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208. Beggar Siblings – Only Daughter

Leo left the Irotashi River, leaving Hirie Gaidan, who was stewing in rage.

There seemed to be no way to deal with her grudge that went deep to the marrow against Sir Bart. And soon, Tertan Duke’s House would realize that Palace had died and would put all their efforts into tracking them down, so Leo hurried on his way.

However, the pursuit had already begun. Since the Western Border Count of the Conrad Kingdom was Midian Tertan (the son of Duke Rupert), the armies from each city that received the notification were mobilizing. Soldiers scattered in all directions began restricting passage and setting up a siege.

By now, the knights of Tertan Duke’s House would also be rushing over, and Leo realized he was in a very difficult position. The tightening siege to capture Bart was not something he welcomed either.

Damn it, what a mess.

Thanks to that bastard Oriax, I have to move at night. I can’t keep living like this indefinitely; I’d get caught eventually, but I needed to delay that day for even just one more day.

I need to gather some knights and turn the nobles to my side. If I’d known it would come to this, I wouldn’t have come looking for Sir Bart.

Leo, pulling his hood low, scratched his head. No matter how much he had the mark of Baron Monarch, soldiers wouldn’t let someone sneaking around in the dark go unchallenged. They would at least try to take off the hood, and then…

They would see a young man strikingly similar to Prince Eric de Yeriel.

Prince Eric was the grandson of Duke Tertan, so the duke’s personal soldiers would recognize his face.

Sir Bart had flown off, and here I was, caught in the siege for no reason.

Annoyed, Leo thought, ‘This is unavoidable’ as he urged his horse onward. With things like this, he planned to break through the siege with brute force before the duke’s knights arrived. Waiting for the siege to close in, Leo calmly approached the soldiers holding torches.

“Stop! Get down from your horse. Where do you think you’re going at this hour?”

“Clear the way. Do you think you lowly ones can stop a noble’s procession? I’m a collateral relative of Baron Monarch.”

Leo pulled out the mark of Baron Monarch. However, the soldiers, while bowing politely, did not move aside.

“Apologies. But this area is under the control of Duke Tertan’s House. Will you remove your hood?”

“Why should I do that?”

“…Is there any reason you cannot remove it?”

The soldiers’ gazes grew serious. Just as Leo was about to reach subtly for his sword,

– Squeak!

A loud whistle pierced the air. A blue line shot up into the night sky, dramatically changing the soldiers’ demeanor.

“That way!”

“Found you! Not that far away, right? They said they’d reward us just for holding the line. Captain, what’s the plan?”

“…It could be a trick. We hold this position. More importantly, the hood… Ah!”

Seeing the blue line, something clicked in Leo’s mind. If this memory is correct, my coming this far wasn’t entirely in vain.

He quickly sped toward the location where the signal had been fired. “Huh? Did the cavalry arrive already?” He waved lightly at the startled soldiers, pretending to be an ally and easily slipped through the already breached siege.

However, the siege was layered several times, and Leo soon spotted a knight skillfully maneuvering through the siege, adeptly handling seven horses.

“Damn it! There was cavalry nearby?”

The knight noticed Leo, then jumped from the horse he was riding to another behind it. With a long whip, he adjusted the direction of the horses in front and smoothly pulled the reins to turn toward Leo.

What amazing horsemanship.

He seemed to intend to deal with the pursuing cavalry and escape, but Leo shouted.

“Galen!! It’s me!”

“Uh?!”

As Leo slightly removed his hood, Galen froze. He was so surprised he even dropped his sword.

“Y-you’re… the prince…!!”

“There’s no time to explain! Run!”

“Yes, yes!”

Galen couldn’t regain his senses. He turned his horse as ordered, but there was no way to stop his head from turning toward the prince.

W-what’s happening…? The prince is alive…? How did we get here?

At that moment, in the distance, other soldiers were preparing to face cavalry with spears drawn. Finally able to pull his eyes away from the prince, Galen swallowed hard.

What should I do since I lost my sword? While he was pondering, the prince closely followed up with a question.

“What should we do? Should I go first and deal with them?”

“Yes. B-but it’s dangerous. I can handle it somehow…”

“Out of the way!”

The prince spurred his horse forward, brandishing a long sword to face the spear soldiers, and Galen was filled with worry.

It’s hard to wield a sword while mounted. Unlike a one-handed sword that he had dropped before, swinging a heavy sword like that required knowing how to handle the horse while letting go of the reins.

But just looking at it, the prince’s horsemanship didn’t seem that fantastic.

Would he even know how to wield a sword?

Doubting the prince’s swordsmanship, Galen surreptitiously flicked the side of the horse the prince was riding.

Letting them get poked just right by the soldiers. If that horse, which didn’t look much like a warhorse, got speared, he’d plan to grab the prince and run.

Galen also maneuvered the other horses to bypass the soldiers suitably, when…

– Swoosh-!

If it weren’t for some extreme horsemanship, they’d have definitely fallen off. Galen was mesmerized by the flash in the prince’s hand.

It was the Oblivion Blade.

The prince leaned far out, and with one hand, the dazzling flash cleaved through over a dozen spears and soldiers in an instant.

“Unbelievable.”

Galen thought he was dreaming. The longing he had for the prince had turned into an illusion.

But it was too real for an illusion; the sharp wind against his cheeks made it known this was no dream.

After what seemed like four or five clashes, when Galen thought the siege had been adequately breached, the prince stopped his horse.

“Galen. I’m glad to see you again.”

“D-do you remember me?”

– Flutter.

The dawn lightening in the east illuminated the prince’s golden hair. His shining golden eyes. Galen felt no need to ask, “Who are you?” This person… was the prince we lost over a decade ago.

“I remember. My valiant knight who has toiled for years. You’ve worked hard.”

“Ugh. Huh, huh.”

Dismounting, Galen knelt down. Tears flowed hotly down the cheeks of a knight who lost his youth, and in that heartfelt silence, a message suddenly arose in his mind.

[ Achievement: Master-Servant Relationship. 2v – ‘1’, Those who have pledged loyalty will never betray Leo. ]

But Leo felt no use in it. “Get up. I’m sure you have plenty to say.” He said as he helped the knight up, but the middle-aged knight simply replied, “I have nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

*

Galen was more talkative than expected. To evade pursuit, they let the six noticeable horses roam free on the plains, and riding side by side with Leo, he frequently spoke.

He seemed to be quite an outgoing person, Leo thought, as this was actually the first time he met Galen. He was one of the royal knights who had been with Bart, and he was known to have acted impulsively right after the raid on Palace Tertan.

“They’re probably cursing me out like crazy right now.”

True to his words, Bart and his companions had always let loose foul language whenever Galen’s name came up.

Of course, it wasn’t said with serious intent. Rather, it was mixed with a sense of mourning, especially since just before boarding a boat at the Irotashi River, Galen had run off taking all the horses they’d ridden as bait.

Without a single word of discussion, the knights became the incidental victims of a comrade’s sacrifice. How absurd that must have been for them. That was why they couldn’t genuinely express their gratitude.

However, Galen had his reason too. As they headed north toward Baron Monarch’s territory, Galen said.

“Iron… Oh, right. You don’t know who Sir Iron is, do you? He’s a friend born in Noyar Port, the son of a fisherman. That guy told me it would be fine as long as we disguised ourselves as fishing boats, but I didn’t think so. Since the knights had vanished without a trace, it was obvious where they would have gone with a river nearby.”

“I see. But wouldn’t it have been better to run after discussing it?”

“Hmm… If I had, my comrades would have all followed me. So I didn’t say anything… But now I feel like I should have. Then everyone could have met the prince sooner. Prince, is it really okay not to take Bart? You wouldn’t know, but he’s an amazing swordsman. Well… he’s not really comparable to you, though.”

“Unfortunately, there is no time for that.”

Leo replied indirectly. By the time Bart returned to Noyar Port, it would probably be around next summer. He had no way to contact them after they fled to the sea, and he couldn’t wait that long, so Leo decided to return to Baron Monarch’s territory.

Fortunately, Galen wasn’t the type to pry into others’ affairs.

Regarding the prince’s strange behavior—moving at night and taking a short nap at noon—he only asked once, “Are you trying to avoid pursuit?” and then didn’t say any more. Instead, they exchanged some minor conversations, such as.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to ride a different horse?”

“I borrowed this one.”

As they steadily headed north.

There were no special incidents during the journey. About a month of riding had allowed Leo to learn a bit about horsemanship from Galen, and when the two arrived at Baron Monarch’s territory, it was the winter of lightly falling snow.

Baron Monarch’s territory, located at the northernmost tip of the Conrad Kingdom, bordered the Belita Kingdom and the Aisel Kingdom. As is typical for territories located along border zones, Baron Monarch’s territory also had its lord’s castle built as a military stronghold. However, the scale was quite small, making it appear somewhat shabby.

To further add to the shabbiness were the ramshackle houses crowded around the fortress.

Shantytown. Those houses barely shielded from wind and rain were nothing more than thin walls leaning against each other, with roofs precariously resting atop.

This was also a feature of territories located in border zones. They became places where those who committed crimes in other kingdoms set up houses without permission, and if the lord wasn’t diligent, it could quickly become a mess.

Moreover, with the head of the house, Gustave Monarch, neglecting it all for the Belita Kingdom, what else could be said? Leo passed through the shabby houses and stepped into the lord’s castle.

He showed the guards his mark and asked the chief officer if there was a party that had arrived ahead of them. The chief officer, looking as dull as the castle itself, assigned a handmaiden to Leo.

This place would be of no help to me. Thinking this, Leo followed the handmaiden toward the outer residence, where Lena, Ksenia, and Tian were staying. There, he encountered someone he hadn’t expected at all.

A figure with pure white hair. Cardinal Berg was waiting for him. But more astonishing was…

“Ksenia?”

It was Ksenia’s actions. Dressed in a fashionable, brown dress, she stood side by side with Cardinal Berg, smiling brightly as she dropped a bombshell on Leo.

“Grandfather. Let me introduce you. This is the one I have made a promise with for my future…”

Leo froze in shock. Cardinal Berg looked displeased, while Ksenia warmly introduced her grandfather to her fiancé. Her full name was Ksenia Peter, the only daughter of Count Gustave Peter.

 

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