15 CHAPTER 14: IT’S NEVER TOO LATE (1)

One week later, Telestal is back. During a rainy night, he comes back with his men in a silent procession, entering the mansion as if the world has ended. I thought he would have a lot of men but it seems a lot have perished. Especially with the heavy atmosphere that they are spreading.

I am standing at the entrance of the house and when he passes by me, there are no words, no sounds, only his rough and heavy breathing, as if he is sick. If someone like him who was born in this, was raised to fight and decided to save people by doing so is getting sick of it, then can I really do it?

"Only one way to find out, I guess."

The next morning, I wake up because of the heavy noise downstairs.

"Master, please calm down!"

"Fucking hell!!!"

Noises of things being broken and screams flow from the stairs as I get down. When I reach Telestal's room, his door is wrecked open, the bed is shattered as well. The carnage is continuing to the courtyard where I find him, slashing through a wall just as I arrived.

"You are quite energetic for someone who was depressed just yesterday."

"Shut up!!" He turns to me and just by doing so, the wind swirls with him. I wonder what happened?

"What happened?"

"Why would you care? You who has been sleeping under our roof without care for our people! You come from your tiny little shithole and we are forced to act as if you are gods! But you all are nothing!! No, you are even less!! You are just shit!!"

"That doesn't tell me what happened though." I don't care about your temper so tell me what is going on and let's get this over with.

"You want to know what happened?!! You want to know what fucking happened?!!"

"Yeah, that would be the case."

"Then defeat me!!!"

He pounces on me with such rage I hear the ground breaking. His first slash destroys the door as I have already moved over to the side. Then I kick his ribs hard enough for him to lose his breath and the guy falls down like a log.

"You would have never been so careless before so for you to be like this means that whatever is going on is really bad. Can you tell me then? What is it that has turned you into such a weakling?"

"Sniff…Sniff…" Goddammit. Telestal starts crying and his tears fall down to the ground rapidly and in a huge amount. It is as if this guy never cried before in his life.

While he is becoming a crybaby, a butler comes to us and lowers his head. I follow him and when we leave the room, he faces me with a sad face.

"Will someone finally tell me what is going on?"

"Sir Will, yesterday, Master lost the battle at the border against the demons. They have breached through the first line of defense that he is and now, we don't know where they are heading. It could be directed to the capital if they go through the forest or here if they want to."

"I see. And since he was supposed to be the one to prevent that, he will be executed, is that it?"

"No, Master doesn't care about that. But there something…" He looks up my shoulder to see if Telestal is here and seeing his mouth opening again tells me he isn't. "He was originally betrothed to the Valkyrie of war. But after the actual king decided to take her as his third wife, their families made an arrangement with the king. It states that as long as Master manages to defend the border until his forties, she would remain a Valkyrie and therefore cannot be defiled."

"That doesn't interest me much, but okay. Thanks for the info." I knew that those two had a thing. Her eyes were the same as his. "So now, the problem is where the demons are going, right?"

"They are going to the capital." Telestal's voice rings behind me like thunder. He said it as if he is the one who has decided so.

"Then what are we still doing here?"

"What good would it have to go there? We will just arrive to see the city burning and the people being slaughtered. Besides, my city will have the same fate."

"Right. So you are just being emotional. It's okay, you have to right do so, but you cannot give up." I grab him by the collar and slap him one time. "And this is so you remember it. You, bring me to the armory."

I release Telestal and go to the armory with the butler. While he opens the door, I should try to gain as much information as I can.

"The demon's army, is it under someone or something's command?"

"Hm, I believe it's the second general of the demon army."

"Second general?" The butler turns to me after opening the door.

"Yes, Sir Will. Aside from the demon king, there are five generals that each command part of his army. The one our Master was facing is the second general. Unlike the others, he has a human's form so he is pretty easy to recognize." I enter the armory and start rummaging through everything there.

"I see. And is he strong?" I have found a nicer helmet than the one I had before. It should be useful, I hope.

"No human was ever able to defeat one of the generals." This time, it is not the butler but Telestal who answers me. "That's part of the reason why you guys are always needed so badly."

"Does that mean the generals appear together with the demon king every hundred years?"

"Exactly." As I turn to look at him, the maid and the butler who were with me since I came here are holding different pieces of gear. There is a sword and a chain as well. And everything has a silver color to it.

"Is it my gear?"

"Yeah, my mentor had it prepared for you."

"Cool, that blacksmith wasn't just a scammer then."

"He is the best in the kingdom, I will have you know."

They both come with the gear and place it on me. To my own surprise, everything fits perfectly. Even after they are done, I don't have any trouble moving around.

"The best blacksmith in the kingdom, huh…" I unsheathe the sword and its linings are shining sharply, with a strong glow. This is pretty impressive.

"Half a day. That's the time I will need to organize and launch the evacuation of the city. If you guys can hold out until then…"

"How much time do I need to reach the capital?"

"Normally, you can reach the capital in four hours if you are alone on your horse and traveling fast enough. I will give you my horse. You will also go with ten remaining elite knights that serve me."

"Your knights are tired and depressed as you. Your horse is surely tired as well. Just give me a normal one and a few knights. I don't need much."

"I see. Well, as you wish." I thought you were going to argue there. Desperation really changes a man.

***

We go downstairs after a few minutes and my horse is all ready when I arrive. It is as if someone was listening from outside. While I get on it, I see twenty people coming into the mansion, all of them are on their horses as well. Now that I think about it…

"It is better that someone gets on my horse with me. We will lose less time that way."

"Are you sure? I don't think this horse can make it to the capital if it is like this."

"We will simply make do." I can't just say that I don't know how to ride a horse.

"Peter, you go and ride with him."

"Yes, sir!!"

One of the knights at the front of the group immediately gets down from his horse and up my own. Telestal then walks to the middle of the courtyard and the horses start throttling around him. We all form a circle around him and in the meantime, he takes a deep breath. With each breath he takes, the horses gradually accelerate right to the point they would have to run. Telestal then opens his mouth.

"I know it is hard. I know we have lost a lot of our comrades. But still, we have to do what we can do. For those who gave us their hopes, thinking that it would become our strength. For those who gave us their dreams, thinking that it would become our shield and sword. For those who gave us their futures, thinking that it would become our blood and soul. For all those reasons, there is only thing we can do." He takes a deep breath and time almost stops for a moment. "Fuuu… For the honor!!"

"And the kingdom!!!"

After he releases his war cry, the knights all answer with a scream and we all leave like a tornado. The time has come, to see for myself, what he faced that turned him into what he was.