Chapter 224
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
As she calmly watched outside, the recent almost war-like events felt like a distant dream.
Among the vast natural landscape, the struggles between people seemed insignificant.
Then suddenly, a stone was thrown into this quiet routine.
Charlotte burst into Agatha’s room, sweating and looking very urgent.
“What’s going on, Lottie? You told me to stay perfectly still and not move, yet you just barged in like that…”
“Miss, get away from the window.”
“What?”
Charlotte strode forward, grabbed Agatha’s arm, dragged a chair far from the window, and gently helped her sit on it. Agatha was puzzled by her urgency.
“What’s happening?”
“There are frequent raids by bandits in this border area.”
“Thieves? This looks like a peaceful country village. Bandits here?”
“I learned by chance while buying food in town. I hardly noticed any merchants around.”
Charlotte extinguished all the candles in the room by blowing them out. The fading sunset tinted the room red through the window cracks.
Shortly after, someone knocked on the door—Rubens and Karon.
They entered, looking serious when they rarely showed anxiety on their faces. Agatha immediately sensed Charlotte’s worry was no exaggeration.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing Your Grace should worry about.”
“But coming all the way to the room suggests otherwise.”
“There’s a sizable mercenary group in the area. They claim to be the town’s guard, but they’re overly armed, so I investigated. It seems the mercenaries were once employed by Count Schuck, who managed this region until a few years ago. After he left, they lost their jobs and began demanding payment to ‘protect’ the town. Over time, their demands grew excessive, causing tension with the villagers. They now extort tolls from anyone passing through and have even approached us.”
“I never expected to hear that name so far from the port. Just how far do Count Schuck’s hands reach…”
“The whole south is under his influence.”
“So, should I be concerned about the mercenaries’ approach?”
“I repeat, it’s nothing for Your Grace to worry about. Their demands are unreasonable, and there’s no reason to comply. We’ll leave tomorrow, so we can just ignore them. But these mercenaries are ruthless when money’s involved, so we’re prepared for any possibility.”
They had been prepared to face danger on the road, but it had come sooner than expected.
Karon’s face was more serious than ever.
Had he been in the capital, he wouldn’t have imagined this—Kristin’s house threatened by mere bandits.
Absurd, yet unfortunately, this wasn’t the capital where people fear Kristin’s name.
Most locals had heard of Kristin but didn’t truly know her status. Many had never encountered her knights and so weren’t afraid.
In this border area, less related to recent wars, few showed fear just by hearing Kristin’s name.
Having to extinguish candles and hide from mere bandits was humiliating but unavoidable. To safely reach Arta, they had to avoid fights—not out of fear, but solely for Agatha’s safety.
Agatha wondered briefly how they found out about this place. Looking far out the window, she soon found the answer.
Suddenly appearing by ship, loudly accompanied by knights, and occupying an entire building—there was no way they hadn’t been noticed.
In such a quiet village, strangers are the biggest event. No matter how carefully they tried to avoid attention.
“So… they want tolls to stay here?”
“Yes. They claim it’s for safety and order, but basically, yes.”
“So if we don’t pay enough, they’ll attack us?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Quite an audacious demand.”
“Indeed. Kristin has no reason to comply with such petty demands.”
“Are preparations to leave nearly done?”
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