Knight: Becoming King of the World

The terror and fear in her eyes were gone, replaced by a profound listlessness and a sense of powerlessness.

She watched the bodies contorting in the flames, an indescribable emotion welling up inside her.

There were too many, far too many dead... Even though she didn’t consider the Inferior Horned Beasts to be people, still... it was too much death.

The shock was simply too much for her to bear.

She was a great Count of the Northern Lands, high and mighty, holding sway over the lives of nearly a million people.

But that didn’t mean she could accept over sixty thousand lives being extinguished in just a few hours! Even if they were enemies, a death toll of that magnitude sent a shock deep into her soul.

She knew war was cruel, but she had never experienced its cruelty so up close.

She looked at the young soldiers. They might have been toiling in the fields just recently, and tomorrow, they could be lying on the cold ground, nothing more than lifeless corpses.

She watched the weary faces of her own Personal Guard and Henry’s soldiers as they ate their food in silence, and she couldn’t help but sigh.

Night deepened. One by one, the soldiers returned to their tents, laying out leather mats and wrapping themselves in fuzzy wool blankets before drifting off to sleep. Ratifa, however, could not.

She sat by the campfire, the food in her hand long since frozen solid, her eyes reflecting the flickering flames.

Henry, meanwhile, was eating jerky and bread. He took a sip of warm water and felt a sense of comfort spread through his body.

Several braziers burned inside the large tent, solely to keep Henry from getting too cold after stripping naked. There were no bathing facilities here, so all he could do was continuously wipe away the bloodstains. At the very least, he wouldn’t look completely filthy afterward.

Once he had eaten his fill and wiped himself clean, Henry changed into his sleepwear and sat by a brazier, pondering his questions.

At Ailia’s soft reminder, Henry was roused from his deep thoughts. He stood, put on two thick overcoats, and left the tent, walking slowly toward Ratifa.

Seeing Ratifa’s expression and her current state, Henry could more or less guess what was on her mind.

This great Count of the Northern Lands was no coward, but she was clearly shaken by the brutal scenes on the battlefield today.

Ratifa sensed someone approaching. She looked up and saw it was Henry, a complicated look flashing in her eyes.

She took a deep breath and began, "Henry, I don’t know how to say this. I’m not afraid of war, I just... feel unsettled."

Henry nodded. He didn’t say much, just stood there quietly, watching her.

Everyone reacts to war differently, especially those who witness its cruelty firsthand for the first time. The shock is indescribable.

Ailia walked over, a heavy fur coat in her hands, and gently draped it over Henry’s shoulders.

Henry turned to Ratifa and said simply, "See you tomorrow."

Then he turned and left.

It wasn’t that Henry lacked compassion, but... seriously, it was freezing out!

The night wind was bone-chilling, and even by the fire, it was hard to completely ward off the cold.

Ratifa needed time to process the day’s events. Words of comfort from others might have helped, but the problem was, Henry wasn’t the kind of person to offer them.

Ratifa watched Henry’s departing figure, tightened her cloak, and once again turned her gaze to the burning piles of Inferior Horned Beast corpses.

The firelight danced in her eyes. Regardless of how she felt about war, she was the great Count of the Northern Lands. She had a duty to protect her people, even if it meant facing the cruelty of war.

If the border defenses were to fall, she would be the first great noble to be overrun by the Inferior Horned Beast army. She didn’t believe the Private Armies of the lesser nobles had any real capacity to resist them.

The night grew deeper. The campfire’s flames began to die down, and Ratifa finally stood up and returned to her tent.

She lay down in her warm wool blankets and closed her eyes.

’It’s come to this. I should get some sleep.’

Upon returning to his large tent, Henry immediately felt the stark difference in temperature from outside.

Several braziers inside radiated a warm glow, making the temperature noticeably higher. He shivered involuntarily a few times as his whole body began to relax in the warmth.

Henry took off the heavy overcoats, leaving him in just his thin sleepwear, yet he didn’t feel the slightest chill.

He saw Ailia constantly finding things to do inside the tent—tidying the braziers one moment, adjusting the tent flaps the next—and couldn’t help but smile.

’How could I not see through her little scheme?’ he thought. ’It’s just that nowhere else is as warm as it is in here.’

Henry didn’t expose Ailia’s little scheme. He simply took a sip of warm water and lay down on his bed, ready to sleep.

Ailia’s movements became lighter and lighter. She moved with extreme care, trying not to make any sound that might disturb Henry.

Once she heard Henry’s breathing even out, Ailia breathed a sigh of relief. Pursing her lips, she moved closer to the fire, thought for a moment, then slowly approached Henry’s bed and stealthily lay down on it.

’Bed-warming, huh? I’m a pro at this,’ she thought. ’How is this not considered serving my lord? It’s definitely not because I’m cold!’

A faint smile touched Henry’s lips as a wave of drowsiness washed over him, and he drifted into a deep sleep.

The only sounds in the large tent were the occasional CRACKLE of the braziers and the faint sound of Ailia’s breathing.

Ailia waited and waited, but the person beside her never told her to leave, so she finally relaxed.

’It’s so much more comfortable sleeping here... It’s too cold outside.’ Ailia recalled the bumpy journey they had endured, and a wave of exhaustion washed over her.

’Why did my lord run all the way out here from the grasslands? Does he have a fiefdom here too?’

After letting her mind wander for a while, Ailia also drifted into dreamland.

No one noticed that Henry’s enormous book had actually flipped its cover open, emitted a blue glow, and then snapped shut again.

His armor and two weapons also began to pulse with a crimson glow, as if responding to the book’s strange activity.

A handful of soldiers were still training or standing guard, but for Henry and his army, this was a night of rest and recovery.

But as for the enormous book, the armor, and the weapons, it seemed a secret was quietly unfolding.

But all of this remained hidden in the night and the silence, awaiting the coming of the dawn.

The next day, Henry’s eyes opened as the sky lightened. Although dawn came late in the Snowfield Basin, it wasn’t *that* late.

This was extremely rare for him, as he was accustomed to sleeping late into the morning after a battle.

Waking up this early seemed particularly unreasonable, especially after such a fierce battle the day before.

It was as if his biological clock had been thrown off, causing him to wake up so early.

And, strangely enough, he hadn’t dreamed at all! It was incredible. ’Could it be because I didn’t get to stack the Inferior Horned Beast heads into a tall pile?’ he wondered.

Henry closed his eyes, trying to fall back asleep, even if only for a short while.

Anyone who’s experienced it knows just how blissful it is to fall back asleep after waking up.

He rolled over and pulled Ailia close. She had been startled awake by his movement and was just about to flee.

Ailia’s body was stiff with tension, but in Henry’s warm embrace, she gradually relaxed.

Henry kept his eyes closed and waited for a while, hoping drowsiness would descend upon him again.

However, his mind remained stubbornly alert. With no sign of fatigue, he had no choice but to resignedly leave the warmth of his bed.

Ailia opened her eyes, quickly made the bed, and then hurried away.

When Henry’s movement had woken her, her heart had begun to race, pounding so hard it felt like it would burst from her chest. Her body had tensed, ready to flee at a moment’s notice—an instinctive reaction.

However, as Henry’s warmth and calm breathing enveloped her, Ailia’s tension began to slowly fade.

This realization transformed her anxiety into a sense of security. Her body gradually relaxed, melting into Henry’s embrace.

After all, she was the head maid. And while that meant she was a family partner to Henry, not just a servant or a handmaiden, there was still...

Ailia took a deep breath, deciding not to dwell on these emotions. As Henry’s head maid, she had her own duties and work to attend to!

She straightened her clothes and hair. Time to serve my lord!