Chapter 46: Chapter 46
When Ian opened his eyes, the world was bathed in a mysterious blue light.
The blue twilight between midnight and dawn.
In that blue world, a tall blonde woman was looking at Ian.
"F*ck, that scared me."
Of course, from a distance, she must have looked like a beautiful painting.
But Ian was startled to wake up and find someone looking down at him.
"Sorry, did I wake you?"
"It's not that."
Ian looked around and sighed.
There were about 30 minutes left until the sun was fully up.
But waking up before that meant he had lost some precious morning sleep.
Like most Koreans, Ian had a peculiar obsession with his morning sleep.
"...The rope?"
"What rope?"
"The one I tied around the tree."
Before falling asleep, Ian had wrapped the rope around the arm of a black knight to prevent her from escaping and to guard against any attack.
But, surprisingly, when he woke up, the black knight was moving around freely with only her hands loosely tied.
It was strange.
Had he tied the rope incorrectly yesterday?
"It wasn't tied."
"..."
When the black knight calmly said so, Ian just nodded.
What was the point in arguing now that it was already daylight?
"How long have you been like this?"
"It's been a while. I've had a lot to think about."
The black knight suddenly extended her hand.
When Ian looked at her, the black knight said,
"I seek treatment befitting a knight. Unbind my hands."
"How can I trust you?"
When Ian asked back, the black knight confidently replied,
"I swear on the honor of a knight, I will not attack you."
"..."
Ian looked at the black knight with suspicion.
Ian's caution was due to the black knight's sheer physical power.
Wizards are weak in close combat.
Bluntly put, if the black knight were to grab Ian's neck and twist it, how could Ian possibly fend her off?
He felt safer with her hands tied.
Still doubting, the black knight calmly shared her story.
"I am Belenka of the Mets family, from Wintz in Baekguk. It's a barren land to the east of the Empire."
'It matches what Sir Diketo said.'
Sir Diketo had immediately called the black knight a knight from the east after seeing her.
Apparently, knights from Wintz in Baekguk prefer wearing black armor.
"As the eldest child, I was trained from a young age to follow in my father's footsteps as a knight. But after my father passed away, my mother whimsically decided to pass my father's armor and weapons to my younger sibling. I explained that those were mine, but she wouldn't understand."
"Ah. So you stole them?"
"What do you take me for? I obviously took them fair and square."
Ian nodded.
It was clear.
Fair and square (by force), no doubt.
As Ian had expected, Belenka of Mets had beaten up her sibling and taken the weapons and armor.
Thus, a trial ensued...
And Belenka lost.
The reason was that the Lord and Belenka's mother were in cahoots.
Having lost in court, Belenka was supposed to return the armor and be imprisoned... but that didn't happen.
It goes without saying, but to enforce justice, physical force was essential.
To punish, first, you must capture the criminal.
But as you might have seen before... Belenka was quite strong.
When the Lord's soldiers and knights threatened Belenka, she fought back fiercely (physically) and shouted,
"Who dares to judge me!"
No matter the Lord's judicial authority, in the end, the strongest one prevails.
Belenka, demonstrating the limitations of medieval justice with her own body, escaped from Wintz and headed to the Holy Empire.
Her destination was the Roland Kingdom located in the western part of the continent.
It was the kingdom where her father had served as a knight in his youth.
"As my father's daughter, they'll surely welcome me."
"Hmm."
Ian found it a bit strange but nodded anyway.
Thinking that because her father had a job there, she would too.
Wasn't that too naive?
However, considering the era of hereditary professions, Belenka's thought process wasn't entirely wrong.
"Then why the disguise as a man?"
"..."
Belenka's face turned red at the mention of cross-dressing.
"That, that's... It's definitely not because I like women!!!"
"Huh? Are you a lesbian?"
"No!!!"
Ian didn't know, but in this era, men cross-dressing or women disguising as men often indicated an unusual sexual orientation.
In other words, a woman in men's clothing was seen as a woman who desired women.
"I heard the Empire discriminates against female knights! Barbarians! So my father told to be cautious!"
Hmm... Is that so?
Ian, not being a knight, was unfamiliar with this.
But the Empire being barbaric was a fact.
The roots of the Empire's people were not from the ancient Golden Empire but from barbarians who came from the north.
There was a tendency in the Empire, which retained some of the barbaric traits of the northerners, to view women's outdoor activities as odd.
More precisely, it was the men accompanying the women who were viewed strangely, for the macho reason of 'Why are men becoming women and only watching women do the hard work?'
"So I planned to hide my gender until I could escape the Empire! I didn't want to cause any trouble!"
If Lucy were here, she might have skeptically asked, 'Are you just making excuses because you like wearing men's clothes?'
But Ian, who had no prejudice against medieval people, just accepted it as it was.
"And..."
"What else is there?"
Belenka nodded and presented a black helmet.
"This helmet is enchanted."
"Magic?"
Surprised by this unexpected fact, Ian felt intrigued.
Magic was Ian's area of expertise, after all!
"Yeah. It's a magic that changes the voice... but I don't know how to use this magic."
"So when you wear the helmet, your voice automatically changes?"
"Yes. It turns into a man's voice."
Belenka explained.
She didn't know who enchanted it, but her father's helmet was enchanted to change the wearer's voice.
Since she hadn't had the armor for long, Belenka didn't know it was enchanted.
She only found out after wearing the armor and fighting, and since it wasn't harmful magic, she left it as it was.
If there's magic that changes the voice... couldn't she just not talk?
So, when traveling around Baekguk, Belenka either didn't talk at all or took off the helmet to talk, using the excuse that it's better to talk face to face.
However, once she stepped onto the Empire's land, she started to think differently.
Why not just pretend to be a man?
Not that she was interested in cross-dressing for perverted reasons, but given the circumstances...
So, Belenka tried pretending to be a man as a test.
Partly hoping it might help her avoid any potential pursuers.
But... who would have thought she'd be caught by Ian as soon as she started cross-dressing.
Belenka inwardly thought she was being punished by the heavens for coveting clothes of the other gender...
"I won't cross-dress anymore."
"What about the helmet?"
"If I don't talk, that's the end of it."
Ian shook his head.
The taciturn knight concept works once or twice, but it would be frustrating.
"May I have a look?"
"At the helmet's magic?"
Belenka handed over the helmet without much thought.
Ian immediately started examining it.
Belenka found his interest curious.
A wizard up close was indeed a fresh experience.
After scrutinizing the helmet, Ian scratched his head.
"I'm not sure."
[You can't learn the skill yet.]
[You need to witness more mysteries to acquire the skill.]
Despite having seen many mysteries, the magic on the helmet was a different kind of mystery than what Ian was familiar with.
The world was vast, and the realm of mysteries was diverse.
Ian realized anew that he was still a novice wizard.
[Achievement unlocked!]
[You have witnessed a new mystery!]
[Bonus Skill Points: +50]
"Skill points..."
He remembered getting bonus points when he witnessed the mystery of the storm.
500 points. That was quite a lot, wasn't it?
Having earned points, Ian opened the skill window to see if there was any magic worth learning.
[Skill: Necromancy (30/100) - In progress]
[The ability to converse with the dead.]
"Necromancy?"
The new mystery he had witnessed was related to the mystery of the soul.
"It looks like... this helmet is possessed."
"...Possessed?"
Belenka was horrified by Ian's explanation.
She had thought it was magic that changed her voice... but it was a possessed object?!
"I'm not a necromancer, so I don't know the details."
"So, is it dangerous?"
"Not really. If there hasn't been a problem until now, there probably won't be in the future."
"...Are you sure?"
Ian returned the helmet, saying,
"I don't know."
"...."
"It's probably best to use it only occasionally when fighting. Since it's unclear whether it's beneficial or harmful."
Ian wasn't a jack-of-all-trades.
He didn't know every mystery out there.
He could invest skill points in necromancy right now, but honestly, it seemed a waste to spend points just to investigate one helmet.
That was a thought Ian could afford, having dabbled in various magics thus far.
It might be better to save the points and use them at a critical moment, like he did with Longtail.
After Ian appraised the item, Belenka sincerely thanked him.
"Thank you, wizard."
"Don't mention it."
Once the day was fully bright, Ian released Belenka from her restraints and fed her breakfast because she had sworn to the heavens not to be hostile towards them.
"But is a swear all it takes?"
"Ian is weirdly suspicious at strange times."
Lucy believed Belenka's swear without any doubt, but Ian couldn't shake off his uneasy feeling.
After all, a promise... means nothing!
How can you trust mere blabbery?
Especially since Ian's ancestors, the Koreans, were a nation of gutsy diplomacy who breathed lies in their dealings with China and Mongolia, swearing oaths left and right.
So much so there must be records that say "Koreans cannot be trusted."
However, in this era where the Church of Heaven's Faith was the universal religion, swearing to the heavens was about 90% reliable, unless someone was desperate enough.
"Your name is Ian, right?"
"Yeah. Ian, a disciple of Eredith. Some call me Raven."
"Right. Ian Eredith Raven."
Belenka knelt on one knee to the ground.
It was the pose of a knight before being knighted.
"Although it was due to circumstances, we wielded violence against each other. But you saved my life, your enemy. No amount of thanks would be enough, Ian."
"You can say that standing up."
"No. Ian. There's something I'd like to ask of you."
"A request?"
Belenka lowered her head and said,
"Can we pretend like everything that happened between us... never happened?"
"...?"
Ian didn't understand at first, but then he got what she meant.
Ah. She's suggesting we make peace!
Both of us did wrong, so let's forget and act like it never happened.
Such a shy medieval person.
"Okay. Let's pretend it never happened, why not."
At Ian's refreshing response, Belenka beamed with a smile.
"..."
Lucy watched Belenka's actions with her arms crossed.
Feeling Lucy's gaze, Belenka spoke to her without turning her head.
"Whatever you say, I will fight to protect my honor, Talian."
Ian worried if this would lead to a second round of conflict between them right here.
However, today, Lucy was the one to back down first.
"...My remarks yesterday were rash. I tried to blackmail a knight of honor by exploiting her weakness. I apologize."
"..."
"As a gesture of my apology, I'll forget everything about your past. That's what you want, right?"
"Yes."
Lucy slowly nodded.
Ian found it hard to believe this side of Lucy.
What's going on? Why is she acting like a magnanimous noble?
Are you really Lucy?
Not something transformed into Lucy?
Lucy knew that Belenka's heart had already drifted away from her.
While it would have been good to draw in a free knight like Belenka, since that chance had passed, she decided to at least remove any hostility.
The good news was that Belenka seemed interested in Ian.
Since Ian was on Lucy's side... if Ian accepted Belenka, then Belenka would also become an ally to Lucy by extension.
After Lucy finished speaking, Belenka, with a serious expression, said,
"I appreciate both of your generous decisions. And Ian. For my life and now my past... I owe you a great debt."
Belenka bowed her head once more.
"But right now, I have no money. So..."
"Hmm?"
"Let me repay you with my body."
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