WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 136: The Crumbling Boundary (4)

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The Imperial Army invaded?

That was impossible. Kyle gripped the hilt hard enough to crush it as he rejected the man's words. Countless questions rose and vanished in his mind.

Why?

The Empire might have been the largest unified nation on Velia, but it was not powerful enough to completely overwhelm the Federation. That was especially true after it had suffered heavy troop losses in the war against Hailen. That was why Kyle had not thought much of the information Matis had shared about the Celestial Knights possibly being stationed near the Federation's border.

The odds were too low. Unless the Emperor had gone mad, he would not declare war with fewer than twenty wyvern knights.

And yet...

"What did you just say?"

"..."

"You aren't lying, are you? Did you see the Imperial Army yourself? Here, on Federation land?"

Kyle stared at the refugee as he spoke. The man trembled at his murderous tone.

"N-no. I did not see the Imperial Army myself..."

"Then?"

"Strangers and soldiers suddenly flooded into the village, so we hurriedly packed our things and left. We heard that the border fortresses had fallen, and that we would all die if we did not flee as soon as possible. The border was not far from our village, so they said we had to cross the mountains if we wanted to live..."

The man's story was simple. His village had originally been a small place with just over a hundred residents. Other than the occasional traveler stopping by for the night, few people ever came and went.

Then, overnight, hundreds of people and soldiers poured in. The villagers were thrown into confusion by a disaster they had never experienced in their lives. Some of those people and soldiers were drenched in blood and half-dead. Even without seeing the invading Imperial Army themselves, they instinctively knew something terrible had happened.

"We kept moving east without rest. We barely slept for days."

"..."

"Then we ran into bandits in the mountains, and they began chasing us. There were originally more than twice as many people as there are now, but they were all caught or killed. Then you knights appeared..."

Unable to continue, the man repeatedly bowed his head. Kyle looked down at him with cold eyes.

The information had come too late.

They had not sensed anything unusual while traveling from Renvel toward Rier. They had not stopped at a proper city, but still. If a real war had broken out, there should have been some reaction at the roadside inn where they met Matis, a Council Knight. Mercenaries and merchants were always the most sensitive to this kind of news.

Yet there had been nothing. That meant they did not know the Imperial Army had invaded either. Only one conclusion could be drawn from that. The Empire's surprise attack had been too precise, or too fast for the Federation to even grasp the situation properly. As far as Kyle knew, there was only one way that could have been possible.

If everything this man said was true, then...

"The border fortresses fell that quickly?"

Matis's voice broke through Kyle's thoughts. The Council Knight and his squire looked just as troubled as Kyle.

"Could the Celestial Knights have moved?"

"No, Noel. That would be difficult. A single Wyvern cannot bring down a fortress. Wyverns open the way, but occupying land is entirely the soldiers' job. Even that would not be easy if there are capable mages..."

"It would be different if it was Duke Mortain's Wyvern. Didn't you say he might be near the border?"

Matis and Noel fell silent at Kyle's words. They did not know the Celestial Knights' Wyverns as well as Kyle, who had fought them himself, but as members of the Chevaliers, they knew them in detail.

Cassius Mortein, Commander of the Celestial Knights.

And his Wyvern, Ksalak.

Ksalak was the name of the strongest black dragon, the only one who had once been able to contend with Prisia. The name was given to the largest and strongest black Wyvern among the Celestial Knights. Larger than the other Wyverns and capable of unleashing a particularly powerful breath attack, Ksalak had pitch-black scales and blood-red eyes. Anyone seeing it for the first time might mistake it for a real Dragon, the same Ksalak that had lived thousands of years ago.

"I hoped it was only a baseless worry, but it seems it was not..."

Matis muttered in a heavy voice. Like Kyle, Matis had not fully believed the information about the Celestial Knights' movements. Even if it was true, Matis had assumed it was a show of force, meant to pressure the Federation by placing them at the front.

"Then Gilbert..."

Elysia, who had been listening, went pale. The commercial city of Renvel, where Count Perian was, was not behind the Kingdom of Russel. If anything, it was closer to the front.

"Ely."

Kyle called her by her old nickname and alias. Her unsteady eyes turned toward him.

"Nothing is certain yet. Not the Imperial invasion, not the Celestial Knights' movements, and not Count Perian's safety."

"..."

"Do not worry too much. Count Perian will be safe. He was not particularly strong in battle, but he was sharp and resourceful. He may have learned the news before we did. There is a good chance he is already evacuating to the rear."

Abandoning the city he had built over five years would never be an easy choice, but Count Perian would do so if necessary. No matter how precious a treasure was, it was not more valuable than one's life. If he survived and joined Grand Duke Rivelius, he could plan for the future.

"The Federation's land is vast, after all."

Their current location was in the south, closer to the front than the rear of the Kingdom of Russel. Kyle calculated the possible routes the Imperial Army could have taken and their own position.

"Confirming the truth comes first. It seems we will not be returning to headquarters anytime soon."

Matis exchanged a grim look with his squire. Kyle asked, "What is the nearest city from here?"

"Marent."

"As expected."

Marent was the city Kyle had marked as their next stop after leaving Renvel. It was only a day's journey from here. To confirm whether the information about the Imperial Army's invasion was true, they needed to meet the city's lord. Unlike Kyle, the lord would know something, whether through messenger hawks or mounted couriers.

"We should move."

Kyle spoke, and the other three nodded without a word.

When he looked up, the sun had sunk farther than before. The blue sky was gradually turning a deep vermilion. The bandits' bodies sprawled across the snowfield were growing cold. A chilly wind swept past the clothes of the survivors.

* * *

"Miss, did you really come from the Empire?"

"Yes."

"Wow. Then are you a noble?"

"Why do you think that?"

"I don't know. You just seem like one. You sound so elegant when you talk."

"Is that so?"

The young girl sitting on the saddle burst into cheerful laughter. Elysia had seated one of the refugee children in front of her and slowly guided her horse to match the others' pace.

"That is unexpected. I thought you would be more overbearing."

Matis muttered after glancing behind them. A group of refugees followed behind the three riding at the front. Elysia was among them, taking turns letting the children ride with her. Noel, the squire, kept stealing dazed glances at the bright platinum hair and golden eyes occasionally visible beneath her hood.

"Not every Imperial noble is arrogant."

"I know. Even Grand Duke Rivelius, a Council member, may look cold on the outside, but he is a thoughtful person. It is just... you seem a little different from how you look."

Matis shrugged. The four of them were now crossing the snowfield with the refugees.

There was no grand reason for it. The refugees had recognized that the four were not ordinary people and noticed the Chevaliers' emblem engraved on Matis's breastplate and cloak. They had desperately asked to travel with them until the next city. Matis could not refuse, and Kyle did not object either.

Marent was only a day's journey away if they walked diligently. They had not encountered any Imperial forces yet. Whether the refugees were with them or not would not cause much disruption to their schedule. At most, they would lose half a day. Kyle was not heartless enough to abandon refugees over that. More accurately, neither were Elysia, Matis, or Noel.

The refugees who had lost their homes and neighbors overnight were pitiful.

At the same time, they were irritating enough to be troublesome.

Kyle felt those contradictory emotions within himself. There was the ordinary compassion he felt for their suffering, and the irritation at the slight possibility that they might hold the group back.

He quietly swallowed a sigh and shook off those mixed feelings. They would part ways tomorrow, so there was no need to dwell on it.

Once we reach Marent, we must meet the lord immediately. We will find out whether the Imperial invasion is real and get a rough idea of their movements, then head northeast to Rier, where the Grand Duke is. More than anything else, Elysia's protection is the priority now.

For the moment, the real problem was finding a place to spend the night before they reached the city tomorrow.

"Is this the right place?"

"As far as I remember. There was a fairly large village around here."

"This should be the right direction. It has been a few years, but unless everyone moved away together, it should still be there. When I stayed there, they said it was a village with over a hundred years of history."

The three at the front exchanged opinions as they chose their direction. Elysia and the refugees followed behind them.

About an hour passed. As the sun nearly set and dusk fell across the land, they emerged from the mountain path and found a village in the middle of the snowfield. Just as Matis and Noel had said, it was a fairly large village with roughly five hundred residents. The surrounding area must have been peaceful, because there was no wooden palisade around it.

"Ah, there it is. It has not changed much from what I remember. That is a relief."

"Do they accept outsiders?"

"As long as they are not too threatening. Though I am not sure about now. There are more than one or two of us."

"If it comes to that, you can use your status."

The Chevaliers were the Federation's greatest knights and high-ranking nobles. Mere commoners could not dare defy them. Kyle glanced meaningfully at Matis's breastplate, and Matis gave a bitter smile.

"Let us go."

Kyle slowly guided his horse forward. The refugees followed while looking around anxiously. They entered the village.

Contrary to what they expected, the village of nearly five hundred people was quiet. Since the sunset had almost disappeared and darkness was closing in, lights had been lit throughout the village. Yet there was none of the liveliness or human presence that should have been there. More precisely, there was almost none.

Above all else...

"Military horses?"

Noel muttered beside Kyle. Military horses, not packhorses, were tied in front of houses throughout the village. There were not just one or two, either. The refugees following behind instinctively shrank back from the eerie atmosphere.

"This is becoming troublesome."

Kyle clicked his tongue quietly. Extremely sensitive to mana, he could clearly sense the villagers hiding in deathly silence. Yet the village's original residents were not the only ones there. There were unmistakably foreign presences, and unwelcome gazes secretly falling upon them.

"...Who are you?"

Just as Kyle suppressed the mana from his ring, an old man suddenly approached the group as they moved through the center of the village. The three at the front pulled their reins and stopped. Matis smoothly dismounted and stood before the old man.

"I am Matis Breil of the Chevaliers. This is my squire, Noel. Beside me is Sir Kyle, also a knight. We stayed in this village for one night several years ago. Do you remember?"

"S-Sir Matis?"

The old man flinched in surprise. Kyle dismounted a moment later and asked Matis without taking his eyes off the old man.

"Who is this?"

"The village chief."

Kyle silently acknowledged the answer as the elderly village chief bowed deeply. Matis personally helped him back up.

"Sorry to come so suddenly. We have a situation."

"No, how could I..."

"If it is all right, could we stay here for the night? Of course, we will compensate you. You will not be disappointed."

"That is..."

The village chief trailed off and avoided Matis's gaze. Matis gestured toward the horses tied in front of his house.

"Or do you already have guests?"

"Ah..."

As the old man fidgeted and broke into a cold sweat, a booming man's voice suddenly rang out from inside the village chief's home.

"Who is out there? I told you not to let anyone in!"

Heavy footsteps sounded from within. A moment later, the door flew open. Everyone's gaze turned in one direction.

A Federation soldier stood there, wrapped from head to toe in bloodstained bandages.

Footnotes:

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