The front yard of Gang Jinu’s restaurant, located at the entrance to the Kallian Forest.
The 1st Platoon of the Silbaerin Knights had searched until late into the night and greeted the morning.
The knights on the last watch saw the rising sun and woke everyone else.
“Hrrrgh, my whole body aches.”
“Tell me about it. Where do you think we’ll search today? We couldn’t find even a trace yesterday.”
One by one, the knights emerged from their tents and chatted to shake off their morning drowsiness.
There had been no progress at all in yesterday’s all-day search. Would today be any different?
Every member of the Silbaerin Knights felt gratitude toward Gang Jinu.
That was why they had been able to respond so forcefully upon hearing of his disappearance.
However, Silbaerin was not a particularly large region to begin with.
The agricultural district, the commercial district, and the military district.
Silbaerin, broadly divided into those three sections, was largely taken up by cold mountain ranges and rugged forests.
Because of that, the places where people settled and lived were fixed.
Today marked the third day since they had become aware of his disappearance.
Since they did not know when he had gone missing, the actual period of his disappearance was likely longer.
In Silbaerin, which was not especially vast to begin with, even at most the missing period would be around a week.
If he had headed south toward the capital, a discovery report would have come in long ago.
And if he was within Silbaerin’s residential district, there was no way they would have failed to find him.
Yet Gang Jinu had not been found.
In other words, it meant he had headed into the Kallian Forest or the Kallian Mountains.
If that were the case, he would be closer to Nuardel’s territory, making it practically difficult for humans to search.
There was no way their lord and commander, Duke Kailan, would be unaware of that fact.
“Hmm, why hasn’t he come out?”
“Right. It’s almost breakfast time...”
The knights, gathered in clusters in the clearing while inspecting their equipment, began to find it strange.
Their lord, who would normally always rise at dawn and prepare the operation, had still not appeared.
And Kailan was not the only one missing.
The current situation was unquestionably an operation.
If, during an operation, the commander became unable to issue orders for any reason,
command authority was transferred to the next highest-ranking officer.
Among the operation personnel composed only of the 1st Platoon, the next highest-ranking officer was the platoon leader, Arthur.
And... that Arthur had not shown himself at all either.
“Where did both of them go? Don’t tell me they’re still asleep?”
“No way. Maybe they went ahead to search for a bit?”
As the murmuring gradually grew louder, Luke, the 1st Squad Leader, carefully rose from his seat.
Then he approached the commander’s tent and called out to Arthur and Kailan.
“Commander. Platoon Leader. Are you there?”
“……”
No answer came from the tent.
Luke slowly stepped inside.
“Commander... huh?”
Inside the tent, there were only traces of things having been used; not a single person was in sight.
Flustered, Luke looked around and then found a note on the desk.
‘Uh... what’s this?’
「Return first. If Arthur and I do not return even after a week has passed, submit the letter beside this one to His Majesty the Emperor. I shall return before this tea grows cold.」
A short passage written in Kailan’s unmistakable handwriting.
No, had the two of them really left behind only this one note and gone charging into Nuardel?
A duke of a territory counted among the Empire’s major military regions?
‘Unbelievable...’
With trembling hands, Luke touched the teacup set beside it.
Cold—
“It’s already completely cold...”
And so, the 1st Platoon of the Silbaerin Knights returned to the city.
Having produced the miraculous result of zero gains and minus two personnel.
***
The sun, slanting at an angle, announced the morning.
The brightly pouring sunlight, blocked by the dense clusters of trees, failed to exert its strength.
The Kallian Forest remained dark even after dawn had broken.
It had been a long time since they had passed the signpost marking the land as Imperial territory.
It was a jungle that grew as thickly as a sweltering southern forest, yet its ecosystem was composed of northern things.
There were two men advancing through that strange landscape, carving a path without hesitation.
Slaaash—!
Slice—!
They advanced along an animal trail and cut down every obstacle blocking their route.
Thanks to that simple and ignorant method of conquest, their speed of progress was so fast it was in a completely different league from ordinary people.
‘Haa... what is he really planning to do?’
Arthur, the Expert knight opening the path at the front.
Arthur was experiencing extreme distress over the current situation.
Even if all urgent official duties had been handled before they came, Kailan was a duke. A duke.
He was not someone who should infiltrate enemy territory, where no one knew what dangers might lurk, on such an impulse.
If something were to happen to him here, who would look after Silbaerin?
No, in the first place, Nuardel was a country in its own right.
Was it really acceptable for a high-ranking noble to simply barge in without permission from His Majesty the Emperor or Nuardel’s leader?
Arthur glanced back at Kailan, who was walking behind him.
Their eyes met with perfect timing.
Kailan opened his mouth.
“Mm? What is it?”
“No... It’s just, wouldn’t it be better to return even now, make a proper report, reorganize the personnel, and come back?”
“Arthur. Did I not say it was fine? In a northern backwater, matters like this can be handled with a bit of flexibility. Just open the path.”
“Yes, sir...”
If you did not make something a problem, it was not a problem.
And if a problem arose? You exercised overwhelming force and eliminated the problem itself.
It was a flow of conversation that had already repeated several times.
Since they had judged that Gang Jinu’s actual disappearance had likely lasted a week,
Arthur understood that the situation was urgent.
Avoiding Kailan’s eyes as much as possible, Arthur observed his presence.
A serious, hardened face.
A sharply honed sense ready to respond immediately to any unexpected situation.
Arthur lowered his gaze a little further.
Tap, tap—
Unlike his weighty upper body, Kailan’s steps moved as lightly as if he might fly away.
Was it the secret footwork of a seasoned warrior? One might think so, but Arthur knew its true nature.
‘He’s just excited. Excited to move his body for the first time in ages.’
Back in his youth, when he attended the Imperial Academy.
Kailan, unable to control his overflowing vigor, had been able to spar with all sorts of opponents every day.
But after inheriting authority, his shoulders had grown heavy along with it.
Because he wielded the spear insanely well and enjoyed fighting like a madman, he had been given the epithet Mad Spear.
Yet in recent years, Kailan had not even had occasion to pick up a spear, to the point that the epithet had grown meaningless.
“Kgh, when I think of how our mess officer must be suffering... even my spear trembles.”
Vrrrr—
Of course, since Kailan was regarded as a lord of high virtue, there was undoubtedly also a reason he was hurrying for Gang Jinu’s sake.
Still, old habits died hard. It seemed Kailan was, in the end, a warrior he could not help being.
Well... the water was already spilled, so there was no point worrying about it further.
Arthur resigned himself and focused on opening the path.
The farther they moved northeast, the thicker the fog became, to the point that one wrong step might cause him to lose his sense of direction.
‘His Lordship said he knew the way, so it should be fine, right?’
Trusting Kailan, Arthur continued opening the path.
Seeing Kailan follow without saying much, it seemed they were not going in the wrong direction.
But... setting aside how he knew the way, what was he using to navigate in this visibility?
Feeling curious, Arthur asked.
“What are you looking at to find the path? I can’t see anything.”
“Hm? I’m not particularly looking at anything.”
“Then how...?”
“We’re simply going northeast?”
“??”
Two clear question marks appeared above Arthur’s head.
What on earth was that supposed to mean?
After boldly declaring, “I know the way,” he had dragged Arthur here.
“I know what you are thinking. Earlier, there was no time to explain, so I simply gave a suitable answer. There is a method.”
“Really?”
“To understand this method, one must first know about the Silbaerin family...”
“Ah, then never mind. My curiosity has vanished completely.”
“Hiing...”
How could he blindly listen without knowing how weighty the secret might be?
At times, ignorance was bliss, and if he learned something for no reason and it slipped from his mouth, it would be a major disaster.
Kailan, who had naturally assumed Arthur would pry into the secret, felt needlessly disappointed.
The blood relation between the Silbaerin family and elves, and because of that, the pure mana that manifested more often despite them being human.
That pure mana was the qualification required to enter Nuardel.
With his daughter, Isilla, absent now,
the ones in Silbaerin who possessed the purest mana were Arthur and Kailan himself.
Because of that, he could not have brought the other knights anyway.
Their mana purity was low, and they would not meet the qualification.
‘Arthur has grown rather prickly...’
He seemed frustrated by Kailan’s behavior, which was unbecoming of a duke, but Arthur was still Arthur.
He was a loyal companion and reliable guard to whom Kailan could entrust his back.
He had also become a Sword Expert recently, so his martial strength was considerable as well.
With Arthur like that, and himself, who had thrust a spear a bit in his younger days, Kailan had judged that the two of them were enough.
“Huh? The fog is thinning...”
“This direction is definitely right! Let’s hurry!”
The bulging tree roots subsided, and the fog began to thin.
It was proof that they were drawing closer to Nuardel.
Arthur and Kailan quickened their steps just like that.
Kailan was simply looking forward to it, thinking it would be fun, but Arthur was more worried.
‘Nuardel... This is my first time.’
Nuardel, a country so extremely closed off that not even simple news reached the outside, let alone diplomacy or trade.
It was rare for a human to have met an elf, but to have visited their country?
This was one of the few experiences even the Imperial family of the Empire would find difficult to have.
What sort of system would an elven country have?
Was it a domestic economy that, thanks to their long lives, had already achieved wealth and military strength long ago and had no need to interact with the world?
Or was it closer to a solemn religious state, preserving the aloofness and dignity of the elves?
‘They were certainly... specialized in magic and spirit arts.’
An innate abundance of mana and affinity with spirits bestowed by the grace of the World Tree.
And with the lifespan of a long-lived race added to that, the martial strength of each individual elf was extremely powerful compared to humans.
The way humans could gain the advantage against such elves was through sheer numbers.
By pressing them with an overwhelming population, they changed the situation from an “individual fight” into a “war between armies.”
Yet now, those who had set foot in Nuardel were only two humans, albeit exceptionally strong ones.
It was only natural to be worried.
As they continued advancing like that...
Wooooong—
“Ugh?!”
Tung—
Arthur, who had been leading the way, was bounced away by empty air.
“Hm... This must be that ‘Verdant Veil.’”
“What... is it some kind of barrier?”
“That is right. Step aside for a moment. There is something I must try.”
Standing before the veil, Kailan stretched his hand toward empty space.
Ziiing—
A resistance like pushing his hand into a swamp.
But once he passed the surface, it smoothly dug inside.
At length, Kailan began circulating the mana throughout his whole body, starting from his hand.
Whoosh—!
“Wh-what? The scenery changed.”
“The veil... has been pierced. Let us enter.”
The family secret passed down by his father.
And that father had received it from his own father, a tradition handed down from ancestors further above.
‘The verdure, too, shall shrink before the bitter cold energy of the north.’
Strictly speaking, it was not about bitter cold energy or anything of the sort, but because of the mana mixed with elven blood.
And the Verdant Veil had not shrunk either; rather, it had sensed that energy and permitted entry.
Kailan and Arthur stepped beyond into a clearly contrasting landscape.
The moment they crossed over, they felt a world filled with benevolent life force.
A comfortable temperature that was neither too hot nor too cold.
Fruits, plump and ripe, hung from trees that looked like wild trees no one had tended.
As it was described in fairy tales, an elven paradise watched over by the World Tree.
Nuardel was a fantastical country worthy of that expression.
Arthur and Kailan forgot that they had formally set foot in Nuardel’s territory and looked around at the natural surroundings.
After all, there were not many chances for mere humans to see the creations of the World Tree.
As they walked deeper in, something fragrant tickled their noses.
A sweetness like zucchini, eggplant, and other vegetables simmered gently together.
Mixed into it, they could also perceive the refreshing scent of herbs.
However, there was just one smell they could not even guess at.
Judging by the freshness of the aroma, it was clearly a vegetable, yet the scent hinted at a deep, thick savoriness.
A tangy saltiness supported that unknown fragrance.
Grumble—
Kailan and Arthur had headed for Nuardel in a frenzy since the crack of dawn, skipping their meal.
They had brought enough hardtack, but it was difficult to resist the violent aroma currently stimulating their appetites.
As if bewitched, they approached the source of the smell.
The moment they drew close to the heart of the fragrance, voices reached them.
Arthur and Kailan instinctively lowered their stances.
“Nom, nom. Jinu is definitely a master. Even the Grand Elder couldn’t make food like this.”
“That’s right. Truly, we ought to tie him down to our Sildiel family for life.”
Ahaha—!
Sitting side by side on a stump, scooping up eggplant, zucchini, and something bright red...
were two sentry elves who looked somewhat scatterbrained.
They had originally come drawn by the appetizing smell, but that no longer mattered.
They had overheard a conversation they could not simply let pass.
Arthur and Kailan exchanged looks.
‘You must not kill them. You must only subdue them. Please.’
‘I know that as well.’
Creak—
Kailan’s hand clenched roughly around the shaft of his spear.
Hoo—
After letting out a light breath,
Kwaaaaang—!!
“Kyaaaaak!!”
“Wh-what?!”
Kailan’s spear strike shot forward like an arrow and smashed the stump to pieces.
But elves were still elves.
The elves evaded the surprise attack with their characteristic agility and hurriedly grabbed their weapons.
While they were gathering their equipment, Kailan spoke proudly.
“We have come to take back our mess officer, Gang Jinu.”
“No!! Didn’t I say you couldn’t kill them? If that last one had hit, they’d have been flattened like jerky.”
“I know. It did not hit.”
“Haa...”
At Arthur’s scolding, Kailan answered with a wide grin.
It was less a smile than a mad laugh.