CH 114

After a moment of reflection, John carefully lifted his hand and patted Herwin on the back.

“… … It’s a lot of trouble.”

Herwin’s eyes widened and his lips twitched. Then he grinned, showing his fine teeth.

“Yes! It is.”

Herwin grinned, not sure why, even though he didn’t even acknowledge his relationship with Lucia. John couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

“Don’t laugh, but will you explain the situation to me as well?”

“Yes, of course, once you see this…….”

Immediately fixing his disheveled expression, Herwin explained the current situation to John from each of his positions.

“Fortunately, the damage isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and since they’re goblins, they can be easily handled by normal knights if they keep their wits about them.”

“That’s good to hear, but it’s unnerving that monsters have been appearing in the capital a little bit lately. Do you have any idea what’s causing them?”

“I’m afraid we haven’t found the reason yet, but my father told me that on his way down to the capital, he found small traces of monsters in places where we hadn’t deployed troops. I’m guessing that a small influx from the north is the most likely reason.”

“I see… Maybe it’s just the early stages.”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s why in the future, the capital city should also set up defenses against monsters and build up its military power…….”

Rustle-

Something faintly caught his ear. Herwin stopped speaking and quickly turned his head.

“What’s wrong…….”

In response to John’s question, Herwin held up his palm in a gesture of silence.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, John remained silent, and Herwin gestured to the knights around him for orders.

The knights sheathed their spears and swords and moved cautiously in the direction Herwin had indicated, striking once and for all before anything had a chance to escape.

But there was no sound. They cut through the grass and there was nothing.

“Nothing!”

“Still, keep an eye out, just in case. It could be a monster.”

“Yes!”

One by one, the knights began to search the area. Herwin scanned the area with sharpened nerves and suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He whirled around quickly and reached for John.

“Count!”

“Kiek!”

One of the goblins pounced on John’s back. John panicked, unable to move, and Herwin hurriedly pulled him to his feet, swinging his sword.

“Kiyik! Kieik! Kiek!”

The goblin, whose body had been sliced in two, screamed in pain and then went limp. 

John clutched at his trembling chest as he was about to be disemboweled.

“Count, are you all right?!”

Just then, Herwin turned around and looked at John. Staring at the dead goblin, John turned his head away. 

Herwin was looking at him, uneasily.

“I’m… okay.”

“Ha, I’m glad to hear it.”

Herwin’s voice shook slightly. He sounded almost as surprised as he felt.

“Duke! Count! Are you all right?”

The knights who had gone deeper into the forest to capture the goblins had heard the commotion and returned.

Herwin quickly relayed the current situation and calmed the chaos.

“Perhaps the Count should leave now. The monsters might reappear.”

“……Yes, he should.”

Herwin reassured John with an affectionate look, then summoned two of his knights. John mounted his horse with the knights and rode toward the palace.

As he rode away, he turned and stared at Herwin.

As usual, Herwin was standing guard, his face serious.]

“Master Herwin. Isn’t he great?”

“Indeed. He is the envy of knights these days.”

John’s ears perked up as he listened to the conversation between the two knights. The knights didn’t lower their voices because they thought John was interested in Herwin.

“Honestly, if it weren’t for him, we would have been in trouble.”

“Yes, the Sword Master is a Sword Master, but his agile response and sharp nerves are so great! No one would have dealt with it as quickly as he did.”

Their voices were full of exaltation as if the envy was not a lie.

“Besides, he killed all those orcs that showed up the last time.”

“That’s right, I saw it with my own eyes. When a certain young lady was captured by the orc and everyone was just stomping their feet, he appeared like a hero. After seeing that scene, I decided to follow Master Herwin for the rest of my life.”

“Ah, is it okay for an Imperial Knight to say that?”

“Haha, just between us.”

They joked around in a gentle atmosphere. However, the words in the middle made John freeze in his tracks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about when you say …… all stamped their feet.”

“What? Which part are you talking about?”

“You just said that some young lady was captured by an orc and everyone was stomping their feet. What the hell does that mean? Are you saying that no one was able to save her?”

“Ah, you mean at the hunting festival.”

John nodded.

He had never heard that before. He’d heard vaguely that Lucia had been captured by an orc, and that she’d been rescued by Herwin, but he didn’t know the details.

Even if Herwin had saved her, he’d assumed he’d done so with the help of others… Wasn’t that right?

“The orc suddenly appeared when the participants had just returned from the hunt. The scene was in chaos, and the orc approached the cub, who happened to be in a cage at the time.”

John’s heart sank as he listened. He couldn’t believe his daughter was in such a dangerous situation.

“It wasn’t targeting her, to begin with, but after it saved the orc cub, it suddenly took her away, probably thinking it could use her as a hostage.”

John clenched his fists so tightly that the blood no longer flowed. The knight, who assumed he was simply terrified of the scene, finished.

“We couldn’t do anything about it, because the slightest movement would have killed the young lady.”

“And at that moment, Mr. Phoenaeus appeared!”

It was a dire situation for John, but for the two of them, it was the birth of a new hero.

“Before the orc had time to react, Master Phoenaeus slashed the hand that held her, saving her in one fell swoop!”

“From what I’ve heard, the corpse was mutilated, is that true?”

“Not only mutilated, but he cut off every part of it. I can honestly say this now with a straight face, but at the time it was so gruesome, so unbelievably brutal, that some of the knights fainted, let alone the common people.”

Herwin saved Lucia’s life single-handedly. 

John was overwhelmed by the realization that the man who had saved his own life had also saved his daughter, and they were both unharmed.

John shook his head in disbelief. But the knights were not done talking.

“Oh, by the way, I heard a rumor that he stayed with the young lady until she regained her senses.”

“Well, I’ve never seen it myself, so I don’t know.”

“What if Master Phoenaeus marries the young lady?”

“I don’t know about people, so it could be possible, but I don’t see him dating anyone right now, do you?”

“Then, that young lady’s name must be…….”

The knight, who had barely remembered Lucia’s name, tried to pretend to know her, but when he realized what her last name was, his face turned pale in an instant.

The other knight, who didn’t know, tried to get his colleague to say her name, but he only covered his mouth and looked at John.

He was afraid of the repercussions of saying the wrong thing in front of her family.

Luckily, however, John was so lost in thought that he didn’t realize they were looking at him.

The knights prayed and prayed that John would not mention the incident once they reached the palace.

* * *

“Father, are you home?”

John, who had returned home immediately upon arrival, stared wordlessly at Lucas, who greeted him.

Lucas rolled his eyes, wondering if he had done something wrong lately.

“Lucas.”

Suddenly, Lucas tensed at the sound of his name.

“I need to talk to you for a second.”

Red flags went off in Lucas’ head. In an instant, he broke out in a cold sweat and his head spun. It seemed to stem from the fact that he’d been so cranky lately.

Lucas followed John silently, like a condemned criminal.

When the door closed behind him and John took his seat, Lucas hurriedly struck first.

“I’m sorry, Father, I’ve been so cheeky lately……!”

“Herwin Phoenaeus, that is.”

“Hmm?”

The two men who opened their mouths at the same time looked at each other, realizing they were talking about different things. 

Lucas, realizing his mistake, quickly blushed.

“Why are you apologizing to me, did you have an accident?”

“Oh, no, absolutely not, it’s just that my dad suddenly grabbed a weight…….”

John nodded his head in understanding. Lucas immediately sat down across from him.

“I brought you here because I wanted to ask you something.”

“You mean ……about Herwin, right?”

“Yes.”

Lucas swallowed hard, wondering if he was about to say that no matter what, he could never accept Herwin.

“In your opinion, do you think Phoenaeus is very much in love with Lucia?”

The words that came out of John’s mouth were not what he expected. Lucas was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly composed himself.

“……Well, yes, I don’t think anyone could love Lucia as much as he does.”

“But he’s the one who once rejected Lucia’s hand in marriage, don’t you think he could change his mind at any moment?”

“I can see what you’re worried about, Father, but I don’t think Herwin would do that.”

Lucas dismissed John’s words as a leap of faith.

“I honestly don’t know what happened between them, or why Herwin has been rejecting Lucia all this time, but to me, it looked like they liked each other, and maybe Herwin has been rejecting her for a reason too.”

“……….”

“And father. You said Lucia was happy.”

John’s eyes fluttered for a moment. 

“I spoke to Lucia once, briefly, when she was seeing the Marquis of Casper, and she said to me,”

‘I know I didn’t end up with my favorite person, but I don’t want my brother to be the same.’

What she meant was that she wasn’t happy, and she promised that she would be happy later, but there was no telling when that would be.

“I hated him at first, too, because I threw him out when he came to visit us once, but now I know how he really feels, and I recognize that he’s the one who will make Lucia happy.”

“……….”

John’s face darkened. But Lucas, sensing that he was torn, came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Dad, you have to stop taking this. You know he’s not a bad guy.”

John closed his eyes. He thought of Lucia when she was with Herwin. She had seemed happier than anyone else in the world. 

It wasn’t the same smile she’d worn when she’d met Bern. 

The answer was obvious.

“……, summon Lucia and Herwin.”

Lucas’ face lit up by the tone of his calm uttering. John had called Herwin by his first name, not Phoenaeus.

Lucas hurried outside in case he changed his mind.

“Lucia! Lucia!”

He had to tell them the good news immediately.