Ch.662Unwelcome Reunion

“Knut…?”

The messenger who ran to me while I was resting after training brought up an old name buried in the corner of my memory.

“Yes. A one-eyed Dane with a limp in his right leg. Apparently he’s the vice-commander of some Crusader of Seals. He claims to be a friend of Your Lordship…”

I tilted my head for a moment.

Knut, Knut… Right. I remember now.

That was the name of the Dane crusader who had targeted me when I first entered the academy.

He was someone who survived despite injuries so severe it was a miracle he was alive, saved by someone’s help.

That man came all the way here? Even lying about being my friend?

…Why?

“He’s not… your friend?”

Seeing my confused expression, the messenger’s eyes flashed with faint anger and killing intent, perhaps thinking Knut had deceived them.

It was a look that suggested he would lead a group of knights to cut off the man’s limbs the moment I said I didn’t know him or called him an enemy.

That would be amusing in its own way… but I should at least hear why he came.

I doubt he came to give me his regards, and surely he didn’t come to continue our unfinished fight from back then.

“I do know him. Rather than a friend, I’d call him an academy classmate.”

I shook my head, calming the knight who seemed eager to prove his loyalty and anger with Knut’s limbs.

Actually, I wouldn’t mind if he had come to continue our fight.

As I am now, I could kill the Knut from back then with a single finger, and even if he had grown stronger since then, unless he’d slain a dragon somewhere, I could defeat him with my eyes closed.

“So, Knut has something to tell me?”

“Yes. What should we do?”

“Well… just a moment.”

I turned my head and approached my companions who had been listening to the knight’s report.

“Jahan, I need you to step away for a bit. He’s a hardcore racist who despises Ka’har. And… Leonore, Nigel. Please bring Knut here. Nigel, as you know, he was a decent Volberg crusader, so if he tries anything suspicious, reduce his body weight a bit.”

“Yes!”

“He’s your classmate, is it really okay to do that?”

“He was a delinquent student and I’m a professor, so it’s fine. Let’s call it strict discipline.”

Leonore muttered that they must have been enemies rather than classmates—a sharp observation for what was supposed to be a joke—before following the knight with Nigel.

I took out a cigarette, sat down on a simple chair in the tent, and fiddled with Durandal’s hilt while waiting.

Until either the disabled Dane entered by throwing open the tent, or until the sound of battle swept through the checkpoint area and I’d have to rush out.

The former would be fortunate, but the latter would be troublesome. Not for me, but for the soldiers.

They’d have to jump up from their rest or deep sleep to prepare for battle.

And not long after, fortunately for the soldiers, a familiar-faced Dane began walking toward us from the distance.

—-

“It’s been a while. Judging by your appearance, you don’t seem to be doing well… You’ve had a rough time, haven’t you? Seeing how you can’t even walk properly.”

Knut, whom I met after a year, looked like a beggar. His hair was a mess, his beard was a mess, his armor was a mess, and he even had arrows stuck in him—it almost looked like he’d been beaten by the knights at the checkpoint.

Knut bared his teeth in a grin. While his mouth was smiling, his eyes were still glaring, making it more of a threat than a smile. Not that he could intimidate me.

“You look healthy. That face that used to look like a rabid dog now looks like a well-bred hunting hound.”

…This bastard has no manners.

Nigel and Leonore, standing behind Knut, tapped the daggers at their waists with their fingers, sending me a silent message.

Their gazes were carefully examining the back of Knut’s head and his limbs. They looked ready to plunge their daggers into his back if I just gave the word.

The female knight supporting Knut trembled slightly at the tips of her fingers, perhaps sensing their hostility.

“And what happened to your back? Is that the latest fashion in Dane?”

“I could give it to you as a gift if you’re envious.”

I doubt it—try to stick arrows in my back and only the arrowheads would break.

“And where did you sell your eye?”

“My, such dementia at such a young age. The Empire’s future looks as dark as the sky.”

As Nigel’s hostility began to transform into murderous intent, the female knight supporting Knut—who had been looking back and forth between us with an expressionless face—closed her eyes tightly, then opened them and extended her hand to restrain Knut as if pushing him away.

“Knut. Please calm down. We didn’t come all this way just to engage in a war of nerves.”

And who is this woman?

The female knight supporting Knut had a fairly pretty face, though marred by an expression that suggested she’d seen it all, but strangely, I felt a sense of déjà vu, as if I’d seen her somewhere before.

“Thank you for granting us an audience, Baron Median. I’ve heard much about your illustrious reputation. We are from the Crusader of Seals…”

I blew out a puff of smoke, interrupting the female knight, and continued my conversation with Knut.

It felt quite strange. I never thought the man I had destroyed with my own hands would appear before me again so quickly—not in perfect condition, but still.

“You’re lucky. Judging by the way you talk, I thought you were destined to die alone in a small room, but here you are with someone taking care of you.”

“…Frigg is not my lover.”

This answer came oddly delayed. It sounded more like a lame excuse than a statement of fact.

“If you say so.”

I shrugged lightly. What does he mean, “not”? It was obvious there was something more than camaraderie there.

The female knight’s subtle look of disappointment at Knut’s denial of their relationship was telling.

“Come in for now. There are no chairs, so you can sit on those crates. And Lena, please treat him.”

“Yes, sis!”

The female knight sighed and sat down with Knut on a crate inside the tent, while Leonore, who had followed us in, pulled out the arrows stuck in Knut’s back.

“Urgh…”

The arrows were pulled out along with chunks of flesh. Knut let out a low groan, perhaps because the barbed arrowheads had torn the wounds.

As Lena’s holy light of blessing flowed over his body, the gaping arrow wounds began to heal cleanly.

“You’re healing me? Why?”

“If you were to collapse in the middle of telling me something important, I might go crazy with curiosity about the rest of the story.”

I answered nonchalantly, waiting for Knut’s treatment to finish. Even so, there was no sign of recovery for his lost left eye and right leg.

“There were horrific sculptures displayed at the entrance. It seems that even with the mask of an Imperial, it’s not easy to abandon the barbarism of the Ka’har?”

“Those are all rapists.”

“But sometimes such boldness becomes a warrior’s virtue.”

This bastard knows how to joke too.

When I met him before, he was a man who knew only revenge and had not the slightest interest in anything else, but the Knut I met again had somewhat less venom in him, like a pet that had been neutered.

Even so, his remaining eye was still glaring at me intensely.

—-

“So, why are you here? Surely you didn’t come seeking asylum. Didn’t you come because you had something to tell me?”

I asked, tapping off the ash that had accumulated at the end of my cigarette.

“Yes. I did have something to tell you. Information that might make you jump up in surprise when you hear it. That’s why I came all this way.”

“Then tell me, instead of glaring at me and making snide remarks.”

“That’s because you first… no, never mind. You’re right, this isn’t the time.”

Knut, who was about to flare up but then bowed his head again, answered while trembling with his fists.

“First, let me ask this. Seeing that you’re building defensive positions here, your strategy is to make us Danes and the Ka’har clash and wear each other out… in other words, to throw the Danes to the Ka’har as food. Am I right?”

I considered an appropriate answer for a very brief moment.

If I confirmed this, Knut might become enraged and throw a storm-wrapped spear of war at me.

“Well… maybe? I don’t really know, so you should ask Ludwig.”

“Don’t be evasive. The Empire’s intentions are obvious enough without needing an answer.”

Then why did you ask? I mixed cigarette smoke with the air and shrugged. A silent affirmation.

“I declare. That strategy will fail. The current Dane has no intention of being your shield.”

“…What does that mean? Have you formed an alliance with the Ka’har or something?”

“Worse than an alliance.”

Knut snickered. It was a laugh full of contempt. The emotion wasn’t directed at me, though.

“The Dane royal family and the Church of Volberg have withdrawn all their troops from the Ka’har’s line of advance. Leaving the people there completely abandoned. They’ve essentially given the Ka’har a gift of time and supplies. Do you understand what that means?”

“…Those crazy bastards.”

Understanding the meaning of Knut’s words, I couldn’t help but utter a curse filled with the same contempt.