To The Battlefield (13)

I was so flustered that I placed a hand on the guard captain’s shoulder.

He sprang to his feet with astonishing speed and stood as rigidly as a statue. He looked as disciplined as a newly enlisted recruit.

I was too bewildered to speak. The captain, however, looked deeply moved.

“To think I would meet a member of my lord’s household here. It is truly an honor.”

“Your lord……?”

“When I was young, I was a squire of the Mort Knights. But I lacked the skill to become a senior knight, so I returned to my hometown and became captain of the guards. I thought I would never again have the honor of meeting a lady of House Mort, yet such a glorious thing has happened…….”

I looked up at the guard captain with a strange feeling.

The lord he had served probably had not been Victor, and the lady who had been his mistress certainly had not been me. Yet he was this delighted merely to meet someone from his former lord’s family.

It seemed irrational at first glance, but it was truly dazzling loyalty. Impressed by the captain’s devotion, I held out the back of my hand.

“You are a true knight. The grand duke will also be pleased when he hears of you.”

“……! It is an honor, Your Grace!”

The guard captain bowed and kissed the back of my hand. He looked close to fainting. I wanted to give him more time to savor the moment, but this was not the time.

I cleared my throat briefly.

“More importantly, I have news to give you.”

“Please speak, Your Grace.”

The captain immediately straightened.

I asked seriously,

“Were you aware that a hydra was living in the swamp beyond the outer wall?”

“What?!”

The captain’s mouth fell open. The soldiers who had awkwardly stopped training and were watching us because of the captain’s commotion reacted the same way.

It was understandable. Hydras were terrifying magical beasts that usually disappeared only after wiping out an entire village.

I calmly reassured the captain, who now looked ready to faint for a different reason.

“Do not worry. We dealt with it on our way here. However, some cleanup will be necessary. We burned it, but the corpse remains, so smaller monsters will likely gather around it.”

“Th-then what should we do……?”

“I would like to stay and kill them all, but……. As you know, we are pressed for time.”

I sighed.

Had we possessed even a little more time, I would have waited and cleared the area before leaving, but the situation in the east was too grave. We were supposed to depart at dawn tomorrow, so waiting for monsters to appear was impossible.

Since such a large hydra had settled there, there probably were no other large monsters nearby, but…….

After considering briefly, I suggested,

“May I take a look at your training?”

The captain looked surprised. Then he slowly examined my thin, hard shoulders and callused hands, as though recalling that I had introduced myself as a knight.

Without asking anything further, the captain bowed.

“We would be grateful, Your Grace.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Your arm is too high. It would be better to lower it a little.”

At my instruction, the soldier lowered his elbow. The spear became vertical, stabilizing his stance. He swung it from side to side with a surprised expression.

“This is much easier.”

“I thought it would be. Your arm muscles are not sufficiently developed yet, so that stance will be more comfortable. Train your upper body whenever you have time.”

After saying that, I moved on.

The soldiers of the guard unit were practically beginners. They appeared to have practiced diligently, but most had copied a manual clumsily and developed terrible stances.

I demonstrated techniques in front of them and corrected the postures of the inexperienced recruits in particular. I also taught the captain and squad leaders useful formations and the weaknesses of monsters likely to appear nearby. Of course, they already knew some of it, but much of their knowledge was inaccurate or incomplete.

The guard captain appeared deeply impressed.

“Amazing, Your Grace. All this time, I had been stabbing sandworms in the neck without knowing any better.”

“That is a common mistake. Their undersides are actually much weaker. But forgive me for asking…… have you not fought many monsters before?”

Should a guard captain in Mort not naturally possess considerable experience?

When I tilted my head, the captain awkwardly rubbed the tip of his nose.

“Monster subjugation was originally the duty of the knight order. They hunted them nearly to extinction every year before leaving, so all we ever did was break up drunken brawls among common thugs. The only monsters I ever hunted were those I encountered while accompanying the order during my years as a squire.”

“I see.”

“But monsters have increased sharply over the past few months, so we thought we ought to do something ourselves and began patrolling. It was not particularly effective, though…….”

The captain scratched the back of his head. I smiled.

“No. You must have been afraid, yet you still found the courage to fight. That alone is admirable.”

“I hardly know how to respond, Your Grace. For someone as noble as you to personally oversee the training of men like us, when you have no need to do so…….”

I blinked.

Why was he speaking so humbly? The very fact that these frail soldiers had decided to fight terrifying monsters was worthy of respect. Besides, helping those who worked hard brought me joy as well.

Instead of saying all that, I simply patted his rugged shoulder.

“We are fellow knights. It is only natural that we help one another.”

“Your Grace……!”

“Then shall we continue the training?”

I placed a wooden sword in the captain’s hands and began correcting his footwork. In the distance, the sun was setting.

The training did not end until late at night. Unnecessary worry had driven me to explain even how they should train in the future. The guards were exhausted, but they bowed several times with satisfied expressions before returning to their quarters. It had been rewarding, but somehow even more tiring than usual.

With my shoulders drooping, I headed toward the dining room, hoping there might be some leftover bread or something similar.

To my surprise, food had been laid out on the table.

Steam still rose from it, as though it had only just been brought in. There was crisp roasted pork fat, pickled onions, black bread, and soup.

‘This is food from the kingdom. They eat it here too.’

I smiled broadly in delight and hurried to sit at the table. I briefly hesitated, wondering whether it belonged to someone else, but it did not seem so, so I quickly washed my hands and bit into the bread.

I was emptying the plates at tremendous speed when someone entered the dining room.

“I greet Your Grace.”

It was Baron Yulvalt.

Startled, I barely managed to swallow the food in my mouth. When it caught in my throat and I pounded my chest, a servant I had not even noticed filled a cup with water. I drank it and looked up at the baron.

Why had he come? Had I done something wrong? Come to think of it, I was once again dressed in a way unbefitting a noblewoman…….

Ignoring my attempt to hide the dirt-stained sleeves of my shirt, the elderly baron approached with the aid of his cane. Then he abruptly asked,

“Why did you teach my soldiers?”

“Pardon?”

“I saw you helping train the guards all day. No, everyone in the castle saw it.”

I grew even more flustered.

Was I not supposed to do that? They had seemed to need help, so I had merely helped them.

I forced away the negative thoughts that habitually surfaced. Even if it had been inappropriate, it was still something that needed to be done.

I answered calmly.

“When I looked at the soldiers’ hands, I saw that they had trained so hard that calluses had formed in the wrong places.”

“…….”

“It simply saddened me that people who worked so hard could not improve because they lacked a proper instructor. I am not an exceptional teacher either, but……. With conditions outside worsening, it would be better if they could fight even without the knight order.”

For no reason, I took another sip of water.

It was unfortunate that I could train them for only one day, but if they followed what I had taught them, they would probably be able to eliminate a pack of dark wolves with ease. Eventually, they might even hunt larger magical beasts themselves and protect the village. Then they would not have to wait for the knight order to arrive every year, and the village would become safer.

I also felt proud to have helped such diligent people. I had thought it was beneficial for both sides, but…….

The baron remained silent for a long time. His dry, aged face stared at me.

Then suddenly, he bowed deeply from the waist.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

I widened my eyes in surprise.

But the baron was exceedingly courteous. It was entirely different from his rude behavior when we first met. With his head still lowered, he said,

“My guards have suffered injuries almost every day recently. It was only natural, since they kept rushing out to hunt monsters despite having no skill.”

“…….”

“Even when they responded to reports, they could barely fight before crawling back in a miserable state. You cannot imagine how infuriating it was.”

He clicked his tongue. He sounded dissatisfied, but affection for his subordinates could be felt beneath his words.

Straightening his back, he cleared his throat.

“In any case…… thank you. For hunting the hydra as well.”

“I merely did what had to be done, Baron.”

“There are many in this world who fail to do even that, Your Grace. Fortunately, it appears that this grand duke and his wife at least know how to fulfill their duties.”

His somewhat spiteful face cleared its throat once more. He seemed embarrassed after finishing his sentence. He gestured awkwardly.

“Continue your meal. My cook prepared it for Your Grace.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“May you have a peaceful night, mistress of Mort.”

The baron bowed and disappeared from the dining room.

I watched him leave, then looked down at my half-empty plate.

I felt incredibly strange.