Was Elisha’s words really true? Surprised, Rieta looked back at Elisha, who was giving her a slightly smug look, as if to say, ‘Didn’t I tell you?’
“Any, anyway.”
Rieta quickly changed the subject.
The atmosphere felt heavier.
“You mentioned you had something to say?”
“Yes.”
They nodded and explained right away.
“We thought the Princess might need more people.”
“Yes, but… do you have anyone in mind?”
“Yes, there are other places where people are suffering apart from this slash-and-burn village.”
Ah. Rieta nodded. That meant the forces of King Liz had moved there too.
“We should hurry.”
Rieta rubbed her chin with a serious expression. It would be good to get them on their side, but more importantly, they couldn’t let vulnerable people be sold as foreign slaves.
She was willing to fight if necessary.
“You don’t have to worry too much about that.”
The soldiers seemed to have sensed Rieta’s concern.
“One of the leaders there is Sir Knox.”
“Sir Knox?!”
Rieta replied, surprised. She had heard from Emile that he was safe, but…
Perhaps he was inevitably tasked with that role as punishment for the incident.
She felt her heart getting heavier.
“No matter what others may do…”
At that moment, Elisha spoke up.
“Sir Knox won’t willingly join the plan to sell off the villagers.”
Rieta agreed. He was the knight entrusted with the lives of the Princes, so he wouldn’t lend his strength to King Liz’s misdeeds.
“But one of the knights accompanying him is Sir Moody… I wonder what will happen.”
Moody was the knight who had damaged Rieta’s dress along with the deceased Taylor. It was evident that he and Knox wouldn’t get along, so Rieta was worried.
“Sir Knox must stay safe.”
He must be planning to sacrifice himself in some way to save the villagers, just as he had tried to sacrifice himself to help Rieta escape last time.
“We still need to hurry, it seems.”
Everyone nodded to Rieta’s decision.
“Do you know where they are heading?”
“We have a map. I’ll explain it from here.”
His hand pointed south on the map.
* * *
Meanwhile, to the south, Sir Knox was experiencing difficulties.
He wriggled his arms, bound by chains, before finally dropping his head in exhaustion. He had followed the king’s orders and headed south with Moody, persuading the soldiers accompanying them throughout the journey.
They shouldn’t do this.
Even if he had to sacrifice himself, he wanted to put an end to King Liz’s plan to sell people as slaves. Fortunately, many soldiers agreed with his cause. They must have been weary from the king’s tyranny for a long time.
However, the problem was Moody.
He was someone who frequently shared a drink with King Liz, and was thoroughly his man. Knox and he never managed to reconcile their differences.
Eventually, things came to the worst, and Knox found himself bound in chains.
“There’s no need to treat a traitor like a knight!”
Moody declared, leading Knox forward with thick chains around his wrists, like a criminal.
If it weren’t for the soldiers secretly worrying about Knox and caring for him with proper meals and water, he might have collapsed during the journey.
“Damn it…”
The only time he could sit and rest was late at night, and each time, Knox found himself lost in trouble.
Was there really no other way but to be dragged along like this?
One day, while he was brooding, soldiers brought two men with bound wrists with ropes from the rear.
“Who are they?”
Knox asked the soldiers.
“We don’t know either. They seemed like travelers wandering around this area, and we were told to take them because they seemed suspicious…”
“Travelers?”
Were there people traveling in this rundown neighborhood?
Knox silently observed the two men, thinking it was indeed suspicious.
They appeared somewhat dirty but carried an air of elegance and calmness, suggesting they weren’t of common status.
“Which noble family’s sons are you?”
He asked politely, but the two men just looked at each other without giving an answer.
“That…”
One of the soldiers who had been observing them hesitated and answered.
“They seem to be foreigners. I’m not sure which country they’re from. They were saying some strange words that sounded like an Imperial language…”
Imperial language?
“The Mechidia Empire?”
The name of a country could sound the same no matter the language. The two men nodded, albeit with a hint of caution in their faces.
Knox sighed. They seemed to be naive young noblemen from some family in the empire. They must have crossed the border out of curiosity and ended up in this situation.
Knox got up, feeling weary. He had to convey the fact that it wasn’t a good idea to tie up Imperial noblemen.
However, despite Knox’s warning, the Imperial nobles couldn’t escape their status as captives.
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