Volume 6, Chapter 30 – Realization Appears Within Jokes

Translator Note

I’m updating hawk-knight to eagle-knight. I’ve revised the previous volume too. sorry for the inconsistencies but hawk sound less cool =w=

“So this is what Cold Night’s Flying Eagles feel like…”

Feeling the strong wind brushing against her face and making it hard to keep her eyes open, Anastasia, riding on the Flying Eagle, murmured softly.

When Fia and Nola returned to the Hunting Grounds, they saw Ying, who was fully prepared and just waiting for them. In the open space at the back gate of the Hunting Grounds were seven Flying Eagle monsters, each two meters long. These were the elite troops unique to western Cold Night and belonging to Chazo. With Chazo’s defeat, this surrendered unit naturally belonged to Nola.

Although the number of surviving Eagle Knights wasn’t large—only about twenty—it was still a force capable of boosting morale. Ying had spent several Gem Coins to buy them from Fia—Fia won the war, so the spoils naturally belonged to her, but Fia wasn’t interested, and elves weren’t accustomed to using beastman weapons. So, Fia sold everything, including the Eagle Knights, to Ying at a low price.

Now, as captives, the Eagle Knights were bound by slave contracts to help the Fire Cat Tribe train soldiers capable of riding Flying Eagles. To give them hope, Ying also made an agreement: as long as they could train enough qualified soldiers, their freedom would be returned. The knights currently flying Fia and her group were the Eagle Knights originally under Chazo’s command.

As for why they used Flying Eagles, the answer was naturally that it was faster to reach Brinkat City, adjacent to the Weeping Mountains. Fia and Nola could fly from the Hunting Grounds to Brinkat City in just an hour because both had considerable strength. Using a carriage, especially on the mountainous and rugged roads of southern Cold Night, would take a whole day to sway their way to Brinkat. They might even encounter situations where the wheels got stuck in meter-deep soft mud, unable to advance or retreat.

Fia, riding on the same eagle as Anastasia—sitting behind her—asked softly.

“Is this Anastasia’s first time riding a Flying Eagle too?”

“Yes. Since learning flight magic, your subordinate hasn’t ridden a flying monster alone again. Although riding a flying monster is more comfortable than flying oneself, once attacked, one falls into a very passive situation. Only when going to the monster mountains with Your Highness to hunt monsters and level up would your subordinate ride a wyvern.”

On the World Tree Continent, taming monsters was a common practice. Especially when done by a nation, large land monsters could serve as vehicles or meat shields to launch strong attacks in war, while flying monsters were agile aerial forces to suppress opponents. In Cold Night, the representative monsters were War Behemoths and Eagle Knights. In the Silvar Kingdom, there were Earth Dragons, Golem Users, Fairy Users, and Wyvern Knights.

It should be noted that the “wyverns” of the Wyvern Knights were not giant dragons, but a small dragon species with a wingspan between five and ten meters, known for their agility and strength. When Anastasia mentioned riding a wyvern with Fia, she actually meant an airship pulled by six wyverns. This configuration was extremely luxurious even in the Silvar Kingdom; only royalty had the ability to manufacture and maintain one.

However, Fia wasn’t clear on these details. She continued to ask.

“Are Wyvern Knights the same as Eagle Knights?”

Hearing Anastasia speak, the Eagle Knight sitting slightly ahead of them, covered in silver armor, smiled bitterly.

“How can they be the same? Princess, you jest. How can we compare to Wyvern Knights? Dragon species are much wilder than Flying Eagles. Knights capable of taming wyverns must be at least third-rank or above. Moreover, wyverns themselves can use magic. If we were to fight Wyvern Knights, just ten or so Wyvern Knights could take out a full squad of fifty of us.”

Unsure if there was flattery involved, Fia changed the subject.

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“You were defeated by me and became a captive. Do you hold a grudge against me?”

“Well… even if I did hold a grudge, I wouldn’t say it at a time like this, Princess.”

Surprisingly humorous. Fia curled her lips in a smile.

“Just say it straight. I won’t get angry over something like this. If you were forced onto the battlefield, I might even plead for mercy on your behalf.”

“Well…” The Eagle Knight hesitated for a moment. Tightening his grip on the reins, he raised his chin slightly, his voice full of emotion. “At my position, saying I was forced onto the battlefield would definitely be a lie. The tests required to become an Eagle Knight are no fewer than those to become a Wyvern Knight. I barely passed relying on my family’s connections. Becoming a captive is becoming a captive; there’s nothing to defend. I can’t stand lying through my teeth.”

“However, I feel the current living atmosphere is much better than before. Just mentoring newcomers, no harsh training, and even a salary. Lord Ying also respects us captives with skills. Unlike in the Royal Capital before, where we’d get whipped for doing slightly poorly. Looking up at His Majesty would be treated as being a spy intending to assassinate him. He only treated us as tools, not as his own people.”

Looking up at the king being treated as a spy—that’s the same everywhere, isn’t it?

Fia retorted in her mind, but seeing the knight’s emotion, she didn’t deliberately tear him down.

“Then what about your wife and family?”

“I haven’t taken a wife yet. Recently, though, women from the Charm Cat Tribe often seek me out, saying my physique is strong and looks very suitable for them. I think starting a family here isn’t bad.”

That’s treating you as an energy tank.

Fia was no longer the ignorant Fia of the past; Ying had long explained the habits of Charm Cats to her.

It was worth mentioning that Brinkat City, where the group was heading, was the base camp of the Charm Cat Tribe. Half the city’s population was Charm Cat. Charm Cat people weren’t good at fighting, but they knew a lot about farming and could even predict weather changes in advance. Choosing to live near the fertile Weeping Mountains could be said to be their nature.

Also, it must be emphasized that although the Charm Cat Tribe had weak combat power, their personalities were extremely arrogant. According to Ying, even the weakest Charm Cat member had arrogance comparable to Nola’s. It was almost impossible to make them submit from the heart using forceful means. They only obeyed those who remained unmoved even after having their energy drained by them—simply put, types with firm will and physical strength far exceeding ordinary people.

The reason Nola could completely subjugate the Charm Cat Tribe as the acting chief of the Fire Cat Tribe was that she withstood the charm of the Charm Cat Tribe’s matriarch with her firm will, and her energy was so abundant the matriarch couldn’t drain it all. The Charm Cats believed that only such an outsider was qualified to rule them—the Charm Cat Tribe was entirely female, a race that must rely on other races to survive. If the offspring was female, it was a Charm Cat; if male, it belonged to the father’s race.

The Eagle Knight sighed deeply.

“Anyway, my Flying Eagle can’t catch up to the wyverns of the Princess’s country no matter what. Take the riding experience for example: wyverns can use airflow barriers to improve comfort, so riders won’t have trouble breathing due to excessive speed. Flying Eagles can’t do that. Sigh, pity I’m not an elf. Otherwise, I’d try riding a dragon even if I had to squeeze my head through the door.”

“Even if you were an elf, you wouldn’t be able to ride a wyvern. The prerequisite of possessing noble blood would filter you out.”

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Anastasia delivered a merciless blow.

“I can already see the city ahead!”

Tilulu’s joyful shout came faintly to their ears. The group wasn’t far apart, but the whistling wind made communication difficult. Even so, Fia often heard Tilulu’s happy cheers along the way. It seemed that flying close to the ground on a Flying Eagle, watching the lush mountains and forests rushing backward below, was a very novel experience.

Anastasia felt the same. She revealed a gentle, big-sisterly smile.

“Her Highness Tilulu has been very happy all the way, even though she should have had the experience of flying on Mr. Radric’s back before.”

“Probably because Radric deliberately flew very high to avoid attention, so Tilulu couldn’t see the scenery below.”

As her voice fell, Fia suddenly remembered something. She sat up straight seriously.

“Anastasia, do you know what Erin Slate likes?”

Because Erin Slate had the tasks of interrogating the Darkborn and managing the Twilight Flower members brought along, she didn’t come to Brinkat with them. The existence of Twilight Flower had to be kept secret from the outside world. If Erin Slate frequently disappeared in front of Nola, it would likely be noticed by Nola.

“Lord Erin Slate?” For some reason, intense wavering appeared in Anastasia’s spirited azure eyes. She hesitated for a long time before stammering, “You… are you going to give Lord Erin Slate a gift…”

“Not me, it’s Nola.”

“Is that so? Lord Erin Slate likes exquisite things, like gem brooches and formal dresses.”

Anastasia’s voice carried a hint of relief, and her tense shoulders relaxed. Fia couldn’t help but smile.

“Anastasia looks relieved. Do you have a misunderstanding about Erin Slate and me?”

“N… No! Leaving aside that Your Highness’s heart is with Miss Claire, firstly, I am merely a maid. Even if you truly had feelings for Lord Erin Slate, I couldn’t dictate your life.”

Anastasia’s voice became flustered. Fia felt that if Anastasia weren’t sitting on a Flying Eagle, she would definitely have turned around, waving her hands frantically in front of her.

She couldn’t help but want to tease Anastasia.

“How can Anastasia be ‘merely a maid’? Without Anastasia, there would be no current me. It’s not an exaggeration to say Anastasia holds a unique position in my heart that even Claire cannot replace. Hmm… Claire told me before that we could consider a second queen consort to share her pressure. I think Anastasia is very suitable. Gentle and tolerant like Claire, and understands me very well, knowing what I like. More importantly, your heart only has me. If I tell Claire that Anastasia wants to join us, Claire would definitely approve.”

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“H-H-H-How can this be!”

Anastasia’s voice became even more flustered, adding a lot of constraint, so much so that her body squirmed shyly. Because she didn’t control her strength well, the Flying Eagle beneath her trembled along with her.

“Al-Although Your Highness brought it up first, I am completely unprepared. And in the first place… in the first place, even if I passed Miss Claire’s test, His Majesty would definitely want to eat me alive… You should really reconsider! If I destroyed the family affection you finally developed with His Majesty, I would definitely blame myself to the point of having no place to hide my face. Please, absolutely do not have such thoughts!!”

“Er, Anastasia, your reaction is too big…”

If Anastasia had strength like Nola’s, the chaotic pressure released right now would probably have scared the Flying Eagle into being unable to flap its wings, causing everyone to fall.

Moreover, Anastasia’s words made Fia realize something. In the past, Anastasia would definitely have used the status difference as a shield for whatever Fia said due to inferiority. But now, Anastasia’s answer revealed two key points: “unprepared” and “even if I passed Claire’s test.” In other words, Anastasia felt in her heart that passing Claire’s test wasn’t very difficult.

Anastasia was definitely not an overly conceited person; one could even say she lacked confidence. For her to think this way, it definitely wasn’t her own idea that she could pass Claire’s test. Claire must have secretly told Anastasia while Fia wasn’t around something about letting Anastasia become the second queen consort.

Wait.

If Anastasia really has romantic feelings for me, the one in a difficult position will be me.

In an instant, Fia realized this difficult problem.

Anastasia held an irreplaceable position in her heart. Although she had always vaguely felt that Anastasia might hold special feelings for her, her master—holding her master’s intimate clothing, curling up alone in bed at midnight calling her master’s name—anyone would make some wild guesses. Even though Fia used to lack emotions and was thus emotionally dense, she had more or less sensed Anastasia’s thoughts.

It was just that Anastasia had never said it explicitly, and her usual behavior was very normal. Therefore, Fia had never thought deeply about how she should answer Anastasia if Anastasia truly held romantic love for her and confessed her feelings.

Thinking seriously about this possibility now, Fia immediately felt her brain crashing from overload, sweating all over. Anastasia wasn’t Tilulu; she couldn’t use “not of age yet” as an excuse. As for directly rejecting Anastasia’s feelings… with Anastasia’s inferiority complex, she might never recover, creating an unbridgeable rift between them, unable to even maintain the existing master-servant relationship normally.

Fia could already imagine the scene where Anastasia would subconsciously lower her head when meeting her in the future, as if guilty, always avoiding her, her spirit listless.

However, agreeing to Anastasia simply out of pity was completely wrong. That wasn’t true love at all, and problems would definitely arise over time.

Thinking about it seriously, the fundamental reason she rejected Tilulu wasn’t that Tilulu was too young, but that she never considered Tilulu a romantic interest; she didn’t have the feeling of “like” for Tilulu. Then, if this person were Anastasia, could she still say she never had thoughts in that regard?

No… that’s not right. I actually imagined that if not for Claire, I might have fallen for Anastasia…

Fia’s throat bobbed.

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If that day really came, if Anastasia confessed her feelings with Claire’s approval, it might be hard for Fia to refuse… Or rather, she couldn’t find a reason to refuse. She had also fantasized about Anastasia.

The surrounding wind noise instantly quieted down a lot. Only the flushing Anastasia was still at a loss.

“Ugh…”

Anastasia’s shy, low whimper pulled Fia back to reality from her embarrassed thoughts.

Anyway, Anastasia said she isn’t mentally prepared yet. I’ll just pretend I didn’t realize it. I’m already engaged to Claire. Agreeing to Anastasia involves some unavoidable and tangled issues…

The more she thought, the duller her brain became. Fia simply gave up thinking. Even if the sky fell, she would wait until it fell to deal with it.

She coughed, feigning seriousness.

“Ahem, Anastasia, calm down. I was just making a boundless joke just now. Sorry.”

“Ah, is… is that so…”

The shy blush faded from Anastasia’s face at a speed visible to the naked eye. Anastasia, with one hand on her chest, slowly lowered her head, her voice full of disappointment. Fia instantly felt a stinging pain in her heart as if pierced by an arrow—mainly from the condemnation of her conscience.

When Nola gives Erin Slate the apology gift, I’ll buy some beautiful accessories to give to Anastasia as an apology too.

Once she realized she actually didn’t dislike Anastasia, Fia couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. She even widened the distance between her and Anastasia slightly. Her subconscious felt that an ambiguous distance would cause misunderstandings, treating Anastasia as a woman.

This is really embarrassing.

There was no problem at all when I treated Anastasia as a sister before.

“Hey, hey… is there a battle at the city gate? Why are so many people standing there?”

Unsure if he read the atmosphere or was truly surprised, the knight driving the Flying Eagle interrupted the romantic atmosphere with a shocked shout.