TRHK Chapter 5

The reprimand, so mismatched to the situation, left me even more dazed. I stared blankly at the sword being wiped clean against my skirt. Every time the hard flat of it touched me, the thigh hidden beneath my skirt flinched, nerve after nerve.

"Hm?"

The roughly cleaned sword passed between my breasts and rose all the way to beneath my chin.

"Why don't you answer me. Rat bastard."

He lifted my chin with the flat side of the sword's tip. The face I'd thought looked like an angel's turned all the more unreal, set against a moment like this.

Still calling me a rat bastard, huh……

I was thinking exactly that when—

"Kahron! Lower that sword!"

A sudden shout intruded between us. I flinched, my shoulders jumping, and Kahron clicked his tongue and lowered the sword at once.

"Deserting your post wasn't enough—now you're threatening a woman?"

The man who arrived wearing armor that seemed like it would ring at the slightest touch was none other than Knight Commander Landale. Behind him, a crowd of knights appeared.

"My lady!"

Seylon, who always addressed me faithfully as lady, was among them. He looked like he wanted to bolt straight over, his body twitching, but he couldn't quite bring himself to break formation.

"Are you all right?"

Kahron stepped aside, and Landale, coming up in front of me, held out a hand. I'd been sitting on the ground, and I grabbed his gauntlet and finally managed to stand. My legs still trembled badly.

"Explain the situation."

I thought he was speaking to me, but Landale's gaze was fixed on Kahron. Kahron answered, calm, or perhaps grumbling.

"This brat dragged an orc in with her, so I saved her."

An orc—did he mean that green monster? If so, it wasn't wrong. But Landale wasn't about to let it go that easily.

"Was that just now also 'saving' her?"

He seemed to be pressing about the sword-at-the-chin incident. Kahron had nothing to say for himself, apparently, and looked away instead. Landale turned toward me next.

"Aren't you a maid from the castle? What were you doing out here? Didn't you know how dangerous this forest is?"

This was the second time I'd met the Knight Commander Landale, and, following the first, I'd been scolded a second time. I had, indeed, learned exactly how dangerous this forest was—through firsthand experience.

"I got lost……. I'm sorry."

I mumbled an apology, and he frowned as though suspicious, but he didn't press further. To be precise, the situation that followed right after probably left him no room to spare for that.

GRAAAAAAAH!

The same sound the dead orc had made rang out across the whole forest. And this time it wasn't just one, but several. My body stiffened reflexively. That sound seemed to be striking some fear buried deep inside me.

"A pack of orcs. Everyone, on guard!"

Landale drew his sword and shouted. The gazes of the knights, now in a defensive stance, shifted. The air around us grew taut with tension.

"GRAAAAAAAH!"

"O—orcs, northwest!"

"Ngh! Orcs to the east too!"

The fighting broke out in an instant. The orc pack and the knights each became a mass, waging a fierce battle. The only ones standing perfectly still where they were, were me—and Kahron.

"My lady! Hide, quickly!"

Seylon, sword in hand, fighting off an orc, shouted in my direction.

But the fighting was everywhere, and I couldn't find anywhere to hide at all. If I tried to run away recklessly, I might just as easily end up putting myself in the path of an orc's axe, or a knight's sword. The memory of being struck by an arrow was still vivid enough that I didn't want to get hit by another weapon too.

Grrrrrrrl.

An ominous sound reached my ears. I flinched and turned to look, and an orc emerged from behind a tree. Its glowing eyes were fixed on me, glaring.

Ah, no. I need to run the other way—

But the knights blocking every direction were already deep in their own battles, and I saw no opening to escape and no one free to help.

Just then, my eyes met Kahron's, standing idle a short distance away. The corner of his eye curved slightly. Even in a moment like this, the sheer force of that face was enough to make me lose myself for an instant.

"GRAAAAAAAH!"

The orc swung its axe and charged at me. Kahron watched, and didn't move an inch. If anything, his eyes lit up as though anticipating an entertaining show.

I threw the last of my exhausted strength into dodging the orc. But as I'd said, again and again, there was nowhere fit to run. The orc caught up with me in no time and raised its axe high overhead.

Having given up on everything, I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the coming impact.

"Kahron! Draw your sword—now!"

Knight Commander Landale's voice. Right after, I thought I heard the sound of something cutting through the air just ahead of me.

Thunk. Something large fell and, feeling the ground shudder, my eyes flew open. As expected, the orc that had been attacking me lay collapsed, bleeding.

Kahron, expression indifferent, had saved me and then, calm as ever, talked back to Landale, who was busy fighting orcs and giving orders both at once.

"Weren't the others complaining that I'm being too pushy for someone who isn't even a knight of the order?"

Somehow, in the middle of everything, Landale had caught that. A vein bulged sharply on his forehead. He looked furious.

"Can you not see the situation we're in! I'll hear about it later!"

"You're going to run them ragged for it, though... right, Commander?"

The smile at the corner of his mouth and the fond tone of it could have passed for someone coaxing a lover, except the content was nothing of the sort.

"Fine!"

Landale gritted his teeth and made the promise. Only once he'd had that said to the Commander, on top of a firm promise of punishment, did Kahron finally kick off from the ground and move.

"GRAAAAAAAH!"

"GRAAAAH!"

The knights, who'd been on the losing end against the endless stream of orcs, gained the upper hand the moment Kahron joined the fight.

Every time the red-haired knight swept his sword, at least two orcs went down spraying green blood. Monsters that ordinary men couldn't have beaten even at the cost of their lives, he cut down mercilessly, a faint smile on his face, as if it were nothing more than light exercise.

The orc pack, unsettled, began falling back. But Kahron seemed set on not letting a single one escape, snatching away the orcs other knights were fighting and killing those too.

"Amazing……"

Overwhelming was the only word for it. Landale, Seylon, and the other knights had all fought hard, clearly, but even to my untrained eye, Kahron's sword seemed to be operating on some different level entirely. Much faster, much more powerful, much more merciless.

The description from the book, which I'd skimmed over half-interested, now appeared before me as reality, and every hazy uncertainty I'd had disappeared at once.

His sword showed none of the glowing aura said to mark a Sword Master. But I could be certain of it, all the same.

He was the original story's red-haired knight.

"Lady Maylin! Are—are you all right?"

Seylon, his once-neat ponytail now nearly a wild mess, worried over me. I was worried about him too, and asked in turn,

"I'm fine. And you, sir?"

"I—I—I'm fine."

That flushed red face—was it from embarrassment, or exhaustion? This time it was hard to tell which.

I looked at Seylon, whom I'd worked so hard to grow close to for a while now, with complicated feelings. My open staring caught his attention, and his breathing started going ragged again.

"Hh—huh. S—sorry. I'm—my breath again……"

"It's all right. Go check on someone else."

Seylon dashed off in another direction as if he'd been waiting for exactly that. Getting away from me was what made it better.

"……."

At any rate, this was someone I'd failed to grow close to, all because of a problem like that. Should I be glad, at least, that the "real" red-haired knight had turned out to be Kahron and not Seylon? But even so—

"The orc blood has its uses, so collect it and take it back to the castle."

At Landale's order, the squires with vials moved briskly. A few of the knights, though, looked visibly restless, watching Landale's mood. When Landale looked their way, they flinched hard.

"You're all starting special training tomorrow. If you've got the nerve to show off like that, you clearly haven't been slacking on your regular training, have you?"

"C—Commander. We didn't mean—"

"Silence."

Landale's fierce gaze swept over them and then landed on Kahron, who'd been yawning idly all the while. Kahron didn't flinch the way the others had, but he quietly lowered his hand as though he hadn't been yawning at all.

"You. Take the maid back to the castle."

Kahron's face twisted at once into a scowl.

"Why me. Get some other guy to do it."

"We'll be stopping by the temple to purify the orc blood before heading back."

"Then just take her along—"

"If you don't intend to follow orders, then leave this territory."

Kahron's grumbling mouth shut immediately. I found myself admiring the Knight Commander's force of will, even as I hurriedly cut into the conversation, startled.

"I—I can make it back on my own, once I'm out of the forest."

This time Landale turned his glare on me. Or—looked at me, at least.

"I won't ask further why you were in this forest. But as the household's order of knights, we have an obligation to see a castle maid safely home."

"Kahron isn't part of the order, is he, though?"

Hwirozen, who'd appeared out of nowhere and had no sense of timing at all, cut in with that objection, and Landale glared at him—genuinely, this time—and Hwirozen, startled, changed his tune at once and hurried us along.

"All right, all right. You heard the Commander, didn't you? Get moving, both of you!"

Because of that, I had no choice but to say my hasty goodbyes and follow after Kahron.

"I'll be checking whether you got her back safe and sound!"

Landale called the warning after us. Kahron didn't so much as respond. His face made it plain he found the whole thing tiresome.

"……."

Kahron didn't so much as glance my way, walking briskly ahead down the forest path. Normally, keeping up with that pace wouldn't have been much trouble for me, but right now my legs felt like they were screaming. Afraid I might lose sight of him, I forced my mouth open in a hurry.

"Thank you so much for today!"

Even with no answer coming back, I didn't stop offering my thanks.

"Thanks to you, I've had my life saved. Twice, now."

I meant this sincerely. Not once, but twice, he'd saved me from orcs. It didn't matter whether it had been because of someone else's order or not. Grateful was grateful, regardless.

Kahron's back, not so much as answering, kept growing more distant. I started to worry about how I'd ever make it out of this forest without him. My trembling legs gave out again almost as soon as I put weight into them.

Flump.

I ended up sitting on the ground, defeated, and started weighing how I might get myself out of the forest alone. As long as no monster showed up, it didn't seem impossible.

"Ugh."

But then Kahron, who'd been coldly walking away, stopped abruptly. It didn't seem to be some belated regret over leaving me behind. He groaned like someone with a headache and pressed one hand to his forehead.

"……Ha."

The labored breath he let out reached me even from here. I'd been leaning against a tree, and I pulled myself back up at this sudden turn of events.