Chapter 72
Seeing an adult he knew seemed to reassure the little boy. He clung to me and burst into tears.
I stroked his back and whispered in his ear.
“Were you in the forest with the friends you were with at the beach? Is that where the monsters attacked you?”
“Y-Yeah... in the western forest...”
“The western forest, huh? Do you remember where?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Good boy. Then I’ll carry you to the forest. Could you show me where it happened? You don’t need to worry about the monsters. We have some incredibly strong knights with us, so they’ll beat them in no time.”
I spoke slowly to reassure him. The boy lifted his face a little and looked at Commander Cyril and the others behind me.
But he quickly lowered his head again and murmured as if he’d given up.
“I-I can’t! The knights won’t help anyone from Sutherland!”
I pretended not to notice Commander Cyril stiffening in surprise and spoke to the boy.
“Is that so? When I became a knight, I promised, ‘I will always protect the weak.’ All knights make that promise, and we always keep the promises we make. So I think it’ll be all right. ...Have you ever asked a knight for help when you were in trouble and been turned down?”
“...I-I’ve never asked a knight for help before, so I don’t know.”
I picked the boy up, then stood up myself.
“I see. But you’ve asked me for help now, so I’ll help you. The knights behind me heard you, too, so they’ll come with us to help your friends.”
The boy stared at me, then nodded silently.
Commander Cyril saw this and reached out impatiently.
“Fia, if you don’t mind, I’ll carry him. We’ll lose speed if you carry him yourself.”
But when the boy saw Commander Cyril reaching for him, he let out a little “Eep!” and clung tightly to me.
Commander Cyril’s hand dropped limply to his side.
This time, Commander Curtis spoke to the boy.
“Hello. I’m one of the knights protecting Sutherland, so you must know my face, right? I’m the knight you all call the ‘Light Blue Commander.’”
“Oh...”
The boy glanced up at Commander Curtis and let out a sound as if he’d just remembered something.
Commander Curtis continued speaking to him with a kind expression.
“Your friends must be frightened, so we should hurry and help them. It’ll be faster if I carry you. May I pick you up?”
The boy hesitated for just a moment, then immediately reached both arms toward Commander Curtis.
...Well, Commander Cyril said that Commander Curtis was the only knight accepted by the people of this land, and it seems he was right.
I thought that as I slipped out of the boy’s arms and watched him cling to Commander Curtis.
The adults gathered around us had been silently watching what would happen, but when we started to move, they suddenly spoke up.
“U-Um, the children go into the forest sometimes, but they always wander around near the entrance, so... We can handle any monsters near the entrance ourselves. We’ll go.”
“Y-Yes. We’ll rescue the children ourselves, so there’s no need to trouble the knights.”
Even though children were in immediate danger from monsters, the residents were insisting that they didn’t want the knights’ help.
Commander Cyril looked troubled as he listened, but kept his emotions in check and spoke in an even voice.
“Thank you for offering to help. However, monsters across the continent have been behaving unusually lately, so even near the forest entrance, powerful monsters may appear.”
The residents fell silent at Commander Cyril’s words. He looked around at them and continued.
“I am Cyril, Commander of the First Knight Order. I will bring the children back safely, so please leave this to us.”
At that, some of the residents stirred as if they’d suddenly realized something.
“T-The Commander of the First Knight Order... Isn’t that the lord?”
“The Duke of Sutherland...”
Commander Cyril paid no attention to the murmuring residents. He turned on his heel and ran toward the forest.
Commander Curtis started to follow, but stopped and called out to the residents, who were huddled together anxiously.
“We’re seasoned knights, so don’t worry. Oh, could you fetch the Saint in case the children are injured?”
Several residents who heard him ran toward the church.
It seemed Commander Curtis had managed to ease the residents’ worries while giving them a role—fetching the Saint—and making them feel like part of the group.
...Well, Commander Curtis might be incredibly good at getting people to act.
Thinking that, I ran after the others, making sure not to fall behind, and headed for the town entrance.
Fortunately, our horses were waiting at the town entrance, so it didn’t take long to reach the western forest.
My guess that the children wouldn’t have gone far into the forest on their little legs was right. They were about five minutes from the entrance.
It was certainly a place children could reach, and normally, monsters wouldn’t appear there.
But there was no guarantee that monsters would always behave as expected, and the children were indeed facing one.
Fortunately, there was a deep hollow at the base of a tree where the children had been cornered. It was big enough for several of them to squeeze inside, and the monster couldn’t reach them once they’d managed to get into the hole.
It also worked in their favor that the monster was too large to fit through the hollow’s narrow entrance.
The children were facing a lizard-shaped monster about three meters long: a basilisk.
Basilisks were B-rank monsters that normally lived deep in the forest.
As Commander Cyril had said, perhaps the monsters’ range of movement really had become abnormal.
There were two of them. It was clearly a losing proposition for the four of us.
As I wondered what we should do, Commander Cyril spoke to me.
“Fia, please protect the children. The three of us should be more than enough to handle two of them.”
Well, he’d found a convenient way to get rid of me...
That was what I thought, though I had to admit Commander Cyril’s judgment was spot-on.
Yes, I’m clearly the weakest one here, and someone needs to protect the children.
But are three people really enough against two B-rank monsters?
Basilisks spew potent poison, have tough skin, and move quickly.
No matter how strong Commander Cyril was, even with Commander Curtis and Fabian alongside him, wouldn’t two of them be too much?
As I wondered, Commander Cyril smoothly drew his sword.
Ah, he’s strong.
The moment Commander Cyril drew his sword, the air seemed to grow taut, and I caught my breath.
With a sword in his hand, Commander Cyril seemed to transform into an entirely different creature.
I’d seen Commander Cyril wield a sword several times before—when he fought Grand Commander Savis and when he faced a Flowerhorn Deer—but the air around him now was different from either of those times.
Ah, so Commander Cyril is the type whose strength changes depending on the situation.
I let out a sigh of relief, then spoke to the boy beside me, who was watching Commander Cyril and the others with a worried expression.
“The knight who drew his sword is the lord of Sutherland. It’s all right. He’s strong, and he’ll definitely protect us.”
The boy listened to me, then silently wrapped his arms tightly around my waist.
I smiled at him and gently squeezed the hand he’d wrapped around my waist.