Chapter 51

“A long time ago, the door to the underworld had opened and monsters poured out onto the land above, which led to the beginning of the era of darkness.”

The fairytale narrated a brief summary of the founding of the empire.

When darkness had spread throughout the continent, Dantes Arpend, a royal prince of Cardia when it was still a kingdom, received a divine revelation from the supreme deity, Arnum, and went in search of three valiant knights.

Those three knights were the Spear of Light, the Shield of Eternity and the Sword of Fire.

Radis pointed to the knight who was holding a blazing sword in his hand.

“Is this Alexis Tilrod?”

“That’s right.”

Allen smiled brightly as he answered, then he pointed to the knight who was holding a brightly shining shield.

“And this is Sir Verad Russell, Marquis Russell’s predecessor.”

It was interesting.

Although these events took place 500 years ago, two knights with the surnames of Tilrod and Russell joined forces and fought together.

Now, their descendants were squabbling over mere dresses.

While shaking off the stray thought of dresses, Radis pointed to the other knight.

“What about this person? What kind of knight was the Spear of Light?”

At her question, Allen shrugged.

“Not much is known about the Spear of Light.”

“Oh… Is that so?”

“Even if there was a record, half a millennium has passed. The empire’s founding is now told only through fairy tales or folk songs, so it’s not strange that some information is omitted.”

Prince Dantes traveled all over the continent with the three knights and fought against the monsters.

However, an epic journey was bound to be followed by a great sacrifice.

The Sword of Fire, who was always the first to enter the fray, was also the first to fall. And the second who followed was the Shield of Eternity.

The Spear of Light also disappeared.

“He vanished?”

“There are many interpretations on this part. Some say that he passed away, but some dabblers in the literary arts say that this is a metaphorical expression of his betrayal.”

“Aha…”

In the illustration, the ‘Spear of Light’—the knight—looked as though he disappeared, leaving behind the spear itself.

In the foreground, Prince Dantes was bowing as though he was in despair.

“But along their adventures, they managed to drive away the monsters in Cardia and restored the territory. The door to the underworld was also sealed, and the monsters retreated to their forest.”

The final illustration in the fairytale book was a drawing of the Cardia territory.

The Cardia Empire, as depicted in the illustration, looked like a fried egg with a black yolk in the middle.

The blackened part was Monsterwood.

“And so Prince Dantes proclaimed that no one should go deep into the forest.”

Allen closed the book after reading the last part of the fairytale.

“It’s a lesson for children.”

Deep into the forest.

The subjugation squad had a term for that place.

‘The forbidden region…’

Radis smiled bitterly.

‘If I had read this fairytale before, would I still have gone to that place?’

The forbidden region was a place where even subjugation squad members, even when they already knew their way around Monsterwood, still shouldn’t approach hastily.

But near the end of her previous life, Radis headed there.

As if she were led by the hand of fate.

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* * *

“Vice Captain!”

“……”

“The Captain went to the capital to get the seal of a mage knight. Is that true? He would have told you, right, Vice Captain?”

When Rusty asked this question, Radis was sharpening her sword on a whetstone.

She honed the blade and sprayed water on it to see if there weren’t any dust left.

It was only after this that she nodded.

The knights around her exclaimed.

“I knew it!”

“No, but is it true? What came over the Imperial Family?”

“It’s been years since the Captain became a mana user. It’s been a long time coming.”

Behind the sword she was holding, Radis smiled quietly beneath her helm.

She was happy, too.

It was an honest emotion, and for once, it even made her want to hug these rascals of the subjugation squad.

Captain Robert was from the Roderick family.

He was so talented that his existence alone threatened his older brothers, so he was thrown out of the household.

However, everywhere he went, Robert did his best.

He made a brilliant contribution as the captain of a subjugation squad that was in poor condition—a name-only squad under the empire’s command. Now, he finally gained recognition from the world.

Radis was as happy as Robert was that he was going to receive a seal.

Laszlo, who had a dirt-streaked face, approached her with a smile.

“Vice Captain!”

“……”

“Won’t it be you next, Vice Captain?”

“……?”

“The Vice Captain is a mana wielder, too. You’re both so strong! The idiots in the capital won’t be able to stand a chance!”

As soon as Radis was about to open her lips, Tez came running.

“Vice Captain, there’s trouble!”

Radis rose to her feet and received a note from Tez.

“The Imperial Inspection Team told us to wait until the Captain comes back, but they now went to the forbidden region!”

Theirry, who was working on his weapons nearby, jumped to his feet the moment he heard the words ‘forbidden region’.

“Are those bastards crazy? Why are they going there?”

“Vice Captain, what should we do?”

“They seem to be crazy enough that they want to die, just let them do it.”

As she was holding the note, Radis’ jaw was tense while clenching her teeth.

The imperial family, which previously held no interest in the hunt for monsters, recently started moving suspiciously.

Robert, the captain, was given the seal of a mage knight to acknowledge his merits. And now, the investigation team was being dispatched to examine the status of Monsterwood.

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However, those two events coincided with each other.

Robert delayed the awarding of his seal as much as possible, and the investigation team was dispatched too early, causing things to go wrong.

Since the investigation team went into the forest recklessly, they were demanding to be escorted by the subjugation squad even without Robert. And they were planning to head towards the forbidden region.

Even so, Radis firmly rejected the escort mission, judging that it would be too dangerous to go to the forbidden with the captain absent. They would have to protect the investigation team as well.

This was the onset of their tragedy.