I Am the Madman of This Family

Episode 39. Sephira solver (3)

The Lillian kingdom is divided into four monarchies based on the north, south, east, and west.

Under each monarchy there are approximately a couple of lords, or fiefdoms, which in turn contain several cities and towns.

Sephira, a master of archery, was one of the ‘Seven Gates’ under the direct control of the Queen, and belonged to ‘Landgen’, a territory within the Southern Monarchy.

Landgen belongs to the border region. Speaking of the border area, there is always a risk of invasion, so there are usually military cities or fortresses, but the situation in Sephira was different.

It is because the power beyond the border is the kingdom of ‘Adeus’.

The Adeus Kingdom was otherwise called the ‘Kingdom of Real Men’.

“I will attack this place on a few days and at what time.”

“The weak do not attack. Only the strong come out.”

“surprise attack? There is no such word in our kingdom.”

They do not war to conquer. war to fight the strong It is to reverence and long for the fight itself. only for honor.

In Adeus, armor is a symbol of cowardice, and using ranged weapons was an act inferior to that of a beast.

My favorite weapon is the fist. Next came blunt tools like hammers and bats.

So Sephira, who uses a bow, was thoroughly ‘ignored’ by the Adeus kingdom. Even if they invade, they won’t fight hotly, and it’s obvious that they will only shoot arrows from a distance.

Even if you beat Sephira, who uses a bow as her main weapon, you won’t get any honor. Rather, dishonor only earns a stigma. As a result, no one in Adeus paid attention to Sephira.

In the end, paradoxically, the Sephira family was considered the safest place even though it was located in the border area.

“The Hakoz Mountains are neither too steep nor too deep, so there are many herbalists and hunters. Even Adeusians can see it quite often.”

On the way to Hakoz Village.

Luke was talking about his experiences to get to know Keter.

Keter just listened without saying anything, looking straight ahead.

“When I was an apprentice knight, I was working at Hakoz Fort, and a huge wild boar came running to the fort. I was surprised. I shot an arrow to drive them away, but the boar won’t stop. Do you know why? No well, the Adeans were chasing the boar! Even without weapons, with bare hands!”

It wasn’t an exaggeration by any means, so just thinking about it made Luke’s hamstrings tingle.

“If you are a knight, you can catch wild boars with your fist, but the Adeans, to say the least, have a different atmosphere. I heard that the Adeans are called barbarians in the Empire. I thought it might be. Ah, there you can see the tower of the citadel. It means we’re almost there.”

Luke pointed with his finger at a tower that began to peek over the horizon.

“If you go a little further, you will see the village. It’s near the citadel. If you ride a horse from the village to the fortress, you can go in 30 minutes. And, as I said beforehand, Hakoz Village is a bit on the expensive side. So why not buy it blindly? huh? Keter?”

When Keter, thinking he was silently listening, didn’t respond at all, Luke rode his horse close to him.

Keter was obviously looking straight ahead with her eyes open.

“Keter? What do you think? Did you come to the village?”

swish

When Keter didn’t say anything even after waving his hand in front of him, Luke felt strange.

“Keter, what are you doing?”

Tok.

Luke, worse off, stabbed Keter in the side with his bow.

That moment-

slap!

Keter’s motionless hand grabbed Luke’s bow and pulled it. If it was an ordinary knight, the bow would have been taken helplessly.

But Luke was different.

He destroyed Keter’s unexpected attack as if he knew about it. By twisting the bow.

Whiik.

The curse that senses a crisis was to act as a blessing in a defensive situation.

“Um, what is it? did you arrive?”

Keter turned to look at Luke.

Luke said, putting the bow back on his shoulder.

“what. Keter, were you sleeping?”

“When I’m bored, I usually sleep.”

“Do you usually sleep with your eyes open?”

“almost?”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a human sleeping with their eyes open. Even on a galloping horse.”

It wasn’t even moving slowly.

It wasn’t that he was sprinting, but it was still faster than humans could run.

At this level, the body is greatly shaken, and the shock is evenly distributed throughout the body, so if you lose your mind, you may fall off the horse.

But to sleep in this situation?

Luke thought Keter was making fun of him.

“Why did the sleeper try to take my bow?”

Then, Keter replied calmly. As if you were asking something so obvious.

“Because I was on guard.”

“What do you mean? How can you be alert while sleeping?”

“Are you sure you won’t get attacked while you sleep? By the way, you didn’t manage to take the bow?”

“… what are you going to say?”

Just then, the horse Luke and Keter were riding slowed down on its own. It also remembers the words. That you should slow down at this point.

That meant arriving at Hakoz Village soon.

Luke said, taking out the mission note from his bosom in advance.

“It is forbidden to act alone while on duty. Because if you get hurt or go wrong, it’s my partner’s fault.”

That’s what he said, but Luke thought it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Hakoz Village is not that big, so it took 30 minutes on foot to walk all the way around.

It was Luke who thought that he should quickly find the non-returning knight and give Keter a tour of the citadel.

* * *

“what… It’s strange.”

Luke, who had looked around the entire village in 20 minutes at a brisk pace, scratched the back of his head.

“Why can’t you see? There would never have been a crossroads.”

Luke, who thought he would find the missing knight soon, looked around awkwardly.

Keter said, pointing with her chin at the children hiding in the alley watching them.

“Why are you guys following us from the entrance?”

“Oh, it’s because we didn’t give you pocket money. I forgot too.”

“Pin money?”

“Guys.”

Luke gestured to the children.

The children did not look like beggars. He was well dressed, and his flesh was plump.

“Here, I’ll give you one bronze. You have to listen to your mother.”

The children looked at 1 Bronze and were impressed. Among them, a fat kid who appeared to be the captain stepped out.

“brother. Is it true that you say that for just a fairy tale?”

“uh?”

Luke was perplexed.

One bronze wasn’t a lot of money, of course, but it was enough money to buy at least two pieces of fruit or a piece of bread.

“Ahahahaha. I get it. I’ll give you one more.”

Three years ago, when Luke was at work, children liked it even if they gave him a fairy tale.

But now, even after giving him 2 bronzes, he had a sad expression on his face.

“Being a knight is a small thing. Brother, do you have a lot of money? I can’t lie My brother smells rich.”

Keter watched the child who pointed at her, then bent her knees to eye level with the child.

“Little boy. quick-witted that’s right. I have a lot more money than this guy.”

“lol. Then please give me the money.”

“hahahaha, don’t show your tongue. Because I want to pull it out. Did you leave the money with me?”

“… yes?”

When Keter cursed with a smile on his face, the leader, Ai, slowly stepped back.

However, there were children watching, so I forcibly squeezed the courage.

“Ah, uncle. From what I see, it looks like an apprentice knight. What if you say it carelessly like that? Are you going to reach it?!”

Goong!

Honey chestnuts exploded on the child’s head.

“evil!”

The child rolled over, clutching his head with both hands.

Keter rummaged through the child’s pockets and took the money bag.

“Why do you kids here try to make life so easy? envy.”

Poof!

Keter threw the money bag into the dirty sewer.

“Hey!”

“Ooh, our money!”

The children tried to resent Keter, but soon saw the bloody eyes and ran away in a hurry.

Keter clicked her tongue as she looked behind the children.

“Tsk, these guys with no guts try to make money comfortably.”

“Ke, Keter. Isn’t that too much for the kids? Whatever it is! And why are you throwing money away?”

“I didn’t throw it away. That’s an empty bag.”

Kether showed the coins between her fingers as proof.

“When did you take the money out of your pocket?”

“My hand is faster than my eye. More than that, why is the knight treated like this?”

“So I said. The price is a bit high.”

Luke sighed and shook his lighter pouch.

“Because only Sephira’s soldiers and knights come to this village. Said the price was high But these days, it suddenly feels more expensive. They asked for 3 silver to entrust the horse at the stable earlier.”

“I know the article very well. After all, isn’t it the knights of Sephira who protect this village? Even if you get protection money, it won’t be enough.”

“A protection fee? Keter. We are knights, not bullies.”

“I wonder if it’s right to call this an article.”

“… By the way, why can’t I see the missing article? This is my first time ever. I have no choice but to go to the village chief’s house and ask.”

“Hmm.”

Keter had followed Luke around town. Sometimes I even tap the ground with my heel.

‘So hard. It’s a difficult area to build a basement.’

For Luke, this mission is just to pass the time or to ‘get to know each other’.

But for Keter, it was to unlock the village’s secrets. If Catherine, a 2-star knight, was about to die, the attacker would not be a simple bandit or robber.

‘Above all, there are guests who came before us.’

Luke, who only focused on the missing knight, didn’t notice, but Keter already knew.

Kether sees many things in little things.

It was the same in the stable where the horse was entrusted. While Luke paid for the horses, Keter inspected the horses in the stable.

‘A high-quality warhorse. The fact that even the mane and tail hairs have been taken care of means that the person riding this warhorse is a knight who is accustomed to riding horses.’

Since there is a fortress nearby, it could be a knight of the same Sephira.

But Keter was sure it wasn’t.

‘Luke said the citadel was 30 minutes from here. On the other hand, these warhorses kept running for well over half a day. The muscles are still tight.’

Anyone who has noticed this far can feel suspicious. Because Hakoz Village is by no means a tourist village.

There was no reason for knights from other families to come to Hakoz Village, other than those of Sephira.

‘If there were knights from other families, it would have been written on the mission sheet.’

However, there is only an order to come to the mission.

Keter knows because he has seen several other missions. If there was a specific matter in the mission, it was unconditionally mentioned.

In the case of a bandit subjugation mission, the place where the bandit was based was inferred, the expected number of people, and even their origins were written.

The fact that there was no mention of a knight from another family in this mission to find a non-returned knight meant that a knight from another family had come to Hakoz Village without even Sephira knowing.

sh*t.

Approaching the village chief’s hall, Keter burst into laughter.

Countless footprints are stamped near the entrance of the hall. At a cursory glance, you might think what it is, but Keter has uncovered a lot of information.

‘It’s a knight’s footprint. Even though there are several of them, the way they walk and the length of their stride are all the same.’

Of course, only a knight can use the same steps without a single deviation. Moreover, the evidence was not limited to footprints.

‘The warhorse I saw in the stable smelled like raspberries. The smell is faintly coming from here too.’

The reason Keter dared to follow Luke was because he thought he might encounter knights from other families.

but did not meet

I was sure then. If it wasn’t on the street, the knights would have gone to see the village chief.

Luke, though not quite as much as Keter, sensed something strange. His curse, not reason, detected it.

‘My hands are shaking.’

Luke’s curse was sending out warnings as he got closer to the hall.

Only then did Luke begin to focus on the hall, feeling strange and reaching out to Keter.

“wait for a sec. The village head isn’t the only one in the hall. Oh, there are users. I feel like a knight.”

“I see.”

“Stop! It’s a serious situation. It doesn’t sound like Sephira’s knight. Why are the outside knights in Hakoz Village? Seeing that it wasn’t written on the mission sheet, it’s highly likely that it wasn’t an official visit, but an unauthorized visit. This is a serious matter.”

Luke beat the drums behind him and spoke seriously, but Keter, already aware, threw his arm over and grabbed the doorknob of the hall.

“Wait a minute! Think and open the door… … !”

Suddenly, the door to the hall opens wide.

“… … ?!”

Luke’s pupils widened beyond measure when he met the people inside.

The loosely untied hands naturally clenched into fists, and the hostility in his eyes grew thicker.

The people in the hall were people who should never be here.