Raw provider: Tsalispark
Translator: Rhyme_bean
Editor: Milac
The tent quietened with the withdrawal of the informant. Inside, Tasel sat looking at the letters that arrived today and casually picked one which was at the very top. But the moment he realized that the letter was written in a secret code that was only known to him and his close confidants, he sat straight. It was the letter he had been waiting for.
Her Highness, Queen Elena, is off the radar. Geta who disguised himself as a guard protecting Her Majesty’s residence seems to have been killed. I am suspecting the reason they’ve changed Her Highness’ residence and are now keeping it a secret might be to find out Geta’s real identity. In any case, Her Highness’ situation does not seem to be improving. We need to rescue her as early as possible. I will contact Your Highness as soon as I get my hands on any information about Her Highness’ residence.
With all my loyalty,
Timothy
Reading the letter with bated breath, Tasel put the letter face down on the table and covered his forehead with a hand. The letter was from his person arranged in the Karina Palace, describing the deteriorating situation of his mother.
When his mother was dragged away as a hostage, she couldn’t even have her lady-in-waiting. Tasel was anxious and could only barely sneak in an ordinary maid. She was treated so poorly over there that even her food and dressing were even not properly cared for. This treatment worsened over time. Queen Elena was caged in the most secluded place of the palace. And before long, several guards were arranged to keep a watch on her in the name of protection. That was about five months ago.
The question before him was, where was she confined now. He burned with rage. It was not that he didn’t understand the necessity of quickly rescuing his Mother nor did he slack in his attempt.
The most difficult and worrisome part was to infiltrate the highly guarded Karina Palace. Till then, they had attempted several times but had yet to succeed.
Many knights, who went forward for the sake of him and his mother, sacrificed their innocent lives. Tasel felt himself going crazy. Now the situation was whether his mother would get sick under the persecution of that mad Emperor or would he be killed in this war. Would his innocent mother also suffer the same tragedy as him…
Tasel was so deeply buried in his thoughts that he lost track of time. At some time, the soldier guarding his tent announced the visit of his aid.
“Just now Dame Kasia went into the mountain. What shall I do now?”
“Good job. You don’t need to be concerned with this anymore. Refrain from any action that will cause suspicion, till your next instruction.”
Saying so, Tasel also headed towards the rear mountain in a simple attire.
Tasel was a prince of the nation. But he was also a top knight known as ‘The First Sword’. So it didn’t take him much time to spot a person’s presence in that not so big mountain. Considering the keen senses of Kasia, Tasel completely erased his presence and keenly watched her.
Kasia seemed to do some basic physical training in the vacant woods. All her movements which seemed like training, in Tasel’s eyes seemed to be very strange.
But he could grasp the effectiveness of those movements as soon as he saw it. Whether moving hands and legs in a repeated motion, or twisting her body, or even coming to a halt after running with rapidly increased momentum.
After holding a strange posture for some time she stretched her body. What she would gain by those actions were obvious. Her body would become stronger, endurance level would heighten and she would be more agile.
‘Where the hell did she learn all that?’
If she was the one who came up with all those movements, without any doubt, she had to be a genius. Tasel was awed without realizing. He was even resolved to spread those basic training among the army.
Kasia did her basic training until her shirt was wet with sweat. It was at that moment Kasia put her hand on the medium-length sword, laid beside her, to practice with it in earnest.
She felt some people coming up not far from her. She was anxious for a moment. But very soon she hid her presence and carefully held the sword. Even at such a time, Tasel just stood there watching all this with interest.
Kasia didn’t want to confront those people, so she hid her body behind a tree. It seemed that their objective was none other than her training.
“Is it here? Are you sure that girl will come here at this time for training?”
“Ah, I am sure. I confirmed it yesterday.”
“Heh heh. Does she want to suffer? A girl without any fear.”
“Who knows? Maybe she is looking forward to it. If not, why would she come to this dark and remote place every day?”
“Then does that mean, we only found it so late? I feel so apologetic towards her, what should I do?”
“Then you only need to dote on her with all your apologetic heart. Hehe.”
“Me first! I am the one who found it!”
Tasel frowned hearing their conversation filled with their dirty desires.
They were a total of three people. For three men to have an intention to disgrace a single woman…
Tasel felt the necessity to, once again, establish strict military discipline. He was determined to punish them right away if they dared to lay a finger on Kasia. Though he didn’t want to get caught peeking at her, there was no other option.
“Where is she? Are you sure it’s here?”
With an utterly careless manner, they looked around to find Kasia.
Tasel could see Kasia hiding behind the tree from the place he hid; he thought she wouldn’t be found by them. But at that moment, Kasia who held onto the sword with some tension, relaxed and put down the sword. He could also see her picking up a wooden stick from nearby.
Tasel felt a little anxious seeing Kasia swinging the stick and estimating its sense of weight. Because he thought she would be found by them if she continued doing that. As those guys came near the tree, she went around the tree and stood behind them without their notice. She hit them hard with the stick from their 5 o’clock.
“Aargh!”
“Aargh!”
Those men were taken back by the sudden blow and limped down to the ground. They raised their heads to look at the direction of the attack. Only the one who walked at the front was able to avoid the blow, but he met with Kasia’s flying feet towards his head. He directly fainted on the spot.
“Wh-what! This cowardly bit*h attacking from behind!”
“A knight attacking from behind!”
Kasia felt like laughing hearing their cowardly refutes, who wanted to gang up and disgrace a woman. Without minding to answer them, she directly kicked at the groin of a guy who rushed towards her.
Crack.
Tasel missed the timing to show up, despite his original intention. That kick was so hard that he flinched his shoulders. The guy who was kicked passed out, foaming at the mouth, even before he could scream with pain.
Kasia extended one of her feet to catch the head of the guy who passed out on his own to avoid directly crashing his head over the jagged stone on the ground.
The remaining guy became extremely anxious seeing his comrades passing out before his eyes. In his hurry, he found the sword left by Kasia and picked it up.
“Don’t… don’t come over!”
He swung the sword towards the woman holding a wooden stick and stumbled back. Only then did Kasia open her mouth.
“When swinging a sword, your centre of gravity must be downwards and your upper body must be slightly bent forward. Don’t close your eyes. Watch your opponent till the end. Observe precisely to which direction your opponent’s wrist twist to determine whether to block or attack. Tumbling down like you is just perfect. And…”
Thak.
It was at that moment. The stick held in her hands made a straight line in the air and shot at the middle of the man before her…
Seeing the last one fainting just like his comrades, Kasia added, “One shouldn’t also think that a sword could only be swung.”
As if relieving the fatigue, she rotated her head a couple of times and picked out the sword fallen from the guy and turned her body. She found Tasel with an absurd smile coming towards her in a dejected manner.
“Dame Kasia, no matter how I look, you don’t seem like a layman. Don’t you also think so? Seeing your previous look I even suspected whether you are a General-rank officer from another country.”
Kasia followed Tasel to the pond where they had an awkward encounter some days ago. Kasia felt goosebumps by Tasel’s unexpected grasp of things. In her previous life, she used to supervise the training, and when she faced those three guys, that habit of hers came out even without her knowing which made it all the more troublesome.
But even Kasia herself couldn’t properly define the things that happened to her. So for the time being she decided to go with the excuse of memory loss.
“I apologize. I don’t remember anything.”
“Now, I don’t care whether you truly lost your memory or you are hiding it.”
That answer was beyond Kasia’s expectation.
“Honestly, it’s impossible to completely explain your change. I speculated in different ways, but none of them seems to fit in. And you don’t seem to have any mind to give me an explanation. Ah, it can also be, like you said, a loss of memory.”
Kasia was racking her brain to determine what Tasel wanted to say with these confessions. Kasia was completely aware of the suspicions Tasel had towards her. But now revealing all his findings, it seemed that he was planning to hold back his suspicion towards her.
“Anyway from what I concluded after observing you all this while, I think you wish to remain under my command. Am I right?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“Can you swear upon your life and honour?”
Kasia knelt on one knee and bowed her head, just like what she learned from Krone some days ago.
“I, Kasia of Aruelo, swear upon my life and honour to devote my loyalty and fidelity to Tasel Kan Amaris.”
Though everything was swift and convenient, for Kasia who lived in a dry world, this oath of loyalty felt unfamiliar and strange. But according to Krone’s words, to directly swear your loyalty towards the lord is of greatest honour to a knight.
Especially for commoner knights, even if it was ordinary aristocrats, such opportunities were too hard to come by. To directly swear upon your loyalty towards the Imperial Family or Emperor was almost impossible.
Considering those words, Kasia could be counted to have chanced upon a very rare opportunity.
“I gladly accept your oath. Since now you are one of my people, there is something I want to request of you.”
“Your wish is my command.”
For a commoner knight to receive such a big fortune, Kasia didn’t express any deep delight or fear. She just stood there indifferently waiting for Tasel’s orders.
Contrary to her state, Tasel hesitated for some time. Of course, it was not because of whether he believed in Kasia or not. He realized that she was not an assassin who came for his life after the pond incident some days ago. He also confirmed the considerable skill of Kasia.
With her ability to hide her presence, attack by surprise and nimble and agile movements, he could conclude that she was the perfect fit for this particular mission as compared to any other knight.
He wanted to trust her. Though he was almost sure that there was no other mastermind behind her, he couldn’t afford to risk the mission. He couldn’t help but think about what would happen if she failed the mission.
Because Kasia, as a young woman, could be subjected to a much more perilous situation than any man. For him, who grew up learning that protecting women and children was one of his duties, he felt weighted. But for that, the time was tight.