Chapter 13
When the next day came, Austin checked the dormitory once more together with me.
At a glance, it looked like an unnecessary action.
Hadn’t Lucille already used magic to check the situation inside?
He wanted to be alone with me here.
It meant he acknowledged me as the leader of this place.
However, I could not interpret that as something purely positive.
There is always a reason when someone avoids a place with many people.
“Joshua, I will ask directly. How much supplies are left here?”
A clumsy lie would be exposed easily.
So I answered honestly.
“We have three days’ worth of food left.”
I stayed silent about the alchemy materials we had taken from the storage room and the liquor and cigarettes from the lounge.
He stroked his long beard.
“The answer is the same as what the two young knights who follow you told me.”
Austin already had the information in hand and was testing me.
I had expected that.
Still, the fact that I confessed so easily made it feel a bit anticlimactic.
Any trace of agitation was quickly swallowed up by [Steady Nerves].
“I hope you don't take offense. This is also one way to confirm each other’s trust. And I hope you don't start doubting your companions because of this conversation.”
I shrugged.
I had told the two boys to keep their mouths shut, but my expectations had not been that high.
To them, a knight was both a goal and an idol.
Someone who drew a strict line between good and evil and knew pride and honor.
They would have looked at him with the same idealized expectations they had read about in books.
I had not seen it, but the scene came to mind clearly.
The two boys were probably staring at Austin with eyes full of respect.
I had no intention of blaming them. That image would not last long anyway. I did not need to be the one to break it.
What bothered me more was the way Austin slyly tried to direct my gaze.
He sprinkled ash over a relationship that had been forged while crossing the line between life and death.
As if he hoped we would break apart on our own.
From Austin’s point of view, he would want a situation where he could get what he needed without getting his own hands dirty.
“As long as those kids don't kick me out, I am not going to be the one who lets go first.”
“That is a fine bond. Better than ours.”
“I answered one of your questions, so now it is my turn. You don't mind, do you?”
Austin rubbed the back of his neck as if this felt awkward.
“Go ahead.”
“What mission did you receive when you left the Tower? Free exploration? Or the rescue of survivors?”
He ran a hand through his hair as if it was a difficult question.
It was an answer he wanted to avoid, but he had an obligation to open his mouth.
“We came out to look for food. The Tower hardly has any stock left. With no way of knowing when this crisis will end, we could not sit quietly and wait. So a search party like ours was formed, and we were in the middle of combing the academy.”
I recalled the scenario linked to Tania.
If the story proceeded the same way as in the game, the knights would take her and return to their base.
From here on, it became important. Now I had two choices.
The first was to put forward the favor I had shown Tania and follow them that way.
I did not have to worry too much about Lucille’s interference.
She had enough generosity to take a step back if her little sister asked her.
However, I did not think a knight order that took me in because I begged would welcome me with open arms.
The people in the Tower would probably bring up Joshua’s disgraceful reputation and push me out as well.
That was not a long term plan.
[Clever] also recommended another method.
That meant I had only one choice left.
If it worked, I would gain a great reward. If I failed to convince Austin, I would earn his anger.
Being able to produce our own food had to come first. I needed to use these people to strike a nearby base. Where would be good? Triden. I had to go there.
Now it was time to roast the knight in front of me with my tongue.
Austin’s breathing sounded loud, and in that silence it felt like someone was squeezing my chest.
[Cool] steadied my sharpened nerves.
“I know a place where there is still food.”
Austin did not respond.
He looked like he was trying to grasp the intention behind my words.
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Rather than going back empty handed, why don’t you at least check the place I tell you about.”
I could feel the atmosphere changing.
There was considerable pressure in the way he looked down at me.
[Steady Nerves] kept my consciousness from shrinking back.
“Where is that place?”
“The village of Triden. I am sure you have heard of it at least once.”
There were not only training facilities inside the academy.
This land had originally been a great noble’s domain, and even after the academy was built, most of the villages and even a city remained.
Among them, the village of Triden lay not far from Dormitory Building 4.
If I recall correctly, it was a small settlement of about fifty people.
“Yes, I remember it. But I don't think there will be any food left there. After a disaster like this, the villagers would have grabbed what they could and fled.”
No, his guess was wrong.
At the point where the game began, Triden was already a ruin.
It was the result of three zombies born inside the village wreaking havoc over a single night.
However, he did not know that information.
And even if I told him, he would not accept it at face value.
To Austin, Joshua was only a slightly talented student.
“No, there is food left.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I passed through Triden on my way to Dormitory Building 4. It was already in shambles. The fortunate part was that after the village became like that, there were no signs that anyone else had visited.”
I mixed lies into my words.
From his side, he had no way to see the cards in my hand.
He could only try to gauge them.
Austin hesitated.
“When did you see that?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“That is quite some time. Someone could have gone through already.”
“My thoughts are different. The village was crawling with monsters, and unless someone was on a very high level, they would not even consider going inside. But if people of that level were moving, they would not bother with a small village like Triden. They would aim for something much larger.”
For the first time, the iron wall on Austin’s face cracked.
It was not something he could brush off simply as a suggestion from a student.
It would be hard for him to step back now.
There were factions even within the knight order.
If you wanted to increase your influence inside that structure, you needed results.
Austin did not want to return empty handed.
He was the type who knew what he had to do in order to survive.
“I will guide you to the village.”
“You personally?”
“I think it is better that way.”
Regardless of the knights’ objectives, Triden was a place I had to visit at least once.
There were essential survival supplies and gear that enhanced Originality hidden there.
I had to get them.
I was using food as bait to hire the knight order as bodyguards.
Whether they were trustworthy as people was a secondary issue. At the very least, their skills were better than the students’.
Austin smiled.
“Alright. I accept your proposal.”
“You are going to be busy now. You have to persuade your comrades after all.”
“There is no need for that. It is our duty to obey the leader’s orders. Do you not think so?”
“I am not sure.”
It was time to prepare for departure.
I was going out for the first time in nearly a month.
Even so, whether it was here or outside, the world was just as messed up.
* * *
[God believes that humans will save themselves.]
[God does not think that revenge is the wrong path.]
[The believer must train without rest.]
Using Speed Reading, I fully deciphered the holy book I had.
As a result, I obtained two additional spells.
[You have obtained the spell Flash.]
[You have obtained the spell Serenity.]
Flash emitted a strong light, and Serenity calmed the mind.
They had no attack power, but they could be useful depending on the situation.
I stepped outside.
The others were already out and waiting for me.
The search party consisted of three knights and two students.
Joshua, included among the students, stood before the remaining people in the dormitory before leaving.
“Stay put and keep this place. We will be back in about two days.”
“It takes that long?”
Tania drooped.
Her older sister Lucille had forced her to stay behind.
“If you come with us, the only things waiting for you will be dangerous situations. And the dormitory is much safer than before.”
Joshua jerked his chin toward the knight standing near the entrance.
“In my eyes, that person cannot even compare to you, senior.”
“...Is that so?”
She scrunched up her face as if she had stepped in something nasty.
“Anyway, that is how it is. You stay here with Gavinu and wait.”
“I wanted to go too!”
“I know. But I want to avoid getting caught between you and your sister while we are out exploring as much as possible.”
Lucille Rainwood’s ability was cut in half when she was with her little sister Tania.
In order to get rid of this debuff, Tania needed a background that would make Lucille recognize her.
I did not want to be tossed around by the sisters’ issues. On top of that, it was more important to peel off some of the bad impression Lucille had of me.
Joshua turned his body.
The knights who had finished their preparations gathered in front of the main gate.
After talking with his comrades for a moment, Austin came toward me.
“I want you to tell us the fastest route to the village.”
“If you keep going north west along the road and cross the bridge, you will see it right away.”
He nodded and went back to the front of the formation.
Soon after, the knights took the lead and set off, and Talleon and I followed.
“I thought they would sweep everything away as we go?”
Talleon was flustered by how different the knights’ movements were from what he had expected.
They lowered their posture and kept a wary eye on the surroundings.
Austin watched the front, and the other two checked left and right.
If there were monsters nearby, they indicated the number and direction with hand signals toward Austin.
Then Austin decided on the spot whether to kill them or pass by.
It was obvious that they wanted to avoid fighting zombies as much as possible.
“They will take down the first few easily. But human stamina is not infinite. Charging straight ahead while we have no idea how many monsters are in the direction we are heading. That is almost the same as suicide.”
Talleon nodded in agreement.
He had fought monsters himself and had felt how terrifying they were on his own skin.
He knew they were not enemies you could treat lightly.
How far had we come?
After we had walked for about an hour, I looked back.
I had expected the dormitory to be far away by now, but it still stood clearly in sight.
We had maybe moved around five hundred meters?
The feeling was a bit suffocating.
We avoided the well maintained road and deliberately took the steep brush.
Zombies had taken over the main route.
As we crushed weeds underfoot and snapped twigs, sweat ran down like rain.
My feet felt heavy, as if someone had tied lead to them.
[Patience] laughed it off as nothing serious.
I was fine, but for someone else, it could be fatal.
That prediction hit the mark.
Talleon did not notice a sunken patch of ground and stepped right into it.
The earth seemed to suck him down, and he let out a scream.
“Aghhh!”
His scream served as an alarm and drew the zombies nearby.
The knights turned their heads in a hurry.
Before they even fully understood the situation, they had already drawn their swords.
I also grabbed my bat faster than anyone else.
[Cool] cooled my head and impressed upon me that there were three zombies around us.
It also reminded me that one of them was directly behind me.
Listen to the sound.
Footsteps that had been faint grew closer and changed into pounding strides.
I quickly swung my bat backward.
The feeling of hitting something traveled up through my fingertips.
When I turned, the zombie was on one knee, still trying to lunge at me.
I calmly went for its head.
Once. Twice.
I struck down without mercy, and the thing’s head broke apart before it could even groan.
I scraped the flesh and green blood clinging to my bat against a tree and steadied my breathing.
“Damn it.”
Things seemed to have settled down in front as well.
At the same time, one of the knights came up from behind and grabbed Talleon by the collar.
His name was Zenit.
He was one of Austin’s men, a man whose most distinctive feature was the green tint in his hair.
“We almost got in serious trouble because of you.”
“I-I am sorry.”
“Do you think a sorry is enough? This is why I told him over and over that we should not bring brats.”
Dangling in the air, Talleon kicked his feet helplessly.
His face flushed red.
I could not just stand by and watch, so I kicked Zenit hard behind the knee.
It was one of the places armor could not protect.
He could not endure the shock and let go of Talleon.
“Your voice is too loud, sir knight.”
“What did you just say?”
“I said that thanks to you, the three we had might turn into twice that number. Calm down. You have at least that much self control, I’m sure.”
“Hah, a mere novice dares to lecture me huh. Fine, let’s see.”
I picked up my book.
If things went badly, I was ready to use magic to stop him.
However, that resolve ended up fading away because someone stepped in.
Austin slammed Zenit down as he lay on the ground.
Then his thick fist smashed into Zenit’s helmet.
Crack!
A dull metallic sound rang out.
The metal plate covering the helmet crumpled, and blood dripped from Austin’s fist.
It was a rough method, but nothing worked better when you needed to make someone listen.
Knights in this world were far from gentle in temperament.
The image of kind souls who protected the weak was close to a fantasy.
They were more like a gang of thugs.
Sometimes it was hard to tell how different they were from bandits or pirates.
Maybe the main difference was that they owned land and retainers?
I watched without much reaction.
There had been countless scenes in the game where the knight order used violence before words.
However, for someone else, it seemed to be a shock.
Talleon was more appalled by their behavior than by having his collar grabbed.
When you are still an apprentice, you are at the age where you cling to chivalry, so… his rose colored glasses would fall off on their own.
Austin lifted Zenit’s upper body.
“What did I say before we left the base?”
Zenit still looked dazed.
His right cheek had swelled up in an instant.
Blood seeped through the gap of his slightly parted lips, as if the inside of his mouth had torn.
“I said that traveling with the two boys is my decision, and if there is a problem, you take it up with me.”
“...I remember clearly.”
“Then what do you think you’re doing right now? Was it such a huge crisis that you lost your judgment?”
“No, it was not.”
“That’s right, it wasn’t. There were only three monsters. A warning would have been enough. Next time, think before you act.”
After saying that much, Austin got to his feet.
When he shook his torn glove, droplets of blood scattered over the undergrowth.
The situation was more or less settled.
However, Austin did not return to the front right away, as if he still had business.
His cold gaze swept up and down over me.
This time, his face did not have its usual hint of a smile.
“You react quickly. You reached for your weapon faster than we did.”
Huh, I had to admit it was impressive that he had noticed that in such a short moment.
It was a sharp piece of analysis.
I shrugged and answered playfully.
“I was lucky.”
“Luck huh. That usually only appears for someone who deserves it. Let me ask you one more thing. If I had not stopped Zenit, what would you have done?”
“I don't know. I am not the type to cling to something once it is already over.”
“In that case, maybe I should have left it. I feel like I missed a good show.”
Our conversation ended there.
Austin soothed the trembling Talleon and went back to the front with Zenit.
When I followed their movements with my eyes, my gaze met Lucille’s.
Her eyes were filled with doubt.
She looked as if she was shocked by a result that was completely different from what she had expected.
It is fine. I just have to prove it slowly. This is only the beginning.
I looked away and checked on Talleon.
His face was heavy with fatigue, and his complexion had turned pale.
His heart must have dropped when he made such an unexpected mistake, and Zenit’s shouting had probably blown his mind away.
A little bit of moisture had gathered at the corners of his eyes.
The way he bit his lip looked like his own attempt to hold back his tears.
“...I am sorry. I guess I was getting full of myself just because I killed a few monsters. Tania should have been the one to come instead of me. I cannot believe I made a mistake like this.”
“You don't need to worry about it. The ground is uneven, so one of us was always going to trip sometime. It just happened to be you this time.”
Has this comfort reached him?
I wasn’t sure.
Before Talleon had time to sort out his emotions, the knights started walking again.
He quickly dusted off his backside and stood up.
I moved again as well.
There was still a long way left before we reached Triden.