Chapter 851 - A Knock That Breaks the Peace
Cypress looked up at the sky and stroked his rough, grown-out beard with his palm.
"This is unfair."
He was dissatisfied with this situation.
Screeeeeeeeeee.
The screech of a monster reached from the sky down to the earth.
The blowing wind rustled his crimson cloak and his light brown hair, where gray strands were visible.
He had thought things would get a little easier with Ingis recently becoming a knight, but the south had sent out something unbelievable.
Things called Gryphon Riders.
The riders on the gryphons were dropping modified scrolls and throwing stones from a height that arrows could not reach.
They were not weapons that threatened individual knights.
No squire-level knight was a moron who would have their head split open by something like hail.
However, it was fatal to the southern garrison.
To block them, the entire knight order had been cutting their sleep to throw spears and shoot bows.
'We need greatbows that won't break under a knight's strength and at least three months.'
Those were the conditions for intercepting the monsters flying above their heads—creatures with the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of a lion—and the riders on them.
Cypress coolly assessed the current situation.
Without the conditions he had just thought of, the southern front would be pushed back.
There were already holes everywhere, and some monster groups had crossed the border.
And they were monsters that the southern bastards were deliberately opening a path for.
'We don't have the capacity to block them too.'
As had sometimes happened before, the people in each territory would have to block them on their own.
Still, it was a losing battle.
Gryphon Riders, truly an unexpected card.
"Ingis."
"Yes, Master."
If it weren't for Ingis, who had recently become a knight, and another knight with the moniker of the Fighting Knight, who had originally been defending this battlefield…
'We would have been pushed back long ago.'
The underlying strength of the southern front was greater than he had thought.
But should they retreat?
If that were the case, they wouldn't have fought until now.
"We will have to find a way to get up into the sky."
"...Yes."
Ingis's reply was a little late.
Cypress was a hero who turned the impossible into the possible.
His moniker was the knight who 'Can Do Anything.'
That didn't mean he would actually fly, but a countermeasure of that magnitude was needed.
'If we can't, we lose.'
Ingis could see the southern commander's intention.
In fact, since most commanders desired similar things, it was not difficult to read his inner thoughts.
'To win easily while minimizing our own casualties.'
To adhere to this premise, a commander establishes various strategies.
A simple proposition, but difficult to keep.
The south continuously sent out Gryphon Riders.
Dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, without a break.
To block them, the knight order was needed, as they had to intercept the scroll bundles the creatures dropped in mid-air and threaten the gryphons by throwing javelins.
It was a height that an ordinary soldier's strength could not reach.
Thanks to that, the knight order had no time to rest properly.
'If this continues for just two weeks, we will have to face the southern knights while sleep-deprived.'
Looking at the situation coolly, it was like fighting with one arm tied behind their back before even starting.
'The army's morale has hit rock bottom with just the Gryphon Riders.' The knight order cannot rest.
If they were to face the southern Guardians like this?
The Guardians was the moniker for the knights belonging to the southern nation of Lihin-Stetten.
They call themselves the protectors of the nation.
They were also madmen who believed that everything would always go their way.
The Gryphon Riders were truly something no one had expected.
It was said that there were monster tamers in the south, but who could have predicted that they had tamed the high-level monster, the gryphon?
And to put a person on it and drop a fireball from above?
'Do we just have to get it done somehow?'
His master was originally a knight who had lived that way.
Whatever it was, the greatest crisis of the southern front in Ingis's memory was now.
***
"There's no need for me to go. Just take the beasts who are in heat because they haven't been able to fight for a few days."
Only Jaxen from the knight order spoke thus and stayed behind.
Naturally, a fight broke out right after he said those words.
"Who are you calling a beast? The only beast here is that fucking Bear-Beastkin."
"Hoho, brother. Are you referring to me?"
"Are you using 'beastkin' as an insult? You want to fight?" Rem, Audin, and Dunbakel reacted to Jaxen's words.
"If we're setting out, I will take the lead," Ragna spouted nonsense.
"No, sir. We will be going on horseback. I would like to put Sir Ragna in a carriage, but that would be too noisy, so please ride the most docile horse," Ropord stopped Ragna.
"A war with the south? Excellent. The time has come to show the skills I've learned while playing around," the hard-working Fel just showed his anticipation, whatever anyone said.
The Dragonkin, the Frog, and the elf were beings who did not react to such words in the first place.
The three of them just stuck close to Enkrid.
And when Theresa's humming was added to the mix…
"This is the Order of the Madmen Knights." It was as Krais had said.
This was a group of madmen, crazy bastards.
At their center, only Enkrid was composed.
When they followed him one by one, he had just nodded his head.
And that had grown into this.
"Depart."
Enkrid was at the front.
With Weird Eyes joining, the party was not small.
Everyone except Esther and Jaxen had set out.
And so, they had left.
Rem idly played a grass flute and patted his horse's head, and Ragna dozed off on his horse.
Enkrid, seeing that Weird Eyes' back was lumpy and bruised, stroked its back and asked, "You don't seem like someone who'd get beat up just about anywhere." The horse, who understood human speech, shook its head.
Heeeeeigh.
The meaning of the snort was, of course, no.
"Then why is this here?"
Even with a gentle stroke, the back muscles twitched as if in pain.
Heeigh.
This time, it seemed to mean that it didn't know.
"You communicate with the horse. Do you possess the same talent as I?" the Dragonkin asked.
Just because he could read minds did not mean he could see through the opponent's abilities.
"No."
"Still, you can communicate."
It was a conversation held with Shinar in between.
She answered the Dragonkin's words.
"It's like conversing with just a look, Dragonkin. Just as my fiancé and I promised our marriage with our eyes."
The Dragonkin blinked his vertically slit eyes once and opened his mouth. "I heard that elves do not know lies, the world must've changed a lot."
Shinar's eyebrow twitched for a moment, so slightly that you wouldn't know unless you looked closely.
Was it an expression of displeasure?
That's how Enkrid saw it.
"Where is the lie?" An elf does not tell a lie.
They just distort the truth.
To Shinar, the marriage was not the truth, but it was something that would happen in the future, and the engagement was the same.
"The marriage and the fiancé," the Dragonkin denied it outright.
"It is not a lie. You demon," the elf finally spat out her displeasure.
If there was a curse worse than a rotten potato sprout to her, it was being called a demon.
"I am a Dragonkin."
"This is an expression. Not a lie."
Luagarne gave up on understanding the conversation between the two.
Enkrid had little interest in their conversation in the first place.
The entire party was on horseback.
It had been quite a difficult task to find a horse that could carry Audin, but a horse that the stable keeper of the city of Green Pearl had prepared while taking care of it in a wide field was able to carry him.
It was an excellent breed with hair on its hooves and a mixture of brown and gray fur.
Of course, Theresa had also received a horse of the same breed.
"Your name is Piyob," Audin named his horse.
Piyob was a name from a holy text, a man who had built a castle by carrying stones while enduring pain.
"That horse is a female," the person who had given him the horse said, but Audin did not change the name.
"The gender is not important, but the meaning contained in the name is important, brother. This horse's name is Piyob."
Looking at Audin's build, his fists, and the harmonious smile, anyone would readily agree with his wishes.
The person who had given him the horse did too.
"Yes, Piyob. From today, you are Piyob."
The man who had been tending to the horse's shoes quickly nodded.
And so, as Audin named his horse, everyone else named their horses.
"Pathfinder." This was Ragna.
"Black Eye."
Rem had named his horse so after seeing that its eyes were pitch black.
The Frog, due to her slippery skin, had to ride as if trapped between a raised front and back of the saddle, and she called it carriage.
A name without much meaning.
Themares read the horse's mind and said that this friend's name was Father's Seventh.
"Do Dragonkin lie?"
When Rem asked if the horse really thought so, Themares nodded.
"If necessary. It has not been necessary yet."
In a way, it sounded arrogant, but it also sounded like a way of speaking that suited the moniker of a lone walker.
Also, the name Father's Seventh was what the horse recognized as its ego.
Rem chuckled that it was true.
Ropord, Fel, and Theresa named their horses Cream, Spot, and Pania, respectively.
Cream and Spot were because of their coat colors, and Pania was the name of a pilgrim in a holy text.
Dunbakel just called it a horse.
The total number of the Madmen Knight Order was thirteen, or to be precise, thirteen plus Weird Eye, making it fourteen.
Their journey, for a trip to the southern battlefield, had a somewhat picnic-like atmosphere.
The sky had few clouds, the sunlight was warm, and a cool breeze blew from time to time.
'It's a good day.'
Enkrid enjoyed the weather.
As they left the Border Guard and went up the safe passage, they received military salutes from a few guard posts.
Weird Eyes' back was lumpy in the front, but there was no big problem if he rode on the back.
They trotted on the plains, and when the horses seemed tired, they slowed down to a walk.
No matter how sturdy the horses carrying Audin and Theresa were, they were not warhorses, and they were also loaded with various camping equipment and gear.
It was impossible to go faster than a trot from the start.
They had also chosen horses with good endurance and stamina rather than fast ones.
After passing a couple of forests, a plain appeared, and the day was so clear that the view was wide open.
'Edin Molsan.'
Enkrid was not contemplating swordsmanship, but thinking of the person he had left behind.
'On the battlefield, Edin is a burden.'
His true value comes from the city and administration.
Is Edin the only such person?
'Farmers, artisans, artists, poets, musicians, painters, craftsmen.' Until now, the place for them to stand was very narrow.
'The continent is ruled by military power.'
The knight, represented by a small elite, was the symbol of that military power.
The reason a small country beyond the west, which Edin had reported seeing, had survived until now?
It was thanks to a single old knight who had dedicated his life to protecting that place.
Even if a knight's prime is extended, it is rare for one to be active until the age of eighty or ninety.
'Still, thanks to him, that country endured.'
The trade cities endure by using a delicate balance of power, but fundamentally, their backbone is a mercenary band that has reached the level of semi-knights.
Though they are said to have sold their loyalty for gold, no one belittles their loyalty because they are not ones to change a contract just for more gold.
'A world where one can achieve their wishes even without military power.'
It was a thought that had been firmly established, going beyond simply ending a war.
To protect what is behind him means to protect such people.
Then, are there no such people in the south where he is now going to fight?
It was a thought that had suddenly occurred.
Tuk.
Weird Eyes stopped walking.
Enkrid's gaze turned forward.
His pupils momentarily narrowed and caught a subject in the distance.
A knight's eyes can see much farther than an ordinary person's.
Enkrid saw a dot approaching from far away.
The dot quickly closed the distance.
It was a wide-open plain where the horizon was visible.
The plan was to go down this way to Viscount Harrison's territory, rest there, and then move on.
The approaching dot came from the south, near the viscount's territory.
The dot, running across the open plain, approaches.
It was so far away that it was difficult to observe visually, but the dot was fast.
If seen from up close, wouldn't it pass by in the blink of an eye?
When the distance between the dot and the party had narrowed to some extent, an arrow flew in, drawing a parabola.
It was a bone arrow that had turned gray.
Without a word, everyone reacted on their own.
Everyone except Enkrid protected their horses and swung their weapons.
Weird Eyes dodged on its own.
Shushushushu. T-t-tak.
Only a miscellaneous noise echoed.
The deflected arrows were scattered here and there on the ground.
'It's sour.'
Enkrid, while deflecting the arrow, smelled a strange scent.
A sour and fishy scent.
"It's poison," Rem said.
Ragna, who had been dozing, got off his horse.
In a short-distance race, a knight is faster than a horse.
His judgment is fast, and his actions are even faster.
That was Ragna's strength.
However, the opponent's reaction was faster.
"Look at these bastards," Fel muttered.
They shoot and run.
And at a speed that, like before, one wouldn't dare to follow.
The things that had been pounding the ground and running in the distance had fled just like that.
"Unpleasant people," Ropord expressed the ominousness that touched his sixth sense.
He didn't feel a threat to his life, but it was annoying.
Heeigh.
A few startled horses raised their heads, but they didn't make a bigger fuss.
Weird Eyes was already a leader among them.
Just by him walking among them once, the other horses calmed down.
It was a knock that broke the peace.
"Centaurs," Enkrid said.
They were monsters he had fought before when they had grown to a colony level.
However, this time, should it be said that their nature was a little different?
After three days, what they were doing became clear.
"These things are waiting for us to get tired," Rem, a born hunter, said.
***
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