Volume 2 - CH 2.1

Act 2-2.1 : Lord Rember’s Melancholy

Rember, a knight, was walking on the main street with a heavy gait.

「I shall leave this matter to you, Lord Rember.」

The words said by the King a while ago resounded in his mind.

Rember was a knight of Rox Kingdom, as such, he had to follow the King’s command regardless of its content. Despite the bustling night street, filled with laughter and joyful bellows, he felt extremely depressed when he thought about the predicament he was put in. The festive atmosphere was already all around him as people busily scurried back and forth, preparing for tomorrow’s festival. Yet, Rember had no option but to ignore the hustle and bustle, he could not even think about enjoying the festival.

Rember kept gloomily walking until he finally reached his destination. It was a pub he frequented a lot for its good beer, food, and company. It was called「White Scale Restaurant」, and it was where he could find the person he was looking for.

He entered the store. The diner was bustling with people since it was just the right time for dinner.

The White Scale Restaurant was a special place in Rox Kingdom. The reason was mainly due to the guests frequenting the restaurant—they were all armed men.

The presence of demons outside of the city rampart had not reduced at all until this very day. Many people carried sharp weapons with them to ensure their safety when coming to this country and they would pull them out when demons appeared before them. However, the guests in this diner were different, unlike the common travelers who kept low-quality weapons, they carried along shields and wore armors, it was the bare minimum attire for their line of work.

Their bodies were not ordinary either, immense strength was apparent through their toned muscles. It was obvious that they were not your run-of-the-mill mobsters, but real veteran warriors, experienced in true combat. Their auras could vouch for that.

Freedom Fighters was their universal name.

If a knight was a kingdom’s official, then they were what you would call a private army, open for rent to whoever seeks them. The defense in the highway, which connected one city to another, was a matter of life and death to any country, and it heavily depended on the knights—their job was to exterminate any demon that appeared before them on that crucial highway. However, no matter their strength and prestige, reality was alway cruel. It was a bitter fact that the highway’s peace, which was akin to the lifeblood of the kingdom, couldn’t be achieved by the knights alone.

Economic issues were bound to arise once the relationship between countries deteriorated. And yet, the demand for passing by the cross-nation highway never stopped, more and more people required the use of this important road, it was impossible for the knights to fulfill all of those demands on their own.

In came the need for Freedom Fighters. They were soldiers who could act with more flexibility compared to the knights. The knights didn’t have any power to take action without an order from the King, unlike the Freedom Fighters who could act on their own whims. They didn’t even need to wait for someone distinguished to hire them for the job. As long as they got a request, even from normal citizens, they could act as fast as possible if they deemed it necessary. Moreover, knights could only act when their own country was involved while Freedom Fighters could fight for any country if they desired and saw the need for it.

The White Scale Restaurant was exactly the place where people could seek Freedom Fighters and commission them for a task in Rox Kingdom; it was common knowledge that this was their gathering place.

Currently, almost all of the Freedom Fighters gathered in the diner were ones commissioned by Rox Kingdom.

Three days ago, for the sake of the upcoming festival, Rox Kingdom had started performing a major clean up operation, exterminating all the demons within the city’s vicinity. The clean up ended today. Thanks to their tireless effort, no one would have to worry about demons attacking them along the highway till they arrived at Rox Kingdom.

Thus, the Freedom Fighters were gathered together in this shop after finishing their job.

When Rember went into the store, he easily found the person he was looking for.

The man he was meeting was a conspicuous individual. Despite sitting in a corner in the inner part of the restaurant, he could easily be spotted by anyone, this was mainly due to his huge, bear-like stature. Even when sitting he was taller than most people around him.

The man had his back towards the entrance, and seeing those broad and terrifying shoulders, Rember instantly identified and approached him. Sensing someone coming towards him, the sitting bear-man turned around, revealing his appearance. He looked to be just a bit under 30 years old and had tanned skin. Numerous scars were carved on his body, a couple appearing on his face while the majority adorning his muscular arms, some could also be seen on his chest peeking out of his shirt. It could clearly be seen that he was not your average man.

「Ooo, if it isn’t Rember. As gloomy as always I see.」

「My bad Gallios-senpai, how’s your wound’s condition? 」

「Ah, it’s better somehow. I can already freely move around. I felt a lot better after Nimri-sensei cast his healing magic on me.」

Gallios responded while grinning ear to ear. It seems that he simply couldn’t stop himself from doing this kind of dangerous job.

（Is every Freedom Fighter unafraid of death?）

Rember asked himself as he smiled wryly.

Gallios was a Freedom Fighter who worked and resided in Rox Kingdom. He was previously a knight, Rember’s senior. However, he had grown fed up with his lack of freedom as a knight and so chose to change his career. Now, he roamed free, chasing danger and fighting the battles he always longed for. But, of course, with such liberty came risks. Gallios had been severely injured several times during his time as a Freedom Fighter, and this time was no different. During his recent commission to exterminate the demons for the kingdom’s festival, he was on the brink of death after suffering a severe wound.

Rember couldn’t help but be filled with worry as he arrived at his senior’s table. Once there, he suddenly noticed that someone else was sitting in front of Gallios. He had failed to notice the other man’s presence before as he was a rather thin man, he had completely been overshadowed by Gallios’s overwhelmingly big stature.

「So you came along with Kuro-dono. Good day, Kuro-dono.」

Rember nodded to greet Kuro.

Kuro was an enigmatic young man Rember had never before encountered in this area. He had an extremely well-proportioned face and jet-black hair, which seemingly melted in the darkness. He was so beautiful that if he’d doll himself up a bit more, he surely would be mistaken for a girl.

Nevertheless, Rember could feel that Kuro wasn’t the kind of person who liked to make a fuss, he preferred to be extremely low-key.

（I wanted to ask for Kuro-dono’s assistance for this matter. Thank God he came along with Gallios-senpai.）

Rember discreetly chuckled.

「Good day, Rember-dono.」

Kuro greeted Rember with a nod.

Unlike the frequenters, despite sitting in this diner, Kuro wasn’t a Freedom Fighter. In fact, he wasn’t even a regular person from this area; Rember had only just met him yesterday.

Yesterday night, Rember ended up learning from his sister, Gallios’s wife, that Gallios had yet to come back from the demon extermination mission. This had made him troubled as it was known that nighttime was the perfect setting for demons as they could perfectly see in the darkness. On the other hand, humans didn’t have such an ability. They couldn’t see at night, which made them as good as dead if they ever found themselves outside of the rampart at such a time. It didn’t make a difference whether the person was a normal citizen or a skilled soldier, as long as it was night out, they were in danger.

Rember had immediately ran to the rampart gate after finding out about the situation from his sister. Just as he was wondering whether to go outside and search for Gallios, which would put him in danger as well, or stay and wait in case he came back, Kuro appeared, carrying Gallios on his back.

It seems that Gallios was ambushed when he fought against goblins and orcs, which resulted in him falling from a small cliff and injuring his legs. Though he tried to climb back up, he couldn’t move his legs and the day soon turned dark. He was saved by Kuro who happened to be passing by that place.

Rember’s sister was extremely delighted about Kuro saving her husband.

Given Gallios’s stature, everyone was sure that they wouldn’t be able to carry him and take him to a place where he could receive treatment, and just like that, Kuro had ended up carrying Gallios all the way toward the healing magic user, Nimri.

Kuro’s body was the slender type. Definitely not the type of body which could seemingly carry Gallios, who has gigantic build that might even be the biggest in the kingdom, on his shoulder while traversing the uneven forest path.

According to Gallios’s story, when Kuro took the lead, they did not meet with any accident nor did they lose their way while walking inside of the dark forest in the evening. Hearing his story, Nimri speculated that Kuro might be able to use night vision magic. In short, the youth called Kuro might be a magician.

Adding up all of these facts, Rember was convinced that the reason Kuro was able to navigate around the dark forest was his ability to use night vision. Moreover, he surmised that it was only possible for Kuro to carry Gallios through the use of some sort of magic.

The existence of magicians was precious.

Though the female doctor, who had settled in this city two weeks ago, seemed to be able to use a bit of magic, it seemed that her ability wasn’t strong enough for her to be considered a magician.

Since Kuro never demanded any luxury or special treatment, it was pretty easy to take care of him. No, from what Rember could see, Kuro preferred simplicity. Even now, he ate common food just like them and, in contrast to Gallios who was drinking ale, he chose herbal tea. When the Gallios couple tried to give him liquor to show their gratitude for saving Gallios’s life, he said that he couldn’t drink since he was a miseinen. [TL : I’ll leave “Miseinen” untranslated for the later chapter.]

（Though I don’t know what a Miseinen is, it might be some sort of discipline.）

Rember mused that Kuro’s creed resembled that of a monk.

（Come to think of it, the way Kuro-dono walks… he doesn’t show any kind of gap in his defense at all. He might be following some sort of martial arts path.）

Rember then recalled what happened at noon.

Today, in the afternoon, Kuro had gone along with the other Freedom Fighters to exterminate the demons. Rember, who had also participated in it as a knight of the kingdom, saw that Kuro’s battle style was splendid. He never expected that he could fight like that with only a small sword as a weapon. Even if he used magic as assumed, he didn’t think that he could make that kind of motion. Thus, he was convinced that Kuro was following some sort of martial arts style.

Not greedy, could fight, and could use magic, Rember felt that Kuro was the most suitable candidate for the current assignment.

「By the way, what brings you here today, Rember? You’re not off duty today after all.」

Asked Gallios while taking another chug of his drink.

Though the public order inside the rampart was maintained by the palace soldiers, if necessary, some knights had to leave their posts and guard the palace instead. Properly speaking, he should be in the palace right now.

「The truth is, I would like to ask for your help, Gallios-senpai…」

Rember told Gallios his reason for coming.

「Fine then, let me hear it. It doesn’t seems like a trivial matter, huh.」

Hearing their conversation, Kuro stood from his seat.

「Since it seems to be a complicated matter, shall I take my leave for the time being? 」

「No, In fact, I want to ask for your help in this matter too, Kuro-dono.」

「Me too? 」

「Yes, you too, Kuro-dono.」

After Rember told him so, Kuro sat back down.

Kuro seemed to be surprised by the current situation, but Rember didn’t give it much thought, he just wanted to finish the task he was given.

「I want to request help from the both of you. I need you to help me escort certain public figures.」

「Escort? 」

「Yes, these important people suddenly decided to come to this kingdom. I received an order from His Majesty to become their bodyguard, but I feel anxious when thinking of doing this alone. That’s why I want to borrow your power, senpai.」

「Public figures? Are they foreign members of royalty? 」