MTM 24

The holy knight spoke in a cold voice that came from behind his silver helmet.

“I will record your entry. State your name, place of origin, and purpose of visiting Belnock.”

His tone was rigid, high-handed, and stripped of any softness. Harto, who had never experienced anything like this before, was frozen. Zed, who had said he would stay beside him, had already been called over by a priest, and the two were talking with serious faces.

“Your name.”

When there was no reply, the holy knight repeated the question toward Harto. Harto swallowed his saliva and stammered.

“Ha… Harto. My name is Harto….”

“Harto?”

Harto flinched and shrank his shoulders.

“I… I have nothing, nothing to do with Hartiros….”

“……?”

The holy knight looked dumbfounded as he heard the unexpected name. He was only doing his duty, but the small creature in front of him looked so frightened, trembling like a scolded puppy, that it left him at a loss.

“Hahaha. My little brother’s been obsessed with word games lately.”

Zed stepped in then and pulled Harto toward him by the shoulder.

“Harto Shaden, Zed Shaden. We came from Lindel Village. We’re here to deliver goods to the market.”

Zed smoothly took out bark and herbal blossoms from his bag to show him. The disguise he had used as a herb gatherer back in Lindel Village worked here as well.

“Hm… Brothers?”

The holy knight showed no interest in the herbs. Instead, he eyed the two suspiciously.

They didn’t look related at all. The older one was large, the younger one small. Their hair and eye colors were different, and even their skin tones were distinct. Anyone would think they belonged to entirely different races.

“Blood doesn’t have to be the only thing that makes brothers. Well… we have a complicated family history we don’t exactly brag about.”

“I see….”

As Zed added that with a smile, the holy knight seemed to accept it. He silently looked at Harto and Zed one more time, then pointed his chin toward the inside of the city.

“Pass.”

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

“Phew…”

Once they finally passed through Belnock’s massive city walls, Harto let out a long sigh of relief.

Zed smiled and ran a hand through his messy black hair.

“Why were you so nervous? If I’d carried you in, it would’ve been easier, don’t you think?”

“Ugh… Don’t tease me….”

It was just because this was his first time experiencing something like that. Harto whispered softly and his face turned bright red.

“But… do I really look like your little brother?”

Harto was hung up on the kinship Zed had made up on the spot.

Well, maybe he had been a bit hurt by how Zed had called him his younger brother.

“Then should I have said you’re my older brother instead?”

“No? I liked that we looked like brothers.”

Hehe. When Harto smiled with genuine happiness, Zed strangely felt down. He thought maybe he should’ve just said they were strangers, and he looked around instead.

“There’s somewhere I have to go before finding a place to stay.”

“Somewhere? Where?”

“Norbel Market. It’s Belnock’s main marketplace. I think we need to buy a few things there.”

“Things we need?”

Harto looked confused, like he couldn’t imagine what they could possibly need, but Zed scanned Harto’s sloppy appearance up and down and nodded.

“Yes… it looks like we’ll need quite a lot.”

“……?”

“Let’s go.”

“Ah.”

Harto didn’t even have time to think about what Zed meant by that look. He quickly followed him.

Belnock was so crowded that Lindel Village couldn’t even compare. The ground wasn’t dirt but smooth stone, which made him realize he really was in a city.

Everywhere they walked, there was something new to see. Carts rolling across the square, people sitting at food stalls, the smell of bread baking, street musicians leaning against brick walls playing flutes, horses pulling carriages, merchants hauling huge fish….

Just watching the busy crowd made Harto’s head turn in every direction, but he tightly held the corner of Zed’s cloak and walked quickly. He was afraid he might lose him if he got swept up in the people.

“Let’s turn that way.”

“Huh? Yes.”

Zed walked among the crowd and turned into a narrow alley. White-robed clerics and holy knights were posted throughout the city, and it seemed he didn’t want to draw attention. Just as he had said, there were many watchers here.

At that moment, Harto started to feel curious.

As they stepped into a quieter alley, Harto cautiously spoke to Zed.

“But Zed, there are clerics here who have holy power, right? Then shouldn’t they be able to tell what I am?”

Yet none of them had noticed anything. The holy knight at the gate had only questioned how little he resembled Zed.

Zed stopped walking and turned toward Harto.

“You seem to not know the things you should, but you know well the things you don’t need to.”

“R-really…?”

Harto got flustered and looked away. Maybe he had acted too much like a monster again. He decided to be more careful next time.

But Zed didn’t seem bothered at all, despite his criticism.

“Not really. People who really have holy power are rare. Maybe the High Priest has it? Most people just use a little or fake power instead. And to manage a big city like this, holy power isn’t really important.”

“Ah… Then what keeps this city running?”

Harto asked, Zed turned his eyes toward the towering cathedral in the distance and continued.

“This city isn’t sustained by the holy power of living people. It’s the remains of dead clerics sleeping beneath the cathedral. Their power is what protects this city.”

For a moment, silence filled the space between them. Harto followed Zed’s gaze toward the cathedral. He couldn’t quite imagine countless clerics buried inside that grand place, their holy power still lingering there. But one thing seemed clear.

‘So this city is protected by the dead….’

The novel had never described this part in detail. It had only mentioned that the protagonist, Ares Carseon, offered his overwhelming holy power there. But Harto knew that offering was just a way to rid himself of the power he had too much of.

Because of his innate holy power, Ares Carseon had been the constant target of jealousy from the imperial princes. Holy power symbolized divinity, so it was natural that they were envious. Even after the First Prince of the Regnovar Empire had been made crown prince, Ares had continued to face assassination attempts. Harto remembered how he had often been saddened by his own unchangeable fate.

‘He should’ve left the Regnovar Empire instead….’

Maybe because he had always felt sorry for him, that thought crossed his mind whenever he read the story.

Ares Carseon was a man of strong responsibility, who had stayed alone for years even after his only family, his mother, had died of illness. He had met those suffering from trials and waiting for salvation, and he had devoted himself to the poor. That was why the name of the Seventh Prince was always followed by reverence and pity.

When Harto thought about the protagonist’s unfortunate past that still tied him to the Regnovar Empire, he felt his heart ache.

“Harto!”

“…Ah!”

While Harto walked, lost in thought, following behind Zed, a strong hand caught his waist. A horse neighed as a carriage rushed past them. He would have been hit if it hadn’t been for that.

“Are you out of your mind? What were you thinking so deeply about?”

Zed pushed Harto against the wall and spoke in an angry tone. Harto gasped in shock.

“Ah… I just… I was thinking about something else….”

“Something else? What?”

“Uh… um… yes….”

“You’re not going to say?”

“Ah….”

It felt like if he didn’t speak, Zed would place his hand on his head and force it out of him. Harto decided to just tell the truth.

“I… I was just thinking of someone. Zed, I just…ugh!”

He tried to say to let him go because it hurt, but Zed’s arm tightened even more around his waist.

“Who is it?”

“…What?”

“Who were you thinking about?”

The look in Zed’s eyes held an intensity that burned even hotter than the anger he’d shown when Harto nearly got hit by the carriage.