Ch.3434. Lady Knight Milia

# Empire’s Border Village

A village near the border of the Demonic Land, just a two-day journey from the habitat of the Lizardman tribe that produced Leoneo, the Beast King.

Though it could be considered more treacherous than any other border territory, the atmosphere here was surprisingly peaceful.

A remote countryside ignored by both the Demon Lord’s army and the Empire.

It wasn’t anyone’s territory, so they paid no taxes, and the Empire’s administration didn’t reach here. It was one of those villages that the authorities barely acknowledged but left alone to be self-sufficient, seeing no value in interfering.

This village had some special guests staying for an extended period.

The Hero’s party—or more precisely, the Hero’s party without the Hero.

When they first arrived, the villagers were thrilled and provided them with the best hospitality possible.

Having the Hero’s party choose their village as a base was an incredible honor, especially in a place where even a single merchant’s visit would stir excitement throughout the community.

For a while, everyone spent their days watching the Hero’s party morning and night.

However, no matter how extraordinary someone might be, familiarity inevitably develops when living together for a long time. The fantasy quickly shattered after seeing the elegant-looking elf archer walking around yawning and scratching her lower belly a few times.

And it didn’t take long for familiarity to turn into resentment.

Few people would look kindly upon guests who had taken over their home.

“How long are they planning to loiter around…? Seeing how they’ve even renovated the village hall, it looks like they’re planning to settle down permanently.”

“We used to gather at the hall for various activities and community bonding, but since they—I mean, since those people arrived, we can’t even go near it. What kind of situation is this?”

“She’s an elf but eats meat? The village chief clearly said elves are vegetarians.”

Public opinion about the Hero’s party was deteriorating by the day.

When they first boldly proclaimed they were “hiding in this village to ambush the Tetrad or a Legion Commander,” everyone just accepted it.

But now, the Hero’s party seemed poised to transform into permanent village residents.

They might have been less disliked if they at least behaved decently, but they even imposed silence on the villagers. When a merchant visited recently, they even used magic to monitor whether residents were saying anything inappropriate.

Eventually, people started saying things like:

“Are they really the Hero’s party?”

Such questions were inevitable since they had never once demonstrated behavior befitting the Hero’s party.

Of course, the villagers still bowed and said “yes, yes” in their presence, but behind their backs, they openly gossiped. In such a small village, these whispers inevitably reached the ears of the Hero’s party.

It was a battle of nerves between unwelcome guests and locals who wished they would leave.

Amidst all this, there was exactly one party member who got along well with the villagers.

The female knight Millia, with her pink hair and alluring appearance.

Her secret was simple: for several weeks, she had been teaching swordsmanship to the village children.

Though it was just basic training with wooden swords, it was a tremendous honor for the country children. Since monsters occasionally threatened the village despite the Demon Lord’s lack of interest, these skills could prove useful in real situations.

For village children with few entertainment options, playing sword fights with a female knight and then listening to her tales of heroism was incredibly exciting.

However, Millia’s expression wasn’t particularly bright when asked to share these heroic tales.

“The elf sister said you’ve already defeated two of the Tetrad.”

“Aren’t you part of the Tetrad?”

“Are you looking down on us because we’re from the countryside? We’ve lived near the Demonic Land since my grandfather’s grandfather’s time.”

“Sorry… Yes, the Tetrad. Yes, we defeated them. That’s right.”

While the children looked at her with sparkling eyes and expressions that said “Amazing~!”, Millia could only look down at them with a guilty face.

Her expression twitched whenever the children asked questions like “Did all five of you defeat them together?” or “How many times did you hit them, knight sister?” The children simply admired the great female knight of the Hero’s party.

‘It’s really hard to lie to children.’

Millia sighed, feeling her conscience pricking her.

It was natural for a human to feel guilty.

The Hero’s party had never faced the Tetrad with just five people. They had put dozens of elite Holy Knights at the forefront of the battle.

Moreover, when they subjugated the second Arch King (Acrich), they even borrowed the power of bishops with outstanding divine powers.

And naturally, female knight Millia hadn’t accomplished anything noteworthy in the process of defeating the two Tetrad members.

At best, she had only dealt with a few minions following the Tetrad and had never even scratched the Tetrad themselves.

The reason was simple.

She was only mid-level Expert.

She was mid-level when first selected by the Hero, and she remained mid-level now, stuck in this nameless village as an unwelcome guest. She had made almost no progress in terms of skill.

In fact, she was gradually regressing these days.

‘If this continues, I’ll really…’

Millia unconsciously became anxious and released her aura.

A hazy aura enveloped her blade with an eerie sound. Though it flickered unstably, reflecting her mental state, it was still an aura nonetheless.

“Wow, amazing!”

“Incredible! More!”

The children clapped their hands with shining eyes. Millia closed her eyes tightly, feeling her existence shrink infinitely.

***

It hadn’t even been a year since female knight Millia received the sweet recruitment offer from the Hero.

Millia and her family, the “Count Neize,” decided to take a gamble then.

Even at that time, they were aware of the Hero’s purpose in trying to remove Erick, who was far superior in skill, and include Millia as a party member. The Hero’s intentions were obvious just from the way he looked at Millia with his chin raised.

Nevertheless, she willingly joined as a party member for one reason.

Historical records showed that a significant number of “knights” who had served in previous Hero parties throughout history had reached the Master level. Or they had been Masters before joining.

Even Hero parties that had failed to subjugate the Demon Lord and perished miserably had produced Masters.

Being in the Hero’s party and frequently engaging in guerrilla warfare against extremely powerful opponents genuinely helped a knight’s growth tremendously.

If she truly became a Master, it would bring enormous benefits to her family.

– “Millia. The Hero party’s journey is indeed difficult. But as you fight the Demon Lord’s army, you’ll find yourself growing significantly without even realizing it.”

– “Why do you think nobles send their sons and daughters to the Academy to learn swordsmanship and magic, even reluctantly? In this era, the only way for nobles to increase their influence is by producing outstanding talents. There’s nothing else.”

– “The Hero isn’t bad-looking either… Oh, you disagree? I understand.”

Millia’s family strongly encouraged her to join the Hero’s party.

A count family with tradition but diminishing assets and thinning vassals with each generation.

Without times of war, there weren’t many ways to expand their influence. If they remained passive, they might barely maintain their title in 50 years.

However, producing just one Master would rapidly revitalize the family’s influence.

A Master was someone who could make that possible.

This was evident just by looking at Lufus Waynelight, the Empire’s strongest knight.

He was a man who was good with a sword but had less tact than a rural guard.

He always blurted out tactless remarks that infuriated those around him, but his family had enjoyed tremendous prosperity for the past few decades. They had as many as three titled members in one family.

Moreover, since Waynelight’s children also had talent with the sword, their prosperity was expected to continue for a long time.

‘…I thought I, and my family, would be like that too.’

Contrary to Millia’s hopes, the reality was a sewer.

Far from fighting against powerful opponents, she barely managed to protect herself, and spent the rest of her time fooling around with Gwon Heejin.

It wasn’t that Gwon Heejin made her do anything perverted—he treated her somewhat like a lover—but she was still just a member of his harem.

And though she never showed it, she didn’t really get along with Gwon Heejin.

The Hero was decent in bed, but it was hard to adapt to his constant talk about difficult topics from an incomprehensible world.

This wasn’t the life Millia had wanted.

And now, even that strange journey was in danger of ending.

Although the Hero had said via communication crystal a few days ago, “I’ll be there soon. I miss you too,” it wasn’t particularly comforting.

He barely mentioned the issues Millia was truly curious about (her family’s well-being, the atmosphere in the imperial capital, the Hero’s own condition) and just evaded them.

She couldn’t even protest because of the supervision of Silvina, the elf who loyally followed the Hero.

‘If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have…’

Joined the Hero’s party.

Feeling a tightness in her chest, Millia swung her sword alone. She knew Gwon Heejin was coming, but for some reason, she didn’t feel particularly happy about it.

At the same time, in the Count Neize domain ruled by female knight Millia’s family.

Erick Wellesley, a former member of the Royal Order, was subjugating a Minotaur that had appeared in the mountain range on the outskirts of the Count Neize domain.

“Mwor!”

As the Minotaur roared and swung a log, Erick quickly dodged and struck its lower body with his sword.

Though he was stiff at first, his swordsmanship grew sharper as time passed.

Count Neize, Millia’s father, was watching from a distance. A few guards with gloomy expressions protected him.

He knew that Erick hadn’t come to save the Count Neize domain out of goodwill. Erick simply seemed to need an opportunity to gain practical experience.

In that sense, the Count Neize domain was a very suitable stage.

Neither the Royal Order nor the Black Iron Knights were eager to save this place.

They would reluctantly come to the rescue when there was concern about attacks on civilian homes, but even then, they would completely ignore greetings from Count Neize or his vassals (they even refused meal offerings) and leave immediately after completing the subjugation.

The reason was simple: hostility toward the Hero and the Hero’s party.

The current Neize family was, without exaggeration, treated as trash of the Empire.

For now, action against them was postponed due to the possibility (that Millia might have already been sacrificed like the Holy Knights), but it was hard to gauge how long they could hold out. The imperial order was to find the whereabouts of the Hero and the Hero’s party.

Count Neize’s gaze grew increasingly complicated as he watched Erick, who had come to perform community service. Meanwhile, Erick seemed to have found his rhythm and emitted an increasingly brilliant aura.