Chapter 23 “The Knight and Huntress”

The sound of someone’s footsteps closing near me reached my ears. But I didn’t turn around and opted to keep my eyes toward the sight of the royal family and their soldier that were busy doing their so called ‘experiment’. The reason for that? Well, simple, actually.

“Captain.”

“What is it?” I replied without moving my sight.

“Everyone has moved to their position,” said the figure behind me with a firm voice. Yes, he is one of the rangers under my command. “We have scattered everyone all over the forest. They will be ready to move according to your command, Captain.”

“Good work.” I said to him once again without facing him. “You can get to your position too. Wait for my signal before doing anything. Keep your eyes open for anything.”

“We will not let a single thing touch the royal family on our watch.”

“We will not. Dismissed.”

“Yes, Captain.” Right after that short reply, the sound of leaves rustling came from behind me. It is a sign that he has left the premises to go into his own position.

I couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh as I remembered the discussion I had with them the other day. It was such a difficult discussion. The reason for that is because I asked them to tighten the security for today’s event. The reason I’ve used while convincing them is that since the royal family is going into a dangerous forest that is in our jurisdiction, we need to be as careful as possible. But they all said that the forest is relatively safe for the past couple of days. They also said that it will be all right with the usual amount of security since it will just be a waste to deploy more rangers than usual due to our current situation.

I actually have to agree with them if I have the same information as them. But I have another piece of information that none of them know. And that is the prophetic dream of Sir Lange, the private knight of the royal family. He said that he had dream that the royal family and the whole knight corps were decimated when they are in this town. Honestly, even if I heard that story directly from him, I might just put it aside as a simple man’s worry that has gone too much. That’s because I have never known Sir Lange before. But I have a confirmation from Nerva who said that it might be true. Since I have known him much longer and since we are very close to each other, I trust him on that.

Besides, there is another reason for me to believe that. If I can’t believe the word from Sir Lange that is practically a stranger for me until we meet in the town a few days ago and I also can’t believe the words from Nerva that has been really close to me and have never betray me, then the last thing that I can trust is my own instinct. Yes, the instinct that has saved me from countless deadly encounters whenever I’m doing my job or while simply hunting inside the forest around the town I grew up in. For the past couple of days, just as my subordinates said so, the forest has been peaceful. But it has been too peaceful. I have rarely seen dangerous beast inside the forest even once in the past couple of days. The number of other wildlife has also dwindled, but not a single corps can be found. It was as if they have run and hide themselves in fear of something. And, yes, I have found some of them hiding. But it is still not their usual time for hibernation this season.

Due to that, I have ordered my subordinates to be on extra caution. Some of them argued that it is a waste of manpower since the militia is already having a shortage of power due to some of them being reassigned to the patrol group inside the city. But I argued that in the case that even a single danger came toward the royal family, it will not be strange for them to blame it on us and force all of us to take responsibility for it. Having our head separated from our neck might be our fate if that is to happen. Thankfully, that is enough to convince them. I guess threat is much more useful in this kind of situation. I…have to polish my conversation skill some more. I don’t want to rely on threat too much.

After hearing that my rangers have taken their position, I felt a bit relief. But as long as I don’t know the real identity of the so called danger, I can never really calm down. The most dangerous stuff in the forest is a hidden danger. Without any kind of knowledge about it, only a rumor of it, this will be such a troublesome situation.

“Fire!!!”

Hearing a sudden shout from the area in front of me, I snapped away from my own pondering about the whole situation. What followed after that shout is a booming sound. Although it was not to the extent of deafening, it was still very loud. The explosion that apparently came from the biggest Arcane Puppet there was able to shook the surrounding leaves, making a loud rustling sound that came after that sound.

I moved my gaze and saw a small crater on the other side of the forest near the place where the royal family is conducting their testing. I could see smoke arise from the crater. It also seemed that the soil is somehow still burning judging from the glow it gave out.

“Fire!!!”

Another shout came. This time I was able to witness the whole process. The Arcane Puppet that looked like a large armored humanoid creature pointed its left arm toward the inner forest. I was about to shout as I realized that the direction where it aimed its hand was filled with a lot of tree. If they let out such a strong fire based spell, the tree will catch fire for sure and it might turn into a deadly forest fire. But I was too late. The arm started to glow while a magic formation appeared on its feet. Soon after that, a bolt of light flew from its hand toward its target.

The scene that happened in front of me made me gasp in surprise. The moment it hit the ground, it made the same explosion sound. The explosion is as loud as before and the same crater was made too. But those are not the one that surprised me. It was the fact that the bolt was able to avoid hitting any tree and the explosion avoided the many tree around it. Even though the crater is still burning, I couldn’t see a single tree is burnt. I might not know the real condition since my location is quite far from the crater, but I couldn’t see a single evident of them burning the surrounding tree from my location.

As I shifted my eyes toward the other side of the forest, I could see some knight were using a strange piece of equipment that covered their shoulder. From what I could see, the object has the appearance of a small cylindrical glass that has an eye on its side. They might look strange when wearing them, but I think in the battlefield, appearance is the least thing we should concern of. If it is functional, then everything is all right with me.

The knight that wore the strange equipment then stood with his sword held close to his chest. After that, I could see several soldier carrying bow and arrow took a position a few steps away from him. The group of soldier then nocked their arrow and aimed at him. After a while, he nodded and then they fire their arrow straight at him. At first I thought that the knight will be hit by arrow. Usually I would be worry. But since a lot of the royal family’s healer has been stationed nearby, even in the worst possible situation, his life can be saved. After all, I could also see that the arrows were aimed slightly away from his vital part.

But once again I was caught by a surprise. Not a single arrow touched his body. Apparently all of the arrows were stopped by an invisible layer of magic. The source of that magic is probably from the equipment he wore on his shoulders. Due to the fact that the equipment’s eye glowed slightly, I think my prediction is not far from the truth.

The knight then assumed a running stance. The arches then lined up behind him. The moment the knight ran with all his might, the archer started to rain their arrow toward him. Just like before, the arrows failed to hit him even once. Not because of their terrible aim since I saw some of them were flying toward him. But because of the thin layer of shield that enveloped his body. That is very convenient. I thought it will only be useable when the wearer is standing still. But it can still be used when they move. That is very interesting.

Seeing that something that useful is being tested on, I couldn’t help but imagine how wonderful that will be if our side can use the same equipment. That will ensure the safety of our troop even in the most dangerous situation. They can move around without worrying about being hit by a hidden attack from the enemy. But, alas, that is just a wishful dream of mine that will probably never be realized.

“Ms. Reystone.”

“Hmm?” A familiar voice reached my ear. I turned around to look at the one that called me. “Ah, Sir Lange.” Yes, it is the very private knight of the royal family that had told both Nerva and I about his prophetic dream. The very prophetic dream that made me worried for everyone’s safety.

“I thank you for your hard work, Ms. Reystone.” He bowed slightly toward me.

“Don’t mention it. It is after all, my duty as the one in charge of the forest’s safety.” As I said that, I noticed that Sir Lange didn’t come alone.

He was with two other people that, judging from their equipment, are probably his fellow knight in the same corps. The three wore similar looking plate armor that covered the entirety of their body from head to chest. The only difference is that they two wore their helmet on while leaving the visor off, unlike Sir Lange that opted to do without his helmet. From their face, I could see that the two are probably his subordinates since they looked much younger than him.

“So how is everything, Ms. Reystone?” He asked me. “Is there anything out of the ordinary?”

“So far there is nothing wrong. I’ve told my troop to keep their eyes open for anything that might endanger us.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He let out a breath of relief. “We, the ones in charge of to patrol the surrounding, also didn’t found anything strange.”

“I see.” I nodded. “But we can’t be sure that it will be the same for long. We need to still watch out. Being careless for even a second is not an option.” Then suddenly I heard a soft laugh from the other two. “What is it?”

“Ah, please forgive me, Ms. Reystone.” One of them said that while waving his hand. “It’s just I didn’t expect to see someone that share the captain’s mindset.” Huh?

“What do you mean?” I asked him since I don’t really understand what he really meant.

“For the past couple of days, the captain has been telling us to stay on our toe, day in day out. He said that we shouldn’t let off guard off even for a moment.” Isn’t that common sense for soldier like us? I mean, what’s so strange about that? “But you know, we have a lot of troop with us. I doubt someone will be foolish enough to attack us.” The moment he said that, a hand landed on his helmet, making a loud clanking noise. “O-Ouch! C-Captain?”

“Fools! Being negligence and overestimating yourself in any situation is a deadly mistake!” I nodded at his comment.

I couldn’t agree more. I don’t know how many of the militia soldier has been wounded just because they believed that their job is easy and no one will be foolish enough to launch a direct attack. Because of that, I always drilled that mindset into my troop’s head over and over again. As long as I’m their leader, I wouldn’t let them die because of them being too conceited and overestimated themselves.

“B-But Captain, you’ve been worrying too much.” The man that got hit on his head tried to argue. “The whole knight corps has been deployed and we even enlisted more soldier than usual around the forest. We even asked the town’s militia to patrol the surrounding area too, Captain. Surely that is enough.”

“There’s no such thing as being careful enough. The moment you thought you felt that, you have already opened a gap to your enemy to attack!”

“But Captain, don’t–“

“Stop.” His comrade put his hand on the arguing knight’s shoulder, stopping him. “Stop that. You’ll waste your breath.”

“Ugh…” The knight in question then stopped arguing. I looked at them and noticed that they looked at Sir Lange with a slightly disappointed look. “Ms. Reystone, what do you think?” Huh? Suddenly they looked at me. Are you asking me to give my opinion? Well, I’m sorry, but if you were hoping that I will deny Sir Lange’s word you will surely be disappointed.

“I think being careful is not a bad thing.” The moment I said that, I could see the two’s expression under their helmet turned sour. Once again, you will be disappointed if you were hoping for me to convinced Sir Lange to change his way of thinking. Trust me. “Especially since the forest has been strange for the past couple of days.” The moment I said that, their expression changed. The two showed a slightly worried expression. Well, only slightly. I guess they still feel that it will be fine for them.

“Strange?” Sir Lange asked after a few seconds of silence. “How?”

“Uhm…forgive me, Sir Lange. But I can’t really explain it. Please consider it as a hunter’s instinct.” Once again, silence came as no one want to give their opinion.

“…Very well.” He nodded and then looked toward the two knights with him. “You two, go near the tent where the Count is. Keep a watchful eye on your surrounding.”

“Sir, yes, Sir!” The two gave a salute to him.

“I’ll be here with Ms. Reystone to keep a lookout in the higher ground. I’ll signal you if something happened.” Then I saw a grin appeared on their face. “What is it?”

“Are you sure it’s to keep a lookout, Captain?” The tone of the knight

“Huh?”

“I mean, aren’t you just going to–Ugh!”

“Enough.” The other knight struck the other knight’s side with his elbow, stopping his words. “We don’t want to disturb Captain’s time with Ms. Reystone.” H-Hah!? Although I’m quite shocked to hear them saying that, I tried to remain calm and fought the urge to snap my eyes toward the man in question. Instead, I just glanced at him. Ah. He looked shocked too.

“Y-Y-You!! N-No, Ms. Reystone, t-this is not what you think!” Seeing me staying calm might have him misunderstood me. And that has apparently made him more nervous. “Y-You!! Stop saying foolish things!”

“Hahaha! Sorry, Captain.”

“Signal us when something happened, okay?”

After the two said that, they dashed away from their position, leaving a very flushed and clearly fuming Sir Lange. I then let out a soft giggle since the thought of him being teased by his two subordinates amused me slightly. Hearing that, he looked at me and let out a cough to regain his composure. But since he was still slightly blushing, I think that he might need more time than he expected.

“You are close with you fellow knight, Sir Lange.”

“Ah…uhm…yes, I suppose.” He said that while scratching the back of his head. “I’m really sorry for them, Ms. Reystone. But b-believe me, I have no ulterior motive or anything.” Oh, he’s stuttering? Is the great private knight actually bad dealing with woman, I wonder? Better not push it any further. I will not gain anything by angering him.

“Don’t worry, Sir Lange.” I gave him a smile. “I know that being tense will not do anyone good at this time. We should be cautious, but not tense. That might even lead us to become careless too.”

“I honestly agree with you, Ms. Reystone.” He nodded as he showed me a relief expression. But then his expression turned serious. “I’m really worried, Ms. Reystone.”

“…Is it because of the prophetic dreams you were having, Sir Lange?” He nodded. “I guess…I am worried about the same thing too.”

“…Thank you for believing me. It means so much that someone believe me.” A small smile appeared on his face.

“Since Nerva believes you, I will also believe you. Besides…” I threw my gaze toward the forest behind me. “I too feel something bad might happen today.”

Once again, silence came over us. The two of us kept our eyes toward the royal family experiment.

“…Tell me, Ms. Reystone.” He finally opened his mouth and looked at me. “Has the forest somewhat… changed?”

“Changed?” Oh, I didn’t expect that. “Have you noticed too, Sir Lange?” He shook his head.

“…Unfortunately, or fortunately, no. But I have this… bad feeling.. No ominous feeling. It is as if we will face something dangerous soon.” Then it is the same as my hunter’s instinct. But maybe it is just because he saw the prophetic dream over and over again. Or it might be that he has hidden talent. Who knows? All I know is that we had the same terrible premonition.

“The forest is…,” I paused as I looked at our surrounding, “strange. Too quiet and too peaceful. Like a peace before a great battle.” Although the worst battle I have participated in is the battle between the militia and the heavily armed smugglers, the feeling is similar. It is the same feeling when we know we will face a great force soon.

“I see…” he just nodded and then put his hand onto the hilt of the sword that is placed on his waist. “I could only hope that our premonition is wrong.”

“I also hope the same, Sir Lange. It will be the best if nothing–Huh!?” But suddenly I felt a strong presence coming near us. It was feint and almost unnoticeable, but I could still feel it. I could feel the chilling sensation of a strong and strange presence on the back of my neck. I don’t know what kind of creature could give out that kind of feeling. All I know is that it is coming near. I quickly looked toward the direction where I could feel the presence. It is coming near us.

“What is it, Ms. Reystone?” I couldn’t say anything. “Ms. Reystone, what’s the–This force!” I glanced back at Sir Lange and a similar worried expression appeared on his face. It seemed that he noticed that too. “It’s from there?” I nodded as I pointed my spear toward the direction of the forest.

“This is…the first time I feel such a strong presence.”

“This is definitely not good.” A clanking sound was made as Sir Lange pulled out his sword.

“We should warn the other!” I immediately turned around, “H-Huh? Sir Lange?” I unconsciously shouted as he blocked my way with his sword.

“You won’t make it.” He shook his head after he said that. “It’s too late.”

“Huh?” Are you going to give up!? “What do you mean by that!?”

“Calm down. There’s no way I’m going to give up without a fight.” He then pointed toward the source of the presence. “It is getting nearer fast.” W-W-What!? I then focus on the overwhelming presence. I then felt my face paled as I realized that he was right. “Let me handle it.”

“What do you mean?” Don’t tell me. He wants to hold it by himself? That’s crazy!

“No, I won’t try to be a hero and hold it by myself. That’s crazy.” As if reading my mind, he gave me a short answer. “I will contact them using this.” He pulled out a small orb and then put it close to his head. “Go to where I ordered you. Do what I told you. Say what is in my mind.” At the end of his chant, the orb glow and then it floated from his hand. It then flew in a very fast speed toward the direction of the forest where the royal family is conducting their experiment. “That will be enough to warn them what happened.”

“Then let me do the same.” I then whistled as loud as I could. That is the signal for them to be ready for a fight. I called them to gather near me but not to attack before I signal them to. Ability-wise, my troop is not that suitable for a close combat fight. They will fare better while still hidden on top of the tree and provide support fire from there. In the worst case scenario, I will tell them to fall back and help everyone evacuate to minimalize the casualty. “So what now?”

“This!” He took stance and readied his blade. “We wait and see the true terror that will greet us.”

“Huh, that’s a simple plan.” It then took my own stance and also readied my own weapon. I might not be that strong, but I can use my experience in hunting and guarding the town to my advantages. Or at least slow it down. “Let’s see what it is then, shall we?”

“Glad to not do it alone, Ms. Reystone.” He let out a small laugh. I’m impressed he could still laugh in this kind of situation. I could see a small trace of fear, but overall Sir Lange looked quite calm and composed.

“Likewise, Sir Lange.” After that short conversation, we went quiet and concentrated on the upcoming battle with the owner of the dangerous presence.

As the time went on, I felt the presence got stronger and stronger. It is a sign that whatever it is, it is not far from us and only a little time left until we could finally see the real identity of it.

Suddenly the trees in front of us shook. Together with that, the sound of growling and also heavy footsteps came to my ear. I looked slightly up and noticed that some of the tree on the farther area in front of us shook much harder. I could also see some birds started to flew away. Clearly a sign that something dangerous is coming. The shaking didn’t stop. I could hear clanking sound from near me. I glanced to my side and saw that Sir Lange tightened his grip on his sword. I unconsciously did the same with my spear.

Then after a while, the shaking stopped. At first, I thought that it will be a good thing. But I was wrong. Very wrong indeed.

The tree in front of us fell toward us. Luckily, both Sir Lange and I managed to dodge it just in time. As the tree hit the ground, dust and soil were thrown onto the air, hindering my visibility as a cloud of dust formed. But since the presence is stronger than before, even without having a clear vision of whatever that is, I could determine the direction of our enemy. I pointed my spar toward it while controlling my breath, trying my best to not inhale the dust. Since I couldn’t see anything, I just hope that Sir Lange was doing the same.

As the dust cloud finally dispersed, I could see my surrounding. Between Sir Lange and I laid the fallen tree. Judging from one end of the tree, it was broken by a very strong force.

“…It can’t be…” I could hear Sir Lange’s voice. I glanced at him and noticed that his calm and composed expression was gone completely. Fear and dread replaced them.

I then moved my eyes onto the direction of his sight. I couldn’t do anything but gasp at the figure in front of us. My mouth was left open as I was truly surprised and shocked to see the owner of the string and dangerous presence. Unfortunately, I know what that is.

“…A…corrupted beast…”

Author Note:

How will they handle the deadly beast in front of them?

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