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“A long time ago, the door to the underworld had opened and demonic beasts poured out onto the land above, which led to the beginning of the era of darkness.”
The fairytale narrated a brief summary of the founding of the empire.
When darkness had spread throughout the continent, Dantes Arpend, a prince of Cardia when it was still a kingdom, received a divine revelation from the supreme deity, Arnum, and went in search of three valiant knights.
Those three knights were the Spear of Light, the Shield of Eternity and the Sword of Fire.
Radis pointed to the knight who was holding a blazing sword in his hand.
“Is this Alexis Tilrod?”
“That’s right.”
Allen smiled brightly as he answered, then he pointed to the knight who was holding a brightly shining shield.
“And this is Sir Bernard Russell, Marquis Russell’s predecessor.”
It was interesting.
Although these events took place 500 years ago, two knights with the surnames of Tilrod and Russell joined forces and fought together.
Now, their descendants were squabbling over mere dresses.
While shaking off the stray thought of dresses, Radis pointed to the other knight.
“What about this person? What kind of knight was the Spear of Light?”
At her question, Allen shrugged.
“Not much is known about the Spear of Light.”
“Oh
 Is that so?”
“Even if there was a record, half a millennium has passed. The empire’s founding is now told only through fairy tales or folk songs, so it’s not strange that some information is omitted.”
Prince Dantes travelled all over the continent with the three knights and fought against the demonic beasts.
However, an epic journey was bound to be followed by a great sacrifice.
The Sword of Fire, who was always the first to enter the fray, was also the first to fall. And the second who followed was the Shield of Eternity.
The Spear of Light also disappeared.
“He vanished?”
“There are many interpretations on this part. Some say that he passed away, but some dabblers in the literary arts say that this is a metaphorical expression of his betrayal.”
“Aha
”
In the illustration, the ‘Spear of Light’—the knight—looked as though he disappeared, leaving behind the spear itself.
In the foreground, Prince Dantes was bowing as though he was in despair.
“But along their adventures, they managed to drive away the demonic bests in Cardia and restored the territory. The door to the underworld was also sealed, and the demonic beasts retreated to their forest.”
The final illustration in the fairytale book was a drawing of the Cardia territory.
The Cardia Empire, as depicted in the illustration, looked like a fried egg with a black yolk in the middle.
The black part was the forest of monsters.
“And so Prince Dantes proclaimed that no one should go deep into the forest.”
Allen closed the book after reading the last part of the fairytale.
“It’s a lesson for children.”
Deep into the forest.
The subjugation squad had a term for that place.
‘The forbidden region
’
Radis smiled bitterly.
‘If I had read this fairytale, would I still have gone to that place?’
The forbidden region was a place where even subjugation squad members, who were familiar with the forest of monsters, still shouldn’t approach hastily.
But near the end of her previous life, Radis headed there.
As if she were led by the hand of fate.
* * *
“Vice Commander!”
“

”
“The Commander went to the capital to get the seal of a mage knight. Is that true? He would have told you, right, Vice Commander?”
When Rusty asked this question, Radis was sharpening her sword on a whetstone.
She honed the blade and sprayed water on it to see if there weren’t any dust left on it.
It was only after this that she nodded.
The knights around her exclaimed.
“I knew it!”
“No, but is it true? What came over the imperial family?”
“It’s been years since the Commander became a mana wielder. It’s been a long time coming.”
Behind the sword she was holding, Radis smiled quietly beneath her helm.
She was happy, too.
It was an honest emotion, and for once, it even made her want to hug these rascals of the subjugation squad.
Commander Robert was from the Roderick family.
He was so talented that his existence alone threatened his older brothers, so he was thrown out of the household.
However, everywhere he went, Robert did his best.
He made a brilliant contribution as the commander of a subjugation squad that was in poor condition—a name-only squad under the empire’s command. Now, he finally gained recognition from the world.
Radis was as happy as Robert was that he was going to receive a seal.
Laszlo, who had a dirt-streaked face, approached her with a smile.
“Vice Commander!”
“

”
“Won’t it be you next, Vice Commander?”
“

?”
“Vice Commander is a mana wielder, too. You’re both so strong! The idiots in the capital won’t be able to stand a chance!”
As soon as Radis was about to open her lips, Tez came running.
“Vice Commander, there’s trouble!”
Radis rose to her feet and received a note from Tez.
“The Imperial Inspection Team told us to wait until the Commander comes back, but they now went to the forbidden region!”
Theirry, who was working on his weapons nearby, jumped to his feet the moment he heard the words ‘forbidden region’.
“Are those bastards crazy? Why are they going there?”
“Vice Commander, what should we do?”
“They seem to be crazy enough that they want to die, just let them do it.”
As she was holding the note, Radis’ jaw was tense while clenching her teeth.
The imperial family, which previously held no interest in the hunt for demonic beasts, recently started moving suspiciously.
Robert, the commander, was given the seal of a mage knight to acknowledge his merit. And now, the investigation team was being dispatched to examine the status of the forest of monsters.
However, those two events coincided with each other.
Robert delayed the awarding of his seal as much as possible, and the investigation team was dispatched too early, causing things to go wrong.
Since the investigation team went into the forest recklessly, they were demanding to be escorted by the subjugation squad even without Robert. And they were planning to head towards the forbidden region.
Even so, Radis firmly rejected the escort mission, judging that it would be too dangerous to go to the forbidden while the commander was gone. They would have to protect the investigation team as well.
That’s how the tragedy started.
“Haa
”
Radis suppressed a groan.
It would be best to let those crazy scoundrels die, as the rest of the squad said.
‘They’re an investigation team dispatched by the imperial family. If they die, the responsibility will fall onto our—no, it’ll fall on Robert’s shoulders!’
If so, the imperial family might try to rescind the seal from Robert, even when he went all the way to the capital just to retrieve it.
It would be as though he went there just to receive it for but a moment, yet the seal would be taken right away. It would be an unbearable disgrace for Robert.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
Radis opened her lips.
“Divide yourselves into three groups and move at once. The scouting group will move as fast as possible along the traces of the investigation team, and the two other groups of the squad will follow with vigilance against any demonic beast attack. Our goal is not to hunt, but to search for the investigation team. We’ll move fast and avoid close combat.”
Before leaving, Robert left a few words for her.
’I trust you, Dee.’
Robert said this as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
’You’re the only person I can count on here. I’ll leave the squad in your hands. And
’
‘

?’
‘I have something to tell you.’
‘Please go ahead, Commander.’
‘No
 After I return. I’ll tell you when I come back.’
She was curious about what he was going to say, but that wasn’t something she dwelled on.
Robert had given her full power and responsibility over the squad.
Radis adjusted her helm, then she sheathed her sword into its scabbard.
‘Commander. I don’t know if I can do it, but I’ll do my best.’
* * *
“Miss Radis?”
As Allen called out to her, Radis was pulled out of her reverie.
“Yes?”
“Just as I thought, you’re still exhausted. I think it’s better if we stop here today.”
“I’m not tired
”
Radis was disappointed, but she soon changed her mind.
“Then alright, let’s continue next time.”
Rather than her body being tired, it was her mind that was in a complicated knot.
In this case, it would be better if she were to move her body than to stay seated.
Radis smiled.
When Allen saw this, he also smiled back, not knowing why she had such a bright expression.
* * *
Ooooong.
The familiar resonance shook her heart, and hot energy spread throughout her body.
Radis maneuvered a large wooden barrel closer to her with her foot, then she kicked it roughly towards the wooden fence.
Baang!
That wooden fence was like a farce of a fence as it came up to only about the waist, with no consideration of what exactly it was keeping out of bounds. And under the wooden barrel, the fence shattered.
Behind it, short monsters holding rugged weapons poured out.
“Vicious little punks.”
With a cheap iron sword in hand, one that she had nabbed from Marquis Russell’s weaponry, Radis instilled her weapon with her energy.
Mana blazed out and wrapped over the rusty, blunt iron sword.
When she swung it twice, five goblins screamed quite a bit and retreated.
Goblins were low-ranked demonic beasts, but they were so greedy and cruel that they were still feared by villagers who were residing near the forest.
Other low-ranked monsters were afraid of fire, so they could be warded by just lighting up torches around the village. However, goblins, which know how to use tools, weren’t afraid of fire.
Apart from that, villagers feared them more than bandits because they often stole human weapons.
This place also looked like an outhouse that was attacked like that.
A salty smell wafted as she saw an arrow rushing in.
Goblins even knew how to use poison.
Most of them crudely applied their weapons with poisonous herbs that could be found in the forest of monsters. While the poison they used wasn’t fatal, it wouldn’t be wise to be hit by a poisoned weapon while in close combat.
Radis swung her sword and struck down two more arrows. She ran forward and jumped up.
Then, her sword promptly pierced through the chest of the monster that was shooting poisonous arrows atop a branch of a short tree.