WCFTV 05

Chapter 5

At the Emperor’s gesture, Kael stepped forward.

When he raised his sword, golden aura rose along the blade.

“Woooooaaaaah!”

The enormous roar that shook the plaza instantly raised the morale of the knights.

Kael knew that very well, which was why he deliberately increased his presence.

It was all a performance to encourage the knights.

“Do not be afraid! We will definitely win and return!”

Following Kael, the elite members standing at the front also raised their weapons.

Spears, bows, swords, axes.

Aura rose from all kinds of weapons.

They weren’t as magnificent as Kael’s, but they shone like brilliant sunlight, lighting the darkness with hope.

“Woooooaaaaah!”

Another roar rang out.

The young noble lady beside me was also shedding tears as she raised the sword she had been given for the expedition with her bony hands.

I looked around, realized everyone else was doing the same, and raised my sword too.

The other expedition members raised their weapons as well.

“Golden Lily Expedition! Hope of the Empire! You depart now!”

After the Emperor’s declaration, the expedition began marching in formation.

They left the plaza and headed toward the gates of the Imperial Palace.

The crowd threw flower petals as they sent us off.

I joined the formation and walked along with everyone else.

Every time I moved, the hidden pouches made a jingling sound.

Oops.

I quickly grabbed one of the pouches.

Actually, I had also secretly gotten into the Duke’s safe.

The lock was much weaker than I expected. After applying force a few times, the metal bent.

I had been terrified that it would make a noise in the middle of the night.

I absolutely couldn’t get caught here.

It was when our formation was passing through the city gates.

An old woman cried out.

“Please come back alive!”

The crowd continued throwing flowers along our path.

They were golden petals.

The Golden Lily bloomed all year round, in every season.

It was the symbol of the Empire.

And it was also the symbol of hope.

I stepped on the petals while smiling brightly.

Inside my pouches, gold coins and jewels clinked against one another.

Those were my only hope right now.

Ah, it’s such a shame.

I could have brought more.

On the second day after the expedition departed, we arrived at Rainford Village, our first stop.

A campsite was set up in a large open area near the village.

Many of the expedition members had probably never walked such a long distance before.

Even the noble lady who had raised a sword with her bony arms was now covered in sweat, dragging her feet along.

“Huff, huff!”

“Are you okay?”

“I-I-I’m fine.”

She definitely didn’t look fine.

Her face was so pale that it looked like she might collapse forward at any moment.

I handed her some water, and she gulped it down.

Judging by the fact that I didn’t recognize her face from Rosana’s memories, she was probably from one of the provinces.

“What is your name?”

“I-I-I’m… I’m Vanessa. I came here representing Count Keston’s family.”

Ah.

Count Keston.

So they had brought her here by paying money.

It seemed they had purchased the daughter of a fallen lower noble family with money.

She still had the speech and manners of a noblewoman, but her rough hands and repeatedly repaired clothes clearly showed the poverty she had lived through.

I remembered that Count Keston’s family only had one son.

They had obviously adopted her as an expendable sacrifice in his place.

The girl rubbed her forehead with a trembling hand.

Then she gave me a faint smile.

“L-Lady Rosana, are you okay?”

“Me? I’m fine.”

Aside from this ridiculous dress getting in the way, I was honestly fine.

It had been worth building up my muscles by eating nothing but chicken breast for the past month.

“Still, we’re camping here tonight, so get some rest while you can. Hmm, your muscles must be really sore. Take this before you sleep. It should help.”

Before leaving, I hadn’t only raided the safe and dressing rooms.

A noble family as wealthy as the Duke of Ardena’s naturally had its own doctor.

So, of course, I hadn’t ignored the medicine cabinet either.

I had taken almost every medicine I could find.

Among them was medicine that worked well for muscle pain.

I untied one of the many pouches hanging beneath my skirt and handed her the medicine.

Vanessa looked surprised.

“Thank you.”

I smiled slightly as Vanessa swallowed the medicine without hesitation.

You should get a good night’s sleep.

Since we were sharing the same tent, if I wanted to sneak away without being noticed, she needed to be sleeping deeply.

Because there was somewhere I absolutely had to go before dawn tomorrow.

Sleep well.

The next morning, at dawn…

Kael entered Rainford Village with two accompanying knights.

Rainford Village held a market every morning, and the market had just opened.

A black market.

It was said to sell almost anything, except the things it didn’t have.

Kael had received information that an item he was looking for would be available there.

Since the black market mainly catered to mercenaries, he had heard that dangerous people gathered there.

And in a world like this, forbidden goods and stolen items of unknown origin often found their way onto the market.

The sword rumored to be appearing this time was no different.

The expedition was practically a mess.

There were so many people who couldn’t even march properly.

And among them was a woman wearing a dress that looked like a wedding cake.

The Duke of Ardena had forced his former fiancée into the expedition.

Kael didn’t even want to look at her or think about her.

Yet she kept attracting his attention.

Because of that extravagant dress that was completely unsuitable for marching.

But was Rosana the only problem?

The expedition was almost nothing more than a disorderly mob.

He had to succeed in this expedition while dragging along people who couldn’t even properly hold a sword.

They weren’t useful fighting forces.

They were burdens he had to protect.

Before reaching their first destination, Kael planned to find a way to send about half of them to the rear as support personnel.

Once the unnecessary members were removed, he would be able to clearly determine which of those remaining were actually useful.

Kael planned to use the resources saved by reducing the unnecessary personnel to purchase better weapons and equipment.

In times as chaotic as these, all kinds of things appeared on the black market.

Among them were even legendary weapons.

Many people were selling everything valuable they owned because they wanted to leave and find somewhere safe.

Kael was on his way to obtain some of those treasures that had been sleeping in deep vaults before finally finding their way onto the market.

Just as Kael reached the market entrance and was about to go inside…

He spotted a familiar piece of fabric.

Rosana?

Kael frowned.

Why on earth is that woman here?

Had she come to buy jewelry?

At a time like this?

In this situation?

It was absurd.

Kael clenched his teeth.

That woman was one of the burdens he was obligated to protect.

He was, damn it, the Crown Prince of the Empire.

And he had a duty to protect every citizen of the Empire.

Kael slowly closed the distance between himself and Rosana.

At this rate, he would catch up with her soon.

But the moment he turned into an alley, Rosana’s figure disappeared from his sight.

Completely.

Kael stopped and looked around.

She had definitely come this way.

Yet there wasn’t even a trace of her.

He blinked while reaching out and grabbing at empty air.

What just happened?

A pretty little decorative dagger wouldn’t even stop a monster’s claw.

I needed a real weapon.

I pulled my hood low over my face and headed toward the back alleys of the village.

According to the information I’d seen in the original story, Rainford was near the border, so smuggled goods were frequently traded here.

Naturally, that meant I should be able to find good weapons too.

Besides, this was where Kael would encounter the best weapon of his life.

That weapon had to be left for him because he needed it to save the world.

So I needed to find another decent weapon for myself.

Even though it was early morning, the black market was crowded with visitors.

They haven’t already bought up all the good stuff, have they?

After buying a weapon, I also needed to get some clothes suitable for the expedition.

We had departed in such a hurry that I hadn’t even prepared proper spare clothes.

The expedition would leave immediately after breakfast, so I had to return before then.

I passed through alley after alley until I reached the deepest part of the market.

I remembered how the original novel had described it:

“Hersen Weapons Shop, at the very back of the black market, in a dead-end alley.”

I had wondered if it really existed.

It did.

At the end of an alley where no one seemed to come, there was a shabby forge without even a signboard.

Only a small sword symbol was faintly carved into the firmly closed doorframe.

Hersen Weapons Shop.

According to the original novel, every weapon sold at Hersen Weapons Shop was excellent.

Kael had also purchased several weapons here.

I remembered that he had kept one for himself and distributed the others among his closest subordinates.

From the outside, it looked like an ordinary closed-down forge.

In reality, however, it secretly dealt in weapons whose origins could not be revealed, as well as military equipment that was forbidden to trade within the Empire.

“Looking for something, customer?”

The shabby shopkeeper asked.

I lowered my voice as much as possible before answering.

“Something for actual combat. Strong and light. I’m mainly looking for daggers.”

I had mainly used guns or daggers in my previous life, so daggers felt more natural to me.

I told him what I wanted and showed him my gold coins.

It was enough to show him that I had sufficient money to pay even for rare items.

The shopkeeper’s eyes lit up.

“In troubled times like these, a dagger is more useful than a dress. This way.”

I followed him deeper into the shop.

Various weapons hanging on the walls immediately caught my eye.

I slowly looked them over.