CHAPTER 275: HER FATHER’S HELP

Irene felt a bit bad that every time she went to visit her family, it was because she needed something from her family, but if not that, then when else would she see them?

Considering how overly affectionate her father was, she knew that he likely didn’t feel used but merely happy that his daughter was visiting at all. He loved helping others. Despite his rugged appearance, he had a heart for all living things.

Most people didn’t know that, but she preferred it that way. Even though she liked to fight her own battles, she could always hide behind her father if needed.

She and Felix were once again on the trail, but unlike the past couple of weeks, they were more on edge than before. Having to go entirely around the forest where the monsters lay dormant and waiting made them cautious.

The paranoia surrounding monsters would be lifelong after the war they faced and somehow survived. But that was what put them on edge the most. They somehow survived while people they deemed more skilled and experienced than they were did not.

It merely meant they had to work that much harder not to be something more or less worthy of dying. Survival was random at times, and they would beat the variables at whatever cost, just as they had done so far.

Once they got around the northern edge of the forest, their path took them northwest through the central plains for hours. There wasn’t much to see because most of the trees had gone. For miles and miles, they could see around them, which meant that they wouldn’t be snuck up on unless something came from the ground.

The first break, the knights allowed their horses to drink and eat some of the grasses. Felix and Irene drank a bit themselves and had jerky and stale bread that would have to carry them over until they could properly hunt or eat with Irene’s family.

The second break allowed the two to communicate with one another about their plans going forward.

As Irene slipped off her horse to stretch out her body a bit, she turned to Felix, who did the same.

"The sun is setting," he noted. "We ought to find camp soon."

"If you don’t mind, we could keep going for three more hours and be in my father’s lands where there is an inn, but, more likely, my parents will want us to stay in their home and eat their food so that they can feel useful to us," Irene explained. "I believe it will freeze tonight, and I feel a bit spoiled to say I’m not ready to face the cold to that extent yet."

Despite all she had been through, Irene called herself spoiled. It caused a small, wry smile to pull at Felix’s lips. She need not be so hard on herself when she was one of the toughest knights in the entire order, purely out of determination alone.

"If it won’t be a bother to them," Felix insisted. "Otherwise, we can stay at the inn for one night."

"My cousins own the inn," Irene argued. "They will poke fun at my father and tell him that we chose them over him. It will complicate our journey, trust me."

The familiarity of family was something Felix had never experienced before in the memories he could recall. Children were meant to take those sorts of things for granted, and he surely did when what was left of his family was still alive.

He could only be happy that Irene still had that in her life. It wasn’t something that monsters or the knighthood could take away. The area her father presided over would never be pillaged because it was the Wolf of the North’s.

"I believe you," Felix relented. "A few more hours, then. We will send the letters off in the morning."

"Perfect," Irene responded. "I will follow your lead."

With that, Felix was first onto his horse with Irene following quickly after.

Just as she said, there was just under three more hours of traveling before they saw the wonderful sight of a warm village with smoke rising out of all the chimneys, an inn with lanterns lit and welcoming, but more than that, the house that stood in the distance at the southern end of the township a bit further out had lights outside of it as well. The massive chimney had smoke pouring out of it as well.

Somewhere warm to sleep was going to be perfect for the worn-down travelers.

Felix silently hoped that it wouldn’t be a bother that he and Irene were there in the first place. But he knew Arthur’s nature as well, and even if the man was woken up from a dead sleep, he would likely welcome them with open arms.

He was the father above all fathers. Everyone was jealous of his children, who got to experience his love firsthand.

As they made it to the road that led through the center of the village, Irene and Felix stuck closer together and slowed their pace. Over the hoofbeats on the ground, they could talk to one another.

"Almost there," Irene explained, feeling the need to fill up the space with something other than silence.

"Do you imagine the healer would be upset if we sought them out at this hour to send a letter?" Felix wondered, half joking.

They passed a sign that advertised the healer’s services, but didn’t stop.

Irene shot him a look of total disbelief.

"You’ve met the mages," Irene reminded him. "They are all the same when it comes to sleep and being bothered by those who aren’t mages. Even if they always tell us yes, it isn’t without begging and bargaining."

Felix was faintly smiling behind the cover of his helmet. Mages really were all the same. They weren’t impossible to get used to, but harder to accept that they would never change or bend for another person.

Despite that, they were surprisingly unselfish—at least the ones who had been exiled from Nickron.

The two knights left the village and crossed a small wooden bridge that went over a waterway that led to the farmer’s fields further beyond her father’s usual property. There wasn’t all that much that could grow in the north, but what did grow grew in abundance. That time of year, they ought to have been finished harvesting and turning over their soil. The creek was nearly dry, after all.

Irene completely pulled off her helmet once they reached the gate that would lead to the stables and eventually the front door of the property. Since Arthur wouldn’t force a stablehand to work all night, they were tasked with putting their horses away themselves. However, fresh off being apprentices themselves, it was work they were used to. They didn’t mind dealing with horses.

They retrieved their heavy saddlebags and walked to the front door.

Having no other choice, Irene had to use the metal doorknocker so that it would be loud enough that her father could hear it in the heart of the large manor. He was normally someone quick to wake, as it were.

There were a few moments that Felix doubted anyone was coming at all.

However, Arthur had fortified the front door. Hearing him walking towards the front was impossible, and it was on purpose.

When he opened the seeing hole, there was a faint gasp before the two heard the door unlock, and they stepped aside so that they could be granted entrance.

"My sweet child," Arthur greeted his daughter first, wrapping his arms around her despite the armor she wore. He then turned to Felix, whom he knew he should greet more respectfully. "Sir Felix. What brought the two of you in this direction in the middle of the night? I received word from Sir Gunnar to keep watch for monsters because winterization efforts were going on. You’re not participating?"

However, before they could answer, Arthur gestured for them to come inside, and he shut and sealed the door once more. Better to have a conversation where it was warm than let all the heat in the house out.

"Lord Arthur," Felix responded warmly after following the older man’s lead inside. "Rather than participating in the winterization efforts closer to home, we have been touring the duchy. Our first measure as second and third in command is to introduce ourselves to those we must start getting better acquainted with. However, that is also what brings us to your front door so late at night."

"Drop your things in your rooms," Arthur directed. "I’ll get something to drink while we talk to one another. Irene, show him to the guest room Sir Gunnar once used."

Irene nodded at that and did as her father directed.

She walked towards the staircase that would take them to the top level while her father disappeared to another area of the large home. After gesturing for Felix, he followed her, and she opened the guest room’s door for him.

Seeing that the Litharions weren’t expecting guests, the room was cold, and Irene dropped her things so that she could start a fire for the knight.

"Just because I’m technically higher rank, doesn’t mean you have to light a fire for me," Felix insisted.

When the kindling at the bottom was lit up enough to start adding logs, Irene got back to her feet and turned to the older knight.

"I’m not acting out of rank," she explained. "You’re a guest in the house I grew up in. My mother or our nanny would be woken up for this otherwise."

Felix half-committally shrugged in response.

With that, Irene could do the same for her room since it was nearly as cold as it was outdoors. When her things were placed down and she was in something more comfortable, she joined Felix, who was stepping into the hallway, devoid of the armor he had worn before.

Both in comfortable attire that would make late-night conversation easier, they walked back to the heart of the estate and found Arthur sitting by the fire in the library. He must have been reading in there already for the fire to already be lit and the room to be warm.