If I Disobey the Duke

Ataka was vast. It was a plateau that looked as if it stretched on forever.

Some even estimated that it would be far wider than the land on the continent that had been claimed by humans as of that time.

A place where even the Knights of Winter, who advanced the deepest in history, have not discovered entirely.

The setting sun was red against the rocky mountains. Everywhere he looked, it was blood-red.

“Coming here after a month and a half. Now, the lord who is obsessed with returning and a high priest who has exhausted his stamina will be martyred here. Goodbye everyone…” Ivan lay down on the stone floor next to the firewood pile. “Rocky mountains… more like ice mountains. My back is like ice. It’s so cold. The daily temperature difference is really… It must have been like this when the swords of the lords were quenched in the cold forge?”

The knights who were preparing for the overnight stay scrunched their faces.

A huge and long shadow cast over his head. He was a man with a beastly, grizzled appearance.

“Priests don’t always know how precious their lives are. If you had instinctively lost control of your divine power, you would have pushed us through the canyon.”

“That’s why professionalism is needed, Commander.” Ivan sat up and crouched down. He lightly bounced the flint he took out of his arms and set fire to wood gathered around his feet. “Sit down. What kind of barracks did you experience being the commander? The lord won’t arrive until tomorrow, so let’s sit down and talk.”

The commander of the knights slipped down to the left of Ivan.

He stared blankly at the bonfire, which burned more as he put in additional firewood while stroking his beard. “If the sun goes down, we go on a reconnaissance. Thanks to that, we can come back three times earlier than planned…  Did something happen to the estate?”

“He’s a newlywed, isn’t he? He’s not wearing armor this time, so they won’t be able to blow trumpets when he returns. Wouldn’t it be a romantic surprise return event for his wife?”

Knights who were building a barracks at the word noble stopped at once. Most of the knights who went to Ataka were those who had never seen Lily yet.

“What’s Madam like? They said that the flow of gold along the mountain range was information from Madam. She must have great information.”

Ivan pondered. The most recent memory was at the conference hall.

No, a few times before that…

“She’s like a precious mineral that pretends to be a ball of useless cotton. In her hands is information that we don’t know.”

“What? Don’t make it complicated and say it straight.”

“It means she’s smart.”

“Ah. I was wondering why the lord would have a marriage all of a sudden. It was to recruit her talent.”

Even from one’s point of view, he was often an eerie lord.

How surprised would one be if he suddenly got married after not being interested in a single woman all his life?

“That’s why he’s focusing on this monster subjugation. Before she came to the duke’s house, there were no elegant banquets, only some guys who came to the building. On top of that, if a monster comes out, a woman will run away. There is no more noble person than her when it comes to protection.”

The de Winter Knights regularly went to Ataka to prevent the southward movement of monsters every winter.

This year, they set out on a scale that was unparalleled in previous years, because of the order not to leave a single piece of monster skin.

“Talent. Hmm… It’s not exactly that.” Ivan chewed the heated jerky.

How would they react when they saw the lord treating his wife?

He didn’t put a knife in his hand, saying, ‘You tell me what you know!’

“Anyway, I didn’t know that the monster habitat would really have gold veins. It’s a remarkable discovery.”

The deputy knight commander, who suddenly approached, took a seat to the right of Ivan. Wearing a one-eyed eye patch with a sleek body, he put his long gun and bow on the floor. “Do you think there will be more veins where the strongest monsters live, Priest?”

“I don’t know. In that sense, Mount Kylas might be a mountain made of metal.”

Ivan pointed his jerky to the towering peaks over the horizon. The hillside was covered with clouds, and the tip was covered with ice caps.

Although it was clearly far away, the mountain peak soared as if reaching for the sky.

It was a mountain that symbolized the end of the world.

The last place humans could go was where they were located. It was the bifurcation line where the Mount Kylas peaks were visible.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll have to go there… If one is in distress on Mount Kylas, even if you’re the lord, it’ll be hard to survive.”

“Is that so?”

Three men jumped like springs.

The commander and the deputy commander turned back and saluted.

“Are you back, Lord?”

The figure was frightening and mysterious. Wearing a thin uniform, he slowly approached and sat beside the bonfire. “Let’s sit down.”

The two knights quickly settled down like well-trained dogs.

Only Ivan, who greeted him late, stood in an awkward position for a moment before lowering his body.