Chapter 108
Thud!
A locust dropped to the ground.
A body nearly 70 centimeters long.
That massive, un-insectlike creature was now blackened like charcoal.
Naturally, the locust showed no movement.
It was already dead, unable to resist.
Even a sluggish farmer raking with a tired yawn was undisturbed by it.
“Yaaawn.”
Thud, thud-thud!
With a single rake, three or four locusts were caught at once.
All of them, burned to charcoal, were swept aside.
Cleared away, piled up.
The pile grew like a mountain.
“Phew, this is incredible.”
Sir Bayern, the senior knight of the Frontera Estate, who was overseeing the cleanup, grimaced in disgust. He’d felt it during the locust attack yesterday as well—there were truly a grotesque number of them.
‘At least there were hardly any casualties.’
Sir Bayern recalled the events of yesterday morning.
It had just been an ordinary morning.
He woke up at his usual time.
Washed up, hurried through morning drills.
He heard a chilling roar from the eastern sky just as he was stepping out the door.
‘I’d never seen anything like that before.’
A swarm of locusts blackening the sky over the eastern mountains.
They covered the sun, the clouds, and the once blue sky.
It was as if night had fallen in the middle of the day.
Even now, remembering it made his skin crawl.
‘It felt like the end of the world.’
He was rattled.
No, the truth is, he was terrified.
He wanted to abandon everything and run back home.
Hide in the deepest part of the storehouse and never come out.
But who was he?
He was the senior knight of the Frontera Estate.
His swordsmanship might lag far behind Javier Asrahan’s, but he had a responsibility to lead the estate’s engineering corps and guards.
Especially in a disaster like yesterday, that sense of duty weighed even more on him.
So he ran.
Instead of hiding at home, he rushed to the baron’s mansion.
He gathered the engineering corps and the guards, planning to mount a counterattack.
But it wasn’t so easy.
‘Barely ran 200 meters before I was surrounded by locusts.’
Dozens of locusts charged at him.
He swung his sword desperately amid the chaos.
It was the worst fight of his life.
His strength faded.
His sword felt heavier and heavier.
His legs slowed down.
He thought it was the end.
He would die, unable to save anyone, failing his duty, helpless among the bugs.
But then, an unexpected resonance rang in his ears.
‘It was Lord Lloyd.’
Sir Bayern looked up.
He gazed toward the embankment at the edge of the reclaimed field.
There stood the man supervising the locust cleanup.
The young lord of the house he served, Lloyd Frontera.
‘If not for him, I’d be dead.’
No question about it.
If not for that timely sound.
If Young Master Lloyd hadn’t struck the pot lid.
If the locusts hadn’t been lured away by that sound.
He would have been torn apart by the swarm.
‘Not just me.’
Many people of the estate were the same.
Nearly all the residents.
The farmer gathering locust bodies over there in the field.
The tired faces of the engineering corps who had spent all day cleaning up.
And their families too.
Without Lloyd, none of them would have survived.
That was one thing Sir Bayern was sure of.
Then, suddenly—
“I think that’s enough for today.”
A voice from beside him startled Sir Bayern.
He turned his head.
“Why? Do you want to keep working?”
“…….”
Lloyd, who had been up on the embankment, was suddenly standing beside him, striking up a conversation.
He must have come over while Sir Bayern was lost in thought.
Thinking so, he composed himself.
“If you wish to continue, I’m ready, Lord Lloyd.”
“Keep going? The sun’s about to set.”
“I’m simply following orders, sir.”
“Really? Fine, then let’s work all night until tomorrow morning. The sooner we finish, the better.”
“Understood.”
He nodded.
He turned to call the senior engineers.
But he never got the words out.
Because Lloyd quickly spoke up.
“Whoa, whoa. Are you seriously going to work all night?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Because I told you to?”
“Yes.”
“……You shouldn’t just blindly pull an all-nighter.”
“Then, are you cancelling the order for all-night work?”
“Of course.”
“Understood.”
“…….”
Whew. What a diligent but impossibly stubborn knight.
Lloyd let out a wry chuckle inside.
‘Sir Bayern is just like this.’
One of only two knights who didn’t betray the declining baronial family in the novel “The Iron-Blooded Knight.”
But unlike the main character Javier, he was just an extra, so his screen time was limited.
‘Diligent and loyal. That was all they said about him.’
But those two things were enough.
Loyalty—never betraying the baron he served.
Diligence—always doing his best to fulfill any duty given.
To take advantage of his strengths, Lloyd had entrusted him with command of the engineering corps since the days of the ondol room project.
And Sir Bayern had faithfully completed every construction since then.
‘But if there’s one flaw, hmm, maybe it’s that he’s a bit too serious.’
If he had a bit of Javier’s sass, it would be more fun to tease him.
Lloyd clicked his tongue in faint disappointment.
“You worked hard today. Anyway, that pile isn’t something we’ll finish in a day or two. The sun’s about to set, so wrap it up for today and dismiss everyone.”
“Understood.”
Sir Bayern signaled to the senior soldiers.
The engineering corps cheered as they packed up their tools.
Everyone was exhausted from a day of shoveling locust corpses.
But still, they didn’t disperse immediately.
Before heading to the barracks, they came over.
They lined up in neat order.
And shouted loudly toward Lloyd.
“Thank you, Lord Lloyd!”
“……Huh? What are you all doing?”
A crowd of burly men suddenly shouting their thanks—it was a bit overwhelming.
But Lloyd could sense the sincerity in their eyes.
“Do you think I saved you yesterday or something?”
“Yes, we do!”
“Whoa, whoa. That’s enough. I just fought hard for my own future, you know?”
“…….”
“If you really want to thank me, do it with a nice heavy pouch of gold coins next time, not just loud shouts, got it?”
“Yes, sir!”
A little embarrassed by their sincerity, Lloyd deliberately threw out some rough words.
But even so, the engineering corps saluted and left as promised.
‘Maybe I went a little overboard yesterday.’
From the Marez Reclaimed Field all the way to the manor.
As he walked alone through the crimson sunset, he couldn’t stop the wry smile from escaping. Remembering all he’d done the day before made it even worse.
Suddenly, he recalled that frantic moment.
The very last moment, luring the locust swarm into the extermination zone he’d prepared in advance.
* * *
“Jump to the side!”
Bzztzzztzzzt-!
The deafening flapping of locust wings charging from behind.
A hair-raising, terrifying sound.
He shouted as loud as he could.
At the shout, Javier instantly responded.
Carrying Lloyd, he dove sideways.
They tumbled into the drainage ditch.
At that instant, Lloyd reached out.
Pressed Javier’s head down.
At the same time, he covered them both with the pot lid.
Bzztzzztzzzt-!
The frightening sound of wings crashing from above.
It was impossible to count the number. There were so many, the noise blurred together, like static on a TV channel showing only a gray screen.
But the volume was like a hundred concert speakers turned up to max.
His heart pounded.
His pulse raced out of control.
‘Bangul, now!’
He shouted inside.
In that instant, Bangul answered.
“Bangul!”
Kwooooom—!
An explosion that shook the earth.
A blast that swallowed the locust swarm.
Twak!
The volcano eruption skill exploded.
A terrifying shockwave struck.
A heat wave of nearly a thousand degrees surged forth.
A storm of magma fragments tore through at 400 kilometers per hour.
Everything in range was swept away.
Radiant heat roasted everything within dozens of meters.
Only two survived inside.
“Get down! Lower!”
Lloyd shouted.
They pressed themselves to the bottom of the drainage ditch.
Most of the radiant heat coming from above was blocked by the pot lid.
The rest, Javier dispelled and released with the Asrahan Heart Technique.
And so they endured the first volcanic storm.
Then they stood up.
“Now! Hit it!”
Tadat!
Both rose together.
Lloyd lifted the pot lid.
Javier raised his sword.
Bwoooong—!
The sword struck the pot lid.
A low, clear resonance spread from the site of destruction.
It spread quickly through the ground and the heated air.
The sudden explosion had startled the remaining locust swarm. It tempted them. Drew them in.
Bzztzzztzzztzzzt!
The swarm hesitated, then greedily surged forward again.
“Good! One more time!”
Bwoooong—!
The air shook again.
Hundreds of thousands of wings beat hungrily, flying in.
They ducked low in the ditch again.
And another volcanic blast exploded.
“Bangul!”
Kwooooom—!
A thousand degrees, trillions of tiny glass shards, a heat blast at 400 kilometers per hour.
Scorching radiant heat and a fierce shockwave swept across dozens of meters.
Over ten thousand locusts were turned to charcoal in the second blast.
Bangul immediately prepared a third volley.
“Bangul! Babangul!”
She opened her huge mouth wide.
Ppodong dug fiercely into the ground, shoveling dirt straight into Bangul’s mouth.
She swallowed it. Digested it.
The third blast was loaded.
“Ready!”
Bwoooong!
A ringing resonance.
The swarm gathered savagely.
A fierce shout for the firing signal.
“Now!”
Kwooooom—!
Fire, eat dirt, ring the pot, gather, fire again.
It was the merciless, mechanical wheel of perfect extermination.
Hamang joined in to lay a trap.
“Hamang, now!”
“Hamang!”
Glug, phooosh!
Hamang, waiting on the riverbank, leapt into the water.
He sucked up as much as he could.
Raised his head.
Sprayed it.
High into the sky.
As wide as possible.
Over a hundred thousand liters of water poured down like a rainstorm.
The swarm, startled by the explosions and trying to flee, was drenched. Their wings were soaked. They crashed to the ground.
At that moment, Lloyd sprang to his feet.
Javier drew his sword.
A heavy rumble came from the west.
“Here! Don’t forget our spears and swords!”
Thudududu……!
Five hundred cavalry appeared, clad in gleaming white barding and armor.
The White Lancers, the royal direct troops Her Majesty the Queen had promised, had arrived at last.
They charged like a tidal wave.
Their shining white lances led the way.
They swept through the locusts that had fallen to the ground.
Trampled them underhoof, skewered them with lances, cut through the enemy’s rear ranks.
Behind them, Lloyd and Javier’s shovel and sword flashed.
Twak!
Lloyd’s Triple Detonation.
Javier’s precise consecutive detonations.
A storm of destructive mana swept up the remaining swarm.
Fear pheromones spread like a plague through the locust horde.
They spread their wet wings.
They kicked off the ground to escape.
And Bangul unleashed another volcanic eruption, aimed skyward.
“Bangul!”
Kwooooom—!
The scorching volcanic fragments filled the air above the estate like a mushroom cloud.
* * *
‘……That’s how spectacular the day was.’
Yesterday’s urgent, perilous moments.
If a certain streaming service employee had seen it, they would have wept and given a standing ovation for the operation.
‘Glad it worked out.’
His own plan.
The reckless tactics he used to pull it off.
Everything fell into place and everyone survived.
He had saved the estate from disaster.
Leaving those thoughts behind, he walked on.
By the time the sun slipped below the western horizon, he arrived at the manor.
The baron’s manor, torn up by locusts everywhere.
It looked like a pair of jeans that a spiteful fashion designer had shredded on purpose.
“Still, it’s lucky it didn’t collapse. If you’d been any later yesterday, none of the manor would be left standing.”
He was staring up at the manor when a clear voice called out.
A maid had come to greet him at the front gate.
She looked about sixteen or seventeen.
A girl with distinctive freckles.
A maid who usually served the baroness……
“Emily?”
“Yes, young master. The lady sent me to bring you to the dining room as soon as you arrived.”
“Oh, right.”
What was she so happy about?
Was she glad to be the one leading him?
She beamed the whole way as she walked ahead.
It was a bit awkward.
‘I’ll never get used to this kind of welcome, no matter how often I get it.’
He’d never been welcomed anywhere in Korea.
Not since his parents passed away.
But it was different here.
Everywhere he went, it was “young master, young master.”
Everyone thanked and respected him, saying he’d saved their lives and the estate.
Even this girl, glancing back with a bright smile as she led the way.
“Um, young master?”
“Yeah?”
“I, uh, started embroidering today.”
“Embroidering? What?”
“Cross-stitch.”
“Oh, I see.”
“I want to put something really wonderful in it.”
“Oh, do you?”
“Yes. Something really wonderful. The most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Huh, and what would that be?”
“You yesterday, risking your life for everyone.”
“……Cough.”
He almost choked.
But Emily went on, whether she noticed or not.
“Yesterday was really scary.”
“I see.”
“Yes. I thought I was going to die. Up there, at the top of the stairs.”
“Here?”
“Yeah. I was surrounded. By locusts.”
“Must have wanted to faint.”
“But then you appeared, young master.”
“……Ah, I’m hungry. Let’s hurry.”
He felt so embarrassed he wanted to die.
Lloyd hurried his steps.
He tried to get to the dining room first, passing Emily.
But then—
“Um, young master.”
Emily’s voice came from behind, catching him like a tug on his sleeve.
Before he could respond, she bowed her head deeply.
“Thank you.”
“…….”
“You saved me. Thank you. My little brother and my grandmother too, you saved all of us. You’re a lifesaver, young master.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes. Please enjoy your dinner.”
“Thanks.”
In the face of such open-hearted sincerity, there was nothing to say.
Emily dashed away, her face beet red.
Lloyd couldn’t help but give a wry smile at her retreating figure.
At that moment—
Ding-dong.
[You have shown heroic courage and determination by risking your life for all the residents of Frontera Estate and Lacona Viscounty.]
[The people of both territories have been deeply moved and are showering you with praise.]
[A new <Praise System> has been created for you.]