LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 47
Chapter 47
The next morning.
At the main gate of Beowulf Castle, there were the Mokgap Knights, Lorena, and Yan, who showed no signs of drunkenness.
“…You look pretty sober. Do you drink well?”
A knight who had been cold to Yan until yesterday nudged him and asked.
Yan shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t drink that well.”
“Don’t be so coy. By the way, miss, you look better than I thought. Considering what happened yesterday…”
Some of the knights chuckled at the knight’s words.
It was because of Lorena’s furious scream.
Lorena’s face turned red with embarrassment.
She thought it was a shameful sight.
The knights smiled happily as they watched Lorena, when the Mokgap Knight Commander and Hans appeared.
“Attention, everyone!”
The knights, who had been relaxed until then, snapped to pay attention to the booming voice of the Mokgap Knight Commander.
Yan and Lorena also looked at the Mokgap Knight Commander and Hans in front of them.
Hans was holding a yellow flag with a black palm print on it.
“Trainee Yan, come forward!”
As his name was called, the knights made way for Yan to come forward.
Yan walked briskly through the gap.
As Yan came out, the Mokgap Knight Commander took the yellow flag from Hans.
“You did a good job. I should have given it to you yesterday, but I was late because of the banquet. I heard from Hans that you guys need to collect nine more artifacts… That must be tough.”
Yan thought to himself as he listened to the Mokgap Knight Commander’s words.
‘Only one so far.’
The yellow flag was the artifact of the tribe led by Habur.
And Hans said that the passing criterion for the second test was ten artifacts.
‘I have to collect nine more…’
If he met two or more warlords at once, the Mokgap Knights would be annihilated unless he exerted his full power.
‘I’ll have to keep an eye on it.’
He had already erased the possibility of not meeting them by luck.
His luck had been bad if not worse, and he could count the times he had been lucky on one hand.
Even when Yan was thinking about something else, the Mokgap Knight Commander’s speech continued.
It was a boring situation for anyone else, but the knights still listened to the speech with a spirited attitude.
After an hour of speech.
“I’m, I’m sorry.”
“Hey, wake up before you go!”
Charl and Cruel arrived late.
They both had hangover faces.
The Mokgap Knight Commander, who was interrupted by the sudden interruption, stuttered and resumed his speech.
“…Well, I think you all understood enough. Let’s get going then.”
* * *
As Yan skillfully handled the horse, a knight next to him spoke to him.
“You look like a commoner with no family name, where did you learn to ride a horse?”
From his expression, it seemed like a pure curiosity rather than an insult.
“I learned it at the training camp.”
Yan answered, and Cruel cut in from the side.
“What did you learn at the training camp? They didn’t even teach us how to ride a horse.”
“Did you ever get one-on-one tutoring from the chief instructor?”
“…”
“Don’t talk if you haven’t.”
Of course, what he learned from the chief instructor was the Black Shadow Sword and two years of hide and seek, but Cruel had no way of knowing that.
“By the way, why is she still depressed?”
Cruel pointed at Lorena.
She looked somewhat uncomfortable.
Yan could easily figure out what was on her mind.
‘Maybe it’s because of what happened yesterday.’
The massacre that took place under the pretext of subjugating the barbarians.
For Lorena, who had received personal tutoring from the knights all her life, the raw scene must have been a shock.
The Mokgap Knight Commander also noticed Lorena’s feelings, and moved to her side to talk to her.
“Miss, you don’t have to watch if it’s hard for you. I’ll secretly get the artifact from Hans…”
“Uncle William.”
William was the real name of the Mokgap Knight Commander.
And from the fact that he didn’t finish his sentence, it seemed that he had no intention of going back.
The Mokgap Knight Commander sighed deeply and whipped the reins of his horse.
The Mokgap Knights and the trainees began to carry out the subjugation operation by splitting into groups, just like the day before.
* * *
Four hours later.
The groups that had completed their mission gathered at the rendezvous point one by one.
“Fortunately, there were no chiefs today.”
The Mokgap Knight Commander counted the number of knights who arrived at the rendezvous point and sighed with relief.
There were no casualties.
‘We’re lucky today.’
Yan and the trainees belonged to the group that went the farthest, and they subjugated three tribes.
As a result, they obtained three artifacts.
They had six more artifacts to collect.
[Those rookies look pathetic.]
As Momon said, the trainees all looked shocked.
Charl looked pale as if she had seen something horrible, and Cruel was stiffened to the point where he didn’t show his usual frivolity.
And Lorena…
“Miss, those children.”
She returned with a few barbarian children who were about four years old on her horse.
When the knights slaughtered the barbarians during the subjugation operation, Lorena took the children on her horse.
The knights wanted to deal with the children, but they had no choice but to bring them to the rendezvous point because of Lorena’s strong attitude.
“…I’ll take responsibility.”
Lorena’s words hardened the Mokgap Knight Commander’s face.
He got off his horse and drew his sword from his waist.
Then he walked toward Lorena.
“Get those kids off right now.”
Lorena hugged the barbarian children at the solemn face of the Mokgap Knight Commander that she had never seen before.
“Don’t come any closer. Talk from there.”
“You brought barbarian children yesterday. And you promised me that it was the last time.”
He was talking about the two children he brought from Habur’s tribe.
He gave in once because she was the lord’s daughter and it was her first sortie.
It was manageable if it was just two.
But it would be different if she kept bringing children every time she went out.
There was a reason why they said that internal enemies were more frightening than external enemies.
If they grew up and did not forget their past grudges and took revenge, the damage would be enormous.
They could open the castle gate and allow the barbarians to invade, or they could get poison and assassinate the people in the castle.
“We Beowulf are strong. We’re not so weak that we’ll collapse because of a few children.”
“But can you guarantee that there will be no victims? If there are victims, can you bear the sorrow of the remaining victim’s families, Miss Lorena?”
“…”
Lorena couldn’t easily answer the Mokgap Knight Commander’s words.
“Miss, don’t take the word ‘responsibility’ lightly.”
As their conflict escalated, Cruel coughed from afar.
“Ahem, if you show the nobility’s mercy and spare those guys, it would be a model of a knight…”
“We have to cut off the sprouts that can threaten the territory. There is no room for mercy there.”
“Cr, crum. Is that so.”
Cruel, who tried to weigh in on Lorena’s side, had no choice but to back off at the Mokgap Knight Commander’s firm words.
“Miss, please get those kids off. If it’s hard for you to watch, you can leave for a while. Everyone here knows that it’s not your fault.”
Lorena clenched her fist at the Mokgap Knight Commander’s strong pressure.
She couldn’t stand the sight of the children dying in front of her.
But the Mokgap Knight Commander’s words were not wrong either.
If she had to choose between one of her own people and ten strangers whose faces she didn’t even know, she would choose her own people.
She bit her lips as she heard a sneer.
“What a waste of time to worry about such things.”
It was Yan.
“What, what did you say?”
Lorena asked as if she had heard wrong, but Yan just snorted and said nothing else.
She trembled with anger as she saw him.
In the meantime, Yan opened his mouth again.
He didn’t speak to Lorena.
“There’s also a way to ask the lord.”
The Mokgap Knight Commander turned his head and glared at Yan.
“No matter how much you’ve done for the public and how close you are to Miss Lorena, you’re an outsider. Don’t interfere with the territory’s affairs.”
“I’m not taking sides because I’m Lorena’s friend. Don’t you know? Maybe the Duke of Beowulf will adopt a policy of embracing the barbarians this time.”
“Nonsense!”
The Mokgap Knight Commander twisted his face like a demon and warned him in a low voice.
“If you sprout any more nonsense, I won’t let you off.”
Yan just shrugged his shoulders at that.
At that moment, Lorena opened her mouth.
“…I’ll do it.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll ask the lord… no, my father, and I’ll accept the result.”
Lorena’s words made the Mokgap Knight Commander close his eyes tightly.
He seemed to be swallowing his anger.
Judging by Lorena’s attitude, she would resist with all her might if he tried to harm the children.
If that happened, the precious lady’s skin could be scratched.
He used to be proud of Lorena, who was called a genius, but he hated her in this situation.
The Mokgap Knight Commander moved on without saying a word, nervously holding the reins.
A knight next to him looked at the Mokgap Knight Commander and approached the trainees.
“Please understand the Knight Commander, Miss. It was an unavoidable thing from his position.”
“…What?”
“The Knight Commander did the same thing as you when he was your age. He defied the previous Knight Commander’s orders and brought a barbarian child to the territory. The Knight Commander’s fiancée took care of the barbarian child alone at home.”
Lorena’s eyes widened at the knight’s words.
She couldn’t believe that the Mokgap Knight Commander, who was so firm, had such a past!
The knight smiled bitterly and continued.
“The child he saved then spent more than a year in the Knight Commander’s home with venomous eyes. The Knight Commander believed he could educate him.”
The knight sighed deeply.
It was because he remembered that day.
“But when the Knight Commander went out as usual, the child killed his fiancée and ran away from the house. When the Knight Commander returned from the sortie, I still sometimes remember how sadly he cried.”
Lorena shuddered as she heard the Mokgap Knight Commander’s past.
She had attended the funeral of the Mokgap Knight Commander’s fiancée when she was very young.
The Mokgap Knight Commander, who always showed a cheerful face, cried like he had lost the world and abstained from food and drink for several days.
She closed her eyes as she realized why the Mokgap Knight Commander, who always listened to her, came out so strongly and firmly.
Yan also understood the Mokgap Knight Commander’s situation after hearing his story.
“And that child grew up and is now changing the barbarians.”
“Changing them?”
The knight said with a hardened face at Lorena’s question.
“Yes. It’s not known in other regions, but… you must have heard of it. That there is someone who is unifying the barbarians.”
Yan’s eyes widened at the next words he heard.
“The Great Chief of the Barbarians, Villa. He was the barbarian child that the Mokgap Knight Commander picked up.”
Why does the author’s name appear here?