17. Forbidden and articles (3)

“Is it the Jackdaw Knights who came to investigate?”

The Marquis wore round glasses and had dark shadows under her eyes. In my hand, I was holding a document that I hadn’t processed yet, but the part I held in my hand was tattered, as if I had read quite a lot. It was quite different from other high-ranking nobles who only managed their own territory in the royal capital or a peaceful area.

“I did my best to come a long way. There’s nothing urgent right now, so I’ll give you plenty of time to organize and reorganize your luggage at your place of residence today. And…”

The Marquis folded the document and put it in his bosom, then let out a long sigh.

“Damn it. Anyway, wait a little bit here. You have to tell me roughly what is going on and what kind of place this is.”

After the Marquis finished his words, he returned to his residence. As the door closed behind her, Paola let out an amused laugh.

“When I saw her then, she was the blue-eyed young daughter of the Marquis.”

“Were you acquainted?”

When Roberto asked, Paola shrugged.

“Even then, he was a pretty decent person. The way he spoke was rough. It was impressive to see them jump onto the wire without sacrificing themselves. Looking at it now, it seems to be doing well.”

Shortly thereafter, the Margrave opened the door of the residence again and appeared. The glasses he was wearing when he first appeared were taken off, probably because he was wearing them to read documents. The Marquis put his hand on his waist and looked at the Jackdaw Knights.

“The royal family sent some decent people. To be honest, I was dubious… Was the leader there the famous Theodora Benning of Snow Country?”

The Marquis asked Theodora. Theodora responds in a calm voice as always.

“Yeah. It’s an honor to find out.”

“If it doesn’t recognize you, it must be eyes no bigger than a knothole.”

The Marquis patted Theodora on the shoulder.

“After working hard in the north, resting in the center, this is where you send it. You must be suffering too.”

The Marquis then saw Paola standing beyond Theodora. She grinned, showing her teeth.

“There seems to be a familiar person. Didn’t you come as a reinforcement that guarded this place 15 years ago? If I remember right, I was a soldier then, but now I am a knight.”

Roberto opened his eyes wide and looked at Paola. Christine and Maxime also gave Paola a look of surprise. Paola shrugged her shoulders modestly, as if conscious of the gazes around her.

“It is an honor to be remembered.”

Paola put on that cheesy grin.

“I was just a young knight back then, but now you’ve become a great lord, yeah.”

“A comrade, and a comrade who showed a great performance, is bound to remain in the memory. Thank you for taking a long step for this land again.”

After greeting, the Marquis stepped forward.

“Let’s go to the wall first. It would be quicker to explain the situation while looking at the overall situation.”

The Marquis started walking towards the wall. There was no gap even in the rough walking. It was a prayer unique to those who were always prepared for battle. Even if the Marquis, the lord, passed by, the working people didn’t pay much attention. There were occasional glances from people, but most of the time I dealt with normal business and focused on my job again.

“Maybe I need to explain a little about no man’s land.”

The walls up close were much taller than they looked from a distance. Moss was bound to grow on the protruding, shady walls of the castle, but strangely, the stones were dry and solid, as if they had just been pulled out of a quarry. The Marquis looked at the elevator installed on the castle wall with a sad glance and immediately turned to the stairs.

“Originally, I would use the elevator… but now there are many people. Please excuse me.”

The Marquis started talking about the no man’s land as he climbed the stairs.

“No-man’s-land is literally no-man’s-land. That’s what we call a space where people cannot exist. It’s a wasteland full of monsters that eat each other. There is no hierarchy among monsters over there. If it’s just moving, it’ll just run to eat it.”

The footsteps of the knights ascending the stairs could be heard. Maxim listened to what the Marquis said as he climbed the stairs without hesitation.

“No one knows when, why, or what the no-man’s land looked like. You don’t know what lies beyond, you don’t know how wide it is. In order to find it, you’ll probably have to go back far beyond the history of the Empire, not just the Kingdom of Liant.”

As I climbed the stairs, the sound from the top of the castle wall became clearer. Maxim could hear the soldiers hurriedly running across the ramparts, the sound of someone yelling and pressing on, and the clashing of weapons.

“Beyond it stretches a land more barren than the wilderness you have passed through. And killing the monsters climbing up the cliff at the end is the job of the soldiers and knights of this territory.”

The Marquis pounded the castle wall with his palm.

“This wall is literally the last bastion. I’m dealing with a group of monsters that come over here every hour, day and night. There are times when I open the castle gate and go out to subdue them myself.”

The end of the stairs was visible. The sky that came into view again reached the end of the twilight, and dusk began to set. Torches flicked past busily.

“Okay, it’s arrival. See and feel the rest for yourself.”

Maxim could see the front line above the walls that stretched endlessly to the left and right. The scene he thought of was a desperate battleground with the monsters constantly rushing in, but the top of the castle wall was more relaxed than he thought. However, Maxim changed his mind when he saw the expression on the soldier’s face sweating as he walked with a torch.

Relaxing is the wrong word.

There was a tension that was not tight above the castle wall. I’d say it’s an atmosphere of insecurity. It was like watching a caged lion. Right now the cage is safe, but a lion trapped in a cage destined to break someday. Regardless of knights, commanders, or soldiers, everyone was guarding the wall amid tension that gripped everyone’s hearts.

“…The atmosphere is very different from when I came 15 years ago.”

Paola muttered. He must have grasped the current atmosphere on the wall. The Marquis replied to Paola’s words.

“They are similar in that they are anomalies, but the essence is vastly different. The monsters’ air strikes would increase if they increased, but there has never been a sudden decrease like now.”

The Marquis approached the edge of the castle wall. Maxim and the knights followed her and confirmed the appearance of the no-man’s land beyond the castle wall.

What spread there was a wilderness full of ominous things.

It was a wilderness, a wilderness.

A shady and gloomy feeling was felt from the ground, which was on a different level from the scenery of the road the Jackdaw Knights had passed through. On the ground where not a single tree or grass could be found, what was visible was a monster’s corpse and another monster approaching to eat the body. It was a hellhound panting on all fours.

“Are you leaving that hellhound on purpose?”

One of the members of the Raven Knights suddenly asked a question.

“It’s okay to leave it on purpose. It’s better to just leave one or two hanging around like that. If you shoot and kill them for no reason, other monsters will come out from somewhere when you smell the blood, and they will fight each other to eat and be eaten.

Maxim could easily imagine the scene.

“Especially when it’s strangely quiet, like now, you need to be extra careful. It is the most refrained action on the front line to do something that is okay without having to do it and then cause a big problem.”

The hellhound noticed the surroundings and began tearing apart the corpse in a hurry. Behind the hellhound, a huge mantis was approaching. Hellhound was engrossed in tearing apart the corpse right in front of him, not even dreaming of what was approaching behind him.

and snooze

Mantis’ scythe pierced Hellhound’s abdomen, and the two monsters began a bloody battle to the death.

“Except for the subjugation that goes hand in hand with patrolling, I refrain from intentionally finding and killing monsters. There is no need to throw more variables into a battlefield where variables overlap with variables.”

The Marquis was looking at the scenery beyond the castle wall with a dissatisfied expression. Hellhound tore off one of Mantis’ arms, but Mantis refused to let go of the other arm that had penetrated Hellhound’s abdomen.

“So we have to find out quickly. What is this a sign of now?”

“The possibility that the beyond has really gone quiet…”

The member who asked the question asked again, but the Marquis shook his head with a single knife.

“doesn’t exist. With all my rank and honor, I can say that there is none.”

Twilight The twilight disappeared, and the surroundings became dark enough to be called night. The darkness of the wilderness came slowly and seemed to suddenly swallow the world. The torches and the narrow space illuminated by the torches were all Maxim could perceive with the naked eye. Beyond the walls, only the sounds of monsters eating flesh could be heard. He had no time to know if it was a Hellhound or a Mantis. Maybe it’s both.

“How do you know now?”

The members of the Order of the Ravens thought that the investigation of the No Man’s Land would be far more grueling and less romantic than they thought.

—

Late at night, the vigor of the day and afternoon in the border area disappeared like a lie, and the streets were empty. It was as if a few hours ago was a pleasant play, and now, as if it were a stage after the curtain had ended, this borderland seemed to be the true form.

If you go up that quiet street, there is a two-story building that no one would think was the residence of a count. It was where the Marquis stayed.

The Marquis’s residence, except for one servant on duty, the rest of the servants are gone. However, the light was still on in the space the Marquis used as his office. The Marquis, Camilla Fey, was burying herself on the sofa, holding a slowly burning pipe in one hand. The person sitting across from her was Theodora Benning, the leader of the Knights of the Ravens.

“Would you like a drink?”

The Marquis raised his glass and showed it. The cheap wine in the glass gleamed. It was the taste of the Marquis who pursued cheap and sweet wine, saying that expensive alcohol was not palatable. Theodora refused, pushing away the glass offered by the Marquis.

“I will decline.”

“If you don’t drink today, you might regret it tomorrow.”

“I’m weak in alcohol.”

The Marquis laughed without taking his cup.

“I know it’s written on your face. Let’s forget about that and just have a drink. Between the young girls who grew up watching only steel and swords, ignoring balls and tea parties and dresses.”

“…I’ll take one drink.”

Theodora took the glass and took a sip as if moistening her lips. It was bitter, sweet, and bitter at the same time. Theodora frowned slightly and set the glass down.

“Actually, I’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about the Knights of the Ravens. It’s a concentration camp where only the representative idiots among the knights are gathered. We’ve sent a few people.”

“His Majesty announced the reorganization this time.”

“Yes, it was a structure that would not be strange no matter when it was reorganized. It was surprising that it had been left unattended. I don’t know what kind of picture Your Majesty is drawing, but.”

The Marquis poured another drink into his empty glass.

“I understand that the reason why I sent the Jackdaw Knights here at the same time that they were reorganized this time was to give them strength after having them acquire a certain major.”

“His Majesty has asked this order of knights to become his sword.”

The Marquis nodded.

“I don’t know what’s going on in the kingdom, but it feels like anything will happen.”

gulp.

The Marquis took a sip of the wine and put the glass down. Rather than enjoying wine, it seemed to be drinking fruit juice.

“Well, before that, we have to deal with this rotten no-man’s-land. Even if I tried to investigate, there was a lack of manpower of knight level or higher, let alone soldiers. I think you did really well.”

Theodora took another bite of the astringent wine, which had a strangely addictive feel. There was still no taste.

“Do you have any estimates?”

“No. I can imagine three worst-case scenarios right now, but what?”

The Marquis swept and sucked the pipe. Smoke billowed and rose.

“The investigation will be very difficult. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to shoulder some of the burden with you.”

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter.”

Theodora drank wine again.

What I wanted to say to the Marquis from now on was because I think I need a little bit of alcohol.

“I have a favor, I want to give you something.”

“Tell me as much as you like. It doesn’t matter if you nag me to date.”

Theodora was able to laugh very slightly at the joke. But soon she stiffened her mouth and began to speak.

“There are still two members of our Knights who were also active in the previous Knights of the Ravens.”

Marquis Baek furrowed his eyebrows.

“That is surprising. Do you think it was a skill worth leaving?”

“Yes, but I am one of them…”

Theodora bit her lip.

“I can’t tolerate that one person’s attitude. Both as a knight and as a person who handles the sword.”

Also, the way you treat me. I wanted to say that, but Theodora kept that in mind.

“yes? That’s something I don’t like either.”

said the Marquis, removing the pipe from his mouth. Seeing his eyebrows curl in pairs, he really didn’t like it.

“How can I do it?”

The Marquis asked, raising the corner of his mouth.

Theodora drew in a breath.

Maxim, in order to express this feeling to him somehow. Theodora opened her mouth.

“Assign that person to the most dangerous and difficult place during the investigation.”

—

The starless night was so dark.

Maxim, who had no idea what Theodora had been saying about him, was sitting in a chair by the window, making eye contact with his reflection in the window.

Recent events kept reminding him of the past. The meeting with Emile Bordain, the conversation with Theodora, and even the mission starting tomorrow.

I hate to think

Maxim looked at the sky outside the window with dull golden eyes. Memories came in and disappeared regardless of will, like sea water being attracted and pushed by the moon’s gravity and repulsion. He was alone in the room. If you are alone, the feeling is even deeper.

Maxim gave up pushing the memory. It was quiet. It was a good environment for meditation.

Maxim closed his eyes and began a long recollection.

That’s a memory from 3 years ago.

It was a story about Maxim and Theodora, when they were still lovers, before Maxim took on a curse that gnawed at his body.