“Traiter, how dare you preach to me!”
… It seemed to further agitate Moody.
Anyway, being bound together while walking, Knox and the soldiers had become somewhat familiar with the young men from the empire.
At least, their faces, to be precise.
They hardly knew each other’s languages, so there wasn’t much conversation. After a few days, Knox and the soldiers arrived at the area where the slash-and-burn farmers were living.
“Wait, wait a moment!”
Knox shouted urgently, as they were about to go and capture the farmers.
“Are you really going to take these innocent people? If you do, they’ll be sold off to foreign lands. Even if they suffer, no one will protect them!”
At that moment, a few soldiers hesitated and turned around. But soon, a terrifying shout from the front made them bow their heads.
“Dare you defy the King’s decision? I won’t tolerate treason! From now on, I’ll cut your throat!”
Knox shouted back without giving up.
“Treason?! How is protecting the people of this land considered treason?”
In response, Moody drew his sword and rushed forward, swinging it fiercely.
“You really want to die!”
Knox raised his arm, blocking the sword with the chain binding his wrist.
Perhaps Moody hadn’t expected his attack to be stopped by someone bound in chains. Moody stepped back in surprise.
Knox sneered at his carelessness.
“You’re a bastard who has never killed anyone before.”
“You also only live with your mouth! Same goes for you!”
Moody kept swinging his sword at Knox. He screamed out of anger, looking like he had lost his sanity.
“If you don’t take them?! Are you planning to report to the king that the soldiers here should be sent as slaves in their place?!”
Knox, still staggering with his wrists bound, narrowly dodged the path of the sword several times.
As Moody swung his sword forcefully once more, Knox lost his balance and fell back onto the ground.
“Ugh!”
His body, which had not rested or eaten properly for a long time, rolled painfully in the gravel ground.
Clack.
Finally, the tip of Moody’s sword reached Knox’s neck. A chilling laughter came.
“You should have considered it an honor to make up for your participation to abduct Princess Rieta!”
Knox bit his lip hard.
The Princess had always been the person that the Princes he served considered their ‘hope’.
Even though everything had now come to an end.
Knox had been forcibly brought here without properly checking what had happened to the Princes after that.
“. . .Princess Rieta.”
He whispered her name with a sigh.
Unavoidable anger crept in.
“Die resenting her. In the end, it was no different that Princess Rieta made you die.”
Moody raised his sword high. Loading both weight and force on its sharp end.
All that remained was the simple act of bringing the sword down.
But then.
Someone pulled Moody’s body back, causing him to lose his balance in astonishment.
“…?!”
Startled, Moody regained his stance and turned around. The young man from the empire was smirking at him.
“———. ———————?”
Asking something in an unfamiliar language, he kicked the back of the man’s hand, causing him to drop his sword.
“Th, this!”
Moody, taken aback, quickly tried to pick up the sword, but the other young man from the empire was faster. He picked up the sword and ran towards Knox, lifting it high above his head.
Then, with a loud thud, he deeply plunged the long sword into the gravel ground. Narrowly passing through Knox’s wrists, the sword nearly severed the chain that had bound him.
Knox swiftly pulled out the remaining chains and retrieved the stuck sword. Despite the blade being chipped and the hilt shaking from the rough handling, it posed no problem in threatening a cheap knight who did more drinking than practice.
The tip of the sword touched Moody’s neck.
“Ah, ah! Spa, spare me.”
Knox frowned at the sight of Moody lowering his tail immediately.
* * *
The situation had changed. Knox and the soldiers regrouped and changed their objective. They were not the only ones given the order to bring back the villagers.
The king’s people were dispatched to other areas. There would be no one like Sir Knox in those places with similar thoughts, so the operation would likely proceed without any hindrances.
They needed to hurry.
At the same time, Knox needed to make a decision about the noble who had assisted him. He had initially planned to separate and act alone after receiving their help, but it didn’t turn out that way.
It was the night they had helped Knox.
The two men, Knox, and the soldiers had made efforts to overcome the language barrier. Initially, there was no issue with introducing themselves.
The one who had freed them from the chains introduced himself as ‘Hugh Mclean’, and the other as ‘Everet Hewitt’.
Want to read more chapters and support us? Please consider becoming a patron to read up to 40 chapters in advance!
