Rookie Holy Knight Azadine (2)

“Bernard. For the sin of overstepping, you are confined for a week. While you’re at it, treat this bastard.”

“As you command. Heh-heh. Captain Azadine, you are generous indeed. Ordering me to treat even a wretch like this.”

“I’ve always been rather generous.”

“…….”

The soldiers watching now understood, down to their bones, that Azadine, Camilla, and Bernard were never going to be easy marks.

Bernard had probably inserted himself on purpose as well—because he had been lying in wait for a chance to seize the initiative so he would not be looked down on here.

With Bernard’s frail body, he needed to overplay his abilities to earn the soldiers’ respect.

‘Good grief. Every last one of my subordinates is a problem child.’

Azadine clicked his tongue, sensing his road ahead would not be smooth.

“Shall we end the inauguration remarks here? Did anyone prepare anything else? If you did, bring it out now.”

Azadine looked the soldiers over.

The soldiers of Vermilion Fortress had intended to embarrass the new platoon leader and seize the initiative, but Azadine’s party’s rampage had easily surpassed their imagination.

They all went mute, like people with honey in their mouths, doing nothing but watching the reactions of Rijen and Kallan, their de facto bosses.

“Seems there’s nothing. Then rest for today. Dismissed.”

Azadine ordered the soldiers to disperse.

From the moment they heard that the previous platoon leaders had been murdered one after another, the Order had effectively placed the fortress’s soldiers on the suspect list.

In remote forts like this, it was not rare for officers to be killed by insubordination.

So the Order sent a human resource it could afford to lose at any time—namely, Azadine—to Vermilion Fortress.

But seeing the soldiers pick fights just to seize the initiative, it was unlikely they had all acted as one to murder the platoon leaders.

‘If it was decided from the start that I would be killed, there’s no need to start a commotion by provoking me. Killing me in my sleep or poisoning me would be faster.’

There had to be another reason the soldiers provoked him.

‘Most likely, they wanted to test whether I was someone they could talk to—whether I was weak enough to manipulate. Or it could simply be their nature to pick fights without thinking, but…’

The two squad leaders, Rijen and Kallan, did not look like thoughtless men. Comek seemed short-sighted, but the real bosses were surely Rijen and Kallan.

‘First, I should check the inventory.’

Azadine called for Macdogal.

“We need to assess the fortress’s supplies inventory. Bring the ledgers.”

“The ledgers have been empty for half a year.”

“It doesn’t matter. I want to look at the inflow and outflow from when the fortress was being run properly. If we know how much came in and how much went out each month, we can roughly estimate the gap over the last half year, can’t we?”

“Still… hm. That’s impressive.”

Macdogal honestly admired Azadine.

“What is?”

“I mean, those bastards are clearly out to screw the captain over, aren’t they? This place is basically a tiger’s maw. They could poison the food, or raid you while you sleep. But insisting we check the inventory is practically the same as openly saying you suspect them.”

“So because you’re scared, you want to cover up the case?”

“Most people would.”

“And I’m not most people.”

“But I am. I don’t want those soldiers to hate me. Besides, this place is basically a prison. No, in some ways it’s worse than a prison. In prison, you at least have a set sentence—here, you don’t. Waaaah. Thinking about it makes me cry again. I miss Sir Izmilla. Oh, my fate. Now I’m going to be stuck here forever, and—”

Azadine snapped at Macdogal’s whining.

“I’ll make sure you’re not stuck here for life, so do your job.”

“What? Really? Is that possible? Can I meet Sir Izmilla again? Can she and I live happily together for a hundred years?”

“The latter seems unlikely.”

Azadine’s strength drained as he looked at Armiger Macdogal spinning out fantasies.

Azadine and Macdogal carried out the inventory inspection.

The weapons that should have remained in the armory were completely gone, and output from the cinnabar mine had clearly dropped. Anyone could see embezzlement was underway.

Worse, it was not just the soldiers—mine laborers and even the villagers had all been complicit.

Perhaps because of that, the moment Azadine and Macdogal began investigating, everyone reacted with extreme hostility.

“The work was paralyzed because there was no platoon leader. How is that our doing?”

“Ah, seriously. We don’t even use this warehouse anymore. What? You’re asking where the other warehouse is? Oh dear. The previous platoon leader secretly moved it and then died. What can we do?”

They obstructed the investigation with ridiculous excuses and blatant evasion like that.

As a result, the circumstances made embezzlement obvious, but it became difficult to secure hard evidence.

Of course, even circumstantial evidence could be used to charge them with embezzlement and execute them all.

But with Azadine’s base of support uncertain—and with villagers and laborers no longer even hiding their hostility—handing out executions would obviously shatter public sentiment.

And Azadine truly did not want to kill them.

In the end, he needed to seize the true leaders here—the squad leaders.

To solve this situation, Azadine called for Camilla.

“So what’s got you so worried, Azadine?”

Camilla asked with a smile.

“It’s clear from the circumstances the soldiers are embezzling, but there’s no definitive physical proof. I need to know where the supplies are leaking to, at least, if I’m going to press them.”

“Definitive proof? You don’t need that. You can hang them with circumstantial evidence alone. Why not just hang them?”

“Then this fortress is finished. If I planned to kill them from the start, I wouldn’t even be investigating here. I don’t want to kill them.”

“Huh? You think they might have murdered the previous platoon leader. And they were dragged here because they already committed crimes anyway.”

Camilla said it didn’t matter because they were criminals, but Azadine knew she wasn’t saying it wholeheartedly.

In the first place, she herself was a criminal dragged here.

“Camilla. I didn’t come here just to be satisfied with a platoon leader post in the Rescue Knights Order.”

“Hm?”

“I know very well the Order doesn’t welcome me. Even so, I came here because I want to normalize the Rescue Knights Order before the Age of Jupiter arrives.”

“Normalize it?”

“Yes. And for that, I can’t be satisfied with something as small as a platoon leader’s rank. I need to seize stronger power and authority faster. You didn’t think I came here just because I’m some obedient fool who does whatever the Order tells me, did you?”

“I honestly thought you’d been an obedient fool this whole time. Hm. All right.”

Camilla listened, then pulled something out from her chest.

“What’s that?”

“Dwarven ale. If you look at the bottle, the brewery name is written there, right?”

“That’s not something that should be flowing into a backwater like this.”

Dwarven ale was a pricey luxury. Every member of the Rescue Knights Order was expected to live frugally. Unless you were a high-ranking big shot, there was no reason for something like this to enter Vermilion Fortress—a remote place full of the lowest-ranked people.

“Exactly. I heard that once every two weeks, an outside merchant comes, buys cinnabar at a high price, and in exchange supplies various goods the fortress needs—luxuries and indulgences, and even prostitutes.”

That was unmistakably embezzlement.

“How did you find out?”

“I didn’t want to. They looked at me and said if I put on makeup I’d be better than those women, then told me to drink this and ‘play’ with them.”

“…Ah. I see.”

“Well, men’s mouths get infinitely loose in front of a beauty like me.”

Camilla handed over other information she had gathered as well. There was more information from soldiers and villagers who had babbled at Camilla than there was from Azadine’s own diligent investigation.

‘Camilla was testing me too.’

Even with all this information in hand, she had kept her mouth shut until Azadine proved his value.

Thinking about that, Camilla was not someone to underestimate either.

“So, Azadine. What will you do now?”

“This is solid enough to count as hard evidence. I’ll have it out with the squad leaders.”

“Then those bastards will try to kill you. Want me to bring my little brother and Bernard?”

“No. There’s no need. I’ll go alone.”

“Alone? Isn’t that underestimating them?”

“If I bring a mob, bloodshed is guaranteed. I’m doing this to avoid that.”

Azadine said that and left his seat.

“Wow. I can’t tell if that’s confidence, or if you’ve got guts spilling out of your belly. Still, your skill is probably real.”

Curious what Azadine planned to do, Camilla followed after him.

-Ruuuumble!

Thunderclouds were rolling into the sky above Vermilion Fortress.

Inside the soldiers’ barracks, there were ordinary supplies—along with high-end liquor, tobacco, and drugs that could not be brewed in the village—strewn everywhere, while the soldiers played card games among them.

Just then, someone opened the barracks door and entered.

It was Azadine.

“Well, well. Who’s this? Isn’t it our platoon leader? What brings you here?”

Half-elf squad leader Rijen had been throwing knives at a target. He spotted Azadine and grinned.

“You’re playing more cleanly than I expected.”

“Pardon?”

“I thought you’d bring women into the barracks.”

“Ah. We recommend doing that outside the barracks. Since I became squad leader, I decided to live while keeping what should be kept, you see. It’s awkward in a shared barracks, isn’t it?”

When Rijen said that, the soldiers snickered.

“So what business brings you to the barracks?”

“You’ve been embezzling. Once every two weeks, outside merchants come, buy cinnabar, and in exchange supply needed goods for the fortress, right? I heard they pay far more generously than the price the Rescue Knights Order offers—plus they provide liquor, tobacco, drugs, and prostitutes to win over the people here.”

“Hm?”

Rijen and Kallan stared at Azadine with intrigued eyes.

“Impressive. It’s only been two days, and you’ve already uncovered that much.”

Rijen clapped, genuinely admiring. In contrast, Kallan bristled, hair and beard standing on end with anger.

“Which bastard spilled that?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“So you found out we’re embezzling. And then what? Are you going to hang us right now?”

As Rijen asked, the soldiers in the barracks surrounded Azadine at once.

It was plainly meant as intimidation, but Azadine—who had been through every kind of battlefield—had no reason to fear them.

He merely shrugged his shoulders.

“No. I don’t want to kill you. That’s why I’m curious.”

“About what?”

“Why are all of you so certain I’m going to die?”