Azadin, realizing this, asked Ishmael,
"You have the food we got from Derick, right?"
"Oh, that? Yes."
Ishmael took out the food he had set aside from their meal with Derick.
"Let's all eat this, and when the farm folks wake up, we'll ask if we can rest there for a while."
Azadin tore into the grilled fish while still keeping his gaze fixed on the sky.
***
After finishing his meal at sunrise, Azadin took out a helmet instead of his hawk mask.
"If they're from the king's church, they might recognize me the moment they see this mask. The problem is this scar over my eye."
Azadin covered his face with the helmet and headed toward the nearby farm with his companions. As the dogs barked, the farmers, who had been working in the morning, turned to look at them and flinched in surprise.
Tarkiev, who was clearly a knight at a glance, approached, and the farmers froze in fear.
How terrifying must knights be for them to react like this the moment they see one?
"Wh-what brings you here?"
"We're traveling and would like to borrow the farm for a bit."
Tarkiev's words made the farmers uncertain of his true intentions. Did "borrowing the farm" mean setting up camp and pillaging, or just staying overnight?
"We need a place to rest."
Azadin rephrased Tarkiev's words in a way that was easier to understand.
"Oh, if that's the case, then please use our cabin. We need to work in the fields anyway."
"It's just a humble couple's bedroom, but…."
"Hm. Truly a humble bedroom. Well, I suppose it's a little better than a pigsty—"
Azadin jabbed Tarkiev in the side before he could finish his sentence.
"The barn or the warehouse will do just fine."
"Why are you like this? Really. The farmers won't be using their house while they're working in the fields, so we might as well rest inside."
"What if we end up staying longer?"
"Then, well, the farmers can just go to the barn. They probably raise pigs in there anyway. How could anyone rest in a place like that?"
Tarkiev spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, completely unaware of what the issue was.
"Forget it. I don't know what to do with you."
Azadin gave up arguing with Tarkiev and handed a silver coin to the farmer.
"Th-this is…?"
"We'll be troubling you. Would you be able to prepare some portions for us at dinner as well?"
"O-oh, of course!"
"Then."
Azadin nodded in agreement with the farmers before heading toward the barn.
The barn had livestock living on the first floor, and a ladder led up to the second floor, where hay was stored. Azadin climbed up, spread out a blanket next to the haystacks, and then draped his cloak over it.
Even with the thick layering, he could still feel things crawling around beneath him.
"Ugh, what if it's full of lice…?"
"Most of them are probably just grubs or something."
Azadin lay down on his makeshift bed and fell asleep as if dead.
***
The farms in this area were designated as the fief of a knight, Sir Jeran. He had the right to collect taxes from the farmers twice a year, in spring and autumn, and could also impose forced labor when necessary.
In return, Jeran was responsible for maintaining security in the region and was contracted to hunt down monsters whenever they appeared to protect the people.
However…
"Hmm, this is bad."
The farmers frowned as they found parts of the outer fence destroyed. The drought that had begun in the eastern inland region had spread like a plague to Salasma's frontier as well.
The number of refugees was already rising. And now, as the drought persisted, animals that usually avoided human settlements had started invading the farms.
"Should we contact Sir Jeran?"
"Don't bother. Unless it's a monster they can immediately track, knights won't act. If it's not something they can hunt in a single day, they won't bother. Do you think they enjoy wandering through the mountains and fields looking for stray beasts? If they stay in the village too long, we'll be the ones suffering. Got it?"
The farmers feared the tyranny of knights and nobles. The laws of the Clan of the Eight Divine Kings, the legal code established by the Yaegas, prohibited unjust exploitation, abuse, or assault of farmers, but that protection only truly applied in cities.
In the countryside, the frontier, and the fiefs, farmers were little more than the private property of the nobles.
Jeran was one of the better noble knights, but even so, from the perspective of the common folk, he was still someone they preferred to avoid.
"Still… If we leave it alone, someone could die."
One farmer's son lifted a piece of the broken fence. There were large claw marks carved into it, and judging by their spacing, it was clear how massive the creature must have been.
"Then why don't you go tell Sir Jeran yourself? You'd have to serve as his guide, though."
"…Let's just fix the fence."
Rather than reporting it to the knight and getting involved in trouble, it was better to repair the fence and simply hope the beast would move on peacefully.
Just as the farmers had all come to the same unspoken conclusion—
"Hey!"
A man who had left early in the morning to sell vegetables at the public stage station town returned.
"It's a disaster! Last night, monsters attacked the public stage station town!"
"What? Monsters in the public stage station town? Are you sure?"
"I swear! They say Sir Jeran is dead!"
"What?"
"Really?"
"Would I joke about something like this?"
"What happens if Sir Jeran is dead?"
"No, more importantly, if monsters wiped out the public stage station town, shouldn't we be running?"
"Oh, about that… The holy knights came and drove off the monsters."
"That's a relief, but… Are the holy knights coming this way?"
Holy knights were even worse than other knights. Without fiefs of their own, they were greedier and had even less sense of responsibility.
"No, they're still staying there for now, but I don't know the details. However…"
Just then, the farmer who had been speaking suddenly widened his eyes in shock. An arrow had pierced his head.
"Huh?"
"Hiiik!"
"Uwaaaah!"
The voices of the farmers echoed through the forest.
***
When noble children join the king's church, they first become trainee knights. Even those who were already trainee knights or knights before entering the king's church must start as trainee knights in the holy knight order.
At this stage, they primarily wear chainmail without speaking much, accompany bishops or clergy, or follow senior holy knights on missions.
Holy Knight Gazrek of the king's church was a veteran knight responsible for training such trainee knights.
Originally, the holy knights of the king's church followed an intense mentorship system, where each trainee knight was paired with a veteran knight who personally taught them swordsmanship, magic, knowledge about monsters, and the proper mindset of a knight.
However, nowadays, a single veteran knight would take on multiple trainees, hastily accumulating achievements and promoting them to regular knights in a repetitive process.
Since nobles didn't exactly produce many illegitimate children, the king's church was always overflowing with new recruits.
Currently, Gazrek's mission was to lead five trainee knights in a monster hunt.
"Ugh, I hate this. What a hassle."
A monster hunt? It was never really about hunting true monsters. At best, they would end up hunting wolves or bears.
A noble running a lumber mill in the forest had made a donation to the king's church and requested their help in hunting down dangerous beasts appearing in the middle of his territory.
The issue wasn't killing the beasts—it was finding them. No matter how ferocious, predators would hide the moment they caught the scent of metal-clad humans.
Until the animals naturally decided to relocate, they would have to keep wandering through the forest with spears and bows in hand—a task as tedious as it was pointless.
"Sir Gazrek, I was expecting something more from a monster hunt… How long do we have to keep wandering around here?"
Trainee Knight Tasig voiced the group's frustration.
"Shut up. If the beasts hear you, they'll run away."
"Oh, come on, Sir Gazrek. Our weapons and armor are already making noise. The animals can hear us just fine. We haven't even seen a rabbit."
"Uh, over there."
At that moment, another trainee knight fired an arrow. It struck a rabbit that had been passing through the undergrowth.
"…Didn't see a rabbit, you say?"
"A-ah, never mind. Hey, Ben, nice shot."
"I practiced."
The trainee knight named Ben walked over, pulled the arrow from the rabbit, and proudly tied it to his pack.
"We'll roast this up for snacks later."
"By the way, Sir Gazrek,"
"What?"
"Your daughter is quite a beauty."
"Mind your own business, you bastards."
"But she's our superior, isn't she? Is that even allowed?"
When nobles joined the king's church, those without children became holy knights, while those with children or prior marriages were assigned as clergy.
However, Sir Gazrek's daughter was a holy knight like them, and her rank was even higher than his.
"Why do you think? I had her while I was still a holy knight."
"Wow, impressive."
"Enough. Are you lot planning to set your sights on the bishop's executive knight? And right in front of her father, no less?"
"But what if she ends up liking one of us?"
"Yeah, yeah. Love is free, after all."
"Quit your nonsense and focus on training, got it?"
Gazrek looked at the trainees with dismay.
Back in his day, trainee knights of the king's church spent their training period mastering swordsmanship, spear techniques, and studying the doctrines of the king's church to learn powerful holy magic.
Only after undergoing such rigorous training did they become knights. But things had changed since the bishop of Salasma was replaced. The new policy was to accept as many trainee knights as possible and collect donations from their families.
Since training knights required money, they were sent to the countryside to collect funds in any way they could.
Find your own horses. Earn your own money. It was practically an endorsement of plundering.
'Well, I'm in no position to judge.'
Gazrek himself had been taking bribes from the trainee knights under his command, adjusting their evaluations in return, and manipulating their training missions as he pleased.
This time as well, he had planned to just patrol the area and then report, "We have eradicated the monsters," before calling it a day.
But then—
—Wooong?!
Suddenly, a ridiculous noise echoed from above them.
"Ah, damn… Shit!"
Hearing the sound, Gazrek cursed.
"Huh?"
"What is it?"
"Shut up. It's a wyvern."
"What?!"
"Hiiik!?"
The trainee knights immediately fell silent.
—Wooong? Wooong?!
The absurd sound grew louder. It was definitely getting closer. Everyone tensed up and drew their weapons.
—Crack!
Branches snapped as a wyvern covered in black scales dashed across the treetops. It wasn't very big, about the size of a calf.
But even a young wyvern had a venomous stinger in its tail that could cause pain like being stung by thousands of wasps, and its teeth were as sharp as daggers.
No matter how skilled someone was in combat, if they got hit by a wyvern's stinger, they often died in agony. It was not an enemy to be underestimated.
The real problem, however, was that if a young wyvern was roaming around… it meant that somewhere deeper in the forest, a fully grown wyvern was lurking.
"Shoot!"
"Yes, sir!"
Panicked, the trainee knights began firing their arrows all at once.