novelraw Chapter 360: Lena - The Great Warrior, Boris
Chapter 360: Lena - The Great Warrior, Boris
358: Lena - The Great Warrior, Boris
“Leo... Please, just stay safe. Dear God, I beg you to protect my child...”
“You really should’ve paid more attention to him. It’s your—”
“What?! Are you saying I neglected him? And what about you and your soldiers standing around ‘guarding the castle’? You couldn’t even notice when a child left?!”
Chaos.
This was the first time I had seen Ray’s usually harmonious parents fighting. It was also the first time I’d been so distracted during training.
I lowered the sword I’d been swinging aimlessly and looked up at the sky.
Dark clouds.
Heavy clouds were gathering, lowering the southeastern sky little by little.
It was a sign that winter was coming—a phenomenon caused by warm southern winds cooling rapidly as they condensed. We called this Snow Sea.The Snow Sea would accumulate like that for a while before, at the moment the autumn winds lost their strength, it would burst forth like a tidal wave.
...Which meant a heavy snowstorm was coming soon. A blizzard that would blanket the northern lands in white all at once.
“Ray. Don’t you even care?”
I vented my frustration at Ray, who was quietly training as usual. Despite the news of his brother’s disappearance, he didn’t flinch—not even a flicker of concern in his expression.
It was as if he already knew.
...Damn.
Maybe I’d lost my mind. Hoping my voice hadn’t reached him, I perched on the edge of the porChapter Yesterday, today—I wasn’t in the mood for training.
Just then, a commotion arose inside the house. I quickly ran in. A knight was in the living room.
“What did they say? What happened?”
My question was ignored.
Not deliberately—the knight was being sharply reprimanded by my father, Dehor Ainar.
“Shouldn’t you have sent soldiers out to search already? Our tribe’s hunting teams have been scouring the mountains, but you lot are just sitting around twiddling your thumbs?”
“The young lord is following proper procedures, so please don’t worry too much.”
“Proper procedures? A child is missing, and you’re talking about procedures?! Do you think the neighbors would accept that nonsense if they heard it?”
“...”
“And why are you here at my house? Shouldn’t you be off informing Noel about these so-called procedures of yours?”
The knight cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“As I said, the young lord is following proper procedures. It is customary to give the parents of missing children leave to compose themselves and to withhold any updates—good or bad—until there is a conclusive result. This is according to the young lord’s orders. I am here to relay his instructions.”
“What?”
“The young lord has also ordered that someone close to the child be brought to him. Dehor Ainar, you, your wife, and Lera Ainar are to accompany me.”
Thus, our family followed the knight to the lord’s castle.
Under normal circumstances, my mother would have fussed over dressing appropriately to meet the young lord of the Kazak Baronial House, but there was no time for such concerns now.
All she did was grab a scarf by the entrance and wrap it around my neck. Clearly empathizing with Ray’s mother, she murmured, “Oh dear, what are we going to do...?” while fussing over my appearance, as if she were doing for me what she couldn’t do for Leo.
Before long, we were standing before Daniel Kazak, the young lord of Avril Castle and heir to the Kazak Baronial House.
The young man was in his office, surrounded by towering piles of paperwork, wrestling with them as if they were an opponent in battle.
The sight deflated some of my anger. Perhaps this “smart nobleman” actually had his reasons.
My first impression of the young lord was also different from what I’d expected.
He had a friendly and gentle demeanor. Dressed neatly in gray and white, he resembled a priest more than a noble. When he spoke, his tone was calm and polite.
“I apologize for summoning you like this, Great Warrior. I have some questions to ask. Today, I’m addressing you not as a great warrior but as a witness to the incident.”
This opening statement preemptively silenced my father, who had been about to explode. By framing the meeting as a witness interview, the young lord made it clear he didn’t want unnecessary commentary.
He seated us and began asking detailed questions:
Did the child behave unusually on the day of the incident?
What was the child’s relationship with his parents and peers?
What were his usual interests, and what was his connection to Boris?
My parents each answered based on what they knew, but their responses differed slightly.
“He wasn’t interested in swordsmanship. According to Noel, he didn’t seem to have much talent for it, so he wasn’t taught.”
“Really? That’s strange... I saw him swinging a sword once. It was late at night, so I might have been mistaken, though.”
“Huh? Leo? Maybe you saw Ray instead...”
“Excuse me? Do you think I’d confuse the two? There’s a big size difference between them. Still, I can’t be certain—I only saw it half-asleep.”
“How late at night was this? I understand the child is only 12. Did the parents tend to neglect the child?”
“No!”
“Absolutely not!”
Both my mother and father shouted in unison.
It seemed the young lord was even considering the possibility that Leo had run away due to parental conflict. My mother passionately defended their parenting.
“That’s not true. Ibera and Noel are excellent parents. Leo was a stable and well-behaved child. There’s no way he ran away!”
“Understood. However, may I ask why you were awake so late at night?”
“To use the bathroom.”
The blunt honesty of her response made me flinch, but neither the young lord nor my mother seemed fazed. Later, my father explained it was common for older people to visit the bathroom frequently at night.
Finally, the young lord turned his questioning to me.
“Miss Lera Ainar, you often interacted with the child. How were his peer relationships?”
“They were normal. He got along well with others...”
“Was he ostracized because of his status as a civilized outsider?”
What?!
I was stunned by how differently people perceived Leo. Even more shocking was the realization that this situation could somehow be linked to discrimination between civilized outsiders and natives.
For a moment, I was taken aback, but I quickly protested, letting out a small scoff at the absurdity of it all.
“That’s ridiculous. Leo’s relationships with others were fine. And yes, he’s a civilized outsider, but Leo is different. He’s practically one of us—a member of the Ainar tribe.”
“Why is that?”
“Because he was born here. Unlike Ray. As far as I know, Leo participated in nearly every tribal event, didn’t he?”
My parents nodded in agreement.
The young lord, Daniel Kazak, jotted this down, then pondered for a moment before speaking again.
“So, the child was practically a member of the Ainar tribe... I see. Great Warrior, what kind of person is this Boris?”
A senile old fool.
That was what I thought. I expected my father to give a similarly dismissive answer, but to my surprise, he said something different.
“He was a great warrior. Once.”
“What?!”
The startled exclamation that slipped from me was ignored. The young lord nodded thoughtfully.
“The records support that claim. He was a former Great Warrior of the Ainar tribe, decorated by the Cross Church, exiled from the Aisel Kingdom, and even reportedly tangled with the Duchy of Tertan in the Kingdom of Conrad. Supposedly, he sank one of their ships and fled with nothing but a strange stone as compensation. It seems he lived quite a turbulent life. And this brings us to the issue, Great Warrior.”
“What issue?”
“The chieftain said there’s no need to search for the child. Have you heard the testimony that Boris was last seen with the boy?”
“I’ve heard it, but it’s an unreliable rumor. A black horse the size of a carriage? Such a creature doesn’t exist unless it’s a magical beast. And no hoofprints have been found.”
Daniel Kazak rubbed his chin, troubled, before speaking in a measured tone.
“I’ve interviewed others aside from your family, and everyone agreed that it’s unlikely the boy ran away. So, as hard as it is to believe, we must conclude that Boris took the child—assuming the testimonies are accurate. After all, Boris is missing as well. However, this means I lack the authority to deploy troops to search for him.”
“What?”
“What do you mean? Why not?”
“Didn’t you just tell me that this Leo is considered a member of the Ainar tribe? If an Ainar elder took an Ainar child, it falls outside my jurisdiction. Now, please wait—I’m not finished yet...”
I exploded.
While I didn’t curse, my accusations were harsh, and my parents joined in, turning the office into a chaotic shouting match.
Daniel slammed his hand on the table, silencing us.
“Let me finish! I’m not saying I’ll ignore this situation. I’m saying I cannot deploy soldiers under the pretense of searching for the boy. The Barony of Kazak does not have the authority to intervene in internal tribal matters. However! I will lend you soldiers to search for traces of a magical beast. That falls under the jurisdiction of Avril Castle’s security. I’ll assemble a search team and send them to you soon. Report back to me if you find any tracks of the giant horse. Now, please leave—and don’t inform the chief knight just yet.”
We were effectively dismissed from the lord’s castle.
On the way back, no one spoke at first. But finally, I broke the silence.
“What a strange lord. Can’t tell if he’s kind or just inflexible.”
“True enough. Typical of the Kazak Barony.”
The Kazak family had ruled Avril Castle and the surrounding lands for generations.
I didn’t know much about them, but according to my father, they were a benevolent house. They quietly did what needed to be done while maintaining a dignified distance.
On the way back, I had to ask my father one thing: was Boris truly a great warrior?
He nodded.
“He’s so old now that you wouldn’t know it, but when I was young, he was extraordinary. Even back then, he wasn’t exactly young, but he once ventured to a place called Ice Island. That was his last great feat. After that... something happened there, or maybe he just got old, but he started showing signs of senility. He hasn’t participated in a hunt since and mostly just wanders around, becoming a target of mockery for the younger generation.”
In our tribe, not participating in the hunt meant you were no longer recognized as a warrior—no matter how great your past deeds were.
Suddenly, I was reminded of my own future. Soon, I would finally be old enough to join the hunt and be recognized as a warrior. Excitement bubbled up, but I quickly shook my head to dispel it.
What’s wrong with you? Leo’s missing, and you’re thinking about this?
Ashamed of my selfish thoughts, I hardened my expression as we returned home. My parents seemed less tense than they had been earlier, likely reassured by the lord’s promise of a search party.
Even Leo’s parents, who had been fighting earlier, were no longer at each other’s throats.
A few days later, the search concluded. No traces of a magical beast were found, which brought us some relief. Noel returned to work.
And by the time the Snow Sea poured forth and blanketed the sky, no one remembered Leo.
It was as if he had never existed. I was too busy shoveling snow to dwell on it.
Only Ray occasionally glanced southwest... Oh, right.
I’m about to come of age. Yay!