Toward the Snow-Covered Wall (2)
The moment I spoke those words while wearing the official uniform, silence filled the temporary infirmary for several seconds.
Creak!
No, calling it silence wasn't quite accurate.
The expressions on the other knights—including Boran—were fierce enough to make it seem as though they were staring at an enemy.
'No matter how much people say the ducal house is declining, the authority of a duke's family doesn't just disappear.'
Now that things had come this far, neither side could easily back down.
Still, in this confrontation, I was the one with the advantage thanks to the backing of the ducal house.
'Of course, once Heinkel hears about this afterward, he definitely won't let me off easy.'
I forcibly suppressed the cold sweat creeping down my spine.
'Once you arrive at the Wall, respect the hierarchy there.'
I had completely shattered Heinkel's warning in just three days after arriving.
I couldn't even begin to imagine how I was going to deal with the aftermath.
'To hell with it. They were the ones who started this, so what are they gonna do?'
As I pushed down my rising anxiety and stared back at Boran—
"U-Um...!"
The one who broke the explosive silence threatening to erupt at any moment was the small voice of the healer named Pion.
"T-The young master's wounds are severe. Perhaps visitation should wait until later..."
Another beat of silence followed.
But after hearing Pion's words, Boran examined my face.
'He wants to stop here.'
Boran, who was currently confronting me, was only the vice-captain.
Though he belonged to the closed-off organization known as the Great Raven Knights, he wasn't in a position where he could completely ignore rank and hierarchy.
"...I will pretend I never heard what you just said."
With that stiff declaration, Boran gestured with his hand, and the knights surrounding me immediately stepped back.
"Our apologies for the disturbance. We shall take our leave."
With those final words, the knights exited the infirmary.
Only after the sound of their footsteps—much harsher than when they entered—completely faded away—
"Hoo...!"
The tension finally left my body, and I collapsed onto the bed with a sigh of relief.
"Haha, thanks to that girl, we avoided the worst-case scenario."
Ian, who had been thoroughly enjoying the standoff, said that with amusement.
I relaxed my expression and agreed.
"Seriously. I almost ended up drawing my sword for real."
After saying that, I smiled at the healer named Pion, who was still staring at me.
"Thanks to you, things ended peacefully. Thank you."
"Ah, y-yes...?"
The murderous expression I had shown moments ago had completely vanished, and Pion flinched in surprise.
'Well, it's not like I can glare at her too.'
If it were anyone else, maybe.
But making enemies of the healers at this Wall?
That was practically suicide.
Besides, this healer had taken care of me for an entire week.
Unlike those knights, there was no reason to treat her with hostility.
"Oh wow, look at your voice changing in front of a girl. What are you, some kind of split personality?"
Apparently Ian didn't see it that way, because he clicked his tongue at me.
"Stop talking nonsense, Uncle. Besides..."
Ignoring his teasing, I continued.
"If you met someone with a real split personality, you wouldn't be saying that."
I said it while thinking of Laiya, the foul-mouthed young duchess of the Paul wyvern family.
But Ian simply tilted his head as though he had no idea what I meant.
"Anyway, what are you planning to do now?"
His curiosity lasted only a moment.
Stopping the casual chatter, Ian looked at me seriously.
"Thanks to this, your reputation—which was already terrible—is going to hit rock bottom. The entire Wall's going to feel like a bed of thorns for you."
Just as Ian said, by openly confronting the vice-captain, I had damaged the pride of the Great Raven Knights.
Still, I didn't regret it.
In that situation, trying to earn their trust through half-hearted conversation would've taken longer than simply crossing the Wall and walking outside myself.
And besides, the verbal clash earlier hadn't been entirely without benefit.
"Being treated like dead weight while rotting away here would be worse. I'd rather be known as a madman a hundred times over."
I answered while recalling the expressions on the knights' faces.
When they first saw me, their gazes had been filled with disregard or indifference.
But now, the way they looked at me had changed into hostility—and something beyond even that.
Wariness.
"At least now they'll think of me as an enemy, not an incompetent fool."
After saying that, I unpacked my belongings and began writing necromantic formulas into an empty book.
"You just arrived and already started smashing heads together, and now what are you doing?"
"I'm supposed to spend four days recovering anyway, right? Better to prepare than waste time."
Circles and symbols rapidly filled the blank white pages, geometric lines connecting them together.
Seeing that, Ian shook his head as though he were already exhausted.
"I thought I'd spend my time here swinging a sword in peace, but it looks like there won't be a single quiet day."
"Is this the place?"
"The traces lead here. I'm sure of it."
Outside the Wall.
Deep within the northeastern tundra forest.
Two men walked across the barren land where no living thing remained except mountain insects.
Crossbows on their backs.
Short spears in one hand.
Wrapped tightly in snowshoes and fur clothing, the two men were Watchers who protected the Wall.
Ignoring the biting cold, they faithfully carried out their duties.
"The knights are sitting comfortably in their watch posts while we're the ones suffering out here."
"The knights are the ones who eliminate the monsters we find. Don't talk about them like that."
At the man's response, his companion waved a hand as though conceding the point.
"So what's the deal with that young master? I heard during shift change that he got into it with the vice-captain."
Still, there was no helping the fact that idle chatter bloomed during missions.
Smirking slightly at the subtle question, the man answered.
"Watch your mouth. He's a young master of the house."
"Tch. Young master, my ass."
Though it was meant as a warning, the companion only sneered.
"I heard he caused trouble at the main house and ran off here. What, is the Wall their personal garbage dump now?"
"Who knows? According to the rumors, he's apparently involved in all sorts of things."
Even when insults toward House Leinrant were spoken openly, the man didn't bother stopping them.
Unlike the Great Raven Knights, who originally came from Leinrant knights, the Watchers were natives of the settlements scattered around the Wall.
To them, the so-called main house was nothing more than a distant story from another land far away.
"So he's doing all kinds of things, huh? They say that brat uses necromancy?"
"It's not a confirmed rumor. Don't go spreading that kind of talk once we get back."
Though the man drew a line there, he too found the unwelcome visitor at the Wall far from pleasant.
Unlike Young Master Dellain, who possessed both remarkable swordsmanship and character, the rumors surrounding Young Master Klein were nothing but ominous.
The reincarnation of Archimond.
The second wife obsessed with necromancy.
And because of that, when word spread that he was coming to the Wall, there were almost no people who welcomed his arrival.
While the two continued chatting, they eventually arrived somewhere.
A clearing hidden deep within the dense forest.
Scattered throughout were traces of human presence and animal carcasses.
"Stop."
The man in front signaled with his hand, and the man guarding the rear immediately crouched low.
"Droppings. They're fresh."
The lead man brushed aside the undergrowth with his hand as he spoke.
Food scraps and burnt firewood scattered everywhere showed clear signs that someone had camped here.
"They didn't even bother covering their tracks properly. They left the smell of food everywhere too. Total amateurs."
After saying that, the man removed the cloth covering his face and held a pen between his lips.
"The map."
"Here."
Taking the map handed to him by his companion, the man marked the campsite's location.
"As expected, these bastards came from outside."
The man twisted his lips as he spat out the words.
The similar traces his companions had found over the past week.
When connected together, they formed a route resembling a road.
"That's impossible. This is monster territory!"
The man guarding the rear asked in disbelief.
The line drawn on the map cut directly through monster habitats.
Crossing the snowy plains alone already meant risking one's life, yet these people had marched straight through monster territory?
"They're not ordinary humans. And there's more than one or two of them."
After speaking, the man folded the map away and looked toward a certain point in the forest.
Judging by the route they had analyzed, there weren't many places this mysterious group could be heading.
All that remained was to return to the Wall and report this to the knight order—
Rustle!
"What was that?!"
The moment they heard something moving through the bushes, the man immediately raised his crossbow and aimed toward the sound.
Clack!
The companion guarding the rear instantly turned and aimed his bow in the opposite direction, eliminating any blind spots.
A flawless coordination as natural as flowing water.
But moments later—
Squeak!
What emerged from the bushes was merely a white rabbit.
"Damn it, you scared the hell out of me!"
Only after seeing the tiny rabbit did one of the Watchers finally lower his bow in relief.
"Let's head back, Captain. Even if the two of us go in deeper, it won't make any diff—!"
"Fuck!"
At that very moment, curses erupted from behind him.
Grab!
"U-Uwaah?!"
There wasn't even time to react.
The man called Captain had suddenly grabbed his collar and started sprinting like a madman.
"W-What?! What's wrong with you?!"
"You seriously don't understand?!"
As the confused man shouted while running, the captain yelled back, his face pale blue.
"It's October! Why the hell would a hibernating rabbit appear now, of all times, in a frozen wasteland like this?!"
Hearing those words, the man who had been frowning moments ago widened his eyes.
"W-Wait a second. Then that rabbit is...?"
Filled with dread, the man turned his head behind him.
Squeak! Squeeeeeak?! Squeeee—!!
The snow-white rabbit from before was chasing after them.
"You've gotta be... fucking kidding me!"
Now he was running even faster than the captain.
Thudthudthudthud—!
The rabbit's body had swollen to dozens of times its original size, but that wasn't the real problem.
The problem was its head.
Attached all over the grotesquely swollen body were countless rabbit heads packed tightly together.
"A monster?!"
"No—no, it's not!"
The captain's scream-like voice denied his guess.
That thing splattering dead blood and filth everywhere wasn't a monster.
It was an undead.
A grotesque abomination stitched together from the corpses of wild animals.
"Run to the Wall somehow! We have to warn the knight ord—!"
"I can't allow that."
The voice answering the desperate cry was unfamiliar.
Thwip—!
Black arrows shot toward the fleeing men.
His companion twisted his body in panic and barely dodged the attack, but luck abandoned him immediately afterward.
"Gah?!"
The instant his footing slipped from the sudden movement—
The creature chasing them slammed directly into his body.
Crunch!
"Guaaaargh...!"
Without even managing a proper scream, the man's body was crushed apart.
At the same time, countless shadows appeared before the remaining man.
"...!"
Men and women dressed in black robes.
Surrounding them stood all kinds of corpses, as though serving as their escorts.
It felt like staring at an exhibition made entirely of the dead.
"Kh...!"
Realizing there was nowhere left to escape, the man raised his crossbow.
Even with death closing in, he was still one of the Watchers.
Even if he died here, he would never bow before them.