Ch.664Failure and Flight

In Frigg’s opinion, Knut’s rash impulsive action embraced far too many difficulties to succeed.

Time was extremely tight, the people they could gather were merely a handful, and while the determination to stop it was desperate, there wasn’t even a feasible plan. To succeed would require nothing short of a divine miracle.

Knut had initially intended to gather those who would be angered by this atrocity and directly oppose Ragnar and the royal family’s will, but to Frigg, that was akin to hugging an oil barrel and jumping into fire.

“…Is that all?”

“You call that a plan? It’s perfect for getting us all executed together.”

Frigg endured the oncoming headache with gritted teeth and made a promise to herself. After escaping this crisis, she would someday surely bury this man’s life in a grave.

Of course, to send Knut’s life to the grave, surviving was the top priority, so Frigg had to rack her brain to come up with a better plan.

“First, we spread rumors that the upper echelons have secured their own safety by offering half the kingdom’s people to the Ka’har, to agitate public sentiment.”

Perhaps because she originally belonged to the intelligence department, Frigg’s plan was closer to that of a spy than a knight. In that it used agitation and fabrication as weapons.

“It won’t be easy to withdraw troops in such a situation. If we’re not careful, mere rumors could transform into truth.”

If the royal family of Dane had resolved to ignore the people’s resentment, it wouldn’t have much effect… but Frigg deliberately didn’t mention that part. There was no point in bringing it up.

“At the same time, if we send those who support us eastward to evacuate the kingdom’s people… even though we can’t save them all, it would be better than storming the palace.”

Unlike Knut’s reckless frontal assault, Frigg’s plan was more rational and realistic. The only thing that remained the same was that it would be difficult to succeed without a miracle.

—-

Of course, the celestial gods did not bestow a miracle upon Knut for his noble heart.

It seemed the gods who protected the Dane were all asleep. Or perhaps they wanted tens of thousands of Dane to disappear.

—-

“Well done, Knut.”

At Ragnar’s smile as he appeared clapping his hands, Frigg bit her lip with a sense of resignation that the inevitable had finally come.

After meeting with the opposition and giving detailed instructions, she and Knut were returning to their quarters, but they were already surrounded by numerous Crusaders, their trail apparently discovered.

‘So our movements were read from the beginning…’

Frigg was certain. Teaching Knut the details of the evacuation plan wasn’t to persuade him, but to use him as bait to draw in the opposition.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been discovered and put in trouble just two days after taking action.

“Ragnar…!”

“That would be Commander Ragnar. I don’t think we were close enough to omit formalities.”

Facing Knut who bared his teeth like a cornered beast, Ragnar responded with a light smile.

“Well, what do titles matter now? I feel I can’t thank you enough. In such a short time, you’ve gathered so many subversives in one place. With this, we can eliminate all the traitors who oppose His Majesty’s will.”

Having finished speaking, Ragnar drew the sword at his waist and pointed it at Knut and Frigg.

The Crusader of Seals surrounding the two also drew their weapons and slowly closed the distance toward them.

‘This is the end.’

Twenty-three Einherjar plus Crusader Commander Ragnar. Knut and Frigg realized they had no chance of winning if they fought. But they couldn’t surrender either, so they had no choice but to fight.

– Shing!

Frigg drew her longsword and pointed it at the approaching Crusaders.

The approaching Crusaders mocked her gesture. To them, who wielded both miracles and magic through their rune seals, the resistance of a mere female knight was not threatening but rather cute, like a rabbit before a predator.

Some Crusaders were even considering requesting that woman as a reward after distinguishing themselves in this suppression operation.

Noticing that the Crusaders’ gazes were filled with killing intent and desire, Knut turned his head to look at Frigg with a bitter face as he drew upon his runic mana.

The woman who had followed his insistence only to meet the worst possible end.

“I’m sorry. If it was going to end like this anyway, I shouldn’t have dragged you into it.”

Frigg chuckled, muttering a joke-like lamentation.

“If you’re sorry, take responsibility for my life. My retirement plans have crumbled leaving only the foundation stones, and I’ve moved more than a million steps away from a peaceful future. What misfortune is this, all because I met the wrong man—no, the wrong superior.”

They say laughter is contagious. Seeing Frigg’s composed, even dignified appearance, Knut also forced a smile and nodded.

“If we can get out of here alive, I’ll take responsibility somehow. I swear on my father Sven Haralson’s name.”

“If you go back on that word, I’ll stab you.”

Having received the answer she wanted, Frigg firmly gripped Knut’s forearm and launched herself in the opposite direction from Ragnar. It was a hawk-like swift movement befitting her intelligence department background.

“Where do you think you’re going-!”

The Crusaders who had been watching the two’s conversation like a farce rushed toward them, tightening their encirclement.

Instead of confronting them, Frigg increased her speed and fled with all her might. If she started crossing swords, she would have to stop moving, and then they would eventually be unable to break through the encirclement and be hunted down.

“No, wait. I was going to hold off Ragnar…!”

“You’ll die if you do that. You said you’d take responsibility, are you already going back on your word?”

Knut, suddenly being dragged along, protested with a bewildered face, but Frigg silenced him by pointing her sword tip at his nape and continued running.

“What? How is she so fast?! Wasn’t she supposed to be below Master level?”

“Did she engrave an acceleration rune or something?”

“If she had, she would have been in the Einherjar…!”

Frigg ran on with some relief at the astonished cries of the Einherjar pursuing her.

A speed comparable to a galloping horse at full sprint. Thanks to months of supporting the large-framed Knut, she had confidence in her leg strength if nothing else.

She had also prepared an escape plan in case things went wrong.

“Lady Frigg?! Were you discovered?”

“Those bastards knew everything from the beginning! So leave this city right now!”

“It was a trap…! Understood. Let’s meet again alive!”

It wasn’t a complex or mysterious plan; she had simply asked like-minded comrades to flee in all directions to draw the enemies’ attention in case of a commotion.

If they scattered and fled in different directions, the number of pursuers after Knut would inevitably decrease.

—-

It wasn’t easy, but Frigg and Knut eventually succeeded in breaking through the encirclement and escaping.

There were several moments when they nearly got caught, but thanks to Knut actively using rune magic to fight back, they somehow managed to shake off the pursuit.

After all, Ragnar was the only Crusader who could subdue Knut in a one-on-one fight.

Of course, they couldn’t escape without paying a price.

Knut’s left arm was burned by the runic flames shot by their pursuers, and because not only Crusaders but also regular soldiers chased them, the two had to run for days without rest.

[ ᛜ ] [ ᛒ ]

Healing only fatal wounds with the runes of vitality and healing.

“I think we’ve shaken off the pursuit squad’s eyes, so we can rest here for a while. Though not for long.”

“We managed to escape somehow… But I wonder what happened to the others…”

“Volberg will protect them, so they probably succeeded in escaping like us.”

Frigg comforted him by invoking Volberg’s name, whom she didn’t even believe in, to ease Knut’s burden. Though inwardly, she thought differently.

‘Most of them were probably captured and executed.’

Given that the suppression operation was carried out after confirming the identities of the opposition, Ragnar would have prepared sufficient forces to capture all of them.

The fact that she and Knut were able to escape meant that the others had done a good job of drawing the enemies’ attention.

Having drawn that attention, they couldn’t have escaped safely.

‘Now is not the time to mourn their sacrifice. Having been branded as traitors, we too will eventually be caught if we don’t leave Dane as quickly as possible.’

Frigg used all the knowledge and experience she had learned in the intelligence agency to consider ways for her and Knut to survive.

No matter how many times she pondered, there was only one answer that came to mind.

“Now we can only trust the Empire. We have no choice but to go to the Empire and inform them of what this country is plotting.”

“The Empire… I had a feeling I would return there someday, but I never imagined it would be like this.”

Knut nodded with a sigh.

That was the moment their destination was decided as the Empire’s border.