56. omen (1)

In the end, Marion moved to the estate of the Appart family following Louis Appart. Maxime had been invited by the Bordens family and made friends with them, while Marion’s persuasion, saying that she had only visited the House of Appart once, worked.

Having received Maxim’s sincere thanks, Louis Apparte felt somehow proud. On the one hand, I wondered what my son was up to, but I decided to put the curiosity aside for a while.

“Yeah, I think we can put it there.”

“Yes, lady.”

There was only one servant following Marion. Among the servants who were replaced frequently, she was a maid who served for quite a long time. Marion knew she didn’t have much to carry. In the end, there was nothing left of the house and the royal capital. Marion never regretted it.

All the luggage was loaded onto the four-wheeled carriage. The maid bowed her head to Marion.

“It’s all loaded, lady.”

Marion nodded weakly. Behind him, Louis Apparte was watching Marion and the maid. Louis Apparte spoke to Marion, who had a bittersweet but somewhat happy expression on her face.

“Thank you for listening to my son, Marion. It could have been forced, it was probably a tough decision…”

Marion shook her head.

“I was glad to hear you come. It’s okay if you don’t mind such trivial things…”

Louis Appart closed the carriage door and climbed into the carriage for the last time. The carriage started as soon as Louis Apparte climbed into it. The carriage running on the well-paved roads of the royal capital was rocking just enough to give the body a rest.

“For now, until Maxim returns from dispatch, please take care of me, Marion.”

“…Please take good care of me, Father.”

Marion replied in a tense tone. Louis Apparte couldn’t help but think that the eyes lurking behind Marion’s mask were like those of a wounded animal.

I don’t know how Emile Bordain raised his children, but it seemed unreasonable to say that the emotions revealed in those eyes now were innate. It seemed that she could vaguely know what kind of emotion Maxim expressed in his eyes every time he told her story.

“Sit comfortably. You see, it will take a long run to get to our territory.”

“Yeah…”

Marion nodded and straightened her posture. Louis Apparte was still a difficult opponent for her.

“When was the last time Marion came? It must have been several years.”

Louis Appart asked the servant next to him. The apartheid servant thought for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Probably three years ago. It was spring then. At that time, I remember that Lady Marion was in a very different atmosphere than now.”

Louis Apparte nodded. A hand was rubbing his chin as if trying to recall the past.

“Yeah… maybe it was the spring right after Maxim graduated from the academy…”

Louis Appart then shrugged.

“Well, anyway, Marion, do you remember that time? Both Maxim and you looked so awkward back then.”

The carriage left the main street of the royal capital. Was it shaking her head in response to the rattling carriage, or was she nodding her head herself. Marion’s long black hair fluttered with the movement.

“I remember that it was a very beautiful estate with many mountains and trees.”

Louis Apparte affirmed.

“Well. There are many mountains in our estate. There are many lakes as well as mountains. I don’t know if Maxim took you when you came.”

Marion shook her head.

“They said there were many lakes, but they said they couldn’t take them carelessly because they were too far from the mansion.”

Louis Appart let out a low laugh.

“I see… Should I say it’s like Maxim? You don’t have to walk for a long time. He’s not good at making others do hard work.”

Louis Appart looked out the window. Buildings were falling apart and the well-paved roads were shaking.

“Take this opportunity to look around the territory slowly. There are many hidden landscapes in our estate that I am not familiar with.”

The carriage continued to run. Still, only trees and bushes appeared thickly along the road where buildings were sparsely left. Perhaps tired, Marion fell asleep. Marion’s servant spread a thin blanket over Marion’s legs.

Louis Appart watched the scene and turned his head slightly to his servant.

“Will that hold up well?”

At the question asked in a low voice, the servant tapped his chest and immediately nodded.

“Of course, Master. As soon as we arrive at the estate, we will deliver it to the guild.”

Louis Apparte looked at the servant anxiously. Rather than worrying about the servant, he was worried about Maxim, who left that favor and started preparing to go to the uninhabited land. The second request left to him by his son, Louis Appart was able to understand what his son’s request was.

The servant assured me that he would be able to complete the mission with confidence, but asked questionably as if there was something bothering him.

“But… I doubt if he’ll really comply with that request.”

Louis Appart raised his eyebrows crookedly, asking if there was anything to worry about.

“There’s nothing to worry about… Maxim probably thought of it and wrote it on his own.”

“It’s already been 8 years since his whereabouts were unknown… he might still be in the guild, right? I could have transferred to the guild of the royal capital…”

Louis Apparte shook his hand.

“Even if it’s not our territory, he’ll be active near the territory. Because that’s who he is.”

“Didn’t I say that I would never accept nomination requests?”

At the servant’s question, Louis Appart sighed and closed his eyes.

“I just delivered a letter to the guild. Don’t worry, I’m not really going to tell you to go find him.”

“That’s why you know I’m not worried, Master.”

“You’ll be fine.”

Louis Apparte remembered the time when Maxim handed him a request.

‘Father… And I have a request for you.’

Maxim’s expression was very serious. Louis Apparte pretended not to see that expression and voice and trembled.

‘What is it? After seeing your father’s face for the first time in a while, did you not think of anything pleasant, just something to ask of you? You son of a bitch, you don’t know if you come down to your hometown sometimes…’

‘It’s not like that…’

Louis Apparte once expressed his dissatisfaction with Maxime, and then smiled as if to listen to Maxime’s troubled, frowned eyebrows.

‘Well, tell me. Depending on your request, you may or may not.’

Maxim sighed. It was the moment when Kim suddenly leaked out the tragic story.

‘Yes, how nice it would be if I said it without making an expression that would kill someone like that.’

‘It’s just… a simple request.’

Saying that, Maxim took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Louis Appart. Receiving the envelope from Maxim, Louis Appart wrinkled his forehead and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

‘Certainly it’s not a letter written to me.’

‘Sorry, but no.’

‘I didn’t expect it, son.’

Louis Appart seemed to flutter with the letter in his finger.

‘This letter, so where and to whom is it written?’

‘It’s more like a nomination request rather than a letter.’

Hearing the word request, Louis Appart’s expression frowned.

‘A request? Are you going to entrust the work to an adventurer? The largest guild is right now in the capital, so why…’

Louis Appart continued, then stopped.

‘I want to give a message to my master…’

‘It’s Master. Could it be that I am talking about the teacher I know?’

Louis Apparte knew all his life that there was only one person whom Maxim called his teacher. Maxim nods his head.

‘A person whose whereabouts have been unknown for nearly 8 years…’

Maxim bit his lip and said.

‘it’s okay. It’s uneasy, but if you deliver this letter to the guild in our territory, it will probably be delivered to you.’

Louis Appart turned the envelope around suspiciously.

‘…If that’s you, then it must be like that.’

Louis Apparte put Maxime’s letter into his bosom without asking further questions.

‘It’s our territory’s guild… There’s also a royal guild, but why?’

‘Master will be active far away from the capital… And I don’t know who might be watching.’

To be a little more certain, to protect everyone.

‘We should do everything we can.’

—

The atmosphere of the Jackdaw Knights was more rigid than usual.

The members thought that they had finally cast off the awkwardness peculiar to the new Knights, but the atmosphere was stiffer and more awkward than when it was first officially launched. The unknown tension drove the members into curiosity, but no one dared to open their mouths about the cause.

“It’s kind of quiet today. You and the Knights of the Ravens.”

Paola was crossing swords with Maxime. Contact from the no-man’s-land was delayed more than expected.

“It wasn’t that I was noisy because I wanted to be noisy.”

Maxim sighed. Christine hasn’t been seen since she went to work today. Theodora didn’t come to the training ground because she was concentrating on recovering from an injury. Of course, if Theodora kept showing up at the training ground, Maxim would have been in trouble too.

Thanks to that, it was Paola who could be said to be the best to be busy. Paola was leading the self-training in place of the leader and vice-captain, who did not appear.

Paola lowered her sword and grimaced.

“Roberto said he’s busy these days and his face doesn’t show well. I wonder if the old man will live because he is sad.”

Maxim swung his sword in the air. It was a body that was being destroyed by a curse, but it was able to endure.

“Come to think of it, I can’t see Roberto right now either.”

Maxim shook his head.

“He said he had something to do, asked for my understanding, and fell for a while. I will be back soon.”

Paola said in a voice that seemed a little annoyed, which was unusual for him.

“So Maxim, you should be my training partner. Hurry up and pick up the sword.”

At Paola’s urging, Maxim stood up. The two knights kept each other in check for a while, then quickly competed for several points and then withdrew. The sound of iron and iron piercing the air echoes in line with the competition.

It was Paola who had accumulated a lot of experience and fought against countless knights, but it felt like competing with Maxim always broadened his perspective on combat. Paola asked Maxim, who raised his sword, curiously.

“By the way, every time I stick with you, I think of it…”

Maxim tilted his head.

“Your sword is truly amazing. Aside from his swordsmanship, he is quite skilled at an age where he may not have much experience as a knight yet.”

At Paola’s praise, Maxim let out a wry smile.

“Does it resemble the teacher’s ethos? No… the experience of melting into a sword is not something that can be matched with ethos.”

Maxim shrugged.

“I think Master’s training method was the problem.”

“What kind of master do you have to train under and how to get a sword like that?”

Paola admired and withdrew her sword. Maxim felt embarrassed. One of the adventurer master’s training methods was to drop Maxim on a rough terrain and roll it until he was about to die.

“…Someday, I hope to see your master as well.”

“I will also introduce you if you contact me.”

When Maxim laughed, Paola laughed.

“You seem to live without contacting your teacher.”

“You always called me the goddamn disciple. He was a nasty person who didn’t even care about his status.”

Just as Maxim and Paola were chatting about each other in detail about Maxim’s mentor, the sound of someone rushing into the training ground of the Raven Knights was heard.

Paola frowned. A knight covered in sweat, gasping for breath, ran slowly, recognized Paola’s face, and sped up to reach her. It was a knight who worked in the no-man’s-land. As with all Knights of the No Man’s Land, the armor was in disarray, but it looked particularly bad now.

“Pa…Sir Paola.”

The knight exhaled hotly and called out to Paola. Paola lowered her voice.

“You look in a hurry.”

The knight nodded.

“Captain… where is the captain?”

“I will guide you. What the hell is going on?”

The knight swallowed once, catching his breath, then spoke in a trembling voice.

“No man’s land, the cliff at the end is gradually collapsing. And, the monsters on the other side… came over as if they were going to bring all the ones that hadn’t appeared before…”

The knight gritted his teeth and finished his speech.

“Thousands of monsters are pounding the walls.”