Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 31

To the Teacher, From Vanessa 31

Gideon helped Vanessa mount her horse. Fortunately, the horse was gentle and obedient, making it easy for Vanessa to get on.

Vanessa gripped the reins tightly, her whole body tense.

“Thank you….”

Vanessa mumbled.

“The path is rough, so be careful. There’s no need to rush.”

Gideon left those words behind and mounted his own horse, which had been prepared in the back. Immediately, the horse at the front took off.

Vanessa tried her best to match the speed. The Ivoros mountain range wasn’t extremely high, so there weren’t many steep slopes.

However, the mountain path was uneven, and occasionally stones or tree roots would suddenly jut out. When Vanessa cautiously slowed down, the horse would sometimes snort.

Whenever she was afraid that the horse was too slow and she would fall behind the group, Gideon would be riding alongside her. Then, Vanessa’s horse would naturally match its pace with his.

As Vanessa was completely stiff, tensing her whole body and gripping the reins, he reached out and loosened her frozen wrists and shoulders, readjusting her posture.

All of this was done on a running horse, which showed his skill.

‘Come to think of it, it was obvious. Wasn’t he the sole heir of the Duke’s family? He must own dozens of excellent horses,’ Vanessa thought.

Vanessa ground her teeth inwardly, feeling betrayed.

‘He said he worked in the Special Forces, but he’s a commander! Not just any commander, but he also holds the title of Duke! Isn’t that a complete scam?’

Meeting him at Jenian’s house must have been because he came to deal with monster-related matters. ‘Damn it,’ she thought.

Gideon saw Vanessa’s sulky face and smiled silently. The corners of his mouth slightly lifted.

However, Vanessa didn’t see that smile. Gideon matched her speed and then dropped back again.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Captain Anna, who was leading the group, slowly began to slow down. They had passed through the Ivoros mountain range in less than half a day.

A fairly large village could be seen ahead.

“Shall we take a break?”

“Ugh, I’m hungry.”

Gideon nodded, and the lead group, which had slowed down for a moment, began to ride excitedly. There were no monsters on the way, and the path was clear, so everyone’s mind was at peace.

Before long, the village that had been shimmering in the distance was now right in front of them. Everyone jumped off their horses, eager to take a break.

However, as they were about to pass through the village entrance, someone suddenly jumped in front of them.

“Ah, hello. Are you… are you the Special Forces?”

It was a man with snow-white hair, holding a straw hat tightly to his chest. He looked shabby, but his back was straight, and he was quite tall.

Major Andalus smiled and nodded instead of Gideon, who remained silent. The man quickly brushed off the straw on his front.

“I had heard rumors that the Special Forces were being dispatched to the west, so I was waiting just in case.”

The man wiped his teary eyes with trembling hands. Then, he suddenly knelt down and began to beg, clasping his hands together.

“Please, save my daughter’s family!”

Sob. “Please, I beg you….”

Everyone was speechless, seeing the man kneeling and crying on the dirt floor at the village entrance.

‘I just wanted to eat a bowl of warm stew,’ Lieutenant Grain whispered. Major Andalus hit him on the back of the head.

The loud noise caused the villagers to gather, and they rushed to invite the Special Forces into their homes, seeing their uniforms. The rumor that monsters would retreat at the mere sound of the Special Forces’ footsteps had spread widely.

However, the Special Forces decided to go to the house of the man who had first approached them.

The man, despite his poor living conditions, tried his best to set the table to welcome the Special Forces. Of course, the Special Forces had no intention of extorting him, so they only drank a cup of warm water.

Grain, unable to bear his hunger, groaned beside them, but everyone ignored him.

“Tell us what’s going on.”

When Gideon finally spoke, the man, who had been fidgeting with his hands, placed them on his knees. And then, tears began to stream down his face again.

“I have a daughter who got married recently. She’s a very kind girl. She was worried about me being left alone, so she wanted to bring her husband here to live with me, but I stopped her. How could I make a newly married child live with her old father?”

The man stroked his hair with trembling hands.

“She used to send me letters every week. Every week… she would take care of me, asking if anything had happened and if my old body was hurting.”

The man swallowed hard.

“But one day, I suddenly received a message that something bad had happened in the village.”

The eyes of everyone in the Special Forces changed. Some were filled with excitement, while others became more cold-hearted. Gideon began to tap the table with his long fingers.

“It was a story about someone being found dead. Everyone was surprised; they didn’t know why. They went on to say that two more people had died in the next week’s letter, and in the letter after that, a child had gone missing….”

Tears streamed from the man’s eyes.

“I told her to come back to our village right away. I told her that even if we had to scrape by, we could harvest the wheat in the fall and make bread.”

The man lowered his voice and only moved his lips. Everyone remained silent as the old man shed tears.

“Ahem, and then?”

Anna cautiously urged him on as the silence continued. The man said in a trembling voice.

“The news was that the cause was monsters, and soldiers had been dispatched. I thought it was a relief. But that turned out to be the worst news.”

The old man squeezed his eyes shut.

“When they couldn’t find the monsters, they simply sealed off the village!”

Vanessa gasped. She didn’t know exactly what it meant, but she knew that it was the worst possible measure.

Trapping helpless villagers with monsters.

“Are you kidding me? You’re saying they turned the village into a hunting ground for monsters!”

Grain shouted, and the man began to sob.

“They said we couldn’t go to other villages, that it might be a monster that lures people, that no one, no one could leave… I don’t know how my child is doing, I… I…”

“Thank you for telling us the situation.”

Gideon stood up. The man hurriedly grabbed Gideon’s hand.

“You’ll save them, won’t you? Please, I beg you. You can have this house, you can have everything we harvest this year, please, please….”

The man knelt down again and began to beg. Gideon bent down and lifted him up.

“We don’t need your gratitude for doing what the Special Forces have to do. Which way is it?”

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

The old man told them the exact location of the village where his daughter lived.

‘It’s just called Wheat Field Village. It’s surrounded by wheat fields. It’s a village with its back to the forest that you can see in the distance, and it’s quite large, so you can see it from far away… The soldiers have completely blocked the village entrance with wood….’

“How about leaving the students in this village?”

Evan snorted at Grain’s sudden suggestion. But he knew the matter was urgent, so he kept his mouth shut.

“It seems like the number of victims has already exceeded double digits, so it could be dangerous. I can’t guarantee that we can fight while protecting the students. Everyone will be scattered during the search.”

“This is why they came for practical training. How many people admire the Special Forces and then run away in a year?”

Andalus said with a smile, causing the students to flinch for no reason. Gideon sighed.

“It would be better to leave one Special Forces member here, since we don’t know what might be-”

“Please take us with you! We’ll be really quiet. We’ll just follow you around, look for strange things, and won’t say a word!”

Evan spoke first, and Dalois joined in.

“What if there’s something there and you leave a Special Forces member behind! We’ll be really good.”

“We’ll stay back so we don’t get in the way. We want to help too.”

When Vanessa finally spoke, Gideon frowned.

The golden eyes slowly roamed over the students’ heads. Moshwi didn’t say anything but clasped his hands together with sparkling eyes.

“Ah, let’s just all go! You’re going to leave the students and me behind again, aren’t you? That’s ridiculous! Ah, I want to do some sword fighting too!”

Anna shouted, and Gideon let out a sigh that seemed to fade away.

The west was such a mess that he had come down with the Special Forces himself, but Gideon preferred to work alone.

The reason wasn’t that great. It was because the Special Forces members were all headstrong, making them more troublesome to manage.

But now, with the addition of the students, his mental fatigue had increased even more.

‘What if the students get hurt…,’ he worried.

Then his gaze met a pair of wide, blue eyes. The clear blue eyes were filled with a desire and eagerness to go with them.

After a fierce debate, his mouth opened.

“…But if you disobey even one order, I’ll send you back to the academy as you are-”

“Understood!”

Moshwi shouted loudly and ran out to prepare. The commander of the Special Forces thought he would regret it gloomily.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

In the end, everyone left immediately without resting. Wheat Field Village wasn’t far away, and it was only a few tens of minutes away by horse.

He could see why the man had said that he would be able to recognize it from afar.

It was a golden wave befitting the season for harvesting wheat. And in front of the wooden wall that could be seen from afar, a soldier was sitting idly.

Anna made a dumbfounded noise and bit her tongue.

Gideon Sol didn’t slow down even when he was almost at the village entrance. The soldier opened his mouth in surprise.

“Hey, stop-”

Gideon drew his sword and struck down. The air tore along the trajectory of the sword imbued with magic.

Bang!

The wooden wall shattered with a rough sound. Dust scattered, and Gideon stopped his horse in front of it. The ground shook for a moment as the horse lifted and lowered its front hooves with a rough stop.

“What are you doing, breaking this wall-”

“Special Forces Commander Gideon Sol Balderda.”

“Yes…?”

The soldier examined his appearance under the cold gaze from above the horse.

The golden emblem drawn on the chest of the all-black uniform that wrapped his solid body. Crossed swords. And the four sword blades on the epaulet symbolizing the commander of the Special Forces.

The soldier made a gasping sound and quickly saluted. His face was turning red.

“I, I am from the Western Division-”

“That’s enough. Was a battalion dispatched?”

“A part of the battalion was dispatched, yes.”

“Where is your commander?”

The soldier only opened and closed his mouth. Gideon raised his sword again and swung it at the already broken wooden wall.

Bang! Thud.

The wooden wall, which had been broken off, was now completely open, revealing the inside.

“Commander, where is he?”

“He’s, he’s inside Ilbara Castle….”

‘He is,’ Gideon thought. Gideon’s veins stood out on his neck at the soldier’s hesitant words. Ilbara Castle was far from here.

“Soldier.”

It was a low voice.

“Yes, yes!”

“It would be best to bring your commander here right away. Tell him that the Special Forces have arrived and the commander has come down himself. Tell him to come clean.”

‘Because his head is about to fly off. He should go cleanly at the end,’ Gideon thought.

The soldier turned white at the chilling words. He bowed deeply and began to run away.

Gideon got off his horse and tied it to the entrance.

“Let’s go.”

Everyone silently pushed their way into the dark village entrance.