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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Eastern Expedition
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Please take good care of me.
Early in the morning, the area in front of the manor gate was unusually bustling, unlike normal times.
A whirlwind of chaos with soldiers, squires, workers, and even administrators all mixed together and scurrying about.
A middle-aged knight with a bushy mustache approached beside Arsen, who was looking down at the scene.
Arsen, having heard a description of the man's appearance beforehand, bowed politely in greeting.
"It's an honor to meet you, Sir Entir. I'm Arsen, a knight serving under Sir Palato. Please take good care of me."
Arsen had gotten acquainted with most of the knights while passing through the territory, but this was his first time meeting Entir.
That was because Entir had been dispatched as the castellan of Arin Fortress in the west until recently and had only just returned.
He had greeted him politely to leave a good impression, but when the expected response didn't come, Arsen lifted his head to check the reaction.
As he raised his head, he saw Entir's displeased expression.
The man spoke curtly, as if tossing the words out.
"You're Lenoc's son, right?"
"Yes, that's correc—"
"Hmph, you're the spitting image of that guy. What a decent-looking mug..."
Entir cut off Arsen's words and muttered to himself before turning and walking away.
His rudeness was blatantly hostile.
Arsen stared silently at Entir's retreating back.
A surge of displeasure and anger welled up.
'I'll have to ask Sir Palato about this later.'
As a great mentor who was like an all-purpose encyclopedia and a living history book, Palato would surely explain Entir's attitude.
To shake off his mood, Arsen turned his gaze to the site where everyone was busily working.
The soldiers were being rolled call, and workers were loading food and water onto carts. The lizards tied in front of the carts let out pitiful cries, as if feeling stifled.
Administrators hurried about here and there, checking the number of soldiers and the amount of provisions.
At that moment, a squire Arsen had never seen before called out to him with an awkward expression.
"Sir Arsen."
"What's the matter?"
When Arsen asked in return, the squire pointed behind him, as if to look that way. Turning around, Arsen saw a hand rising above the wall, gesturing for him.
It was the kind of sight that, if seen at midnight, you'd swear was from a horror movie.
With a sigh at the sight, Arsen bowed slightly to the squire and walked toward the wall.
Going around to the back as expected, there was Eloise hiding there.
"What are you doing in a place like this?"
"...You're going on the expedition? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well, I only found out myself yesterday afternoon. They told me out of the blue. 'You're going tomorrow, so prepare.'"
"You should've said no!"
"What's the point of a knight refusing an expedition?"
Arsen gave a wry smile at Eloise's unreasonable whining.
If Arsen had thrown a fit about not wanting to join the expedition, he would have lost most of his favorable relationships in the territory.
Even the few squires and knights he'd gotten to know, and Sir Palato, would have turned their backs on him.
In this world, the notion of life's preciousness was far thinner than on Earth.
Courage and honor that feared not death were valued above life itself, especially for knights, squires, and soldiers—the military classes—who held such honor as their highest virtue.
The moment one abandoned duty out of fear of death, even as a knight, Arsen would instantly become less than vermin, despised by all.
Given that Arsen, young and from the fortress, received overly generous treatment as a knight, he had to fulfill the corresponding duties.
At that moment, Eloise pulled an item from her pocket and held it out.
It was a wooden carving engraved with a wave-like pattern.
"Here, a gift. It protects you in danger, they said."
"Who said?"
"...Luden."
"Isn't this something Sir Luden gave for you, miss?"
"But you're the one going to a dangerous place. I'm safe."
"You shouldn't just give away someone else's gift like that."
Though Arsen gently scolded her, Eloise held out the carving with a resolute expression, lips pressed tightly.
She looked ready to stand there all day if he didn't take it, so in the end, Arsen accepted the carving and put it in his pocket.
"You won't die, right?"
"I'll do my best."
Promising not to die was an unbreakable vow—and thus a lie—so Arsen only vowed to try his best.
Whether she understood the implication or not, Eloise threw herself into Arsen's arms and said.
Her voice carried fear.
"Don't die. For real."
"Got it."
The useless thought that people who say stuff like this always end up dying flashed through his mind for a moment.
Soon, Eloise pulled away from his embrace, her face flushed red, mumbling random words as they came to her lips before disappearing.
As he watched her go, someone poked his head from beyond the wall, and Arsen turned.
Lady Knight Zenovia was looking down at him.
"That little thing's already doing romance stuff. Long time no see, kid. You've grown a lot since then?"
"Thanks for the compliment. Lady Zenovia. You're as beautiful as ever."
"Oh my, so you know how to say the pretty words."
Zenovia covered her mouth and let out a ladylike laugh at Arsen's praise.
With her red bobbed hair and neat features, the beauty smiling like that was a sight to behold.
Of course, she had the minor trait of being about 50cm taller than average women, but so what?
From what Arsen had seen, Zenovia took pride in her height rather than feeling inferior about it.
It was the fruit and proof of her own blood and sweat.
"By the way, I've heard a lot about you... but it's really amazing. How is that even possible?"
Since she said it while looking in the direction Eloise had gone, Arsen immediately understood what she meant.
"I'm curious too, but how do you and the others perceive mages? I asked Sir Palato, but he wouldn't give a straight answer."
"Well, Sir Palato is such a good person, he doesn't like saying bad things. Except when he's drilling the squires, that is."
Zenovia chuckled and leaned against the wall, crossing her legs.
Thanks to good eating lately, Arsen had grown quite a bit, but he still had to crane his neck way up to meet her eyes.
Her long limbs made her movements seem elegant.
"It's hard to put into words as a metaphor. It's like the feeling you get seeing a bug mixed with the disgust of filth like shit and piss, then blended with hostility wondering why that thing even exists? And yet it looks like a normal person, which makes it confusing and worsens the mood."
With a calm expression, Zenovia tapped the wall as she continued after her harsh metaphor.
"Still, Sir Luden gives off less of that feeling compared to the miss. They say skilled mages can suppress their presence to some degree. Can't eliminate it entirely, though."
"Ah, I've heard that."
Palato, who avoided getting close to Eloise, still chatted with Luden, which had puzzled Arsen, but skilled mages could control that unique discomfort to an extent.
Luden himself had taken over 20 years to master it, and it lessened but didn't disappear, so it wasn't a true solution.
Luden had once said it was 'like dealing with a cockroach covered in shit'—a remarkably apt metaphor from a mage who couldn't feel it himself.
"That explanation helps me understand a bit."
"Yeah? I'm pretty good at explaining, huh."
Arsen recalled the maid who had fled from Eloise's prank in the past.
At the time, he hadn't thought much of it, but imagining a cockroach the size of a child, covered in filth and screeching as it charged made it all click.
You'd probably need two hearts to not run from that.
"Anyway, save the romance for after you get back. Time to head out."
"Understood."
* * *
The expedition force was quite substantial.
Three knights, one knight兼squire, twelve squires, and ten soldiers handling driving, cooking, and miscellaneous tasks.
The numbers were small, but with three knights, it was a formidable force.
In the single-file procession, Palato led at the front, Zenovia in the middle, and Entir at the rear, structured so knights could respond no matter the attack direction.
In truth, since all three rode Jins, they could gather in seconds once battle started.
No enemy strong enough to require all three knights together appeared.
"I got it!"
"No way, man. Honestly, I got this one!"
"Don't talk nonsense, buddy."
Accompanying the expedition, Arsen newly realized how great the power of a properly trained force was.
It was worlds apart from his pathetic journey alone through the forest back then, hiding and fleeing from other magic beasts.
Every magic beast encountered while crossing the forest had been a life-threatening foe, thorny bushes and razor-sharp leaves lacerating him at the slightest carelessness, forcing constant hacking with his sword that bred fatigue.
In reality, he'd survived by chance and luck alone, nearly dying countless times.
'I thought back then it was truly a hell no human could survive...'
To this expedition force, things like the Sheep Horn Wolves that had tormented Arsen weren't even proper enemies.
They were ambushed by small packs a few times, but the squires handled them expertly with spears, piercing and extracting hearts without needing knights.
Other magic beasts appeared too—like massive snakes spitting venom, Blade Leopards, giant hedgehogs covered in spines—but they weren't threats to the expedition.
When squires faced tough foes, they'd surround and circle them until a knight dashed in for a killing blow.
Unlike patrols, where squires were left to awaken or die, this wasn't neglect.
If external patrols were tests to awaken squires into knights, long expeditions were raw, real combat.
Knights' stamina and mana recovered with rest, but badly injured or dead squires couldn't, so this preserved strength.
Squires would only risk their lives against foes even knights couldn't handle easily.
In the midst, Arsen also gauged Zenovia and Entir's skills.
"Uracha!"
With squires surrounding spear in hand, Entir's Jin leaped like lightning past the magic beast with a shout.
After they crossed paths, the beast's upper body split open like hit by an axe and collapsed.
Compared to how the squires' spears hadn't even pierced its black, sticky fluid-covered body, it was an anticlimactic end.
Entir, large and older, seemed low on agility and heavy—but by knight standards—and aside from that, his strength seemed excellent.
"Ooh, Sir Entir!"
"Impressive, sir!"
After Entir's feat, the squires' flattery followed as usual.
Entir, not embarrassed, swung his axe with a boastful look to shake off the blood, striking all sorts of poses.
Watching made Arsen cringe so hard his fingers curled.
In contrast, Zenovia used a long spear, circling the beast rapidly to poke vulnerabilities and strike vitals.
It took longer than Entir, but ending fights without squire help was her strength.
Or more precisely, her style benefited from no squires getting in the way.
'It's so easy it's almost ridiculous.'
Arsen also took up a spear with the squires to dispatch a few magic beasts.
He wasn't yet skilled enough to ride his mount and wield weapons proficiently, but his stamina far exceeded the squires', so he had plenty of prowess for hunting.
By skewering a Sheep Horn Wolf through the torso with his spear, Arsen overcame the magic beast that once terrified him.
The threats of thorns and leaves were easily handled.
A few squires took turns hacking branches and parting underbrush to clear the path at intervals.
Those cut branches were even stacked on carts as firewood for evening campfires.
In conclusion, the expedition's progress resembled a hunting trip more than fierce survival or wilderness exploration.
"Halt! We'll rest here for the day!"
Nine hours after departure, as the sun set, the expedition pitched tents in a clearing and lit fires for camp.