Chapter Twenty-One
_ A Rough Path
---
The first and second weeks had passed. Victor sighed as he placed a bundle of papers on the tea table in the garden. Nila saw him and approached him.
"Any news?"
"Nothing. Even the medical unit waiting at the foot of the mountain hasn't detected any living creature coming out..."
Nila let out a tight breath and looked at Damian's back as he had gone to train with Riley.
"Don't tell anyone, so it doesn't reach Damian..."
"Of course."
Nila sat at the same table with a heavy heart and looked at Victor, who was working diligently on the documents as usual.
He had avoided entering the office as much as possible, and it wasn't limited to Victor. Even Damian avoided so much as passing in front of his father's office.
Nila gestured to Martha, who approached them and, without a word, began setting the tea and arranging the refreshments in front of Victor, who thanked her.
"Thank you..."
"It's nothing."
Victor glanced at Nila for a moment, then said calmly,
"I heard that you have experience managing money and accounts in the village of Torres."
"It's nothing significant."
"May I ask for your help?"
"Is it something serious?"
Nila looked at Victor suspiciously when he spoke in a tone that carried a hint of confusion despite his composure.
"His Majesty is meticulous about everything."
"I'll do what I can..."
With an enthusiastic smile, Victor placed the documents in front of her and said as he stood,
"I'll work on something else."
Nila raised an eyebrow and said sarcastically,
"You look like a child trying to avoid work. Won't the Archduke be upset that you're handing me such an important task?"
"He won't. He told me to ask for your help with the office work."
Nila's expression relaxed, and she felt a small flutter in her heart as she said with a smile,
"All right..."
Victor glanced at Nila for a moment. He seemed confused, then moved away to continue his work.
Martha approached Nila and said,
"Will you be working here, my lady?"
Nila nodded and said as she glanced at Lina, who was standing in the distance,
"How is her surveillance going?"
"She seems calm, or rather, wary of you, my lady."
"Good..."
"I thought the lady would punish her."
"That's childish, Martha."
"I'm sorry, my lady."
"It's all right. In truth, I know that Lina has hated me since I joined Walter, but I don't know why."
"Perhaps because the lady is better..."
"No, I don't think so... Lina may act recklessly, but she's a good person."
"You're strange, my lady. You're praising her."
"It's not that I'm praising her. In the past, we didn't spend much time together, and now I have to get along with her... She's one of Walter's people."
Martha was genuinely surprised by Nila's reasoning, so she said thoughtfully,
"I heard a rumor that the lady was cruel."
"It's not a rumor... Perhaps raising a child has made me calmer..."
"...."
Nila laughed shyly, causing Martha to open her mouth. It was a good thing she had chosen to stand by this woman's side.
"Anyway, keep watching her."
"Yes, my lady."
Martha stepped back while Nila opened the papers slightly and gave a mocking laugh.
"I haven't seen papers this complicated in a long time..."
She needed something to occupy her thoughts, and it was right in front of her.
---
For a moment, the place looked as though a fire had swallowed it whole, leaving nothing but blackness behind. Everything was charred. The man approached one of the plants, and when he touched it, he felt puzzled.
"It's dry and discolored..."
"I thought there had been a fire here for a moment."
The second man spoke as he held the black soil. He took a handful of it, placed it in a cloth bag, and put it inside a box, while looking at his companion, who was struggling to break the trunk.
"Have the plants hardened?"
"Ah, finally, it broke... I think so."
He broke the trunk and placed it in the box as he looked around.
"We should regroup with the others before the monsters attack again."
The first man carried the bag and moved, his companion following behind him, until they heard a sound behind them. When they turned around, there was a strangely shaped monster; the head of a boar and the body of a hyena. It was not an ordinary monster, but a strange creature found only on the mountain.
The second man drew his sword and gestured for his companion to run, but the strange monster was fast. It lunged at the first knight, and fortunately, he used the trunk to stab it in the mouth. The knight pulled the trunk free and retreated with his companion, running until they finally reached a cave. They collapsed with difficulty onto the stone floor, and one of them offered water.
"Did you find anything?"
"For a moment, I feel like the monsters are preventing us from moving any deeper."
"It's been more than two weeks, and we haven't been able to move even an inch from this place."
"Why don't we go back?"
One of the men sitting there spoke, the large wound on his hand clearly visible. The other replied,
"We haven't covered more than ten meters. How are we supposed to face His Majesty?"
A man who was limping stood up. It was obvious that his foot had become food for the monsters. He spoke,
"We have some samples. I'm afraid that if we continue, we'll lose what we've already managed to obtain."
"Also, the cave isn't safe, and the air inside isn't normal..."
"For a moment, I feel like it's sucking out my soul."
The first knight spoke curiously,
"Have you tried searching inside? Perhaps after that, we can finish the mission."
The man whose leg had been partly devoured by the monster placed a hand beneath his chin and thought for a moment after seeing the condition of the seven knights with him. They hadn't lost a single one of them, but their condition was catastrophic, so he said,
"Let's all go. If we encounter danger, we can escape quickly."
"Agreed. Arne will prepare the magic circle in case we encounter danger, and we'll return to the Grand Duchy immediately."
The young man carrying a large bag nodded. Minutes later, they began gathering their equipment to move.
---
He was writing with concentration on the paper when he noticed that his mother seemed deeply engrossed in the papers before her. It had been like this for several days. His mother continued working late into the night, reviewing and reading documents.
"Mother, you're starting to look like Father when he works..."
Damian's words broke her concentration, so she set the papers aside and turned toward him with a smile.
"Do I really look like that? I hadn't noticed..."
Damian laughed and said as he brought the quill closer to his mouth,
"When I get a little older, I'll help both of you and lighten your workload."
Nila smiled broadly and thought for a moment.
'Even if many years have passed, the body still remembers... I used to be a workaholic...'
She looked at Damian for a moment and said,
"Umm, let's share the work in the future so there will be less of it."
"Great. Then we can spend a lot of time together."
"..."
"I want to go for a walk with Father by the lake. Umm, and let's go to the festival together. Ummmmm, I'll ask Father to duel with me..."
He told her about his last wish in a slightly quieter voice, but with an excited tone, so she said,
"All right. When His Majesty returns, we'll tell him what you want."
"Good..."
Knock knock. !!!!
The two of them looked toward the door. When Selene finally entered, she was panting and speaking in broken breaths.
"He has arrived.... A group of knights... has arrived... in the palace courtyard."
Nila and Damian both stood up, and quickly descended toward the gate.
The group was in a pitiful state. Everyone was in fairly bad condition, but they were all alive. The medical team moved toward them, and Riley and Roen stepped forward to help.
When Damian came down, his eyes moved among the knights, expecting to see his father at the very least. Roen noticed this and said,
"It's one of the groups..."
Damian took a step back, drew a deep breath, and looked at Victor.
"You must take them to the infirmary..."
The servants and knights carried the wounded away, but the group's leader approached Victor while panting.
"We gathered some information..."
One of the knights carried him on his back. Damian looked at the knight and the group leader in confusion. The knight looked strangely familiar.
'It's only natural that everyone looks familiar to me...'
Damian dismissed his thoughts and suspicions, then returned inside the palace.
---
The third week since the mission began had not been quiet. The groups had started returning intermittently until the end of the fourth week. It was almost the final group. As usual, Damian hurried out to check on them and look for his father, but he gained nothing.
"Wait!"
"..."
The leader of the last group noticed Damian calling out to him and bowed before him with an injured arm.
"Wasn't every group made up of eight knights? Only five came out. Where are the rest of you?"
The group leader's face grew darker, and he clenched his wounded hand tightly.
"We were separated from them..."
"Where?"
He did not answer immediately. Instead, his expression grew even darker, then he said:
"We couldn't get back to them."
Damian looked at him as if asking how that was possible. The man smiled with tired eyes. Damian sighed, then returned to his quiet daily routine...
The quiet did not last long. Four days after the last group arrived, while he was training in magic with Roen in the knights' courtyard, Riley ran into the courtyard. He approached the training grounds with a pale face, causing Roen to narrow his eyes. Before he could say anything...
"His Majesty has returned..."
One of the knights came and spoke loudly to the rest of the knights without noticing the little boy. Damian's expression brightened, and without hearing the rest of the news, he rushed relentlessly toward the main palace.
When he arrived at the gate, gasping for breath, he found three knights in miserable clothing. Although they were somewhat injured, they were fine. In fact, their wounds were minor.
Damian approached them, barely able to catch his breath. He looked around but could not find his mother or even Victor, so he asked the knights,
"Where is Father?"
The three men froze, and their faces went pale. They exchanged silent glances. One of them was about to speak, but he closed his mouth again. Damian did not understand.
"Where is the Archduke?"
This time, no one answered.
Riley and Roen approached at that moment, and the moment he saw their faces, he looked at Damian.
"Young master..."
But Damian did not wait. He rushed inside the palace. He went to the office, but it was still locked. He stepped backward, then went up toward the third floor. Instinctively, his feet carried him toward the room he knew belonged to his father.
The door was open, and the servants were moving around the bed in a state of confusion, while one of them stood beside the man lying there, trying to bandage his wounds.
Damian stopped at the door for a moment. He could not comprehend what his eyes were seeing.
Alyon was lying on the bed, unmoving... For a moment, Damian did not understand what he was looking at. His clothes were torn... dried blood covered his chest...
The bandages were no longer white... and burns stretched along his arm.
The man Damian had never once seen weak... was now unable to open his eyes.
His face was paler than Damian had ever seen it, his eyes closed, while his chest rose and fell with difficulty with every breath.
.
That man whom he had always seen standing straight, never allowing anyone to see his weakness... was now unable even to open his eyes.
Damian took a step back and his back struck the wall. No sound came from his throat, only tears falling endlessly as he continued staring at his father as though waiting for him to suddenly rise, but Alyon did not move.
Damian swallowed with difficulty and murmured in a trembling voice:
"You said you would come back..."
---
A few days earlier...
"Sir, don't you think we've passed this point before?"
The group leader approached one of the petrified trees and sighed.
"We're going around in circles."
"What's the solution?"
"We have to break through it..."
The leader looked at his group and drew his sword. Despite the difficulty, they began breaking the trees to make a new path, until they reached a point that was literally empty of everything.
Everyone looked at one another, and the group leader said,
"Let's stay close to one another. If the danger increases... we can all make it back."
The knights nodded in understanding and began moving, while something flashed in the eyes of one of the knights. Driven by curiosity, he hurried toward the opposite side, which was only ten steps away.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"I think I've found something..."
The group leader wanted nothing more than to gather information and have his group return safely.
He decided to approach the young man with the others, but as soon as they reached the middle of the empty area, the ground literally began to crumble.
The group retreated when two others became separated on the opposite side.
Everyone stared at the large crack until their mouths fell open. It was extremely deep. Crossing to the other side would be difficult, not to mention the danger of the ground collapsing further and them falling.
The group leader looked at the three standing on the other side and thought,
"Jan, Kyle, and Edward, I'll throw the rope. Tie it to the other side. We have to go back."
Edward's voice trembled on the opposite side, his eyes shaking as he could barely get the words out.
"Sir, you need to look behind you."
A group of six ogres was heading toward them.
The four knights and the group leader drew their swords and began fighting them fiercely. When they finally finished them off, the ground beneath them began collapsing more severely because of the force of the battle, forcing the five to retreat.
"Get the ropes out, hurry..."
"It seems we don't have time, sir..."
The others looked toward the place where the ogres had emerged earlier, but instead of five or six, there was a huge horde. Fighting them under the current circumstances would be difficult.
The three looked at one another, and the impulsive young man, Kyle, spoke with his head bowed.
"It's my fault..."
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is. We have to decide. Do we let our comrades die, or do we let them return?"
The two fell silent for a moment, then looked toward their comrades. The situation was catastrophic. If the ogres came any closer, the ground beneath them might collapse.
Jan looked at his comrades on the other side, then at the advancing horde of ogres. The ground beneath their feet was cracking further with every step.
They had no time.
"If we all stay here... everyone will die."
He fell silent, then said in a low voice:
"Let them leave."
The two nodded resolutely and looked at the group leader. Jan spoke,
"Sir, you can't fight. Go ahead of us to the Grand Duchy. We'll find a way back..."
"But..."
"Go, now."
He nodded to the two with him, and quickly disappeared deeper into the forest so that they would leave the leader with no choice but to retreat.
The leader reluctantly pulled out the leather tablet and, in a tired voice, spoke to one of the knights.
"Activate it..."
Before the monsters could reach them by even a step, the light swallowed them...
When Kyle made sure that their group had left, he returned to his two companions with his head bowed.
"I'm sorry. Because of me..."
"It's all right, Kyle. Perhaps there was a reason for your impulsiveness..."
Kyle opened his hand before them and said in a trembling voice,
"I found my brother's ring..."
Edward patted him on the back and said with a laugh,
"Perhaps we'll find something no one else has found..."
"Then we have to return alive."
The three headed toward the depths of the charred trees. Jan continued recording notes in a small notebook, while Edward watched their surroundings and Kyle examined the area.
"Look."
Kyle's eyes stopped at one spot. It was more like a hollow trunk, large enough for an adult man to enter.
The three approached when they noticed pieces of clothing. Looking more closely, the clothes belonged to Walter's knights.
"Is he one of the members of the other groups?"
Jan spoke anxiously and rushed forward with the others until they reached the spot. Instead of a flesh-covered body, there were dry bones covered by the clothes.
"Is he from one of the previous expeditions?"
"It seems so. The last expedition was six months ago..."
Kyle's voice trembled, as it was obvious what had happened to the previous unit.
Edward looked at him and said,
"Let's bury him."
The two nodded and began digging. When they finished digging, Edward carried the skeleton, and something fell from it.
He hesitated for a moment, but Jan picked up the fallen object. It was a notebook.
The three looked at one another. Then Edward placed the body in the grave.
He noticed something on the clothes and said to his companions,
"These wounds don't look like they came from a monster attack..."
The two approached, shock evident on their faces. Jan said thoughtfully, though he himself was doubtful,
"Perhaps they had a dispute among themselves..."
"Disputes don't lead to murder, especially in a place like this..."
Jan was aware of how impossible his conclusion was, but a bad feeling swept over him, so he said,
"We must return quickly and inform His Majesty."
They finished burying the body after searching his clothes for his identity, then headed toward the foot of the mountain, or so they thought...
...... To be continued ......