2 The Doors Opened (Part 1)

Gentle wind made the leaves rustle, and birds chirped all around.

In a forest where vegetation was thickly spread out, stationed several soldiers guarding a particular area. They wore plain steel armor and helmets as they stood under the shade of tall trees.

The guards held spears and some had swords hanging on their waist. They were bored to death since nothing really happened here. The monsters had also been dealt with a long long time ago, and whenever a new one appeared, it would easily be dealt with.

The stronger ones would be handled by the knight assigned here. She was a beautiful female knight, young, she was around her early twenties. She had short light brown hair and green eyes.

She donned a gold and black armor, finely designed and made, a crest in the form of a rose and feathers were on the shoulders. By her waist was an extravagant sheathed sword, on its hilt was a precious red gemstone embedded within which can be seen on both sides. All of these were magic items.

Her armor provided greater protection against slashing attacks, and could repel any bludgeoning attacks once a day. In addition, it provided a faster movement speed to the user which was the most essential attribute of the armor which the woman was proud of.

Then her sword had the attribute of frost which can freeze a weak opponent or slow a stronger one. Needless to say, these were all incredibly expensive to obtain. But this woman was one of the elite knights of the Kels Kingdom which the capital lies about west, so she was able to have them. Not only that, but she was also a noble, the third daughter of an Earl.

She was sent here to the forest as a support and commander for a month. She didn't mind being left here since it was her duty to follow what was ordered. Her Noble rank meant nothing much in the order of knights.

That being said, it was finally her last day and she would be replaced. All she had to do now was to wait for the next knight. After that, she would then leave tomorrow morning to set out for the capital city.

This knight's name was Heiness Zeres. At the moment, she was looking down on a fairly large path descending down from the surface level of the ground. Beyond the path were tall and wide sets of stone doors.

This was the place they were ordered to specifically watch. In the past, she had heard that a large team was first sent to guard this place, but as time passed, the number lowered as there was no threat to be found. Until only two dozens of guards were left here and one knight to oversee them was appointed to lead them in rotation.

There had been times that it had been requested to withdraw all forces, but the hero king strongly refused along with a few other heroes.

Furthermore, no one has been inside that place for it was forbidden. But that was not the only reason. That other reason was that they couldn't open the doors no matter what they did.

It was then she heard the sound of clunking metal plates coming towards her.

She turned around and a soldier bowed his head to report.

"Ma'am, the knight to take your position has arrived and he awaits at the cabin."

"Understood. I will go. Everyone, don't slack off."

She said in a joking manner and the several common soldiers around chuckled in response.

"Yes, maam!"

With that she left them and headed straight to their outpost. Their outposts consisted of a few cabins, big and small. Since soldiers had been sent here for a long time now, it was decided a long time ago that it would be better to build cabins, using the trees from the surroundings.

The largest cabin consisting of a few rooms were used by the knights, while the smaller ones were for the soldiers.

When she arrived, the soldiers greeted her with a bow, and she returned a nod.

She opened the door of the big cabin upon arrival and immediately saw a male knight sitting straight on the chair as his hands laid on the table. He smiled when he saw her.

"Hey, Heiness."

The man appeared to be in his mid twenties. He had green hair reminiscent of the green nature around them, and he had dark yellow eyes. The man was quite handsome that Heiness herself was often impressed. But she already had someone she loves, so she couldn't fall for this one.

"Neolen."

Neolen Herven, a knight who had been one longer than her and her senior. But they held each other with respect and treated each other equally, thus there was no need for any honorifics.

"Can't say I'm not surprised that you are assigned here."

"It's boring in the city, so I would like to try something new once in a while, so when I was ordered, I couldn't be more excited."

Heiness sat down opposite him.

"Well, this isn't exactly a good place to enjoy your time. I can't even sleep that much because of the mosquitoes."

"Well, that's one of the thrills isn't it? The workings of nature, and it is around us. There's nothing to do anyways, no war, no fight, as should be expected when the nation is under the same Alliance. So, I can't be choosy about where things could bring me excitement and new experiences. But, this isn't exactly the first time I've been to a forest, but to stay here for a month? Not yet, so it's fine."

More than half a century ago, the Demon King was defeated by the heroes. However, after that, another chaos ensued and later on, the Grand Alliance was formed, headed by the heroes which survived. Some of them even had even ruled their own kingdoms, even now. That in turn brought a time of peace.

"Hm, I can't really exactly say that this mission is even important. There's nothing here but trees and animals. Why are the heroes even wary here?" Heiness asked.

"About a hundred years had passed, and they still wanted this place to be watched. Haven't you heard anything?"

"Not much about this place, it was just that the heroes declared this place as a forbidden zone one hundred years ago. I heard it was a serious situation."

"Oh yes, whatever is inside that cave, made the heroes themselves feel fear. I suspect because of trauma."

"Trauma?"

"A hundred years ago, the knights assigned to escort the heroes to check what was beyond the door were all eliminated. A few heroes had also been killed. No one knows how the rest escaped since not any of the heroes explicitly said how, but only said they managed to with luck."

"Then it must have been a truly terrible experience then."

The hero king of the Kels Kingdom was one of the heroes that experienced this, and was very eager to keep it watched as long as he was alive. That would surely be a long time since he, and the other surviving heroes, were pretty much alive. During the passage of time, it was discovered that heroes lived a very long time.

Even though a hundred years had passed since their arrival, they still appeared to be in their early thirties. This just goes to show how remarkable they were.

"But still, I wonder what's inside," Neolen muttered.

"Well, whatever it is, perhaps it's for the best to be left alone. Besides, the doors are sealed and couldn't be opened, there is nothing we can do about it."

"I guess…... Say, you're heading straight to the capital, yes? Will you be returning straight to your home?"

"Yes, my younger brother should be debuting as a knight in the capital, and I wanted to congratulate him and bring him home with glory."

"Hahahaha! That's good! Give him my regards."

"Sure."

"Ah, by the way, how's your marriage plan? I heard things are pretty planned out now."

"Um, no… last time there were some complications, me as a knight and all."

"Huh, I suppose that's expected, you're one of the good ones in the order, so it's hard to let you go."

Heiness chuckled.

"I'm also confused as to what I should do, but…"

"Hm, you love the man, don't you?"

"... Yes… Maybe I'll leave the knights after all, once it has perfectly worked out between families."

"Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. But, you know it is nice to rest. I imagine it will be way better with a partner by your side."

"What about you, Neolen? No lady to pluck the strings of your heart, or the other way around?"

"Hehehe, the other way around has plenty, but no. I'm not planning yet, I still have a lot of things planned to do. And marriage will be a big obstacle for my freedom."

"Careful, you might die alone at this rate."

"Heh, I'll be fine."

"If you say so. Then I'll be leaving things to you then, I shall be leaving tomorrow morning."

Neolen nodded.

"Alright, I guess I should check things around first."

It was then that they heard loud thuds of steps from the wooden floor and followed by a loud knocking.

"Ma'am Heiness, I have an urgent situation to report!"

He sounded so flustered. The two knights stared at each other in puzzlement.

"Enter!" Heiness loudly said and the knight entered.

"Ma'am, Sir! The, The doors had suddenly opened!"

"What?!"