Zebec The God-King Slayer (3)

“Then shall we get going as well? Are you all right, Sir Zebec? You do not look well at all. Shall I carry you on my back?”

“I am all right. You do make extreme jokes.”

To say he would carry an armored knight on his back. Zebec gave a bitter smile, but Azadine had not said it as a joke.

Fortunately, Zebec was able to walk, so he avoided the unsightly spectacle of being carried on Azadine’s back.

As they retraced in reverse the road the Celestial Fire had taken northward, they naturally came upon traces of their exploits.

Travelers they met here and there raised their hands to Azadine in greeting.

“Good day, sir warrior. You are not a bandit, are you?”

“With such fine features and such a dignified way of walking, you do not look like a bandit at all, but rather some person of high standing.”

Though the travelers were wary of the armed Azadine, his appearance made them think he could not possibly be a bandit.

“I am Azadine, a trainee knight of the Rescue Knights Order.”

“Ah, so you are from the Rescue Knights Order.”

“Azadine? Would that be Sir Azadine of Chadra? The one said to be of Messenger Clan descent?”

“Well now. I have become incredibly famous. Yes, that is me.”

“Well, well….”

“That is different from the rumors.”

They seemed to feel favor toward Azadine from his appearance alone, showing goodwill without any real basis.

‘Just what kind of rumors are going around about me? And why are these people ignoring those rumors just because of my looks?’

Though dumbfounded, Azadine stopped for a while. Zebec was worn out with fatigue, so they had to rest from time to time.

Zebec walked using the hilt of his sword as a cane, then sat down on a nearby tree stump. When Azadine handed him a waterskin, he accepted it without protest and drank. Meanwhile, one of the travelers asked Azadine a question.

“By any chance, do you know of the Celestial Fire Knights?”

“I do. As it happens, I am on my way back from meeting them.”

“Ah, is that so? Do you know that they killed the Bri in the south and rescued the residents of the settlements? I hear it was magnificent.”

“Though monsters swarm, the flame of justice burns all the more brightly.”

The people really went about speaking of the exploits of the Celestial Fire like missionaries spreading a gospel.

“With a hero like Sir Azadine joining the Celestial Fire, the Rescue Knights Order is truly blessed. Ha ha.”

“I barely scrape by as a peddler, but once I save a little money, I think I ought to call in my cousins and move to the lands of the Rescue Knights Order.”

“Oh dear. We have been talking far too much. This is nothing much, but it should help a little with recovering your strength.”

The travelers handed Azadine some sugar-coated dried fruits, then went on their way.

“Hmm.”

Azadine, who had spent most of his life as an eyeless monster, was not used to people treating him with such goodwill.

“Were people always this kind?”

Azadine shared some of the dried fruit he had received from the travelers with Zebec.

“Even when you had no eyes, you bore yourself with graceful dignity. When you wore a mask, you looked splendid, like a grand stage actor. But now that you have eyes… all the missing parts have been filled in.”

“It is a bit embarrassing to have that said so openly in front of me. Besides, this came about after my sister’s death, so I do not even know whether I ought to be pleased about it.”

“It cannot be helped that people are dazzled by outward appearances. What matters is what sort of answer one returns to such goodwill, does it not? Though for me to say such a thing to you, Sir Azadine… I am hardly in a position to do so.”

With a bitter smile, Zebec placed a piece of dried fruit into his mouth. As the sweet-and-sour taste spread through his mouth, it truly did seem to wash away his fatigue.

“What do you mean, not in a position?”

“I have lost my faith in the King’s Church, and even my will to protect the people has faded. Whatever the circumstances may be, the Celestial Fire are protecting the people, and yet rather than feeling admiration for them, I feel more suspicion and envy toward them. Is that not so? With only the faintest suspicion, I choose to believe that some vast sin must lie behind them and set out blindly on a journey to Saint Mallory. It feels as though my envy has grown so great that I have swallowed a glowing lump of charcoal into my chest.”

“…….”

Azadine, too, flinched inwardly at the mention of envy. Deep down, he too felt envy toward Karna and the Celestial Fire.

To Azadine, who was trying to reform the Chadra Plateau and renew the organization, the Celestial Fire were an obstacle.

‘I need to build merit while reforming the organization, but if these bastards step forward and gather all the public favor, my own existence will lose its shine.’

It was a feeling unworthy of a just Holy Knight, but Azadine was only human, and it was natural for envy and regret to come first.

“Let’s not think too deeply about it. It is true that Northern Emperor Cohen Rioneir is irritating. We investigate, and if there is nothing to it, then we endure it even if he is annoying. If there is something there, then that is when we seize on it. Isn’t it simple?”

“I see. Sir Azadine. Speaking with you truly does clear my mind.”

“What nonsense. Anyone else would understand the same thing if they just thought about it calmly.”

As they continued along the road, this time they heard a bard singing at the entrance of an inn along the highway.

“Hear ye, all! Listen to the tale of how the Celestial Fire Knights slew giants! And moisten the throat of this poor bard with sweet mead.”

“My shop does not carry mead. Only ale.”

The innkeeper grumbled as he poured a pail of rag-washing water onto the roadside near the entrance.

“Ha ha. In that case, ale is welcome too. Let us call the mead merely a poet’s allowance.”

“…They slew giants?”

Azadine, who had originally intended to ignore the inn and pass by, showed interest, and the bard immediately latched onto him.

“Are you curious? Then come here.”

“No, I am with the Rescue Knights Order myself. I am not that curious.”

“Oh, come now. Do not say that. Here, please support a hungry artist with a warm heart.”

“Well now.”

Seeing the exhausted Zebec sit down on a chair placed before the inn, Azadine gave a coin to the bard, who was holding out his hat. The bard looked at the coin and shook his head.

“More.”

“Take what you are given.”

Azadine grumbled, but he pulled out a single Elm Leaf coin and dropped it in. Satisfied, the bard began his tale.

“The Celestial Fire Knights are a beautiful young order of knights founded within the Rescue Knights Order to restore the fervor of pure angelic faith to this world, now rife with corruption. Their commander, Karna, is the grandson of the famed Northern Emperor, and every one of the knights under his command is such a beauty that your eyes will pop from your head. When they ride across this land on fine steeds, it is truly like the return of angels, and indeed the blood of angels flows in them all.”

“If Karna is the Northern Emperor’s grandson, then he is of the Yaegas God tribe, is he not? Then how does angelic blood flow in him?”

“Perhaps the blood of angels entered on his mother’s side, would you not say? In that case, Sir Karna is truly a rightful ruler sent down for us humanity by both the angels and the Yaegas Divine Kings. Ah, how I long to drink a toast to Sir Karna.”

“…….”

“If we were to drink a toast to Sir Karna, this bard’s tongue would surely spin smooth as a well-oiled waterwheel.”

“…Here, have a cup.”

When Azadine handed a coin to the innkeeper, the innkeeper laughed heartily and poured out some ale.

“Oh my, young warrior sir. Do not be taken in by this rascal’s swindle. Hey, you brat. You have already gotten quite a lot, so why are you still holding back the tale?”

“Ahem. I am helping your sales, innkeeper. It is not as though I am extorting ale because I love it so terribly. I am plying my trade here in front of your establishment, so this is merely my generosity, letting us both earn our living.”

“The one paying is me, though?”

When Azadine said that, the bard pretended not to hear, gulped down the ale, and continued the story.

In summary, the tale was as follows.

Having heard the prophecy of Fimbulbert, the Celestial Fire Knights were on their way to Chadra to demand the requisitioning of grain so that food could be stockpiled before people began to starve, when they encountered three giant brothers robbing passersby. The Celestial Fire could not ignore such news, so they set out to subdue the giants, but when the knights charged at them, the giants fled with their tails between their legs.

Thinking that things could not go on this way if they were to catch the giants, the Celestial Fire Knights chose the three finest among their order and challenged the giants to equal-numbered duels.

The giants accepted the challenge, thinking humans daring to stand against giants was absurd, and so the three members of the Celestial Fire Knights each took one giant and killed him.

“When Sir Karna swung his sword, the giant’s head split vertically in two, just as lightning cleaves through an old tree! Ah, what tremendous might it was. The idle talkers say that the Holy Knights of the King’s Church possess superior qualities, but that is only because they have never seen the Celestial Fire! If they were to behold the majesty of the Celestial Fire, even the Holy Knights of the King’s Church would lower their heads in shame! So, people of the world! Pray stop praising the Holy Knights of the King’s Church so much! If they were to meet the Celestial Fire, their legs would tremble like reeds in the autumn wind, so let us spare our knights that indignity! Ha ha ha!”

Was it because he was drunk? The bard let loose words that could easily have gotten him into trouble.

Azadine listened with a bitter smile, but just then a beer mug suddenly came flying from inside the inn and struck the bard squarely on the head.

“You insolent bastard! You dare mock the King’s Church here and now?!”

“Ugh….”

The bard jerked around in shock. The empty beer mug was wooden, so it had not dealt such a serious blow, but for the moment surprise outweighed pain.

Figures who appeared to be members of the King’s Church were coming out from inside the inn.

“Just whose tongue was it that dared mock the King’s Church? And what ears dared… hmm?”

They were about to draw their swords when they spotted Azadine.

“Huh?”

Their expressions changed at once. They clearly recognized Azadine.

“Why not just think of it as the drunken babbling of a drunkard and let it go?”

Azadine spoke in an easy, nonchalant manner, and they looked flustered.

“A-Azadine?”

“You know me? Becoming too famous is troublesome as well.”

“Y-you bastard.”

“We were on the Chadra Plateau too, you know! And yet you do not recognize us?”

Somehow, they seemed hurt that Azadine had failed to recognize them. Then again, they likely had not joined the Holy Knight Order vaguely and without ambition.

In the days when they had been younger and more ambitious than now, they too must have wanted to make names for themselves.

‘No, but I really do not know who you are. From my point of view, I would much prefer it if you all were just as indifferent to me.’

When the church members realized Azadine truly did not know who they were, they cried out in wounded outrage.

“Damn it! Send up a carrier pigeon! We have to inform Sir Ject!”