Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 39: Rabbit (1)

In the boundary, you couldn't tell the time.

In one place, the sun would be blazing, but just a few steps ahead, it would be pouring rain or the moon would be out.

So the knight orders trusted their bodies and senses.

The most reliable was the stomach clock.

By the time they reached the end of the rocky area, the knights' clocks all went off at once. Harad flinched for a moment. He thought it was thunder.

“Let’s eat and then go.”

At Harad’s words, the knights glanced at Elaine.

When Elaine nodded, Gullen took out provisions from the backpack he was carrying on his back.

Wherever they went, the baggage was the youngest's share.

“Grand Heir.”

“I’m fine.”

Elaine refused the provisions Gullen offered.

It wasn't just because she had a body that was fine even after starving for several days.

Elaine enjoyed not only drinking and smoking but also eating.

It meant the refusal was for the sake of the knights.

She must have been trying to save provisions in case of an unforeseen situation.

Elaine always prioritized the knights.

“Harad, this is your share.”

Derrick held out the provisions.

It was more than his own share, which was unmistakable flattery.

“I’m fine too.”

Harad also refused.

It wasn't for the sake of the knights. He had no appetite. It was because of his Origin.

“Slurp.”

The Origin was savoring the aftertaste of the heart.

The more it savored the taste, the more ecstatic and regretful the Origin became. It wanted more hearts.

‘Horrible.’

The taste was horrible, and the Origin that liked it was horrible. And so was Elaine who had handed it to him.

At times like these, Harad felt regret, not satisfaction, from his regression. She should have gone, not him.

“Let’s depart now.”

Elaine said when mealtime was over.

Once again, it was departure, not return.

‘It seems her limit hasn’t been reached yet.’

It must mean she could accommodate this level of deviation.

It felt like she was saying she would watch to see just how far he intended to go.

So Harad did just that.

Since they had already deviated from the scouting route, he walked towards the second Wall.

It wasn't a perfectly straight line.

Harad's steps were tilted to the west.

He intended to check roughly where the smoke from the watchtower, which led to the king’s magical item, was heading.

……It would be best if a mage showed up.

‘This is not my thought.’

A mage.

That was the Origin's desire. Harad frowned and rubbed his brow.

It was because he had consumed the heart of a 4th Rank magical beast without having used much mana.

The larger the Origin grew, the greater its influence on the mage became.

Mana needed to be consumed periodically.

‘Should I have taken care of the rock magical beast myself?’

Of course, there was a reward for yielding.

He had seen Elaine’s growth with his own two eyes.

Before his eyes, the rocky area ended.

From the next step, it was a meadow.

The grass was incredibly stiff, and it did not bend even under the weight of the heavy knights.

It was fine even when stepped on with all their might.

On the contrary, it felt like the soles of their boots would be pierced; it was like walking on awls.

Harad plucked a blade of grass and put it in his mouth.

Though it was as hard as an awl, it chewed like grass. His tongue tingled, indicating it also had toxins.

Harad immediately created a fire in his mouth and burned the poison.

His mouth became fresh, then nauseous.

It was also chilling and sticky.

It meant that there was more than one or two types of mixed or altered mana.

“Do you really have to taste it like that?”

Elaine, who had been watching quietly, asked.

Every time the environment changed, Harad would put elements of the environment into his mouth. Ice, snow, and even pebbles were held in his mouth like candy.

“It’s a habit.”

It wasn't a particularly meaningful act.

It was simple curiosity. What kind of alteration had this land undergone, and what kind of mana remained.

The reason he bothered to taste it was because there was no part of the body as sensitive as the inside of the mouth.

The meadow area ended.

The bright blue sky was also cut off abruptly.

The severance was as if the world had drawn a line, and the sky beyond that line was purple.

Though there wasn't a single cloud, neither the sun nor the moon could be seen.

There were sparse, gaunt trees with no leaves, and between them, dozens of mossy skulls rolled around.

On the ground, things like stalagmites were sticking out, and each one was a small magical beast.

They launched themselves the moment the scouting party entered their territory.

Their speed was considerable, like arrows being shot.

There were over dozens of such arrow-like magical beasts.

Behind them, the gaunt trees and mossy skulls advanced. They were all magical beasts.

Harad did not bother to step forward.

Derrick and the other knights were hoping he would.

“Glory to the sword of Serzila!”

Derrick and the other knights shouted in unison.

The Aura they had been conserving until now enveloped their entire bodies and was wrapped around their swords.

Derrick was in the center, with Parman and Gullen at his sides.

Tursten and Jambel extended the wings on both sides.

With the exception of Gullen, each one was a strong warrior who had achieved military merit.

Derrick was the second-in-command of the 1st Knights, and Tursten had once driven a 4th Rank mage to near death.

Jambel was Tursten’s senior, and Parman was a junior Tursten cherished.

‘Gullen is the problem.’

That must have been why Derrick placed Gullen on his right.

Parman stood on the left for the same reason, but he was better than Gullen.

Derrick was swinging his sword to cover Gullen’s share as well.

Jambel, the strongest after Derrick, also supported Gullen.

‘They certainly are tight-knit.’

To be blunt, Gullen was a burden.

But the knights did not even show it.

They protected the still-promising youngest member, intending to let him gain experience.

* * *

After that, magical beasts continued to appear incessantly.

They were all magical beasts unfamiliar to the knight order, but Derrick and the other knights were pleased.

Thanks to Harad, they had gotten the chance to fight properly, at their full strength.

On the other hand, Elaine’s complexion grew progressively worse.

It was because the wounds on the laughing knights' bodies were increasing.

Gullen had the fewest wounds, and Derrick had the most.

It was a part that best showed the tight-knit nature of Serzila.

Harad looked up.

He thought they had come quite a way, but the second Wall showed no sign of getting closer.

Only a very small outline was visible, and the smoke from the watchtower leading to the king's magical item was even farther away.

‘It’s beyond the Second Stage Boundary.’

He had hoped, but it seemed the king's magical item was beyond the second Wall.

It meant he had to approach it through a tunnel connected to the Second Stage Boundary, not the knight order’s scouting route.

“Let’s rest here.”

When Harad spoke, the knights looked at Elaine.

When Elaine nodded, the knights sat down on the ground, looking quite awkward.

It was the first time a scouting party had sat down and rested in the boundary.

“Hey, Jambel.”

“Yes, Lord Derrick.”

“What do you think about making the Commander the Deputy Commander?”

“That’s a bit……”

“If you do it, I’ll help.”

Jambel showed reluctance, but Gullen, the son of the 1st Knights Commander, agreed.

Harad pretended not to hear Derrick's plotting of a rebellion and firmly stepped on the ground.

The environment here was a pitch-black night, but there was no moon. The ground was soft earth, and uncharacteristically for the boundary, it had no poison.

The chill and the wind were still there, but it wasn't snowing.

This much he could handle.

“Lie down now.”

At those words, the seated knights looked up at Harad with blank expressions.

“You can sleep.”

“Sleep?”

In the boundary?

They had been told beforehand that they could sleep.

But now that it was actually happening, the knights couldn't easily accept it.

“I’m not sleepy.”

So Derrick said that on their behalf.

To him, the words ‘you can sleep’ sounded like ‘you can sleep when you’re dead’.

“Still, you should sleep. Sleep is essential.”

“I’m satisfied with just resting.”

The time limit for scouting is usually four or five days.

During that time, the knights cannot rest, let alone sleep.

They have to somehow conserve the Aura that is consumed even when they are just standing still and wait for the scouting to end.

“No. I am not satisfied.”

By Harad’s standards, it was an extremely foolish act.

“Most scouting missions with me will be like this. If you want to be with me, you’ll have to get used to it.”

“……”

“If you can’t sleep, say so now. I won’t go on scouting missions with the 1st Knights then.”

At those words, Derrick lay down flat on his back.

When he, the Deputy Commander, set an example, the other knights reluctantly put their backs to the ground.

The act of lying down in the boundary itself seemed extremely awkward, but their bodies were honest.

Before long, a series of thunderclaps sounded.

It was the knights’ snoring.

“Said he wasn't sleepy.”

Harad let out a dry laugh and settled down by the knights' heads.

His presence was, in a sense, a campfire.

Elaine leaned against a tree by the knights' feet.

It was a formation with the knights lying between Harad and Elaine.

“If they and you were to fall into water, I would save them without a moment’s hesitation.”

Elaine suddenly said.

“At least, that’s how it is for now.”

It meant he should strive harder.

So that I could trust you more.

However, it didn't seem to be just that.

Elaine was looking down at the snoring knights. To be precise, at their wounds.

Wounds that could not have been sustained if they had only traveled the scouting routes.

Although the knights themselves had wanted it, Elaine did not wish for them to get hurt.

‘This is the limit.’

Elaine had reached her limit.

She did not wish for the knights to get hurt any further because of her greed.

“We’ll return when they wake up.”

The knights consider death in the boundary an honor.

But Elaine wishes they would not have that honor.

“You seem to care for the knights a lot.”

“I have to.”

Elaine respects the knights of Serzila.

They were the swords that protected the peace of Serzila, traversing the boundary and risking their lives every day.

Elaine was the heir of Serzila.

As the one who would soon become their master, she had a duty to examine the edge and weight of the swords.

The fierce chill, the exhaustion that dried up Aura, the unexpected shadow of death.

Elaine wanted to experience the lives of such knights, even if only for a short while, even if indirectly.

It meant that the hunting day was not created simply because Elaine wanted real combat.

“They often talk about giving their lives. For Serzlila.”

It wasn't just the knights.

All the vassals who served Serzila were like that.

Everyone was ready to die if Serzila wished for it.

“Can you do that?”

“I have no intention of dying for Serzila.”

Harad answered immediately.

At that, Elaine smiled bitterly.

“That’s why I have no choice but to trust them more. I am……”

“But.”

Harad cut off Elaine’s words.

“I am willing to die for you.”

Anytime.

Harad could do that for Elaine.

“Not for the you of now.”

“……”

Elaine’s eyes widened.

She was like that for a long while, then she repeatedly opened and closed her lips.

“You. Harad.”

Soon, she opened her mouth with a doubtful face.

“Could it be, a dream……”

-Kiiing.

Suddenly, the cry of some beast was heard.

Elaine’s words were swallowed by that cry.

No, they were cut off.

Elaine, who had been sitting in front of him just a moment ago, had disappeared.

Kwaaang-! A loud explosion was heard from afar.

Harad’s eyes went blank.

His mind spun furiously. And so he came to an unbelievable conclusion.

……The explosion was the sound of Elaine being slammed into a rock, a tree, or the ground.

Though nothing could be seen…… the culprit was the beast that cried, kiiing.

That beast had sent Elaine flying so far away that she was out of sight.

At a speed that neither Harad nor, of course, Elaine could perceive.

-Kiiing.

……So.

That rabbit.