Riftan’s POV (Under the Oak Tree Side Story)

“The commander must not have all the fun!” Hebaron swung a sword as tall as him and exclaimed.

Riftan swiftly moved aside, avoiding the ogre’s collapsing body. As the giant fell against the ground, the earth shook, and piles of stone rolled down the rock walls. He steered Talon to retreat and quickly scanned his surroundings. The soldiers had already recovered all the javelins from the ogre’s corpses and had installed them back to the crossbows. After ordering the knights to disperse once again, Riftan signalled to his soldiers.

“Fire!”

Dozens of javelins flew through the air and lodged into the massive bodies of the monsters. As the giants ran down the slope of the ridge, staggering and rolling down, the knights rode their horses like the wind, decapitating the monsters in one strike. At last, thirty-four enormous ogres laid spread out against piles of rocks and their heavy footsteps and loud roars, which shook the mountains like earthquakes, had ceased.

Riftan took off his helmet that was stained with the monsters’ blood and skimmed sharply through the valley, now engulfed in silence. Although he didn’t sense any other danger right away, there was no knowing when other monsters would swarm to prey on the bodies of those monsters upon smelling blood. He exclaimed to the soldiers.

“Hurry and retrieve the weapons! We’ll leave here right this instance!”

The knights stood vigilant while the soldiers loaded the crossbows into the wagons and retrieved weapons such as javelins, maces, and chain bola.

Riftan’s brows frowned as he gazed up at the misty, cloudy skies. The weather in the mountains was fickle and unpredictable, it would have been better if it rained heavily, allowing them to rest for a while free of worries about monsters. But only a damp, cloudy weather hovered over them continuously for several days.

Riftan inhaled heavily, filling his lungs with icy, damp air, and shoved his sword back into its sheath. Talon seemed to appear tired as well from the never-ending march. He patted the horse’s nape as it nervously stomped its feet, then began to move with the army again. The soldiers followed him without a word.

A heavy atmosphere loomed over them. It had already been several months since the search for the dragon’s lair had begun full-scale, but there were no significant results, instead it only led to the dwindling of their army.

Riftan hid his agitation as he counted the number of wagons left. The expedition was in grave trouble: some of their food supplies had been destroyed from the continuous monster attacks and there was no knowing when their supplies would get replenished by the support troops, whom they had left marks for in order to be located by them.

He had to do something so he decided to motivate his soldiers, shouting in a powerful voice and picking up his speed. “We can rest once we get out of this valley! Keep your spirits up for a little longer!”

Riftan frowned, feeling the morale of the expedition going down. The soldiers were holding out well, but hunger and fatigue was dawning over them. Hunt was scarce in the alpine regions of the Lexos mountains, and they had fought fifteen battles over the weeks, surviving over stale bread, dried meat, and cheese to appease their hunger.

Only a handful of men were able to sleep for more than five hours a day in a row. Even he could barely close his eyes as he laid down on the stone-cold ground and the cold winds blew fiercely. The soldiers who would collect the bodies of those men who had perished in the monster attacks often murmured in voices filled with envy and sorrow.

“May you rest in peace…”

Riftan gazed up at the sky grimly. It would have been better for rain to pour hard all at once. The rain brought a different kind of suffering, but they could at least rest without worries of monsters attacking. However, as if the skies were ridiculing his hopes, the clouds gradually cleared, allowing a hazy sunlight to shine above them. Riftan spat out profanities and picked up his speed.

Then Caron, who was glancing at the rear ranks, ran to the front and shouted. “Chief Commander! The rear ranks are starting to lag behind.”

“They must hold out until we at least get out of this valley.” Riftan exhaled decisively and sped through the rocks.

After a couple hours of traveling, the shaded view of the Lexos Mountains finally opened, allowing them to see the landscape clearly. Riftan climbed over a rock and looked over the steep mountain ranges, lined with gray rocks and dark green conifer trees. They had climbed so high up the mountains that a cloud of mist spread beneath their feet like a wool carpet and the chiseled peaks of the mountains were just above them. How much blood had been shed just to pass through those dozen peaks?

“Chief Commander, how much farther do we have to go?”

“Encourage the soldiers. We shall take a rest over there.”

Riftan pointed towards the forest on the other side of the wide road. Gabel squinted his eyes as if to measure the distance, then drove his horse back towards the ranks. When they finally reached a secured place, Riftan ordered his men to rest and the knights to scan the area.

“There are no signs of monsters.”

“Set up the tents and make a fire, put guards on post. We shall rest here for today.”

“Will that be alright?”

“It will be unreasonable to continue the search beyond here anyway. Our priority for now is to survive until the support troop arrives.”

While the knights hung ropes with bells attached to them throughout the surroundings to sense any attack, the soldiers took out poles and cloths lined with bitumen from the wagons to build a temporary camp. Riftan dismounted from his horse and removed the saddle and his luggage after inspecting the surroundings thoroughly enough. Talon whinnied and shook his neck.

“You’re holding up well.” Riftan gently caressed the magnificent nape of his steed and led him to the bushes, so that his strong ally could graze upon fresh grass.

After a few weeks, the soldiers finally got a rest, so they all took off their heavy armors and helmets, then sat around the bonfire while chattering. Over the fires, they made stew out of herbs, jerky, dried potatoes, and stone-stale bread in large pots, then sat down on their blankets, that had turned black with dust, and began to dig in.

“Commander, take a break and come over here, sit. You haven’t been able to rest properly all this time.” Hebaron, who was sitting by the fire eating soup, exclaimed in a hoarse voice.

Uslin, who was sitting quietly next to him, muttered angrily. “It’s chief commander. Until when will you quit calling him commander?”

“Commander, chief commander, whatever, it’s all the same.” Hebaron grunted and dug his head into his bowl.

Riftan sat in between them and took his share of food without any hesitation. As the hot soup entered his throat, it felt like his body melted despite the cold wind. They devoured the soup like a feast even though it was bland and improperly seasoned.

As he satiated his hunger, his sensitive ears caught the faint ringing of a bell. Riftan shot up from his seat and grabbed the hilt of his sword and the other knights also rose from their seats.

“Damn it, we can’t even rest for a second. This f*ck*ng stone mountain!” Hebaron wore his helmet and spat out all kinds of profanities.

Riftan ordered the men to prepare for battle and climbed onto Talon’s back without even mounting a saddle on, then ran towards the bell’s sound. However, it wasn’t monsters that emerged from the trees, it was soldiers dressed in clothes bearing the Royal Whedon emblem. Relief ran down his spine and the soldiers who saw him shouted.

“We have found the search expedition troops!”

Riftan passed through the trees and gazed down the slopes. Along the mountain paths there were soldiers in a row, carrying the Whedon flag. The supply troops had arrived.

“With their arrival, we can take a breather.” Eliot, who trailed after him, exhaled a long sigh.

Riftan nodded and thrusted his bastard sword back into its sheath. “Go and get the supplies.”

The soldiers willingly stood from their rests and went to help carry the loads brought by the supply troops. Princess Agnes, who was accompanied by the royal army, rode her horse towards them, her dark green cloak waving in the wind.

“It’s been a long time.” She looked at the knights’ faces and smiled with relief. “Everyone seems well, looks like we didn’t arrive late.”

“It was later than expected.” Riftan bluntly retorted as he dismounted from his horse. “Did the marks we left to lead you to us get erased while you were locating us?”

“We were contacted by the eastern exploration troops while we were on the way, which made us late, we had to investigate on a few matters.”

“Did they discover something?”

The princess nodded her heard in response to Gabel’s question. “I think we found the place where the magic formula that creates the barriers surrounding the Lexos Mountains is installed.”

Riftan narrowed his eyes at the vague explanation. “What do you mean “you think” you found it?”

“The Holy Knights of Osyria had found a magic formula that seems to form half of the barriers set in the east. After Alex’s wizards inspected the magic, they theorized that the other half of the magic formula is most likely installed in an exact symmetrical area. It took longer than I had expected to figure out their location and meet the Knights of Osyria.”

The princess dismounted from her reddish-brown horse as she quickly explained, but Riftan had a careful glint in his eyes. Two years had passed since he began wandering around the Lexos Mountains. After hearing that they finally may have a chance at locating the Dragon Lair, Riftan felt his whole body grow tense. Once the barriers would be removed, they would be able to find the Dragon Lair more easily with the help of the wizards’ tracking magic. As if reading the grim expression on Riftan’s face, she smiled lightly and spoke.

“Let us rest and share the details later. We are all exhausted from traveling all this way.”

Riftan gazed down at her flushed, sweat-soaked face and turned away without a word. The sky had suddenly grown into a purple shade. Agnes and the wizards installed shields to prevent monsters from approaching their camp, then instructed the soldiers to set up their tents. The soldiers also constantly carried kegs, dried fruits, large chunks of meat, flour, and butter from the supplies. The corners of the knights’ lips were lifted: it had been a while since they had seen such abundance on the supply of food.

“It has been so long since I’ve had a drink!” Hebaron’s hoarse voice resounded loudly.

Riftan tried to tell him not to even dream of drinking alcohol, but bit his lips shut. The morale of the troops had taken a dunk on the ground from their endless and relentless wandering, not knowing when they would lose their lives from a sudden monster attack, so a small reward should somehow boost the expedition’s spirits. Riftan permitted them to feast on greasy food and drink alcohol, but the guards on duty had to not be intoxicated.

“Refrain from drinking until you lose your wits. I hope that no one will foolishly lose their lives because they are too out of their senses in case of a sudden attack.”

Despite his stern warning, the smiles on the knights’ faces did not disappear. They deserved the reward, since for the past two years the expedition made them lead a life more restrained than those of the monks. The mere sip of a tangy ale, buttered bread, and greasy meat made them feel like they had reached heaven.

Riftan bitterly sat down by the fire. Naturally, Princess Agnes sat across from him and asked about the progress of the search expedition. He drenched his lips with wine and gave her a simple reply.

“We haven’t found any other special clue aside from the labyrinth located in the center. According to our wizard’s observance, it seems like the dragon is using magic to control sub-racial monsters. The area was infested with ogres, golems, and is dense with the undead.”

Princess Agnes glanced at Ruth, who was poking the bonfire at a corner, and said a sarcastic remark. “Perhaps the lord’s wizard missed something? He could have found out something more if he had investigated further on that labyrinth.”

“You’re being too harsh.” Hebaron came with a huge keg placed on his shoulders and flopped down to sit in front of the bonfire. “What would be left if you didn’t have your wizard’s magic skills?”

“At least I would have a slim figure, splendid beauty and sharp wits left!”

The wizard let out an audible groan. Princess Agnes glanced with cold eyes of contempt at Ruth and sat with her back facing him, pretending that he did not exist. Riftan posed a question as he took the cup that Hebaron offered him.

“Where is the location of the magic formula forming the barriers?”

Princess Agnes pulled out a map and spread it against the ground. “Here. It’s most likely to be located halfway up the western-most mountain.”

“We’ll have to go back a bit from the path we traveled.”

Riftan peered through the map, drawing a route in his head to approximate the time of travel. It was going to take them around two weeks to reach that point.

“As soon as the barriers are completely taken down, reinforcements from all over the continent shall be dispatched. The Wizard Tower also pledged to send a generous number of archmagis. They will be setting magic barriers around the mountain ranges to prevent the dragon from escaping.“ The princess pointed at various parts of the map with a tree branch.

“As we speak now, the wizards of the Wizard Tower are installing magic formulas in various parts of the mountain ranges to disrupt the flow of mana, intending to weaken Secto’s magical powers. The Seven Kingdoms are laying out a united front to attempt defeating the dragon by taking advantage of its weakened powers. As you know, the dragon subspecies have strong magical immunity, making them resilient to any magical attack. A dragon would probably be a hundred times more resilient to magic. When a full-scale battle begins to subjugate the dragon, the wizards shall fall to the rear ranks while the sword masters and high priests who can cast divine magic will be the main forces. The Remdragon Knights shall also be at the forefront.”

“I have been preparing for that situation.” Riftan responded with composure and drank the ale in one breath. “How many more reinforcements are bound to arrive?”

“About one-thousand and two hundred people…”

“Only about half of those will remain once we reach Dragon Lair.”

The princess’ face clouded at his cynical remark. It took enormous funds and manpower to support their long-term expedition, the monarchs of each kingdom also limited sending elite forces and made up for it by sending mercenaries and criminals. Most of those were unable to endure the extremity of the expedition and deserted or died in battle as they lacked skills. Fewer than half of the expedition had polished abilities.

Although Agnes knew it well, she muttered her words as if to make an excuse. “The lords are also having a hard time preventing the monsters from descending the Lexos Mountains. The unity of Whedon will be shaken if we issue a draft order or collect more taxes.”

“The entire western continent will be damned if we don’t defeat the dragon.”

The princess did not raise any more objections and shut her mouth. Riftan relaxed his harsh expression. The fact that the princess, who was a member of the Royal Family, went to lead an army by herself on an expedition, meant that the Whedon royals were exerting their best efforts. The problem was that the lords were busy passing on the burden to one another.

Riftan gritted his teeth, recalling the cunning face of the Duke of Croix. However, his anger would quickly disperse whenever he thought of him, as he remembered the woman who would inevitably appear in his mind along with him. A strange feeling of emptiness would then take his anger’s place. Riftan suppressed the itch to ask if she was doing well: all that he heard of her after he had left was that she did not bear any children.