CHAPTER 269: UNLIKELY KNIGHT WORK

Early morning in the southeastern corner of the duchy. This area was surrounded by mountains and cliffs that looked over the severe floodplains at the very southern end of Chemois.

Autumn was always so brief in this area of the kingdom, which was why Irene and Felix felt the need to rush through the duchy in hopes that the people would feel comforted, even though they would have a brief amount of time at each place.

However, they experienced rain after seeing Stanley at a township in the south central region, and when the sun finally came out to greet them, it felt like a false summer had returned to them.

Both knights rode with their cloaks hanging behind them. Underneath the silvery armor they wore, they were both overheating. Because of this, Irene opted to take off her helmet entirely, and it rested between her thighs so there was no way of it coming loose and being lost to the hoofbeats on the ground as they went north from where they were.

Luck had been on their side as monsters stayed away. Despite their caution, it felt like the safest Chemois had been in a long time. The sheer number of monsters they killed during the war was taken into account. Their hard work felt like it meant something.

They were closing in on the furthest eastern township, but it would take another day to get there. Luckily, they passed a village they were already familiar with. Felix had rescued the reeve’s daughter from goblins before and maintained a good relationship.

As they closed in on the village, the two knights heard shouting, and they were shocked as they rounded a small forest that led to the edge of a river. A bridge had collapsed, cutting the village in two.

One would think a knight’s only duty was to lay down their sword when needed, but the truth was that they became skilled at a lot of things. Despite the titles they carried, they were meant to do anything in their power to help the average person. It was one of the first rules of chivalry and one that both Felix and Irene found important.

"Faster," Felix ordered, and he squeezed his knees so his horse would respond.

Irene did the same, and they went all the way until they were able to dismount their horses at the riverbank.

Seeing as the water was up to one of the men’s waists, Irene and Felix began stripping out of their armor. Otherwise, they were going to get washed away with the logs that had floated downstream after the bridge’s collapse.

It was done much more quickly than it was when the autumn winterization trip began. She was getting used to the plate armor and helmet. Even though she still found it inhibiting at times, she could move almost naturally.

Irene followed Felix’s lead as he jumped off the steep riverbank and into the shallow but fast-moving water. The very reeve whom Felix sought in the first place was one of the ones with the water to his waist as he tried to keep things together and salvage what he could.

The biting cold of the water didn’t even occur to the two knights as they helped.

"Remove the broken post!" the reeve ordered the men. "We must get another one up or we will lose half of our livestock!"

Considering the weight that went over the bridge, the broken post had rotted and settled down into the muddy riverbed quite heavily. It had to be at least a foot settled, which was another reason why they weren’t able to get it out so easily.

A few of the men had axed down the post so that it was a foot underneath the water. However, from that point, it was going to be much harder to take it from the riverbed. They needed every piece of the wood out of the dirt, but breaking it was going to make it more difficult to ensure that all of the wood was removed.

While a few argued about the logistics of what they were going to attempt, Irene came up with an idea on her own. She gently tapped Felix on the shoulder, who was merely quietly listening from the side, until they decided that there was something they could do.

"Sir Felix, please don’t let me float away," she requested.

Felix’s eyebrows lowered.

Luckily, Irene’s hair was already tied into a braid to fit underneath her helmet and stay out of her face while she rode her horse.

"What on Earth?" Felix asked, but he was cut off when Irene ducked underneath the water and went to the base of the post.

Having swum in rivers for much of her childhood and because her family’s lands were on the edge of the floodplains, Irene at least knew how to swim in a rough current and how to remain on the bottom.

She also knew that there were slippery, flat rocks that covered the bottoms of these waterways. It gave her an idea that she ought to try and wedge one of the thin rocks against the post, perhaps with enough leverage, they could at least move the post a bit. Even if it destroyed the post and the rock in the process, at least it would be primed for another post.

The second she was under the water, she knew she had to open her eyes, but it was quite difficult considering the amount of people in the river had kicked up a lot of dirt. Fortunately for her, the slippery, large rocks were easy to find with her hands. When she was clinging to one of the larger ones, it was much easier to stay towards the bottom of the water.

Irene pushed her way forward, with the stone working her arm muscles to their limit. When she finally had the stone pushed against the base of the post, she had to come up for air.

Felix made sure to stay close to her and dutifully ensured that she wouldn’t float away just as she requested.

With a gasp at how long she had been holding her breath, she ran her hands over her face and looked at those who were staring at her in shock. By their expressions, she thought she had mud or something awful on her face.

"Yes?" she wondered, worried.

She turned to Felix with lowered eyebrows, giving her superior a questioning look that asked why the others were looking at her so strangely.

However, it wasn’t for the reason she was expecting.

"A woman?" the reeve asked in disbelief. "You’ve brought a woman with you, Sir Felix?"

Surprisingly, they had gotten rather lucky throughout the duchy, with people mostly dismissing the fact that Irene was a woman. Considering she was in knight’s armor, they couldn’t question her merits.

Now that she was there working alongside men and without her armor, the reeve was in doubt as to why she was there in the first place.

"The only other highest-ranked knight in my knighthood, my lord," the blonde knight explained. "Also, the one who seems to be helping you the most out of this situation."

Before the reeve could argue about this point further, he was shocked to see that Irene had gone to the steep riverbank where men were. She had requested hammers or something strong enough to hit the wedged-in river rock. Even the back of axes might do well enough.

Rather than get stuck on the small details, such as whether or not she was able to actually help them, she decided to be productive. While they had said it was an emergency, the bridge had collapsed, and they weren’t acting like it by what they chose to focus on.

The girl had two rock mallets in her hands while she returned to the others. One, she handed to Felix, and she continued to ignore the others until she was able to start banging on the rock herself and get enough leverage that the post started being pushed from the muddy riverbed.

It was with Sir Felix’s help that she was finally able to remove the post entirely. Even though their hits against the stone wedged inside were clumsy due to the water interfering, they eventually succeeded.

However, instead of praises, there was shouting from the village, and the two were alerted about a couple of goblins in the area.

Having no other choice, the two rushed forward on a more gradual path along the riverbed that allowed them to get to where the people were calling for help.

Even with wet swords and clothing, they were still effective enough to take down a handful of goblins who didn’t seem to be affected by the poison at all. They were dumb creatures as they were supposed to be.

Irene took two by herself, while Felix took three.

When they were finally stacking the bodies, the reeve who had been at the bridge walked forward, more cowardly than he was before.

"You will have to forgive me for such a remark," he requested of the knights.