State of Affairs
I don’t know, if that thing did not happen……
Ah! Now that I think about it, I really hate the phrase ‘what if.’
Isn’t it more important to focus on the present?
Book 5-8.1
They couldn’t be accurate because of the dust clouds, but based on their experiences with war, that much dust usually meant about a hundred people were rushing in their direction.
And based on the fact that they were wearing metal armor that was rare to find in the desert, it was easy to tell that they were not from a desert tribe.
They seemed to be well-trained as they were rushing forward in proper formation, with the sun reflecting off of their armors.
They instantly arrived and started to surround the individuals.
‘Damn……’
Yulian saw that Petri and Erope, whom he had instructed to head to the boat, were surrounded and clicked his tongue toward the two of them.
‘Why were they still in the same spot? Tsk.’
To be honest, the blame should not completely fall on Petri.
Petri was a knight as well, in fact, an amazing knight who had reached the beginner master level. After seeing Aizen easily handle Shimax and Yulian easily stop the charging of the Royal Knights, Petri could not move his feet.
No, to be more specific, Petri could not even think about moving. He was completely shocked after seeing such a warrior who transcended all imagination.
Yulian, who could have no way of knowing about that, grumbled internally before moving his pirma and approaching Petri and Erope.
“Didn’t I tell you to head to the ship? Why are you still here?”
“I, I’m sorry.”
Seeing Petri quickly apologize, Yulian sighed internally as he clicked his tongue once more and asked.
“Tsk. Are they chasing after you as well?”
Two men stepped forward from the encirclement before Petri or Erope had a chance to respond.
“My name is Paizeh La Ropongde, a Royal Knight of the Litmus Kingdom.”
“Galero Pon Wanax, knight of the Inama Kingdom’s Winged Knight Brigade.”
Seeing the two men respectfully greet him, Yulian bowed his head as well and introduced himself before asking.
“I am Pareia’s Glow Yulian Provoke. May I ask why you are surrounding us?”
The Inama Kingdom’s knight, Galero, looked toward Petri and Erope before responding.
“We are here to escort one of those two individuals back. May I ask if Yulian-nim has any relationships with the two of them?”
“I do not.”
Galero and Paizeh’s faces lit up at Yulian’s answer, while Petri and Erope’s expression did the opposite and turned dark.
“In that case, we will open up a path for Yulian-nim to exit.”
The reason that Galero and Paizeh, these two famed knights, were being so respectful and cautious around Yulian was because they had witnessed the majority of what happened here on their ride over.
Neither Galero or Paizeh could block the charge of the Narrate Empire’s Royal Knights like Yulian had done.
“That will be a bit difficult.”
“What reason is there? Didn’t you say you do not know the two of them?”
“I indeed do not know them and do not wish to stay here for a long time as it is not my territory, but there is nothing else I can do in this situation.”
At Yulian’s answer, Galero and Paizeh naturally turned their heads toward Aizen and Shimax.
Galero and Paizeh started to contemplate their actions once Aizen ran over to them and revealed his identity. They knew Aizen and Yulian were strong, but they would not be able to lift up their faces if they came all the way to the desert and returned empty handed. Especially because they were currently completing a mission.
“We are all knights who are completing an order from our liege. We have seen the two of your strength with our own eyes, but please understand that we have no choice but to exchange blows with you. I also need to inform you that the relationships between our nations and yours will definitely turn negative as a result of this as well.”
Aizen shook his head and responded.
“The Knight’s Creed is the same throughout the continent. I do not believe that the relationship between the nations will suffer because a knight is adhering to the Knight’s Creed and fulfilling his mission.”
Paizeh stared at Aizen before moving his gaze over to Princess Erope and enunciating every word of his response.
“That mission is about to take the lives of tens of thousands of people. It will definitely be the case if the princess-nim does not return.”
“Based on what I have heard, shouldn’t you blame the stupid men before blaming that princess-nim? It’s natural that something like this would happen when you try to forcefully capture someone who does not want to go.”
At Yulian’s interruption and statement, the two masters shouted at the same time.
“Watch your words!”
This time, Aizen started to speak instead.
“The conclusion is the same regardless. I need to help them and the two of you must take the princess-nim back.”
“I heard that the Rojini Kingdom is a strong nation of the Eastern Continent, but will any good come out of ruining its relationship with the three nations of the Western Continent?”
“To repeat what I have said earlier, the thing that matters the most to me is the Guardian’s Pact.”
“I guess we have no choice. We saw how you fought against the Narrate Kingdom’s Royal Knights earlier. We ask for your forgiveness at the fact that we cannot fight you fairly one on one because we are following our liege’s orders.”
“I also ask for your understanding at the fact that I have no choice but to hinder your objectives.”
“Knights, defense formation.”
At the two master’s words, the approximately one hundred knights instantly started to form a defensive formation with their respective group of knights.
“It is not going to be easy.”
As Yulian said that to Aizen, Aizen started to try to remember what he knew about the Narrate Empire.
Aizen was the Deperu familiy’s future succesor, as well as one of the kingdom’s masters. As he was one of the main forces of the nation, it was natural that he had learned a lot about the forces the Eastern continent’s strong nations should be wary about.
The Narrate Empire did not have a lot of knights. Instead, their strength came from their Arch Magicians, priests, and their Navy.
That was the reason that the Royal Knights were a bit weaker, making it possible for Yulian to easily fight them off with his status as an extremely talented warrior. However, that was not the same for these two knight brigades.
These two nations were both focused on their armies, so it was natural that the level of their knights would be higher than those of the Narrate Empire.
“It might be better to protect the two of them as we retreat backwards.”
As Aizen whispered to Yulian, Yulian looked at the knights who were forming the defensive formation and started to think to himself.
‘They seem to be similar in level with our lead warriors.’
While Yulian was contemplating about what to do, the approximately hundred knights had successfully completed their perfect defensive formation.
“Can you really not just return to your nations?”
As Yulian asked Galero and Paizeh one more time, the two people looked at each other before shaking their heads at Yulian with certainty in their eyes.
“Now that things have turned like this, I do not think we can nicely end this. Now that our Pareia has completed our alliance with the Rojini Kingdom, I cannot just sit back and watch while Aizen falls into danger.”
“We have to apologize for our actions once more.”
Yulian seemed to have made up his mind after hearing Galero’s words and started to speak to Aizen.
“Protect the two of them and head toward the ship.”
Aizen asked in shock.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Fight them of course.”
“It is too much.”
“Do not worry as I will not be fighting alone.”
Yulian smiled as he answered and shouted loudly.
“Oowoooo~oooooo~!”
Galero and Paizeh took Yulian’s shout to be the signal for battle and ordered the knights to charge.
“Do not worry and protect the two of them!”
Yulian shouted once more before swinging his greatswords and heading toward the knights.
Aizen hesitated for a moment, but believed that Yulian must have had a reason for saying what he did, and quickly rushed his pirma toward Erope and Petri.