SIDE Commander of White-winged Knights, Leon

—Finally, the southern gate was destroyed accompanied with a thunderous noise.

Along with the sound of the southern gate breaking, five Mad Bears charged into the city walls with an earth-shattering force. While Mad Bears resemble wild bears that live in the forest, their bodies are more than twice as large, with their reddish-black fur as their distinctive feature.

Their powerful charge due to their large and sturdy physique, and the ripping power from their sharp claws are tremendous, making it almost impossible for humans to win in a one-on-one fight.

“Calm down, everyone! Just follow the training, surround one bear with at least three people first!”

The one who quickly gave orders was the captain of the Black-winged Knights, Commander Gazelle.

I couldn’t help but admire his promptness. The members who snapped back to their senses thanks to Gazelle’s instructions immediately picked up their weapons and started surrounding the Mad Bears with a large number of people.

Once the knights restrained the bears who entered the gate, the remaining Mad Bears and Deer were not able to enter the gate, causing their movement stopped.

Taking advantage of that opportunity, the commander of the Yellow-winged Knights, Ortolan, quickly gave instructions and had the knights on top of the gate shoot arrows.

As the Deers had neglected to watch their heads, the arrow attack ended up fruitful. Additionally, as the monsters were concentrated in one part of the southern gate, they too, couldn’t avoid the rain of arrows.

“Alright, we hit them! Keep it up, keep shooting! Don’t let the enemy advance any further!”

Thanks to the actions of the knights on the city walls, it seems unlikely that the Deer and Mad Bears can advance any further into the gate.

After making sure of that, I drew my sword, which I carried on my waist, and ran towards the enemies in front of me.

One of the White-winged members that was nearby had barely defended himself against the Mad Bear’s slashes with his sword, trying his best to fend against the monster’s attack.

I then went around to the side of the Mad Bear that he was facing and flashed my sword at the base of its leg.

“GUAGGAAAA!!”

The Mad Bear let out an ear-piercing scream. Without wasting any opportunity, I aimed for its soft belly and swung my sword again.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes. Thank you very much!”

I called out to the young man with bright green eyes and subdued chestnut-colored hair who was confronting the Mad Bear. For him, this wasn’t his first time fighting directly with monsters, but he usually only deals with low-rank monsters such as Slimes and Mad Rabbits.

Facing a mid-level monster, I was worried that he would be overcome with fear and anxiety. After all, he had been complaining about the journey and voicing his weakness earlier. However, when I looked at him now, he demeanor surprised me. The man’s eyes in front of me were unexpectedly filled with fighting spirit.

“Are you still good to go?”

“Y-yes! Thank you, Commander!” he answered my question with a clear voice, even though I expected him to be hesitant.

What had happened to him during this short period of time? Come to think of it, he had been talking to Takumi, a new member of the Black-winged knights, earlier. I didn’t catch the content of their conversation, but…

Could it be that Takumi had influenced him in some way?

Takumi. A beautiful young man with calm and collected demeanor and little change in expression, with black hair and black eyes. I met him in a corner of the castle town I happened to stop by. At that time, I didn’t even realize that I had been pickpocketed.

It wasn’t until Takumi ran after the pickpocket to chase him that I noticed. I also chased after the pickpocket and as for Takumi… It wasn’t because I was particularly attached to my money. However, it was just… strange. Why would he go that far for a stranger like me?

The pickpocket seemed to know the area well, and he quickly ran through the back alleys. However, Takumi chased after him closely. Although I lost sight of them along the way, I was finally able to spot the two of them in the back alley after a short while. The scene that caught my eye at that time was like a painting.

In the empty dimly lit back alley, Takumi was looking down at a fallen man with a calm expression. The light shining through the gap in the building faintly illuminated him, so fleeting that it could disappear if touched.

His eyes, black as obsidian, were beautifully soaked. I wanted him to look at me, but at the same time, contradictory feelings of wanting to keep looking at him forever rose from the depths of my heart.

After staring at him for a while, I spoke to him timidly, “Could it be… that was you?”

However, he only turned his gaze toward me and didn’t try to answer anything. At that time, I didn’t care about my wallet being stolen, or even the unconscious pickpocket in front of me.

“I’m sure this pickpocket had committed many other crimes. If it’s all right with you, I’ll take him back to the order.”[1]

“…Oh, I don’t mind.”

When I asked him again, he finally replied.

However, I couldn’t tell what he was feeling from his voice. He still had the same expressionless face.

“’But… why did you go to such lengths for me, a total stranger? You could have been hurt if you had done poorly. You should refrain from doing this kind of thing.”

“I didn’t mean to go after him, it was just coincidence.”

“A coincidence…?”

As I became more confused, he handed me a knife and a coin. Although I reflexively accepted them, I became even more confused as I couldn’t grasp his intention.

“What is this?”

“This belongs to that unconscious man over there. You can give it back to him.”

“I’ll confiscate the knife, but as for the coin?”

“That’s his, too.”

“…That pickpocket is probably guilty of other crimes. This coin may have been stolen. But you’re still going to give it back to him?”

“If he did steal it, you can confiscate it. However, this coin probably belongs to him. Then perhaps it should be returned to him,” he said something I hadn’t expected to say.

“…You’re such a disciplined man, aren’t you?” I couldn’t think of any other way to describe the sincerity of the young man in front of me.

He shrugged his shoulders at me and briskly walked past me. I unconsciously grabbed his arm. His obsidian eyes looked back at me in surprise. It was then that I noticed something unusual about him. His eyes and hair were not the typical black color seen in this country.

I had heard that someone with the color black had arrived in Ritzheim City recently… where was it that I heard that?

“Are you in a hurry? Then tell me where you live and I will deliver the reward money to you later.”

“I appreciate your concern. But, I don’t deserve it.”

“But, you…”

Even if I brought up the topic of a reward, there was no emotion shown on his face. However, if I couldn’t get any information from him now, I might never see him again.

“Then… could you at least tell me your name?”

“…Takumi.”

Takumi. I felt a rush of joy deep in my heart when I finally learned his name. It was a rare name in this country. So he was an immigrant after all.

Takumi gently freed his hand from my grasp and turned around smoothly, swiftly disappearing into an alleyway.

As I watched his back, I muttered his name once more. “Takumi…” I never would have thought that he was a member of the Black-winged knights.

After that encounter, I had been investigating Takumi, but I hadn’t been able to find any useful information. For a time, there had been talk in society about a young man with black hair and eyes entering the Ritzheim Magic Kingdom, but he never appeared in public, and people eventually stopped talking about him. I even posted a bounty on him in the city under the name of the White-winged Knights, but he never showed up.

Was it possible that I would never see him again? I began to think that I should have forcibly detained him at that time if I had known that. It was just as I was beginning to despair that I unexpectedly met him again.

Footnote

[1] Chapter 23