Chapter 276: Late Night Talking
There was a time in Irene’s life when she was jealous of those her father called upon to have late-night conversations with. Many times throughout her childhood, knights appeared at odd hours of the day to request her father. If they didn’t take him away from the home entirely, they would sit in the library or his study for hours and discuss the knighthood.
To be included in it for the first time made a sense of pride well up inside the girl. In the previous life she recalled, Irene never got to experience being on the inside. It made her even happier with the path she chose to take rather than the one that would lead her to marriage with someone she didn’t love and death.
Her once husband would be much happier with a wife who loved him. She would be happier not to have to deal with marriage at all.
As she and Felix found Arthur in the library with mugs of ale prepared for them on a table between the comfortable armchairs, they shut the door tightly and sat down in front of the fire. How wonderful it was to thaw in front of a fire while they talked to each other.
"Continue with your explanation," Arthur requested. "What brings you to my door in the middle of the night?"
Irene looked at Felix. He nodded, knowing it was within his rank to take over this question.
"First, I must commend you on taking care of your fief and ensuring there are no monsters that your villagers have to worry about," Felix began. "But that also brings me to what we have been up to. It seems that our thorough monster culling in the plains around the Duke’s Tower and in this central region has pushed the monsters to the forests in the east. The mages also say there are disturbances in Polona, which, I believe, could be pushing the monsters west as well. They have been attempting to pillage the largest township furthest east. Irene and I saw for ourselves just how many monsters lay waiting in the forests."
Arthur nodded between sips of his ale as he listened to the younger man’s explanation.
"Do you seek my help in the east?" Arthur asked.
There was a sense that Felix had that Arthur wanted to get back in on the action of fighting monsters, even if the former knight wouldn’t say it outright.
"We are here to steal the help of your village’s healer," Felix admitted. "We need to send a letter to Stanley to send mages to the east. We also need to figure out a way to get a letter to Commander Lothian or any of the knights who may already be heading in this direction. One of the former maids at the Duke’s Tower requested the Knights of Hydrogia’s help."