Celestial Fire (2)

“What?”

“Hmm. Is that too much to ask of civilians?”

Giving up on expecting anything from the farmer and his son, who were frozen in shock, Azadine lifted them onto the saddle. The hippogriff ran along the ground, broke through the Bri encirclement, and escaped.

“This is a problem.”

Azadine looked worriedly at his now-empty quiver. Even with a strong bow, if the arrowhead was soft, its penetrating power would fall.

To deal with the Bri’s deer-bears, he had fired all the Blue-Steel Arrows he had brought, though they had only been a few to begin with, and he had not even managed to recover them.

The remaining arrows had iron heads or broadheads for hunting, so their penetrative force was weaker. Even then, only three were left.

It was only because the Bri had lost heart; if they had kept pressing the attack, he would have run out of arrows and been forced into hand-to-hand combat.

“Well, now. I have encountered something strange right from the start.”

When Azadine glanced back from atop the hippogriff, the Bri did not dare think of pursuing him.

“Y-you are incredible. It was a feat worthy of an old tale! As expected of Sir Azadine of Chadra!”

Only after they had gotten some distance from the Bri and reached a quiet place did Duns finally speak. He seemed to know Azadine’s reputation well, since he even got his name right though Azadine had not introduced himself first.

‘This stupid boy, talking so casually to a Holy Knight. What would he do if the man had a nasty temper?’

Digan was flustered as he watched his son dare address a knight.

The Holy Knights of the Chadra Plateau might be little different from exiles. Even so, a knight was still a knight. It was a status farmers could not even dare compare themselves to.

He understood that his son was excited at seeing with his own eyes a Holy Knight like the hero of a story, but if he spoke carelessly and the other party became angry, there was no knowing what might happen.

“More importantly, do you know what those deer-headed things were just now?”

When Azadine asked, Digan answered hurriedly.

“They are Bri.”

“Bri? I am not from this region, so this is the first I have heard of them.”

“They are children of darkness called the forest folk. I have heard they serve evil gods older even than the Kurt Pantheon. It was a tale that was told from time to time in this region, but this is the first time they have suddenly attacked a place where people live like this.”

“From the sky, they looked quite numerous. Where is your home?”

“If you follow the stream over there, our village is by the watermill. Ah?”

From where Digan pointed, black smoke could be seen rising in the distance.

The Bri were dark folk who lived in the forest. Though they had their own language, they were regarded as savage and uncivilized creatures who had never properly formed a civilization, a kingdom, or even a tribal alliance of their own.

Living alongside forest spirits and primordial spirits, they hated fire, which could burn the forest, and metal tools that could only be made by kindling fire were obtained solely through plunder.

In other words, the village being on fire was not because the Bri had set it ablaze, but rather the trace of the village watch having set the fire in order to defend the village from the Bri.

Originally, they had meant to overcome their numerical inferiority with fire tactics, but… the village watch had already collapsed in the first clash with the Bri warriors.

Simply seeing the Bri warriors, whose bodies were far larger than those of the farmers, charging in while swinging long obsidian halberd-axes had made the village watch’s courage shrivel up and their spirits leave them.

By a stroke of fortune in the midst of disaster, the flames they had set as part of their fire attack spread to the granary, and they were able to escape safely.

The Bri’s objective had been the granary from the start. The moment the flames reached it, a Bri shaman began extinguishing the fire on the granary with magic, and the Bri warriors too paid no mind to the villagers and instead concentrated on drawing water from the stream to put out the flames.

Thanks to that, the villagers were able to escape safely, but… having fled with nothing but themselves, without household goods and without food, their future was bleak.

But at that moment, they encountered reinforcements they had never expected.

Azadine had dismounted from the hippogriff and was opening a path by hacking away brush and branches with his sword.

The mountain forest paths used by farmers pulling carts were wide enough for mules or horses to pass, but a hippogriff would keep getting scratched and jabbed by branches from all sides.

‘No, if this is how it is, I should have ridden a horse. A hippogriff is terribly inconvenient when traveling on foot.’

It was not only the hippogriff’s large bulk, but also its body structure being ill-suited to walking.

Its hind legs had hooves like a horse, while its forelegs had sharp talons like those of a bird of prey, which was good for explosive strength over a short time, but not suited to walking on the ground for long periods.

And yet Firewinter was too tired to take to the sky, so flying with the two farmers aboard was impossible.

‘If I had flown through the sky alone, I would have gotten much farther than this by now. No, I should not entertain thoughts like that. If I had acted selfishly, this father and son would have died.’

Azadine tried to endure the current situation by thinking of the value of the lives he had saved, but he could not stop himself from feeling irritated by it.

‘Of all times, I had to spot those Bri then. Hm?’

As Azadine cut through the grass ahead and went on, he suddenly noticed a troop approaching from the south. The Voice of Arael, which had been watching the surroundings from the sky, had spotted the force.

There were about five mounted troops, ten heavily armored infantry, and beneath that another twenty to thirty ordinary spearmen and archers, a mixed combat force about the size of a single platoon.

‘The forest makes it hard to see clearly. Should I bring the Voice of Arael closer?’

Azadine cautiously guided the Voice of Arael nearer.

But as the Voice of Arael descended into the forest, mist began to spread across the vision shared with Azadine.

Whether it was the magic of this forest or the magic of that force, some powerful spell was interfering with the Voice of Arael.

‘Hmm. They look like armed humans, not Bri. What if it is Sir Ject? But Sir Ject does not seem the type to go around carrying a banner. Damn it, I want a closer look at that flag, but I cannot see well.’

After hesitating a moment, Azadine decided to meet them alone.

In Firewinter’s current condition, it could not carry everyone, so if the newcomers were enemies who had come for him, Azadine would have to take to the sky alone and flee so that the father and son would not get caught up in it.

When Azadine emerged from the brush, the scouts were startled and leveled their spears at him.

“Who are you?!”

“I am Azadine, a trainee knight of the Rescue Knights Order!”

“The Rescue Knights Order?”

The soldiers let out sighs of relief when the suddenly appearing stranger mentioned the Rescue Knights Order.

Azadine also felt reassured. That was because the standard borne by the standard-bearer behind the scouts belonged to the Rescue Knights Order.

But from behind the scouts came an irritable voice.

“If you are Azadine, are you not that Messenger Clan infiltrator on the Chadra Plateau? A godless blasphemer! You ought to be a prisoner of the Chadra Plateau, so why are you here?!”

“I do not recall ever becoming a prisoner.”

When Azadine said that, the standard-bearer behind the scouts came forward. On the banner he carried, beneath the three wings that symbolized the Rescue Knights Order, an additional flaming-wing emblem had been attached.

“Not a prisoner? Have you not at once committed the crime of desertion by leaving your camp? You….”

Saying that, he lifted the visor of his helmet and looked at Azadine.

He was a handsome young man with aristocratic features and curly blond hair. He looked down at Azadine with an annoyed gaze, but when his eyes met Azadine’s, he flinched in surprise.

He had heard Azadine was a spy from the Messenger Clan and had imagined some exotic and bizarre being, so he was startled to find instead an attractive young man.

“I did nothing like desertion. Here is my travel permit! And I came as a brother of the Order, yet you at once treated me like a criminal and harmed the fellowship between brothers. State your name and affiliation!”

“Hmm…”

At Azadine’s confident attitude, the standard-bearer’s expression softened.

“I am Aramis, a Hospitaller of the Rescue Knights Order and a member of the Celestial Fire Knights. Azadine of Chadra. What brings you here?”

“Celestial Fire?”

Azadine was startled by Aramis’s statement that he himself was a member of the Celestial Fire Knights.

‘Celestial Fire? I had wanted to see them anyway, but I never expected to do so this soon.’

To begin with, the reason Azadine had left the Chadra Plateau and headed for Saint Mallory was to gather information about Celestial Fire.

Yet who would have thought he would encounter the Celestial Fire Knights here?

“While traveling with official permission from the Chapter Master, I discovered monsters in the forest attacking villagers. Here….”

When Azadine whistled, the hippogriff and the farmers came out from the forest.

“These are the witnesses.”

“Ah… Sir Sutton?!”

Drawn out by Azadine’s whistle, Digan and Duns recognized the old knight standing beside Aramis.

“Ah.”

“You know each other, Sir Sutton?”

“Yes. They are my tenant farmers.”

From the way the old knight called Sir Sutton said that, it seemed he was the knight who held this area as his fief.

The farmers testified that Bri had burst out of the forest and attacked them, and that Azadine had rescued them.

“Hmm. I misspoke earlier. Forgive me, Sir Azadine. I spoke rashly.”

“Very well. I accept the apology, Sir Aramis. As it happens, I had need of the Celestial Fire’s help anyway.”

“In that case, Sir Azadine. If it is agreeable to you, how would you feel about joining our side?”

At that moment, the other knights following Aramis were startled.

“S-Sir Aramis!”

“This affair will become Celestial Fire’s achievement. To do such a thing….”

“And to that man of all people….”

Azadine gave a hollow laugh as he looked at those who openly objected to him.

‘I can hear every word, you bastards. No, even if the opponents use primitive weapons like some tribe, why are you already acting as though you have won?’

They were beside themselves with worry that Azadine might steal the credit from them.

In truth, thanks to his exploits on the Chadra Plateau, Azadine’s fame was already spreading far and wide.

Celestial Fire, on the other hand, was a knightly order only just beginning. Of course, if it truly was made up of Celestials, then even a newly founded order would become famous in an instant, but ordinary knights viewed Azadine’s fame as a threat and were wary of him.

“Now is not the time for us to quarrel over merit among ourselves. Should we not save the people first?”

Aramis made the sensible remark here.

‘Oh? This fellow? Not bad.’

Azadine, who had taken a dislike to Aramis from their first meeting, found himself warming to him after hearing those words.