Ch.93Chapter 93. Of All Things (2)

“Thank you.”

“Yes, I can’t take responsibility beyond this point.”

“Yes, coming this far is enough.”

Erika gave a small nod, and Jacqueline beside her followed suit with a slight bow of her head.

As soon as the man left, Erika and Jacqueline simultaneously surveyed their surroundings as if they had planned it.

The two women were currently at the Laurellai Kingdom military camp, where a war was in full swing.

The Laurellai Kingdom had suffered near-annihilation after just three battles.

Laurellai was urgently recruiting mercenaries for combat until allied forces from other countries arrived.

Erika and Jacqueline had infiltrated the Laurellai Kingdom’s army disguised as mercenaries.

“What should we do now?”

Erika pondered as she listened to Jacqueline’s almost monotone question.

The original plan was obviously to infiltrate the Flora Kingdom’s army, not Laurellai’s.

That would have allowed them to gather information about Black Magic much more closely and directly.

But infiltrating the Flora Kingdom’s army wasn’t easy.

Flora Kingdom, now essentially a common enemy to all nations, had implemented an isolation policy.

Just entering Flora Kingdom was extremely difficult, let alone infiltrating their military in a short time.

That’s why they decided to enter the Laurellai Kingdom’s army instead.

Erika was thinking of ways to cross over to Flora’s side during the chaos of battle.

“I guess we should head to the front lines first?”

“I suppose so.”

Jacqueline quietly nodded at Erika’s words.

She almost always followed whatever Erika said without question.

“I’ll cross over to Flora’s side alone. Meanwhile, you keep an eye on the situation here. Can you handle that?”

“I’ll try.”

Erika nodded reluctantly, not feeling particularly confident but seeing no alternative.

No matter how she looked at it, Jacqueline wasn’t suited for infiltration missions.

If she responded this blankly during their infiltration of Flora…

‘There would probably be an immediate battle.’

While Erika couldn’t easily imagine Jacqueline losing, she had no intention of causing any commotion.

“Hey, you there! New recruits?”

“Ah, yes!”

“…Women? Hmph.”

“Let’s go.”

Erika pulled Jacqueline along as they hurried toward a soldier calling from a distance.

Now the real infiltration would begin.

‘I need to finish this quickly and meet the commander.’

Erika quickened her pace, thinking of the knight she had seen earlier that day.

The Black Shadow Corps protecting the academy from the undead?

She had more than a few questions for the commander.

**

O’Neil Kingdom.

A massive kingdom located in the southern part of the continent, considered to have national power rivaling the Crescen Empire.

Traditionally, the Crescen Empire and O’Neil Kingdom had been adversaries, but recently their relationship had improved.

They even engaged in exchanges like academy student field trips, which were nationally significant.

‘Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been here.’

The scenery of O’Neil Kingdom visible from the carriage evoked memories.

Stealing the Dragon Heart had been more difficult than expected.

While deciding to steal it took only seconds, actually succeeding took months.

During those months, I lived in the O’Neil Kingdom.

So while the O’Neil Kingdom considered me an enemy, it was a place of memories for me.

O’Neil Kingdom was a very pleasant place to live.

Most people were kind, the weather was nice, and the food was delicious.

“We’re almost there.”

Professor Amillion’s words pulled me from my thoughts.

Being a Crescen Academy student was certainly convenient.

Crossing the border involved minimal inspection, and entering the capital was instantaneous.

‘This might actually be the best disguise—being an academy student?’

“When we arrive, we’ll first pay our respects to the Knight Commander.”

“Yes!”

The tense response to Professor Amillion’s words came from the first-year S-class students, excluding me.

Their nervousness was understandable.

Visiting the Imperial Knights would be nerve-wracking enough, but visiting knights in a foreign country was even more so.

It was definitely a special opportunity, as Professor Amillion had said.

Perhaps even more valuable than going to the northern continent.

After all, anyone could visit the northern continent after graduation if they wanted, but visiting another country’s knights was virtually impossible otherwise.

“As I said, we’re just going to behave ourselves and then return. Understood?”

Professor Amillion’s words were met with another tense response.

‘This I don’t understand.’

Why come all this way just to behave and return without doing anything?

I had such thoughts but didn’t voice them.

I already knew why Crescen Academy had gone to such lengths to send us to O’Neil Kingdom.

The continent was abuzz with Black Magic, and incidents had occurred within the academy itself.

Yet they insisted on proceeding with plans to send students outside the academy?

It seemed like an incomprehensible decision until I heard Professor Amillion’s explanation.

The Empire planned to conduct a thorough investigation while the academy was empty.

Very thoroughly, taking advantage of the students’ absence.

That’s why all students from every grade were sent away from the academy around the same time with plausible reasons.

We, being the S-class, received special treatment by going abroad, while other classes traveled domestically.

Whether domestic or international, the point was just to get everyone out of the academy.

‘Still, doing nothing and going back seems such a waste.’

But that was that, and this was this.

Coming all the way to O’Neil Kingdom only to do nothing and return seemed too disappointing.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t O’Neil Kingdom also have an incident?’

“As you all know, the atmosphere in O’Neil Kingdom hasn’t been great recently. Don’t do anything to annoy the knights.”

“Yeeees.”

Professor Amillion’s words reminded me.

While the world’s attention was focused on the war in the western continent, O’Neil Kingdom had also fallen victim to Black Magic.

Though never officially announced, an entire unit of O’Neil’s knights had reportedly been annihilated.

And not just any knights, but those from what was called O’Neil’s strongest knight order.

According to Addy’s investigation, Black Magic was likely at the center of it all.

‘Oh.’

A good idea came to mind.

Addy had been working hard lately because of my recent troublemaking, so I should do some work myself.

Since we’ve come this far, I might as well investigate the O’Neil knight annihilation incident.

“We’ve arrived.”

As the carriage stopped, Professor Amillion was the first to step out.

The carriage had already entered the knights’ headquarters.

The headquarters looked exactly as I remembered it.

I once secretly infiltrated this place and memorized quite a few teleportation points.

Now I’ve forgotten most of them.

The other students, including Elaine, were instinctively looking around.

The buildings, constructed in an architectural style completely different from the Crescen Empire, certainly caught the eye.

As we were all looking around, someone approached from a distance.

No, they came running.

“Yaaaah!”

“Uh…”

Someone wearing an O’Neil Kingdom knight’s uniform shouted in a high voice while running fiercely toward us.

If seen from outside, one might have thought an enemy was approaching.

“Amillion!!”

*Whoosh*

The female knight who ran up enthusiastically smiled brightly at Professor Amillion and embraced her.

Very intensely at that.

“Hey, hey! Take it easy… mmph!”

“It’s been so long!!”

Everyone, including myself, stared blankly at the two women in this unexpected situation.

The embrace between them lasted quite a while.

Though from what I could see, it was rather one-sided.

“I can’t believe you actually came!”

“Hey, hey! Introductions first. These are our students.”

“Ah, right. Welcome everyone. I’m Elizar, serving as a knight in the O’Neil Kingdom Knight Order. You can just call me Knight Eli.”

The woman who introduced herself as Elizar seemed to hold quite a high position.

Judging by the several knights standing stiffly behind her.

“And, I’m very close friends with your supervising Professor Amillion!”

“Wooow.”

At Eli’s words, Professor Amillion cleared her throat awkwardly, while the students expressed surprise.

I was a bit surprised too.

Who would have thought she had such a close friend in O’Neil Kingdom?

Usually, making foreign friends is quite difficult.

“She’s the one who greatly helped arrange for you to visit the O’Neil Kingdom Knight Order. Please listen to her well during your stay.”

Elizar smiled brightly at us as Professor Amillion continued her explanation.

Perhaps because of her overly exuberant first impression, she didn’t quite look like a knight.

A woman with much darker blonde hair than Elaine’s, cut short and tied back, wearing what looked like uncomfortable knight’s attire.

“Nice to meet you all!”

*Bow*

At Elizar’s greeting, Elaine bowed at a 90-degree angle first, and the rest of the students followed her lead, watching for cues.

I roughly mimicked them as well.

“Now, let’s go pay our respects to the Knight Commander first. You all know him, right? Commander Ordin. Oh, do Crescen students not know him well?”

‘Ah.’

“We know him well! It’s an honor to be able to meet Commander Ordin in person!”

Only Elaine responded.

As expected, Elaine was a true knight at heart.

‘That old man is still the commander?’

I knew Commander Ordin well too.

A few years ago, during the Dragon Heart incident, we had faced off directly.

I thought he was old back then, but to think he’s still the commander…

‘This feels like a trip down memory lane.’

*Snicker*

I couldn’t help but smile.