chapter 18

"Claudia! What the heck is this… …!"

Iris's urgent voice was heard from outside. All members of the Knights of the Silver Dawn were gathered at the castle gate.

Well, even if we say all the members, there were only five of us: me, Iris, Rize, Erica, and Claudia, who returned this time.

"As you can see, it is a failure. The expedition failed."

Before my eyes, the figure of the commander of the Silver Dawn Knights, who was ranked first and the strongest in the settings, had disappeared, and all I could see was a woman with a bitter smile while suffering from severe injuries.

The bandages wrapped around his entire body were soaked with blood, overflowing and drying up in a dark red state. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find a part of his body that was not covered by the bandages.

There was no trace of strength in the way he walked with a limp on his left leg. He was leaning against the wall, seemingly having difficulty moving.

'I was sure it would be a girl… … .'

Claudia's appearance was completely different from what I expected.

The hair was a color that could best be described as light pink or cherry blossom-colored, and the short hair, which was tied into a semi-circle shape, extended just short of her collarbone.

Underneath her neatly arranged bangs, her pink eyes sparkled. In many ways, her face was close to a neutral impression.

Although there were definitely feminine curves in the pelvis and waist, overall, he felt more like a neutral man than a feminine man.

He already looked so bad, and his height was ridiculously high, which made it even worse. Even though I was probably quite tall, he was only a finger or two shorter than me.

If she dressed like a man, she would have the kind of appearance that would make anyone believe she was a pretty man, not a handsome woman, without any doubt.

Should I be thankful that at least the curve of my chest is visible beyond the bandage?

'If only I had dressed properly, I could have been mistaken for a man.'

First of all, since the clothes he was wearing were dolphin pants like the other knight commanders, there seemed to be no reason to mistake his gender.

On the floor was a greatsword that was as long as Claudia herself and as wide as she was. It seemed to weigh over 20kg.

To be honest, it was something closer to a blunt weapon than a sword.

"The expedition failed?"

"Ahahaha. That's what happened. I went out with all my pomp and circumstance, but it looks terrible, doesn't it?"

Claudia shook her right hand, which was wrapped tightly in bandages, slightly as if she was embarrassed, then shrank down flat after hearing Erica, who was wrapping new bandages all over her body, ask her what she was doing.

"It's enough that you came back alive. It's enough that you didn't lose your life. The fact that you came back alive is much more important than the fact that the subjugation failed."

"Claudia, was that monster really that strong? So strong that even you failed to subdue it?"

Claudia shook her head at Lize's question.

"No. I couldn't even go near him. Wouldn't it have been less frustrating if I had been hit by that guy?"

"What are you talking about, Claudia? You didn't even get close?"

The silver eyes widened as if in shock.

"On the way to him, I ran into some other monsters. A horse wearing steel armor, a knight with a spear and a beheaded head… … No, I'm not even sure if it was a monster. Anyway, I got beat by it. No matter how much I beat it, it didn't work at all. Even though my weapon was like this."

Claudia tapped the greatsword at her feet with her toe.

When I told them that my attack had no effect even though I had swung it with a greatsword that was as wide as a person's torso, as long as a person's height, and as thick as two fingertips, the expressions of the other three, excluding me, hardened.

'Of course.'

In the first place, he was not a boss that you could defeat by charging straight in, but one that you had to defeat by using a specific item to remove the armor covering his entire body.

Even if you hit a character with 99 stats, fully armed, and fully buffed, with the armor still on, the damage you take will only be around 10 points.

Very occasionally, there would be people who tried to clear it without taking off their armor, challenging the limits of humanity, but most of them ended up confirming the limits of their patience.

"… … I see. Okay, I understand."

Iris nodded, biting her lip. Claudia's face was ashamed.

'Should we start going now?'

The conversation just ended. The quest window telling me to subdue that guy didn't pop up, but there was no quest window like that in the game anyway.

Blizzard 4 was a game where the player had to remember all the quests through dialogue or investigation, no matter what mission the character was doing or where they were.

If you forget or forget that, the story line will get tangled up and you won't be able to progress as you want, or the story will progress in a direction opposite to what you wanted.

It was a style that people either liked or disliked. Some people liked it because it didn't require them to see useless quest window notifications like other open-world RPGs, while others hated it because it was too inconvenient and unfriendly.

It must have been so bad that a mod was created that organizes the main story and sub-quests currently in progress into an easy-to-view notification format like other RPGs.

Of course, this didn't apply to me. Even though I can't remember all the small sub-quests, I have the main story and major sub-quests of the game in my head.

"Wait a minute. Where are you going, rookie?"

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As I was about to calmly go out of the castle, Iris stopped me by calling out to me. My head froze for a moment at the situation I had never experienced before in a game.

'… … Now that I think about it, this isn't going to go according to plan.'

Even if you take this route in the game, it just feels like you're a member of the Knights of the Silver Dawn, and there's no particular benefit to it.

The main character plays alone, and the story of the knights progresses.

But now, I was a new knight belonging to the Knights of the Silver Dawn. And I was expected to do so. Naturally, attention would be focused on my every action.

From Iris's perspective, it was right to stop me from leaving to go somewhere alone.

'I made a mistake.'

I clicked my tongue inwardly. Since it had come to this, I figured it would be better to just say it out loud since there was no benefit to hiding it. I opened my mouth with as calm an expression as possible.

"Let's catch that guy on horseback."

At my one word, a cold silence fell.

Lize and Erica froze, Claudia looked like she was wondering what I just heard, and Iris frowned for once and shook her head as if she had somehow understood what I was saying.

"No, there's no need to send a newbie like you to the subjugation. This is our job, and we'll have to report our failure anyway and then come back."

"I didn't ask you to take me on the expedition, I said I would go alone."

Iris's expression distorted when she heard those words. Claudia gave me a look that said, "Are you crazy?" Erica's expression wasn't much different.

Lize came up to me from the side and gently grabbed my finger, trying to send it behind her. I held on with strength in my arms to show that it was okay.

"Newbie. I know you are very talented. I also know that you have already proven your abilities to us. However, this is not training, this is real combat. The enemy will not treat you lightly like Lize did during the sparring match, and they will not let you down. If you make one mistake, you could lose your life."

"You don't have to worry about that. I'm not going to die anyway."

"… … You're not listening to me at all."

Haa, Iris sighed.

"If it is an action based solely on confidence, I will never allow it. I fully understand where your confidence comes from. You have surprised us many times already. I do not doubt your ability itself. However, that is why I cannot help but oppose it. If you leave with my permission and come back dead, or if you never come back at all… … I will never be able to forgive myself."

It was a valid concern, and a reasonable one.

If I were the commander of the knights, and a talented new recruit came in one day and said he wanted to go hunt a monster that even the first commander of the knights in their order had failed to subdue, I would have told him not to do so.

But that was that, and this was this. As for me, there was a reason why I absolutely could not delay this expedition.

We need to catch him so we can get the tools we need to kill the lord later.

"Reality is different from theory. The enemy does not move as you think. This is an enemy we are meeting for the first time, and the right thing to do is to approach it with the utmost caution. I cannot let you into such a place. Let me say it again, I highly regard your talent and future potential. I will not let such a talented person crumble in vain, nor will I let such a talented person die meaninglessly. I will not tell you twice, rookie. Rejection—"

"Commander of the Knights Claudia."

"Huh, huh? Me?"

When her name was suddenly called, Claudia, who was supported by Erica and looked back and forth between Iris and me, was startled and answered.

"Yes. Can you help me with just one thing?"