Ch.121The First Emperor’s Tomb (2)

Whoosh-.

A chill wrapped around my skin.

Amelia, walking at the front, thrust her sword into the thickly piled snow.

Charlotte raised her fist high as she watched the children following behind.

Amelia glared and chided her.

“They wouldn’t understand Windsor’s hand signals.”

“Hmm? This is universal language.”

Amelia sighed.

“Do you think I would believe that…”

Seeing all the students suddenly stop, Amelia clamped her mouth shut.

“Hehe.”

Charlotte chuckled, finding Amelia adorable.

“Wow- anyway.”

Charlotte looked around with her characteristically bright expression.

No matter where she looked, there was nothing but a snowstorm.

“We’ve magnificently gotten lost.”

“…”

Charlotte winked one eye.

Amelia subtly avoided her gaze.

“W-we’re just taking a detour. This is the right path.”

“Hmm. Coming from the North’s representative lost child, I can’t trust that even a tiny bit.”

“I don’t want to hear that from Charlotte of all people!”

“Oh my, is that so?”

Amelia ground her molars and trembled her fists.

Charlotte was famous for her “adorable stupidity” even within the Windsor Knights. So much so that in the annual knight evaluations, she received the short but definitive phrase: “Unquestionable skill. But her head is a flower garden.”

‘Anyway, this is bad.’

Amelia opened her drowsy eyes.

Though she’d been denying it, it seemed they were lost.

To make matters worse, the snowstorm had been raging, making it difficult to secure visibility.

No matter how much she enhanced her eyes with mana, she couldn’t see any buildings.

‘…I can’t be honest about this. If I am, there will be tremendous confusion.’

She scanned the tense students.

Though they were protected by Ella’s magic, there would be limits to Sophia’s mana reserves.

‘Why am I…’

Why was even such a simple task difficult?

Amelia let out a faint sigh but slapped her cheeks with both hands to regain her focus.

“Charlotte. Isn’t there some way?”

“You know, Ame.”

Charlotte grinned.

“I’m also bad with directions.”

“…”

Amelia’s shoulders drooped.

“But at times like this, the best approach is to follow the presence of magical beasts.”

“The presence of magical beasts?”

“It’s a method I often use. Magical beasts typically retain the instinct to attack humans.”

Amelia nodded solemnly and drew her sword.

“I’ll detect them.”

“No need to detect.”

Just as she was about to spread her mana thinly and widely,

Amelia realized what Charlotte meant.

“It’s right in front of us.”

“This might be near a village.”

Amelia called out to the students.

“There’s a magical beast! Everyone, please be careful!”

The students became noisy but quickly calmed down, proving they hadn’t just half-listened to the previous training.

Hersy ran to Amelia.

“Lady Amelia. May I help?”

“Hersy, please watch if there are any students who are frightened and trying to leave.”

“Yes!”

Hersy nodded without hesitation.

“Grooooar-!”

Not far away, a troll roared.

Students with low mana were frozen stiff.

“Ice troll.”

Amelia’s eyes sank.

Thud, thud-!

The sound of something running with a massive body was heard.

So heavy that the ground trembled.

Amelia lowered her stance.

“Need help?”

Charlotte tilted her head.

Amelia spoke firmly.

“Not necessary-!”

The moment Amelia rushed forward,

Charlotte lightly twisted her foot.

Boom-!

As a shockwave spread, the bare face of the snowy field, which had been invisible just moments ago, was revealed.

As visibility cleared, Amelia’s distinct trajectory as she swung her sword became vividly visible.

“Wow.”

The students who saw it clearly were dumbfounded.

A troll was a high-level magical beast that typically required four ordinary knights to handle.

An ice troll was known to be even stronger.

Yet, Amelia was decimating the ice troll.

Precisely two strikes.

Amelia slaughtered the ice troll with just two blows.

“It’s a different level…”

Following someone’s murmur, the sound of swallowing saliva was heard in succession.

Could they have subdued the ice troll if they had all rushed in together?

They weren’t sure.

“As expected of Lady Amelia.”

Hersy nodded as if it was obvious.

The fox resting on her shoulder lightly landed on the ground.

“Miho? Is there a problem?”

[Master is calling. I think I need to go.]

To Hersy, Miho was a precious friend and the only connection to Ruide.

‘Someday… I’ll have to return her.’

That was obvious.

Miho was Ruide’s familiar-

Recently, she and Ruide had a distant relationship.

But Hersy didn’t show it and said with a bright smile.

“Be careful.”

[Hersy.]

Miho spoke in a chilly tone, looking somewhere.

Just as Hersy was thinking how cool the arctic fox looked from the side.

[Be careful of Sophia. And if you feel even the slightest danger, call my name loudly. I’ll come to save you even if it means earning Master’s displeasure.]

**

“Charlotte’s guess was right. Coming in the direction the ice troll was heading, I can see people.”

Amelia breathed a sigh of relief.

Earlier, she really thought they were in trouble.

If they had stayed in that snowy field for a long time, Sophia’s mana would have run out soon.

Even the North had its own climate variations.

It was still cold now, but there wasn’t the fierce snowstorm from earlier.

“We’ve arrived at the village! Everyone, please remember the precautions I mentioned earlier.”

Amelia addressed the students.

The precautions were as follows:

First, never treat people disrespectfully.

Second, report to her immediately if even a small problem arises.

Third, refrain from independent actions.

The students nodded with shining eyes.

“Yes!”

“We’ll make sure not to cause any trouble!”

‘…Huh? They’re listening well.’

Some were even giving looks of admiration.

It wasn’t usually like this… thinking that it’s good to be good, Amelia headed towards the village.

But-

“It’s not a village.”

The place they arrived at was a military barracks.

The flag symbolizing the Windsor Duchy fluttered high. About 15 to 20 knights were stationed there.

“Hm? Forward training?”

As Charlotte was questioning, a knight hurriedly ran towards them.

Seeing Amelia, he was startled and then knelt on one knee.

“Loyalty to the noble. I am Vincent, captain of the 3rd squad of the Windsor 2nd Knight Division.”

Amelia smiled brightly and said.

“You’ve worked hard. Please rise.”

“Yes! Thank you.”

Only then did he greet Charlotte.

“No abnormalities during the mission! Thank you for your hard work!”

Vincent was in the most tense state of his life, standing before such high-ranking superiors.

“Hello.”

Charlotte patted his shoulder in encouragement.

She was the vice-captain overseeing the entire Windsor Knights, but unfortunately, she didn’t know the names and faces of all knights.

Well, there were over a thousand Windsor knights. Considering that the empire, which ruled 1/3 of the continent, had 3,000 to 5,000 knights, it was an enormous number for a duchy to possess.

“So? What mission are you carrying out?”

“By the Duke’s orders, we were clearing magical beasts around the ruins!”

“Oh, I see. So where are we?”

Vincent was a bit taken aback by the question of where they were, but he quickly answered.

“The western outskirts of the 1st defense line!”

“*cough*”

Amelia cleared her throat and turned her head.

“Wow… not even the line. We’ve gone way off course. If we had continued straight, we would have reached another country.”

To the southwest of the empire is the Kingdom of Parmus. Of course, no matter how much they walked, they wouldn’t have reached there, but Charlotte exaggerated.

But the serious Windsor knight immediately corrected her.

“No! Although I said outskirts, since it’s right next to the 1st defense line, there’s no way to reach the Kingdom of Parmus!”

“…”

A moment of awkward silence passed between them.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Vincent became dejected.

“But, a ruin investigation is rare. Were there ruins we hadn’t identified yet?”

Amelia asked with curiosity.

“I apologize! We haven’t been given that information either, so I can’t answer!”

Amelia decided to take care of the students first.

They must all be very tired after walking without rest.

“They are students from the Imperial Academy. They came to the 1st defense line for a field trip.”

“Yes!”

“Sir Vincent, please provide them with a place to rest and warm blankets.”

“R-request? An order is sufficient. Yes! I understand. I’ll prepare it right away. Hey!”

Vincent immediately called another knight and gestured towards the academy students, saying something.

The knight told the students to follow.

The students looked at Amelia with slightly fearful faces. Amelia nodded, indicating it was okay. Led by Hersy, they followed the knight.

As the students lined up and headed off, Vincent said to Amelia.

“I’ll prepare a briefing!”

The Windsor Knights are thorough with their manuals.

When a superior arrives, a briefing must be given. Troop status, damage status, tactics, and so on.

It felt more like handing over the current forces.

This wasn’t a defense line, but it was a procedure that every Windsor knight had to follow.

Amelia had no intention of denying it. She was rather curious.

The discovery of ruins. Ruins usually house “divine artifacts.” Amelia was excited at the thought of seeing a new divine artifact.

“This way!”

Vincent guided them to the commander’s tent. He held the entrance open and waited.

“Wow, the tent is well-built.”

“T-thank you!”

Vincent was greatly moved.

Charlotte’s eyes twinkled with mischief.

“Hmm. But there are quite a few pebbles on the ground.”

“…!”

Vincent’s pupils trembled.

Charlotte chuckled and waved her hand.

“Just kidding, just kidding. Don’t worry about it.”

“Y-yes…!”

Amelia looked at Charlotte with narrowed eyes.

This was a common prank of Charlotte’s.

She wanted to scold her, but considering Charlotte’s authority, she shouldn’t do such a thing.

Amelia sighed and entered the tent.

-Eliminate every single pebble in this vicinity!

-Yes!

Hearing the urgent voice immediately, Charlotte couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“Pfft.”

“Charlotte, you’re terrible.”

“They’re cute. So it’s okay.”

Charlotte interlocked her fingers behind her neck and leisurely sat on the sofa.

Amelia sat facing her. A large map was spread on the table, with chess-like pieces placed on it.

But then.

Charlotte’s smile gradually faded.

Soon, her complexion turned pale like someone with an upset stomach. The blood drained from her face.

Amelia asked in confusion.

“Charlotte? Did you eat something bad this morning?”

“T-t-t-there.”

“?”

Charlotte pointed somewhere with a trembling hand.

Amelia slowly turned her head.

And she saw it.

Victoria, looking at them with an expressionless face from the corner of the tent.

And Ruide, sleeping soundly on her lap.

Victoria spoke with an indifferent face.

“Charlotte. You’ve become quite insolent while I wasn’t looking.”

“I’m sorry!”

Thud!

Charlotte immediately bowed her head to the floor.