Episode 16
#16. enemy of the north (1)
“It's been a while everyone.”
“Arad… … . Arad Jin! How on earth did we get here? What is that ridiculous golden carriage??”
While I hadn't seen him, Balzac, an old knight with a white beard that had grown down to his collarbone, looked at me and asked with a trembling voice..
His eyes were trembling more violently than his voice..
I felt a sorrowful hope that the current situation was not a dream, a fantasy, or a vain thing..
“While starting a new business in Magyeong, I ended up drifting like this..”
“new business……?”
“Yes, it is a business selling food in Magyeong..”
“that is… … Is it possible?……?”
“Hahahaha! Isn’t it like this because it’s possible??”
“…….”
When I mentioned food, everyone's eyes began to convey the same message..
Even though I wore a thick fur hood over my head because of the cold, those looks could not be hidden..
This was also the case for Archduke Arina..
“Arad Gin, Baronet-to-be, I, Dominic of Lancelet,…….”
Eventually, Balzac’s mouth opened..
“ah! Aren't you all hungry? Please wait a moment. Let me prepare the stew. As you know, isn't one bowl a day free??”
I interrupted the conversation to save the knights' honor and face..
* * *
without any hesitation.
For them, it's probably the first real smell of food they've smelled in months..
In front of the bowl of Arad stew, Arina and the knights seemed to have lost some sense of reason..
Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop.
Rattling rattling
Around the bonfire, the only sound was the sound of spoons scraping bowls of stew..
“Everyone, please eat slowly. It is not good to eat quickly because you have been starving for a long time..”
I tried my best to calm those knights down, but of course it didn't work..
“That's so... … . Gulp! Ordinary people or something like that! It's okay because we're superhuman! Can I have one more bowl??”
“yes… … . Of course.”
I poured more stew and looked around..
Likewise, knights instinctively look around while eating stew..
Because it is a demonic world, you never know when an attack by monsters or hostile adventurers will begin..
Kuoooooo-
In fact, just as Arina and the knights were finishing their second bowl of stew, they heard the monster's roar..
“Now that I'm full, I need to digest it too..”
“All the monsters are gone..”
The knights who heard this raised their swords as if they had been waiting..
Kagak Kagagak
Anyway, the sword is not in good condition..
“Can I help you repair your weapon??”
I couldn't help but ask as I took out the specially made whetstone and sharpener from the carriage..
“The monster is right around the corner. Please ask after the battle is over. They're not even undead this time. Movement speed is much faster.”
At my suggestion, Balzac shook his head, wiping the stew from his white beard with the back of his hand..
His eyes were staring in the direction where the monster's roar was heard..
As expected, monsters are coming in droves this time. It's clearly an artificial monster wave..
“…….”
And looking at this, I felt even more anxious..
These are the knights who have not yet recovered their condition. Even the durability of the weapon is close to 0..
If your weapon breaks, you will have to fight with your bare fists. If I die or get seriously injured while fighting with my fists, I'll be in trouble..
“It can't be helped, right??”
Balzac saw my anxious expression and shrugged his shoulders..
“It takes a lot of time to repair a corroded sword like this. I have no choice but to fight while protecting myself with auras as much as possible..”
“Looking at the condition of the weapon, it looks like it will break after swinging it about five times.?”
“Even if it looks like this, it's a sword made from northern iron, so it won't break easily..”
The old grandfather knight made an effort to give me a kind smile..
“Still, trust me and leave it to me.?”
“Baronet Arad Jean, it's not that I don't trust you. But we know how to use whetstones and sharpeners as well as any decent blacksmith. I know better the condition of this sword and armor..”
Balzac and the knights strengthened their resolve and stroked their swords and armor..
“Moreover, this sword and armor are made from Northern Hancheol. The repair method is different from that of regular weapons..”
“you're right. An ordinary whetstone and sharpener cannot repair that sword or armor. But do I look ordinary??”
“……?”
When I saw that, I sighed softly and set up the ingredients I had taken out of the carriage..
After a while.
Sweep swoosh gaag gaak
The sound of swords and other armor being polished around a bonfire turned into a furnace through magic stones is in full swing..
Grumble, growl, kaang kaang
The blades turn red from the sacred heat created by magic..
On top of it, I sprinkled a mixture of bone powder from various monsters and ground magic stone powder..
Grumbling
Then, flames and flame effects appeared like gunpowder effects..
Then polish it again.
I balled up the pieces of chain like steel scrubbers and scrubbed them vigorously..
The surface of the sword and armor, which was rusty and corroded and on the verge of breaking, quickly became hard and clean..
The cold sharpness of the sword and axe, which seemed to give me tetanus just by smelling them, gradually began to shine..
The armor was polished with a cloth soaked in oil and ore dust, and it shined like new..
“…….”
“…….”
Articles look blankly at my work like this..
Since they are also knights, they know how to maintain their weapons..
However, this is the first time I have seen repairs done with the same crazy hands and novel methods as I do now..
“The northern season is really nice! This made repairs easier and faster. next!”
After repairing Balzac's armor, sword, and axe first, I grabbed the sword of another knight who was waiting for his turn..
Kuoooooooo!!
Meanwhile, a group of monsters approached about 300 meters away..
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
When they got to this distance, the horses tied to the golden carriage finally began to convulse, wondering if they were indeed monsters from the abyss..
“I will buy time first. Please join us after the repairs are completed..”
“All right!”
Balzac was the first to finish repairing his equipment and ran towards the group of monsters with confident steps..
“Here it is. Since I didn't have time, I only did emergency repairs. Come back after the battle.”
“Thank you!”
6Minutes later, another knight, who received the sword and armor that had undergone emergency repairs, ran towards where Balzac was..
“Here it is.”
“I won't forget this grace!”
Another 7 minutes later, the third knight quickly put on his weapon and headed to the battlefield..
“It was repaired in a hurry. Don't use it too roughly.”
“Of course.”
Another 5 minutes later, the fourth knight nodded with an expressionless face and ran to slaughter the monster..
“The repair was completed well as there was some cloud iron mixed into the sword..”
“I will fight so as not to be ashamed of your skills and this sword..”
And another four minutes later, the fifth knight named Doyle also disappeared in front of me at a brisk pace..
“kill it!”
“Never let me go where the golden carriage is!”
“Lancelet! Rune Lancelet!”
“Hahahaha! Yes, this is it! This is it! Hahahahaha!”
After completing the repairs and filling up their stomachs and stamina, the knights began slaughtering the monsters..
‘That's the dance of the northern knights!’
While repairing the sixth knight's armor, I watched the northern knights dance. Admiration flowed out of me..
The monsters that are approaching now are top-level monsters that can only be found in the abyss..
Snow Basilisk, Frost Ogre, White Drake and Ice Worm, etc.…….
Each and every one of them are monsters that even a mid-to-high level adventurer party cannot guarantee victory over..
Whoa whoa!
kuwe!
The high-ranking knights of the North were hunting such monsters with ease..
‘This is... … . It's even better than what I heard from word of mouth in Silver Age 1.?’
I now understand why the empire was so wary of the military power of the North..
A glance
Crumbling
Paaaat
Even as my eyes glanced at the battlefield, my hands did not stop making the last emergency repairs..
“Here you go, Lord Iria. Anyway, the battle is almost over..”
I was about to hand over the weapon that had just completed the last emergency repair to its owner..
“Boy, what is it??”
The last person in line, Grand Duchess of the North Arina Rune Renslet, a female knight currently using the pseudonym Iria, asked..
As she asked the question, she had already taken off the hood she always wore..
“……!”
The face of the Grand Duchess of the North, with her hood completely removed, was incredibly beautiful..
Her beauty, which is incomparable to any celebrity I have ever seen on Earth, made my mind turn white..
The blue-silver hair and blue eyes matched the pure white skin to an eerie level..
It was so beautiful, sacred and noble that I wondered if it was actually a person or a goddess or a fairy..
“……Are you talking about my identity??”
“okay.”
I stared blankly at the Archduke's face for a moment, then suddenly came to my senses..
Apart from her beautiful face, Arina's eyes looking at me were wary..
If I'm not careful, I might get my head cut off by the sword I repaired..
“You already know my identity, Lord Iria.?”
“……Are you from a D-class adventurer with noble roots in the East Continent??”
“yes.”
“believe me?”
Arina glares at the golden carriage behind me..
When you were hungry, you couldn't have questions, but when you got a little full and things got better, you started to have questions..
“…….”
Honestly, if you put yourself in perspective, you can understand how she feels. Rather, my answer feels much more insincere..
What kind of D-class adventurer in the world builds and drives a carriage that can reach the abyss of the Demon World??
Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-
kuwessssssssssssssssss.!!
Then the monster attack came to an end..
It was a fairly large monster wave..
For the northern high-ranking knights who have regained their stamina and armament, it seems to be nothing more or less than post-meal exercise..
“Other articles will probably have similar thoughts as me. I'm just skipping it because I'm not in a hurry right now..”
Arina said as she looked at the knights finishing the battle..
“Speak, Arad Jin! Your true identity and purpose!”
“…….”
Maybe the Archduke in front of me right now is having these doubts..
I'm intentionally putting them in this situation and then acting as a rescuer..
* * *
It would have been convenient if this world was run by data and artificial intelligence NPCs..
I wish it were a fantasy genre like any other virtual reality game..
If that were the case, 'Wow! What is your job? Legendary job? oh my god!' In this way, he would have been treated like the leader of a moonlight game..
But this is a cold, real world without a status window.
One day, the max level production and production miscellaneous character that fell from the sky was an Irregular who was amazing, yet suspicious and fearful..
‘It's not that I don't understand Arina's position at all..’
To her, I am a mystery itself.
One day, he suddenly appeared in the north and suddenly created Arad salt..
Where is that? He was quite persistent in wanting to join a party of high-ranking northern knights..
Now, in addition to this, he appeared in the middle of the demonic landscape, pulling a golden chariot..
He is also a former D-rank adventurer..
‘However, that doesn't mean that a user who was playing a character in a game set 100 years in the future was possessed with that character in the game world 100 years ago.?’
Even just thinking about it made me feel complicated..
Even though this is true, it is much more difficult to explain and harder to believe..
‘At least tell me I'm a magic engineer from 100 years in the future.?’
An alternative came to mind, but I'm not sure if I'll believe it either. On the contrary, they might complain and say it's a deception.?
“……After wandering around the continent, he liked the north and settled there... … . I'm an adventurer with a lot of stories..”
In the end, I had no choice but to repeat my already introduced background. like a parrot.
Sigh
Then I saw Arina half-drawing her sword. shit!
“…….”
“…….”
There was a cold silence between me and her..
“Hmm…….”
“…….”
I glanced around and saw that the knights who had completely finished hunting the monsters were already surrounding me..
Did about 10 seconds pass like that??
Sigh
“……Done. I'll skip this part for now..”
Arina put the half-drawn sword back inside and said.
“Anyway, we owe you our lives.”
This is how the situation ended up in a very subtle and uncomfortable way..
“Northerners always return the favor. I will definitely thank you when I return..”
“Eun, grace? I just did the obvious thing. Hahahaha…….”
“Of course, resentment is returned tenfold. I hope you are not behind this..”
“…….”
Correct. It wasn't unpleasant, it ended in a creepy way..
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