Chapter 20.8

Part 8

Rember and Gallios look at me.

「Yeah, sounds good, let’s go!」

I accept the request.

I’m indebted to this couple, after all. Since Rember is Gallios’s younger brother-in-law, I should help him to return the favor.

Thus, we headed toward the rampart.

◆Dark Knight Kuroki

We have entered the forest.

Night in the forest is dark to the point that except for me, no one can see one inch ahead of them without any lighting, so everyone except for me is either using magic or magic lanterns.

Leaving the rampart at night is dangerous. But since we were close to the rampart, we could evacuate immediately if something untoward happened.

There are four other people with us other than Rember, Gallios, and me.

Gallios called for the freedom fighters to move immediately.

「As expected of the night, it’s scary….」

The other member of our party, freedom fighter Steros mumbles so. He’s not a native of the Rox kingdom. Though he’s a bit haughty, he backed it up with his skill.

「Geez, we absolutely can’t see anything with these lanterns and small balls of light」

Another freedom fighter called Pox complains as such. He’s also a native of another city just like Steros.

In contrast to Steros in his first half of his 20s, Pox seems to be even more of a veteran soldier than Gallios.

「Sorry, this is the limit of my magic….」

Nimri apologizes for his inability.

He’s the magician living in the Rox kingdom. It was him who healed Gallios yesterday. It seems that he was originally a child who was abandoned in front of the rampart gate of the Rox kingdom. He is the so-called lost child of the elf. The elf race is composed of nothing but women, and they make a child by cross-breeding with another race. If a girl is born, she’ll become an elf and if a boy is born, he’ll become the same race as his father. They were a race that has a hard time living along with another race due to various reasons. The boy will be abandoned in the nearby settlement of the same race as his father, even though the elf might not be willing to abandon them.

As a matter of fact, children born from elves have high magical power to the extent that even races lacking in magical power could use high-level magic. Those kind of people are precious to humans, so those children are raised carefully for the benefit of this country. Those kinds of children are usually future magicians. It seems to be the main reason why there are so many male magicians in human society,

Nimri was raised by this country and learned magic from the court magician who passed away ten years ago.

Nimri appearance is like a man in his forties while he’s already more than eighty years old. I believe that it is due to the elven blood in him.

「I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean it that way….」

Pox apologizes to Nimri. Basically, Pox is a good person, but he’s insensitive.

Nimri just smiled at him while showing an expression of not being concerned with such remarks. I met and talked with Nimri yesterday; he seems like a good-natured person.

「Stor, have you discovering something？ 」

Gallios questions Stor, a ranger.

「Nay, the forest in the night is too much even for me. It’s better if ya asked that lad over there」

The one he referred as “that lad” is me. I’m the only one who can use night vision amongst the ones in this place. Even the magician Nimri can’t use it. This is a matter of compatibility rather than the low ability of the magician. For example, I can use night vision, but I can’t use lighting magic like Nimri.

Hence, there I am, standing on the front lines since I can use night vision.

「How is the situation, Kuro-dono？ 」

Rember asks me.

「We are being surrounded」

「WHA！！？」

I can hear surprised voices when I tell them the truth.

Several shadows have come to surround us in slightly separated places within the darkness of the night.

「WHAT DID YOU SAY！！Which ones are we facing against, goblins or orcs？ 」

Gallios asks with a flustered voice.

Everyone draws their respective weapons.