Chapter 41: 40

40: [STAGE 2] Incomprehensible

Charles Cross had been killing all his life.

The city he was born in was a fortress against monsters.

Even before he was mature, he followed his father to the frontline. He entered his adulthood while being bathed in the blood of monsters trying to cross the fortress wall.

Even when his father passed away and he inherited the position of Earl of the Frontier, even when he became the lord of the city at a young age,

He killed monsters every day.

And honestly, that was enough for him. Because killing monsters was what he did best, and was the only thing he could understand.

Killing enemies that want to kill me, before they kill me.

The world was this simple, and clear.

‘Hello, m’lord!’

That’s how it was at least, until the moment that woman came to this city.

‘What do you plan on selling in this city again?’

‘Flowers, m’lord.’

A female merchant asked for permission to open a store in the city.

Sitting in front of her, the Earl stared at her with a dumbfounded look.

‘This is the monster frontline. What we need in this city are swords, spears, arrows, and cannons. What good would flowers do? Not to mention flowers fall very easily anyway.’

‘Because there’s no good! That’s exactly why people need flowers, m’lord.’

‘......?’

‘The ephemerality of a flower’s bloom is exactly what makes it so beautiful!’

What she said was incomprehensible to the Earl.

That was why he was suspicious of her at first. He thought she was a spy sent from an enemy country.

The Earl visited her shop every day, full of flowers and grass. It was to find evidence that she was a spy.

Every time he visited the store, she smiled and told him about the flowers.

She explained the language of flowers and taught him about colors and scents.

The Earl soon learned how to distinguish the colors and scents of flowers, and memorized all the types of flowers.

But still, it was still quite incomprehensible why the flowers were so beautiful to him.

A year later. Charles Cross proposed to her.

She accepted the marriage proposal.

* * *

Clop, clop, clop-!

The Earl of the Frontier was rushing toward the fortress wall with his armor, spear, and shield.

A single unit on horseback.

Rushing toward the wall only by himself, without any escort.

“What are you… doing…?”

Riding on a poorly managed horse, wearing poorly maintained rusty armor, and carrying an incongruously large shield and lance.

He was rushing toward the thousand gutter rats.

Who does he think he is, Don Quixote rushing toward the windmill?

“What are you doing, Earl?! You’re going to die-!”

As if he couldn't hear my shouts, the Earl continued without slowing down.

“Aaaaargh-!”

A hoarse roar escaped from behind the old man's helmet.

The rats who were eagerly climbing the wall or digging under it looked back one by one.

The behavior of monsters is simple, as explained dozens of times.

- Kill the nearest human.

Squeak!

Squeak, squeak!

As the Earl got closer, the rats showed their hostility with their red eyes.

However, the Earl did not slow down and continued to rush toward them.

Crush!

He pierced through the center of the group of rats, plunging his ruthless lance down.

And right after that,

“Look at me! You worthless scums-!”

He used wide-area provocation, which can be said to be the signature class skill of the shield knights.

I don't know exactly how high his provocation skill level is, having been trained on the frontlines all his life, but…

The scene where the swarm of rats containing close to 1000 turned around all at once… It was so eerie and surreal.

“......”

I opened my mouth and looked at the Earl.

What is this?

What are you doing right now?

Then his eyes and my eyes met.

In the shadow of the helmet, his deep, decrepit green eyes gleamed dimly.

I tried hard to read his intentions, but I couldn't guess at all.

Squeak!

Squeak, squeak-!

And the next second, a wave of rats poured toward Earl Cross.

* * *

Years passed after the two got married.

Even as the lord's wife, she still planted flowers and tended trees.

A bud sprouted from the seed, a small, fragile stem rose in the summer sun, a flower bloomed, borne fruit, leaves fell, and—

Their daughter was born.

‘Look, honey.’

With her pale face exhausted from childbirth, she handed the newborn to him.

‘She’s your daughter.’

The monsters invaded on that day.

Without even having enough time to wash away the blood and dust, Charles Cross carefully picked up the small newborn.

The baby was fast asleep.

It seemed that she could break with the slightest force, she was very small and fragile.

‘Evangeline.’

The wife whispered the child’s name.

‘Our daughter, she’s as pretty as her name, right?’

‘......’

Charles Cross could not answer, because he wasn’t able to understand,

All of this was still incomprehensible to him.

Such a small and fragile thing, a feeble warmth that seemed like it would fade on a moment’s notice. Why did all of this bring a lump to his throat?

Just a moment ago, there was nothing he couldn’t understand as he was fighting against monsters on the battlefield.

However, now, he couldn’t understand… anything.

* * *

* * *

“Organize the soldiers quickly! Now!”

I hurriedly gave out an order.

All the rats that had infiltrated the wall were able to be cleaned up. This was because there was no follow-up from the monsters.

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All the gutter rats headed outside the fort wall toward Earl Cross who was taking on the monsters all alone.

“Do not use cannons or ballistae! The Earl could be hit. Only use bows or crossbows. Aim for the gutter rats on the outskirts!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

The archers picked a spot and started shooting the rats one by one.

“Lily! How are the flamethrowing artifacts?”

“They’re ready to use!”

“Burn down every single one of them within range!”

I shouted at Lucas on the first floor while the activated artifact was burning the rats near the wall.

“Lucas!”

“At your service!”

“Lead all the soldiers capable of close combat and go out the gates! We have to rescue the Earl.”

“No, Your Highness. This is not a rescue.”

Lucas, who pressed down his helmet, let his blue eyes shine.

“This is a situation where we hit the rats from behind. We can end this at once. I shall annihilate them, and return with the Earl.”

“...Please. Do it as swiftly as you can.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Rumble-

The castle gates opened, and Lucas raised his sword while on horseback.

“Let’s go! We will kill them all and save the Earl!”

Yeeeaah-!

The soldiers shouted in unison and ran out the gate.

The old soldiers, who were once private soldiers under the Earl, were running at the forefront.

‘Make it on time!’

I clenched my fists.

‘Please, save him on time!’

* * *

“Aaaaargh-!”

The Earl let out a shout.

Every time the huge cavalry spear in his hand was swung, dozens of rats rolled on the floor, spilling blood.

And the rats, several times more than he was taking out, were biting his entire body.

Even though it was rusty, the armor he wore was of the highest rank. Not only that but his skills were also focused on strengthening defense.

However, even so, the damage steadily accumulated.

Despite the pain gnawing through his body, the Earl continued to roar and brandish his cavalry spear.

‘I don’t get it.’

He could not understand why he was doing this.

He could not understand why he chose to fight for the city once again, even after deciding to spend his last moments beside his wife.

What made him fight for the city once again that he so hated?

‘I just, don’t understand.’

Even at his age, the world was still full of things he couldn’t understand.

The transience of flowers, the warmth of life, and the beauty of the world.

And his own heart.

All his life he had struggled to understand, and even now, the Earl still couldn’t understand.

…However, there was one thing that he understood very well.

“Ugh, Aaargh-!”

The flowers, and his daughter.

Those fragile and fleeting things, he must protect from these monsters.

And he knows that what he does best is slaying these monsters.

“My daughter lives behind the walls.”

And so, he fought.

“It’s a world in which my daughter lives.”

Because he only knew how to fight, despite it being foolish, he had no choice but to live like this.

“Not a single one of you will pass through me. Not a single one…!”

The Earl roared again. In order to get even one more monster off the wall.

Dozens, no, even hundreds of gutter rats jumped the Earl.

Unable to hold onto his feet, the Earl rolled backward.

The helmet was covered in the blood of the monsters, making it impossible to see.

There was no more strength in his decrepit arms. His two legs, which had already crossed their limits, did not budge.

“Ugh…!”

He already knew.

No matter how much he cultivated the orchard by himself,

No matter how many monsters he killed here,

Those days would never return.

His deceased wife, his daughter who left, and his happiness were all lost forever.

“Aah, Aaaargh!”

However, he who only knew one way to live his life, still got up to swing his spear once again.

And that was the end of it.

The moment he raised his body, swung his spear, and raised his shield forward.

Snap.

Something in his body snapped.

He could no longer feel anything from his body that had been gnawed away along with his armor. The pain beyond his body’s threshold was no longer transmitted to the brain.

His vision was dark.

The Earl learned intuitively that this was his end.

‘Still, I must take at least one more…!”

In order to take at least one more along with him, the Earl of the Frontier stood with his teeth gritting.

......

......

…However, it became silent.

The gutter rats no longer attacked him.

The Earl was puzzled.

Why weren’t the monsters attacking him?

Could it be that he was already dead?

“Earl of the Frontier.”

Then a clear and vivid voice was heard.

It was the voice of a young knight who followed the new lord.

“The monsters have been defeated. The battle is over.”

“......”

“You may… rest now.”

At that remark, the cavalry spear that was stuck in his hand rolled down to the floor.

Earl Cross then fell forward like a puppet with its string cut off.

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