Sectarian Dispute (3)

“Please do not misunderstand. Even if you were the one who infiltrated the underground tunnels and stole a precious object from the Wisdom Order, I am not angry at you. Rather, I am admiring you as a hero full of spirit.”

Of course, that did not mean he could confess the truth as it was.

Even if Triodana claimed to be impressed by Azadine or whatever, infiltrating the Wisdom Order and stealing an object was a serious crime. Since they could not reveal to the world that they were grinding down angel statues and extracting angel’s blood, they would try to eliminate him without even a proper trial.

“Do not take me for a fool, and accept the invitation. I do not wish to harm someone like you. Sir Azadine. There will be an opportunity for us to cooperate. Without a doubt!”

Triodana subtly threatened Azadine and glared at him. Azadine also faced Triodana while holding the Blue Executioner.

Snow fell from the sky between Azadine and Triodana, and it scattered in the hot wind that happened to blow.

“You don’t call this cooperation.”

But then, at that moment, a bird flew in between Azadine and Triodana.

“Hmm?”

“This is.”

It was a carrier pigeon.

A magic-enchanted carrier pigeon was flying in from the sea.

At first there was one, but afterward, several more passed between Azadine and Triodana and headed toward the carrier pigeon tower.

The regular liaison ships and trading vessels operated by large merchant companies always carried magic-enchanted carrier pigeons with them, and those carrier pigeons had all flown in at once and had only just reached Saint Mallory.

With this many carrier pigeons, something had clearly happened to the ships.

“Now, everyone, stop!”

And while they hesitated for a moment, a dwarf wearing the cloak of the Rescue Knights Order blocked the space between Azadine and Triodana. His hair was pure white, but only his beard was red like blood.

His weapons were a short spear and a matchlock gun, so he was clearly from the Tercio Regiment, famous for tactics that used spears and matchlock guns together. Triodana recognized him and clicked his tongue.

“Sir Gareth?”

It was Sir Gareth of the Courage Knights. Not only him, but the Tercio Brigade he commanded came pouring in as well.

“Sir Triodana. And Sir Azadine, I presume. I do not know what happened, but you two are the heroes who protected the docks. And these docks are under our jurisdiction. I would like to receive a report on what happened.”

“…Then I will return to the Wisdom Knights.”

Unlike Azadine, Triodana, who definitely belonged to the Wisdom Knights, had the right to refuse an investigation request from the Courage Knights.

On the other hand, Azadine had no such authority.

“So he says. Then, Sir Azadine. Will you accept my invitation? Your friends are there too, you see.”

Sir Gareth asked while winking at Azadine. Did that mean they had secured the persons of Azadine’s companions, Scott and Zebec?

It could have been a bluff, but at the very least, Azadine could tell that this dwarf was absolutely not bluffing.

The Courage Knights had already secured Zebec and Scott. Zebec and Scott were sitting in a sturdy passenger carriage, and outside it, troops of the Tercio Regiment armed with spears and matchlock guns were standing by.

“What is this?”

“The Wisdom Order and the Benevolence Order think we are dumb idiots, but we are not fools either. Sir Azadine.”

Gareth said that and took out a small scroll.

It was the reincarnation scroll Azadine had secured. It seemed that they had searched Azadine’s luggage at some point and found the scroll.

“…….”

“Fighting the Tercio would be stupid, boss.”

Zebec said nothing, and Scott made an excuse. Once the Tercios, who used volleys of matchlock fire and polearms, began to form their ranks, they boasted firepower so powerful that it could not be compared to other types of troops.

Even the greatest swordsman under heaven or a powerful archmage should not allow that situation to form in the first place, but these Courage Knights had swiftly dispatched troops, surrounded the inn where Azadine’s party was staying, and secured Zebec and Scott.

“Be at ease. Though even if I say that, you cannot be at ease, can you? I can only ask you to trust me. We are not trying to harm you. Rather, we are seeking your cooperation.”

In the meantime, the snow had now all melted and turned into rain.

Azadine looked out the window while riding in the carriage.

As rain fell and waves surged, the sea grew rough. The melted and broken chunks of ice collided with each other, and a terrible roar rang out from the sea.

“Well, I will hear what you have to say. Sir Gareth. What do you want to say?”

“Join the Courage Order. Then we will protect you.”

“Protect me?”

“We will say that you searched the underground tunnels legitimately under our orders. Then the Wisdom Order will not be able to persecute you. In addition, we will be able to legitimately reveal this scroll, and the Northern Emperor’s conspiracy, to the world and question it.”

“Hmm. That is surprising. How did you know?”

Azadine admired the Courage Order’s proposal and asked back.

Until now, the Courage Order had seemed to remain still without taking much action, but they had arrested Azadine’s party with decisive boldness that would make even the Benevolence Order or the Wisdom Order stick out their tongues.

Moreover, they were not only accepting Azadine into their own organization, but were also stepping forward to protect him. It was an excessively bold decision.

Just how was such an unprecedented decision possible? How had they obtained their information? He was curious about the circumstances.

“I heard it from Sir Ject.”

Azadine clicked his tongue at those words.

“You were allied with the King’s Church?”

“To be precise, with the Shadow Knights.”

“…….”

For a moment, Azadine nearly cursed and asked if they had gone insane.

The Shadow Knights of the King’s Church were a secret private organization raised by the King’s Church’s inquisitors, an organization that did dirty work which could not be publicly disclosed, such as digging up the Rescue Knights Order’s weaknesses.

And the Courage Order had joined hands with a place like that?

It would be called dirty even if the Benevolence Order, which trained assassins and spies, joined hands with them, but the Courage Order, a group of orthodox Holy Knights?

“As you know, Sir Azadine, the place with the greatest number of illegitimate children of the Yaegas Divine Royal Family is none other than the Courage Order.”

Sir Gareth explained briefly and bluntly why the Courage Order had joined hands with the Shadow Knights.

Most members of the King’s Church and the Rescue Knights Order were children sent into religious life by noble families to settle matters of inheritance rights.

The church taught them that now that they had become Holy Knights or priests, they should abandon secular desires and devote themselves to the greater cause, but everyone knew full well that such teaching was nothing more than deception.

Why was it that some people inherited the family, lived as they pleased, while others were forcibly made to abandon worldly desires?

Those who had been forced to become priests or Holy Knights were criticized even for such simple acts as accumulating wealth, loving someone, or having children.

Of course, most of them endured that criticism and took what they desired, but that did not change the fact that society condemned it.

Why was something permitted even to peasants something they had to do in hiding?

Because the church possessed mighty power?

That was part of it, of course, but the greatest reason they were criticized was that this noble society needed sacrifices to maintain the system called inheritance rights.

They had to be shoved into the church for the sake of the nobles’ inheritance rights and to avoid dividing the territories of feudal lords, and even the pursuit of desire was denied to them as they had to live the life of priests they had never wanted.

Both the King’s Church and the Rescue Knights Order shared that resentment.

Just as the Wisdom Order was connected to the Northern Emperor, the Courage Order was connected to Ject, and that bond was not actually something formed in just a day or two.

“That is surprising. Honestly, I am impressed.”

Was it that a capable bird hid its talons?

It had been known that the Courage Order was the most lacking in schemes and political plots, but in reality, the Courage Order had been connected to Ject the Inquisitor and the Shadow Knights, while never letting it show and patiently biding their time until now.

“First, before that, I will tell you what was written in the carrier pigeons that just flew in. Sir Azadine.”

Gareth told him the contents of the carrier pigeons that had flown in.

The carrier pigeons that had suddenly flown in from the sea together with the icebergs all carried the same message.

The Nagas had begun attacking regular liaison ships and trading vessels all at once.

Currently, because of Fimbulbert’s prophecy, many trading vessels had arrived at Saint Mallory to buy food and had swept up the food supplies.

Ships filled to the brim with food were moving unsteadily along the coast, but usually, in the shallow coastal waters, even Nagas could not easily attack ships.

That was because the Kingdom of Arangi and the Kingdom of Banreung had built coastal fortresses, launched regular patrol vessels, and received tolls from passing merchant ships in exchange for protecting them.

But this time was different.

The Nagas attacked the ships even while prepared to clash with the regular patrol vessels, and as a result, many Nagas died, but the food was also lost.

The food transport ships sank, and a considerable amount of food sank into the sea.

“…….”

If that was true, the situation was serious. He already knew that the Nagas were not simple monsters, but a powerful civilized race that had once grasped the hegemony of the world, but even taking that into account, this attack on provisions was a victory in intelligence warfare.

Ahead of a massive war, the Nagas had won the intelligence war and the preliminary battle.

“We consider this to be a provisions attack by the Nagas. In other words, Fimbulbert’s coming is a foregone conclusion. Knowing that, the Nagas attacked the provisions even if they had to overextend themselves. And yet the Order is divided into Wisdom, Courage, and Benevolence, and is still wasting time uselessly. Can this be allowed?”

Hearing it, it certainly made sense. They had joined hands with Ject, but Azadine had also done the same with Ject.

Still, just in case, Azadine asked.

“Then, Sir Gareth. What does the Courage Order intend to do after receiving this scroll?”

“We will announce to the world that the Celestial Fire was created by grinding down angel statues, create a coalition body of the three sects, and delegate command authority of the knight order to it. In the case of the Wisdom Order, we will have to impose a penalty. In addition, we will organize the reincarnated people of the Northern Emperor’s faction into a separate unit and thoroughly use them as a vanguard unit.”

It could not be denied that the Celestial Fire Knights were useful tools. Since they could not throw away weapons they had gone to the trouble of creating, they would divide command authority so that the Wisdom Order could not benefit from them alone, and reduce the Wisdom Order’s influence.

It was a fairly reasonable story.

The public tended to look down on the Courage Order the most among the three sects of the Rescue Knights Order, but if Sir Gareth’s words were true, the Courage Order could be called the most terrifying organization that had hidden its teeth and claws all this time.