Chapter 95：The Young Knight's new orders

My name is Kein, Knight under East Forest Lord, Royal Arch Mage, Viscount Vermilion Redstone.

I grew up in Otron, Capital of the East Forest.

Being the third son of the gatekeeper, my childhood was just a little bit better than the poor folk surrounding but still a far cry from the young nobles and merchant sons that frequented the higher society.

The Lord from back then made the Taxes really high, forcing us to complement our finances by going hunting in the woods for anything valuable to sell later in the market. Luckily because our father worked at the gate, we were exempt of entrance taxes, making each harvest a fruitful one.

As we grew into teenagers a large scale recruitment happened in order to supply soldiers to the new Pregas Fortress on the south which was under constant attack from the Southern Natives. We knew that this job would be risky, but as they say, the riskier the job, the higher the reward, so all three of us took the chance and joined the War.

Battle after battle, our skills rose up as the bodies of our enemies fell on the ground, many of our friends died as well and by the end of the War, less than half of the recruits who came with us were alive.

On the years that followed the old King fell, a new King rose, and this new King decided to switch our Lord, creating a period of anxiety as no one knew what kind of person the new Lord would be.

As the new Lord arrived he swept through the many important posts and started replacing people for those he trust, causing a small rebellion to take place. This small rebellion was easily contained and I was promoted to Knight due to my role in fighting the rebels.

As a Knight I got a few extra rights and bigger salary but my job on the fortress was still the same until the day the Captain suddenly called me to lead a few squads to rescue a poor village.

Accompanying me were two old men, the village chief and old Martins. While old Martins was the quiet type who treated his words as gold, the village chief whose name I still don't know, was the complete opposite, talking about his bald head every three or four phrases.

Our trip was quite eventful, not only we rescued a merchant caravan from bandits, we also crossed paths with a group of elite elven warriors.

As we finally reached our objective, the village had been burned to the ground, a really sad scene to be seeing. Luckily there were no signs of victims around the village, which acted as base for our theory that they were evacuated before the attack.

After further investigations we discover a big orc camp surrounding a cave up the mountains, but as we counted over 200 orcs inside the camp we decided it was better to request reinforcements before proceeding.

Retreating back to the Capital, we said good bye to the Village Chief and old Martins and sped up again back to the Fortress where our Lord was found.

...

Arriving back at the Pregas Fortress City in the morning of 21th Sun, my whole team headed directly to the Lord's residence to report the grave news, but as we walked though the large roads of Pregas we noticed things were not quite normal any longer.

Most of the commerce was closed, houses had their windows barred, children were not playing in the streets. It didn't take more than a second for me to associate this with my old memories of the War.

Was War beginning again?

Who were we fighting now?

Would my parents be safe in the Capital?

A thousand questions started sprouting in my head but without any one to ask them, all I could do was store them in the back of my mind.

As I reached the Lord's Manor, Sebastian, the Lord's butler received me.

"Good day, Sir Kein. The Lord is in an important meeting right now, and can't receive you. Would you prefer to wait for the end of the meeting or go back and receive a message once the Lord's free?"

"I understand. Then I shall wait here until he is free. The news I bring are important and can't be delayed."

"I understand. Then please have some tea while you wait."

"Thank you."

Receiving my cup of tea, I drink it slowly while trying to mimic the commander's form to not bring shame to the army.

Honestly I hate this kind of drink, as it's too sweet, way off my taste. But I also understand that refusing is not an option and that this is one of the trials I must face if I want to keep my title as a Knight.

As I finally finish drinking the cup, Sebastian gets up and move to offer me another cup but before he can do so, I cut him off by saying I had enough.

The clock slowly ticks the time away and drowsiness starts taking over me, making me sleepier and sleepier...

.

..

...

ZzZzZzZ...

"Sir Kein."

ZzZzZzZzZzZ...

"Sir!!! Kein!!!"

"!? Oh!? Yes Sir!"

Recovering my senses I see Sebastian waiting for me, which makes my face grow bright red in shame. I look through the window and see it's already night time.

"Sir Kein, our Lord would like to see you now."

While trying my best to recover my calm I nod and follow the butler, reaching the lord's study room.

"Come in!"

Slowly opening the door, I step inside the room.

The room is filled with many book stands on the side walls, two closed windows on the side opposite of the door, a chandelier providing light and a table full of documents in the middle of the room.

On the other side of the table the Lord was sitting in a comfortable armchair, gazing me while holding a bunch of papers on hand.

"You have returned quite fast. I expected you had brought good news, but by your face I see you bring otherwise."

"Unfortunately yes, My Lord. The situation was way worse than we expected. As we reached the village the houses had been burned to the ground. Luckily there were no signs of fight, so we expect them to have ran away and upon further investigations we discovered a mid sized orc's camp midway through the mountain, circling a cave."

The Lord nodded and signed me to continue.

"Our scouts also found signs of carts moving up the mountain and the orc's camp had no signs of carts, which led us to think that the villagers are probably hidden inside the cave. Maybe they used the carts to blockade the entrance while waiting for rescue or using it as walls to fight back. Either way it's just a matter of time before the orcs subdue them, so I would like to ask for reinforcements as fast as possible to start a rescue operation."

"I see. That's a pity. Unfortunately it is impossible for reinforcements to be provided now. An army of orcs is on move and our whole army will have to move out to repel them. If we start spreading our troops around it will just make us an easy target and lead us to our fall just like what happened to one of the elves's Kingdoms."

"But sir, what about the villagers?"

"We can only pray they have the strength to survive until our army reaches there..."

"...understood, sir."

Seeing my answer the Lord nods and starts writing a paper.

"Good! Now I have new orders for you!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Sir Kein, you shall rejoin the army ranks and lead a battalion on our crusade against the orcs! Take this paper and present yourself to the fortress commander and he will present you to your new post."

"Understood, sir!"

"Be sure to make those orcs pay for every single life they took from us!"

"Yes, sir!"

With new orders in hand, I departed the room.