Chapter 90 : Festival
Festival
In the meantime, Gregory went to find Heln. It was to express his gratitude for the food she had wholeheartedly prepared for the comrades.
Next to the kitchen in the knight order of dawn, there was a lounge, and Gregory judged that Heln would be there, so he knocked.
"Is anyone there?"
"Oh? What brings you here? It's so hard to catch a glimpse of you, sir Gregory. Did you already run out of food?"
Heln's voice followed. She came out and asked Gregory in return.
Gregory waved his hands with both hands and gave an awkward smile.
"No, not at all. Thanks to you, we have more than enough food. I just stopped by to say hello and to ask for a little favor."
"What sort of favor...?"
"With the war ongoing, the soldiers are very exhausted. I'm already grateful that you put so much care into the festival dishes, but I wanted to ask if you could cook something more nourishing to help the soldiers recover their strength."
Heln pondered for a moment before finally opening her mouth.
"If that's the request, of course, I can do it. But..."
Gregory understood why Heln was hesitating. Thanks to Parsei's support, there shouldn't be a shortage of personnel.
However, with other knight orders bringing support as well, it was difficult to estimate the exact number of people.
Gregory didn't mind such things. The fact that the rest of the knight order members, who should have arrived long ago, still hadn't, was already a sign that something odd was going on.
"Are you perhaps having trouble deciding how much you need to prepare?"
"Uh... Yes, how did you know?"
"I think you can just do as you always do."
"Oh... All right. Thank you."
"No, thank you. I'm the one who should be grateful."
As Gregory stepped outside, he thought about the doubts that had been on his mind. Enough time had passed that additional support from other knight orders should have arrived, but there had been no news at all.
He worried that something might have happened to them, but if that were the case, Parsei would surely have received a letter.
So, Gregory decided to think about it later, and for now, to enjoy the festival with his comrades.
Before long, he returned to the place where the festival was being held.
"Hey, Gregory! Where did you disappear to?"
"The hero of this war! Why not come over here and have a drink with us?"
As Gregory passed by, Seria and Garneth greeted him with loud voices.
"What's that supposed to mean? Right now! He looks pretty drunk, so you can just ignore him."
Seria quickly corrected Garneth's words, and Gregory looked at the scene with a pleased smile and said,
"Haha... Thank you. It wasn't thanks to me alone, it was all because everyone fought so hard. Anyway, I'll take my leave now. Hope you have a wonderful evening."
Gregory then faced his comrades, who were sitting around a huge feast laid out on circular tree stumps.
The first to greet him with a sly grin was Ernest.
"Gregory, what kept you? No, wait. You're the number one contributor to this battle—maybe you went somewhere else first. Are you full?"
Gregory laughed and answered Ernest.
"I had to step out for a bit. Now I can finally catch my breath."
"Well, you've had a hard time. Come on, we saved your share. Hurry up and eat."
As soon as Gregory sat down, someone piled up stew and meat on his plate and handed it to him.
"I kept it warm just for you. Who else would do that?"
The owner of the playful voice was Alessandro. As soon as he realized Gregory was absent, he prepared to look after him as soon as he arrived.
"Hmm... You cared this much? I'm a little touched."
"Of course, it's me... I knew you'd be happy, Gregory."
"Cut the nonsense, just get me some more water from over there."
Gregory scolded Alessandro, and although he looked pleased, he quickly turned grumpy and trudged away.
"Sheesh... And here I was, taking care of you."
Despite the grumbling, Gregory genuinely felt grateful to Alessandro.
'That guy is actually pretty funny. Anyway... Thanks for taking care of me.'
Gregory secretly let out a laugh as he picked up his spoon. The food was warm, and strangely enough, even his heart felt full.
Off in the distance, garneth's cheeks were already red as she sang along, clapping her hands. Then, breaking into a silly dance, she stumbled backward and fell, prompting roars of laughter from the soldiers.
Raising his cup, Gregory looked quietly around. Since he was still too young to drink, he didn't feel the pleasant tipsiness of alcohol, but he found the warm atmosphere full of affection wholly to his liking.
Under the glow of the lights, people were smiling. The bloody skirmish from earlier seemed a distant memory, and now, the warmth of life filled this moment.
"Hey, Gregory. What are you thinking about so deeply?"
Walter took a seat beside Gregory, watching him.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just lost in a thought for a moment."
Walter worried that perhaps Gregory was blaming himself for the deaths of the soldiers this time, and so gave him some comfort.
"Festivals are meant to be enjoyed. Just for tonight, forget about everything else. And have fun."
In truth, Gregory did feel some guilt, thinking that if only he'd planned more perfect tactics, more soldiers could have survived.
But as Walter refilled his cup, Gregory closed his eyes briefly and nodded.
"Yeah. Just for tonight."
The sound of glasses clinking echoed under the night sky. The warm broth, the boisterous conversation, the rollicking song—
And perhaps, in this battlefield, the most human moment of all was right there. Gregory quietly raised his cup and promised himself:
That he would not forget this night. That he would protect everyone so these smiles would never disappear.
***
The next day, not realizing how much time had passed swept up in the festivities, everyone spent the day with some disappointment. As everyone headed back to the barracks and fell into a deep sleep—
Someone poked at Gregory's shoulder with their finger.
"Gregory, wake up."
As soon as he heard the dignified voice, Gregory shot up to see who it was.
"What is it?"
Walter, with a very tense expression, looked at Gregory. Knowing full well that Gregory was still half-asleep, Walter got straight to the point.
"The knight order of twilight isn't answering calls."
Cold sweat trickled down Gregory's back when he heard those words. His suspicions had become reality. In shock, he asked Walter again,
"What do you mean, they aren't answering? What does that mean?"
Walter pulled out a sheet of paper with something written on it and spoke,
"It's a letter from the Radiant Order. Read it."
Gregory took the paper and scanned it. From the handwriting and the content, it was definitely a letter from Parsei. Which meant this wasn't an assumption—it was something that had truly happened.
A rush of emotions stabbed at his heart. As Gregory's boisterous voice, almost like a reprimand, rang out, the other knight order members began to stir and rub their eyes.
Ernest, eyes half-open, looked back and forth between Walter and Gregory.
"Did something happen?"
"We're unable to reach the knight order of twilight."
"The knight order of twilight, you say?"
"That's right. They should have sent in support from the rear..."
A sense of unease swept over Gregory. Sometimes it was normal not to reach a few knight order members, but for the whole group to be unreachable was rare.
And soon, Gregory shouted so loud it seemed the barracks would fly apart.
"Could it be...?"
Walter, seeing Gregory's grim expression and tone, grew more nervous as well.
"Is there something you're suspecting?"
"How long would it take a letter from the Radiant Order to get here?"
"Well, at least three weeks, I'd say. Why do you ask?"
"I suspect the knight order of twilight has moved on its own."
"The knight order of twilight? That can't be."
Gregory thought that the signs so far pointed to something. Something neither he nor even the Radiant Order had predicted. If that were so, the knight order of twilight might have taken independent action.
'The source of the monsters? No, if it were that, the Radiant Order would have acted.'
Gregory narrowed his eyes, looking at Walter.
"The knight order of twilight is supposed to be the one supporting the rear, right?"
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