CH 26

Azadine asked Ismail.

“Did you bring any food from Derek?”

“Ah, you mean that?”

They had taken the food that had been prepared when Derek invited them for dinner.

“Let’s have everyone eat this. When the farmers wake up, let’s go over there and ask if we can get some rest..”

Azadine kept his gaze on the sky.

After eating during the sunrise, Azadine took out a helmet and placed it on instead of the falcon mask.

“People from the King’s Church might recognize the mask when they see it. Not to mention there’s a scar over my eyes.”

Azadine covered his face with the helmet and headed to the nearby farm with his party. When the dogs barked at their approach, the farmers who had been out to work in the morning became startled as they saw Azadine and his company.

The farmers froze in fear at just a glimpse of Tarki, who was visibly a knight.

With how terrifying knights were, how could they not be scared?

“W-what is it?”

“We are traveling and wish to rent a farm.”

When Tarki said this, the people could not understand his intentions. When someone wished to rent a farm, it could mean they wanted to camp, plunder, or even just sleep.

“We need a place to rest.”

Azadine explained Tarki’s words in a way that was easier to understand.

“Ah, if that is the case, please use our cabin. We need to work the fields anyway.”

“It’s just a couple of shabby bedrooms…”

“Hmm. A shabby bedroom. Well, it is definitely better than a pigsty….”

When Tarki said this, Azadine stabbed his elbow to his side to silence him.

“A barn or shed would be fine.”

“Why are you like that? The farmers will only use the house if they work their fields all day. Can we just not rest inside?”

“And what if we end up taking a long rest?”

“Then how about what the farmers are using the barn for? They raise pigs there. How could we use such a place?”

Tarki, who had spoken this naturally, seemed to need to be made aware of the problem.

“Enough. What can I even do with you?”

Azadine gave up talking to Tarki and gave a silver coin to the farmer.

“T-this?”

“For troubling you. Please prepare some dinner for us.

“Ah, o-of course.”

“Very well.”

Azadine bowed to them and headed to the barn.

Pigs and livestock slept on the ground floor of the barn. A ladder led to the upper floor where the hay was stored. Azadine headed up, spread a blanket over the hay, and covered himself.

There were all sorts of vermin in the hay, so he could feel them moving even though his blankets were thick.

“Ah, what if my teeth get infected.”

“Most of them are just slugs.”

Azadine lay on the bed he had and fell asleep like he was dead.

The farms in this area were designated to be under the fiefdom of the knight Sir Jeran. He held the right to collect the taxes from the farms here. He did so twice a year, in the spring and fall, as needed. He would also give the people work by creating part-time jobs when required.

In exchange, Sir Jeran was obliged to take charge of the security of the people by hunting monsters.

But….

“Um, it is huge.”

The farmers frowned when they discovered that a fence to the farm had been broken. The drought, which started in the eastern lands, was spreading like a plague into the borders of Salasma.

The situation had already led to many refugees. However, as the drought continued, animals not native to the territory began invading the farm.

“Should I contact Sir Jeran?”

“The knights say they won’t touch anything unless they can find them immediately. They will only do something if we can catch it in one day. Would they even deign to wander around the mountains and fields looking for animals? If we had to stay in the village for a long time, we might lose some things.

The farmers were afraid of knights and nobles. The law of the Kingdoms, established by the Yaegas Clan, forbade any unfair exploitation, abuse, and rape of farmers and their families. However, this safety was only applied to those who lived in the cities.

Peasants in the suburbs, borders, and private fiefs were no different than private property.

Sir Jeran was at least slightly better than the nobility, but he was still someone the commoners didn’t want to see that much.

“Still, if we do something wrong, people will die.”

The farmer’s son lifted the fence and looked at it. There were huge claw marks on the fence. Considering the spacing, it was clearly a large monster.

“Then do you want to go talk to Sir Jeran? You should go try and actually make him understand.”

“… we can repair the fence.”

Instead of telling the knight such a story, it would be better if they repaired the fence and hoped the monster didn’t come again. Just as all of the farmers there had begun to reach an agreement.

“Hey!”

The man who pulled a cart to sell vegetables in town in the mornings had returned.

“It’s insane! They said some monsters had attacked the post town last night!”

“What? No way, there was a monster there? Is that true?”

“That’s right! Sir Jeran is also dead.”

“Uh?”

“Really?”

“Would I even joke about something like this?”

“What will happen to us if Sir Jeran is dead?”

“More than that, the beasts destroyed the town. Shouldn’t we run too?”

“Ah, speaking of which, the holy knights had come and destroyed all the monsters.”

“Thank goodness… will the holy knights be coming this way?”

holy knights were worse than knights. Those who roamed without a land of their own were greedier and had no sense of responsibility.

“Well, they were there. I don’t know now. Moreover…”

Suddenly, the farmer who was speaking opened his eyes wide. An arrow had sprouted from his head.

“Uh?”

“Eik!”

“ACKKK!”

The farmers’ screams began to echo through the forest.

When the children of nobility entered the King’s Church, they were considered trainee knights. Even those who had originally trained as knights or had received knighthoods would start as trainee knights of the Holy Knight order when they entered the church.

At this time, there would be a chain of hierarchy that required no speech. The trainees would then carry out missions alongside bishops, clerics, or other holy knights of the church.

Kazrek, a holy knight of the King’s Church, was a senior knight who fostered trainees.

Originally, the Holy Knights of the church had an education system with a strong and deep connection where a single trainee attached to a senior knight became a mentor and disciple. The knowledge about swordsmanship, monsters, and a knight’s chivalry was passed down.

However, the process had now changed where a senior knight was assigned several trainees to ensure that trainees quickly became a knight. A system that focused on performance.

This wasn’t because the number of bastard children made by the nobility had increased, but simply because the King’s Church was notorious for being crowded.

Lord Kazrek’s mission now was to subdue a beast alongside five trainees.

“Ugh, I hate it so much. So bothersome.”

Even if they called it a beast, it wasn’t a real beast, but rather they were hunting bears and wolves.

A noble who operated a sawmill in the forest had donated money to the King’s Church and requested that he hunt dangerous beasts that appeared in the middle of his estate.

The issue wasn’t catching the beast but finding it. No matter how scary this beast was, if humans who smelled like metal were around, they would hide.

It was a tedious task that involved walking around the forest with a long spear and bows until the animal was exhausted.

“Sir Kazrek, I expected this to be a monster subjugation… how long do we have to keep doing this?”

Tasik, a trainee, expressed his dissatisfaction on behalf of the party.

“Be quiet. If the beasts hear you, they will run.”

“Excuse me, Sir. Our weapons and gear must already be making enough noise. Even the beast knows this. Actually, we haven’t even seen a rabbit here, right?”

“Ah, there.”

At that moment, another trainee knight shot his bow. It pierced a rabbit in the torso as it passed by.

“… you said we haven’t seen a rabbit??”

“Ah- no… Yah, Ben, you’re good at shooting the bow?”

“I practiced.”

The trainee called Ben approached and pulled out the arrow from the rabbit. He then tied his hunt to his backpack.

“Let us cook this as a snack later.”

“But you see, Sir Kazrek.”

“What?”

“Your daughter is very beautiful.”

“Enough of your antics.”

“Isn’t he our superior? Is that even possible?”

Nobles who entered the church were assigned as holy knights if they had no children. If they had children or were married, they would become a priest.

But Sir Kazrek, a holy knight like them, had a daughter of a higher rank than her father.

“Why? She was born when I was a holy knight.”

“Kyaha, amazing.”

“Huh. Do you want to keep acting out in front of the Head of Education? In front of her father?”

“But isn’t it possible for your daughter to like us?”

“Right, right. Free love is inevitable.”

“Stop talking nonsense and train properly. Uh?”

Sir Kazrek looked at the pathetic state of his trainees.

Even during his time, holy knights tried to learn powerful holy magic by studying sword techniques, speech, and other knightly training.

He had become a knight only after receiving such training. Recently, however, the new Bishop of Salasma changed the policy. They received more knights for training and took donations from the families.

Since the knights’ training also cost money, they were made to go around the villages and towns to collect money.

They were also made to make money themselves. Actually, this was closer to aiding plunder.

‘Well, I am in no position to talk about anyone.’

Sir Kazrek was also taking bribes from the trainee knights under him to manipulate their rankings and the results of training missions.

He looked back on this mission and thought of ending it by defeating the beast.

It was then.

-Wohw?!

The oddest sound came from above them.

“Ah, this..shh!”

Hearing this, Sir Kazerk cursed.

“Uh?”

“What?”

“Yah, be quiet. It is a wyvern.”

“Uh?!”

“Eik!?”

The trainee knights fell silent.

-Wong? Wong?

It was definitely getting louder, and everyone tensed up as they drew their swords.

Clench!

A branch snapped, and they saw a black-scaled wyvern moving in the trees. It was a small one, but it was still a wyvern.

It was well known that young wyverns had stingers with poison on their tails. This poison was as strong as the sting of a thousand wasps. Their teeth were also as sharp as daggers.

No matter how strong a man was in combat, they would inevitably die in pain from the poison. It was a powerful beast that no one could look down on.

The problem was, if such a young wyvern was roaming around here, a full-grown one was also in the forest…

“Yah! Shoot!”

“Yes!”

In fear, the knights began to shoot their arrows.