CH 97

The search team that found us led us to quickly leave the forest.

Orion glanced at me with a worried expression.

Because he was wet due to being at the most forefront while swinging the sickle, he couldn’t carry me on his horse.

On his horse with wet mane, he looked at me with tearful eyes.

I rode on Sir Rune’s relatively dry horse and asked quietly.

“Are we the only ones missing?”

“There are a lot of missing people. You two are the only ones that are found alive.”

“. . .”

If we hadn’t found a shelter to hide, it would have been difficult for us to survive as well.

At least, until mantis appeared, that cave was clearly quite a cozy and great hiding place.

“Was there no monster besides the wyverns?”

“Most likely. It would have been more troublesome if there were more magical monsters. There are not many knights that participated in the hunting competition this time.”

Was the mantis’ appearance a coincidence?

I had never heard that insect monsters lived in this forest.

It was impossible for the preparation of the hunting competition attended by the imperial family to be poor.

Whether the sudden appearance of wyvern or mantis, I couldn’t understand any of it.

On top of that . . .

“Any other news?”

It bothered me that Trevor Beryl’s corpse had disappeared.

The fact that the corpse of Trevor Beryl, who had been missing, disappeared again meant that someone took the corpse.

Sir Rune, who stared down at me, answered.

“I didn’t hear any other news.”

He slowly steered the horse and sent a smile to me, who gave him questions.

“Your curiosity is much today, my Lady. Is there anything that should be found?”

“. . .”

“Or, is there something that would trouble you if it is found?”

Instead of answering Sir Rune’s playful words, I turned my gaze and looked around.

There were no more signs of monsters and beasts on the road opened neatly by Orion.

“Were the wyverns completely taken care of?”

“Then it would have taken longer to search for the missing people. After half of them were taken care of, they retreated on their own. They must be going to the top of the mountain range.”

“Are the people who took refuge there safe?”

The last thing I saw was a scene where Rachel was torn up by a wyvern.

Although I pretended to be nonchalant about it, I felt nauseated as I recalled that.

As we escaped the forest and headed to a brighter road, bloodstains were sparsely seen on the road.

Not the monsters’ green blood, but humans’ red blood.

As if noticing that I was looking down, Sir Rune whispered to me.

“Don’t look at it.”

“Ah.”

“Those were things that you don’t need to see.”

“Are there a lot of people injured?”

He flashed a smile without saying anything as if he had no will to explain about this topic in detail.

I sighed as I looked up at him.

“Sometimes, Orion is not the only one who overprotects me.”

He laughed out loud.

Then he spoke to me faintly in a gentle voice.

“Well, I can’t help it. I am also a member of the Miller Duchy.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You don’t know it? The basic virtue of the Miller Duchy is to cherish and love our young lady.”

“People will think it’s real if they hear you.”

I, who shook my head while sighing, met eyes with Orion, who was smiling looking at me.

When Orion, who was damp through, smiled at me, I could hear gasping sounds from everywhere.

“Look at the young duke’s expression.”

“He looks like a divine angel that descended after getting a revelation . . .”

“I can’t believe that until a moment ago he emanated horrifying murderous intent as if he was about to cut everything alive.”

Orion who emanated horrifying murderous intent?

As expected, I couldn’t imagine that.

* * *

The mages were dispatched late to the temporary shelter and the priests were treating the injured.

The faces of the knights that were on guard still looked stiff.

As soon as we arrived, Orion, with his wet attire, pulled a busy priest in front of me.

“Here, please treat her.”

“Orion . . .”

The priest hesitated, then asked me, who looked very normal.

“Where does it hurt?”

“No. I’m fine, so please treat the injured ones.”

After sending back the priest, I lowered my gaze, then I flinched and called him back.

Then, I grabbed Orion’s hand while he looked confused, and then showed it in front of the priest.

“Can you please treat this person’s hand?”

Not only did he fight wyvern, he even roamed in a deep forest while swinging a sickle he was unfamiliar with.

In addition, because of Bertin’s disturbance, the time he roamed around was not short.

As he had a monster-like stamina, he might be okay, but I could see red blisters rising over his calluses.

Although it was only a trivial wound, it weighed down on my mind.

When the light made by the priest reached his hand, the wound healed quickly.

Orion, who never seemed to be embarrassed when saying cheesy lines from romance novels, opened his eyes wide.

I saw a blue knight standing next to him covering his mouth.

The other knights next to him as well, patted each other’s shoulders with a touched expression.

“And . . .”

I was about to ask for another favor, but I closed my mouth.

Since earlier, there was a weak mint aroma coming out of Orion.

I knew it since I had smelled it before.

Its scent was similar to ointment used for stopping bleeding.

Maybe he’s hiding it on purpose.