Chapter 19.1 (1/2)
… … …
◆ Dark Knight Runfeld
「It’s so quiet nowadays, isn’t it Runfeld-sama?」
The dark knight who is riding on his own wyvern is saying so with a carefree voice.
「Don’t let down your guard. There’s a chance that the information about the annihilation of those holy knight chaps is a fake information. Let’s continue with our usual patrol」
When I’m cautioning so, the dragon is flying on top of the mountain, the boundary region of Nargol. When I glance behind, I can see the knights following after me.
「As I thought, rebuilding our force is a tough task, huh…」
I mutter those words which isn’t mean to anyone.
In the first place, the people who possess enough aptitude to become a dark knight is scarce even amongst the demon race; it is even more so for one capable of riding a wyvern. Almost all of the skilled knights have been done in by the hero. The only one who remained right now is the one who can get on the wyvern.
Currently, the number of the dark knights who can be dispatched is no more than twenty. It’s an urgent matter that entirely depends on me to rebuild the chivalric order of dark knights.
Those holy knights of Elios were frequently trespassing the boundary lately.
When thinking about that, my head is filled with fury.
But then, they keep insisting that the skies of the entire world belong to the gods of Elios. It’s us who are violating the airspace rules despite flying in Nargol territory.
Though they approached the boundaries of Nargol time and time again before the coming of the hero, they never invaded into Nargol territory. And then, those guys started to invade Nargol territory almost everyday after the chivalric order of dark knights was almost annihilated by the hero.
They are trespassing into our airspace as if to mock us.
Though we advise them to leave, they act as if they don’t hear us, so we have no choice but to watch them in silence due to our lack of war potential.
But, even their airspace violation was finally put to an end two days ago. Moreover, when I think about the person who is the main reason for that, I feel nothing but pure fear spring inside me.
Our patrol also ended peacefully for this reason.
The wyvern circles around upon my order. It maintained its altitude on top of the Akeron mountain, the natural dividing barrier between the human world and Nargol.
After continuing to fly in this way for some time, I can see the fort on top of the mountain range.
This fort is built for the sake of protecting Nargol from Elios. We land on the wide space in the middle of the fort.
「Welcome back, Runfeld-sama」
「Father！！！」
「Dear father！！！」
Two kids appear from the fort.
「Reyli, Reyfaldo！！Why are you in this place？」
My kids rush toward me.
Reyfaldo is a boy who will turn 120 years old this year while Reyli is a girl who will turn 90 years old this year. Both of them are my children. They should have been near the demon king castle, since the demon race village is around its vicinity.
「It’s because mother wants to help father」
「Yes, mother wants us to help father in order for us to become a knight in the future」
Reyli and Reyfaldo reply as such.
「I see…」
In fact, we’re experiencing a shortage of personnel in the fort right now. Anyhow, as a matter of fact, even the people we recruited in the previous battle included non-combatants. Currently, we were even willing to go as far as asking a helping hand from a passing by cat. But now, I’m hestitating whether it’s okay to let my two kids in the fort as it is.
「Please father. Please let me[Boku]… No, please permit me[Watashi] get on the wyvern」
「Reyli too wants to do the same!」
I’m troubled up on hearing their words. Excluding the sortie for battles, the miscellaneous matters of the fort were numerous. Maybe there’s some job that can be done even by children.
Maybe it’s okay to slowly give them a job related to becoming a knight, especially to Reyfaldo.
It was when I was considering about such matters.
The wyvern house suddenly became noisy.
「What！ ！ Just happened！ ！ 」
I’m asking my subordinate who’s in charge of the wyvern house.
「I don’t know！！The wyverns have suddenly become restless！！」
My subordinate is desperate, and he’s still trying to appease the wyverns.
「RUNFELD-SAMA！！IT’S AN EMERGENCY！！」
A knight on watch duty in the tower is raising his voice with a confused tone.
「WHAT’S THE MATTER！！」
「IT’S A DRAGON！！A DRAGON… IS HEADING TOWARD US！！」
I’m looking toward the direction in the sky where the knight is pointing his finger at. Something that’s flying like a bird is present in the sky where he is pointing at. The one flying at a distance isn’t a wyvern – it’s a dragon.
「What should we do, Runfeld-sama！！」
When I look around, the soldiers of the fort are holding crossbows and arrows in preparations to face a dragon.
「PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS！！DON’T POINT YOUR CROSSBOWS TOWARD THE DRAGON！！」
The knights are questioning my order.
「Why we have to drop our weapon, Runfeld-sama?!」
「JUST LISTEN TO ME AND DON’T QUESTION IT！！GATHER EVERYONE！！」
If it’s really as I imagined, that dragon isn’t hostile toward us.
All of the people in the fort have been gathered.