Extra Chapter 52 – When a Mute Cries, a Crow Falls (21)
Late in the evening, Gwalchavad visited Merlin's room.
"I heard you asked for me."
"You came later than I thought you would. Did you have a lot of work?" asked Merlin.
Gwalchavad smiled tiredly. "Yes, it is because assassins targeting the Holy King attacked the capital city. Sir Percival and Sir Lancelot are also quite busy trying to patch things up."
There was a lot of work to do, from strengthening immediate security to establishing a new magical defense system. The ancient castle and the capital's castle were said to be connected by Merlin's communication magic, but there were many difficulties because of how far they were from each other. However, it would be risky for Merlin to vacate the ancient castle for a while, now that he needed medical care. If Merlin was in a normal condition, he could have used teleportation, but that was not an option.
"Everyone is working hard."
"We are just doing what we have to do." said Gwalchavad with a slight bow.
Merlin grew silent, hesitating as if his mouth would not open. Noticing this, Gwachavad brought a chair closer to the bed and sat down. "What could it be that the great Sir Merlin is hesitating? Was your life span cut in the battle with the witches? Did you become terminally ill?" he joked.
It was uncharacteristic of Gwalchavad to joke like that. Merlin smirked and replied, "For a guy as strict as you to make a joke, you must have been spending too much time with Mordred. You are not wrong though. My life span has indeed been cut down a lot."
"Really?!" Gwalchavad stood up and exclaimed in surprise.
Merlin beckoned him to calm down. "Don't worry, I am not terminally ill, and I was already nearly two-hundred years old in the first place. Since I'm well over the average lifespan of the Fairies, I don't have any regrets, even if I were to die right now."
"No, but even so..."
"Of course, I have no intention of dying just yet, so don't worry. Perhaps I might even live longer than you!" Merlin joked before a serious expression fell upon his face. "… I called you like this because I wanted to ask you a favor that I shouldn't ask."
Merlin explained what he saw in his foresight, that the Demon King would arrive and destroy the world in the distant future, and that he needed a helper to assist the saviors in protecting the world. He confessed that he was thinking of sending modern-day knights as helpers.
"This is such a great sacrifice that I am ashamed to ask you. It will be a harsh journey, far from the rest of your soul, as well as drifting to remote places in time. It's okay to refuse."
After hearing Merlin's story, Gwalchavad fell silent for a moment.
"It's certainly not an easy decision to make. Above all…" Gwalchavad stopped himself.
Merlin looked at Gwalchavad curiously. "Do you have any idea who the internal traitor is?"
Gwalchavad looked at Merlin with surprise. He didn't think anybody else knew about the traitor.
"Why are you so surprised? Wouldn't I have noticed if you had noticed?"
"That's true."
Merlin sighed.
"Actually, it was Sir Caradoc who first noticed the possibility of the traitor. He said he began to suspect it last summer." Gwalchavad added.
"As expected of Sir Caradoc, I only vaguely guessed it recently."
"Sir Caradoc only informed His Majesty the Holy King, me, and Arietta. Now, since you have deduced it yourself, only five people know."
None of the other knights were smart enough to figure it out, and even if they were, they did not have access to the same level of information as the executives.
"So now Sir Caradoc is secretly searching for the traitor." said Merlin.
Gwalchavad's expression hardened. "Why are you telling me that?"
"Because I trust you. Because you are someone who will never betray the kingdom."
Gwalchavad did not ask how Merlin could be sure. Instead, he said in a calm voice, "The reason why you're telling me is because you want me to find someone you can trust and recommend that person."
"Yes. Of course, if you accept my request."
Of course, he wasn't going to just sacrifice them. Merlin made up his mind as those words left his mouth.
* * *This chapter is updated first at novelрing.com.
Mordred sat on the head of a giant dragon and looked up at the sky blankly.
"Hey, Mordred. What are you doing?" Bedivere asked, laying on the ground and gasping.
Mordred replied with a light smile, "I'm looking at the clouds."
"Clouds?"
"Yeah, clouds."
As a child, Mordred had often dreamed of freedom by looking up at the sky. He wanted to roam around freely like a floating cloud in the sky, breaking away from his fate of being the keeper of the holy land. It was a wish that had already been fulfilled now that he had abandoned the name of Caron, but he still sometimes wondered if it was all a dream.
"Why are you looking at the clouds?"
Mordred shrugged. "It's just, I thought a lot of time had already passed."
"Time? That's true, hasn't it already been almost two years since you joined?"
Time had flown by. Mordred was only days away from his nineteenth birthday. For almost two years now, he had been hunting monsters, fighting Giants on the front lines, and sometimes stopping by the city to eat delicious food with his comrades.
"I think there's still a few months left until the two year mark."
Tristan, who was sprawled out as well next to Bedivere, answered instead, as Bedivere rose and shook off the dirt.
"Really? Anyways, even though it was us new recruits who did it, we did well catching a dragon with eleven people."
There had only been eleven knights, including Mordred, who charged to catch the dragon under Mordred's command. The other knights had been busy circling the front lines or walking around the Alps to deal with monsters on a set schedule, so only the knights left on standby had been available when the dragon suddenly appeared.
"Sure it was a dragon, but it was one that had just become an adult and was looking for a lair. I told you eleven of us would be enough."
The knights were not skilled hunters like the Crows, but individually, using the power of the Holy tribe, they were stronger than the average Crow. Mordred had decided that they could catch it if they followed his instructions well, and that had turned out to be true.
Tristan and Bedivere chuckled at Mordred in disbelief.
"Kukuku! Crazy bastard! You're not normal."
"Hey crazy bastard, it's still a damn dragon!"
Among the knights, only Mordred was fine. Tristan, Bedivere and the rest of the knights were all exhausted, had fainted, or were injured and being treated by Euss.
"As expected of you Euss, you have good healing magic skills."
Euss nodded with an indifferent face. Euss was proficient in holy magic because he also possessed the blood of the Holy tribe, through a collateral line. When Arietta was busy or away, he treated the knights, so his reputation among them was high.
"Well then, let's go back."
Mordred tied a rope around the neck of the hunted dragon and dragged it toward the ancient castle. Today's situation was only a bit more unique than usual.
* * *
Late in the evening, while collecting reports from the front lines, Arietta compiled a report to be submitted to her father. After that, she searched through documents related to national finance.
"Well, Jungang-daero has a small remuneration budget. I wonder if there's somewhere I could take from?"
Working overtime had become somewhat of a daily routine for Arietta, now that her father had assigned her to do some of his work. She sighed deeply and fell down on her desk.
"Oh, I'm dying."
There was no one there to help her with the work, either. Caradoc had gone out to plan operations with the frontline commander, Lancelot was busy helping to stabilize the newly built capital security, and Percival and Kay were guarding the eastern and western fronts, respectively. Merlin and Gwalchavad were roaming the Alps together, likely busy with something important, and Bors, despite being an executive, was not compatible with paperwork. Meanwhile, Arietta was suffering with her head stuck on the desk. Just as she was about to start working again, she heard a knock from the window.
Knock, knock!
"Are you still working?"
Mordred clung to the wall, opened the window, and climbed in. Arietta grinned at the sight.
"So you're coming in through the window because Sir Merlin blocked the entrance, so I wouldn't be disturbed. Even though this is the twelfth floor."You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.
"Ayy, who cares? Should I not have come?"
Arietta shook her head. "No. If you don't come to visit, I think I'll wither up and die here. Would you like a cup of tea?"
The work wasn't that urgent anyway. Arietta rose from her seat, believing that she would figure it out tomorrow somehow.
"Sounds good. I know something better we can do though. How about it?"
"Something better?"
Mordred smiled playfully and embraced Arietta.
"Ah! W-what are you doing?" exclaimed Arietta, blushing in surprise.
Mordred winked lightly. "It's not fun if all you do is work, right? You should take a rest from time to time."
Mordred jumped out of the window with Arietta in his arms. It would have been frightening if she were a normal person, but Arietta knew how to use magic skillfully, too.
"This is kidnapping, did you know that?"
"Really? Then how much should I ask for as a ransom… about three months worth of salary?"
"That's a very specific and low amount. If you've kidnapped me, you should demand a lot more."
The two giggled as the evening sky turned from red to purple. Mordred, who made footholds in the air with mana to run across the sky, landed in the forest and let Arietta down.
"We are quite far from the ancient castle. Is that okay?" Arietta asked.
Mordred gave her a thumbs up. "If it's monsters you're worried about, I took care of them with Tristan this morning, so don't worry."
"Mmhmm, so you mean Sir Tristan is also an accomplice?"
"Ah! Does that make him an accomplice? Well, you didn't hear it from me,"
"Huhuhu, all right."
It was a meaningless request, because only Mordred could have possibly told her that information. She didn't know what Mordred had prepared, but if she didn't like it, she planned on asking Tristan if he had anything to do with it. Mordred led her to a small lake. Arietta looked at it curiously.
"Is there something here?"
"Shh."
Mordred pressed his finger to his lips to silence Arietta and used concealment techniques to hide his presence. Arietta followed, also hiding her presence, and waited for a while. As the sun completely set and the surrounding area grew dark, she looked up and saw that the night sky was filled with countless stars.
"Did you bring me all the way out here to watch the stars?"
The night sky full of stars, reflecting upon the still water of the lake, was certainly beautiful.
"No, just wait a little longer."
After a few minutes, small lights began to appear in the forest. Soon, they completely the area around the lake.
"Wow! Fireflies!"
The stars that filled the sky, the lake that reflected the stars, and the fireflies flying everywhere created a truly fantastic scene. Mordred hugged Arietta's waist with his arm and walked on the lake using martial arts.
"What do you think? It was worth being kidnapped, wasn't it?"
"If it's gonna be like this, then I'd be fine with being kidnapped every day."
Arietta put down all her worries and smiled brightly at the beautiful sight, a sight she would remember for the rest of her life.
"Will you dance with me, princess?"
"Of course, Sir knight."
There was no music, but the two danced to the sound of the fireflies on the lake, which seemed to have the most beautiful melody.
(To be continued in the next episode)