WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 138: The Crumbling Boundary (6)

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Once night had fully fallen, the five, including Kyle and Elysia, returned to their respective rooms. There had been several arguments, but their plan to head to Marent tomorrow, together with the newly joined cavalry unit, remained unchanged.

The greatest problem was the lack of information. Marent was a fairly large city even within the Federation, and its lord would likely know more than Kyle's group did. Messenger hawks traveled actively between cities, after all. They needed to reach Marent, the closest city, as soon as possible to decide where to go next.

Kyle's highest priority was Elysia's safety, so he had to get her to Rier, where Grand Duke Rivelius was. As a Chevalier, Matis had a duty as a Council Knight to stop the enemy. Gren, captain of Krosen Fortress's cavalry, had to report everything he had seen to the rear.

Their purposes differed, but their immediate goal was the same, even if Cassius Mortein, Commander of the Celestial Knights, was tearing through the fortresses and cities along the front lines.

The village chief had vacated a house while carefully watching Matis, a Chevalier, so Kyle and Elysia were able to use a guest room on the second floor.

"You can't sleep either. Even though we traveled quite a lot today."

Moonlight streaming through the window gave Elysia's golden eyes a faint glow. Wrapped in brown fur and leaning against the wall, she stared out at the village beyond the window.

"You should still sleep. Or at least close your eyes, even if you have to force yourself. We're leaving before dawn tomorrow."

Kyle spoke as he held the sword he had set beside him against his chest. Like Elysia, he was not lying down on the floor. The situation was too tense to relax comfortably.

"There are many wounded. Do you think we can really arrive in just one day?"

"It shouldn't be a problem if we're riding horses."

"The people in this village..."

"They probably won't come. They only took in the cavalry because they had no choice. They didn't seem happy about it."

Life was harsh for commoners in this world. It could not be easy to abandon the village they had lived in their entire lives overnight. Since the village was a little removed from the main roads leading to the larger cities, perhaps they were clinging to the faint hope that the war would not reach them.

Kyle had no intention of forcing them to come. Even the refugees fleeing bandits had been troublesome enough. If Marent had been any farther away, or if he had not been traveling with Matis, he would have refused with some suitable excuse. There was no reason to let personal feelings cloud his judgment, especially when he was responsible for Elysia's protection.

"When we arrive in Marent... what will you do?"

Kyle had been absentmindedly running his hand along his scabbard when Elysia asked again in a low voice. She was still looking out the window.

"What do you mean?"

"You said we would meet the lord of the city first. That we need information about the front lines and how far the Imperial Army has advanced."

"I did."

"Will you fight?"

Kyle turned his head toward Elysia. There was something sad in her expression.

"No."

"......."

"It isn't time to decide that yet. We don't know enough right now."

After a brief pause, Kyle answered. The Empire's invasion and the Celestial Knights' movements were all unexpected variables, full of uncertainty. Kyle did not know what would happen next.

Under normal circumstances, he would have traveled with Matis and Noel, his squire, then parted ways near Rier, where Grand Duke Rivelius was.

But the situation had changed rapidly. He had traveled with Matis because Matis was a Chevalier, in case that connection proved useful later. Now that an enormous crisis had arrived right in front of them, things were different. Matis likely felt the same. There would not be time to travel all the way to Valone, where the Chevaliers' headquarters stood.

"We also need to know Cassius Mortein's movements."

Kyle spoke the Commander of the Celestial Knights' name and looked to the side. Elysia had taken her eyes off the window and lowered her head.

"Kyle... have you ever seen Duke Mortein?"

Elysia muttered in a fading voice. Her fingers, clenched tightly over her knees, had turned white.

"I have."

"Have you ever fought him?"

"No. But I've seen him wield a sword."

Black full-body armor covered him from head to toe, a crimson cloak draped from his shoulders, and beneath him was Ksalak, the Wyvern.

The wyvern knights of the Celestial Knights were individually weaker than the Ash Knights. Cassius Mortein, their Commander, was different. He rode Ksalak, a black Wyvern twice the size of an ordinary one, with complete ease. His own strength was the same.

Even without Ksalak, he was powerful enough to be called one of the continent's strongest warriors alongside Rowen. There was a vast gap between him and even the deputy commander beneath him. Kyle had only seen a small part of his swordsmanship, yet he knew an insurmountable wall stood between them. Even a group of high-ranking Chevaliers would not be able to defeat him.

"What about you, Elysia? Have you seen him before?"

This time, Kyle asked in return.

No answer came.

Kyle looked at Elysia again. Her face had gone stiff, and her dry lips kept moving soundlessly.

"I..."

Elysia took a deep breath.

"I am afraid of Duke Mortein. I have been since I was young."

"......."

"He was always impossible to understand. It was as though he had no emotions at all. A few years ago, he personally purged a high-ranking noble from the Imperial Palace in the audience chamber. There was justification for it, but it was excessive. I believe Father... no, the First Emperor at the time must have allowed it."

He looked up to no one but the Emperor. Even high-ranking nobles of the Imperial Palace were no more than flies before him, so he would not hesitate to swing his sword even at Elysia.

"House Mortein does not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate children. Whoever inherits the head's bloodline, the strongest among them inherits the house. If what that cavalry captain named Gren said is true..."

Elysia's voice grew quieter as she spoke. In the end, she could not finish her sentence. Her breathing had grown slightly rough.

It was fear ingrained in her.

Kyle looked down at the sword in his arms. He knew better than anyone how frightening overwhelming helplessness was. He had already been defeated once and fled like a coward.

That was how powerful the Empire was. The Federation would likely not be much different. Even if there were fewer wyvern knights than before, the Commander of the Celestial Knights was still alive and well.

Remembering days that had already become a distant past, Kyle tightened his grip on the scabbard.

Was their goal simply to push through the Federation's front lines?

If not...

"Elysia."

Kyle spoke into the dark silence. After slowly gathering her emotions, Elysia raised her head.

"Promise me one thing."

"What...?"

"No matter what happens, reaching Rier comes first. Meeting Grand Duke Rivelius is your highest priority. Even if other Federation cities fall, even if civilians are massacred by the Imperial Army, run away alone if you have to."

"Then what about you, Kyle?"

Elysia asked in a trembling voice.

Kyle looked down at the floor for a moment, then raised his eyes to the ceiling bathed in faint moonlight.

"I've never broken a contract in all my years as a mercenary."

"......."

"This time won't be any different. So when the time comes, make your way to Rier alone. It'll all be pointless if you die."

Even revenge.

Kyle touched the Dragon Heart through his clothes. The tangled thoughts in his mind settled quietly. His anxious feelings slowly melted away.

Had Prisia seen this future as well? The Empire invading, the Federation being pushed back without being able to resist. The front lines might even be driven nearly to the far end of the Kingdom of Russel. He did not know what would become of him in the end.

Yet, strangely, he did not feel afraid.

Even while imagining the worst possible outcome, he felt that way. Everything would simply follow its destined course. Even if certain death waited at the end of this revenge.

"Elysia."

Kyle called her name one last time.

"Promise me. If that time comes, you'll listen to me."

"......."

"Promise that you'll run to Rier alone, even if I fall."

Thin clouds passed over the moon outside the window. The moonlight filling the room dimmed, then brightened again.

"I..."

Elysia kept her mouth shut for a long time, fidgeting with her hands. Then she turned to look at him.

A pair of black eyes was watching her quietly. In those calm eyes, without the slightest trace of unease, only Elysia's own face was reflected, twisted in pain.

* * *

Soldiers on horseback moved busily through the snow-covered forest in the middle of the night. Hoofbeats rang out one after another through the flying snow and cold winter air.

"Found them!"

At one soldier's shout, the hoofbeats slowed. Several soldiers dismounted and quickly examined the traces left in the snow.

There was not a single torch, but it was not difficult to see their surroundings. The full moon hanging overhead brightly illuminated the ground.

"How many?"

A cavalryman at the front approached and asked. They were the captain leading the cavalry.

"Judging by the mixed hoofprints, there appear to be at least several dozen."

"There are bloodstains here as well. It seems they are the ones we're looking for."

The soldier pointed at the dark red marks scattered across the ground. Dark crimson ice fragments stood out unnaturally amid the countless hoofprints in the snow.

The cavalry captain narrowed their eyes as they looked down at the sight.

They led an Imperial Army cavalry unit and were currently pursuing the Federation cavalry that had escaped Krosen Fortress. Wyvern knights were certainly overwhelmingly powerful, but their numbers were limited. With the Federation being so vast, small tasks like this were left to the cavalry.

Pursuing the fleeing Federation cavalry had not been difficult. They had abandoned their fortress and run the moment the wyvern knights appeared. The Imperial cavalry was also the only side giving chase. In a battle between cavalry units, the moment one side turned its back, defeat was almost guaranteed.

In fact, the Federation cavalry unit, which had once numbered well over a hundred, had been reduced by half. Their own force still had more than a hundred riders. Sixty wounded Federation cavalrymen against one hundred and ten Imperial cavalrymen with their morale at its peak. The result was obvious.

All that remained was to finish them off.

"Keep pursuing them. We go all the way."

The cavalry captain gave a short order, emerging from their thoughts. The cavalrymen mounted their horses again and raced through the white mountain range, following the tracks on the ground.

Cold winter winds struck their entire bodies, but no one groaned. No one complained. The breath escaping their lips trailed white behind them as they rode, then vanished like a mirage.

By the time the moon had climbed directly overhead, the cavalry captain at the front pulled on the reins.

"We found them."

The cavalrymen behind them stopped as well.

Not far away, where the snow-covered mountains ended, stood a village. At the entrance to the village, which appeared to have around five hundred residents, the hoofprints leading from the mountain path ended unnaturally.

It looked as though someone had tried to erase the tracks afterward, but to Imperial cavalrymen hardened by countless battles, the attempt was painfully clumsy.

There was one more important detail.

Fresh footprints had been left over the deliberately erased hoofprints. It was a strange mixture of horse tracks and human footprints. Seeing those traces, clearly different from the cavalrymen's earlier tracks, one soldier muttered quietly.

"Could it be a trap?"

The cavalry captain glanced behind them.

One soldier with particularly sharp eyes was looking around with narrowed eyes.

"There are more human footprints than I expected. And they come in all kinds of shapes. Some are large, some belong to small children..."

That was true. The footprints on the ground did not have a soldier's disciplined rhythm. They were scattered everywhere without order.

But the cavalry captain dismissed the soldier's concern with a single sentence.

"Refugees. Judging by the tracks, they must have passed through the village yesterday or today."

It was not unusual. With the front lines rapidly collapsing before the Imperial Army, everyone knew that Federation citizens who had lost their homes were fleeing east. These tracks were likely another result of that.

"Good. We were in need of supplies anyway."

One veteran cavalryman said with a snicker. In an instant, laughter spread through the cavalrymen.

To those who had survived the Northern War, slaughter during wartime was a form of entertainment. This war against the Federation would not be much different.

"Enough."

After some time, the cavalry captain raised their hand. The area immediately fell silent again, as though they had made a promise.

"We have one objective."

"......."

"Annihilate the cavalry that escaped Krosen Fortress. That does not change even if a few soldiers or knights are mixed in with the refugees."

A wyvern knight would clear the way ahead for them anyway. Even now, the wyvern knights were likely taking cities one after another. All they had to do was fulfill their role.

"Move in. Kill every last one. Federation soldiers are the priority."

The cavalry captain at the front pulled on the reins and shot forward first. The cavalrymen behind them exchanged glances.

Neigh!

More than a hundred horses cried out at once.

Following the tracks across the snow, the Imperial cavalry charged into the village. White snow flew up amid the clattering hoofbeats. The cavalrymen's slanted shadows slid swiftly over the moonlit snow.

Footnotes:

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