BXBX NOVEL Chapter 25 – Ride Your Steed, Knightley (5)
Chapter 25 – Ride Your Steed, Knightley (5)
The next day, we woke up early and had breakfast.
Olysia, with bloodshot eyes from a sleepless night, kept a watchful eye on Knightley’s every move.
It was clear she didn’t like Knightley at all.
“We’re heading out now, so you should get some more sleep. Your eyes look like a rabbit’s.”
As I wrapped my cloak around me and headed for the door, Olysia tugged at my cloak.
“Sir Dian, wait a moment.”
After sending Knightley ahead, I came back in, and Olysia stood on tiptoe to whisper in my ear.
“That noblewoman… You should keep your distance and be careful around her.”
“Why? What’s wrong with her?”
“It’s not about liking or disliking her. The private lessons she’s requesting… I suspect her intentions are quite impure.”
She then told me that Knightley had tried to come up to my bedroom on the second floor last night.
“So you spent the night on the stairs to stop her from coming up?”
“I’m sure she’s one of those students who have a crush on you, Sir Dian. She probably used the private lesson as an excuse to do something inappropriate. You could get into serious trouble.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“This is not something to take lightly, Sir Dian!”
Olysia sternly raised her finger at my nonchalant attitude.
“You’re not just any professor; you’re the Head Professor. You need to be mindful of even the smallest actions, especially regarding relationships with women. And she’s still a minor…!”
“Professor! What are you doing? Hurry up!”
Hearing Knightley’s impatient shout from outside, I gently pried Olysia’s hand off my ear.
“I understand what you’re saying. I’ll be careful.”
“Be very careful!”
“Yes, yes. Another professor accompanied the last private lesson, and it will be the same this time. Don’t worry. See you later.”
Olysia followed me to the front door, glaring at Knightley with a face full of discontent, while Knightley returned the glare without backing down.
“Professor, as I mentioned before, you need to manage your servants properly.”
Walking side by side to the lecture hall, Knightley started speaking.
“That little maid acts like she owns the place.”
“Owns the place? What nonsense are you talking about now?”
“She’s only acting like that because you’re too lenient with her. She’s getting too comfortable.”
Knightley glanced back at Olysia, who was still watching us walk away.
“If you don’t keep her in check, she’ll end up running circles around you, and it’ll be much harder to control her then. I’ve seen many maids like her. You might not realize it because you’re not a noble and she’s your only maid, but…”
“Oh, stop it.”
I pretended to clean my ears with my finger, cutting her off.
“She’s family. Like a little sister to me. If you want to talk about education and such, do it when you return to your noble house.”
“I’m not going back to my house.”
“Then you won’t be a Duke’s daughter anymore. When you get married, you’ll leave your family; if you don’t go back home and cut ties, you’ll still be an outsider. You know that, right?”
Knightley’s face hardened, showing she understood that truth.
“Listen, as someone more experienced, don’t cut ties with your family unless you absolutely have to. It’ll only make things harder for you.”
“Mind your own business.”
“Oh, right. Now that I think about it, didn’t you mention your father or your family when you first asked me for private lessons?”
Knightley, having been hit back-to-back with my words, stayed silent, biting her lip.
“Head Professor!”
We arrived at the lecture hall amidst Knightley’s silent brooding, and two professors standing in front greeted me.
“Good morning, Head Professor!”
“Hello…”
It was Orendi, the youthful-looking, freckled Magic Response Professor, and Anna, the gloomy-looking, hunched Combat Riding professor.
“Oh, Knightley is here too. Did you two meet on the way?”
“Not exactly. I brought her along.”
Orendi tilted his head in confusion.
“You’re bringing a student? This isn’t a class; it’s a field trip to secure teaching materials.”
“It’s not for teaching materials…”
“Ahaha, sorry.”
Anna corrected him softly, and Orendi laughed off his mistake cheerfully.
“So, you’re bringing Knightley?”
“Yes. It’s like an advanced lesson. As you know, Knightley is a top student. Regular classes don’t suit her.”
“Well, that makes sense. Fine. Knightley, have you ever crossed a dimensional portal before?”
Knightley, who had been following our conversation with a confused expression, shook her head at the mention of the portal.
“Never. But… where are we going?”
In response to Knightley’s question, Orendi looked at me and asked.
“Did you not inform her, Head Professor?”
“We don’t have time now, so let’s get going. We need to return before sundown.”
“Understood. Let’s proceed immediately. I’ll confirm the coordinates one last time.”
Orendi and I cross-checked our destination on the map and recalculated the coordinates several times.
The terrain of our destination was tricky, and a slight error in the portal’s exit could lead to disaster.
Knightley, seemingly seeing the process for the first time, watched our calculations with her mouth half-open.
“Opening the portal now.”
Orendi’s hands glowed with blue mana, forming a small vortex in front of us.
The slowly spinning vortex rapidly accelerated and expanded into an elliptical dimensional portal.
“Gasp?!”
Knightley let out a small gasp at the sight of the portal.
“Relax… We’re not going anywhere strange…”
Anna said in her usual somber tone.
“I’ll go first. Then Anna, Knightley, and Orendi, in that order.”
“Yes, Head Professor!”
We passed through the portal one by one.
Fortunately, the portal exit opened onto flat ground, not a cliff or swamp.
“This is… unbelievable…”
Stepping out and standing on solid ground, Knightley gaped at the breathtaking scenery before her.
“Where… is this…”
Unable to finish her sentence, she just stared at the view.
“It’s exhilarating.”
Orendi took a deep breath with a cheerful smile.
“Ugh, the wind is cold…”
Anna, now feeling dejected, hunched her shoulders.
We were standing in the northeastern part of the continent, on the Brun Plateau.
This Brun Plateau, the largest on the continent, boasts a unique landscape of vast, flat grasslands interspersed with rugged rocky mountains.
The dark forests at its edges blend seamlessly into the blue mountain ranges, with the mountains forming a picturesque backdrop.
On a clear spring day like today, the sight of wildflowers in full bloom and the gently undulating fields under the bright sky is truly spectacular.
“Brun Plateau?”
Knightley was astonished after hearing my explanation.
“That means we’ve nearly crossed the entire continent… Why exactly are we here?”
“We’re here to catch some horses. They’re needed for the combat riding classes.”
Our Combat Department includes a course on combat riding, overseen by Professor Anna.
As the name suggests, it teaches students the basics of riding, which is an essential mode of transportation in this world.
The course covers not just riding but also stealing horses from stables, riding without saddles, fighting on horseback, and more.
It even includes lessons on driving carriages, replacing worn horseshoes, horse breeding, and even butchering horses for food in extreme situations.
It’s akin to how modern intelligence agencies might train new recruits in car maintenance and emergency repairs.
The problem is that our academy doesn’t have enough proper horses.
Visiting the stables managed by Professor Anna and her assistants revealed that there were only a few combat horses, with most of the horses being small ponies.
Combat horses are large and temperamental, posing high risks and maintenance costs, which led Headmaster Kirrin to downsize their number.
According to my Combat Department reformation plan, about thirty horses are needed for the combat riding course, but we currently have far too few.
Headmaster Kirrin suggested buying old horses from the Imperial Army at a low cost, but that didn’t seem right.
The Imperial Army’s horses are heavily trained, and their retirement indicates they can no longer run at their best. Such horses wouldn’t be suitable for our training.
Our academy isn’t just a driving school; it’s a spy school where there’s no room for selecting horses on the field. Intense training from the start is better.
And when I checked, fortunately, everyone seemed to have basic riding skills.
However, purchasing thirty new combat horses would be as expensive as buying thirty mid-sized cars in modern terms, causing the budget to skyrocket.
Thus, the idea of capturing wild horses came to mind.
The wild horses of the Brun Plateau live in herds led by a dominant horse. Capturing a herd would solve our budget issue and provide the students with good horses for practice, killing two birds with one stone.
Additionally, wild horses don’t have owners. It’s a perfect solution. So, we organized a wild horse capture party.
Knightley joined this trip as an extra after complaining late at night about the lack of frequent private lessons.
“But I don’t see any horses around.”
Knightley pointed out. As she said, there were no signs of wild horses anywhere on the plains.
“They’ve all hidden because of our sudden appearance. They won’t come out until they feel it’s safe.”
“Where should we wait, then? How about over there?”
Orendi pointed to a corner of the plains.
There lay structures half-buried in the ground, leaning diagonally, covered in weeds and vines. They looked like the perfect spot to hide and wait for the wild horses.
“What are those?”
“Maybe… Demon King’s army wagons…”
Orendi asked as we sat inside the structures, and Anna replied in her gloomy voice.
“The wild horses of the Brun Plateau are larger and stronger than other combat horses… They were highly coveted by the Demon King’s army… These might be the wagons they used to transport captured wild horses…”
“Oh, I see. But there are a lot more of these structures in the back—Ah! What’s this?!”
Orendi jumped up in fright as he tried to sit down on the ground.
After checking, we noticed that he had nearly sat on an exposed skeleton.
“Gah?!”
“Ouch!!”
Knightley and Anna, startled, stood up quickly and hit their heads on the wagon pillars.
“We need to get out of here…! This place is a grave…!”
I laughed, grabbing Anna’s cloak as she tried to flee in panic.
“Calm down, everyone. These are demon bones.”
I lifted a skull from the ground, revealing two twisted horns like those of a ram.
“So, sit back down. If you keep making noise, the wild horses will run even farther away.”
“Ah, they’re not human bones. That’s a relief.”
Confirming that it was indeed a demon’s bone, Orendi sighed in relief and plopped back down onto the ground. Anna, too, mumbled something and returned to the wagon’s interior.
“But I have a question.”
Knightley asked, looking at the demon skull she had tossed aside.
“There are dozens of these wagons scattered around. Does that mean these demons all failed to capture the wild horses and died here?”
“Isn’t that likely? Do you know anything about this, Professor Anna?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ve heard rumors…”
In response to Orendi’s question, Anna began to speak in a hushed, eerie tone.
“The Demon King’s army needed good combat horses… They sent several units here… But none returned…”
“Why?”
“Look at the surrounding terrain… The huge rocky mountains perfect for hiding… The open plains easy to fly over… Doesn’t it seem like an ideal place for something to live…?”
Orendi burst out laughing at that.
“Are you suggesting it’s a Dragon? That’s absurd. If it were, the wild horses couldn’t survive either. They’d already be Dragon food.”
“Then what else could annihilate so many demons here besides a Dragon…?”
“Hmm, that’s true… Considering there are only demon remains, it doesn’t seem like they fought against the human alliance.”
“Exactly… To slaughter the Demon King’s army so thoroughly, it has to be a Dragon…”
# # # # #
While Orendi and Anna were engrossed in their serious discussion, Knightley was observing something intently.
It was the corner of the wrecked wagon they were hiding in.
Amidst the vines and weeds tangled around the thick logs, something seemed out of place.
Reaching out, Knightley pulled away the vines and weeds, revealing some inscriptions.
The letters were all carved into the log’s surface with a sharp knife. They read…
‘The Greatest Special Forces were here!’
‘Establishing the Horned Ones Cemetery in memory.’
‘Linus ♡ Celine, please get married.’
‘Our friendship forever!’
What on earth… is this…?