Chapter 52

Heavy conversations went back and forth inside Kerel’s office.
The name Muto Mariposa.
The chaotic battle that would unfold in the eastern grasslands.
Only conversations centered on the empire continued to pass between them.

Meanwhile, amid the serious conversation of adults, the boy was racking his brain.

‘When is this going to end?’

The boy’s gaze slowly wandered over the bookshelves, then turned toward the window.
His mind had left this place long ago.

Serpens wanted to leave this room.
The words circling inside the room were too difficult to understand.
Because of that, he couldn’t join the conversation either.
Though even if he had understood, he didn’t think he would’ve been able to join in…….

‘My body’s itching to move!’

This time felt like such a waste.

If he had grabbed his sword, could he not have swung it around two hundred times?
If he had gone running, could he not have been gasping for breath once or twice?

That was also why his expression brightened, if only for a moment, whenever silence fell.
Time passed like that, and just when the boy no longer expected silence.

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

At the sudden sound, everyone’s gaze turned toward the door.

“Father. It’s me, Rail!”

Ragged breaths.
Anyone could tell that he had hurried over.

“Come in.”

As soon as the answer came, the door opened.

A blond young man rushed in with his hair disheveled.
He nearly fell in the process, but quickly regained his balance and bowed toward Kerel.

A deeply pressed shadow fell over Kerel’s face.
He did not look favorably on his son’s hurried movements.

“Sir Lucas! Mister Serpens! It has truly been a long time!”

A thunderous voice.
At Rail’s voice, the heaviness of the office shattered to pieces.

“Mister Rail!”

Another thunderclap struck the office.

“Wahaha! Mister Rail, it’s been so long! You’ve got dark circles you didn’t have before!”
“Hahaha! That’s right! I’ve had so much to do lately!”

The two excited people hugged each other and spun around.

Serpens was extremely glad to see Rail.
It wasn’t only because he hadn’t seen him in a long time.
He had desperately longed for someone who could relieve his loneliness in this space.

“Mister Serpens, you’ve changed a lot. Your body has gotten sturdier, and I think you’ve grown a bit taller too.”
“Really?”

Serpens shrugged and looked over his body.

“It seems we have discussed enough, so how about we move elsewhere now?”

Kerel, who had been watching the commotion, opened his mouth.
Lucas and Lars agreed and rose from their seats.

Serpens opened the door first and stepped out.
Rail quickly followed the boy as well, and the adults also slowly moved after him.

Afterward, the group walked through the count’s estate grounds while conversing.
They heard news from Rail, who was working hard to establish his position as the second son,
and Kerel’s words asking them to remember what happened today if there was ever an opportunity in the future, though no one knew what the future held.

“Please become a firm pillar of the empire.”
“I will try.”

Lucas answered with dry eyes, as usual.
It was a coldness that felt like indifference,
but Kerel felt reassured instead.

“Are you heading back to the battlefield now?”
“It is something that must be done.”
“You are always going through so much. I wish my son would learn a little from you, Sir Lucas.”

Lucas bowed his head in thanks.
He briefly exchanged a glance with Lars.

“I think we should start moving soon.”
“Ah, I apologize. It seems I took up too much of your time.”
“It is not something you need to apologize for.”

After the group exchanged courteous farewells.
They turned away, promising to meet again next time.

Watching the backs of the three as they moved away, Kerel called out to them with a startled face.

“By any chance, are you planning to go on foot?”

“I told you there are quite a few good people in the world.”

Serpens was looking outside with his chin propped by the carriage window.
The wind slipped between the trees, and clear sunlight gently brushed the glass window.
The corners of the boy’s mouth rose pleasantly.

“He seems a little too good, though. No matter what, what kind of count lends out his personal carriage?”

Lars chuckled.
There was no particular criticism in his tone.
He simply found this kindness absurd.

The count’s personal carriage.
Its size, speed, and surprising comfort.
Not a single thing about it was ordinary.

‘His personal carriage…….’

It wasn’t simply a matter of lending them a good carriage.

‘What is he going to do if we drive the horses somewhere dangerous?’

Whether the horses’ heads turned toward a battlefield, the imperial court, or another empire.
Publicly, word could spread that Count Navigatou had gone there.
Or it could be taken to mean that he had sent an important person that way.

In other words, the count might face trouble because of the three people’s movements.
That being said, they weren’t heading somewhere that would create such a misunderstanding.

“Interesting.”

In other words, this carriage was a statement of the count’s will.
It was his will to stand together with the people inside the carriage.

The carriage traveled smoothly along the forest road.
The wind was still peaceful, and the branches swayed as if dancing lightly.
Amid the steady sound of horse hooves flowing like a lullaby, just as Serpens’s eyelids were about to slowly sink.

Screech-!

A sharp grinding sound cut through the carriage.
The wheels scraped against the ground and stopped, and the recoil tilted everyone’s balance slightly forward.

“Uwaaak!”

Serpens rolled forward as if thrown from his seat and struck his waist against the opposite seat.
It seemed the recoil of the carriage had acted differently only on Serpens.

“Um…… sirs? Could you please come out for a moment?”

At that moment, the coachman carefully spoke in a trembling voice.

“…….”

Lucas, who had not reacted for a moment, got out of the carriage first.

“Kid. Stay inside for now.”

Lars followed after him.

Bang!

The door closed, and silence came.
Serpens patted his aching waist and stuck his head out the window.

“A woman……? Who is she?”

Not far away, someone was standing in front of the carriage.
When the wind blew, her lilac hair quietly rippled.
Neatly kept hair flowed softly over her shoulders.
An eerie air flowed over the black combat uniform with the emblem of two crossed swords engraved on the chest.

Her beautiful appearance could be felt even from afar.
Perhaps because of that, the distance between him and the woman felt even farther.

“……?”

Serpens held his breath and watched the situation.
The figures of the three people, though fairly far away, looked strangely clear.

Still, because there was some distance, he couldn’t hear what the three were saying.
But he could tell that this wasn’t a meeting where they were greeting each other warmly.

The woman conveyed something, and Lars shook his head while sweeping his hair back.
Lucas only looked at the woman without moving at all.

Serpens lightly brushed the back of his neck.
A current that didn’t even touch him brushed his skin as if raising goosebumps.
It was a sharp current, like the tension just before a sword left its sheath.

The three continued their conversation while maintaining their distance.

‘What are they talking about?’

After a moment that felt like a long time.

Lucas nodded and turned away.
Lars, who had been holding his forehead, also followed him back to the carriage.
The woman stayed in place for a moment.
Then she looked at the two with an expressionless face and leisurely went off somewhere.

Lucas, having returned to the carriage, spoke to the coachman.

“We need to change our destination. Please take us to Litoret, the western port village.”

Lars came in after him and dropped into his seat.
His fingertips lightly rubbed his thick eyebrows.

“They sure handle things quickly.”

A weary cynicism was mixed into his voice.

“What’s wrong?”

Serpens asked.

“In two months. A meeting with the Natura Empire and the Calor Empire has been scheduled.”
“Isn’t that good? It’s what you personally asked His Majesty for, Lars.”
“It is good. It is, but…… it’s earlier than I expected.”
“For things like this, the faster the bett-”
“Bro. It looks like those guys have made up their minds.”

At that moment, Lars turned his body toward Lucas.
Serpens, whose words had been cut off, scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“I know.”
“Can we do it within two months?”
“We will have to try.”

The two people’s gazes turned toward Serpens at the same time.
But it was only for a moment.
Soon, their eyes met again.

“Muto Mariposa. She is an unusual woman.”
“Unusual is not enough, bro. She’s just a special case. She’s an Aura user, but I also felt Mana energy from her.”
“It is strange that we did not know about someone like that until now.”
“Exactly. No matter how indifferent I was to imperial affairs, there’s no way I wouldn’t have known about a talent of that level.”

Lars tilted his head back and stared into empty air.

“Lately, there have been more and more things making me doubt my own abilities.”

Serpens silently stared only at the carriage floor.
The fact that the woman from just now was Muto Mariposa, the person they had kept mentioning.
The fact that she was someone even those two found unusual.
And the fact that they had to do something within two months.
Various pieces of information piled up neatly inside his head.

The carriage quietly swayed again.
The sound of horse hooves continued as if brushing past the window.

Serpens weakly leaned his head against the window.
A suffocating feeling rose in his chest like ripples.
It was not motion sickness.
Nor was it a feeling that would be resolved if he got out of the carriage.

After thinking for a moment, Serpens slowly closed his eyes.

He thought he had become a little stronger.
To be honest, he felt he had become quite a bit stronger.

He could easily deal with a few monsters,
and he had even fought and beaten people older than him.
As a result, though he was a wandering knight, he had even become a knight.

He also thought he had grown a little closer to Lucas.
He was certain they were closer than when they first met.
They had been together for nearly a year, so it would have been strange if they had not grown close.
But what Serpens wanted was not simple closeness.

‘Am I still that far away……?’

There were only incredible people around Lucas.
The archmage Lars.
Principal Frost of the Academy.
And Sean, who had helped him gain Aura.

Lucas exchanged opinions about work with people like them.
Serpens wanted to become like them.
Not a child who followed orders, but a companion who trusted and was trusted in return.

‘I’m still weak…… so I should be grateful that I can even receive orders.’

The suffocating feeling filling his chest right now was not despair, but longing.
It was a wish that he hoped would someday be fulfilled.

Serpens needed a relationship of mutual reliance as much as he needed great strength.

Serpens’s group set foot in Litoret.
Lars chuckled when he saw Lucas’s house.

“This pitch-black house was funny even when I saw it through magic, but seeing it in person gives me a whole new feeling.”

The three naturally headed toward the training ground.

When their feet touched the dirt ground where weeds had begun to grow, Lucas and Serpens drew their swords as if by agreement.
It was a familiar place.

“For the next two months, your training will take place here.”
“Shouldn’t we be fighting monsters?”
“Other forces will be brought in. Muto Mariposa and the dwarves will support the west, while the southern forces and the elves will support the east.”
“……Dwarves and elves?”

Lucas raised his greatsword and took his stance.

“The meeting two months from now will be held in Oratio, the capital of our empire.”

Serpens gripped his sword and lowered his center of gravity.

“They said the dwarves and elves will provide support on their way here.”
“So the reason the meeting is in two months is because of the time needed to confront the monsters.”
“That is correct. It means they are confident they can resolve the problems in that amount of time.”
“Is that possible?”

Pat-

Serpens leapt.

Takang!

Their swords clashed, and a clear yet heavy metallic sound rang out.

“They are bringing the key forces of each empire, so it is not impossible.”
“Then couldn’t they have come to support us earlier? If they had, I feel like the war that has lasted for years would already be over.”
“It is not that simple.”
“Why?”
“Each empire has, at most, two beings who can be called its key forces. That is too few to send as support.”
“Ah…… then that does make sense…….”

He remembered being told that the war against monsters was not only Oratio’s problem.
All three empires were surely not in a relaxed enough situation to send away forces when they only had two of them.

“It is not only a matter of monsters. The three races do not fully trust one another.”
“They have a common enemy, but they’re still being cautious of each other. How should I put it……. It feels frustrating.”
“It is idiotic.”

Lucas said in a cynical voice.
But the emotion contained in those words was not mockery.
It was fatigue born from experience, and the irritation of someone who had accepted a complicated reality.

Whoosh-

Lucas’s sword slashed down vertically.
Serpens reflexively deflected the sword, spun, and thrust out an attack.

“It is idiotic, but to prepare for the threat of ‘just in case,’ it is also unavoidable.”
“Then if that ‘just in case’ possibility exists, why are they sending support now?”
“Because the threat posed by the monsters has grown greatly. To the point that there is no leeway to prepare for ‘just in case.’”
“…….”

Serpens, whose attack had failed, widened the distance.
Instead of closing the distance, Lucas looked down at the boy.

“Then what kind of training will we do for two months?”

Serpens asked again.

Lucas lowered his sword and took one step forward.
And at that moment.

Gooooooo-

The density of the air changed.
A pressure pushed in without form or presence.

“……!”

Thud.

Serpens sank to the ground on the spot.
Strength suddenly left his legs.

For a split second.
He felt as if Lucas’s greatsword were tearing his entire body apart.
But Lucas had not taken any action.

“This is called killing intent.”

Lucas’s gaze was cold, and his voice was like a blade.

“For the next two months, I intend to teach you how to handle this.”