Ascension Of The Northern Emperor (2)

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Whether the prince of Banreung was a vampire or a demon, they could have punished him well enough.

However, Azadine’s influence in the Chadra and Sandokar regions blocked such mindless punishment.

Azadine’s warlord faction was absorbing sturdy men among the refugees as soldiers and growing to an enormous scale even now, and the people’s support for him was also high.

In such a situation, if they executed Azadine on false charges, would Azadine simply submit quietly?

No. Even if Azadine himself submitted to the inquisition, there was no way his subordinates, and the refugees who had become soldiers through him and maintained their livelihoods with their wages, would remain still.

For the Order to secure practical gains, it had to hold Bishop Sehnat, who had initiated the inquisition without justification, responsible.

‘Well, that is good for us. Is Bishop Sehnat not a puppet of the Northern Emperor? It is not as though we have enough loyalty to stop him if he intends to destroy himself. If we can drive a wedge between him and the Wisdom Order, it is a profitable deal no matter what. The problem is….’

Sir Gareth also had many things to do. Now that Azadine’s innocence had been revealed, he had to smoothly repair his relationship with him, return, and continue the Courage Order’s projects. He could not continue serving as a mercenary guarding Sandokar Gate for free like this.

‘Will he not return soon? By now, word should have arrived.’

As if reading Sir Gareth’s thoughts, the sound of a horn began to ring from the watchtower. Azadine and his troops had returned to Sandokar Gate.

Azadine returned to Sandokar while protecting the caravan and refugees. Triodana’s party, who had gone with him, was nowhere to be seen.

Sir Gareth greeted him and slyly asked,

“You have returned safely, Sir Azadine. But what happened to Sir Triodana? Surely you did not kill him, did you?”

“Haha. You say something one should not even joke about while smiling, Sir Gareth? Sir Triodana went back ahead of us on a hippogriff. He is not dead, so why not contact the Wisdom Order?”

Azadine laughed off Gareth’s harsh words from the very first meeting.

“So, what did you find after staying in Sandokar and investigating?”

“The charges have been cleared. The evidence that Prince Kalzmati of Banreung was a vampire is clear, and it has been revealed that your occupation of the County of Sandokar followed proper procedure. The inquisition is over.”

“That is a relief.”

“However, separately from the inquisition, speaking as a member of the Courage Order, I must say I feel fear at the fact that you, a trainee knight, have built such an enormous warlord faction. On top of that, why are you gathering refugees and raising a standing army? Are you planning to start a war somewhere?”

Most knights struggled even to cultivate a single fief granted to them.

However, if one absorbed multiple fiefs like Azadine and built a tremendous force comparable to that of a great noble, one could increase the cultivated area per person, raise productivity, and divert that many people into commerce and industry.

The problem was the standing army.

Soldiers who were always in combat readiness and trained constantly could not help but become elites.

To continue raising so many elite soldiers like this. What was he thinking, training such a large army when he was merely a trainee knight? Gareth asked that openly.

“To resist the coming Fimbulbert as much as possible. And they also prefer working and receiving wages to one-sided relief. This region has many beasts and monsters, so constant patrols and subjugations are necessary for road safety, and our interests simply matched.”

“I hear you have also built caravans, handicraft workshops, alchemy factories, and smithies?”

“Well, even after putting people into all of those, there are still too many left over.”

That was actually true. As refugees poured in from all over, the Order’s territory was overflowing with manpower.

“Sir Azadine. What would happen if the upper ranks of the Rescue Knights Order assigned you an errantry quest?”

“An errantry quest in this situation? For example, what kind?”

“Something like investigating the fall of the Banreung Kingdom, or if the upper ranks of the Order exercised their personnel authority and sent you to another region.”

In order to weaken Azadine’s warlord faction, the Rescue Knights Order could assign Azadine an errantry quest, that is, a mission of the Order, or exercise personnel authority. However, Azadine shook his head.

“Count Sandokar did not surrender to the Rescue Knights Order. He swore loyalty to me. The territories of the Chadra Plateau have been unified, but each territory belongs to the Chadra Five Ogres.”

If Count Sandokar had sworn loyalty to the Rescue Knights Order, then even if Azadine were stationed elsewhere, the County of Sandokar would remain under Azadine’s control.

Just because they drove Azadine out of this place did not mean the Rescue Knights Order could control the County of Sandokar.

Of course, they could interfere with Azadine directly governing the County of Sandokar, but what benefit would the Order gain from that? Publicly declaring that it was openly hostile toward Azadine?

The reason Azadine had accepted Count Sandokar’s oath of loyalty, despite the various political calculations involved, was that while the oath became a heavy burden placed upon Azadine, it also became a shield that protected him.

“Sir Gareth, surely you understand what this means?”

“I have certainly written that in my report as well, but… as you know, the bishop….”

Sir Gareth looked troubled as he used the bishop as an excuse.

‘He is a political fellow, unlike a dwarf.’

Azadine smiled as he watched Gareth dodge this way and that while blaming others.

Gareth kept laying out excuses that even a child would not believe, such as, “I am not doing this because I hate you, but because I have no choice due to my position,” and, “I did not want to do this, but I was pushed into it by other high-ranking people.”

It was close to covering one’s eyes and pretending no one could see, but considering that many people did not even show that much sincerity to Azadine, a member of the Messenger Clan, and openly revealed their contempt, Sir Gareth was a sufficiently cultured and polite person.

So, regardless of the truth of Sir Gareth’s words, Azadine did not hate him. Sir Gareth also realized that Azadine knew and was playing along.

‘He is a friend one can communicate with. A talent. If only he were not from the Messenger Clan, he would already have become a core figure of the Order. Of all things, he is from the Messenger Clan.’

Gareth found it regrettable that Azadine was from the Messenger Clan.

The current reputation of the Messenger Clan was worse than it had ever been. In truth, with the Messenger Clan clearly acting as traitors to humanity by joining hands with the Nagas, there was no way their reputation could improve.

At that moment, two women came to Azadine and Sir Gareth.

Niselda and… astonishingly, Sir Haine, the Benevolence Order’s Guide to Rest.

“Ah, Sir Azadine. I, Haine of the Benevolence Order, pay my respects to you.”

Sir Haine bent her knee and offered Azadine a grand salute, without caring whether the people around them were watching or not.

Though her rank in the Order was higher than his, the respect she showed Azadine was extraordinary.

“Ahem. I am here as well, you know?”

“Yes, Sir Gareth. It has been a long time.”

“So, Sir Haine. What brings you here?”

“I heard that an inquisition was taking place, so I tried to come as quickly as possible, but the opinions of the upper ranks of the Order did not align, so I had a difficult time persuading them.”

Haine said that and smiled. Her eyes turned coldly toward Sir Gareth.

“By the way, Sir Gareth. What conclusion did the Courage Order reach?”

“That he is innocent.”

“Then that means Benevolence, Courage, and Wisdom have all agreed that he is innocent. That is good news.”

Then Niselda, who was beside Haine, said,

“And… there is sad news.”

“Sad news?”

“Bishop Sehnat went and… croaked in Fireglyph.”

“You mean passed away, do you not?”

“Ah, yes, that was it.”

“……?”

Sir Gareth was left speechless as he looked at the two women of the Benevolence Order delivering news of Bishop Sehnat’s death.

Of course, Bishop Sehnat was elderly, but as a great noble, the blood of the Yaegas God tribe flowed in him. Though he had shown signs of old age, he was not in a physical state where he would die so easily.

‘It was a natural death, right?’

Naturally, he could not help but think of the Benevolence Order’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Or was it the work of the Northern Emperor’s faction?

If Bishop Sehnat, having initiated an unreasonable inquisition, came under attack, no one knew what he might say in order to protect himself.

If that happened, it would be troublesome from the Northern Emperor’s position, so they may have killed him in advance to silence him. In any case, if Bishop Sehnat’s death was true, Sir Gareth had to return to the Order quickly.

There were not many humans in the Courage Order whose heads worked properly. While Sir Gareth was here, there was no knowing what the Courage Order might do.

“S-Such a thing happened. I must return to Fireglyph as quickly as possible. Sir Azadine. The Courage Order accepts your self-defense. It was not our intention to give you an unpleasant experience during the inquisition. You understand, do you not?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you! Then may fortune in war remain with you!”

Sir Gareth watched Azadine’s reaction until the very end, gathered his troops, and left Sandokar.

“…A frightening person.”

Azadine evaluated Sir Gareth in that way. Though he had shown a timid and opportunistic side until the very end, that very point proved that Sir Gareth was not an easy person to deal with.

After Bishop Sehnat met a mysterious death, the three holy knight orders of Wisdom, Courage, and Benevolence all ended the inquisition by declaring Azadine innocent.

Putting someone through an inquisition and having the target pass through safely was an extremely rare event in the Order’s history, something that had happened for the first time in nearly a hundred years.

In such a case, naturally, the authority of the one who launched the inquisition was damaged.

However, the one who had launched this inquisition was Bishop Sehnat, and since he suddenly died, the matter was smoothed over appropriately.

In truth, once things reached this point, both the Wisdom Order, which had actively pushed the inquisition forward, and the Courage Order, which had subtly gone along with it….

‘Ah, that inquisition? We tried to stop it, but Bishop Sehnat pushed so strongly.’

‘How could we refuse Bishop Sehnat’s will?’

In this way, they shifted the blame onto Bishop Sehnat, who was already dead. Since the dead say nothing, the situation was smoothed over in that manner.

However, Sir Gareth, who arrived at Fireglyph to recover Bishop Sehnat’s body, was shocked.

Because the flag of the King’s Church was hanging over Fireglyph.