A Hero Saves With Her Body - Chapter 101

Pumong. And Sergi. Rosé hadn’t trusted him since he blackmailed her with debt. But now that she had confirmed it herself, her heart sank.

“It’s not time yet.”

“You know it’s been the same excuse for a year, bro? We might lose our chance.”

From the shadow outside the curtain, Podrick seemed to place something on the table. Sergi looked down at the square object for a while.

“Ariel became the crown prince, bro. From next month, the entire Knight Order will be under Ariel. The imperial family tries to hide it, but the emperor is in critical condition.”

“……”

“You know, bro, he was the main culprit who blocked the marriage between the duke and Rosé. Why do you think that was?”

Podrick took something out of his pocket again and placed it on the table. I couldn’t see what it was, but I could guess from Sergi’s reaction.

“……An exclusive attendant?”

It was a contract for hiring an exclusive attendant for the first princess, dated a year ago. The contract was under Rosé Mora’s name. The employment conditions were all extraordinary.

“Ariel is targeting Rosé, bro.”

The employment contract crumpled in Sergi’s hand. He cursed softly and pressed his throbbing temples.

“Are we just going to watch this happen, Sergi Valeinia?”

“I told you not to call me that.”

“Ah, sorry. My bad, bro! Ahh!”

Sergi threw a knife that accurately stuck above Podrick’s head. Rosé barely managed to muffle her gasp.

Valeinia. That was Ariel’s surname, meaning it belonged to the direct lineage of the emperor.

“This way.”

Then, Dain and a server were seen coming down the stairs. Rosé held onto a pillar with her sweaty hand and slowly turned away.

Fortunately, the two men didn’t pay attention outside. Sergi was busy disciplining Podrick, and Podrick was busy defending himself.

Finally, Rosé managed to sit back in her place before the server opened the curtain.

“Rosé, I was worried you had left.”

Rosé awkwardly lifted her glass and replied with feigned nonchalance, ‘Why would I?’ Dain beamed with joy at her words.

His right dimple looked nice. Elion’s dimples also showed when he smiled like that.

“Let’s start with the meal.”

The server quickly noted down the dishes Dain called out and hurried back upstairs. They were the most expensive dishes I had heard from the server initially.

Dain smiled slightly after checking the almost-empty wine bottle. The reason Rosé’s cheeks looked flushed like someone who had run over must have been because of intoxication.

“We should order another bottle of wine. My dear Rosé.”

Dain said with a smile as he pinched Rosé’s plump cheek. She was unaware of the shocking conversation she had just overheard.

Rosé clinked glasses with Dain with an awkward smile, but Podrick and Sergi’s voices still echoed in her head.

― Do you think he was only famous for his swordsmanship? That’s Lian Mora, who is said to see even a needle in front of a thousand Nirnos. He even feels the flow of the air.
― At Blue Rock?
― Of course, I went there. But I couldn’t enter as long as Asker’s sword is there.

Rosé emptied her wine glass. She couldn’t muster up the courage to decipher their conversation.

Or perhaps, deep down in her subconscious, she had already interpreted it.

Podrick was looking for Lian Mora. And he mentioned Blue Rock. But currently, only two people live at Blue Rock. Her and Elion.

Then there was only one hypothesis to consider. Maybe Elion, perhaps he…

“Dain. Shall we go home after we finish eating?”

Rosé lifted the corners of her mouth as she clinked glasses with Dain, trying to erase her thoughts.

Home wasn’t Blue Rock, where Elion was, but a personal mansion provided by Pumong for Dain.

Dain held Rosé’s hand tightly, seemingly moved.

“I’m looking forward to tonight, Rosé.”

Dain was looking forward to tonight, and Rosé wanted to avoid it. Their desires perfectly matched in an exquisite manner.

* * *

The next day, Tuesday.

After spending the night at Dain’s place, Rosé overslept and hurried back to the main office.

Today was the day of Pumong’s full meeting. It was a day when executives fiercely competed over which requests they would take on.

Naturally, the popular ones were those with hefty rewards attached. Short-distance ones were better, but even for long distances, everyone engaged in fierce competition for them.

However, sometimes there were requests that didn’t require fighting—it was the high-risk job of hiring all the executives. 

Despite hundreds of phondos being at stake for each executive, hiring all of them meant one must be prepared to risk their life. 

Just like the request that came in today. 

“Oster?” 

Peon opened the door and was surprised to see a man of tall stature. He was a familiar figure to Peon, who had been an instructor at the military academy 9 years ago. 

Oster Arnedin. 

He was one of the knight cadets that Peon had taught, who later volunteered to become a dark knight. 

Peon greeted Oster and the two people next to him with a mix of happiness and surprise. 

They were Oster’s subordinates. Peon hadn’t taught them, but he heard that they all followed Oster into becoming a Red Knight. 

“Instructor Peon, it’s been a long time.” 

Oster saluted Peon in the manner of a cadet to his training instructor. Peon, usually unflappable, was now flustered and waved his hands in denial. 

After leaving the military academy, he was known as a man who prioritized money over honor due to his wife’s incurable disease, but there was no excuse for leaking the imperial family’s sword techniques for money. 

“The client is a Red Knight?” 

“Another unsealed boundary issue?” 

The executives murmured among themselves. It wasn’t the first time they had received a request from the Red Knights. 

It was because monsters occasionally escaped due to delayed fortress repairs. But generally, it was only one or two monsters, so there was no need for a large number of people. 

“That’s strange. If it’s an unsealed boundary issue, then just those three should suffice.” 

Venter gestured towards Mingus, Lunen, and Beth in turn. A year ago, these three had taken on a request from the Red Knights to deal with monsters that had come out beyond the fortress walls. 

Back then, they sent three just in case, but ultimately concluded that one person would have been enough. 

“Wait. These Red Knights seem different from the ones I know?” 

Beth narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She was somewhat familiar with Red Knights due to issues about unsealed boundaries, but these three were unfamiliar to her. 

An unexpected clue came from Mingus, who had been chewing on a dried plum since earlier. 

“Why did you bring fur clothes in summer?” 

Indeed, it was strange. It was midsummer when the sun didn’t set until 9 PM. 

The answer came from Lunen, known as the most knowledgeable person in Pumong. 

“They are from Kamit.” 

“Kamit? Was that also Kithlode? I thought they were foreigners for sure.” 

Lunen looked at Podrick, who interjected with a bright voice, as if he was looking at an idiot, and said, 

“There are three unsealed boundaries in Kithlode. One is in Ohaiyer in the central inland, where Sister Beth had gone before. Another is Delje Port, which is well-known for making eastern trade difficult. Lastly, Kamit is located at the northernmost tip of Kithlode, so idiots who don’t know geography like Podrick think it’s a foreign land.” 

Podrick bristled at being called an idiot and retorted, “You little old man!” However, others seemed to agree with Lunen’s clear summary and just nodded their heads. 

“Well, it’s such a distant place that civilians can hardly know about it. Plus, the blockade has lasted over 100 years, so even the residents hardly feel the boundary.” 

“If it has been blockaded for over 100 years, doesn’t that mean it’s well-managed? It doesn’t seem like they would need us.” 

Ohaiyer in the central inland might be dangerous due to its proximity to many cities, but Kamit at the northernmost tip didn’t seem to pose a threat unless its walls were breached. 

Moreover, the total population of the northern residents didn’t even reach three hundred thousand. There seemed to be no reason for the dark knight order to come down to Pumong and make a request. 

“The truth is….” 

Oster hesitated before starting to speak. 

“A year ago, the city gate was pierced through. There had been a few holes before that were quickly repaired, but this time it completely broke down… The villagers were dragged into the boundary and haven’t come out since.” 

The executives were abuzz. Venter frowned as if he couldn’t believe it and said, 

“If such an incident occurred, there would have been an uproar in the imperial palace.” 

Monster escapes were not uncommon due to the mismanagement by Red Knights, but a broken city gate was a different matter entirely. 

The Blue Knights from Monchen would have been dispatched immediately. 

But as far as Venter knew, there hadn’t been any recent dispatches of Blue Knights to the north. That left two possibilities: either Oster’s story about the broken gate was false or the emperor knew and chose not to dispatch the Blue Knights. 

“They did send a fortress repairman from Monchen, but there was no additional support.” 

The answer was the latter. 

“How could they do that?” 

“I think I know why. If Ohaiyer’s walls had fallen, they would have immediately sent the Blue Knights since it’s close to Monchen. But Kamit is… almost like a foreign land, as Podrick said.” 

Beth openly expressed her disdain for the imperial family. Working with the Red Knights had revealed to her that the imperial family had long neglected the unsealed boundaries.

They seemed to think that managing the walls was enough, sending only repair personnel occasionally while combat budgets were minuscule. But what about the far north?

“Oster, continue speaking.”

Peon gently shook Oster’s slumped shoulders, urging him to continue. Oster nodded and began speaking.

“At first, everyone had given up. I’m ashamed to say that we had all thought we had fallen to the monsters. There were no signs of survivors even at the fortress watchtowers. But a few days ago…”

Oster cleared his throat and continued.

“A few days ago, Raymond here heard a woman’s voice crying for help during patrol. At first, we thought it was a hallucination, but…”

“It wasn’t just once or twice, was it?”

“Yes…”

The executives looked puzzled as they probed further.