Chapter 33: What happened at the gate (2)

***

“Ruel-nim, everything is ready!”

Cheynol called loudly from in front of the carriage in which Ruel was on.

Before going to the training ground, Ruel stopped by Cheynol and gave him an order.

The order was that he should prepare for Ruel’s departure and gather the Knights with no experience in combat and the Reserve Knights so that they could set out with him.

The mansion should not be vacant when they did not know when another attack would occur so he left the main force there. Cheynol strongly opposed his departure and the fact that he was leaving the main force at the mansion, but he could only agree when he found out that Ganien was going with Ruel.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Ruel’s voice flowed through the open carriage door.

He prepared this outing so that the newer Knights and the Reserve Knights who had no actual combat experience could gain that experience and know what to expect and the positions they would be in further in the future.

Since this outing was an official event, the carriage had the Shield Emblem of Setiria engraved on it.

“Ruel-nim, I have received a call from the Magic Knights.”

Cassion showed the light coming from the communication bracelet.

“Then look after the mansion while I’m away.”

“I will protect it no matter what.”

Confirming Cheynol’s strong will, the carriage’s door closed.

“Connect.”

The Magic Knights were also scheduled to be put into practice just like the Knights because the number of recruits increased.

Unlike the Knights that should stand out, the Magic Knights, who only announced their existence to the Royal Family, were sent to the Masu Forest to move quietly.

T/N: As a reminder, Masu Forest is the forest of the Beast.

-My Lord, we have safely arrived in front of the Masu Forest. Are you feeling okay?

I heard Drianna’s voice.

“Yes, I’m doing good.”

A sigh from Cassion was heard from the front of the carriage. Ruel continued to talk ignoring this.

“They are playing first. As much as fun as possible.”

-All right. A lot of people are already excited.

Some people were about to die through the communicator. The only one excited about it was Drianna.

She came closer to the communicator and whispered.

-Are you okay?

It was that question again.

Drianna was surprised to hear that Ruel was heading to the Masu Forestand asked how he was now.

-If you have a headache or something else, you should get out of the Masu Forest immediately.

“Okay.”

Ruel didn’t ask because he knew that she couldn’t teach because of Mana’s oath.

-My Lord, may I ask you a favor?

“What is it?”

-Can I satisfy my personal curiosity by collecting specimens from the monsters and plants that grew in the Masu Forest in the last 5 years?

“Do whatever you want.”

The corners of Drianna’s mouth went up.

She was already excited.

-Thank you! We’ll make sure to meet your expectations!

Before even asking the question of what to expect, the contact was cut off arbitrarily.

“… Ha, what else are you going to do?”

“I think it’s going to be fun.”

Ganien smiled.

As the Magic Knights entered the mansion, a new space was created underground.

There must be many other rooms, but when asked why they went underground, the answer was, ‘Sunshine interferes with research.’

For a moment, he felt like he was seeing office workers who were tired due to working overtime.

Anyway, the first thing they were interested in was the carriage.

Cassion heard that quite a few people rushed in, saying they would build a carriage that would never break.

Boom boom.

Ruel, who was immersed in thought, was surprised, and Cassion, who hit the carriage, was satisfied.

“You hit it hard, right?”

Aris looked at Cassion curiously.

“Right, it’s stronger than I thought.”

“You have to hit harder. Is that enough?”

Ganien clenched his fists and struck out with a blow that could kill a man.

The carriage itself seemed to stumble for a moment, but there was no breakage.

“I’ll check if it can be cut.”

Suddenly, Cassion had a dagger in his hand.

Ruel looked at him absurdly.

“Are you kidding me?”

“You can’t get hurt again. You don’t know how much I’ve been nagged by Ganien.”

“What kind of nagging?”

Ganien laughed as if exasperated.

The glass-carved area healed neatly without any marks. It wasn’t a big scratch in the first place.

“It’s definitely strong. If this is enough, it won’t break. Well, it would be different for people of that level.”

“… What?”

“It is.”

Cassion showed me my empty hand.

‘When?’

“It’s okay. It’s rather strange for you to see. Did you see that?”

While smiling at Ruel, he gave Aris a look.

“I saw it up to two times. I don’t know about the rest.”

“You have good eyes, I can’t believe you saw them.”

“Of course. Someone taught me.”

As he wiped his nose with his thumb, Ganien was flattered.

‘These monsters.’

Ruel clenched his cane and shook his head from side to side.

“Ruel-nim,”

Cassion called Ruel.

“What?”

“Are we on your way to catch a mouse or are we really on the way for actual training?”

“Actual training.”

“That is unexpected. I thought you would catch the mouse first.”

“We have to catch it. But not yet, we are not ready.”

It wasn’t up to him to catch mice. It was up to him to see the caught mouse lying flat.

***

After taking a nap in the carriage, Ruel found out that he had forgotten to get a fact confirmed by Drianna.

As he was trying to connect the communicator, he thought of the Magic Knights who would be having a good time by now, and he closed his mind.

“Cassion, stop the carriage for a moment.”

“Okay.”

“Aris, you follow me. Cassion and Ganien will be waiting here. Drive the carriage when I call for you.”

“Do you mean me?”

Aris squeezed the hem hard at the sudden nomination.

“I have something to check. If I take Cassion, I can’t check.”

I remembered the fact that the children who had previously been kicked out of the village of Sisel went in and out of the Masu Forest like it was their own homes.

The road to the Masu Forest and the entrance to the outside consisted of a total of two gates.

One gate allowed people to enter Setiria and the Leponia Kingdom while the other allowed people to exit.

‘Shouldn’t it be checked whether all the gates are the problem or just one?’

Cassion didn’t seem as bubbly as Ruel looked, so he had to come with a bubbly-looking Aris.

“Ganien, how was the gateway from the outside to the inside?”

Ganien thought, touching his chin.

“It was quite strict. Even if I showed them the necklace, they contacted me directly through the communicator.”

“Really?”

I thought maybe the problematic side was inside.

Whether it was for internal or external use, one side was automatically passed when the pass fell.

Ruel got off the carriage.

Ruel laughed at Aris’ face, who was already nervous.

“What are you nervous about?”

“But there’s no one next to you, Ruel-nim.”

“How about the sword you received? Was it worth it? I really liked Cassion.”

The sword that he asked about came in from the merchant of Beto.

As soon as Cassion received the sword, he shook his hands on the spot, perhaps paying more attention than he had said.

‘What was your name, was it Siriena’s flower?’

It was pretty with flower-shaped decorations on the handle.

“It’s a good sword that I can recognize.”

“You’re protecting me with that sword. Until we arrive there.”

Ruel pointed to the gateway. It was a long-distance if far and a short distance if short.

He didn’t ask if Aris could do it because it was something he had to do.

Ttak.

The cane moved. Aris also moved.

“The weather is nice.”

Ruel was in a good mood, perhaps because it had been a while since he went out.

His clothes didn’t look good on him. It was as if winter had come to him alone. But what could he do? As long as it was warm.

Many people were heading to the gate.

There would be adventurers among them and herbalists.

Ruel glanced at Aris.

He felt like he was going to laugh at the look of judging Aris sent out. He seemed to see that everyone was an enemy.

Everything was good. It was enough to know where he was today.

Ruel stopped walking for a moment.

‘… Is this the case even though you know I’m coming?’

The gate was wide open. There was no line and everyone was free to enter.

There were too few guards standing guard at the entrance. What was with their drowsy faces?

Ruel suppressed his boiling heart.

He passed a guard as he looked straight forward. He didn’t trail Ruel’s figure with his gaze.

He stood in place and inhaled the Breath.

‘Let’s see, who was the Baron who managed the village of Sisel?’

If this wasn’t Setiria, it wouldn’t have mattered if he had opened the gate as much as he wanted to.

If that gate wasn’t the only entrance to the Leponia Kingdom, it wouldn’t matter if the guard stood at his post with a drowsy face.

But this was Setiria.

What if there was an intruder among those who were leaving now? What if there was a way to steal Leponia’s information and get out of it?

‘Should the inside and outside be this different?’

Ruel went back and approached one of the guards.

Even though the guard stood in front of him, he stared at Ruel with a drowsy face.

Ruel spoke up first.

“Hey.”

The guard reluctantly replied because of the boy looking at him with a blazing gaze and clothes that made it seem that he was enjoying winter alone.

“What is it?”

“Who’s in charge here?”

“I am.”

Laughter leaked from Ruel’s mouth.

The guard’s expression twisted.

He didn’t know if the truth would come out after a while, but if the guard threatened him by sticking out his spear, he shouldn’t expect Ruel to run away.

“Leave quietly. Before you end up in trouble.”

“Is the communicator connected to the Baron working?”

“Are you kidding me now? If you make a fuss in front of the gate, you can get arrested right away.”

“Connect it. Right now.”

The guard laughed in dismay at the impudence.

He looked at Ruel quietly.

His pale complexion made it seem like he was about to collapse right away.

Gulp.

The guard swallowed his anger.

What could he do to someone this sick?

“Have a nice trip. I’ll let it slide today.”

“Didn’t you hear me telling you to connect to the Baron?”

“Hey, who are you to say that?”

“What’s wrong, captain?”

As the scuffle did not end, the other guards flocked to the area.

Ruel grabbed his throbbing head and laughed.

“Didn’t you hear that the Lord is coming here today? Don’t draw attention from others and connect quietly.”

Ssaaa.

The captain in charge of the gateway suddenly got goosebumps all over his body.

The gateway was one of the places where many people visited.

If you’ve been doing this for 7 years, you could feel it just by looking at his face.

That was real. He barely opened my mouth with a trembling voice.

“Yes, I’ll connect you to him immediately. Please come this way.”

The captain was convinced of the attitude of receiving his guidance with a casual expression.

He seemed to believe that the real Lord had arrived.

Gulp.

He swallowed deeply.

He glanced at Ruel and their eyes met.

Ruel had a smirk on the corner of his lips.

“Where is the gateway?”

“This, this is the entrance.”

“No, where is the gateway to Setiria?”

“…”

“It’s not a place that’s open for everyone, but a place to weed out the real from the fake.”

He almost lost the spear he was holding for a moment. His eyes darkened.

Ruel sat in a seat inside the gate and looked at the communicator.

-What’s going on… my, my Lord!

The Baron was the one who answered many of his words at the last lake.

“Will, are you surprised that I’m here?”

-No, the Lord was supposed to pass by this place today. But what’s going on? Did you suffer any inconveniences?

“Didn’t you stop me from coming today because you seemed busy?”

-… That’s right.

Will’s eyes moved busily as Ruel continued to speak.

“Sisel Village is important, yes, but I think gates are even more important, what do you think?”

-Important! It’s important.

“Why is the gate open to everyone? Have you forgotten what Setiria is?”

Ruel’s expression was crunched in dissatisfaction.

He looked angry, so he immediately gave Will a hard time.

-This humble person didn’t think much. I thought everyone would feel uncomfortable if I suddenly changed it.

“The discomfort is temporary. But information sold is forever. Do you know the faces of everyone who lives in Setiria and Leponia?”

-No! I’m really sorry!

Ruel inhaled the Breath.

As Will said, complaints could arise because of the sudden inconvenience.

But shouldn’t we look at the long-term effects? Security could not be avoided because of immediate discomfort.

“If I could, I’d ask you to change it right away, but I’ll hold it in. You are to correct the situation as soon as possible.”

-Okay! We will correct the situation by this week at the latest.

“In addition…”

As he mentioned one more thing, Will stiffened and swallowed his saliva.

“The number of soldiers stationed at the gate is too small, double it.”

-I will increase the amount.

“Apparently, the only emergency contact was a communication device. I’ll try to make an emergency network soon, so keep up the good work.”

Ruel cut off the contact.

He let out a cough that he had barely endured and looked at the commander of this place, who had a close-knit discipline.

He lowered his head until he touched the floor.

“Ple-Please forgive me for being rude!”

“You didn’t know, so that’s fine, as long as you don’t do what you did wrong again.”

“I-I’ll treat the gateway as if it were my own body!”

“I’ll be back soon. Let’s go, Aris.”

“Yes.”

Unlike Ruel, who passed by the soldier, Aris showed him his life.

“Be careful.”

The captain let go of the spear because of the brutality that was so huge that it did not suit the boy.

“Are you less nervous now?”

Listening to the spear falling, Ruel asked.

“Yes, I feel much better.”

“Even if there are raiders, it is very difficult for something to happen in a place with so many people…”

Aris grabbed Ruel’s clothes and pulled him back.

Chaeng!

There was the sound of something colliding with the sword that was quickly drawn.

“It should be…”

Feeling out of balance, Ruel fell on his butt on the floor.

“I’m sorry! Did you get hurt?”

“No, it’s okay.”

What fell on the floor was an arrow filled with mana.

‘Again, these 18 guys.’

Ruel bit his lips.

“Protect the Lord!”

“Protect him!”

The soldiers also belatedly came out in front of Aris and took out their shields to maintain their protective positions.

It was only then that Ruel realized the screams from all directions.

‘Ah, where was Ganien?’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read