Ject The Arbiter (5)

The arrow, brimming with tremendous power, seemed not to have been shot by human strength but rather from a siege weapon. However, an intangible shield appeared around Ject the Arbiter, deflecting the arrow.

“—A Sacred Shield!”

The arrow, unable to withstand the force, exploded into countless fragments.

‘It’s a magic spell similar to the one the Count used.’

Azadine frowned as he observed the scene. That was one of the Count’s most troublesome defensive spells. If the Holy Knight wielded such magic, attacking from a distance with arrows alone would be ineffective.

‘Mediam or Ismail might be able to break it with their Flowers, Birds, Wind, and Moon, but… involving the kids might make them a target.’

Azadine clicked his tongue, recognizing that Ject still had plenty of composure left.

‘Damn it. They say there are only sixteen Arbiters in the entire King’s Church, and it makes sense why! Please, just don’t chase me.’

Azadine began to flee, hoping that Ject would abandon the pursuit.

As Azadine escaped, Maya stomped her feet anxiously.

“What should we do? He’s getting farther away, and he’s too fast! If we don’t pursue him now….”

“It’s fine. Let’s chase him leisurely.”

“Leisurely? Even if the Wraith Knight is pursuing, if the opponent knows, they’ll surely prepare countermeasures.”

“From the start, the opponent didn’t flee immediately but stayed to delay us. Wasn’t that because of his goat, or is it an alpaca?”

“It’s a Kerim goat.”

Zebec corrected her.

“Regardless, he’s burdened with that alpaca. While it can outrun us temporarily, its stamina is a problem. It delayed us intentionally, knowing it couldn’t maintain speed.”

The Kerim goat, covered in thick fur, was ill-suited for hot regions. It couldn’t outrun horses outside colder climates. For now, it escaped faster than a horse but would eventually tire. Most importantly, the only ones riding Kerim goats in this area were Northerners, making it easy to track them.

Besides, didn’t they have Sir Kazrek, the Wraith Knight?

“Tracking won’t be difficult at all. The problem is devising a way to ensure he doesn’t escape next time. And…”

Ject removed his gauntlet.

“What?”

Blood trickled down his hand.

“No way?”

“Yes. My fingers were torn when I blocked his attack earlier. What a powerful strike.”

Ject’s hand trembled as he examined it.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course.”

Ject muttered an incantation while staring at his hand. The bleeding stopped quickly.

“Fortunately, the bone seems intact. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to deflect the daggers he threw. The Messenger Clan isn’t an opponent to be taken lightly.”

As Ject raised his hand, sergeants who had just caught up with the Holy Knights brought over spears.

“Dueling one-on-one is entertaining, but let’s make sure to capture him together next time. Carry spears and join in.”

“……”

“What’s the matter, Sir Zebec?”

“Sir Kazrek…”

Zebec pointed, and they saw Kazrek twisting and writhing in agony.

“Oh, I see. Sir Maya!”

“Yes?”

“Go with the sergeants to retrieve the horses that escaped.”

“Understood.”

After dispatching Maya, Ject gave orders to the remaining sergeants.

“Feed him.”

“Yes!”

The sergeants led Kazrek into a thicket off the road and threw him chunks of meat they had been carrying on packhorses.

Kazrek pounced on the meat like a beast, tearing into it ravenously. It was a human thigh.

“……”

“It’s the corpse of a criminal who deserved to die. Admittedly unpleasant to watch, but isn’t this an efficient way to dispose of bodies that would otherwise rot in the fields?”

“That mindset is closer to a necromancer’s than a Holy Knight’s. What crime did this criminal commit?”

“Murdering a Holy Knight.”

“…What?”

For a moment, Zebec doubted his ears.

“That farmer boy?”

The young farmer, arrested in connection with Sir Kazrek’s death, had been killed and fed to that monster?

Zebec shuddered. While the investigation reports he’d read were thoroughly falsified, they revealed a grim truth: Kazrek had indeed murdered civilians, leading the farm’s residents to retaliate by attacking him and his squires.

Zebec realized the boy’s claims were true. And now, that boy was dead?

At that moment, Ject spoke softly.

“The Rescue Knights may be fools, but they teach one truth.”

“……”

“Powerful dark magic emanates constantly from beneath this continent. Without the Light of the Crown, all corpses will eventually turn undead. Feeding them to eliminate the remains is an exceptionally effective funeral method.”

“But the farmer boy… Sir Kazrek killed his family.”

“And do you suggest forgiving someone who dared to strike a Holy Knight? People would ask, ‘Why was he pardoned?’ What should we say? ‘Oh, actually, Sir Kazrek massacred civilians’? Is that what you propose?”

“……”

Zebec was at a loss for words.

Indeed.

For the organization of the Holy Knights under the King’s Church, Ject’s actions were justified. Yet they were unbearably vile. To cover up the truth for the sake of the organization.

“Sin is sin. Sir Kazrek has already paid for his mistakes by becoming what he is now. And for the farmer boy who attacked a Holy Knight, death is an appropriate punishment. This is by no means excessive. Anyone else would have passed the same judgment.”

“Will Sir Maya be all right? If she sees something like this….”

“That’s why I sent her away.”

“Still…”

“Of course, it’s not a pleasant sight, so I’m keeping it out of her view. I’d appreciate it if you could also show the same consideration, Sir Zebec.”

It was a veiled way of telling him to keep his mouth shut. Zebec gave a bitter smile. Suddenly, he recalled Azadine, the Messenger Clan member who had just fled.

He remembered Azadine carefully burying the villagers killed by the Count’s son and fighting for petitioners even after securing the Emperor’s gold coins. In contrast, Zebec felt deeply ashamed of his own decorated appearance as a Holy Knight of the Church.

“Well, let’s begin the pursuit once Sir Kazrek’s condition stabilizes. That Messenger likely has the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth copies that the Count had amassed. He’s not someone we can afford to let escape.”

A strange transformation began in Kazrek, the Wraith Knight, who was tearing into human flesh.

Despite being dead, his metabolism long ceased and his organs, particularly his digestive system, removed to prevent decay, Kazrek’s body started to change.

Azadine panted as he ran along the road under the setting sun. The wound from the enchanted projectile grew increasingly painful.

“I shouldn’t, but… should I rest for a moment?”

Azadine stopped the goat. Its body temperature was far too high.

“I trimmed its hindquarters and leg fur in advance, but it’s still overheating. I’ll have to shear all its fur.”

Saying so, Azadine began to remove his clothes by the roadside. The area struck by the enchanted bullet was bruised, with dark blue internal bleeding already spreading.

Even if it had been a hammer, such a bruise would have taken time to form. Yet the wound, inflicted only moments ago, had already discolored unnaturally.

Moreover…

—Squirm.

Something moved inside the wound.

“Damn it.”

Azadine retrieved an obsidian razor from his saddlebag. Using it, he cut into the bruised wound.

—Slither.

A dark red, worm-like mass of clotted blood wriggled out of the injury.

“Damn it.”

Azadine pulled out a small ceramic jar from his backpack, poured its contents onto a cloth, and then placed the dark red blood-worm into the jar. He repeated the process for the other wounds, extracting the blood-worms and sealing them in the jar.

“What kind of Holy Knight is so skilled with black magic? To merge colorless magic like enchanted bullets with dark magic…”

That Arbiter, Ject, was a remarkable magician capable of independently fusing magic.

“A normal person would’ve died already.”

Only Azadine’s strong magic resistance had kept him alive; anyone else would’ve perished the moment they were struck by such a horrifying enchanted bullet.

Azadine cleaned the bleeding wounds with the cloth he had soaked in medicine earlier, then applied ointment.

While he was treating himself, a voice called out.

“Are you okay?”

“……”

It was Mediam and Ismail, returning along the road.

“No, I told you to run…”

“Back with the Count, we returned and saved you, didn’t we?”

“That’s true. But this Holy Knight is extremely dangerous. He’s a powerful magician, and helping me might get you killed.”

“So what should we do? That undead will keep chasing you, won’t it?”

“I’ll need to make a decoy talisman.”

Azadine used a dagger to cut tufts of fur from the goat, twisting them by hand to form a talisman. Into the talisman, he placed strands of his own hair and the dark red blood-worms sealed earlier in the jar.

“Impressive. Where did you learn this? Did Elder Kazas teach you?”

“Yes. I worked as his assistant while he researched black magic. I can’t use magic myself, but I know plenty. This should keep the Wraith Knight off our trail for a while. The problem is transporting it.”

Just then, Azadine spotted someone carrying a torch nearby. He approached the person.

“Wha-what is it?”

Although the sun had not fully set, the dimming light and Azadine suddenly appearing on the road startled the man.

“Excuse me, but where are you headed?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I have something that needs to be delivered. If you’re heading south, could you help? I’ll, of course, compensate you.”

Azadine pulled out some silver coins to show him.

“Something to deliver?”

“Yes. If you could take this south and throw it into the river, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

“……”

“I’ll pay you five silver coins.”

“F-five silver coins? Hmm. Well, uh, all right.”

“Make sure it remains intact.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll pay you upfront.”

Azadine handed the man the silver coins and the decoy talisman. Whether the man was thrilled to earn sudden money or simply wanted to get away from Azadine, he quickly disappeared into the distance.

“Hopefully, this decoy will throw that Arbiter off our trail.”

“Amazing. Are you afraid of him?”

Ismail asked Azadine, who readily admitted.

“One must fear a fight. No matter how confident you are in your abilities, avoiding unnecessary battles is wise. Let’s go. We need to put as much distance as possible while this trick works.”