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15. Engagement – Two Fathers

– Kyaaa-uk! Kang! Kyaaa!

A gigantic, snow-white fox so large it was difficult to bring it home, more pristine than the snow piled on the ground.

The Old Phantom Fox walked lightly over the snow, approaching a splendid prey, only to get caught in a trap.

The enormous fox shook its body, trying to escape from the trap. Just then, Dehorman’s voice echoed through the valley.

“Fire! If you have anything to throw, do it quickly!”

With that shout, the hunting team he led revealed themselves.

Lena, coming out for her first hunt, promptly discovered the Old Phantom Fox’s tracks, and Leo reported to the hunting team without delay. Upon seeing the tracks, Dehorman immediately called for a halt to all hunting activities and summoned the entire hunting team.

Under Dehorman’s command, the hunting team densely set traps throughout the valley. They lured the creature with a hefty chunk of meat.

The Old Phantom Fox approached without any caution and got caught in the trap, as seventy warriors stationed above the valley fired arrows and hurled hand axes at it.

They had hunted that creature using the same method before, and back then, Leo thought Dehorman was being overly cautious.

But it wasn’t so now.

It felt like the preparations were insufficient for that monster, and it could not be caught without Dehorman.

– Gyaaaaaa!

The Old Phantom Fox shook its body vigorously.

Her white fur fluttered as she deflected arrows and hand axes. Some were embedded in her body, but she didn’t seem to care.

The fox stood still, surveying her surroundings.

Surprised, but recognizing the food before her as bait, and realizing that the things caught in her legs were traps, she scratched and assessed our numbers.

Finally, she barked a sound like ‘Kangkangkang’, echoing through the valley, and leaped up.

The traps that had caught her all snapped off, and the Old Phantom Fox soared high into the valley. Then, with her mouth wide open, she came crashing down like a spear.

Warriors who were the target hastily threw themselves aside. It was a steep valley, so it was dangerous, but there was no other choice.

“Spread out! That movement is exactly like a fox! Scatter and keep throwing spears or axes! I’ll handle that one!”

Dehorman shouted as he brandished a massive axe.

Leo had never seen anyone stronger than him.

His double-headed axe was the size of a door panel in an ordinary household. Granted, Dehorman was a giant of a man, but that was clearly an unreasonable strength.

– Wuaaaaak!!

Dehorman bellowed, drawing the attention of the Old Phantom Fox. The fox approached, showcasing her curiosity, and the two began a desperate battle.

The Old Phantom Fox skillfully swung her large front limbs and snout. Each time, Dehorman swung his gigantic axe like a windmill to counter her. The fox seemed aware that if hit by that axe, she wouldn’t be unscathed.

The hunting team spread widely around them, surrounding and shooting arrows and throwing spears. Each time the fox seemed to get angrier and attempted to flee, Dehorman charged in with his axe to draw her focus.

Her white body gradually became drenched in blood.

– Kang! Kang! Kang! Kang! Kang!

The fox’s cries grew frantic. Just moments before trying to escape, she had received a hefty blow from a portly monkey on her hind leg, and all around her, little monkeys swarmed.

She had underestimated these primates.

Usually, she could swallow one whole with each ambush…

TheOld Phantom Fox’s eyes blazed bright blue with rage.

“That’s right! Come at me! KhaHahaHaha! You’re dead now!”

Dehorman laughed heartily, knowing the end was near. He had hunted many beasts like these. And their final actions were almost always the same.

In their last moments, they dashed forward, using their most familiar tactics.

So this fox would – leap.

Even facing the furious fox, he pulled back his axe. That creature would surely jump. Therefore, there was no need to be concerned with what was in front.

Dehorman assumed a stance that would easily swing upward and waited.

And then, the Old Phantom Fox leaped.

The giant fox soared high into the sky, crashing down like a bolt of lightning, and Dehorman swung his axe wide as if to cleave the heavens.

– Splat!

With a thunderous sound like a rock splitting as it fell from the cliff, blood spurted forth.

The warriors momentarily held their breath, but then,

“Kahahatahatahat!”

They erupted in cheers. Lena jumped up, exclaiming that our father was the best.

Dehorman of the Ainar Tribe left a feat that would be spoken of for ages, and the hunting team willingly became its witnesses.

That evening, the valley hosted a feast, sharing scant alcoholic drinks with bountiful fox meat.

While everyone laughed and chatted, the only gloomy one was Leo.

*

As winter came to an end, the war erupted as expected. Dehorman’s grumblings and Lena’s participation as a warrior after her hunting trip remained unchanged.

“I want to join the battle too.”

“…Alright then.”

The only thing different was that Noel Dexter permitted Leo’s participation.

Noel, sitting in a rocking chair, turned the pages of a book somberly while sitting his son next to him, giving him various pieces of advice.

He began to share what he knew, as if he had prepared it upon realizing that his son would go to battle with his fiancée.

He explained how troops were organized and what roles each unit would take on. He meticulously outlined emergency measures and what requests could be made of superiors.

It seemed he had pondered over many ways for Leo and Lena to return alive.

Noel’s advice lasted throughout the day, only coming to an end when Lena came to ask why no one had come to eat.

The next day, Leo went with his father to the palace to fill out the application form.

The knights and soldiers serving in the palace saluted Noel with utmost respect. At that moment, his father paused for a moment each time to exchange a few words.

However, the attitude the knights held towards his father was peculiar.

Despite being active knights, they found it difficult to address the retired Noel. Their cautious tones blended awe and fear.

Noel Dexter simply clicked his tongue bitterly, wishing the knights heading to battle good luck without any particular reaction.

On the way back, Leo asked,

“Father, don’t you want to join the war?”

Every knight would want to go to battle to earn honor, yet his father seemed indifferent.

To Leo, he appeared incredibly strong.

He had not aged enough to cease being a knight, so it was unclear why he had retired.

Noel shook his head and said,

“…I’m sick of killing people. If we were invaded, I would willingly fight, but I don’t want to assist in an aggressive war.”

Noel Dexter had experienced brutal wars.

Only a decade or so ago, the Austin Kingdom and the Aster Kingdom were one kingdom.

Being the second son of a prestigious knight family, Noel was born in the capital and displayed remarkable talent in swordsmanship, becoming a knight at a young age.

He was said to be the youngest knight at the time, indicating his substantial talent.

Yet, shortly thereafter, the young king who had just inherited the throne died under mysterious circumstances. In the middle of the night, he fell dead in the temple with no visible wounds, nor was he poisoned.

The kingdom was thrown into chaos. Numerous conspiracies were brought to light, and countless people underwent interrogation, but no killer was found.

And his death opened a new chapter.

The young king had no heir. It was not that someone failed to officially name a successor; he simply had no children.

Fortunately, the late king had brothers, but unfortunately, there were two of them.

The two uncles rose again as heirs to the throne and had to clash once more.

While they had lost the crown to the elder brother in their youth, this time they must seize the throne for themselves.

This power struggle was on a scale far removed from the young princes’ squabbles. They were power figures with their own forces, making mediation impossible.

One claimed his age, while the other boasted his youth, neither willing to concede.

This greed began as a petty conflict over a young nephew and exploded with the excuse of revenge. Each side’s advisors concocted plausible conspiracy theories.

There was that count’s daughter from the other side being taken as a concubine, who had summoned a sorcerer… and so on.

Or there was a royal knight violating regulations and sneaking into the castle at night… and it continued.

Each side labeled the other as the shameless murderer of their nephew, consolidating their forces.

The division of power wasn’t limited to just the nobles.

Since it involved the kingdom’s security, even the order of knights that should have maintained neutrality became engulfed in the power struggle.

Noel Dexter, a knight of the First Knight Order, had to make a choice. Though credible information was scarce, he mixed his inquiries with deductions to reach a conclusion.

And he kept that conclusion hidden from everyone.

The escalating tensions and factions eventually culminated in civil war.

This is how the infamous “Nine-Day War” came to be.

Both sides clung to the capital, fueling a desperate fight for eight days before the war truly broke out.

Surprisingly, there appeared to be no victor in that struggle. Not until the last day of the war.

The Nine-Day War was recorded as the most intense and blood-drenched war in the continent’s history.

A war where friend and foe could not be distinguished.

Unlike wars against other kingdoms, there were no clear boundaries, and all sorts of political coercion and threats underpinned the chaos.

The kingdom’s mightiest force, the knight order, fell into disunity, further amplifying the embers of conflict. Most of the magicians in the northern kingdom fled to their towers, while a few remained to cast spells.

At that time, no one in the northern kingdom trusted anyone else.

Nobles cooperated while eyeing each other with suspicion, knights concealed their bodies and beliefs to wreak havoc. The barbarian tribes banded together tightly, killing any suspicious outsiders.

This fierce civil war lasted over three years.

Fields cultivated with great difficulty turned to ash, and poor folk were questioned about why they had no money, while wealthy folk were interrogated about how they managed to amass fortunes.

And then, the war ended in a hollow fashion.

The two uncles who had instigated the war were assassinated by their own sons, causing both sides to lose their justification.

The sons, who emerged as leaders from each faction, called themselves kings and forged an agreement.

Thus, the Klaus royal family fragmented, and the Austin & Aster Kingdoms established themselves in the north.

Noel, who sided with the Austin Kingdom, survived.

He received the surname “Dexter” and substantial rewards for his contributions that cost hundreds of lives. A generous pension was also guaranteed.

Noel moved away from his hometown, where he had fought, and settled in the Abrival Castle, his wife’s birthplace.

And he began to read books, albeit belatedly.

Now reflecting upon it, everyone, including himself, had not known the truth. They merely fought and killed, thinking it was right, simply because their ideas differed.

It was foolish.

He was disillusioned with war.

Leo quietly followed his gloomy father.

Noel re-entered his study, and Leo rushed out to the empty lot.

Lena was stretching her body.

“Lena, I’m going too.”

“Why are you following me? Just stay here.”

“Is that a no?”

“Yeah. Totally no.”

Despite her words, she smiled widely.

“If you idiotically follow me and die, I’ll just be a widow.”

Leo burst out laughing as he caught the wooden sword she tossed at him.

“Make sure I don’t become a widower.”

“Huh? If I die, you won’t ever get married again?”

“Depends on what you do.”

The two chuckled as they pointed swords at each other.

Leo felt at ease.

There was no escaping the war event, so for now, his goal was just to come back alive. He never wanted to see Lena fighting alone again, not even once. At least for now, this was sufficient.

He shoved aside any thoughts of making her a princess someday, or the possibility of breaking off their engagement.

Those could wait for later.

Lena provoked him with a flick of her sword and Leo charged towards her.

No more snow fell from the sky.

 

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