IYAMD 192

They had planned their route to stay at inns whenever possible, but with such a large group, it wasn’t easy. On the nights they had no choice but to sleep outdoors, the children slept in the carriage while the adults pitched tents and camped.

Even though they couldn’t wash properly and the cramped space must have been uncomfortable, the children simply loved the novelty of the experience.

Helios enjoyed gathering around a bonfire every night to chat and eat together. He was usually a light eater, but perhaps inspired by the amount the knights were eating, he began to eat voraciously.

“Your Highness, are you sure you can handle any more?”

Baroness Ilang, who had been anxious to get Helios to eat more at every meal, was now so worried that she tried to stop him.

“More, please! Just a little bit?”

Lotis had always been a good eater, so she ate as well as usual. It was Karim who was having trouble adjusting.

“They said he gets severe motion sickness, he can barely eat.”

Marsilia whispered discreetly to Jaha.

“I suppose he’s not used to the carriage.”

Fa’ab and his party had all come on horseback. Due to the terrain, Helga didn’t use carriages very often. Luggage was usually carried by camels or horses, and when there was a lot of it, they used wide-bottomed sleds to prevent them from sinking into the sand. So it was no wonder traveling by carriage was difficult for him.

Karim’s dark brown face looked pale  even against the orange glow of the campfire. The boy couldn’t even bring himself to taste the stew; he just moistened his lips with water and quietly slipped back into the carriage.

“I’ll go check on him.”

Marsilia followed Karim back to the carriage. He must have intended to use his divine power to make him feel a little more comfortable.

Since they belonged to different religious groups, Marsilia refrained from using divine power on the child whenever Karim’s guards were present.

It wasn’t a matter of his abilities being exposed or anything like that. He was worried that if he used the Goddess’s power on the child, Karim might later be accused of being a heretic.

Marsilia returned a short while later, gave a nod to indicate that everything was fine, and resumed his meal.

“He seems to get along well with the twins. What do you think?”

It was a confusing question, and he wasn’t sure what he meant. Jaha tilted his head and replied without much thought.

“He seems like a good kid. Maybe it’s because visit our siteof the age difference… but he’s definitely more mature than the twins.”

No matter how many familiar faces there might be, staying in a foreign country for several weeks at that age, with no one you know, wasn’t exactly easy.

“That’s true. I still can’t even imagine what it’ll be like when our kids are that age. I’m worried whether Heli and Loti will be able to grow up to be that mature.”

“Loti already is. They say girls develop faster, but it’s amazing how much of a difference there is between her and Helio, even though they were born together.”

It wasn’t just her clear, articulate speech. Unlike Helios, who was a bit slow and clumsy, Lotis was very capable, even with the smallest tasks. Because of what happened when they were born, they’d tried to raise Helios like an older brother, but no matter how they looked at them, they looked more like an older sister and a younger brother, which was quite a dilemma.

Jaha smiled gently as he watched the embers dance over the crackling campfire.

“It’ll be fine; kids grow up fast. You see them every day, so you might not notice, but even when I’m away for just a month and come back, I can clearly see how much they’ve grown. Their vocabulary suddenly expands, and I can tell every time how their behavior changes as they start mimicking the adults around them.”

“Really?”

“Yes. That’s why I sometimes feel a little sad. It feels like I’m missing out on seeing them grow up.”

Marsilia wrapped his arms around Jaha’s shoulders and pulled him toward him. Jaha relaxed his muscles and leaned against him. The man’s warm body felt just right against the slightly chilly air.

“How about you cut back on the expeditions visit our site starting next year? Things have settled down enough now, so the knights alone should be enough.”

“Maybe we should….”

The knights’ skills had definitely improved over the past few years. While they still fell short of Jaha’s standards, they were certainly good enough to hold their own anywhere.

“I know they’ll handle the expeditions just fine. I’m worried someone might get hurt and come back injured.”

Marsilia cherished those around him. Even when he was alone, he personally led the knights on expeditions, likely because he shared the same concerns as Jaha.

“You don’t need to worry about that anymore.”

“Is that so?”

Jaha let Marsilia’s words go in one ear and out the other. Marsilia knew it was futile, yet he kept tempting him, and he could feel his resolve wavering.

He persisted in his seduction. With a voice laced with a metallic edge, he whispered in his ear like a snake.

“The remaining monsters groups are small now, so it should be fine to have the knights take care of them.”

As Jaha tilted his head back to look up at him, the man closed his stolen contenteyes, which seemed to contain a green forest bathed in the sunset.

“I’d be so lonely without you. It’s about time you stay by my side.”

He thought he could see a tail swaying gently behind his back. Was that a fox’s tail, or a dog’s?

Jaha looked up at the man’s head as he wagged that alluring tail. He thought he could see floppy ears as well. It must be a dog after all.

When Jaha reached out to stroke his head, he leaned into his palm.

“I’ll see how things go this winter before deciding. I’m still not convinced.”

“You promise?”

“I said I haven’t decided yet.”

Jaha, who had been giving Marsilia a disapproving look, chuckled softly.

“I can’t handle you. Alright, I promise.”

He had no choice. Once they returned from Ziras, he would have to stolen content train the knights even more rigorously. If he raised their standards significantly during the winter break from expeditions, he would be able to rest a little easier.

“Ugh, why am I suddenly getting chills?”

“Yes, me too. What’s going on? An enemy attack?”

“We cleared everything out, so there shouldn’t be anything around.”

The murmurs of the knights, who had no idea what was going on, drifted in from the distance. As Jaha laughed, Marsilia, infected by his laughter, chuckled as well.

Jaha loved these little moments of happiness. He loved that he had become someone capable of feeling them. And the man beside him, who had made that possible, felt the same way.

As he realized anew that everyone around him played a part in that small joy, everything he saw began to feel endearing.

However, he would never tell Marsilia this, not even on his deathbed. Just thinking about Marsilia pretending to be jealous and throwing a fit made him feel irritated.

***

As soon as they crossed the border, the thing Fa’ab had worried about became immediately apparent.

South of the border, there weren’t many monsters to begin with, so there were plenty of wild animals living in herds on the grasslands. unauthorized copyThat was why merchants traveling north and south often hunted them for their hides or as food.

But now, such wildlife was almost nowhere to be seen. It must be because their numbers had dwindled due to monster attacks.

As they advanced while checking their surroundings, they saw a cloud of dust rising in the distance. He focused his vision to look closer. It appeared that a small group of merchants was fighting with a horde of monsters.

“Sasha, take a few men and follow them. Mar, you come too.”

Sasha, who used to be Jaha’s personal guard, had transferred from the Black Knights to the Red Knights last year and been promoted to squad leader.

Jaha appreciated Sasha’s unquestioning nature and the speed with which he carried out orders.

No sooner had Jaha finished speaking than Sasha urged his horse forward. He picked up speed as he shouted.

“First and third squads, follow His Majesty. The rest of you, stay at the rear of the carriages and keep watch.”

A long procession followed Jaha, who had started running without even looking back. The light and swift Ventus pulled ahead of the others.

The considerable distance closed in an instant. They were now within sight.

The merchant party, with only a couple of sword-wielding mercenaries remaining, ​unauthorized copy​was in a dire situation.

Jaha grabbed Ventus’s saddle and jumped into the air. As his body soared, he channeled his inner energy and unleashed 28 illusory swords that flew in all directions.

Among the 300 to 400 goblins, there were a dozen or so hobgoblins, mutated variants of the standard species.

As Jaha jumped into their midst, golden swords whirled around him. The goblins’ bodies scattered like shredded meat, and a foul-smelling green fluid splattered in all directions.

Even amidst the chaos, Jaha began slaughtering the hobgoblins without taking a single hit.

Before the rest of the party arrived, the area around him was already littered with corpses. Marsilia, who had arrived after tending to the lone surviving Ventus, laughed and clicked his tongue.

“I’m going to have to be careful during marital spat. If I get hit, I won’t even be able to gather my bones.”

Jaha wiped the bodily fluid from his sword and calmed the inner energy that had been swirling through his body. He glanced around and saw that there were already more than five or six dead bodies, and several others with severe injuries.

Among them, an elderly man with a familiar face was pinned beneath a dead horse. Jaha approached him, knelt on one knee, and moved the horse aside.

“Mar, could you heal him?”

Marsilia looked at Jaha’s expression and, without a word, conjured a green forest. As the healing forest visit our sitespread out, the wounded who had been groaning in pain looked at each other with awe.