I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 450: An Ugly Sight

After witnessing Irene cowering in pain before, William was quick to return to the knight’s side, and he fretted over trying to help her remove her arm plate. However, he hesitated to touch the knight.

That was perhaps the one issue with newer apprentices and a woman knight—at times, they were afraid to lay a hand on her. For them, they hadn’t spent a lifetime at her side and were unsure of how to treat this woman who was supposed to be a noble yet was supposed to be one of their brothers as well.

Felix, who was none the wiser to the situation, stalked into the forest to retrieve the two others of his party, unsure of what they were doing. They certainly weren’t helping stack up the goblin bodies, so that they could get moving. What could be of more importance?

However, his feet moved more quickly when he saw that William was hovering over Irene.

"You go help Nathan burn the goblins somewhere wet so the fire doesn’t spread," Felix ordered. "I will help the dame."

"Yes, sir!" William bowed quickly before he sprang off on his way, attending to something that he was a bit more used to.

"Stop," Felix quietly ordered Irene, and he flattened her hands that were unhelpfully moving against her plate and the straps. "I’ve got it."

Seeing as she knew she could trust Felix, she did as she was told, but it didn’t stop the grimace on her face.

"It burns, Felix," she managed through clenched teeth.

As the final leather strap was undone, the older knight allowed the plate to fall on the ground. Irene was far enough from the water that it wouldn’t sink, so he paid it no mind. His focus was on whatever ailed his friend and closest knight.

"What on earth?" Felix asked as her arm was revealed.

"A Nok," Irene explained, her voice a bit unstable.

"We have to get this washed off!" Felix persisted, but his thoughts were half on his friend and half on the danger. "Where’s the beast?"

"Stabbed it with iron already," Irene explained. "Not to worry."

Felix breathed a sigh of relief, but his worries didn’t cease entirely as he instead began to drag Irene out of the forest so that he could access his water skin. It wasn’t something that fit well over his plate armor, so it stayed on his horse. He also didn’t trust the water in the melted ponds, considering there was a Nok there in the first place. The possibility of more monsters was certainly a reasonable expectation.

Irene merely allowed herself to be dragged around. The cool air touching her open wound was absolutely biting. She still hadn’t gotten a good look at it, considering the way Felix was holding onto her.

However, they made it out of the forest and saw that the apprentices were still focused on their task. Since Felix’s horse was closer to where they were, he quickly undid the cork on his teardrop-shaped waterskin and began pouring it over the other knight’s arm without warning.

Irene hissed in pain, causing her to sink her fingertips into Felix’s arm since he wouldn’t allow her to wrench her hand away. Fortunately, he was wearing plate armor as well, so he didn’t even feel more than pressure from her grip of pressing two plates together.

"We have to make sure the spit is completely off, or it’s going to melt off your skin," Felix explained. "Bear with me for a bit."

With no other choice, Irene merely let her head hang until the older knight was finished with his tormenting.

However, even with the water off, there was still a horrible, almost itchy sort of feeling, and she lifted her gloved hand to wipe the wound further.

Felix knew it was likely to happen, and he grabbed her hands yet again.

"You’re going to wipe off what’s left of the skin if you touch it right now," he explained. "We’re going to have to wrap it in oiled bandages so they don’t stick and find a healer at the next village. Your shirt is done for. We’re lucky it didn’t get deeper in your flesh."

"It itches so damn badly," she cursed. "Feels like itching, it will cure whatever the hell is happening to me."

"You’re a bit young to bear such an ugly scar," Felix insisted with a sardonic smirk. "Control yourself."

A joke that normally hit well, considering she didn’t care all that much for her appearance, struck Irene more than it should have. Would it be unattractive if her arm were particularly messed up? She already had plenty of blemishes in the form of smaller scars and freckles, but what if...

The knight held up her arm and finally turned it fully towards herself. What wasn’t an open wound was blistering. It was admittedly quite ugly.

Irene’s darting eyes and changing expression as she got caught up in her thoughts made Felix narrow his eyes, but he didn’t say more. Perhaps even someone like Irene

"Now, hold still so I can wrap your arm," he said as he turned to his saddlebags and found the required items. Luckily, the apprentices had prepared a few rolls of bandages soaked in animal fat in case there was a wound that needed a moist wrap.

After a few cringes of pain but holding it mostly together, Irene’s arm was wrapped with a dry bandage on the outside as well, so she could retrieve the rest of her armor from the forest.

"I smell burning," Felix explained. "Meet us towards the east of the forest. I believe the apprentices should be nearly finished."

Irene did as she was told, but when she had her plate over her arm, it took a bit to get used to the awful feeling of anything scraping over her arm. But she was a knight long enough not to complain about anything that ailed her, because she refused to be underestimated because of something that didn’t take her out completely.

Since Felix had taken his horse and the carriage was much further away, all Irene had to do was bring Sammy towards where the others were diligently cleaning up. She dismounted the horse and decided to lend a hand.

The more quickly they could get out of there, the faster they would get to the village...

And the faster they would make it back to the Duke’s Tower.