Chapter 3. Were they such a high-ranking person? (7)
Chapter 3. Were they such a high-ranking person? (7)
*
*
*
Was Rosalyn von Artena always this kind of person?
Walking along, led by her hand, Erna thought, flustered.
Of course, she had thought similar things several times since the late Duke passed away.
Rosalyn, who handed over the position of 'Knight Commander,' which she had taken for herself as if it were only natural, to Erna.
Rosalyn, who started seeking out the weak within the Duchy, whom she hadn't even cared about before.
Rosalyn, who started attending meetings she had never attended even once, listening to others' advice, and doing her work properly.
Of course, Rosalyn's appearance while doing such things was not at all 'the appearance of someone doing something pleasant.' Rather, it was the appearance of someone who couldn't help it because she disliked the situation itself—where she had to do all those things—so much.
However, regardless of what anyone said, Rosalyn was managing it in her own way. At least until now, no particular problems had occurred.
—It was a question exactly the same as the one Erna was thinking right now, 'Was Rosalyn this kind of person?', but the content of the question was fundamentally completely different.
Blood splatters.
She thought Rosalyn would freak out and try to wipe it off. But instead, in this situation, Rosalyn was laughing out loud.
She had heard stories about warriors on the battlefield who lost their reason and laughed madly. Was Rosalyn like that too?
But could such mad laughter be such a bright, cheerful smile?
No, if it were Rosalyn, perhaps she could. At the very least, Rosalyn did not have a good personality.
She had heard that among the nobility, there were those who would kidnap commoners, toy with them, and discard them. She had heard that there were nobles who would snatch away the wealth a commoner had saved their entire life in an instant, and sometimes kill them for fun. It was established that all of that was 'something you shouldn't do,' but finding someone with the military power to sanction such nobles was not an easy task.
And, at least in Erna's eyes, Rosalyn was well on her way to growing into that kind of noble.
So, up until this point, she had thought, 'That could happen.'
"Erna?"
But the sword held in the hand of Rosalyn, who turned around while saying that.
That was the sword Erna had been holding. She had no memory of handing that sword back.
And the hand that Rosalyn was pulling.
Erna had definitely thought that if she suppressed Rosalyn with force, she wouldn't be able to resist. She had thought that if she did such a thing just because of the difference in status, Erna would only end up being suppressed by other knights, tortured, and killed.
But if so, when did that sword pass into Rosalyn's hand?
Earlier, while riding a horse, she was surprised to find the back suddenly feeling light, so she turned around, but Rosalyn was walking very normally. She hadn't even seen her jump off the horse. She wasn't rolling on the ground; she was just walking on the battlefield as if taking a stroll, lightly holding the hem of her skirt with one hand.
"Hmph."
Rosalyn, who had been looking up at Erna's face, let go of Erna's hand as if the fun had faded.
Disappointment was etched into those eyes.
"Y-Your Excellency."
"Well, if you don't like taking a walk, it can't be helped. Shall I go by myself?"
Rosalyn swung the sword carelessly. The movement of the sword was much larger than when Erna had swung it with all her might earlier.
But at the same time, the movement was also abnormal. Because it had sliced the throats of the approaching goblin horde as if the sword were thinking on its own.
Rosalyn watched the blood gushing out as if she were enchanted.
Terrifying.
Erna could not understand this situation itself. The Rosalyn she had seen until now was just an immature noble who moved according to her own whims.
But at the same time.
Looking at that Rosalyn, Erna felt a strange emotion.
Should she call it awe?
If one were to say that awe comes from fear, would that be wrong?
The goblins' battle line crumbled.
The soldiers who were supposed to follow behind were just standing there blankly in the distance, watching this spectacle.
Erna, trembling, watched Rosalyn turn around.
Just as she was about to take—
A step to follow her, she heard a loud sound.
The sound of flesh colliding with something heavy.
That sound was coming from the flank of the goblin battle line.
The sound of horse hooves shook the ground. A sound incomparable to the sound of hooves made by one of Erna's horses that had been carrying Rosalyn earlier.
The goblins flew up.
Hit by giant warhorses, they flew high. With their arms and legs bent in strange directions.
There were no special decorations, but the plate armor worn by those riding the horses looked splendid in itself. The surface of the well-polished steel was brilliantly reflecting the sunlight.
They held shields in one hand.
The crest painted on the shields was a single tree with a thick base. It was a picture of an oak tree.
Eichenorden.
The knight order responsible for the security of the Duchy had arrived just in time.
The battle line, which had been agitated because a path had been cut straight through from the front to the center by Rosalyn, began to collapse completely due to the knight order that had blown away its rear flank.
"Hmph."
Rosalyn looked at the ground as if it were boring and tapped something with her foot.
The neck of a goblin that had been holding a flag in the middle of the battle line.
It was the goblin whose skull had been split in half by the whip-like sword Rosalyn had swung earlier.
Clearly, it was a creature whose size was almost equal to an adult male.
"It has become boring, -sawayo."
Rosalyn said that. As if she were telling a joke.
And she glanced at Erna.
"Isn't that right, -sawayo?"
"......."
Erna swallowed hard.
"Y-Yes, that is correct."
Answering like that, she forced a smile.
*
*
*
Well, I had expected it.
Eichenorden is always patrolling within the Duchy. In other words, it means 'peacetime operation.'
A political system centered on the masses did not exist in the Middle Ages.
An era where the police and the military were not distinguished and were just lumped together into the category of 'armed groups.'
It wasn't that they couldn't be distinguished at all, though; if you classified the roles each took, you could distinguish them reasonably well.
It is a bit of a stretch to view the soldiers personally hired by a noble for security within their territory and the knight order operated as a unit to be called up immediately in an emergency as the 'same armed group.'
In particular, the position of a knight was also a 'title.' It wasn't a title passed down to children, but once one became a knight and was recognized as a noble, their children were nobles too. It's a bit pitiful to view such beings the same as soldiers.
"Your Excellency!"
A knight came running toward me in a hurry, covered in blood—well, maybe not completely covered, but with blood on various parts of his body.
And he knelt on one knee in front of me and bowed his head.
"I apologize for being late! Please forgive my disloyalty!"
"It is nothing, -sawayo."
I answered cautiously.
Until just a moment ago, I felt a bit intoxicated—no, actually, I still felt a bit intoxicated even now, but I had to respond properly for now.
Besides, seeing another knight order in person made me snap to attention.
It's not like I'm seeing Eichenorden for the first time.
Among the knight orders led directly by the Duke, it is a knight order that has garrisons throughout the entire Duchy and is spread widely, so it is easy to think that they are in almost all the important strongholds of the Duchy. Of course, there are often other knight orders in baronies or counties, but since the Duke himself concurrently held the position of Count in two out of the three counties in the Duchy, they were naturally the ones who also protected those counties while they were at it.
But I haven't seen this person before. Perhaps it was because he wasn't someone who worked near the castle of the Duke's direct territory.
.......
Ah.
Come to think of it, did I end up risking my life after brushing off everyone's attempts to stop me?
I had intended to show that the Blutrosenorden wasn't such a great knight order, but if it's this meaningless, there will be talk of something else.
"Your Excellency the Duke, by any chance, are you hurt—"
"Ah, this is not the blood of this maiden, -sawayo......."
Then, suddenly, I realized that I had been walking along lightly just a moment ago, as if I were about to dance here.
I felt as if I could hear the sound of the color draining from my face.
Looking down at my hand, I was holding the sword that Erna should have been holding. Although it was in a normal sword shape, unlike the moment ago when it was wriggling like a whip. Of course, the appearance wasn't normal. I had put quite a lot of decorations on it according to my taste.
.......
Was this sword also made of magic stones?
My memory of how I ordered it when I asked my father to make it is blurry. I probably just insisted that it had to be made with the best materials no matter what. Because that's my personality.
I also knew the function of this sword. Of course, it was a function that could only be handled if one knew how to handle magic to some extent.
I turned my head again and looked at Erna.
Erna was looking at me with a pale face, and when she made eye contact with me, she hurriedly knelt on one knee.
"......It is goblin blood, -sawayo."
I quickly pulled myself together and said, looking at the Eichenorden knight again.
Behind him, the knight unit he led had already arrived, forming ranks and kneeling.
"Thanks to Erna's protection, I was able to avoid being seriously hurt, -sawayo."
I heard a gasp behind me, but I ignored it.
Now that I think about it, that's right.
Isn't this a knight order I created to use as I please?
Couldn't I just dump all the reputation I don't need onto this knight order?
Good. That's a brilliant idea.
I nodded inwardly and admired my excellent choice.