My Ex-Girlfriend Was Appointed as a Knight Commander

Chapter 15

Graveyard of Knights.

It is a place without people, or, to be more precise, a place where people cannot exist.

Among the numerous monster realms in the world, the uninhabited zone located in the east of the Riant Kingdom receives special treatment. A zone of death that one cannot and should not set foot in. A place where monsters from bygone eras encroach upon human territory.

In Riant, the front lines are not limited to the borders.

“It’s strange...”

“It really is.”

The clopping sound of hooves echoed in the wasteland. The horses pulling the wagons shook their heads and snorted. Maxim agreed with Christine’s words and looked around the surroundings once more. The border of the uninhabited zone, as seen from horseback, was as desolate as a mountain after a wildfire.

The sky was filled with twilight, whether the sun had risen or set. The clouds were layered densely, adding to the ominousness. At some point, the scorched earth and the blazing sunlight disappeared, and an eerie chill that was hard to believe in early summer lingered.

A vast plain stretched out. Unfamiliar-shaped pebbles were scattered along the roadside, and bizarre rocks were arranged like statues throughout the plains. Weeds grew sporadically, but they silently withered, losing their green hue and donning a dull grayish-brown dye. Even the crows that would ordinarily be seen in such a landscape were nowhere to be found.

Despite still having a long way to go to reach the uninhabited zone, no living creature was seen on the land of this border region except for the procession of the Raven Knight Order. The wilderness leading to the uninhabited zone was quiet and eerie.

“Anyone coming here for the first time would say the same thing.”

Paola approached Maxim and Christine, riding his horse beside them. His rough and rugged appearance suited this wilderness quite well.

“Have you been to the uninhabited zone before, Senior?”

When Maxim asked, the corners of Paola’s mouth twitched. He looked like someone who couldn’t wait to speak. Realizing that he had unintentionally made a mistake, Maxim hurriedly tried to take back the words he had blurted out.

“Ah...if you haven’t...”

“Haven’t? Why wouldn’t I have been there? While actively serving as a soldier, I had been to this uninhabited zone.”

Paola began to unravel his story with the enthusiasm of a newly heated furnace.

“My visit dates back quite a while. I was still a mere foot soldier who hadn’t even received a knighthood at that time. It was during my youth.”

Paola started his heroic tale before Maxim could utter a word. Just then, Roberto, following a little behind them, began to show interest in Paola’s story.

“What is it, Uncle Paola? I’ve never heard this story before.”

When someone showed interest in his story, Paola grinned, revealing his teeth. Hot coals were thrown into the flame.

“That’s right, I’ve never told you this story before. Why don’t you listen to it now?”

Although his stories were excessively long, Paola was fundamentally a skilled storyteller. It meant that entertainment was guaranteed. Maxim resigned himself and decided to listen attentively to his story. Christine had been listening to Paola’s story from the beginning as if she had been interested from the start. When even Maxim turned his attention to him, Paola began skillfully hammering out the material, like pulling out a heated lump of metal from a furnace.

“We still have two days to reach our destination, so if you listen to my story, you won’t be bored.”

To Maxim’s ears, it sounded like Paola was confident that he could continue the story for two whole days with a single topic. It was an impressive ability.

“...Where should I start? Ah, yes. It was about two years before I became a knight, so it was near the end of my soldier life.”

Paola’s brow furrowed, and the corners of his mouth formed an arc. His eyes, filled with a vacant look, seemed to be gazing far into the horizon. His mouth opened again, his memory reaching back to the distant past.

“At that time, I wasn’t part of the royal army. I was an infantryman under Viscount Bendam. I had been recognized for my skills and had been promoted quite a bit, with a considerable amount of experience... I was brimming with confidence, feeling like I could make anyone kneel if I fought them.”

Paola let out a hearty laugh.

“Well, that’s not the important part. Following a requisition request from the royal family, I temporarily left the viscount’s territory. I embarked on a grand journey, crossing cities and mountain ranges without knowing anything. It was an order to gather the most outstanding soldiers and knights.”

Paola subtly inserted a bit of self-praise, but when no one reacted, he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“It wasn’t a simple procession of thirty people like now, but hundreds, perhaps even close to a thousand skilled individuals and knights joined along the way. At that time, we received a single order.”

Paola raised his hand and pointed to where the Raven Knight Order was heading.

“When we arrived, the sun was high in the sky, but by the time we had driven away the monsters, it was already completely night. We cleared the corpses and gathered them together to burn them. One of the soldiers threw a torch down the cliff to illuminate the view. That’s when I could see the bottom of the cliff.”

Paola mimicked the action of throwing a torch.

“I only saw it briefly, but I still can’t forget that sight.”

“What did you see?”

Maxim asked Paola, who was clenching his fists tightly.

“The monsters trying to climb up the cliff were being eaten by other monsters, and those monsters were being eaten by yet other monsters.”

After Paola finished speaking, a period of silent marching followed. Roberto glanced around furtively and threw a question at Paola.

“So, in the end, what was the reason for sending so many knights and soldiers to support the uninhabited zone?”

“It’s usually crawling with monsters, but that day was particularly severe. It was as if all of them were running away from something.”

Paola’s eyebrows furrowed again.

“Something?”

“Behemoth.”

Behemoth, the mythical beast born with the fate to devour all existing life. Maxim doubted his ears at that name, which sounded like a joke. But Paola’s hardened face made it impossible to dare ask if his words were true.

“The horde of monsters fleeing from that monster caused the incident.”

“...What happened to that Behemoth?”

Roberto asked.

“It vaguely revealed itself from afar. And then disappeared again not long after. It may seem like an anticlimactic ending, but for us at that time, it was no different than the heavens sparing our lives once...”

Paola said that and muttered to himself, concluding the story.

“There have been a few times in my life when I have felt fear, and that was one of them.”

==

The smell of burning firewood wafted. Hazy smoke was rising into the sky in clumps. Unlike the night sky last seen in the Royal Capital, no stars were visible. Clouds had obscured the sky.

On the last night before arriving at the uninhabited zone, Maxim was keeping watch by the burning fire.

“He’s a really good storyteller.”

Maxim reflected on the story of the uninhabited zone that Paola had shared. Although the uninhabited zone might not be facing such a situation, it was a story sufficient to send shivers down a knight’s spine just by imagining it. A mantis charging without a head, a hellhound with severed legs, and the Behemoth. The story, devoid of any romanticism and presented in its raw form, left everyone who had listened to Paola unsettled.

Maxim held a long stick and pushed the protruding firewood back into the flames. The smell of burning wood. He didn’t call it a fragrance. The word was too stimulating to describe it as such.

Crackle, crackle.

The smell of firewood becomes better the longer it burns. The wood embracing the glowing flames lost its initial stiffness and fell. A rich and refreshing scent infused with hot smoke. Maxim loved those burning flames. Because watching the sparks fly like water droplets on gravel allowed him to erase many thoughts.

Rustle.

Maxim brought his dazed mind back to reality at the rustling sound. When he turned his head in the direction of the sound, he saw someone getting up from their spot and approaching.

Is it already time for the shift change?

Maxim put down the stick he was poking the firewood with and looked at the approaching replacement.

Ah.

“...”

“...”

The drowsy-looking replacement flinched upon seeing Maxim.

Maxim’s eyes met the eyes of the replacement, Theodora.