I Will Be the Greatest Knight

They were meant to arrive in Idona a couple of days, tensions rising as they got closer because they were still unsure of the dangers that lay ahead.

Each noise in the forest or unusual sound was met with an entire order of knights unsheathing their weapons as they prepared for the worst. Most of the time, it was a false alarm. Only a few times, they were actually met with monsters.

However, that was the major issue they faced. They met three goblins when there should have been dozens based on what the reports to Commander Henry said. It was hard for anyone to believe that a place filled to the brim with mages like Idona had been taken out if this was truly how many goblins were in the area.

Something didn't add up.

They noticed their Commander was thinking much the same because, the closer to Idona he got, the quieter he became. There was even a time he took off his helmet and placed it in his lap for a long time as she looked over their surroundings.

The tide turned, as it always did.

Soon enough, there were the signs of monsters they were expecting to see. Dozens of nests, and a lot of waste.

It wasn't until they saw the scorched grasses and trees that things became more interesting.

"Goblin bodies everywhere," Irene muttered, mostly to herself.

She had to pull off her helmet as well to experience the true breadth of what was in front of her. Burnt grass, trees—even rocks had scorch marks on them. Most of all, there were dozens of goblin bodies littering the ground.

Everyone had stopped by that point and were standing in more of a line rather than the nebulous body as they traveled varying terrain. They hadn't been in a particular formation, but when they saw their leadership stop, everyone tried to squeeze in around them to see what the hold up was.

"What in God's name…?"

"Why are there so many of them?"

"Ugh!"

There were varying reactions all around Irene but they all seemed to have the same sentiments. Commander Henry was the one who broke them all out of their thoughts.

"I think we should dispose of the corpses so this isn't a bigger issue," he ordered. "The apprentices should set up a light camp towards the forest, but we'll focus on burning the bodies for the time being."

"Yes, Sir!" rang throughout the knights and apprentices before they all went to their separate duties.

The knights dropped their horses off along the treeline and many more even left their helmets because it seemed their only task was dead goblins rather than living.

As Irene left Sammy behind to take a break after traveling so long, she began her trek towards the others who had already made it to the goblins.

"We will stack bodies over here. The grass is unlikely to burn since it was already burnt," Felix directed.

Irene nodded, but her eyes drifted towards the Commander who remained on his horse and went further southeast along the trees, looking at the burn marks. Siverly soon joined him.

She had to drop her gaze, not wanting their Commander to think she wasn't doing what was asked of her. Even worse, she had now eavesdropped on two of his conversations and hoped to never do that again. Each time she heard him speak to others, it seemed to be quite revealing.

He deserved his secrets, as did she.

She dutifully pressed on stacking bodies with the other knights until they could be properly taken care of.

"What is your assumption?" she had to ask Felix as they stood there, watching the bodies turn to ash and making sure the fire didn't spread.

"This must have been where battles took place between mages and monsters," he explained. "I don't know what else it could be. Rarely have I ever seen goblins doing anything with fire." However, he uttered the next part under his breath. "Unless we're dealing with a different sort of goblin yet again."

"Based on the bodies, I can tell these ones are the same ones we're used to," she tried to assure her friend.

She was also assuring herself. They weren't going to go into another monster war. They couldn't.

After the bodies were taken care of, they camped as usual and pressed on.

The knights and mage quickly found that it wouldn't be the first stop containing bodies of goblins littering the ground or burn marks. They traveled two more days, stopping every few hours to deal with more bodies. Considering autumn wasn't all that far off, they had to be wary of necromancers. This close to Polona, the Commander warned them that spirits were highly active considering the amount of death in that place.

Due to the sheer amount, even Siverly started pitching in more with incredibly hot magic to speed up the burning process. He complained that they were taking too much time on a task that could have been done simply.

Despite the Commander's warnings to preserve his mana, he assured everyone that he had far more mana than they could possibly comprehend.

After that, no one said anything else.

Finally, they were closing in on Idona, but their Commander's eyes were sharp. He saw smoke rising in the distance from the heart of a forest.

"Run forward!" the Commander ordered. "There's a village up ahead."

Irene squeezed her knees tightly. Sammy was eager to gallop, but she made sure to stay behind the Commander.

For the first time in their travels, the evidence of life was easier to spot as they went from weaving through trees to following a dirt road.

The smell of smoke had been evident their entire journey, but here it was far more pungent.

Out of seemingly nowhere, the Commander and his dark horse seemed to hit a wall. The former peasant flew off of his horse.

Irene urgently pulled on her horse's reins which caused him to whinny and go up on his hind legs. He then veered off to the left and the knight was left with her shoulders slouched as she pulled herself together.

Without further thought, she leapt off of Sammy and rushed to her Commander, wanting to help him to his feet.

However, he was acting instinctively and dodged, not only Irene's, but the hands of the other knights who had also gotten off their horses to help him.

After he pulled off his helmet and tossed it to the ground, he unsheathed his sword.

Irene witnessed determination in the Commander's eyes she found herself drawn to.