episode_0096

Whether he was convinced or not, Heine nodded slowly.

What I meant was that I would understand it that way and move on. Since there were more urgent problems to deal with anyway, it would be okay to overlook such trivial matters.

And it was clear who the most urgent person here would be.

Heine, who was taking turns looking at me, Lisia, and the fully prepared and loaded horses, soon opened his mouth and asked.

“Oh, and I should thank you for accompanying me. Since you are with me, I feel much more confident than when I first came.”

“Do you mean this? It is an honor for me to accompany you.”

“Then are you ready, sir?”

“Of course, the preparations have been completed.”

As the saying goes, even after arriving at Alpen, I had to wait on purpose to accompany the princess.

In the meantime, I taught Licia how to ride a horse and secretly created a relic, but even then, I still had some time left. There is a separate reason for making this choice even though it is not required.

If we go together, not only will we not have to get lost on the road, but there will also be fewer hassles related to transportation.

Although I thought about leaving first, I came to the conclusion that it would be better to wait and leave with the princess.

After hearing my answer, Heine turned back and spoke to the person leading the group.

“Once we confirm that we have enough supplies, let’s go.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I was able to confirm right away from the moment I left Alpen that my calculations were correct.

If you include the mercenaries and soldiers who seemed to have come as guards, as well as the able-bodied attendants, the number was approximately thirty.

When you just look at the numbers, it doesn’t seem like a lot.

However, the fact that there are so many people available as pure combat personnel means that you can immediately take control of a village at will.

If we go one step further, we can even discuss the odds of victory with Baron Minor.

If you add the attribute of being poor to it, it could be a good fight against the Baron.

I wonder if I was the only one who felt that way, as Lisia, who was riding Dulcinea next to me, let out a small sigh for a moment, thought about something, and then opened her mouth.

“Something… It’s a new feeling.”

“That’s right.”

“Did traveling originally give you this sense of stability? No, that doesn’t mean that being with Raven isn’t stable-”

“It’s okay because I fully understand what you’re trying to say.”

Even though I was speaking to myself, I was so surprised that I cut off what was going to be a long conversation.

The girl was now looking at me instead of in front, but she was maintaining her balance.

So I could clearly see the surprised look as if I had made a mistake, and although it was cute, I already knew enough to know that that wasn’t the intended meaning.

When traveling alone, they were often targeted by thieves and bandits.

Even if the opponent is a knight, Subald looks easy riding a single horse without a squire.

The single word means poverty, and at the same time, it means that the knight has no land and no lord to serve.

Not having a seed means that the value of the name is not very high or the skill is low.

Of course, no matter how new a knight he is, the fact remains that he is a war machine that has been trained for over ten years.

Nevertheless, human greed sometimes leans even when weighing the safety of one’s own body, and there are many people who want to make a living by selling armor and weapons.

And since not everyone who rides a horse is an officially ordained knight, there were times when people tried to poke around to see if they might turn out to be half-baked knight wannabes.

I know this, so in the past, when I traveled alone, I was very wary of my surroundings.

This continued until I took Lisia with me.

However, it was a problem that could be left aside among the baron military power group.

Thanks to this, the initial journey was smooth.

Even if we encountered passers-by, let alone thieves, there was no quarrel, and we passed smoothly through most cities and villages, provided that the blade of the weapon was carefully guarded so as not to be seen.

Normally, when I was relaxed like this, I would have talked about trivial matters with Lisia.

However, since it was the topic of a conversation I recently had with a girl, I couldn’t say it easily.

In case it might be of help, I tried to think of a few topics from the last conversation.

‘Raven, today I made my alter ego older! how is it?’

‘Look at this. It’s glow-in-the-dark.’

I decided to look for another alternative.

However, the bundle of stories I opened for the first time in a while had already reached its bottom.

The person who reached out to me was a princess who was walking next to me.

The horse’s gait, which changed direction smoothly, showed his proficiency in horseback riding. She asked me, maintaining an appropriate distance even as she approached me.

“Lord Raven, I have a few questions. Is it okay?”

There was no reason for me to turn down the offer of an icebreaker as we had to go on a long journey together.

I immediately nodded and answered.

“Of course, Your Highness.”

“In that case, is there currently a servant who is training separately?”

Although it was only a moment, I saw Heine’s gaze rest on Lisia for a moment.

To me, it sounded like he was asking in a twisted manner whether his intention was to raise Lisia into a knight. After all, there’s no way the excuse from earlier will work.

However, no matter how much I am, I will not force Lisia to take over the knightly duties.

Of course, most knights start their careers as early teenagers as I did, but I generally respect free will. I think it’s okay if someone doesn’t take over my livelihood.

Above all, it would be a great loss to the world as a whole for a saint to waste her time doing knightly work.

Since I can’t tell you the detailed story directly, I decided to cut out only the important parts and then tell you the conclusion.

“There is currently no one teaching otherwise. Of course, it’s not something that existed in the past.”

“I see. If so, do you have any intention of planting seeds later? I feel like I’ve heard that kind of thing often.”

The princess seemed slightly relieved by my firm answer.

I still felt uncomfortable about why Lisia was following me, but the topic naturally led to the story of my squire.

If it was a seed, it was a somewhat realistic story. It was also a topic I had thought about several times.

To be honest, the idea of having a de facto servant who could do all the miscellaneous work, such as cooking, laundry, and taking care of weapons, was a bit of an attractive story.

However, although I have been working hard for the past two years and often received such requests, in the end, after thinking about it, I turned them all down.

I’ve heard reasons such as it’s cumbersome to teach, I’m busy, etc., but the reality is simple.

It was because I felt that if I just brought in a servant and stayed with her, Lisia’s secret would be revealed.

When I was unknown, no one came to me and wanted to learn. And now that I’ve made my name known, there’s a reason why I can’t receive new seeds, so I don’t know if I’ll have seeds for the rest of my life.

However, since I had already mastered the little things after living alone for a long time, I didn’t feel that it was really necessary.

“I have received several offers, but I have no intention of becoming a seed. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but for now, I think it’s okay to keep it the way it is.”

“I see.”

The princess nodded and changed the subject a little.

The conversation ended only after answering a few more questions, starting with the question of whether he had figured it out or changed his sword and armor.

*****

Heine’s return route was designed to pass through pro-imperialist territory.

Therefore, rather than taking the shortest route, I had no choice but to take a short detour to stop by here and there.

Even if he came to the Vatican as an envoy, such a position would only work within the Vatican.

Of course, with the Count of Canossa’s subtle support, it could be said that a certain degree of safety was guaranteed to the south of the Alpine Mountains.

But that didn’t make much sense anymore.

Heine asked if it seemed like we would have gradually left the Alpine Mountains at this point.

“How much further do I have to go to the next intermediate destination?”

“Now, if you walk a little further, you will see the end of the mountain range. At this rate, we will be out by noon.”

The guide quickly surveyed the surrounding scenery and answered, wiping away sweat with his hands.

Compared to a few years ago when you had to fall off the mountain as if you were falling, the situation may be much better, but a mountain is a mountain after all.

Even if I had to take a relatively easy route, I had to put in at least some effort. The season has entered early summer and it is already slightly warm.

In addition to the fact that the group was a little tired, the Alpine Mountains were far from being populated or developed, so resting in a big city was desperately needed.

However, the fact that they had crossed over to the north of the Alpine also meant that the effects of the civil war were beginning to be seen one by one.

Now that we have been thrown into the wild empire, we have reached a point where we must be cautious in our every move.

“Your Majesty! In the distance, I see smoke rising. It’s a village!”

“Where… It really is. Usually, the end of the mountain range is considered that village. It also means that there isn’t much left.”

At the shout of one of the soldiers leading the group, they all headed in the direction he was pointing at.

I narrowed my eyes and looked, and just as I said, I saw whitish smoke rising from under the mountain in the distance.

As the destination came into view and the downhill slope overlapped, the group descended with a lighter step than those who had climbed up, and were finally able to quickly reach the village they had seen from the top of the mountain.

And as I got closer, I began to see things that had been invisible before.

“… Something must have happened here.”

“It’s definitely not an ordinary atmosphere.”

The first thing we encountered after leaving our cozy home was a village that welcomed us with high alert.