As Sherin approached, Shan and everyone around him rose and bowed their heads. She surveyed them briefly before addressing him.

“It has been some time, Sir Shan.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Shan was taken aback by her sudden approach. Roden had specifically said they should pretend not to know each other well here. Yet Sherin held out her hand and made him an offer.

“I would like to hear of your recent exploits, but the banquet hall is rather crowded. Would you care to take a short walk outside? The royal gardens have many wondrous plants from foreign lands.”

“It would be an honor.”

After the briefest hesitation, Shan accepted and took her offered hand. With everyone staring wide-eyed, the two left their place and headed toward the doors of the banquet hall.

“Your Highness, what exactly—”

“Now, now, no whispering. That would be taking things a little too far.”

As Shan tried to whisper into her ear, Sherin drew slightly away and raised a hand to stop him. He had no idea what she meant by taking things too far, but held his tongue for now.

Just then, a young lady hurried into their path, her long platinum-blond hair streaming behind her.

“Sherin!”

Cassia, the Kingdom of Pendia’s eldest princess, stared at them with her large, lake-blue eyes wide open. She seemed to be trying to look intimidating, but her naturally gentle features made the effort rather ineffective.

“An unmarried young lady mustn’t go about holding a man’s hand, no matter how young she is! Besides...”

Cassia glanced at Shan’s face as she spoke, then added quietly, “... He’s an Altoan. It’s dangerous.”

Her tone suggested that the moment they entered the gardens together, Shan might transform into a monster and tear Sherin to pieces. Sherin gave an incredulous laugh.

“There’s no need to worry over nothing, Cassia. We’re only going to walk through the gardens and talk.”

“People might start strange rumors if you walk through the gardens together!”

“We’ll have guards with us. But if you’re that worried, why don’t you come and keep an eye on us? Be honest, you were feeling cooped up in the banquet hall too.”

“Well...”

Cassia hesitated, but when Sherin smiled, she nodded dejectedly and agreed. Though Sherin was three years younger, one could easily have thought their ages were reversed.

* * *

Shan and Sherin entered the gardens outside the banquet hall, followed by four royal knights and Princess Cassia. As she had said, the royal gardens were filled with all manner of curious plants Shan had never seen in his life. Autumn was setting in, so few flowers were in bloom, but even the unfamiliar shapes of the leaves and stems lent the place a wondrous air.

Once they had put a little distance between themselves and Cassia and the knights following them, Sherin whispered, “Let me apologize for Cassia’s rudeness. I’m truly sorry.”

Perhaps because it was just the two of them now, some of the formality had left her voice. Shan answered in a similarly relaxed tone.

“It’s all right. I’m used to it.”

“I’m not trying to defend her just because she’s my sister, but she isn’t a bad person. She’s simply... a young lady who took her Old Faith education far too seriously. She thinks Altoans are something like half-human, half-monster.”

“You seem closer than I expected.”

Until now, Shan had thought she hated her entire family, but there was no trace of ill will in her defense of Cassia. Thinking back, though she often cursed both her brothers furiously, she had always had little to say about her only sister.

“She’s the closest thing I have to family, at least. She nags me every day to quit all that strange administrative work and magic and focus on learning to be a proper bride. But in her own way, she does mean well.”

“Learning to be a bride?”

“Embroidery and that sort of thing.”

Glancing back at Cassia, Sherin shared a few stories about her sister. Cassia had kept trying to stop her from studying magic, so Sherin had frightened her with a few pranks until she no longer dared come near the Magic Society. On another occasion, Cassia had come to her and sobbed all night over her broken engagement to a prince of the Kingdom of Ajun, and Sherin had comforted her.

Shan listened for a while before returning to the question he had meant to ask earlier.

“But is it all right for us to be together so openly? I was told we should act as if we weren’t very close here...”

“To be honest, I didn’t want to do this either.”

The words came out almost as a sigh. As though expecting Shan not to understand, Sherin immediately explained.

“You reacted far too strongly when Elvin made that filthy joke about me. If I don’t show you a certain amount of affection now, you’ll be the only one who looks strange.”

“Is that how it works?”

“It is. Tiresome, but that’s how this world works.”

The ideal response earlier would have been something evasive, such as, “I hardly know what to say.” Instead, Shan, a mere knight-errant, had openly confronted a prince. Anyone would consider that an excessive reaction—unless, as Elvin had suggested, Shan was nursing an unrequited love for the princess.

“Elvin probably started bad-mouthing you behind your back as soon as he left. He’ll have said you picked a fight over a little joke about his own sister, and painted you as some woman-crazed idiot who can’t tell shit from piss and goes after her brother.”

And so, to protect Shan’s honor, Sherin had decided to stage what looked like an innocent young couple playing with fire. That would let people laugh off his earlier anger as understandable. Of course, her own reputation would suffer further for dallying with an Altoan boy.

After hearing her explanation, Shan lowered his head, looking crestfallen.

“... I’m sorry I’ve put you in a difficult position. I should have held my temper.”

“There’s no need to apologize. Honestly, you held it better than I expected. I was terrified you’d strike Elvin or challenge him to a duel right there.”

In truth, Sherin was a little disappointed that Shan had not reacted more vehemently. Perhaps, unlike Roden, she was not yet someone worth getting that angry over.

Of course, she was mistaken. Shan had stopped at a moderate display of anger only because he had not truly grasped how insulting Elvin’s words were. He had also developed some self-restraint after several past occasions when acting on impulse had nearly landed him in trouble.

Had he fully understood the nature of Elvin’s insult, he would have challenged him to a duel on the spot. Though that would certainly have earned them mocking questions about whether they were engaged.

“It would be troublesome to provoke Elvin now. The western lords have come to the capital because of this monster invasion, and the balance of power has shifted toward Conrad. Honestly... things are already quite precarious.”

“That must be why you’ve been so busy lately.”

“Exactly. I could use several more pairs of hands just to mediate their clashes behind the scenes every day.”

Without her unseen intervention, Sherin said wearily, the capital would have been awash in blood long ago.

“If only that damned father of mine could have held on for a few more years. Hah...”

Her original plan had been to expand her own sphere of influence behind the scenes while her brothers fought over their ailing father, eventually emerging as a third power. But the king had weakened far faster than expected, and the princes were acting with far too much haste. If they clashed now, all of Pendia would be thrown into chaos, regardless of who won.

“If I had my way, I’d tell you not to bother going on that ogre hunt either. I have a feeling something is going to happen while you’re away.”

Sherin lamented that she had put so much effort into winning Shan over because she needed a means of ensuring her safety in precisely this sort of situation, only for him to leave the capital just when she needed him. Yet she could hardly force him to stay. It would have been different if he were her sworn knight, but asking him to give up a chance at honor, something more precious than life itself, to guard against a danger that might never come was unreasonable.

After listening quietly, Shan replied matter-of-factly, “Then I won’t go.”

“Oh, would you—wait, you’re not serious, are you?”

She had begun to play along with an amused smile, only to ask in surprise when she saw his solemn expression. As he had before, Shan answered with not a trace of pretense in his eyes.

“Of course I’m serious.”

Winning honor as a knight by playing a leading role in the ogre hunt, and testing his limits against a powerful foe—both would bring Shan great joy, but neither mattered enough to risk a friend’s safety. Had he been asked to leave Roden in possible danger to go hunting an ogre, he would have refused just the same. Even if it meant being branded a coward and seeing his knightly honor dragged through the dirt. To Shan, his dreams and ambitions could never take precedence over a friend’s life.

“Honestly, you...”

Realizing he meant it, Sherin shook her head in disbelief. For some reason, a ticklish feeling stirred in her chest, and she found herself smiling.

“I appreciate the thought, but you should go.”

“But you said it was dangerous.”

“I’ll have to take that risk. My plans call for Sir Shan, the great knight who slew even an ogre—not Sir Shan, who fled in fear before the ogre hunt.”

Sherin smiled confidently, assuring him she could handle a certain amount of danger herself.

“Still, if I do find myself in danger, can I trust you to come help me?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Just hearing that gives me strength. Thank you.”

Sherin tapped his chest lightly with her fist, then suggested they head back to the banquet hall. People sometimes got up to improper things in the gardens, she explained, so even with witnesses present, staying out too long would look bad.

As they returned together, Shan watched Cassia scolding Sherin and suddenly realized what had been bothering him.

‘But how did she hear my conversation with Prince Elvin?’

The princes and princesses had been more than thirty or forty meters from Shan’s table. With everyone talking so noisily, most sounds would have been drowned out beyond even ten meters. Sharp ears alone could not explain it.

‘Some kind of magic that lets her hear better...?’

Magic really was wondrous, Shan thought as he followed her.

* * *

The day after the banquet, the force assembled to slay the ogre finally set out. Nobles and knights, their faces haggard with hangovers after the previous night’s revelry, barked orders on all sides.

As a knight-errant, Shan had hired his own mercenary company and become its commander. Of course, as always, Roden would handle most of the work as his lieutenant.

Fully armed, Shan looked over the thirty mercenaries standing before him. Some had horns or small wings, others strangely shaped limbs or beaks. Their varied, unusual appearances stood out even among an expeditionary force over a thousand strong, for every one of them was an Altoan like Shan. As such, their eyes held not only tension but profound admiration as they looked at him.

“This is the first time we have all gathered together.”

“Yes, sir!”

Shan deliberately imitated the commanding tone Roden and Sherin sometimes used. Unfortunately, his voice had not quite finished breaking, and its youthful sound made it difficult to project the same authority. Still, none of the mercenaries dared laugh, thanks to the reputation and achievements he had amassed.

The rather naive-looking boy before them was a jousting champion, a hero who had hunted a cockatrice, greater vampires, and trolls. Of the dozens of knights gathered for this expedition, few could claim greater feats than his.

“I trust I need not explain why I hired you.”

“I believe it is because we are Altoans, sir!”

The answer came from Kov, the Altoan mercenary Shan had met during the troll hunt. Now that Shan was a knight, he treated him with scrupulous courtesy.

“Yes. You are Altoans, as am I. And among all these people, I am the only Altoan of knightly rank.”

The Altoan mercenaries listened intently, striving to commit his words to memory as though they were a revelation. Shan paused to recall the script Roden had written for him, then finally managed to finish.

“Therefore, I will protect you from every form of unjust treatment you face for being Altoan. In exchange, you owe loyalty to me as your protector. Is that understood?”

“Understood, sir!”

“For the duration of your employment, you will obey discipline as members of my army. Stand shoulder to shoulder with your comrades against the enemy, and do not retreat. I will allow you to end your contracts now, but any man who fails to do this on the battlefield will be beheaded. Do you accept?”

“We accept, sir!”

Their shout was so loud that Shan could feel the people around them turning to look. A knight’s relationship with mercenaries was generally contractual. Though one commanded and the others obeyed, such enthusiastic responses were uncommon.

“Good. Then we shall join the main force. Move out!”

Concluding his address with a nod, Shan put on his helmet and mounted. His Altoan contingent took its place a little behind the middle of the long column.

As they marched, Shan quietly asked Roden, who rode just behind him, “How was that?”

“Not bad.”

“Whew.”

He had done this once before during the vampire hunt, but he still could not get used to gathering people together and acting like their captain. As a knight, though, he would have to.

After that whispered exchange, Shan called to the lanky knight riding a short distance away.

“Ride with us, Sir Lug.”

“Oh, gladly!”

Lug hurried to his side with a delighted expression. Unable to afford mercenaries, he had joined the expedition with only his squire. He had readily accepted Shan’s invitation to travel together and had stayed nearby.

“You really are remarkable. Hiring thirty mercenaries, even as a knight-errant!”

“The remains from that vampire hunt fetched quite a bit of money.”

Naturally, the cost of mercenaries varied with the task. Hunting an ogre was particularly dangerous and thus particularly expensive; even most lords could not field as many mercenaries as Shan.

Of course, there were a few more hidden reasons he could command so many. Some belonged to the Brotherhood and had been hired at relatively low rates on Roden’s orders, and House Wievers had contributed funds as well.

“But shouldn’t you have plenty of money too, Sir Lug? You are a prince’s sworn knight, after all...”

Royalty paid their sworn knights substantial salaries, if only to keep up appearances. Even if Elvin did not give Lug an important role, surely he could afford a few mercenaries. In answer to Shan’s question, Lug looked sheepish.

“Ahaha, well... after buying a horse and armor, I didn’t have much left. I barely managed to have my weapons and armor enchanted.”

Lug was not especially burly for a knight, but his sheer height meant he weighed a great deal. Apparently, a well-trained warhorse large enough to carry him, along with custom armor requiring far more metal than most, had been tremendously expensive.

“So I hope I can do well on this hunt. Then His Highness might...”

The words he swallowed were probably something about the prince finally taking more notice of him. Shan encouraged Lug, saying he hoped so too.

A tedious march followed. The expeditionary force advancing east could only be described as a disorganized mess. Even a swarm of ants would probably have moved with far greater order. It was inevitable, with over a hundred lords and knights each bringing their own hired troops, numbering in the thousands, and no clear commander to lead them.

Along the way, those who had failed to prepare sufficient food quietly slipped away, returning after “requisitioning” supplies from small villages beside the road. Fortunately, Roden had made ample preparations beforehand, so Shan’s Altoan contingent had no need to do the same.

Perhaps resenting their comfortable situation, nearby mercenaries occasionally picked fights with the Altoans. Those who sneered that the Altoan bastards stank when they gathered together froze when Shan rode up on Arwin.

“Altoans stink, do they? Do I stink as well?”

“N-no, sir. I...”

“Get lost, before I cut you down for insulting a knight.”

By deftly turning their insult against Altoans into an insult against himself, Shan sent the terrified mercenaries fleeing. Naturally, the Altoan mercenaries grew fonder of him as he protected them, just as he had promised.

Moreover, his lieutenant Roden took meticulous care to ensure their comfort in everything from food to sleeping arrangements, making the work far easier than an ordinary mercenary assignment. A few of them brought it up while chatting together after a meal.

“I never knew working for a fellow Altoan could be this comfortable. Those Western bastards were always looking for a chance to cheat us out of our pay.”

“I wish we could just stay on as his regular mercenaries. Think Sir Shan might hire us long-term?”

Unlike mercenaries hired as needed, some served a particular knight or lord under long-term contracts. Such arrangements were usually based on trust built over many years. They paid somewhat less than short-term work, but the steady income without an off-season made them popular with many mercenaries.

Individual contracts were rare, however, since a man could simply run away midway through his term. Such arrangements were usually made between great nobles and sizable mercenary companies based in places such as long-established mercenary villages. As a mere knight, Shan would clearly struggle to keep several mercenaries under long-term contracts, even on a modest scale.

“I wish he’d rise in the world and become a lord.”

“An Altoan lord? You certainly dream big.”

The mercenaries chuckled at the absurdity of their own conversation. A few among them—the men from the Brotherhood—looked at one another and exchanged meaningful glances.

* * *

The journey from the capital of Hasra to Shedil took an ordinary person fifteen days on foot, or a seasoned warrior about ten. The expeditionary force arrived outside Shedil on the twelfth day, roughly halfway between the two.

On a hill with Shedil visible in the distance, the troops dragging their blistered feet along came to a halt almost as one. They had spotted the monster army deployed directly before the city.

“That really is an army...”

One mercenary’s mutter spoke for them all. Their earlier swagger—who would dare face so many knights and soldiers?—had vanished without a trace. Such was the savage menace radiating from the hundreds upon hundreds of monsters surrounding Shedil.

‘That’s it.’

Looking down over the monster host from Arwin’s back, Shan fixed his gaze on a creature that towered above all the others. A reddish-brown giant, it made the trolls nearby look like children. The ogre stood gazing at Shedil’s walls with the bearing of a king.