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Chapter 29
It had to be just a bad dream.
Corelia awoke from sleep with Erin’s words still lingering in her mind, breathing heavily.
She couldn’t stand the foul mood clinging to her. Why on earth was she dreaming such things?
Erin wasn’t someone worth sparing a thought on. Surely Raymond would have dealt with everything by now.
Talent? What a joke.
And yet, despite trying to convince herself, the trembling in her hands would not stop.
“Charlotte!”
She raised her voice, calling for the maid who would be waiting outside her door.
The door opened cautiously, and a tall maid stepped in, bowing her head to Corelia.
“You must have had a restless dream, my lady.”
At the maid’s words, Corelia ground her teeth.
“What about what I asked you before? The little mage from Ferdin Lexia’s trainee knight order.”
“I met him successfully and delivered the message.”
“And… what was his answer? Did he accept?”
“He didn’t give a definite reply, but… really, could he refuse?”
Even with Charlotte’s assured tone, Corelia’s expression twisted with unease.
“But you know what those people are like. They’re always brimming with useless justice.”
“Which is exactly why he won’t be able to refuse. If he truly has a sense of justice, he can’t possibly overlook the man who killed my brother.”
“…”
“Besides, I don’t believe Sir Raymond would fail. He may not look it, but he’s still a high-ranking knight.”
Charlotte’s words finally calmed Corelia’s heart.
Yes. She was right. Raymond would succeed in his mission.
And even if he somehow failed, by now the subjugation force should already have entered wolf-tribe territory. The result would be the same.
The Wolf-kin were a type of beastkin, known for their ferocious temper.
They would never tolerate uninvited intruders wandering near their land.
If Count Leon were there, it might be different… but the sudden storm had cut off his ship, preventing his order of knights from reaching wolf-kin territory.
The subjugation force would wait for support that would never arrive—and suffer for it.
Corelia smirked coldly, savoring the tragedy soon to come.
At last, they had reached the wolf-kin’s territory.
Though it was still midday, the dense forest was dark and cool.
The subjugation members already looked exhausted. Erin reminded herself of what she needed to do here.
First and foremost, she had to prevent the tragedy that would befall Ferdin. But there was something else she needed to confirm in wolf-kin territory.
In the future, the wolf-kin would appear with a mage. That sudden mage had inflicted terrible damage upon the humans along the border.
But the wolf-kin were a race incapable of using magic. That meant the mage must have been one of the refugees kidnapped by them.
Ordinarily, Erin would have cared nothing about anyone outside of Ferdin’s knight order. But this time was different.
Later, rumors would spread that the mage was a refugee Ferdin had failed to save. He would be harshly criticized for it.
She had no intention of leaving anything that could harm him unattended.
Ferdin scanned the area around the wolf-kin lands and then halted the company.
The forest, so utterly silent and devoid of human presence, felt unnervingly wrong. There was no sign of Count Leon, who should have arrived first.
“Something’s not right.”
“Where is Count Leon?”
The atmosphere among the subjugation force turned uneasy.
“We should turn back.”
At Ferdin’s words, Derek’s face hardened.
“But you know, Ferdin. The Emperor won’t let us off. If he hears we failed, who knows what he’ll do to you again…”
Erin, at a distance, listened to their grave whispers.
Though they spoke low enough so others wouldn’t hear, their words couldn’t escape her sharp ears.
This mission would fail. Erin knew that.
Fail, and worse—the Emperor’s wrath would be roused after half the members of the subjugation force lost their lives.
“We at least need to send out a search party. Even if Count Leon doesn’t come, we need to show the Emperor that we made the effort.”
Derek’s eyes scanned the knights closely.
He seemed to suspect one of them might be the Emperor’s spy. His reasoning wasn’t wrong.
In the end, Ferdin had no choice but to send out a search party. But soon he regretted the decision.
Lillia and Amon were captured by the wolf-kin.
“What do you mean, Lillia and Amon were kidnapped?!”
Derek’s shout made the young trainee before him shudder violently, his face pale with fear.
“Damn it, damn it!”
Derek cursed and threw down his gloves.
Chaos swallowed the subjugation force in an instant.
Several members of the search party returned badly wounded, reporting that Amon and Lillia had been taken by the wolf-kin.
Erin’s face darkened at the news.
The wolf-kin had no mages. To them, Lillia was an irreplaceable hostage.
This had never happened in the original past.
Both Amon and Lillia were supposed to return to the Academy unharmed.
Had she changed too much already? Had fate itself been derailed? Erin couldn’t know.
But one thing was certain—no matter the danger, she would save them.
She turned her gaze toward the other knights.
Most were stricken with fear, longing to flee.
Only a few—like Philip and some from the swordsmanship faculty—showed otherwise.
“Sir Ferdin, what will you do?”
His own trainees had been taken. Yet within wolf-kin territory lurked their chieftain—someone with strength rivaling a Sword Master.
Had Count Leon been there, they could have attempted a rescue. But as things stood, retreat was the only sane choice.
Derek’s complexion turned pale with guilt.
If not for his suggestion to send a search party, this never would have happened. But it was too late.
Among the knights, surely one served the Emperor.
If news of the kidnapping reached the Emperor’s ears, Ferdin would be condemned regardless of what choice he made.
And if we fail to recover Amon and Lillia…
Just imagining it made Derek’s knees nearly buckle.
“Sir Ferdin! You must decide.”
“We can’t rescue the kidnapped ones. We must at least save ourselves.”
“Sir Ferdin!”
As knights clamored around him, Erin suddenly moved—intercepting a long spear flying straight for Ferdin.
Clang!
A sharp metallic note rang as the spear dropped to the ground.
Erin blocked it with her sword and pulled Ferdin back in one swift motion.
It was strange. Even if Erin had grown unnaturally fast, the spear was too quick for even Ferdin—who might soon become a high-ranking knight—to react to.
And yet she had blocked it effortlessly.
But the other subjugation members didn’t notice.
Their attention was fixed on the intruders who had appeared.
“The vermin are here.”
A pack of wolf-kin stood before them.
The knights blanched, instinctively stepping back.
It was a natural response. Few had ever fought beastkin before.
Erin secured Ferdin’s safety and then moved forward, analyzing the situation sharply.
There were five wolf-kin. Strong though they were, their numbers weren’t overwhelming.
They themselves weren’t the problem.
But if a fight broke out here, the wolf-kin deeper inside would hear and quickly send reinforcements.
The wolf-kin approached at a leisurely pace, like cats toying with cornered mice.
Then Ferdin shouted, his face tense:
“Run!”
For knights, it was a humiliating order. But pride only mattered while one was alive.
Subjugating the wolf-kin and rescuing refugees—such tasks were impossible without Sword Master Count Leon’s aid.
At Ferdin’s command, several knights immediately fled.
Ferdin too moved to retreat, Derek tugging urgently at his arm.
Some might die, but it was better than all being wiped out.
Yet soon Ferdin felt something was wrong.
The wolf-kin, who should have attacked, were nowhere to be seen.
And Erin…
She was gone.
