WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ Sword Master of the Fallen Kingdom

Chapter 63

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Two Exiles (10)

The interior of Ligrid Fortress City was packed with people and noise.

Countless people and wagons moved through the red-tinted streets. Kyle and Elysia walked silently down the main road, each holding a set of reins. One was a mercenary in good leather armor, a sword hanging at his waist. Behind him was a woman with a black cloak and a hood pulled low over her head.

They looked like people one might see anywhere. Thanks to that, the two of them blended naturally into the scenery of the fortress city. Even now, merchant wagons rattled down the middle of the main road, with horses scattered everywhere along the street.

"There seem to be more people here than when we saw it from the mountain pass."

"The border is right in front of us. For mercenaries and merchants trying to cross the Ligrid Mountains and enter Brendel, there's no other option besides this place. Especially if they have horses or wagons."

The Ligrid Mountains, rising near the border between the Kingdom of Brendel and the Duchy of Tervan, served as a kind of barrier between nations. Once one passed through this fortress, the hilly region just ahead was practically the border itself. Naturally, Ligrid Gate and Ligrid Fortress, the only passage through, had to be large. The same was true of the number of people coming and going.

"That works in our favor."

Kyle muttered quietly. For someone being chased by wyvern knights, the more people there were in the fortress, the better.

"And we didn't hand over identification either."

In this situation, the fact that their identities could not be pinned down was a huge advantage.

There had to be close to ten thousand people in this fortress city alone.

That meant thousands of travelers were staying here just for the night. To investigate all of them one by one, they would have to mobilize the entire fortress garrison.

The only problem was...

"Did the messenger hawk not arrive?"

Elysia, behind him, whispered the words as if to herself. Kyle narrowed his eyes and stopped for a moment at the side of the main road.

"Who knows..."

"The inspection was strangely loose. If the letter had been delivered, it wouldn't be strange if a muster order had already been issued like at Ligrid Gate, and the guards had sealed off the fortress by now."

Elysia was right. Kyle had been feeling the same sense of wrongness.

There were three possibilities. Either the messenger hawk's letter had not arrived, the lord of this fortress city was refusing the wyvern knight's order, or he was still hesitating.

But the lord of Ligrid Fortress City was pro-Imperial.

Which meant it was probably safe to assume the messenger hawk had not arrived yet.

The Imperial side would not be stingy with a reward for catching a traitor. On top of that, at the usual speed of a messenger hawk, even with stops at relay posts, half a day or so should have been enough to cross the Ligrid Mountains.

If the wyvern knight had sent the letter as soon as he reached the gate, it should already have arrived a day ago.

"Are we lucky...?"

Judging by the reaction of the gate guards earlier, it was clear that no separate orders had come down yet. Had there simply been no messenger hawks left at the gate?

"Let's get horses first."

Kyle cut off his brief thoughts and started walking again, leading the horse. Elysia followed behind him.

The horses they had ridden here were not in normal condition, to put it generously. Even now, with no one in the saddle, they were panting and barely walking. It would not have been strange if they collapsed from exhaustion at any moment. Other than the hay they had been fed at a village along the way, the horses had crossed the mountain range after being made to go all day without food, so it was only natural. The stamina Kyle and Elysia had saved had come at the horses' expense.

In the long term, they needed to replace the horses anyway.

After entering the fortress through the western gate, Kyle found a small horse market nearby. Since the city itself was large and close to the border, the market for buying and selling horses was fairly active.

Kyle intended to buy two horses with good endurance, no matter the price. He had already ridden a horse for the escort commission after not riding one for the past three years. There was no reason to hesitate now.

"Sorry, but we don't have any."

But once he reached the horse market, an unexpected problem came up.

"Are you saying there are no horses I can buy?"

"Yeah. Every horse left right now is already spoken for. You see those horses over there, the ones you just asked to buy? They all belong to other merchant groups or have already been reserved. They've even got premiums on them."

The horse merchant let out a sigh. Where he gestured with his chin, there was a stable that was almost empty. Even the few horses left had already been reserved, and people who, like Kyle, had failed to find horses were desperate to take them. Kyle felt a headache coming on.

"From what I hear, something happened over in the Duchy of Tervan, and more people than usual have been crossing the border."

The horse merchant spoke apologetically.

"Did a war break out or something?"

Now that he thought about it, he had heard something similar at Ligrid Gate. They had said the situation on the duchy's side was a mess, so there were plenty of jobs escorting merchant convoys.

"How would I know? Everything I've heard is a jumble."

"..."

"If you're in that much of a hurry, why not check the inns in the center? There are far more people than usual. If you've got money to spare, you might be able to get one or two horses by offering a decent premium. You won't find any on this side for now. Maybe if you keep looking, but I wouldn't count on it."

There was nothing more to gain. Deciding that, Kyle sold the horses he had brought, both on the verge of collapse, for a modest price. Kyle and Elysia needed horses they could ride immediately, but a merchant who did not could let them rest, restore their condition, then sell them at a markup.

"What do you plan to do now?"

After they left the horse market and started walking down the street again, Elysia asked from beside him. She was trying to sound calm, but a little impatience seeped into her voice.

"We change the plan."

"How?"

"We won't pass straight through the fortress. We'll rest at an inn."

Kyle looked up at the sky. When they had first entered the fortress, the sky had still been flushed with sunset. Now, dim twilight had already settled over it.

"We're resting here?"

"Yes. The gates will close soon anyway. Even if we leave the fortress without horses, we'd have to find a campsite and sleep before midnight."

Kyle clenched and opened his left hand, the one wearing the ring. It was full of mana. The ring naturally absorbed and stored mana from the surroundings.

His body was another matter. He had pushed through a forced march of more than twelve hours since early morning. His entire body was steeped in fatigue. When he turned to look at Elysia, she was worse off than Kyle, if anything. Even if they left the fortress right before the gates closed, it was obvious they would have to rest before long. In that case, it was better to rest properly here.

"Luck and bad luck came together..."

Kyle muttered under his breath.

The luck was that something had happened to the enemy, delaying the wyvern's arrival and the messenger hawk.

The bad luck was that their plan to replace the horses and leave immediately had fallen apart.

A wyvern in normal condition could cross the Ligrid Mountains in anywhere from half a day to a full day. If that happened, even if they left the fortress now, they would not even reach the area near the border before running into the wyvern in the worst condition possible.

So it was better to rest, even a little. If luck stayed with them a while longer, they could buy horses early tomorrow morning by paying extra, pass through the fortress in far better condition, and ride for the border. Even if the wyvern knight arrived early, a city of this size would let them use the chaos to open some distance. The moment a wyvern appeared above this city, the surroundings would turn into pandemonium. By then, some of their fatigue would have faded as well.

"...It feels like I'm making an uncertain gamble."

Kyle frowned. Nothing was certain. It felt like advancing through thick fog with a single sword in hand.

Whether the messenger hawk had arrived. When the wyvern knights had departed. What tracking method the enemy might have. On top of that, the exhausted physical condition of Kyle and Elysia, which was only a little better than the worst possible state.

The imbalance between the sleep they absolutely needed and the time they had to spend moving.

There was not a single thing he could know for sure. He could only judge by sense and instinct.

"Let's go in. First, we need to fill our stomachs."

Kyle led Elysia into an inn on the street. It was a decent enough inn, a little smaller than those in the central district, but not completely on the outskirts either.

There were far more people inside than it had looked from outside. It seemed true that something had happened in the Duchy of Tervan, increasing the number of people trying to cross the Ligrid Mountains. Kyle pulled Elysia's hood down again, low over her face. For an instant, her golden eyes turned toward him.

"Welcome. Two guests?"

That was when a waitress moving around the first-floor dining hall approached.

"Yes. Two. We'd like to stay for one night."

"Dinner?"

"For two. Ah, and if you have preserved food like dried rations or biscuits, I'd like to buy some. As much as possible. Price doesn't matter."

The waitress nodded. Kyle paid the fee, including a small tip, then sat at an empty table.

"That bastard died in the Duchy of Tervan?"

"I'm telling you! Plenty of people went there trying to make some money, then died without anyone even recovering their bodies."

"Huh..."

"When I went to the horse market earlier, there wasn't a single horse left. Trade seems to have almost stopped too. I heard the barbarians might have joined hands with the regular army..."

In the nearly full first-floor dining hall, loud voices and all kinds of conversations flew back and forth. Elysia, sitting across from Kyle, kept glancing around. As expected from a border fortress, even idle chatter held plenty of information.

Since their first destination was the border region of the Duchy of Tervan, it seemed to draw her attention naturally.

"Does it bother you?"

"No, not that much..."

"That's for later anyway. For now, only think about crossing the border."

Once they dealt with the wyvern knights, they could think about what came after. The smaller matters did not matter much.

Before long, the food came out. Kyle silently cut and chewed the meat. Elysia mechanically nibbled on bread and drank water, just as she had yesterday.

"Eat as much as you can. Tonight or tomorrow dawn might be the turning point."

"...Are we going to sleep here for the night?"

Elysia asked. Earlier, Kyle had paid the lodging fee on the premise that they would stay for one night.

"Who knows. The gates are closed now, so there's nothing we can do right away."

"..."

"If we're going to move, a little more time needs to pass. At least until around midnight."

From beneath her hood, Elysia's shadowed eyes stared straight at Kyle. Kyle did not look away. The whispers between them sank into the noisy inn and vanished. Kyle quickly cleared the food that had been served.

Perhaps because she sensed that their encounter with the wyvern knights was not far off, Elysia also ate more than usual. The waitress took away the empty plates, then brought the food Kyle had requested wrapped in cloth. Kyle put it into his Inventory Pouch. Once everything was settled, Kyle finally rose from his seat.

"If you're done eating, let's go up. It would be better to get even a little sleep."

***

Konrad, lord of Ligrid Fortress, remained silent as he looked at the letter in his hand. Gentle moonlight poured in through the window of his office.

"Ha..."

He let out a sigh. The letter in his hand was filled with unbelievable things from beginning to end. Even worse were the seals stamped at the bottom. Before he could even consider the contents, he had to reckon with the fact that the seals belonged to Leonard, the lord overseeing Ligrid Gate, and a wyvern knight from the Imperial Celestial Knights.

"An Imperial first-class traitor... and they even lost them."

The messenger hawk had arrived a little while ago. He had just finished dinner and was about to handle the remaining work when a hawk flew in through the window.

That much was not a problem. Exchanging messenger hawks was routine. The problem was the contents. Two wyvern knights, a fleeing first-class traitor, the gate that had been broken through, the wyvern knights who would depart around the time this letter arrived, and the two exiles trying to cross the border.

This is insane.

The gate and fortress, the only road through the Ligrid Mountains, were managed directly by the royal family.

Central nobles who had no territories but were reasonably competent were appointed as lords.

Konrad, the lord of the fortress, and Leonard, the lord of the gate, were exactly such men. The problem was that when it came to something like the Imperial Celestial Knights, even the royal family of Brendel effectively had to give way. Worse, Leonard had received the letter first and still lost the traitor. Considering the gate's troops and level of security, that made no sense.

Did Leonard die?

Konrad coolly assessed the current situation. From the moment the messenger hawk brought the letter, he was obligated to cooperate with the wyvern knight.

There was no reason not to obey either. Objectively speaking, he was not on bad terms with the Empire. If the target was a first-class traitor, the reward for capturing them alive would be more than enough. Even high nobles of the Federation secretly interacted with the Empire, so there was no need for him to make an enemy of it.

If two wyvern knights are moving, they must be someone very important.

The problem is how to catch that traitor...

Knock, knock.

"Count."

A sudden knock sounded. A voice followed from beyond the door. Konrad pulled his eyes away from the letter and spoke in a low voice.

"Come in."

The moment he gave permission, the door opened and several soldiers poured in. They were the guards in charge of inspections at the gate. Every one of them was trembling with fear. A knight entered last and stood as if blocking the door.

"Answer the questions I ask from now on without a shred of falsehood."

Konrad's low voice rang clearly through the office. The soldiers dropped to their knees on their own and nodded silently.

"An important letter just arrived. We must find the people written here."

"One tall male mercenary wearing a black cloak and using a sword. One female mage wearing a dirty white robe. Did you see them during today's inspection?"

Konrad waved the letter in his hand. The soldiers only watched one another's reactions. Not one of them opened his mouth.

"Fine. I'll change the question. Did you see identification from the Arven Mage Tower, or a Silver Badge engraved with the name Kyle?"

"I-I'm sorry. I don't really..."

"Me neither..."

This time, the guards squeezed their eyes shut and confessed in tiny voices. Unfortunately, none of their answers helped. Konrad nervously pressed a hand to his forehead and asked again.

"Did you, by any chance, take bribes?"

Several of the soldiers flinched. Taking bribes to let people pass inspection was a kind of custom. Guard captains often looked the other way if it stayed within a reasonable level. Compared to the intensity of their work, the wages of guards were poor.

"W-We were wrong, Count! Please spare us!"

"We committed a crime worthy of death! Please forgive us, please..."

The few soldiers who had flinched bowed their heads and begged. No matter how common the practice was, taking money and overlooking inspections was a serious crime.

At worst, they would have nothing to say even if their heads were cut off here. That was how powerful the authority of a lord was in a fortress.

"Enough."

Unable to keep watching, Konrad swallowed a sigh and raised his hand. The soldiers stopped begging.

"I didn't call you here to punish you. What matters now is whether we catch the people written in this letter."

"Does that mean..."

"I'll ask one last time. Did you see one tall male mercenary wearing a black cloak and using a sword, and one female mage wearing a dirty white robe? They may have changed their appearance, so you don't have to fixate on the exact clothing. One tall Silver-rank mercenary. One shorter female mage. A group of two in total."

"I-If that's the case, I think I did see them..."

"When?"

Konrad asked. One soldier, head lowered, opened his mouth.

"There were people who gave us bribes before sunset earlier. A male mercenary was joking around, saying he had almost died on a cliff..."

"And?"

"There was one woman with him who looked like a mage. Their horses were extremely worn out, probably because they had rushed down the mountains..."

"What was their reason for visiting the fortress?"

"Supplies, he said. He said they would leave right away..."

The soldier trailed off. Konrad stayed silent for a while, then turned to the side.

"Did you see a male mercenary and female mage with similar appearances leave through the eastern gate?"

"N-No! Not once before the gate closed..."

"I see."

Konrad spoke briefly. If the guard's words were correct, there was a high chance they were still inside this fortress. He made a swift decision.

"Sir Bron."

"Yes, Count."

"Pull guards from their posts and search the entire fortress. Especially the inns. Turn every one of them upside down."

"But Count, there are thousands of travelers staying in this fortress right now. We don't have enough men to search every inn..."

"I won't accept objections. Do it even if you have to leave only the bare minimum of troops behind and pull everyone else."

He would not issue a muster order through the mercenary guild. It was too late for that. Issuing a muster order now would only cause more confusion.

If that happened, those two traitors would have an easier time escaping.

"There are two targets. A tall male mercenary who uses a sword, and the female mage beside him."

Konrad slowly rose from his seat and declared.

"Kill the man and capture the woman alive. Bring them before me by any means necessary. Now."

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