To Yald Gorge
The incident that took place in the commercial city of Gracela had been resolved—or so it seemed—but I couldn't shake off a lingering unease in my heart.
At the root of that unease was Yald Gorge, which had been left short-staffed due to personnel being pulled away to Gracela. That area was close to the border with a neighboring country, but there hadn't been any major incidents there in recent years.
Besides, the border security itself was quite strict, and breaking through wouldn't be easy.
Perhaps the kingdom had judged that it only needed to focus on guarding the border.
That much, I could understand. They couldn’t afford to weaken the security of the royal capital, and at the same time, leaving Gracela unattended in its current state wasn’t an option. Given that, reallocating knights from Yald Gorge seemed like the safest and most logical decision.
However... I couldn't help but feel that this whole sequence of events was orchestrated by someone.
Why did the guards in Gracela disappear in the first place?
Miracca and the others were currently investigating the reason and the cause, but I suspected someone had deliberately engineered the situation to draw the knights’ attention to Gracela.
There was no solid evidence, but the strange feeling wouldn't go away.
In order to put that unease to rest, I decided to visit the knights' outpost stationed in Yald Gorge.
There were a few familiar faces there, and I figured I could give one of them a heads-up—or rather, explain the circumstances.
“Hello.”
“Hm? —Oh! Justin!”
“It’s been a while, Senior Road.”
There were three knights stationed at the small outpost standing alone in the wilderness.
One of them was Senior Road, who had looked after me back when I first joined the order.
“When I heard that a knight as talented as you had been assigned to the frontier, I thought there must’ve been some mistake—but it looks like you’re doing well, and that’s a relief.”
“Turns out I’m actually having a good time out there. Maybe the place suits me better than I expected.”
We exchanged small talk as he led me into the outpost.
Along the way, I saw two younger knights, about the same age as Elina, engaged in practical combat training.
“Haaah!”
“Yaaah!”
Both of them were full of spirit—so much so that it left a refreshing impression.
“They’re fine young men.”
“Aren’t they? They’re almost too good for someone like me to be in charge of.”
Senior Road narrowed his eyes fondly as he spoke.
“It’s a credit to your leadership, Senior.”
“Don’t flatter me. I’m just a perennial rank-and-file knight who’s never gotten anywhere. Honestly, I’d rather see them hone their skills under a superior like you.”
“But it was you who taught me the basics of being a knight. I’d say they’re lucky to have a good mentor.”
“Haha, haven’t seen you in a while and you’ve already learned how to butter people up.”
Senior Road laughed heartily.
I hadn’t intended to flatter him, but he seemed genuinely pleased.
While enjoying the chance to catch up with my senior, I stepped inside the outpost to get down to business.
What do you think about this chapter?
