Chapter 35 – Entor Kingdom’s 3rd Knight Order Commander

- Entor Kingdom’s 3rd Knight Order Commander’s POV-

「Haa」

「Commander, you are being annoying. Please give up.」

Those cold words are from my vice commander, Kimir.

However, that’s not the issue right now.

「Give up? Hahaha, how can I give up? Why should it be me! Shouldn’t the 1st Knight Order Commander Garfa be a better choice? If not, there’s even the 2nd Knight Order Commander Malfora. Do you think I’m fit to be the messenger?」

「You can’t for sure. No, excuse me. I mean, you’ll be fine.」

This guy is secretly laughing at me while saying words of assurance.

Are you really my vice commander?

….No, yeah, why don’t I be the vice commander?

「Commander, I know what you are thinking. If you ask me….no, nothing.」

Adjutant Cafiret, why are you humiliating me?

I’m their superior. Weird.

However, why do I have to go to Emperors as an emissary of the Entor Kingdom?

I’m not that polite in both how I act and talk.

No, if I want to, I can do it. I should be able to do it, I’m sure….probably.

「….hey, can I be polite?」

「Hmmm….the king should have a big heart.」

My vice commander is already laughing.

My adjutant turned his gaze away but he seems to be trying not to laugh because his shoulders are shaking.

Eh, no one thinks that I can be polite?

I’m going to greet the new king of Emperors and build a friendly relationship.

However, our king made a mistake in choosing the people he sent.

Or is it that emissaries don’t have to carry the country on their shoulders because they’re just the king’s messengers?

Well, maybe not.

「Please be careful with your words, commander. Your words are the same as the will of the Entor Kingdom. If you do something stupid just because you are pressured, you’ll only induce war.」

In short, you’re telling me that I’m carrying the country on my shoulder, right?

Your highness, why did you choose me!

You know how sloppy I am whenever I have an audience with you….

Ah, my stomach hurts.

「Commander, I had the mages prepare a lot of medicine for stomach.」

My adjutant took out the medicine that the mages prepared from his bosom.

I’m glad that they are prepared but something's wrong.

Given our situation, isn’t it best to teach me etiquette?

「Aren’t you going to teach me etiquette?」

「I’ve taught you a long time ago, do you remember?」

Ah, I think it was when I was appointed as the commander.

I remember being tied to a chair so that I could not escape.

That’s right, at that time, he taught me thoroughly.

Areh?

This is strange. The only thing I remember is being tied to a chair.

「……..」

「I’ll never do something so useless again!」

That’s what my vice commander declared but that certainly can’t be helped.

However, why can’t I remember anything?

This is dangerous.

「It’s okay. We’re only here for greeting. It’s just like when you were in front of the king of our country. You’ll just have to kneel and talk a little.」

「Yeah. Let’s pray they’ll overlook your broken way of speaking.」

My vice commander’s words motivated me a little but my adjutant’s words chipped away my motivation.

I’ve been trying to do something about my broken way of speaking.

I guess they are telling me that it’s not possible.

「Ah, I can’t do it after all. I want to go home.」

Well, I can’t do that.

The king appointed the 3rd knight order to be the emissaries.

There’s no way we could run away.

I look around.

The members of the 3rd knight order are walking in formation towards the Emperors Kingdom.

Their expressions were a little stiff, perhaps due to nervousness.

We may be in the middle of the forest but the place we are going to is the problem.

Emperors was a kingdom where the king had behaved unchallenged until now.

Even though he has been replaced, each of us has our own thoughts.

And the fact that the new king is someone who is recognized by the forest increased the tension.

「But the forest has really changed, hasn’t it? The air is completely different.」

「That’s true. Speaking of which, did you hear about it, vice commander? I heard that the food made from the river water flowing out of the forest is very delicious.」

「It seems so. Perhaps it is the blessing of the forest.」

As I listened to the conversation between the vice commander and the adjutant, a topic that recently became a rumor in the capital, was brought up.

I’m not really interested in rumors but I remembered it because it might have something to do with the spirits that I’ve always wanted to see.

If you use magical power to grow vegetables, the magic power has an adverse effect on the soil and inhibits the growth of vegetables.

This is something that has been found out through long research.

Therefore, it is forbidden to use magical power near the field.

Nevertheless, the river water flowing out of the forest contained magical power.

This magical power doesn’t have any adverse effect on soil.

Moreover, not only does it has no adverse effect, it also increases the flavor of vegetables and increases the yield.

Is it the power of the world tree? Or the power of the spirits that are said to be in the river?

As someone who has always wanted to meet a spirit, I’m quite intrigued.

「Monster!」

One of my subordinates shouted and at the same time, a sense of tension drifted through the knights.

Each of us held up our weapons and looked in the direction my subordinate was pointing.

「I-isn’t that the follower we met before?」

Like my adjutant said, I took a closer look at the monster.

It certainly looks like the same kind of monster we saw before we met the beastkin children.

It was looking down on us.

「Commander, what should we do?」

A knight behind me asked that nervously.

「It could be one of the followers so calm down. Don’t show any hostility!」

『Affirmative』

Their voices resonate together.

The monster moved a little after hearing their voice but soon, returned to its original state.

It doesn’t seem to have any plan on attacking us.

「Tell this to others. Don’t make a move. Don’t do anything. It could be one of the follower monsters. We can’t lay our hand on it.」

「I’ll stay here. Now, tell my instruction to others.」

My vice commander left the rank and told my order to others.

Given the ability of the vice commander, I can leave it to him without minding anything else.

「Let’s go.」

Seeing the monster halted our movement.

After a while, I heard a rustle behind us.

Looking at it, I could see that the follower was moving at the same speed as us.

And it seems it’s now a little closer.

「What should we do?」

I shook my head to my adjutant’s question.

「Nothing.」

It’s a fool’s errand to meddle with a follower of the king of the forest.

You can see the expression on the monster’s face as it was close to us. It has gentle eyes.

It doesn’t look hostile and it certainly has wisdom.

「It’s okay. We can move on without worrying about anything.」

「I understand. Don’t mind it. Don’t break ranks!」

My adjutant shouted a little louder and the follower glanced at him but that’s it.

It never took any other action.

「It’s definitely a follower.」

When I looked at the monster again, it came quite close and was moving together with us.

It feels like it was protecting us from other monsters.

Is it really protecting us?

「Is that really the case?」

「Commander?」

「Commander, there’s no problem with our ranks. Commander, did you notice anything?」

Hearing my adjutant and vice commander, I said what I was thinking.

「Don’t you think that that monster is protecting us?」

I know it sounds ridiculous.

However, when I see it following us while checking around from time to time, that’s the only thing I can think of.

「It certainly looks like that. If that is the case, it’s amazing, right, commander?」

「What is?」

「I mean, it’s a follower of the kings of the forest, right? Don’t you think it’s pretty amazing to be protected by it?」

Ah, right.

It is certainly a follower of the king of the forest.

And being protected by it is amazing.

I glanced at it and the monster met my gaze.

Apparently, it was looking at us.

I’m not sure how to react…..

Should I thank it?

Hey, I need some stomach medicine.