My Ex-Girlfriend Was Appointed as a Knight Commander

Chapter 61

It was like a war horn signaling the beginning of a battle, or thunder foretelling a storm.

Or perhaps it was the yawn of something awakening after a long slumber, a roar of warning and declaration to the humans waiting beyond the cliffs.

Whether they had stood on the battlefield 15 years ago or not, at this moment, everyone froze in place. No one moved.

The clatter of a spear falling onto the wall echoed loudly. Both the monsters' assault and the human defense ceased, the clouds in the sky seemed to pause, and only the fading sunlight, casting its ever-changing red hue, marked the passage of time.

The commander gripped his sword tightly, staring beyond the wall. Just moments ago, the monsters had clung to the fortress, threatening to tear it down. Now, they had all vanished, as if they had never been there.

But no one pointed that out. Instead, they all stood in awe and fear, silenced by the presence beyond the horizon, the one whose single roar had overwhelmed the entire world.

"Be... Behemoth."

Someone finally spoke.

"That roar... Was that really Behemoth?"

"It’s here... It really came..."

The murmurs began to spread. Soldiers, knights, everyone on the wall was seized by an overwhelming fear, speaking of the invisible terror.

The commander snapped at the soldiers who had fallen into panic.

"Is this the time to be shaking in fear? The monsters are still trying to climb up from below, and you're just letting go of your spears?!"

He shouted even louder, kicking the spear that had fallen. It clattered down the steps, rolling below.

"How do you expect to defend the kingdom’s final stronghold like this? How will you protect the neck of this kingdom?!"

The commander was furiously gesturing beyond the wall as he yelled. But then his voice died as he turned to look at the scene beyond.

His outstretched finger trembled as he gazed into the distance.

"What the... What is this..."

He could hardly believe his eyes. The sea of monsters that had filled the wasteland was gone, as if it had been a mirage. The barren land beyond the wall was now empty, as if a tide had receded, leaving nothing but heaps of corpses in front of the fortress.

The commander’s fiery speech was cut short, and the atmosphere grew even colder. Paola shook her head at the sight.

"This is bad."

Maxime, who had been cautiously observing the area beyond the wall, turned his face toward Paola.

"Most of them have completely lost their fighting spirit. The only ones who seem to be holding onto their senses are those who experienced this 15 years ago. Someone needs to help them snap out of it..."

Paola frowned as she looked at Maxime.

"You seem to be handling it surprisingly well."

Maxime shrugged. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel fear, but he knew how to recover from it quickly.

"Can’t afford to be scared of something we haven’t even faced yet."

He had too many other things to fear—his curse, his family back in the estate, his fading sense of self, and his deteriorating body.

"It’s only right to fear it."

Paola gave Maxime a once-over.

"You don’t seem too terrified yourself, Sir."

Maxime watched as the soldiers and knights tried to pull themselves together. Even though the enemy was no longer there, it didn’t seem to matter to them.

"...Why don’t you step in, Sir?"

Paola sighed, clearly reluctant to agree with Maxime’s suggestion.

"Fear and hatred are closely intertwined, Maxime. I’m just barely hanging onto that line, and that’s why I’m holding up. If not, I’d be shaking on the ground like those soldiers, dropping my mace."

Paola spoke to Maxime quietly.

"That’s what Behemoth is. My deepest hatred tied up with my deepest fear. And my hatred for Behemoth has never once overcome my fear of it, Maxime."

Her hand trembled slightly.

"...Knowing what those soldiers are afraid of, I can’t say anything to them. I’m not the one who can rally them right now."

Paola’s tone was brutally honest. Maxime couldn’t argue with her.

The commander wasn’t giving any orders, and the soldiers and knights were standing in a pointless defensive stance. The few veterans who still had their wits about them were busy trying to snap the others out of their fear.

Just then, a figure approached where Maxime and Paola stood.

"Leave only the minimum number of people on the wall. The rest, get down."

"...That city, the borderland, has magical formations installed all over it, placed there by the kingdom’s greatest mages after the war 15 years ago. They’re powerful enough to collapse the very ground beneath them."

The Margrave spoke with a bitter edge to his voice.

"If this fortress falls, that city will meet its end along with the monsters. It will become a grave for thousands of beasts. Though I don’t know if it’ll take Behemoth with it."

The Margrave tapped the hilt of his sword lightly.

"But no matter what, the forces in the no-man’s land will not allow Behemoth to reach the second line of defense, even if it means destroying the city."

The Margrave’s eyes sharpened, and the fear that had gripped him earlier seemed to fade away. Paola raised her eyebrows, impressed by his determination.

"...This place, or at least the borderlands, will be my grave."

The Margrave smiled grimly, saying that if the wall fell and the city was destroyed, his mission would have failed.

"You shouldn’t say such things. A commander shouldn’t be speaking about being ready to die."

Paola added coldly.

"If the commander is ready to die, how can those who follow him fight with their lives on the line?"

The Margrave chuckled at Paola’s remark.

"Those are just words, Paola. Don’t take them so seriously."

The Margrave shrugged and gave the order to stand down.

"You two should go down as well. Help with the corpse disposal. It’ll take all day to get through that mess."

If you want to sleep early, you'd better hurry up and help with the cleanup, the Margrave joked. The no-man’s land, once lit by a red sunset, was now bathed in a deep purple twilight.

"I’m going to die."

Maxime groaned as he returned to the camp. It seemed like he was the first to return. The lone lamp in the camp burned faintly, and there was no one else inside.

Gathering and burning what must have been hundreds of monster corpses was no easy task. In fact, it had been harder than the battle itself. Some of the mages had made the task easier, but that didn’t mean the knights and soldiers hadn’t suffered.

"Damn it."

Maxime collapsed onto the floor, groaning as the dull ache of muscle soreness crept through his body. His body wasn’t cooperating. Even today’s battle, which had consisted of cutting down a few monsters and running along the wall, had left him utterly exhausted.

"I shouldn’t have used mana back then."

The feeling of cutting down the werewolf as it leapt toward the soldiers was still vivid. In his haste, he had wrapped himself in mana and leaped into action. As a result, his insides felt wrecked, and his muscles screamed in pain. He tossed his cloak aside and folded it up as best as he could, but the cold of the no-man’s land’s summer night seeped through the ground, into his bones.

What memories had he lost today?

It felt like there were holes forming in his mind. He had realized this while talking with Christine during his leave. The curse wasn’t just eating away at his body, but at his mind as well.

And the worst part of it was that he didn’t even know what memories he had lost. He had no way of knowing what was disappearing, what he once knew but no longer remembered.

It was a dirty, frightening feeling. It was like waking up to find that a toe was missing, but believing that the toe had never been there in the first place.

Now it was a toe, but one day it could be his ankle, his calf, his thigh, his arm, his eye, his heart. For all he knew, the heart of his memories could already be gone.

Maxime’s mind swirled with these thoughts. Feeling restless, he left the tent. The area around the soldiers’ camp was gradually filling with knights and soldiers returning from their tasks.

"Hey, Maxime?"

A familiar voice called out to him. It was Roberto.

"Where are you going?"

"Just... taking a walk."

Maxime frowned at the stiffness in his own voice, something even he hadn’t expected. Roberto didn’t seem to notice, responding in his usual tone.

"Alright, but be back by lights out. Even though we don’t have to stand watch, we still need to sleep."

Maxime chuckled softly and walked away from Roberto. Roberto watched him with narrowed eyes until Maxime disappeared from sight.

This feels familiar, somehow.

Maxime thought to himself as he walked down the path with a lantern in hand. The barren wasteland, devoid of trees or grass, allowed the light to stretch far ahead of him. A stone rolled underfoot. This felt like something he had experienced before. Walking like this, with someone approaching from the distance.

Maxime unconsciously raised his lantern higher and came to a stop.

Ahead, someone was walking toward him. The silhouette was strangely familiar. The other person also lifted their lantern and stopped in place.

"Maxime?"

Theodora.

Maxime couldn’t meet her eyes, shadowed as they were by the deep darkness.