21 – 21. The Silverna Scouting Party (1)

The Silverna scouting party consisted of exactly seven members.

The leader, Silverna Caldias.

And as other members, her adjutant, Anna.

Isaac, Sharen, and Jonathan, the three from Helmundt.

Meladic Drakemore, who had sparred with Silverna before, and had learned swordsmanship from Isaac.

And finally, Polu Blackson.

“I, I don’t really know why I’m mixed up in this.”

Pollu Blackthorn was among the younger of the dispatched nobles.

Barely twenty, he was uneasy, unsure why he’d been included.

‘Silberna’s playing a rather bold hand.’

Isaac was skeptical of Silberna’s decision to place Pollu Blackthorn in his scouting party.

The Blackthorn family was branded as traitors to the kingdom.

Few still knew about that.

Uldiran’s report confirmed the royal family was secretly investigating the Blackthorns.

Isaac thought it best to leave it be for now.

But Silberna, conversely, felt that since he was dangerous he needed to be kept close.

Both of them had their own reasons, each fairly sound.

“Ah, ah, Isaac, sir! Th, th, that person…!”

While Silberna was gathering the team for the expedition, Jonathan approached Isaac.

He pointed a trembling finger at Pollu, standing awkwardly beside Meladic Drakemoor.

‘Ah, that’s right.’

When Isaac revealed the truth about the Transcendent race and the Blackthorn family.

Jonathan had been nearby.

“D-d-don’t worry, this Jonathan will risk his life to protect you, Isaac-!”

“Jonathan, don’t talk to him. You’ll give us away.”

“Ah, yes, sir.”

Jonathan seemed relieved.

He was well aware he wasn’t cut out for lies.

But something was off about Jonathan.

His gait was a bit strange, and the way he stood was lopsided.

“Take off your armor.”

“Huh?”

“Now.”

Jonathan hesitated.

As he removed his armor, bruises and wounds were revealed.

It was clear that he’d been struck artfully, targeting only the areas hidden by the armor. Flames flickered in Isaac’s eyes.

“This is insane-!”

When Helmunt’s second detachment arrived, Isaac had seen Helmunt’s knights came with them.

But never did he imagine they’d leave Jonathan like this, not even after a single day.

Isaac was about to explode, ready to go hunt them down.

“Ah, Sir Isaac! It’s alright! It’s really not a problem! The seniors were just training me because I’m inadequate!”

“Training, my ass! We’re supposed to head beyond the barrier soon, how are you supposed to do anything in this state!”

“I’m alright! I’m more than capable! Don’t you worry!”

Jonathan, pretending like everything was fine.

That made Isaac’s chest tighten even more.

Then Jonathan, eyes welling, grabbed Isaac’s arm.

“Please, I beg you. If you do something, things will only get harder for me later!”

“Jonathan…”

Isaac bit his lip.

He knew the kid was right.

Isaac didn’t know about Jonathan’s divorce, but he knew he would be leaving Helmunt in a month.

Making threats now would do nothing, they wouldn’t care because he was just an in-law anyway.

Plenty of knights had seen Isaac get beaten by Helmunt’s direct line.

They probably wouldn’t care too much.

“What’s this?”

Then, from behind Isaac, Sharen, with arms crossed, looked at Jonathan and asked.

“Is he one of our family knights? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before. And why does his body look like that?”

“Sh-Sharen-nim!”

Jonathan saluted.

Isaac sighed and quickly explained.

“Hmm?”

Sharen raised a finger and said simply.

“All those above him, gather up.”

“…Huh?”

“Gather up, I said.”

Jonathan, a blank look on his face.

Isaac chuckled, giving his back a light nudge.

“What are you doing, the direct line’s second daughter is giving an order. A Helmont knight should obey.”

They’d only just arrived yesterday, so the Helmont knights probably hadn’t even been assigned posts yet.

In short, if she wanted to gather them all, now was the only time.

Ten minutes later.

Knights in armor lined up in the parade ground.

Even if Sharen was only seventeen, she was of the direct line.

Especially since Sharen had never called for them like this before, they all looked confused.

“The b*stards who beat him up yesterday, step forward.”

Sharen spoke with sharp eyes, placing Jonathan beside her.

The knights started to glance at each other.

“Not coming out? Should I go back right now and tell Father? That the Helmont knights are acting like children, bullying someone?!”

“Lady Sharen…”

A knight stepped forward cautiously.

The most senior among the dispatched knights, a bit older, with a dignified, thick beard.

“This is the Malidian Bulwark. Doing this is only staining the honor of Helmont—.”

Sharen paused, hesitating at his words.

Was it?

Her trustworthy demeanor from just a moment ago vanished as she tilted her head, lost in thought.

“It’s the opposite,”

Isaac finally spoke, stepping forward.

“It’s already shameful enough that they committed this atrocity at the Malidian Bulwark, and to try and cover it up? *That* is the true shame of Helmont.”

“Sir Isaac….”

“And. Does this look like a matter that ends just within Helmont?”

As if waiting for Isaac’s words, Silverna approached.

Her cold gaze resembled the northern wind, piercing through the joints of the knights’ armor, stabbing them.

“You did this to a member of the troop that’s supposed to go out on reconnaissance today? Do you know this is a matter that could go to military tribunal?”

“……!”

“We trusted that Helmont would handle it themselves because they’re Helmont knights. But if you just let this pass, we won’t stand for it.”

Silberna stood by Jonathan, a bold defender.

Even Caldias stepped up like this, and Sharen finally seemed to get her bearings.

“You let Helmut get humiliated like this?! I swear, I’ll tell Father everything! I’m just dying to know what he’ll say!”

The moment Arundel was mentioned, the atmosphere shifted drastically.

“We are sorry!”

A senior knight bowed his head in apology.

“Where did you sell your knighthood! Are the proud knights of Helmut doing such filthy things?!”

Sharen, riding the momentum, scolded them even more fiercely.

“S-sorry, Jonathan.”

“We were wrong.”

“Please, forgive us…”

The three knights who had beaten Jonathan stepped forward and bowed deeply, apologizing.

It felt like a matter that shouldn’t have ended so simply, but Jonathan, the victim, didn’t want to drag it out any longer, so it just ended there.

After the knights were chewed out as a group and dismissed, Silberna looked at Jonathan with concern.

“Jonathan, if you’re not feeling well, you can take a break.”

“No, I’m fine!”

“Haa, there are mages who can use healing magic… but we can’t just waste it.”

This was essentially a war situation.

They couldn’t afford to squander such precious healing magic on something like this.

“Jonathan, you should take the day off.”

When Isaac joined in, Jonathan had no choice but to give in.

He went to the medical room for treatment and was to rest for the day, so the scouting party would proceed with six members.

“Let this happen again?! I swear, next time I will go straight to Father, no matter what the colony is like!”

The middle-aged knight was still left there, getting a lecture from Sharen.

It was rather pathetic to see him apologizing to a girl younger than him, saying he was sorry and that he would manage things better.

“May I ask a question for a moment?”

Isaac interjected.

Sharen clearly didn’t like being interrupted mid-sentence, but she kept her mouth shut.

“Yes, Lord Isaac!”

The knight, grateful that Isaac had stopped Sharen’s nagging, looked at him.

Lowering his voice, Isaac asked, blunt and raw,

“Don’t the knights of Helmont hold chivalry important too?”

“Y-yes, they do. That’s why I’ve been thinking a lot about this…”

Even if the direct line is a mess, knights, at least, don’t do things like common thugs.

Ignoring his claim of genuine remorse, Isaac added,

“But why to Jonathan, though?”

Why, specifically.

Only to Jonathan.

To the question of why,

The knight hesitated a beat, then spoke low enough that no one nearby could hear,

explaining it to only Sharen and Isaac.

Right after hearing the tale,

Sharen’s head slowly turned, seeking Jonathan.

Seeing his back as he trudged toward the infirmary, Sharen yelled,

“Isn’t that guy a freaking lunatic?!”

* * *

The scouting party stepped beyond the wall.

Leading the way, Silverna walked calmly, her spear in hand.

It was already two in the afternoon, past lunch.

Because of the small uproar caused by Jonathan’s incident, they arrived at their designated point later than planned.

“This place should be unseen from the surrounding area. We call it ‘Snowflake’.”

The place Silverna introduced as “Snowflake” was a dense, wooded area.

Near the entrance of the mountain range known to be a nest of monsters.

Because it was in the north, the trees were all laden with snow, like white blossoms in full bloom, the sunlight unable to reach them.

“Here, even if monsters come, we can quickly spot them because of the snow. We can see footprints, and track movement by the snow falling from the trees.”

“A northern method, I see.”

That nature itself acted as a kind of alarm was quite impressive.

Not only that, but in an emergency, one could bury themselves in the snow to hide.

“Especially with large nests, there’s a higher chance of intelligent monsters. So, naming our outposts in ways that make it harder for them to pinpoint is also crucial.”

“Here we are.”

As Silverna explained, Anna pulled a water bottle from the bag she’d brought.

“Put on the gowns I gave you earlier. This is a potent deodorizer, so be careful not to get it on your clothes.”

“Deodorizer? I don’t like that.”

“Masu are really good at picking up human scents. You have to use it.”

Ignoring Sharen’s grumbling, Anna opened the deodorizer.

She sprayed the deodorizer—meant to prevent detection by the scent-sensitive Masu—onto the brown, furred gowns.

The reconnaissance team, hoods drawn up, making sure they couldn’t be identified.

“Ha, haah! Haah!”

Polu Blackthorn was more nervous than she’d thought.

Meladic Drakemore and Sharen, who were nearby, chided her.

“Hey, don’t get so worked up. It’s just a scouting mission.”

“Didn’t you bring a kid? Will they even fulfill their noble duties properly?”

For the record, Sharen was three years younger than Polu Blackthorn.

Silverna, too, hadn’t expected Polu to be this nervous.

She’d meant to keep a close eye on Polu, a descendent of the traitor Blackthorn, but now felt a bit awkward.

“Polu, if you’re too nervous, wait here. We have someone on standby at the base—.”

The wind was split.

Soundlessly, what came flying was a ‘bone’.

“Uwaaagh!”

The snow was soiled.

Polu, kneeling, coughed up dark red blood.

Their eyes, trembling, stared down at the ‘bone’, shaped like a spear, now lodged in their chest.

“Kuh, hurk! Uuuh!”

“Master Polu!”

Anna, startled, urgently checked their condition.

Silverna and Sharen immediately drew their weapons, glaring in the direction the bone had come from.

“Achy achy.”

Thick hide and white fur.

A towering physique and bulging muscles.

“Achy achy.”

Slung across his back, a crude arsenal of weapons fashioned from various beasts and monsters.

“Sniff-sniff.”

It was a ‘Snowman,’ the most infamous of the northern monsters, but this one’s behavior spoke of something beyond the typical.

“Sniff-sniff.”

The Snowman’s teeth stood out starkly as it tapped its nose and grinned wide.

“Human smell. Sniff-sniff.”

“It remembers the scent of the masking agent,” Isaac muttered with a pained expression, causing Anna to look startled.

“Huh? The smell of the masking agent?”

“Probably got caught by another scouting party, not us.”

“No, but to not report something that important-!”

Before she could finish, *CRACK!*

A skull, flung like a stone, shattered against Silverna’s spear.

“Was there a scouting party that hasn’t returned yet?”

Anna answered urgently to Silverna’s question.

“Team 3, 3 team, we were supposed to relieve-.”

Hatred rose in Silverna’s eyes as she took her stance.

“Proxa, Torvic, Kalden, Irkasr?”

“Y-yes, yes!”

“Well, that makes me feel like complete shit.”

The Snowman held another skull in its hand. Shaped like a human, there were exactly three of them.

Silverna had blocked one just now, meaning there had been a total of four.

“What’s Polu’s condition?”

“D-dangerous, it’s pierced, not bleeding much but he needs to go back immediately and get a mage’s healing.”

“Sharen, how long will it take to reach the barrier if you carry Polu and run?”

“15 minutes, if I ditch everything.”

Sharen was already dropping her greatsword and everything else onto the ground.

Gone was the innocent child’s vibe she’d shown last time.

Now, she’d become a warrior worthy of Helmun, ready to run.

“Sharen, with Polu piggybacked, goes first. We retreat, following behind.”

Silberna grinds her teeth at the failure of their first mission.

Isaac draws his pulse-line, stepping to Silberna’s side.

“We know about the wipeout of Team 3, and the Named one. As a scouting party, that’s enough.”

“Isaac…”

“If the fight drags on, the mountain’s beasts will swarm. Retreat is the right call here, Silberna. We’ll get revenge another time.”

The bitter taste on her tongue wouldn’t fade, but he was right.

Silberna inhaled deeply, nodding. Mela-dic and Anna were already backing away too, when…

“Kyaaak!”

Sharen’s scream snaps everyone’s gaze back.

Instead of blood, thick, black goo began oozing from Polu’s body, engulfing Sharen.

“W-what is this! What is it!”

A panicked Sharen drops Polu.

The black liquid, steadily pouring from Polu’s unconscious form, tried to swallow Sharen whole.

‘Sorcery!’

If humans have magic,

The transcendent have sorcery.

And like magic, it’s far from common.

Isaac, seeing in an instant that the transcendent had worked something on Polu, moved to help Sharen. But then,

*Crack!*

This time, the strike sounded from the side.

“Guh?!”

A skull flew through the air, hitting Silberna’s shoulder and shattering.

Staggered by the impact, Silberna’s brow furrows.

“Throbbing, throbbing.”

Heavy footfalls thundered closer as a snow giant started toward them.