I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 301: Hero

Horses of knights were trained to be conscious of what their master’s feet and knees meant. Hard squeezes vs soft, only using one side over the other, and even the way their knights leaned into the saddle was enough to send a message to these horses. They were trained this way because, in battle, a knight’s arms were often in use carrying a shield or wielding a sword—although a lance was always more efficient at such a distance that horses offered.

Since horses and knights had such deep-rooted bonds, it seemed like an impossibility that Sammy would be there without Irene unless something unbelievably awful happened. Scenarios pushed their way into Arthur’s thoughts, and he felt sick to his stomach.

Seeing Sammy rushing along in slight panic, he directed his grey horse, Hrett, in the direction of the other. He had to be fast because the other horse was in distress, but he also had to be precise because it was likely he could scare off the horse rather than catch it as he intended to.

Since he only had one hand he could reliably grab with, he was forced to use only his legs to control his own horse and reached towards Sammy’s reins with his right hand, hoping that the animal was responsive to him.

Sammy resisted almost immediately, which caused Arthur to shout "Woah!" and jump off his horse and in front of the other.

"It’s alright," he said to the beast of an animal. "I’m here. Tell me where we ought to go."

The animal whinnied and hopped up off of its front feet, in disagreement that the former knight was trying to send him to his death. The bad feeling regarding the place he left Irene behind in lessened the further he was from there. He didn’t want to go back at all.

However, Sammy did give a few clues, glancing in the direction northeast, hesitantly, and pulling himself in the opposite direction. After a few more tugs, Arthur tugged even harder and the horse realized the former knight was serious in his commands.

Finally having a certain master to guide him, Sammy stopped panicking and held still, showing that he was, in fact, well-trained; he had just been sent in the wrong direction before.

"She’s that way, isn’t she?" Arthur asked as if the horse could answer, showing just where Irene got that sort of behavior. After all, his own horse was his only company for the past weeks. "Dammit."

The direction the horse was avoidant of was the very direction he hoped his daughter never went. He thought the map had specified enough that this abandoned village was abandoned for a reason. He had even verbally warned her, but it was an entire month before she left. Going on her first journey alone was understandably a large undertaking.

Strange occurrences that went beyond the bounds of mere superstition made people leave that village long before. There were deaths and children going missing all the time. A lot wondered if bad magic had been placed in the area.

It was best to avoid it if at all possible, but if that was where his daughter was, there was no other choice for Arthur. He would rather die knowing he tried to save Irene rather than live knowing he did nothing.

From the distance he was in, he estimated he could make it there in only a few hours. However, it also made him nervous that he needed to get there even more quickly. What if Irene was under the snow and freezing to death?

The worry of a father and the instincts of a knight coexisted within Arthur. He sought his grey horse and climbed onto its back.

For now, his only option with Sammy was spurring him to go in the direction of the township because that was the closest place that would be safe to stay in.

Arthur needed to get to his daughter and if Sammy wasn’t cooperating, he wasn’t going to force him.

With even more urgency than before, Arthur climbed back onto his horse and squeezed his knees tightly. He pulled the scarf over his bearded face and leaned forward into the motion of his horse. He would get ther as quickly as he possibly could. After all, the horse he rode on was from a similar line as Sammy. He would only take horses of this pedigree on trips to the north.

Snowflakes were starting to fall despite there clearly already having been a storm in the area. With each snowflake on the ground, his heart became further full of anxiousness.

He wasn’t sure his heart ever calmed as he went forth. He felt a bit sorry for his horse that he forced him forward with no break.

But he only pushed harder the moment he saw the village appear in the near horizon.

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Still in a trance-like state, Irene’s trek forward was consistent as she marched on and then placed herself in the middle of the village.

The snow, by that point, had piled quite high on the ground, and the occasional breeze caused it to drift and pile against the buildings. It was a bad environment to be subjected to. Not only because the unpredictable snow could easily bury her, but because she was a few hours away from freezing to death, especially since the sun was beginning to set.

Despite all of the lessons she had learned after an entire life of growing up in such a cold climate, she disregarded all of this knowledge. It was clear she wasn’t in her right state of mind. Even though the cold didn’t seem to bother her, she was only human, and there would still be repercussions from being in the cold for too long.

Not even when she plopped herself down on the snowy ground and sat with her posture slouching and her knees in front of her, did she respond to the cold as if she were numb. Her expression was mostly lifeless and she still said "hollviner" under her breath.

For the first time since she started back to that village, there was finally a response to her mutterings.

The ground around her shook once more but it was gentler than it had been before. Freshly fallen snow vibrated around her and things shifted at an even more extreme level than the wind could push the snow drifts around.

Rather than merely the top layer moving, the snow shifted all the way down to the marshy grass that lay at the very bottom and was only ever revealed a few short months out of every year.

Despite the anomalous situation, Irene didn’t move; she merely waited for what was to come.

White scales were revealed in the snow that moved like sand. A snake-like head finally lifted, and the dark blue scales covering the entire underside of its body were revealed. Piercing purple eyes opened and took in the prey it had lured, the magical orbs inside of its stomach casting a powerful spell to lure the most unsuspecting.

It hissed like a snake and its movements were as such as well, but rather than being slowed in the snow like the cold-blooded reptiles, this was the environment in which it thrived. The mana stones inside of its body were so powerful that it had its own internal source of heat and magic.

Rather than being amazed or frightened, Irene was reduced to pile of unintelligible ramblings and nonsense words. She seemed happy to see the thing she had been referring to as her friend. It was clear that whichever magic had been cast upon her had taken away her ability to differentiate between what was good for her or what was going to kill her.

In response to Irene, the beast bared dagger-like fangs, and its neck seemed to flare as it reared up to finally taste a meal after decades of dormancy.

Irene’s head lulled to the side and she met the eyes of what called her there in the first place.

"Hollviner," she addressed the wyrm, her voice tired and words slurring enough to make it seem like she was drunk. "I am here to see you."

Its neck shot forth like a arrow from a crossbow. However, at the same time that it struck, the prey it had been luring in after not seeing another living thing for so long was swept up and dragged out of the way.

The creature hissed and lunged toward whatever dared interrupt its opportunity to eat, but it was only stopped at the slash of a blade severing it entirely in two—the assailant not realizing how catastrophic it could be for whoever crossed this wyrm in the future.

Arthur felt his body go numb at the sight of his daughter nearly getting eaten and willingly sit by as if she weren’t in danger. When they had finally gotten themselves a distance away, he could look down at Irene and assess the damage that had been done to her.

However, instead of what he was expecting, he saw purple eyes staring up at him in horror as his daughter tried to escape the grasp she normally found so comforting. novelbuddy-cσ๓

"Get the hell away from me you bastard!" she screamed. "Who the hell are you?"

In Arthur’s shock, he let go and Irene tumbled to the ground despite how fast the horse was moving by that point.

She began sprinting in the direction that they had only just managed to escape.

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