13 (64)

“You want me to help…?”

“That is right.”

“I, Avan Keil, request the right of legitimate exercise granted by God. You must submit to my interrogation.”

“That is not what I meant. Even if you question me, nothing will come out.”

“Deciding whether something comes out or not is…”

Louis smiled faintly and offered him a seat. Avan Keil, who had been about to say something, scratched his chin a few times at Louis’s natural and relaxed manner, then sat down. Mitchell Kulin thought he had been right to come here. It was rare to see Sir Avan Keil unable to force someone to comply. More than anything, he had an instinctive feeling that there was something behind Louis’s attitude, and it gave him enough discomfort to blow away his regret at not going north. Louis spoke.

“The same method as before will not work.”

“…!”

“First, there is no way you can do anything to me. I have the ability to face you. And even if you used such a method, it would not be the legitimate exercise of God’s right. And this is important.”

“That is a statement that makes my blood boil, Lord Louis.”

“I am no longer a lord. I am the king of this country.”

“May I test that?”

His face carried a chill, and the atmosphere was so sharp that not even a dagger seemed able to enter.

“Of course not. Because if you did, the rights and justice you follow would be sullied.”

“I would appreciate it if you chose your words carefully.”

“But it is true. In the neighboring territory right now, there is someone you would covet.”

“…!”

“He is a man named Nestor. Do you know the name? From what I hear, he holds quite a high position in one of the secret black mage cults…”

“Nestor… Nestor… My. Is that true?”

“It is.”

At that moment, Mitchell Kulin cut in.

“Lord Keil. If it is Nestor…”

“Yes. He is a suspect in the Saint Kistiel Incident.”

Louis did not know about the Saint Kistiel Incident, but at the very least, he understood that the man named Nestor had been imprinted in their minds as a serious criminal. This would make explaining things much easier. Avan Keil straightened his posture, sighed, and muttered.

“If that is the case, we must investigate that side first. The Grand Duke comes after that…”

“There will be no next time. The cause of the incident that brought you here was entirely provided by that man. Among my vassals, there was a man called Marquis Vesk who had been cooperating with Nestor, and I captured him and sent him to the Papal Court. Sir Avan Keil likely came here to clarify the circumstances more precisely. In any case, we now have a common enemy.”

“Do not speak the words ‘common enemy’ so lightly. What you have said is only unverified information. Until investigators are dispatched separately and obtain information, everything must follow procedure.”

At that moment, a troubled-looking man entered. His white armor gleamed. The elderly knight, whose flowing white beard stood out, hurriedly walked over to Avan Keil.

“Sir Keil. This is extremely important.”

“Speak, Sir Layton.”

“…An evil energy has been detected. Its location is the Kingdom of Ruderwin. It seems we took the wrong direction. This is the first time in ten years that I have sensed such blatant energy. At the very least… it is presumed that a large-scale massacre has already been carried out, or that a ritual to summon a high-ranking demon is being prepared. If it is at this level, headquarters must have detected it as well. Immediate action appears necessary. We have no time for this.”

Wrinkles formed on Avan Keil’s forehead. Louis cut in.

“That is why I told you. A ‘common enemy.’ We need cooperation. For the sake of justice. I am already being attacked by that man called Nestor. That is why I have decided to launch a full-scale attack against him. Therefore, Sir Avan Keil, I request this of you. Your knight order. I ask for your cooperation.”

Avan Keil lowered his head briefly, then spoke.

“I refuse that proposal. Our knight order is an independent entity. We do not easily cooperate with anyone, and we carry out God’s judgment.”

“…”

“You two, listen. I, Avan Keil, and the Flash Knight Order will head to the Kingdom of Ruderwin immediately to prevent bloodshed in this incident.”

The old knight Layton spoke in a worried voice.

“It may be difficult with only us. Perhaps you should listen more to Lord Louis’s opinion…”

“We will not simply attack the place. Headquarters must already be sending forces. We will go there first and secure a foothold.”

Then the three of them hurriedly left. The hall grew quiet. Louis was somewhat troubled by the unexpected situation he had not predicted, but Christina, who appeared next, spoke.

“It is fine. The broad framework has not changed.”

“What about the details?”

“I will revise them further and report to you today.”

“Understood.”

At last, the war between Louis and Nestor was about to begin.

Deep dawn. Around five horses, or perhaps white horses, were racing across the plain like arrows. The plain was vast. The brown-tinged grass, reaching up to the waist, fluttered in every direction. Clear tracks remained where the horses passed. And drops of blood fell there. The white horses shook even more violently in the fierce wind.

On the second horse from the front was Mitchell Kulin. Urgency was written on his youthful face beneath his fluttering blond hair. His helmet was nowhere to be seen. Several of the sacred crests on the armor he wore, which formed a great barrier, had faded. They had either exhausted their effects or been destroyed.

Because the drops of blood were drying, there was no trace left of the dazzling brilliance his white armor had displayed not long ago. Directly in front of him, one knight was hanging on while bleeding. Most of the blood was his, and his injuries were extremely severe. Blood was flowing down over the horse’s mane. The injury was in his abdomen, and in truth, it was a deep wound that might require him to prepare for death.

The owner of the wound was the old knight Layton. His complexion was pale. His breathing was rough, and although he had not lost consciousness, he was facing a desperate situation where it would not be strange if he collapsed at any moment.

“Damn it… damn it… damn it!!”

Mitchell Kulin’s mind was a mess. It felt as though someone had set fire to the ash shed inside his head. That was how much this situation was the worst of the worst among all the situations he had faced so far. Starting with the threadlike life leaning on him right now, he was even unsure whether he himself, who was being pursued, would survive.

Moreover, with the Flash Knight Order having been defeated, he had no idea how many had survived, and his greatest worry was Avan Keil. As the person in charge, he had blocked the enemy from the rear until the end. After the chaos that followed, the only thing Kulin remembered was hearing his voice give the final order to retreat.

“I… am going to die.”

“Sir Layton. Do not say that!”

“Calm down, kid.”

“I told you not to call me a kid!”

“Right. Once you go through something like this, you are no longer a boy.”

“From now on, do not say you are going to die!”

“Fine… fine.”

“…”

“How is my wound? Is it serious?”

“It is nothing. Just a scratch.”

“Tell me honestly.”

“I… I do not know! What I do know is that you will not die!”

“Haha. Kulin.”

“What?”

“You trained in combat, but you failed when it came to healing, did you not?”

“Do not remember strange things! What is certain is that you will get better.”

The conversation ended there. Mitchell Kulin crossed the rest of the plain and was entering a new road. Before that, he had to stop the horses for a moment. Because the horses had covered a long distance, they were on the verge of dying from overwork at any moment.

“This much should be fine.”

Someone said that, and the others, including Kulin, agreed before hurriedly taking positions. Kulin carried the old knight, who looked close to death, and laid him down in a suitable place.

“Sir Layton. Even after this, am I still a kid to you? Say something. Huh? I told you to say something.”

Kulin kept speaking to Layton so he would not lose consciousness while removing his armor piece by piece. The shattered armor was soaked with blood. It was an injury on a completely different level from Kulin’s own, whose only damage was a few faded crests.

“Hold on just a little. If we go just a little farther, it is the place Sir Keil told us to meet. We left late, so there should be quite a few other knights there. Among them, there should be someone skilled at healing too. You can definitely receive treatment. It is that kind of wound.”

Layton did not answer. Kulin quickly checked Layton’s condition. He was still breathing. At that moment, the one who appeared from behind with curses was a man drenched in sweat. He had a shocked expression and looked as if he might die at any moment.

“We were hit! Completely hit! Damn it! Sir Layton is practically dying. My god, look at that wound.”

Kulin turned around fiercely.

“Damn it… Akuz…”

Akuz was a thirty-year-old man with large eyes and a long beard. Like Kulin’s, several crests on his armor had been erased, but that did not mean he had suffered any major injury. He was in an ordinary condition.

“It was a trap! We stupidly walked right into it. We trusted Sir Avan Keil too much. No, maybe he overestimated us. We are not part of the elite, after all! If he had brought his original troops, he could have purified those horrible monsters on the spot! But it is already too late… already too late. Did Sir Avan Keil survive? No, why was there a trap there in the first place…? We clearly activated God’s Veil and approached…

No, there was a problem from the start. Sir Avan Keil was too arbitrary! He drove us here without even asking our opinion. The king… We should have joined hands with Louis and entered together with his army. He was right. When he told us to reconsider marching out one more time, that was the last rope.”

“Shut your mouth! Are you saying Sir Keil’s choice was wrong?”

“Yes! Exactly that! You follow him, so of course you say that. I follow Sir Voltaire.”

“Then why did you come here!”

“Orders. Damn orders. There were not enough people willing to follow Sir Keil, so the rest were filled by orders. Of course, Sir Keil does not know that.”

“Wait. Akuz. Did you not learn some healing?”

“I did. I certainly did.”

“Then hurry over here and…!”

“That is impossible.”

“You have not even tried!”

“It is impossible. I did not learn it professionally. It was only an extra skill. From a rough look, if Sir Layton is not treated soon, he will die. Tonight will probably be the turning point. In any case, we have to leave. Those things are still chasing us. We have to rest only a little and move.”

Kulin began swearing.

“Damn it… damn it… damn it… It is my fault Sir Layton was injured like this.”

“…”

“It was my damn fault!!! He cannot die. He cannot die, I said. He cannot leave this burden on me and die like this.”

“Hoo… Listen, Kulin. This is not a joke. Either we all die, or we leave this place. Do you see them beside us? Wood and Hamon are injured too. Even if they are not as bad as Sir Layton, they are injuries that require treatment right now. But we have to move. We do not have time to look after things like this.”

“What? Then what are we supposed to do? Are you seriously saying we should abandon Sir Layton here?”

“Even if we put Sir Layton on a horse now, that light impact alone might kill him. He would rather have a higher chance of breathing longer if he stayed here.”

“You… bastard.”

“Hey. Even among holy knight orders, not everyone has noble convictions. But your actions are worthy of becoming our example.”

“Shut up!! Are you mocking me right now? I told you. I owe Sir Layton a debt.”

“The time has come for God to take him. This is fate. And those who can live must go their own way. This is written in God’s words too, is it not?”

Kulin could not hold back and punched him in the face. Akuz rolled across the ground, then sprang back up.