novelWhy is the white poplar by the river shining alone? (5)
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Chapter 60: Chapter 60 Why is the white poplar by the river shining alone? (5)
A slim knight gestured toward him, looking far ahead. Badge's gaze had already turned there for a long time. As if it was defending an important trail, Balos stood looking at them with a strict gaze.
"You're arrogant!"
Smiling at Balos, Badge approached the horse. As if it wandered through the forest alone for a long time, there were several leaves on its saddle.
He grabbed the horse's bridle and began to move in a natural manner. The rumor that Jean had been bitten by Balos before the hunting began had already spread among the knights. He glanced at Balos' mouth and swallowed his nervousness.
At that very moment Balos, trotted on as Badge led him, suddenly stopped and turned his head toward the dark where there was no human movement. While the knights looked puzzled, Badge quickly mounted Balos.
Normally, Balos would not have let others get on him, but this time he was not resistant. As soon as Badge mounted, Balos began to gallop at full speed. Balos ran fast even in the dark without any problem.
There was some disturbance among the knights left behind, but they followed him in no time. Soon Badge could hear the whistling of somebody, resonating throughout the deep forest.
As if it was long familiar with the whistle, Balos ran towards it. Amazed by Balos' intelligence, Badge firmly grabbed the reins.
After he rode for some time, he saw a couple of lights flickering faintly in the dark. As the sky was full of clouds and the moon disappeared, the forest was completely dark.
Fortunately, he could easily see the dim light shining in the distance.
Now, the buzzing whistling calling Balos was heard more clearly, "Balos!"
Finding its the master dramatically, it neighed first in wild excitement. Badge jumped off Balos and approached the two holding strange green lamps.
"Captain Schroder! Are you okay?"
Lard lifted the wooden stick in his hand a little higher to check his face. As he moved, the round green lights in his hand scattered everywhere.
"Sir Enos! Nice to see you."
Lard scrutinized his face as if he was surprised. Obviously, Lard didn't expect that the head of the 2nd Knights Division would come out to search him. As someone who had been stranded after the crash, he should have shown a happy reaction when rescued by Badge, but he wasn't.. Badge assumed it's because his rescuer was the head of 2nd Knights Division, not somebody else.
"I was under the impression that the 2nd Knights went to investigate the disturbances in the Henobi area."
A few weeks ago, the farmers in Henobi, south of the empire, caused a great upheaval. In late summer, the Henobi region had hardly any grains due to disease and blight on their montrapi crops, so they could not expect a bountiful harvest in the fall. In despair and dissatisfaction with the government's purchase price of montrapi, they staged a violent demonstration. As the situation was worse than expected, the emperor sent some of the 2nd Knights to calm the turmoil, with Badge Enos leading the knights.
"I came here as soon as I returned. The crown prince mobilized all available knights for your search."
"...I see." Lard nodded at his explanation.
"Were you wounded?" Badge said, briefly looking at Wendy standing next to him.
"We had some minor injuries, but fortunately we can walk."
"Oh, that's good. I was really worried after I found the traces of your falling from the cliff. I'm so happy to see you're safe."
With a pleasant smile, Badge looked at the two again, while looking at the green lights floating around them with a suspicious look.
Balos walked nearby and put its nose near the green lights, but Wendy raised one hand to stop it. Despite her hand, Balos meekly leaned its face on her hand as if to play a prank on her.
"Oh, this is the glow of fireflies!" Badge exclaimed.
Badge realized the identity of the lights on the branches in the hands of the two and let out an exclamation of surprise. He was well aware of these small creatures waiving their wings and twisting their bodies around, but it was his first time seeing someone holding fireflies in their hands without any gadget to trap them.
"It's really amazing. I have no idea why the fireflies don't run away and gather in one place like this..."
While he could not take his eyes off the branches for a while and watched them moving around, Lard handed the twigs to him and helped Wendy to climb onto Balos.
Shortly afterwards, the other knights who followed Badge appeared, and they all rode out of the woods. Before leaving the forest, Lard retrieved the twigs teeming with fireflies from Badge and carefully placed them on the ground.
On their way back, Wendy hardened her expression, conscious of the gaze of the unfamiliar knights constantly casting their gazes on her. In particular, she was conscious of Badge who had been fixing his gaze on her all along.
She opened her mouth as if she was offended, staring at his face unpleasantly, "Do you have anything to say to me, sir?"
Badge flinched and awkwardly smiled at her. As Lard, riding on Balos with Wendy, looked at him at the moment, Badge was all the more embarrassed..
"Oh, I'm sorry if you were offended. I'm sure I've seen you somewhere, but no matter how much I try to remember it, I can't. Haha, have we met before?"
The moment she heard it, she shrugged her shoulders.
'Is he related to Count Hazlet?'
She felt as if she had cold sweat on her back. She wished she had her veiled hat, but it was too late.
Scrutinized his face, she said, "It's my first time seeing you. You seemed to have mistaken me as someone else."
Be it luck or not, she had no memory of having seen him before. Anyway, she turned her head after speaking to him coldly.
Making an awkward expression at her reaction, Badge had to be conscious of Lard who was staring at him sharply. Badge was already alarmed by the news that Sir Schroder, captain of the 1st Knights Division, was accompanied by a woman to the hunting contest, and that he went missing with her later, so he felt a bit terrified by Lard's stern gaze on him.
As he felt he might be misunderstood by his rash curiosity, Badge laughed nervously and said, "Hahaha, I guess I was mistaken. Just forget it."
Looking at him getting goosebumps, Lard was lost in his thoughts because Badge's face, who pretended not to know her face when he actually knew was overlapped with somebody else's: a knight with the 2nd Knights Division, who he had met at Jerus Hall. The knight that had been desperately pursuing her down the corridor. Thinking that perhaps that knight might have been included in the search team, Lard immediately turned his eyes away from Badge. Although Lard was displeased with his presence, he tried to calm down.
"Oh! Are you guys all safe?"
At the entrance of the forest, they were greeted by the crown prince who came out to welcome them back in person. The prince scrutinized Wendy and Lard carefully and welcomed their safe return.
Melissa, whose eyes were swollen from crying, was looking at Wendy from a distance.
"I'm so glad you guys are safe. You'll never know how worried I was. Well, you need treatment first."
The prince hurriedly pushed them into the tent for treatment. Several doctors on standby quickly began to treat their wounds. The two were treated with a curtain in between them.
Melissa, now standing right next to Wendy, told her about what she told the prince about the bear hunting. In the meantime, Wendy loosened the knot around her finger easily, noticing that the medical staff was having a hard time undoing the knot.
"Oh, don't throw it away."
Wendy took it from one of the medical staff who was about to throw away the dirty cloth stained with blood and dust, and held it in her hand as if it was precious. Although Melissa looked at it with a curious expression, Wendy had not the slightest plan to explain it to her. In fact, she couldn't explain how to show her emotions at the moment, nor tell her about what happened after they fell over the cliff. Instead, Wendy asked her to take the veiled from Snowyko's saddlebags. Melissa was happy to do so.
After treatment, they were once again called to the prince. As expected, they stood before the corpse of the giant Burgnou bear. Jean, who was overwhelmed by the news about their safe return, looked at them, but neither said anything. Melissa, stood next to him and patted him on the shoulder as if to comfort him.
In no time, the two were surrounded by the nobles who participated in the hunting contest.
Due to an unexpected accident, the hunting schedule was delayed, so most of the ladies returned with the prince's permission.
Nevertheless, there were still a lot left behind, so the tent was very crowded.
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