I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 174: Unexpected Wave

Chapter 174: Unexpected Wave

A misleadingly peaceful spring met the knights and apprentices. As moods improved with nice weather, there were a few moments of ’we have this under control’ that made them believe it was the truth.

The apprentices knew that spring meant splitting of their duties.

A few were going across the duchy with knights to make sure the entirety of the lands were safe. Others were participating in outdoor duties during the day. Irene and the usual two others she spent most of her time with were participating in night watch.

Despite the lack of sleep, Irene quite liked being relied on for her bow skills. It was something she only got to practice sometimes. It allowed her to insist she ought to practice and use it more often.

Gunnar was in the fields, ensuring that the opposite tree line in the east didn’t have anything hiding within it. Since the rest of the knights were on the other side of that in another stretch of plains, he felt it was alright to only direct his horse briefly into the tree line.

Somewhat adjusted to that nocturnal sleeping schedule, Irene faced away from the mountains as she leaned against the massive brick and stone-lined wall where she peered through one of the battlements since the squared-off crenellations were a bit too tall for her to see over.

There hadn’t been much action that night. Not even anything to hunt, and she had to admit she was getting a bit bored.

However, being at the highest vantage point was a major responsibility in her eyes, so even if she wasn’t entertained, she still took the job seriously.

There was shuffling beside her where Leif got to his feet.

The older apprentice looked towards the mountains. He squinted his eyes as he wondered if something was playing tricks on him.

"What is it?" Irene asked gently, not turning to her friend since her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and wondering if she could see anything worthwhile.

"I-Iro," he muttered, but then his voice immediately rose in volume. "Arrow!" he shouted.

She was practically a machine as she pulled the bow from around her shoulders and easily sheathed one of the wrapped fire arrows. She then pushed the tip of the arrow into the fire before pulling at the bow string and forcing it to go a great distance towards the east, knowing that’s where Sir Gunnar was.

She believed in Leif’s instincts and only looked to see what he was talking about when there were already a dozen goblins that seemed to have appeared like a mirage in the middle of the field before marching forward towards the wall.

"Pull up the ladders!" she screamed.

The girl jumped onto her knees at the top of the wall and began furiously pulling up the rope and the wooden slatted ladder. Leif responded by doing the same until they were both out of breath.

Their troubles, unfortunately, didn’t stop there as the disgusting monsters drew closer.

The monsters went towards the horses, who were also at the bottom of the ladders. Even though Gunnar had told her many times before that goblins paid no mind to horses and didn’t quite see them as prey, she didn’t want to risk it.

"Go, Sorrel!" Irene shouted. "Go!"

The two horses were already unsettled by the monsters moving closer.

Taking it a step further, Irene pulled out another arrow and lit it on fire. Again, she aimed, but this time it was much closer than the last.

She shot the arrow between the horses and the monsters. It also lit some of the grass on fire since there hadn’t been any rain in a couple of days, and the grounds were sponges that got rid of water quickly after the initial snow melt left them behind.

To her relief, it caused the horses to run in opposite directions so they could at least save themselves in the meantime.

"Where on earth is Sir Gunnar?" Irene wondered.

They could practically only look down helplessly as goblins, for whatever reason, convened at the bottom of the tower. Their nasty clicks as they communicated in unknown ways with one another disgusted Irene to her core.

Rather than feeling entirely useless, Irene decided she could waste more of her arrows if it took down the goblins.

She soon began a barrage of attacks with fire arrows that lit up the ground and the goblins below. Their communicative clicks became shrieks of pain as their wire-haired bodies singed, but they didn’t seem to want to get away from the tower.

Shortly after, Sir Gunnar was heard on horseback coming from the direction of the Duke’s Tower. Rather than coming alone, he brought Sir Phillip with him. They were both surprised to see that the fire arrow wasn’t a false alarm.

Rather than risking their own horses, they dismounted and kicked the animals away.

A dozen goblins were nothing to a couple of knights.

Since the goblins’ focus shifted, Irene and Leif took that moment to drop the ladders once more and get in on the action, making the job even easier.

However, once Irene’s feet were on the ground, she had to cover her face with her left hand.

"That smell!" she shouted. "Watch out for poison!"

Everyone was on high alert at that.

She wanted to keep her eyes shut and not have to look at the monsters or even breathe in. Last time she was faced with a small sea of goblins, her father lost his hand, and her life took another turn she wasn’t fully understanding of.

However, as a knight, inaction was not tolerated. She knew that she needed to show her responsiveness to the knights who were in charge of her.

Her slashes were concise and sharp as she took down the straggling goblins towards the back of the group. They didn’t have weapons, which she found surprising, but in avoiding the poisonous fumes they let off would be hard if she couldn’t keep her distance.

With one hand over her nose, the girl raised her sword and drove one of the goblins into the ground, their stomach impaled as her sword pierced soft earth. While kneeling on top of the first goblin, she took on another one by decapitating it and taking off one of its arms.

She thought of where she was a mere year before and realized just how strong she had gotten in comparison. She felt momentarily proud, but it was fleeting as she faced a third who was behaving a bit more tricky.

The monster picked up a stone and tossed it at her. She had to dive out of the way to avoid having her brains scrambled.

It made her much easier to attack, but it gave her the opportunity to thrust her sword as the goblin threw itself at her, and she slashed open its stomach, feeling warm blood covering her as it bled out. At least she could finally toss it to the side.

There she cut its head off as well.

Luckily, they made quick work of goblins, but their questions still piled higher and higher.

As the bodies were being burned, Gunnar approached the apprentices.

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