The Order’s Secret Weapon (2)

Azadine found it strange as he watched the supply detachment’s abruptly changed reaction. But the more he watched, the more he could feel it was real.

The supply men accepted the cinnabar Azadine handed over without even scrutinizing its quality, and they also gave him more than the fixed rate of various goods they had brought—arrowheads and blades hard to find in a village, farm tools, and metal products like nails.

“Good. The baggage is heavy anyway. We’ll just leave it here.”

“Is that alright?”

“You treated us so well yesterday that this much is fine. I manage the supply detachment, so this sort of thing is within my discretion.”

Azadine couldn’t help being stunned at how easily people flipped their attitude like turning over a hand.

“Is that Fireglyph?”

Where the roads leading inland merged into one, Fireglyph Fortress stood there.

Vast watchtowers and spires that couldn’t be compared to Vermilion Fortress, and a massive wall said to have been built by giants—on that wall were inscribed powerful fire runes, leaving a warning to any enemy who tried to cross it.

“Traces of the ancient giants. Impressive.”

Azadine knew the legends and folktales of the Rescue Knights Order by heart, and seeing the fire runes on Fireglyph’s wall filled him with deep emotion.

As they drew nearer to Fireglyph, the river’s current slowed, so Azadine’s party left the water, mounted horses, and reached the checkpoint.

Fireglyph’s soldiers moved to block the approaching group, then spotted Azadine on horseback and stammered in shock.

“W-who are you?”

“I am Hospitaller-Errant and the platoon leader of Vermilion Fortress, Azadine.”

“Vermilion Fortress?”

“Then… Messenger bloodline?”

Everyone was startled that Azadine was the rumored Messenger bloodline, but they were also flustered by Azadine’s handsome face and noble bearing—so refined it seemed like an angel made flesh.

‘See? It works.’

Watching everyone get overwhelmed by Azadine’s aristocratic air, Camilla grew more and more convinced she’d made the right call.

“I came because a summons order was issued. May I meet Chapter Master Sir Hexenmaier?”

“Ah, yes. P-please wait a moment. We’ll escort you to the reception room.”

The soldiers, receiving the party with courteous manners, sent Azadine to the reception room without much thought.

“Uh.”

But when they entered, an unexpected figure was there: Ten-Leader Jan, and other Northern Aragasa.

In fact, Hexenmaier had clearly told them not to let anyone else into the reception room.

But the soldiers and servants had panicked at Azadine’s dignified appearance(?) and decided they couldn’t possibly leave such a VIP waiting out on the street—so they ushered him in, causing this mishap.

Fireglyph had been isolated from the Order’s core administration and power struggles for so long that even the servants had forgotten Sir Hexenmaier’s warning and sent Azadine’s group into the reception room.

“Ah—You!”

Camilla recognized Ten-Leader Jan and shouted.

“Shh.”

Jan raised a hand to stop his subordinates.

“Everyone, calm down. Hm. Azadine, why are you here?”

“Because I became a member of the Rescue Knights Order.”

At that, Jan’s men jolted.

“What?”

“Rescue Knights Order?”

“Is that bastard out of his mind?”

But Jan clicked his tongue, knowing Azadine was speaking sincerely.

“So that’s why you’re on the Chadra Plateau. The Rescue Knights Order bastards are as sinister as the King’s Church bastards.”

“Jan, why are you here?”

“Even if you ask, I can’t answer.”

“Not being able to answer is already an answer in itself. From the look of it, you didn’t come to meet the Chapter Master—you look like an attendant to some high person who’s meeting the Chapter Master in private.”

“Then be satisfied with that.”

Jan marveled at Azadine, who grasped the situation after only a brief analysis.

‘So the Chapter Master is a traitor within the Order. Damn. But if I think about it, is it that surprising? The Chadra Plateau is basically an exile post. Even if being Chapter Master is a high rank, if you’re stuck guarding only the Chadra Plateau, of course you’d want to betray. The more grievances you have, the more so.’

Azadine realized that Chapter Master Hexenmaier was a collaborator secretly in contact with the Northern Emperor, and clicked his tongue.

Just then, the reception room door opened and a silver-haired brute—a tall Northern man—walked in.

“Hm? What’s this—who’s this guy?”

“He says he is Hospitaller-Errant Azadine, Your Highness.”

Azadine guessed the man’s status. He had to be above Jan, and his unmistakable Northern features showed in every line of his body. Given the circumstances, it was easy to tell he was kin to the Northern Emperor.

When Azadine called him “prince,” the man glanced at Jan.

“I didn’t tell him. That’s the kind of man he is.”

“Ah. That kind of man?”

The Northern prince quickly understood the situation.

“Pleased to meet you, Azadine. Yes. I am Kalintz Rioneir, son of Northern Emperor Cohen Rioneir.”

He offered Azadine a handshake.

“The pleasure is mine.”

Azadine shook Kalintz’s hand.

“So. The sword on your back—that’s Aurelia Dawn.”

“You know it?”

“One of the famed swords of the Rescue Knights Order. If you reclaimed it and carry it, that means you laid Sir Plank to rest, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Heh. If you don’t mind, would you join me? I need capable people in many ways.”

“Regrettably, I am merely a squire of the Rescue Knights Order at present, so I cannot freely pledge myself to anyone.”

“Ah, right. Of course. Heh. Then be careful. The Chapter Master called the interrogator and soldiers to his office—I hope it isn’t for your sake.”

Kalintz said that and patted Azadine’s shoulder. A massive hand like a bear’s forepaw brushed his shoulder.

“Then we’ll meet again, Sir Azadine.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Until next time.”

Leaving a meaningful farewell, Prince Kalintz departed.

Ten-Leader Jan and the Northern Aragasa under him followed Prince Kalintz out of the office. Then a servant walked in through the door they’d left.

“Thank you for your patience. The Chapter Master summons you. Your attendants are to wait here, and you are to enter alone. Ah—and you are to disarm….”

It was an overt demand.

“Uh. This is weird, sis.”

Even Kuntachi, despite being slow-witted, could sense the Chapter Master’s malice.

“Are you sure? What if we just flip the table and run?”

Camilla said that, but Azadine only shrugged.

“Even unarmed, it doesn’t feel that dangerous.”

“What?”

“More importantly, my companions can carry my weapons, right? This isn’t an ordinary famed sword.”

“T-that much is fine.”

The servants agreed to Azadine’s request.

Azadine unfastened his longsword, Aurelia Dawn, and his Moon Horn Bow, and had Kuntachi hold them. Only after he also removed even his small utility dagger was he allowed to meet the Chapter Master.

Chapter Master Sir Hexenmaier was now a forty-five-year-old Northerner.

Originally, he had been one of the warlords who fought the Northern hobgoblin tribes, and he was recruited into the Rescue Knights Order because they valued his astonishing martial might.

Having joined the Courageous Knights, he never doubted that one day he could become a Knight of Courage.

But the upper ranks took issue with the fact that he broke the celibacy rule and kept many concubines, and in the end he fell behind in the competition for Knight of Courage and became Chapter Master of Fireglyph.

Chapter Master was still a high post, but being Chapter Master of the Chadra Plateau was effectively exile—an order to live here forever, fighting only monsters.

Resentful, he accepted the Northern Emperor’s overtures—since he was a Northerner as well—and leaked pilgrimage band information.

And now, he had summoned Azadine into his territory—the very man who had prevented the pilgrimage band from being wiped out.

Already having soldiers on standby, an archivist to write statements, and even an interrogator to torture Azadine, he looked at the black-haired young man entering his office and, for a moment, was struck with admiration.

It was a young man with a majestic, elegant presence, as if a heavenly angel had taken human form.

His handsome features like an ancient statue, his mysterious violet eyes, and his smooth skin drew an exclamation even from a rough warrior of the North.

“Splendid. Are you Azadine, the Emperor’s Messenger?”

“Yes. And now, I stand here as a Hospitaller-Errant.”

At Azadine’s reply, even the soldiers were thrown off. Contrary to their expectations, the answer was graceful and full of dignity.

“How is Vermilion Fortress?”

“The platoon leaders who had been serving there recently kept dying in the line of duty. I only learned it after arriving on site.”

“I’m sorry. For not telling you beforehand.”

An apology slipped out of Hexenmaier’s mouth.

He had been preparing to seize the man and throw him into prison at once—yet he blurted out “I’m sorry.” Even Hexenmaier himself didn’t know why he’d said it.

That was how different Azadine’s “bearing,” his aura, felt—Hexenmaier was getting pulled along by it.

“It’s alright. I fully understand you were busy.”

“So what happened at Vermilion Fortress? Are you unharmed? Why did the previous platoon leaders die? And has the murderer been neutralized?”

Though Hexenmaier already knew it was the Shade Hags’ doing, he played ignorant as he asked.

But the moment he asked whether the murderer had been “neutralized,” Azadine realized Hexenmaier was talking nonsense while knowing the truth.

Because Azadine wouldn’t have “killed” the Shade Hags—so instead of asking whether he’d “caught” the murderer, Hexenmaier had asked whether they’d been “neutralized.”

“The culprits were the Shade Hags. A woman suffering under the previous leaders’ lawless depravity became a witch and called the Shade Hags in, and by the witch’s contract, they granted her wish.”

“Then how did you survive? The witch’s curse should still be in place.”

“Shamefully, the Shade Hags said my soul belonged to the Emperor, so they did not regard me as a target of the curse. However, regrettably, in the process, the archivist and my squire, Macdogal, died in the line of duty.”

Azadine spoke the lie he had prepared in advance.

‘Hm. So that’s it. The Shade Hag curse applies only to the Rescue Knights Order? This bastard isn’t one of us—he’s the Emperor’s Messenger—so he’s outside the curse’s targets. If the curse had been lifted, I would’ve seized Vermilion Fortress and made it my source of income. But as things stand, is this the only man who can manage the fortress?’