Roan hurried his preparations to leave.
But that didn’t mean that he was simply leaving straight to the Pershion Kingdom.
First, he had to go back to the Tale Barony along with the newly born Tale Legion.
‘I must make all the preparations at there.’
It would be troublesome if Second Prince Tommy Rinse or Third Prince Kallum Rinse’s factions become suspicious of his actions.
Due to that, each and every action of his was careful.
Then.
“My lord. You have a guest.”
Onil’s voice, who was managing the temporary mansion, was heard.
Faintly smiling, he continued to speak.
“It’s Princess Aily.”
Tuk.
The hands, which were moving busily to clean up the office, abruptly stopped.
Brushing off the dust on his clothes, Roan walked towards the door.
“Where is she?”
“She is in the mansion’s garden.”
“Why not guide her to the reception room?”
“That place is also still being cleaned up, so it is quite dusty.”
Roan nodded slowly at Onil’s words.
His feet kept moving faster.
Onil glanced at that sight, and then stepped back and lowered his head.
Not noticing him at all, Roan hurriedly headed towards the mansion’s garden.
“Ah……”
A quiet exclamation naturally came out.
At a shade canopy located at one side of the garden.
Princess Aily Rinse was underneath it.
She, in a plain dress, looked so graceful and relaxed that only the time around her seemed to flow slowly.
“Princess.”
“Ah, Sir Baron Tale.”
Meeting each other’s eyes, the two bowed their heads.
Roan, with a soft voice, politely asked.
“What bring you all the way here?”
Aily showed a cheerful smile that those words as she replied.
“I heard that you’ll be leaving soon. So I came to say goodbye.”
“Ah…… thank you very much.”
Roan unknowingly let out a quiet exclamation.
‘Leaving……’
He was simply so busy that he hadn’t had such thought.
No, instead of leaving he had thought of it as ‘returning’ to the Tale Barony.
But.
‘Leaving is right. At least in this situation……’
Leaving and returning.
The feelings the two words gave were too different.
Roan wordlessly stared into Aily’s eyes.
Lights holding unexplainable feelings met and flowed between their eyes.
‘Ah……’
Aily soon shyly smiled and slightly lowered her head.
“I pray that only good things will happen to you from now on.”
Roan nodded his head and replied.
“I too will pray that princess will only be happy.”
At those words, Aily snickered and hid her small red lips with her right hand.
“It’s as if we’re people saying their last farewells.”
“Is it?”
Roan asked back as he cheerfully smiled
Then, after hesitating for a moment, he carefully continued his words.
“I will make sure to come visit once if I come back to Miller.”
“Yes. I’ll be waiting.”
Aily immediately answered but then promptly redden her face with a thoroughly surprised look.
‘What do you mean I’ll be waiting?’
Her heart loudly jumped.
Roan, as he watched her, unconsciously made a bright smile.
Courage appeared in his heart.
“And if you are fine with it, please come visit the Tale Baro……”
When he had spoke to that point.
“My lord.”
He heard confident voice.
A truly familiar voice to the ears.
It was Clay.
“Hm.”
Roan couldn’t quite finish his words and turned his head to look at Clay.
Clay first greeted towards Aily and then looked at Roan.
“The preparations are complete.”
It was a report that the preparations to head towards the Tale Barony were finished.
“Okay. I got it.”
Roan lightly nodded his head.
Clay looked back and forth between Roan and Aily for a moment, and then went out of the garden after giving a respectful farewell.
“Is that person perhaps Clay?”
With a cautious voice, Aily asked.
In the capital, Miller, Roan’s subordinates also spread their fame as much as Roan.
Especially his adjutant Austin; Harrison; Brian, who was the kingdom’s swordsman who received high expectations; and Clay, who joined a bit late but showed outstanding and excelling schemes and unique plans, were notably famous.
Roan looked towards the direction Clay disappeared to and nodded.
“Yes. He is.”
At those words, Aily wavered with a slightly hesitant look then carefully spoke with a quiet voice.
“Although it’s true that he is a person with outstanding talent…… please don’t give him all of sir Baron’s trust.”
“What do you mea……?”
As Roan hesitated his words, Aily formed a bitter smile.
“To me, Clay’s heart can’t be seen. I can’t tell whether its inside is black, or white. This kind of case is…”
Her expression slightly turned stiff.
“A first.”
“Hmm.”
Roan leaked a short groan.
He could more or less notice what Aily was trying to say.
‘Don’t trust him too much, is it……’
Roan slowly nodded his head.
“Princess’s words, I’ll bear it in mind.”
Aily wordlessly lowered her head.
‘Clay. A person whose heart couldn’t be seen……’
Her eyes for looking at people were indisputable.
That wasn’t a sort of instinct.
‘It’s the first time I’ve experienced this since I earned this power.’
Her heart felt heavy.
Aily held her small hands evenly together and deeply inhaled.
‘There is a need to keep watch. Some kind of problem may happen to Sir Baron Tale.’
A foreboding thought filled her head.
Her heart felt even heavier.
Then.
“Thank you for worrying about me.”
She heard Roan’s voice.
Suddenly, the oppressing feelings that filled her head and heart disappeared as if it was a lie.
“Huu.”
A sigh of relief pushed through her small red lips and flew out shortly.
There was a strange power in Roan’s voice.
The kind that relaxed people’s hearts and make them happy.
Aily didn’t know it yet, of course, but that was something that only applied to her.
For a while, Roan and Aily stared at each other without saying any words.
No, there was no need to speak.
The two’s feelings were pa.s.sed to each other as if they were absorbed.
Like that, Roan and Aily promised of the next time and parted.
Roan prepared meticulously for one more day, and headed towards the Tale Barony as soon as the sky brightened.
Simon and the n.o.bles who follow him came out to the mansion to see him off.
But the thing that made Roan happier than anything else were the castle’s residents who were lined up following the street and all the way out of the gate.
They, to Roan who looked after them all the while staying in the capital unlike the other n.o.bles, held strong feelings of grat.i.tude and respect.
Until Roan and the Tale Legion’s soldiers couldn’t be seen, the castle’s citizens clapped and cheered at them.
From the north that they left, a cold wind blew.
A chilly northern wind.
The season was now entering winter.
*****
In the middle of the mountains that neither the moonlight nor the light of the stars reached.
Pdduk!
A small bird somehow flew around between the trees.
A moment later.
Kiig!
The small bird sat down on the tree that just began to grow and let out a sharp cry.
An inky black s.p.a.ce where not even a single presence could be felt.
At that moment, a small torch appeared and pushed aside the darkness of the s.p.a.ce.
“A message bird at this time.”
The message bird denoted the birds that personally pa.s.sed words instead of letters or objects.
As an extremely special bird, it was hard for most people to see nor use without permission.
A rough and wild looking man soon appeared beneath the torch.
Extending his right hand towards the bird, he murmured unintelligible words.
Kiig! Kig! Kigigigik!
Then, the small bird went up on top of the man’s palm and, as if it was telling a story, chattered without a pause.
The cries of the bird shattered the silence in the middle of the mountain.
“Hmm.”
The man let out a quiet groan.
The story the message bird had pa.s.sed was considerably surprising.
“There isn’t a need to hide anymore?”
He creased his brows and contemplated for a moment, then lightly shook his head.
Kig!
The small bird left behind a short cry and flew higher and higher into the night sky.
The man quietly whispered as he chased that sight with his eyes.
“It looks like he sent message birds to all the places that are reachable.”
Probably by now, the message birds should have arrived at the friends, the kinds, and the brothers who were living and hiding in deep places all over the world.
Although that number wouldn’t be very great even so.
The man shook and unlit the torch, then murmured with a quiet voice.
“Tale Barony, is it…… should I try going there once?”
His voice was hesitant.
It was simply that difficult of a decision to make.
“Well, there’s still time.”
According to the story the message bird pa.s.sed, there was still a plenty of time left.
The man slowly hid his body into the darkness.
Silence once again covered the mountain.
*****
In the Tale Barony, there still was no lord’s castle nor any proper castle.
Although the Mediasis village, which was the center of administration and politics, had a significantly large size, it only had a false wall built with trees stacked high instead of a solid wall.
“Once the lord comes back, we should raise the lord’s castle and the castle walls first.”
Hundred-Man Commander Semi, who was administering the entire barony’s public order after Roan left for the capital, Miller, looked at the shoddy false walls and shook his head.
“We should also build forts at the strategic points.”
“And repair the streets.”
“The training ground should also be expanded.”
The hundred-man commanders and ten-man commanders all chipped in a word.
“Come to think of bit, the training ground raised quite excellent results despite being so small.”
“You’re right. All of them became dashing regulars.”
The hundred-man commanders spoke praises and looked at one young man.
“It’s all thanks to the new recruits, who worked diligently.”
The young man bashfully smiling and being humble was, in fact, Glenn.
In the last several months, he, who was appointed as the supervisor of the training ground, had given it his all to train the newbies.
Thanks to that, the greenhorns, who used to be no more than a mere mob, were able to be reborn as regulars.
As the result, the Amaranth troop that was left in the Mediasis Village was able to achieve grand results in both quant.i.ty and quality.
“When the lord sees this, he should be so surprised, right?”
Numerous hundred-man commanders nodded at Semi’s words.
They turned towards the long and straight street that stretched inside the village.
On the street, magnificent soldiers were filed up one after another.
And behind the soldiers, the people of the Mediasis Village and nearby villages had came out and waited for Roan.
It was an incredible crowd of people.
“It should be about time for the lord to arrive……”
Semi looked towards the village’s western entrance and scrunched his nose.
At that moment.
Deng! Deng! Deng!
The watchtower’s bell noisily rang.
Finally, Roan and the Amaranth Troop had appeared at the end of the western field.
Suddenly, a strange heat circled the entire village.
That heat brought blazing lava to mind.
It was sense of an incredible energy that seemed like it’ll immediately explode being condensed.
The Amaranth troop including Semi as well as the ordinary villagers all held back the heat within their chests and watched the western entrance.
And finally.
Flap!
< TaleLegion. >
The lead carrying the legion flag entered the village.
< Amaranth Troop. >
< Roan Tale. >
And following that, the troop flag and the commander’s flag shined their brilliance.
And right behind that.
The person that they’ve been waiting for so much finally showed himself.
Roan Tale.
Riding on a robust war horse, he appeared with a regal look.
Instantly.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Roan Tale! Roan Tale!”
“Tale Legion! Tale Legion!”
Cheers poured out.
The heat that was held in their chests exploded out at once.
It was to the degree that bodies would stagger from the vigor.
Roan brightly smiled as he raised his right hand.
‘I have come back.’
A fresh feeling of pride and longing stormed.
It was also the same for the Amaranth Troop’s soldiers who came back from the capital, Miller, following Roan.
“Has everyone been well?”
“I’m back!”
“Have you heard the news about us?”
Towards the soldiers that lined the sides of the street, they shouted and waved.
On their face were obvious looks of bottomless delight.
Meanwhile, the soldiers who became a part of the Tale Legion after the rebellion suppression made bewildered faces at the incredible welcome.
‘Just what……’
‘The popularity is amazing.’
‘To think commoners would like a n.o.ble this much.’
It was something hard to imagine in other places.
Feeling a sense of pride that appeared for no reason, they raised their heads that they had momentarily lowered up high.
‘I’m no longer a rebel. I’m a Tale Legion soldier.’
‘I’ll bury my bones here!’
The courage in their hearts soared.
Their shoulders opened up on their own and strength was put into their steps.
Slowly but truly confidently, the procession continued.
‘Glenn has done well.’
Roan looked at the soldiers that formed long lines on the either sides of the street and faintly smiled.
Their postures were straight and the light in their eyes was good.
Although there probably were areas that were lacking compared to the established Amaranth troop, with a bit of work, they would be able to become the strongest regulars in the surrounding region.
“My lord!”
When he arrived at the end of the street, the hundred-man commanders,including Semi, as well as the ten-man commanders neatly lined up and saluted.
Roan dismounted from the horse and walked towards Semi.
“All of you have excellently carried out the jobs you were a.s.signed.”
“We have simply given our best.”
Semi answered as their representative.
He looked straight into Roan’s eyes and continued his words.
“We have heard the news through Agens’ agents. We truly congratulate you.”
“Congratulations!”
The other soldiers soon followed and shouted at the top of their lungs.
Roan cheerfully smiled and nodded.
“Because you guys were here, I was able to do the things I had to do with ease. All of you have done well.”
At those words, Semi and the numerous hundred-man commanders showed greatly moved expressions.
Recognition.
They had received Roan’s recognition.
Although merit evaluation and awards were good, there was nothing that felt better than to be recognized for their abilities and hard work by their lord.
“Waaaaa!”
“Welcome back, sir!”
“Roan Tale! Roan Tale!”
Listening to the cheers that still continued to fall down, Roan lightly closed his eyes.
A tender feeling wrapped his entire body.
A familiar and longed for feeling.
With his eyes still closed, he quietly whispered.
“Yes. This here is my home.”
< To Pershion Kingdom (1) > End.
Translator : CSV
Proofreader: st8_lupe.