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Chapter 59
“Long Time No See”
‘I can’t use my fire sword power freely because we’re in a forest.’
I lightly wrapped fire around my blade and fought the monsters.
I felt fighting around me, but couldn’t see clearly due to the thick fog.
‘This is bad. If visibility stays this poor…’
A scream came from close by—It was Aurelle’s voice.
Unable to see exactly where, I ran towards the sound.
Through the fog, a monster appeared clearly. My fire-wrapped sword quickly turned it into ash.
Beyond it, Aurelle’s shape appeared on horseback.
“Aurelle-sunbae!”
But suddenly, sharp pain sliced across my arm.
A gasp escaped me from the sudden pain.
“Se-Serdin?”
Poor visibility made distinguishing friend from enemy difficult.
I grabbed my injured arm. Aurelle, approaching closely, looked terrified seeing my injury.
Blood dripped from Aurelle’s blade.
“I-I didn’t mean to—!”
“It’s okay. Look out behind you, sunbae!”
I shouted I was fine, though the wound stung badly.
I wished I could use holy energy to heal, but I wasn’t that skilled.
“Se-Serdin, behind you!”
Aurelle, still confused, suddenly shouted toward my back.
A snake-like monster was rapidly moving toward me, mouth open wide with venomous fangs exposed.
Its speed shocked me, as fast as an arrow in flight.
“Ugh!”
Can I block it?
‘It’s too fast! And gross!’
I bit my lip and tried to raise my sword. But pain from my injury made my hand waver.
“……!”
The snake with sharp fangs nearly bit me.
But suddenly someone snatched me away.
Snatched was the right word. Someone literally scooped me up by my waist onto their horse.
For a moment I wondered if the snake somehow teleported and grabbed me, which shocked me even more, but thankfully it wasn’t that.
‘Who is this?’
I turned and saw the person who had lifted me onto the horse.
A man wearing a purple silk robe. He wasn’t dressed like an Elche knight…
“Why are you the only knight without a horse?”
His playful voice rang out despite the dangerous situation.
‘This voice…’
No way. I looked at the face beneath the robe’s hood.
“Cute?”
My suspicion was right.
The person who nearly stabbed me before and a potential main character from the original story—Ciute Veiche.
The man’s violet eyes turned to me with a slight smile.
“Long time no see, Noona.”
“What? Why are you here?”
“Cute? Is that my nickname? I like it.”
“Huh?”
Wait a minute.
“Did I just call you Cute?”
“Yes.”
“What’s going on? Where did you even come from? How did you get here—”
“You said we’d meet again.”
Cute smiled lightly, quickly fighting off a monster charging at us.
Seriously, why was he here?
“Serdin!”
At that moment, Roitz’s voice reached me. I turned towards him.
But my eyes just kept wandering around.
Due to thick fog, I couldn’t pinpoint anything.
‘This fog is annoying. I wish it would just clear up instantly.’
As soon as I thought that—
The fog started clearing with a soft rustle.
“……?”
What was happening?
‘Did my imagination come true?’
No way, that’s impossible.
At the center of the clearing fog stood Roitz, holding his sword.
The fog didn’t just vanish. Instead, it gathered toward Roitz’s sword, like spilled ink returning to its source.
I suddenly remembered Roitz’s sword energy was related to fog.
His sword absorbed fog from every direction, making it all his own.
Roitz closed his eyes, completely focused on gathering the fog.
I stared at him, then quickly looked to the right.
In the clearing view, a monster charged at Roitz.
“Commander!”
Roitz opened his eyes. The moment the monster met eyes with Necroquad, it froze.
Not just that one. All monsters around stopped simultaneously, paralyzed in the cleared fog.
Without needing commands, the Elche knights instantly seized the chance and stabbed their swords into the monsters.
After loud screams, silence came.
“……”
In the now quiet forest, only bird cries and breathing sounds remained, along with traces of battle.
Roitz’s eyes met mine. He quickly approached.
“Who is this?”
Roitz asked. Cute smiled mischievously and answered him:
“I didn’t know you could do something like that. You’re as impressive as they say, Sir Roitz Velkyrente.”
He sounded confident. Roitz’s expression hardened slightly.
I suddenly remembered—this was a meeting between original male leads.
“I asked who you are.”
Cute didn’t look like he’d answer, so I answered for him.
“He’s Ciute Veiche from the Veiche family. He’s a trainee knight in Kaela.”
“Do you know each other, Serdin?”
Roitz looked displeased even though I was just answering for Cute, who hadn’t said anything.
It felt unfair.
Cute smiled as if entertained and told Roitz:
“I’m here for a reason, sir—Oh, I heard you’re the new commander now. Quite unexpected.”
Cute openly frowned but still smiled.
They say you shouldn’t spit on a smiling face, but I wasn’t sure if that counted as a real smile.
I remembered from our first meeting he wasn’t exactly polite either.
‘Come to think of it…’
I suddenly felt nervous.
‘He’s unpredictable and a bit rude too.’
And he’d seen me gathering Choro grass before.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he mentioned that to Roitz right now.
“Cu—Ciute.”
“Yes, call me Cute. I like hearing it.”
I quickly turned to Cute, who wore a playful smile. I sent him a desperate look, hoping he’d understand not to mention the Choro grass incident.
Cute seemed to understand, lightly smiling and saying:
“I’d like to keep that secret, too.”
At least he had some tact. His playful smile was slightly worrying, but I doubted he’d mention it now.
“……”
Roitz, expression tense and mouth shut, finally shouted to the knights without looking away from me:
“Get injured people into the carts first. We’ll move again immediately!”
The knights started moving again.
“Serdin, come down and treat your arm first.”
“I’m fine, treat others first—”
“Now.”
Roitz forced me off Cute’s horse and led me to a cart immediately.
My head was filled with complicated thoughts as I followed him—just as tangled as the wild, uncontrolled Edikal Forest.
Right now, heading to the cart, was my only chance to talk privately with Roitz.
Seeing how busy he had been, I didn’t know how often these moments would come during this expedition.
‘Maybe it’s the best chance to tell Roitz I want to get rid of the Necroquad, but…’
Honestly, Necroquad helped a lot in this first fight.
No one knew what would happen next, and it was uncertain if we’d finish without Necroquad.
“Move your arm.”
“Huh?”
“The injured one. Move it, Serdin.”
It was cut, but still usable—just slightly weak.
“See, I’m really fine.”
Roitz took me to the medical cart, then turned away.
After moving away, he turned back and added:
“Don’t even think about leaving this cart until you’re treated.”
“I said I’m really fine!”
“Go inside now.”
Only after that did he leave.
“Miss, your injury is serious. Quickly, come here.”
“It’s really nothing.”
I muttered, sitting before the healer.
Roitz’s expression stayed in my mind:
“Go inside now.”
His words were commanding, yet his eyes pleaded desperately, as if something terrible would happen if I got hurt.
People carts were full, so I volunteered for the luggage cart.
Sitting on straw among cargo wasn’t comfortable, but my injury was minor anyway.
I could’ve ridden a horse, but Roitz had sternly insisted I get into a cart.
That aside…
“Why are you here?”
I wasn’t alone among the cargo.
When I stared angrily, hunched over, Cute lifted his slightly scratched arm and smiled playfully.
