Ch.1515. Suspicious Circumstances

Lancarth Margraviate.

As befitting a margraviate on the frontier, it was a place known for its rough character and frequent battles with monsters. Though they hadn’t formed a separate knightly order, they commanded several knights from the Academy and maintained a substantial standing army.

From the Empire’s perspective, it was a stronghold that could never be ignored.

When this place was attacked by hundreds of lizardmen, it was only natural that the Royal Order would step forward to provide aid.

Saving commoners and reinforcing the loyalty of lords, the backbone of the Empire—it was a glorious mission.

However, the faces of the knights who came to rescue the margraviate this time were distorted, unlike those performing an honorable duty.

“I should have found a way out of this somehow.”

This was what female knight Selin muttered while showing her battered body to the healer after the battle.

The healer cautiously moved his hands while watching her expression.

“Um, Lady Knight? Could you raise your arm a little?”

“Aren’t there any priests?”

“Ah, I apologize. The number of priests with healing abilities is limited.”

“So you’re just going to wrap some bandages and call it a day?”

The healer flinched at Selin’s rebuke and looked around nervously. But being cautious wouldn’t suddenly grant him the ability to use healing magic.

“…Haha, don’t worry. If we apply herbs that prevent infection, soon…”

“This is ridiculous. Slapping chewed-up weeds on someone who got injured saving your territory.”

“…I apologize.”

Selin clicked her tongue in disapproval.

The healer treated her body while trembling anxiously. Of course, as a human being, he couldn’t be feeling good about the situation, but there weren’t many people brave enough to argue with a member of the Royal Order.

Selin was part of the expedition dispatched to rescue Lancarth territory.

The number of knights deployed this time was twenty-five.

Considering that members of the Royal Order were at least Expert-intermediate level, this was truly a formidable force. Even an Expert-beginner who could barely manifest a hazy aura could easily cut down five or six orcs.

So, at first, everyone thought the rescue mission would be over quickly. Not just Selin, but all the other knights thought the same.

“Three hundred lizardmen? We’ll clean this up as quickly as possible and return to the capital.”

“Right. We don’t have time to waste here. That bastard Erick is probably scheming to protect his wealth right now.”

“Um, seniors. I fought lizardmen during Academy training, and they’re definitely not easy opponents—”

“Shut up, Katie. Do you think there’s anyone here who hasn’t faced those reptiles before? Stop talking nonsense.”

At that time, Selin and the other members were confident in a swift return.

They had the skills to match that confidence. Though lizardmen possessed strength several times that of an adult man, they were still just uneducated beastmen. Moreover, the Beast King who had led them had already fallen to the Hero’s hand.

They believed they could quickly subdue what they assumed would be a disorganized rabble that had lost its commander.

However, when they arrived at the scene and engaged in battle, the lizardmen forces were anything but disorganized rabble who had lost their leader.

Though somewhat crude, they maintained at least a basic structure, and their armaments were in good condition. Several powerful individuals were armed with weapons no less formidable than those of decent knights, and there were a few that looked exceptionally strong.

As a result, Selin struggled from the very first battle.

A desperate fight against a massive lizardman warrior standing about 2.8 meters tall.

“I’ll take care of that one!”

She knew it wouldn’t be easy. Not only was it physically imposing, but it wore armor of uncommon quality and had coldly gleaming, narrowly slit eyes. It was probably a warrior representing an entire tribe.

Selin decided she needed to exert her full power for the first time in a while.

But what was happening?

Selin’s “full power” wasn’t as impressive as she thought.

“Selin, you idiot! What are you doing?!”

The speed at which she drew out her aura was sluggish compared to before, and even the sharpness of the forcibly extracted aura was different from what it used to be.

Her aura flickered unstably, like that of a knight who had only recently reached Expert level. Even Selin herself was more shocked than anyone.

And it wasn’t just her aura that was strange.

“Don’t block, dodge…!”

Blocking the lizardman’s wave of attacks was by no means easy. When she blocked the greatsword that the creature swung with all its might, she felt her breath catch, and the pain of all her joints ringing was an added bonus. In the end, she was on the verge of losing consciousness.

Throughout the desperate battle, Selin was busy denying reality.

There’s no way I could be this slow and weak. There’s no way my aura reserves could be this poor. Maybe the opponent is just too strong?

These were the random thoughts that crossed her mind as she narrowly escaped being hit several times.

In the end, she barely managed to save her life thanks to a comrade’s intervention and they dealt with the lizardman, but it was truly a hair-raising moment for Selin.

And only then did Selin realize.

That she had neglected her training for a while, or rather, for quite a long time.

For the past three or four months, she had spent more time observing Erick’s movements and Cordana prices than training.

She had hardly done any mental training to hone her aura sensitivity, and she had been halfhearted in her sparring with juniors. Occasionally she went to rescue territories near the capital, but the opponents were orcs or goblins, so it wasn’t particularly helpful.

She even drank every other day.

A knight’s capabilities were assets that tarnished more easily than one might think.

Selin was acutely feeling this fact only after coming to Lancarth territory. Until then, she hadn’t even realized that her skills were deteriorating. All her attention had been focused solely on the Cordana that Erick possessed.

Though she was regaining her edge now, the price paid in blood was not insignificant.

“…If it weren’t for that bastard Erick.”

Selin spat out the words as she recalled her recent hardships.

“Excuse me? Lady Knight. What did you just say?”

“Shut up and just wrap the bandage, will you?”

“Ah, yes.”

The healer, seemingly tired of Selin’s irritable attitude, silently continued with the treatment.

Yet even so, he was carefully tightening the bandage to ensure it wouldn’t come loose. Despite her foul temper, she was an essential presence in Lancarth territory right now.

“…Thank you for enduring the treatment, Lady Knight.”

Selin headed toward the shabby barracks without even acknowledging the healer’s farewell.

She was going to attend the members’ gathering that took place at a set time every evening.

If they were meeting to prepare for tomorrow’s battle or to comfort each other, it would be a very beneficial gathering, but unfortunately, that wasn’t their purpose.

Their main objective was to discuss Erick’s recent activities while lamenting their situation.

“Damn it. We’ve already dealt with more than half of the lizardmen, can’t we withdraw at this point? The rest should be handled by Lancarth territory on their own.”

“…I understand how you feel, but where would this territory find such capacity? Even the margrave’s position is in jeopardy now.”

“Cut the nonsense and get to the point. What about Erick?”

“He bought Count Clodein’s villa for 2.5 billion, and it seems he also purchased a treasure that was owned by His Majesty’s uncle. …It means he’s diversifying his assets. They say he’s also looking into granaries.”

Ramsey, a veteran member, recited Erick’s recent activities.

Finding out about Erick’s situation from a territory quite far from the capital was no easy task, but the members mobilized all their connections to observe Erick almost in real-time. And every night, they gathered to exchange this information.

“…Ha. He’s buying like crazy. Isn’t there any way to stop him?”

“How can we stop him when the captain is backing him up? And even if we could stop him, what benefit would it bring us? There’s no chance Erick would willingly hand over the money.”

The members showed a surprisingly realistic attitude.

They reluctantly acknowledged that it had become difficult to extort money from Erick, who had already succeeded in diversifying his assets.

There was a limit to denying reality.

However, regardless of their ambitions for extortion, their anger toward Erick was growing day by day.

‘While we’re crawling through this mud, that guy is buying villas?’

As soon as the gathering ended, Selin ground her teeth and fueled her rage toward Erick.

Of course, she knew it wasn’t rational anger, but after rolling on dangerous battlefields every day, Selin’s judgment had become clouded. It felt as if her declining skills, extreme fatigue, and minor injuries were all Erick’s fault.

‘Now, it’s not just about the money.’

She felt like she needed to vent her frustrations at the very least.

By venting, she didn’t simply mean slapping him once across the face.

She intended to properly obstruct Erick’s path forward by joining forces with the other members. To make him live each day trembling in anxiety while clutching his vast wealth. With dozens of members supporting her, it didn’t seem impossible.

For that, she first needed to survive Lancarth territory. Selin barely suppressed her boiling resentment and went to bed.

And the next morning, good news and bad news were delivered in succession.

First, reinforcements were coming.

The Black Iron Knights, who boasted decent skills though not as good as the Royal Order, had dispatched forty knights.

The problem was that they weren’t just reinforcing.

“The dog tribe is coming to join the lizardmen forces. They were barely detected by the outpost established in the margraviate.”

Selin’s expression hardened upon hearing this.

The dog tribe and lizardmen.

It was true that beastmen were currently under the Demon Lord’s command, but they didn’t cooperate well among themselves. After all, they weren’t demons born and raised in the Demonic Land, but rather races incorporated into the Demon Lord’s army as needed.

But now they were moving like an organized army. As if there was someone who could command all beastmen.

“But the Beast King was clearly… by the Hero recently. …What on earth.”

Selin groaned and trailed off. It was the first time Erick’s existence was erased from her mind. The beastmen’s movements were that suspicious.