Chapter 20

The monster forest was located at the eastern end of Ferdinand based on the map. So dense that the sky was barely visible under the foliage, this was the place where those evil beings first appeared.

Once upon a time, it had been a beautiful place where deer and migratory birds stayed. Now, access to it was restricted with the use of an iron fence placed along the perimeter.

“Get ready to go in,” Yvonne commanded the knights, who immediately shut their mouths and checked their weapons.

Kaon noticed that Alessia’s shoulders were stiff, seemingly affected by the sudden change in the atmosphere as they stood near the entrance to the forest.

“Alessia,” he whispered.

She turned around, and indeed he could see the anxiety etched on her face.

It was normal. Training and actual battles were always different, and the first real experience was always terrifying.

Besides, Alessia had never actually encountered a monster before.

“Breathe slowly. It’ll help you calm down.” Kaon pretended to press his hand down over his heart.

Alessia looked at him suspiciously, nodded, then immediately exhaled loudly. It was such an honest reaction that he almost laughed even though it was truly not the time to do that. Her slim shoulders, which had gone up and down a few times as she breathed deeply, soon returned to their original position as if she had regained composure.

Once again, Alessia turned to him again with a smile in her eyes.

“…Tsk.”

Kaon, who had been about to smile back, stopped when he heard a disapproving tongue click in the vicinity. When he looked in the direction of the sound, he saw that the mage walking next to Alessia was making a sour face. Their eyes met, but the offending person looked away instantly.

‘What was that for?’

He briefly glared at the mage’s head, then smiled at Alessia as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s go in.”

Following Yvonne’s orders, their party immediately entered the sunless forest. Each of the trees seemed to form a single entity, a convoluted mess of individual trunks and intertwined branches. It was cool under the all-encompassing shade, but the humidity was much higher than it was outside.

“We won’t split up today, so let’s not slow each other down.”

“Understood.”

There were two barriers within the forest.

The first was one that existed before the territory was even known under the name of Ferdinand, before even the establishment of the Gaius Kingdom. It limited the area where monsters could lurk. The second was located closer to the perimeter, installed by a mage from the Tower after more than two hundred years since the creation of the first barrier.

The initial wave of monsters who had appeared in this world was annihilated by an archmage from Ingelos and a swordmaster from Ferdinand. At first, everyone believed that those creatures would disappear entirely.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. They reappeared, looking different from before. Their appearances were not uniform, but they all had one thing in common: they looked like corrupted animals.

Problems arose when the new wave started crossing the first barrier. The duke of Ferdinand at that time had already spent a lot of money to have the second barrier erected, but it wasn’t as strong as the first one.

The knights once again had to fight against monsters. They patrolled the vast forest from time to time to see if there were any that had escaped the second barrier and dealt with those who had.

For a while, Ferdinand’s strategy was to send a large team of knights to do the inspections. However, they soon learned that the new breed of monsters was sensitive to that. The more humans gathered, the stronger and more aggressive they became.

That was why it was decided that only a specialized group of knights and mages would go to the forest.

“It’s quieter than I thought it would be.”

“Monsters don’t always appear, so it’s mostly silent without them.”

Alessia seemed to have lost some of her nervous stiffness. Kaon kept an eye on their surroundings even as he replied.

The inspection continued for a long time, but nothing came of it. Only the sound of footsteps crunching on dried leaves echoed through the forest.

***

In short, Alessia’s first inspection ended safely. As Kaon looked at her sigh in relief after entering the mansion and felt relief flood him as well.

Even if something had happened, he wouldn’t have let her get hurt anyway, but it was good that nothing had happened in the first place.

‘Damn it.’

Kaon came out of the bathroom and cursed inwardly at the pile of papers on his desk. He wanted to rest, but he still had homework to finish.

Baroness Robert’s principle that everyone should be attentive to their words and deeds was reasonable.

Two months later under the tutelage of an etiquette teacher, Kaon wanted to set aside all things related to liberal arts and courtly language.

‘I’m not a kid anymore. Why do I have to do all this again?’

It wasn’t easy to take the class again since it had been so long ago since he’d forgotten everything he had learned the first time around.

While his memories slowly came back as he read, he feared that they were not enough to handle his teacher’s homework.

‘This is useless.’

Kaon felt a little embarrassed about doing this again. It would have been better if he was told to study arithmetic or history, because they were both useful and interesting—as far as he remembered.

Courtly language, however, was pointless for him. In the first place, he had no intention to mingle within the social circles of the mobility, even during banquets. He also didn’t plan on serving the king closely, visiting the royal palace more than thrice a year, or holding aristocratic gatherings, so he really couldn’t understand why he was being made to study it again.

“Kaon, are you sleeping?”

“No, Alessia, I am not sleeping,” Kaon immediately responded, his furrowed brows smoothening and tired eyes lighting up.

“Can I come over for a second?”

“Of course.”

He happily figured that his homework could just be the problem for tomorrow’s him so that the Kaon of today could talk with Alessia for a bit more.

After a while, she slipped through the curtain with a sweet-smelling basket.

“Albert prepared it for me since he knows I went with the inspection today. I was a bit embarrassed since I didn’t have to do anything earlier… But I was very thankful.”

“It’s just the beginning. You did well.”

“I thought you’d say that.” Alessia put the basket on the table, inviting him to eat with her.

As sweet as it smelled, it was no surprise to see that it was full of tarts. Kaon didn’t like sweets very much, so he wasn’t all that impressed with the chopped peach and apple toppings, but Alessia looked very happy.

Seeing that, he decided to like tarts from then on.

“What are all those?” she asked smilingly.

Kaon flinched. “Ah, those are the liberal arts assignments I talked about last time…”

It was a little embarrassing how obvious it was that he hadn’t touched them yet.

“You must be a really studious person. Can I look at them for a bit?”

“Sure.”

Alessia, wiping her hands on a napkin, went straight to his desk. Curiosity shone through her eyes as she alternated looking at the books and his homework.

‘If I recall correctly, Madeleine said she often visits the library.’

Most mages did enjoy reading, so it was not a surprise.

“This is a different way of seeing things.”

“Did you also have to study courtly language?”

“No, I didn’t take lessons on that. It’s just that courtly language itself is almost identical to the ancient language of the kingdom.”

‘So her classes were about the kingdom’s ancient language? Why?’

As if she’d read his thoughts, Alessia continued, “The language of magic is ancient. It’s so natural to read, write, and speak in the ancient language, even in everyday living. In fact, it may even be harder for a mage if they do not know it.” She mouthed the words in the book, looking somewhat lonely. “But that’s a thing of the past.”

Her red eyes quickly regained their light, but her smile still looked sad. Kaon wondered what was going on, but he didn’t feel like it was right to ask anymore.

He was struck with the desire to get to know her a little more.