The Order’s Secret Weapon (6)

“Either you chose to follow Arael, or you pledged loyalty to the Senate—pick one. More importantly, was that really okay? Passersby were watching. If we fought here, it would cause problems for your trading company afterward.”

“…….”

Since all the passersby in front of the trading company had been watching, any further fighting would disrupt business operations.

But Azadine was a traitor to their clan—why should she care about running the Van Dyke Trading Company?

As Delia wavered in confusion, Azadine walked forward.

“What….”

“Let’s finish talking inside. Everyone, go in.”

“Huh? Seriously?!”

Camilla looked startled.

They had just escaped from there—how did it make any sense to go back in?

But Azadine actually placed a hand on Delia’s shoulder, dragged her along, and headed back into the Van Dyke Trading Company.

The doppelgangers who had been unable to leave the building flinched when they saw Azadine.

“What are you doing? A customer’s here—bring out some tea.”

Azadine actually shouted at the doppelgangers instead.

“Shiiik….”

The doppelganger hissed like a snake and swung its blade, but Azadine answered with a light slap.

-Smack!

A lightning-fast slap snapped the doppelganger’s head aside, and before the blade even touched Azadine’s skin, he snatched it away and tossed it into the air.

The sword embedded itself into a rafter pillar supporting the roof, its hilt trembling as if it had a tail.

“Next.”

“Y-you—!”

-Smack!

“Next.”

Azadine casually slapped the doppelgangers one after another. His hand was so fast and sharp that a single hit left a doppelganger dazed and collapsing to the floor.

After giving each of them one slap, Azadine dragged Delia over and sat her down at a table.

“I am Azadine of the First Decree, the Emperor’s Messenger. What is the mission of the Van Dyke Trading Company? Isn’t it to assist the Messenger’s duties? Loyalty to the Senate comes after that, so pour the tea already.”

“……?”

The Messenger Clan had already thrown away their mission and promised to live for their own greed.

Yet Azadine shamelessly dragged up the old pact and insisted on the mission of the Messenger and the Messenger Clan.

With what he had just demonstrated, if Azadine truly set out to kill, he could wipe them out in an instant.

In other words, Azadine was delivering an extremely refined threat.

Would they acknowledge the relationship under the old pact? Or would they die by his hand right now?

If they acknowledged it, they would have to submit to Azadine. Granting him various conveniences would not be humiliation—it would merely be the mission they were always supposed to fulfill.

But if they resisted Azadine?

They would all die.

Of course, Azadine did not want to kill them. They were still his clan, for one thing, and he also wanted something from them.

Above all, if Azadine—now a member of the Rescue Knights Order—suddenly butchered the trading company’s staff, it would put him in an awkward position too.

‘What should I do?’

‘Do we have to submit?’

‘This bastard can’t kill us. He’s just a newly minted Holy Knight—what’s he going to do, wipe out a whole trading company?’

‘But the thing we’re betting in this gamble is our lives….’

The doppelgangers’ gazes fixed on Delia.

“Damn it. Do it. Just do it.”

Once Delia, the on-site supervisor, spoke, the doppelgangers reluctantly gathered the weapons that had fallen to the floor—and actually started brewing tea.

It was maddening for the doppelgangers on the receiving end, but Azadine’s subordinates watching the spectacle were just as dumbfounded.

‘No, they’re brewing tea?’

‘That tea isn’t for us to drink, is it?’

With things like this, Camilla and Kuntachi—and Bernard as well—had no choice but to follow them back inside.

“I’m sorry about this.”

Bernard apologized to the doppelganger corpse he had controlled, now lying there dead. The doppelgangers who could not accept what was happening asked Delia,

“Branch Chief, what in the world is going on?”

“Branch chief? You’ve climbed the ladder. But Delia—were the doppelgangers who targeted Sir Izmilla also in your gang? There was a fight at the village inn earlier.”

“How ridiculous. You think I’m going to answer that?”

Delia glared at Azadine, but her face soon flushed red. She had admired Arael so deeply that she could not collect herself when faced with Azadine’s Arael-like appearance.

“That alone is basically an answer. It’s not like doppelgangers are common.”

“Then why ask? Just figure it out yourself.”

“Because I wanted to enjoy your reaction.”

When Azadine said that, Camilla burst out laughing.

“You bastard!”

Delia snapped at Camilla. She had only been subdued because of Azadine—how dare prey like them mock her?

“Oh. Sir Izmilla came? I like that woman.”

But their attention had already drifted elsewhere. When Izmilla was mentioned, Kuntachi’s face reddened.

Azadine toyed with Aurelia Dawn’s leather strap.

“They say angel blood is used to manufacture a ceramite longsword. I’ve heard the Wisdom Order independently researches alchemy and magitech, and that their attainments are extremely advanced. Wasn’t Sir Izmilla one of the outcomes of that research? And you attacked her because you were after that.”

“Ugh….”

“And so, Delia. Those doppelgangers were all taken down by Izmilla. Bodies were left at the scene—if you left a trail, you’d better clean it up quickly.”

“You… what are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking of exchanging information. What’s the clan like right now—what’s the Senate like? How have things been since Leader Hathir died? The Curse of Servitude was lifted, but you must have lost the Emperor’s voice too.”

“If you hadn’t betrayed us, we would’ve seized at least two kingdoms, deciphered the secret of the Heavenly King’s Scripture, and become rulers of this land! And you….”

“So the Senate still couldn’t let go of its greed. Still, because I returned most of the Heavenly King’s Scripture copies to the Vthuma throne, you must have given up on finding the copies. Hmm. So this time, you chose the Rescue Knights Order as your target? Hm. Who’s leading the clan now?”

Azadine fired questions without pause, then drew in a breath.

“And what about the Ethar bloodline? Mediam Ethar and her lackey Ismail—are they safe?”

When Azadine had been lost and wandering, Mediam had given Azadine his voice back.

Positive exchange with another person. Not pity or attachment like Aldis—pure goodwill and trust.

Having someone return the words he had spoken, the convictions he had believed in—it was the first time for him, who had lived under persecution from his own clan.

Even though he knew the other bloodlines would not simply let the Ethar bloodline’s heir die, he still worried about her safety.

“I said I won’t tell you! You traitor of the clan!”

Delia did not answer.

From the look of it, she seemed safe at least.

They could have captured her, tortured her, and driven Azadine frantic—yet they had done nothing of the sort. Either Delia did not know, or nothing had happened at all.

“You talk as if you once trusted me. And I am only being faithful as the Emperor’s Messenger. The ones who betrayed the mission weren’t me—it was you.”

Azadine let out a quiet sigh of relief where Delia could not see. He had a major plan now—one he could not abandon halfway through.

While they were both catching their breath, the doppelgangers brought the tea. Since Azadine had told them to serve it, they actually served it. Even they looked displeased at what they were doing.

Azadine took the teacup and held it out to Bernard.

“It contains poison. Red mushroom toxin. It doesn’t tarnish a silver needle, but if you drink it, you’ll suffer fever and diarrhea and die of dehydration.”

As Bernard explained crisply, the doppelgangers made excuses.

“No—at first we meant to bring normal tea, but we thought if we submitted too easily, we’d look pathetic….”

“Our essence compelled us to do this. It wasn’t so much malice as it was our nature, so please understand.”

“Mm, I see. I’ll accept that. Then you should also understand my nature—when my life is threatened, I punish. Now, the right side.”

Azadine said that and slapped the right cheek with his left hand. Before the doppelganger could even block, the slap landed first.

“Left.”

When he told the next one “left,” the doppelganger quickly raised an arm to block.

But Azadine swung wide, slipped his hand through the gap in the blocking arm, and cuffed the doppelganger’s ear. If it were human, the eardrum would have burst.

“…….”

‘If he’s going to hit through the block anyway, why even tell them which side?’

‘Damn it. We’re getting beaten by a human.’

‘But is that thing even human?’

The doppelgangers did not understand why they were being hit.

It gave off an oppressive aura—like a frog frozen before a viper—pinning them in place and making them take one-sided blows.

“So. It seems you still haven’t joined hands with the Northern Emperor. Is it because of the Northern Aragasa?”

What drove them even more insane was that after beating them, Azadine spoke as if nothing had happened—asking questions as though it were his natural right.

He kept drawing a clear line, acting as though this was merely the relationship between the Emperor’s Messenger and the support organization that backed him.

If he declared them outright enemies, they could at least resist with their lives on the line—but Azadine continued treating them as members of a friendly organization.

Even being treated as “friendly” was terrifying. They did not know what would happen if they crossed that line.

Even doppelgangers with an evil essence suffered under the vague horrors their own imagination conjured. Azadine dominated the room by exploiting that fear.

“Ugh. I can’t say!”

Delia still refused to answer Azadine’s questions.

‘Seriously—just say it.’

‘She’s not the one getting hit….’

The doppelgangers glared resentfully at Delia for pointlessly clinging to pride.

“Then are you sure you’re okay? The doppelgangers threw away their lives to drain Izmilla’s strength, and then the Northern Aragasa just snatched her up.”

“W-what did you say?”

“If you’re in the same side, the staggered attack worked. If not, then you were used one-sidedly….”

“Damn it! You just watched that happen? Ah—no. No.”

Delia sprang up at the claim that the Northern Aragasa had kidnapped Izmilla—and that Azadine had witnessed it—then quickly came to her senses.

From that reaction, it seemed the Senate still had not joined hands with the Northern Emperor or the Northern Aragasa.

“Then let me see the alchemy equipment contract. How much did you sign it for?”

Azadine took the documents from Bernard and checked the amount.

“Isn’t this ripping me off? You’ll be placing an order with the dwarves of Banreung. Even if you delivered it all the way to Tarasar, it would still be cheaper than this.”

“This is the Chadra Plateau. You should be grateful we do business out here at all.”

“Originally, you shouldn’t be taking money from the Emperor’s Messenger—if anything, you should be giving me operating funds. But fine. I’m also serving as a trainee knight in the Rescue Knights Order now. I’ll pay. In exchange, you deliver it to Vermilion Fortress. Not a single flask broken.”

“…….”