Rakshar.
“I don't know for sure, but Rakshar and I never met Sir Karo or Sir Asat, so maybe that's why?”
Blanc suggested the horrors couldn't impersonate them because they hadn't seen the knights.
In other words, it was messing with their minds, creating illusions. Blanc, with no such memories to exploit, was unaffected.
Blanc's theory made sense.
The fleeing squire was new and hadn't encountered the two knights either.
“Plausible.”
“Can't be sure, but yeah. These things seem to toy with people's minds.”
If Blanc was right, they manipulated minds. To resist, they needed constant aura.
“Ugh...”
Sir Hansen, the eldest, groaned, drenched in sweat.
Knights drew power from aura, but maintaining it all day was impossible.
Constant mental focus drained both mind and stamina.
As Tolome elites with no battles interrupting, they had lasted two days.
Eventually, limits hit starting with the oldest, least sturdy Hansen.
“Split into two groups, alternate aura shifts?”
“They're knights. Even a moment's delirium could cause irreparable harm.”
“But we can't keep this up. Everyone's exhausted.”
Watching Noel and Obet's argument, Blanc calmly rummaged through Rakshar's backpack, as if expecting this.
“Brothers.”
“What is it, Blanc?”
The brothers seemed ready to raise voices. Not just them—all knights maintaining aura were on edge.
“There are many ways to bolster the mind, but aura is best. However...”
“However?”
“Drugs work too.”
“Drugs?”
Noel frowned at the harsh word from the fourteen-year-old boy.
Orphaned young, turned to drugs out of desperation?
He thought to scold and guide him straight, but...
“Here.”
“What's this?”
“Mint candy.”
“Mint candy?”
Blanc held children's candy.
“Why this?”
Noel looked puzzled at Blanc offering mint candy. Obet beside him wore a "What's this about?" face.
“It's a specialty of Highriver. Known for its intense, unique flavor... My servant must have packed it thinking of me.”
“So?”
Noel pressed for more.
“I tried it to shake off drowsiness. The taste is very... extremely... Try it.”
Words unnecessary, Blanc handed Noel a candy.
Noel glanced at the stares on him and popped it in quickly.
Then...
“Ugh...”
He grimaced fiercely.
“Yes. This qualifies as an awakener. Candy that reaches drug territory.”
Noel had experienced the mint candy's effect firsthand.
“Everyone, take one. This should keep our minds sharp without constant aura.”
Soon, all knights and squires here would feel its power too.