Chapter 10 – Revenge (2)

Gerst and Malcolm were gathered in a room, tilting their goblets. It was these two who had sent the assassins to kill the rookie knight.

Starting with silencing their subordinates, they had many stories to coordinate with each other.

“Our subordinates are late.”

“Don’t worry. Is the underground sewer anything but vast? It probably takes some time to find him.”

“Could they have crossed paths?”

“No, I received contact from a subordinate who was infiltrated in the tavern. He said they successfully took up positions behind them.”

The two did not think this plan would fail in the first place. Thirty. As many as thirty people.

Among them, experienced soldiers and squires were also mixed.

Just two humans capturing the cultists, let alone thirty armed soldiers?

It was nonsense. Malcolm spoke in a voice of concern.

“Even if we leave the squires and soldiers aside, wouldn’t it be better to kill the hired thugs?”

Gerst also contemplated deeply and soon nodded.

“Hmph. Who would listen to the words of guys who infest the city? But it’s better to be sure. I see. I’ll do as you say.”

As empty bottles rolled on the floor one by one and the two’s faces turned redder, their conversation began to flow without restraint.

“Grr. That cheeky bastard. How dare a guy who’s still wet behind the ears!”

Gerst frowned and stroked his bandaged hand. It was almost healed.

Malcolm also spoke, splattering spit.

“Did you see him making a move on Lady Veronica? I wanted to split his head open right then and there…”

“You endured well. Endured well. In the end, didn’t we win?”

“Thanks to you, Sir Gerst. Hahahahaha.”

The atmosphere was incredibly good. Thanks to the war with Bates, other knights had died too, so naturally the status of the two knights rose.

Yes, if things only continued like this in the future, there would be nothing more to wish for.

At the moment the two were laughing and chatting,

“Ur… Urgent news!”

the door slammed open, and one of the soldiers under Gerst’s command rushed in headlong.

He had come so quickly that he kept panting heavily.

“You crazy bastard! Have you eaten your manners? What on earth is this commotion!”

The heavily drunk Malcolm cursed at the soldier.

“Hans. Shouldn’t you be guarding the castle gate by now? Ah. No way. Is it because of that?”

Gerst smiled fishily as if he had been waiting. ‘You finally brought the news!’

Gerst asked in a subtle voice.

“Yes, where are the heads of that guy and girl?”

“Th… That is.”

The soldier hesitated. Because he couldn’t grasp how to deliver this shocking news.

As he dawdled, Malcolm threw his wine cup and urged him.

“You punk! Why are you dawdling like this? Do you need a whip strike to snap out of it?”

“Malcolm. Calm down. Hans, you are not like yourself today. Speak calmly.”

Hans panted. And closing his eyes, he spoke loudly.

“They… they have returned.”

“As expected!”

“Hahaha. It’s finished, Sir Gerst.”

“We must bestow a reward. Yes, where is everyone?”

Gerst and Malcolm clapped their hands in joy. Their subordinates had returned.

What that meant was only one thing. Finally, the obstacle was dead.

Even the shred of anxiety remaining in their hearts had completely vanished.

“Sir Veloc has returned. They say he is heading to the lord right now.”

“What?”

The two knights felt their drunkenness fade completely.

Veloc, who had gone on a reconnaissance mission to inspect the movements of the cultists, had returned. The news that came was shocking.

Not only were the cultists secretly active in the underground of the city, but to make matters worse, Malcolm and Gerst had sent assassins to kill Veloc and steal his achievements.

What on earth was this bolt from the blue?! In the middle of the night, a trial was suddenly held.

“This is an absurd frame-up! My Lord. Do you believe the words of that wanderer?”

“Indeed. That we sent assassins to murder a colleague is something even a passing dog would laugh at.”

Along with the two knights singled out as the culprits, the lord who came out in his nightwear, his daughter, and the internal administrator all gathered in one place.

The two knights couldn’t pull themselves together, but they denied it for now. Whether Veloc had returned alive or carried a strange bag stained with blood, all they could do was deny.

The fortunate thing was that they had shared joys and sorrows with the Lord of Roben for decades. A bond that had been together almost since the founders of their families!

Didn’t they say charity begins at home? The two knights believed in the lack of evidence and their affection with the lord.

“That Sir Gerst and Sir Malcolm sent assassins to kill you… Let’s put that aside for now. More than that, did you really kill them all? The cultists are by no means easy opponents.”

The lord asked about the cultists first. No, frankly speaking, it was denial of reality.

He didn’t want to think that the two knights he trusted had committed such a deed.

The words he had spoken in front of Veloc about having to cast out the two knights were also exaggerated to some extent. Done to fuel this young knight’s motivation.

The lord couldn’t easily cast them out. Decades had passed since the two knight families served the Lord of Roben. Naturally, there were also regional factions within the territory entangled with them.

“Yes! In terms of common sense, doesn’t it make no sense? How on earth did just the two of them capture all those numerous cultists?!”

Gerst shifted the topic of conversation as if it was a good thing. The internal administrator, who was close to the two knights, also looked at Veloc suspiciously.

Only Veronica stared at Veloc with worry.

Veloc chuckled at the not-very-favorable response. That the two knights would deny it and that the lord would side with them was within his expected range.

Even thinking reasonably, it was natural to believe the words of the subordinates watched for decades rather than the words of a rookie knight who had arrived just a few weeks ago.

‘Adel. Thank you.’

Veloc expressed gratitude to his subordinate Adel, who was obsessed with the heads of the enemies at this moment.

“If it’s evidence, there is more than enough here.”

Veloc untied the pouch he held in his hand.

Roll, roll.

“Aaaack!”

The heads of the cultists rolled on the floor. Clattering, the cursed items used in the ritual also revealed themselves.

Veronica screamed, covering her mouth at the shocking sight. The lord and the internal administrator nodded. There really were cultists.

To think he had even subjugated them. However, Gerst, who wanted to shift the topic of conversation, denied it until the end.

“Didn’t he just cut off the necks of refugees wandering the underground? A more certain…”

“Even if you didn’t say so, I was about to do that. Come in.”

Cutting off Gerst’s words, Veloc spoke in a loud voice.

Then, the door of the hall opened, and an elderly priest with a grey beard entered.

The clergyman in charge of the Roben Church. Anton.

“Priest Anton? Sir Veloc! Have you drawn the Church in right now?!”

The Lord of Roben spoke with an enraged face.

The lord was the one who had sent Veloc separately because he didn’t want to make an awkward request to the Church.

But since that knight dragged in an external power, his blood could only boil.

Veloc nodded with a calm face.

‘Even if I claim it, they’ll just look with suspicion anyway.’

He had to utilize everything he could.

For him, he needed a force that could add weight to his words.

The Church was also the one that sent the tip-off about the existence of the cultists first.

When Veloc showed them their heads and asked them to be a witness, they welcomed it greatly.

“My Lord. Didn’t Sir Gerst say so? That more certain evidence is needed. That is why I summoned him.”

Veloc shifted the blame to the suspicious Gerst. It was a sophistry, but enough to diminish the lord’s favor toward them.

“Just as he said, Lord. I have simply been concerned that the achievement of this faithful knight would be disparaged.”

The leader of the clergymen in charge of the Roben Church, Priest Anton, drew the sign of the cross. And then, glancing slightly at the evidence Veloc had brought, he continued.

“I swear in the name of God. These are indeed a crowd of heretics. The guys we were chasing. Baphomet’s whore, Ivlette, and her gang.”

“Th… That!”

An oath sworn by the Church’s priest in the name of God. Denying it meant blasphemy.

The Lord of Roben spoke while looking at Gerst and Malcolm. His gaze was colder than earlier.

“Are you satisfied?”

“Y… Yes.”

Gerst shut his mouth tightly. Veloc spoke.

“My Lord. I have successfully fulfilled the task you entrusted to me. Now it seems the time has come to return to the story.”

“Hmm…”

The Lord of Roben nodded heavily. Inside his heart, suspicion toward Malcolm and Gerst was gradually sprouting.

“After subjugating the heretical crowd, I was soon attacked by unidentified masked men. Having barely defeated them, when I looked at their faces, they were familiar faces.”

Veloc, having finished speaking, smirked while looking at Malcolm and Gerst. The color completely drained from Gerst and Malcolm’s faces.

What a fucking… no, nonsensical thing. To think that, following the heretical crowd, just the two of them captured and killed their subordinates, dozens of them?

The two wanted to deny it until the end, but they had no choice but to believe Veloc’s subsequent words.

“There is evidence, and of course, a witness. Adel! Drag the guy in!”

As Veloc spoke in a loud voice, the door of the hall opened once again. Adel dragged in the battered Sanson.

“You!”

Recognizing the face of Gerst’s squire Sanson, the Lord of Roben opened his eyes wide. Malcolm and Gerst’s faces turned visibly pale.

Adel threw the dragged Sanson onto the floor.

“Ggggh…”

Though his face was covered in bruises and his leg was broken due to how severely he was beaten, there was no threat to his life. She had beaten him while avoiding vital points.

She stepped heavily on Sanson’s stomach. Sanson trembled like crazy.

The appearance of the squire who overflowed with confidence at the banquet hall was nowhere to be found.

There was only a human struggling to survive. Primal violence was just that terrifying.

“Keugh. St… Stop.”

Adel smiled. And she shouted in a loud voice.

“You cowardly knight’s squire! Disclose your gang’s sins in detail right here!”

At the booming voice, Sanson observed the inside of the hall with trembling eyes.

The lord and Veronica at the seat of honor, the internal administrator, Priest Anton who served God, and his masters Gerst and Malcolm were visible.

The faces of the two knights were frozen like stone. The two frantically rolled their eyes. A signal to keep his mouth shut somehow. The moment he opened his mouth,

they would be headed for the gallows.

At that signal, Sanson’s gaze wavered.

‘Damn it. Can’t they see the state I’m in? No, even so.’

For a moment, Sanson hesitated. Whether he died speaking or died not speaking, if he died, wouldn’t it be better to keep loyalty to his master at least?

Reading that sign, Adel wore a crooked smile. She bowed politely to the Lord of Roben.

“My Lord. Please forgive my temporary rudeness.”

“Hmm?”

Leaving the lord’s question behind, Adel stomped her toe on Sanson’s crotch. With a crushing sound, Sanson let out a bizarre scream.

“Aaargh!”

At that horrific sight, Veronica gaped, and the men inside the hall shut their eyes tightly.

Watching the wailing Sanson for a moment, Adel gently brushed her hair back. And then she whispered in his ear.

“It seems you haven’t been beaten enough yet. Go ahead and tell a lie. Next time, I will gouge those eyeballs out.”

A sweet voice, yet content that was not.

With pain that felt like his mind was blanking out, Sanson felt all hesitation vanish. He spoke as if splattering spit.

“All of it! All of it! Gerst and Malcolm ordered it! All of it!”

Throwing away even the honorifics, Sanson disclosed all the sins he had committed in detail.

He babbled, but the contents contained within were understandable to everyone.

The two knights conspired to kill the newly invested knight!

And that, blinded by jealousy! At that cowardly behavior, Veronica covered her mouth with her hand, and the lord contorted his face as it was.

Thud!

“N… No.”

Malcolm slumped as if everything was ruined, but Gerst did not give up. He claimed innocence until the end, splattering spit.

“A frame-up… It is a frame-up! The two of them coordinated their stories.”

“A man with truly no honor whatsoever. You intend to deny it until the end? Adel!”

Veloc sneered coldly at the middle-aged knight’s ugly struggles. He called his squire again.

Adel threw another bag held in her other hand onto the floor.

Roll, roll.

“Aaaack!”

Other heads rolled on the floor. Veronica, who had barely calmed down, screamed again.

Seeing this, the lord narrowed his eyes. They were all familiar faces. The faces of the soldiers in charge of guarding the castle. Along with a witness, with indisputable evidence, everything matched perfectly.

“Haha. The state of your house is a mess, Lord of Roben.”

Priest Anton sneered, stroking his beard.

The Lord of Roben’s thick double chin trembled.

The Church and the nobility had endlessly kept each other in check and clashed.

But of all times, at this moment,

the shame he least wanted to show was discovered by the opponent he least wanted to show it to!

To a noble with blue blood, pride and honor were everything!

The Lord of Roben’s rationality snapped completely.

His pupils dilated, and his brilliant eyes began to shine.

Resentment toward Veloc for dragging the Church in had vanished like melting snow before he knew it.

The place where his anger was directed now was, of course, the two knights who had brought insult to him by engaging in such deeds.

“You sons of bitches!”

The Lord of Roben slammed the armrest of his chair. He shouted like thunder.

“You bastards won’t die easily even in death! How dare you bring such disgrace to me?! Guard! Take these sinners immediately!”

“Aaaaargh!.”

Cutting off the lord’s words, Gerst suddenly drew his sword.

Clang!

A bone-chilling sword sound rang through the hall.

“Gasp. You! Have you gone mad?!”

The internal administrator blocked the front of the lord and shouted. Gerst untied the bandages wrapping his hand.

And then, he glared at the lord and his daughter with burning eyes.

“You are the ones who are mad! How much have I done for this territory all this time, and you throw me away like this?”

Panting while catching his breath for a moment, Gerst spoke harshly.

“Malcolm! You stupid bastard! What are you doing? Draw your sword immediately!”