The man who had waited until Ian was seated took the place of honor and abruptly posed a question. Apparently, he found it amusing that Kyle, who had been quietly following Ian, had now planted himself behind him as firmly as an escort knight.
Standing like a shadow behind Ian’s chair, Kyle showed no sign of being flustered by the sudden question directed at him.
“Claude told me to report to my superior as soon as he returned.”
“Haha. Since when have you been so obedient? Still, I’m glad to see you looking well.”
“Good health is all I have, Commander.”
He volunteered this information, which no one had particularly asked for, and punctuated it with a wink.
The other four, excluding Kyle, simply continued their conversation as though they had seen nothing.
“Were you surprised to be summoned so suddenly?”
He wasn’t, but Ian nodded anyway.
“It’s because you joined the knights without my knowing. A prince of Rox, of all people, joining the Shertian knights—it’s quite the interesting affair, wouldn’t you say? If the people of the capital, who adore gossip, were to hear about it, they’d have enough material to talk for three days and three nights.”
Perhaps they already were. The Grand Duke’s domain was surrounded by forest and difficult to access, but rumors cared little for such obstacles. Nobles were perpetually starved for gossip, and any story involving Logan Higher—who stood, without exaggeration, at the very center of the Empire—was bound to make their eyes gleam.
“However….”
It was Aily who carefully interrupted the conversation, which had until then continued with a faintly amused air. Having already finished her tea, she set her empty cup down on the table.
“I hate to interrupt, but shouldn’t you introduce yourselves first?”
“Ah. How absentminded of me.”
Only then did the man seem to realize that he had not even given his name. His brows drooped apologetically as he hurried to address Ian.
“I am Schwartz Homer, Commander of the North Knights. It is a pleasure to meet you again.”
“Lord Ian, Sir Schwartz has served as commander for ten years and is one of the order’s finest. In other words, he has gone on dozens of expeditions and managed to come back alive every time.”
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
“Of course.”
Expeditions?
For some reason, the word struck Ian as important. The emphasis on returning alive made it sound less like an expedition and more like a battlefield deployment. Perhaps it had something to do with Rox.
“So, about that. The expedition.”
As Schwartz subtly lowered his voice, the moderately relaxed atmosphere shifted at once. Ian caught even the slightest hesitation from Kyle behind him and knew immediately that this was the real reason he had been summoned.
“You must know what I’m referring to. The condition Rox proposed.”
There was no way Ian could know.
But this was hardly a situation where he could simply shake his head, so he answered with silence.
“Actually, I saw something strange on the last expedition.”
Schwartz let out a thoughtful hum, as though reliving the moment, and rubbed his chin. His eyes narrowed, as if even now he was uncertain whether he had truly seen what he thought he had.
“It only lasted a moment, so I can’t be certain. One of the knights went missing, and while we were pushing a little farther north to search for him, I saw it. But….”
“……”
“It spoke.”
…Ian understood absolutely nothing.
For one thing, Schwartz had not even said what he had seen. Ian tilted his head at the conspicuous lack of a subject, but no one else reacted. Apparently, everyone except him had understood.
“I tried to get closer, but something attacked me from behind. I nearly lost my arm. They say there was nothing there by the time the Grand Duke arrived.”
A long scar peeked out from beneath Schwartz’s sleeve, only just healed. Had he not used holy water, the wound might well have festered all the way to his shoulder.
As though the torn flesh still throbbed at the memory, Schwartz rubbed his forearm once and muttered under his breath.
“Something is changing.”
It was the same feeling he had had when he first witnessed it.
He could never forget the gooseflesh that had swept over his skin.
For a moment, silence settled over the room, as if everyone had arrived at the same thought.
Once again, Ian alone had been left behind.
He rubbed the corner of his eye with one fingertip. If he had even the faintest clue, he might have been able to pretend he understood, but at this point it felt less like a conversation and more like a quiz show.
Apparently noticing his reaction, Schwartz pulled himself out of his thoughts, relaxed his stiff expression, and continued.
“Well, perhaps I misheard. My hearing isn’t what it used to be now that I’m getting older. But it isn’t something I can simply ignore. That’s why I called you here.”
Everything Ian had heard so far might as well have been gibberish, so he still could not understand how any of it led to him.
It must have shown on his face, because Schwartz burst out laughing.
“Haha.”
Then he went straight to the point.
“I heard what happened during the procession. They say you killed three assassins in an instant. It seems the Grand Duke has no intention of letting that talent go to waste.”
Only then did Ian remember the incident from a week earlier.
Had there been three?
He remembered killing them, but not the exact number.
It simply hadn’t seemed important enough to remember.
“So, he would like you to join the next expedition.”
“……”
“Putting you in the knights was merely a way to create the proper pretext.”
In principle, only members of the North Knights were permitted to enter the Black Forest.
Only then did Aily, seated beside him, realize what the Grand Duke had truly been planning. She had wondered why he had suddenly gone out of his way to place Ian in the knights.
“You can refuse, but……”
Schwartz scratched his chin and added, his tone reluctant.
As if he already knew what Ian’s answer would be.
“You may want to think carefully about whether that would truly be for Rox’s sake.”
It sounded like a suggestion, but it was much closer to a threat.
Since Ian was a hostage, perhaps such words would have worked on the real ‘Ian’ of Rox.
If there had truly been a homeland or family he wished to protect.
“……”
But the person sitting here was an entirely different man.
One who had cast away such things long ago.
One who had killed them with his own hands.
Holding a truth none of them had noticed, Ian slowly opened his mouth beneath the gazes fixed upon him.
‘I’ll do it.’
No sound emerged, but the movement of his lips was clear enough to understand.
Schwartz’s eyes widened. Even with the threat implicit in his words, he had expected at least some hesitation.
It was true that the North Knights were the most difficult knightly order to enter in the Empire.
But they were also the order every knight avoided just as fiercely.
They served beneath the already infamous Grand Duke Higher.
There was a long-standing joke that it would be quicker to die by Logan’s hand than to have one’s throat cut by the enemy.
The problem was that the joke never remained entirely a joke.
One only had to look at the order’s numbers. Even though new recruits were added every year, the total only continued to decline. Everyone knew what members of the northern forces were required to do within the Grand Duke’s domain, and the number of applicants had been steadily falling for years.
The greatest reason the order could continue to exist at all was that it cared nothing for a recruit’s background.
In Shertian, where one’s birth determined nearly everything, it was practically the only path by which someone of low status could rise through society.
The extraordinarily high pay for a mere knight likely helped as well.
And so the most downtrodden gathered there, one by one.
Those with talent but no status.
Those who had wandered the back alleys and survived through theft.
That was also why so many of them had no surnames.
And yet, however much people whispered behind their backs, not a single citizen of the Empire could openly disparage the origins of the North Knights.
“Are you saying you’ll join the expedition?”