I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 54: Fighting Back

Chapter 54: Fighting Back

Sir Gunnar expected the intimidating sight of Sir Arthur to appear shortly. Considering how long ago he sent the letter using the Duke’s messenger hawk, the knight imagined the man had ridden all through the night to check on his child.

He truly was one of the best fathers Gunnar had ever witnessed. It seemed that the way to become the best was to love his children relentlessly and unashamedly.

"There is something amiss with the monsters," Gunnar admitted. "You know as much yourself. Were there monsters in the valley as there were when we visited the blacksmith a few weeks ago?"

"There were many goblins in the valley," Sir Arthur confirmed. "It would seem as if none of us exhausted ourselves last winterization to clear the mountains of monsters at all. However, I remember the struggles we faced and how impossible the task felt. The monsters that escape us in the mountains seem to only multiply wherever they settle in the forests. However, my concern at the moment isn’t regarding the monsters particularly. How in the hell has a mere arrow caused such weakness in my child?"

His voice took on an edge by his last words.

If Gunnar didn’t know Arthur, he would have certainly blamed himself based on the tone. He nodded as the other man spoke, allowing him to finish before he would continue.

"The issue with the monsters is very relevant to what happened to Iro," Gunnar admitted. "It isn’t simply their movement through the valley that vexes me. The arrow Iro was shot with had a grey substance on it. It’s not quite like poison but it certainly sapped your child’s energy as if it was. The maids I spoke to have never seen anything like it."

"Go on," Arthur pressed, devoid of emotion.

"The wound itself is grey and the head maid drained it the way you would a bite from a venomous snake," Gunnar continued. "It seemed to have lightened up the overall appearance but it’s clearly still affecting Iro by the way he can’t keep down food and only has had a bit to drink."

That much he knew from Agnes’s latest report to him.

Arthur’s elbows rested on the table, a clank following them as the metal plate armor covering his arms met hard wood.

"The deities in the sky laugh down at me," he muttered. "Haven’t I given enough? Yet my child is the one who gets to be the experiment to whatever the hell this is."

"That is why we have to get ahead of this," Gunnar continued even though he understood the melancholic mood Sir Arthur had taken to since he had been there. "I don’t know which way we can go from here but I have a few ideas of ways we can start to tackle this growing problem."

"Then go ahead," Arthur insisted. "I refuse to ever see my child in this situation again and do whatever it takes, to my wife’s displeasure, to solve the problem."

"A mage should be arriving shortly to assess Iro’s wounds," Gunnar explained. "Perhaps this issue with monsters isn’t something we can solve on our own. After all, there are monsters out there such as necromancers that are beyond our powers. Not enough brute strength can eradicate them. We should always have a mage close by for issues such as this."

"What will the Commander say to relying on mages so suddenly?" Arthur wondered, even though he thought it was a good idea. "He has always taken heed to whatever His Majesty decrees."

"Does he want this place to be flattened?" Gunnar asked more passionately. "Does he want every person under his guidance to perish because he refused to acknowledge when it is beyond the knighthood’s control? You are upset that your child is hurt but I was the one who witnessed the arrow enter his body and the energy be sapped out of him. I refuse to watch more children die because His Grace is no longer suitable for his seat. I don’t mean to ask him to give it up, I simply wish he would stand back from decision-making entirely. Even in our meetings he can hardly stay awake for more than an hour. He is wasting away in front of our eyes."

Arthur sat up straighter, hearing the fire in Gunnar’s tone and taking it seriously. It seemed that he had been affected by what happened to Irene a lot. He was honored to have such a man overseeing his child when he wasn’t able to be there.

"I can only agree with you," Arthur admitted. "After all, you’re the one who is always here observing the goings on better than anyone else. If there is someone who deserves to be the Commander, it’s you."

Gunnar scoffed.

"That is something I have never desired," he admitted. "The apprentices are enough for me. However, I do hope that the mage who will arrive later today is interested in working kindly with us. After all, I’ve given them many new customers."

The knight then ran his hands over his face. He hadn’t been sleeping well in light of everything that had happened.

"Go to your child, Arthur," he insisted. "There’s not much else we can do about this for now."

"I will," Arthur agreed. "I will let you know if I see the mage first."

Gunnar nodded and they both left the library one after the other.

However, Sir Arthur decided he would swing by his barrack and drop off his armor because it seemed that he would be in the Duke’s Tower for a while while Irene was healing. He also wanted to hear what the mages had to say about the situation.

When he finally made it back to the room where his daughter recovered, he was shocked to see Agnes there changing the bandages.

It was at that moment Sir Arthur got his first glimpse of the greying wound that seemed to be festering in his daughter’s side. Luckily it seemed the greyness hadn’t spread but it didn’t really seem to be getting better either. Since the maids only had so much knowledge, it was still stitched shut so the girl wouldn’t bleed.

Arthur knew that if this happened to multiple others in the knighthood, it would be impossible to recover and be the fighting force the duchy needed to fend off the monsters.

They needed to get better but they also needed help.