How a Second Life Knight Lives

22. Me, Her, Their Circumstances

I stood up from the carriage.

The woman in the robe had disappeared from my sight at some point.

I placed my left hand on the sword at my waist and scanned the surroundings with a sharp gaze.

I couldn’t see her.

And that sensation.

The sensation I had felt was gone.

I turned my gaze to the translucent minimap.

The red dot that had appeared on the minimap was also gone.

Damn!

Unable to suppress my panic, I urgently looked around again.

Carriages lined up in a row.

People constantly moving.

The chaos near the city gate reminiscent of Jamsil Station at 8:30 AM.

I had no choice but to give up.

“Sir William? What’s the matter?”

“I thought I saw someone I knew.”

“Shall I shout?”

“No. I must have been mistaken. Don’t worry about it, Jacob.”

I touched the X to turn off the status window and sat down.

The status window seemed to recognize the place I was in as the city of Kalmar.

So, when it detected a hostile and threatening presence in Kalmar, it marked it on the minimap.

The woman who had seemed strange to me must have belonged to one of the many factions watching over Kalmar.

Perhaps she was a spy or agent on a special mission who had come and gone.

But when she noticed me watching her, she hid her presence.

Even from the minimap.

Is this even possible?

I had assumed that the status window given to me was bestowed by a divine being.

Yet she had hidden herself not only from my gaze but also from the status window.

What could this mean?

Yeah.

I had to admit it.

The status window is not omnipotent.

It is merely a format to convey information literally.

Relying too much on the status window is dangerous.

And just now, I discovered one of those dangers.

Someone could deceive the status window.

Now, I had to consider that some of the information appearing in the status window,

perhaps information about other people,

could be erroneous.

Damn. Is this really something given by a divine being?

I couldn’t help but grumble as I reviewed various hypotheses that kept popping up, feeling like one of my premises had collapsed.

After all, they brought me back after 5 years,

and the status window is defective.

What the hell.

······No, I am always grateful.

I am using the status window well.

I also like the sturdy body I got after returning.

To the one who sent me here.

Don’t misunderstand.

I was just grumbling. Meaninglessly.

So, when something doesn’t go well or when I encounter something unexpectedly frustrating, it’s just like saying “Holy shit!”

It’s not like I’m actually saying I’m going to do something about the holy crap, right?

As you know, this is just a linguistic habit humans have.

You don’t need to take it seriously at all.

Just let me live like this, as I am.

Thank you.

The road to the mountain village had not even started yet.

*

She stood on top of the castle wall.

Leaning against the watchtower built even higher on the high castle wall, she was watching the carriage moving along the road in the distance.

In the carriage, which was wriggling like a crawling caterpillar, he was there.

She didn’t know how he discovered her, but he sensed her off guard.

She also felt that he had discovered her and immediately hid herself.

At first, even though she hid herself, she trembled with anxiety, clutching her dagger, fearing that he might still discover her.

However, he did not find her.

Only then did she relax and slowly move away from him.

Her mystery protected her once again.

Erasing her presence.

That was her mystery.

If it were an ordinary person, they wouldn’t notice her even if she was right next to them.

Only when she moved and spoke would they realize she was right next to them and awkwardly tilt their heads.

It was a mystery she had accidentally encountered as a child to survive in violence.

And that mystery provided her with daily bread and a family.

She had become a member of the assassin group.

Arkhu

An ancient word meaning “gathering of brothers” was the name of that assassin group.

An assassin group with a long history.

A place that might have a history older than the oldest country.

And it was an organization recognized to the extent that it had bases all over the continent and even traded with great nobles.

This time, the client was Duke Glenn, one of the electors of the empire.

Efficient but inhumane.

Perhaps the noble most similar to the brothers.

So the brothers might have felt comfortable dealing with Duke Glenn.

The target sent back to the earth this time was a completely different type of person from Duke Glenn.

Cheerful, talkative, and good at singing.

A person who enjoyed life without any thoughts, the youngest son of a noble family.

However, his appearance begging for mercy while dying was no different from others.

A few days ago, she stabbed a dagger into the back of a panting beast.

Very deeply.

However, the vitality of the beast was tenacious. No, is that the case with all life?

She staggered and slashed at the target with her dagger.

The target, who tried to defend by reaching out, eventually fell again after being stabbed in the thigh and begged for life.

Can life be obtained by begging?

It was hard to get even a piece of bread by begging, wasn’t it?

So, life cannot be obtained by begging.

Oh, you beast raised with love.

I will not give you life.

The target’s life soon faded as her brothers came in and finished the job.

Dressing the naked dead!

It seemed like a pointless task, but since it was one of the client’s demands, she had to fulfill it diligently.

After all the work was done, she left a word to the prostitute who still hadn’t dressed.

“Arkhu.”

It was a word whispered into the ear of the trembling prostitute.

To the prostitute, it sounded like if she kept her mouth shut, her family would not be harmed.

For a few days after she walked out of that place,

There was a big commotion.

The city gates were closed, and guards were everywhere.

Those who lived in the pleasure district were beaten and dragged away.

Anyone even slightly suspicious was detained.

Among them was the prostitute who had heard her whisper.

However, no one asked her to go with them.

When the commotion subsided and the city gates opened,

She rose from the shadows between the buildings where the guards could be seen.

It was time to leave the city.

But, at the moment of leaving the city,

She collided with someone who found her among the meaningless crowd.

The chill of the city wall seeped into her back.

Even after the carriage he was riding in was no longer visible.

Even after the sun had set and darkness had descended,

she continued to look at the same place.

*

At first, it was a shock.

Then, it was anger.

But reality does not change.

So, an alternative was proposed.

“Kaelin. You must go.”

Count Flens commanded in a tone that had not yet calmed down.

His attitude made it clear that he would not accept any objections.

The atmosphere was so tense that the retainers dared not open their mouths.

However, Kaelin, the second son of Count Flens, could not agree because he knew the hidden meaning behind the Count’s order.

“Tallin caused an absurd accident and died, what can I do if I go?

“Kaelin!”

“You’re not sending me to clean up that fool’s corpse and apologize to the Countess, are you?”

Count Flens could not open his mouth.

He had something to say.

But he was not shameless enough to say it out loud.

He just hoped that a retainer or his perceptive second son would step up and break the ice.

However, the second son, who could see through his father’s intentions, seemed unwilling to comply with Count Flens’ wishes.

“Give up your regrets, Count. It’s fortunate that the Countess of Kalmar is not holding us responsible. Isn’t it a situation where it’s not strange if her knight, enraged by the insult the Countess of Kalmar received, breaks down the door and comes in right now? And if we go to Kalmar and say, ‘How about Kaelin instead of Tallin?’ how many gloves do you think will fly at us on the spot? Do you think we can breathe buried under those gloves? With my skills, I can’t even handle a guard knight, let alone Master Johan’s disciple. Let’s give up. It’s all over.”

“You should have been sent from the beginning. No matter what Duke Maximilian said, you should have been sent.”

Count Flens spoke as if he were chewing his words.

Kaelin agreed with that statement as well.

Although he was said to have excellent skills as a knight, to push him as the Countess’s husband just because he had a handsome face and was good at seducing women.

These old men, really.

Whether it was Duke Maximilian or his own father, there should be a limit to underestimating the Countess.

Even if an incompetent successor inherits the territory, if the retainers are capable, the territory will somehow manage.

Moreover, during the ten-year interregnum, the commercial city of Kalmar managed to cleverly maintain neutrality among the electors and only reap the benefits, thanks to the Countess’s father.

And governance is not something that can be done alone.

The tightrope walking of the past ten years could not have been accomplished without the help of the vassals.

No matter how suddenly the count died and the unprepared young countess became the ruler, it doesn’t mean that the capable vassals have disappeared.

The countess is only 18 years old.

She is at an age where she should be learning practical work and gaining experience, not ruling.

Naturally, the governance should fall to the vassals, shouldn’t it?

Instead of sending Talin, who has a strong flirtatious nature, to target the countess, wouldn’t it have been better to propose someone like me, Kaelin, who can discuss the management and politics of Kalmar City with the countess’s vassals, as her husband? Though I might be a bit old.

For the sake of Duke Maximilian’s wishes as well.

However, Kaelin swallowed his words.

He was not foolish enough to speak his mind.

The head of the family was not him, but his father.

And if the count died, it would be his brother.

It was frustrating.

“It’s already too late. The opportunity has passed, and we won’t have another chance.”

“But we have to find a way. We’ve decided to side with Duke Maximilian. We haven’t taken a clear stance so far. As a result, our position within the faction isn’t very good, as you know. If we don’t achieve proper results, it will be difficult.”

“Soon everyone will know that we’ve sided with Duke Maximilian. Our connection with Kalmar will become more distant. Unless something really big happens, we won’t have any more opportunities.”

“Something big?”

“Yes. Something really big. Like the new fiancé of the countess being assassinated, for example.”