Chapter 82

The town guard was one of the few official roles available to commoners.

Their primary duty was maintaining order, but when major incidents occurred that were beyond their capabilities, it became the turn of knight orders like the Holy Shield Knights. To put it simply, the town guard was like a regular police force, while the Holy Shield Knights were special forces. However, since the majority of the guards were commoners, their actions were heavily restricted, and because their commander was traditionally appointed from the Holy Shield Knights, they were effectively a sub-organization of the Holy Shield Knights.

As I’ve mentioned before, town guards only existed in the kingdom’s major cities; you wouldn’t find them in autonomous cities without a privileged class or in remote frontier lands. There were many reasons for this, but the biggest was said to be the risk of abuse: if a member of the privileged class—someone who could command a force like the guards—took up residence in a town without its own aristocracy, it would likely lead to the infringement of local autonomy.

Anyway, this is a long detour, but the point is that since the town guards were the ones keeping the peace in towns other than the Royal Capital, they had to be aware of the troubles and nuisances occurring within their jurisdiction. Naturally, they should have had information on the “Sword Emperor” (fake) who had appeared a few days ago.

So, after parting ways with Koruka and the others, I headed to the guard station to gather information, my heart pounding slightly at the thought of using Orcus’s name and hoping I wouldn’t get caught. That was when…

“Please, have mercy.”

(They suddenly started using local dialect. I take it that means ‘please forgive me’?)

A grown adult, older than me, was kneeling in a full dogeza (prostration) before me. I felt a sense of sadness that I wasn’t even that surprised, given how many people around me lately acted without any logical context. My heart, I realized, was steadily turning cold.

Setting that aside, when I asked about the situation, it turned out the guards certainly knew about the man.

However, although the guards were an official body, they were still just a sub-organization of the knight order.

They couldn’t act against a knight on their own authority, and besides, they said the man was ‘trouble’ in a dangerous way.

“He’s Varna-sama, the strongest knight in the order and super popular at the Royal Palace, isn’t he? If we reported him, wouldn’t our positions be in danger instead?”

In short, they were terrified that if they were to witness misconduct, the culprit might have them killed to bury the scandal in order to protect his “honor.” It was a method that didn’t provide a fundamental solution—protecting honor by making it look like the misdeed never happened, rather than correcting the corrupt person himself.

Regrettably, since this was a tactic the corrupt privileged class often used, I couldn’t blame the guards for being cautious. For them, it was an issue just as terrifying as defying a superior head-on.

Incidentally, the witness testimonies about the fake me were blatantly concentrated in areas that avoided the guard station and the Mayor’s vicinity. It seemed the fake realized there was a risk of being caught, but my objective assessment was that he shouldn’t have been doing this if he was going to take such risks.

“……I understand. As Knight Orcus, I shall take charge of this matter on my name. Since this case regarding that insolent knight has now left your jurisdiction, there is no need for reports or records to be sent to your superiors.”

“U-understood…… And, um. About the fact that we told you this story… well, due to various political reasons, it could end up causing trouble for us…”

I knew roughly what the guard, mumbling and speaking in fits and starts, wanted to say. “A commoner who exposed a knight’s misconduct” might sound good from the commoner side, but from the viewpoint of the privileged class, it was enough trouble to get marked as a nuisance.

Doing the right thing sometimes brings rewards, but in a society with strict hierarchy, it’s common for the losses to outweigh the gains. Being noticed by those around you or your superiors without having any special power carries corresponding risks. They probably just wanted to cherish their daily lives.

I felt the same way, so I planned to pin this whole matter on Orcus.

“I never came to this guard station. Therefore, I do not know your names or faces. Is that understood?”

“I am grateful. It is a relief that Orcus-dono is a wise man. By the way, what exactly is Orcus-dono’s affiliation…?”

“Come, come, if I were to tell you that, it would negate what I just said, wouldn’t it? We have never met.”

“Ah… forgive me. Please forget what I just said.”

Thus, while subtly keeping the guard’s mouth shut, I left the guard station and let out a huge sigh. I had intended to stick to a way of speaking that sounded like the privileged class, but this style just didn’t suit my nature.

Still, I had obtained the information, and conversely, I had been able to block information that was disadvantageous to us to some extent, so the fact that that man was a fake knight and a serious criminal shouldn’t be discovered for a while. Using this time to stall, I would promptly report the facts to our knight order and have him dealt with before his crimes were fully exposed.

…Coo… Coo…

“……Hm, is that sound a familiar?”

Looking up at the sky, a familiar Hill Myna was flapping its wings, calling out to me in a voice meant to be discreet since we were in town. Could it be that the news of my (fake) misdeeds had reached the other knight order members, too? Thinking that, I beckoned the familiar over.

To sum up the conclusion: the information I received was unbelievable.

“……Ha? The Holy Shield Knights are here? They’ve been hiding in this town for a few days, searching for the criminal, dead or alive!?”

That’s right. According to everyone, they caught wind of the rumors about that ‘Fake Varna’.

“Damn, word had already reached the Royal Capital…!”

It’s often said that you cannot build a gate to stop people’s mouths, but I never thought things had already grown this large. After all, the target this time was an imposter posing as a representative of the country. That was enough reason for the knight order to move, and “dead or alive” meant the start of a great race where the first to find him wins.

“There’s no time left…”

“That’s right. Not a single moment to lose.”

“There is no organization in this country that surpasses the Holy Shield Knights in investigation know-how when it comes to humans. If I have any advantage, it’s only the familiar’s information transmission speed and our numbers…!”

“I’m getting a little embarrassed being praised that much!”

“If only Sedona happened to be mixed in with the Holy Shield Knights, many things would be solved…”

“Oh, she is mixed in! Believe me, she’s mixed in there, Varna-kun!!”

“Is that so? She is there… Hm? Hmm…”

For a while now, a voice I remembered hearing was coming from behind me. The voice was so close and sounded so natural that I had accepted it without a second thought, but thinking about it calmly, if she had come to this town, it would be strange if she weren’t looking for me. I braced myself and turned around.

“Who goes there!”

“Boo!”

“Whoa!? A girl so beautiful she could be mistaken for a princess is standing behind me!!”

“Ehehe, it’s been a while, Varna-kun!”

A familiar girl with orange hair stood there. There was no mistaking her; as I’d expected, it was Sedona. Since she was on a mission, she wore modest, understated clothing, but the natural refinement in her facial features only made her look even more like a high-born lady of quality.

Seriously, she was seventeen years old, and what was with that “Boo!”? It was infuriatingly cute… no, wait, she shouldn’t be acting like a child at her age. What kind of education had her father given her? Even though I knew she was there, having her jump out like that made my heart skip a beat.

Of course, the shout I’d let out was practically a standard greeting for her, but whether she realized it or not, she was bouncing with joy at my reaction.

“Gotcha! Prank success~♪”

“It’s been a while, sure, but seriously… stop playing around while you’re on a mission!”

“Eh, but… I mean, I followed along, but then they just told me, ‘You’re probably going to Varna-kun anyway, so just do whatever you want.’ That’s effectively a notice that I’m useless as combat support, isn’t it!? Why did they even bring me on the mission then!?”

“No, well, you’re here, aren’t you…”

“I can be patient if I have actual orders! Sure, once I arrived at the scene and found out Varna-kun’s knight order was in town, I got a little excited, but still… do they really trust me that little!?”

Sedona huffed in annoyance, but in reality, she had the ability to handle any task without compromise if she was given the responsibility. The reason she had received such a vague order to “do whatever she wanted” was likely the result of the Holy Shield Knights wanting to shield their “princess” from the bloody reality of the situation.

Or perhaps it was simply because they didn’t want her to get hurt because it was dangerous.

If you ask me, I think that’s actually disrespectful to Sedona.

Because, as long as she could choose her weapons, she was…

Oi, Varna. I’ll tell you just in case.

“Hm? What is it, familiar?”

That big sister was tailing me from our motive carriage.

“……Sedona, explain.”

“Eh? It’s not a big deal. I saw someone from the Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights, so I snuck after them, snuck into the motive carriage, and since I happened to hear that they were sending a familiar to you, Varna-kun, I just took it as a lucky break and followed along.”

“……Did no one notice you on the way?”

“Don’t know. No one called out to me?”

Sedona answered nonchalantly, but if a girl like her had snuck into a motive carriage on her own, someone surely would have noticed and called out to her. The fact that it hadn’t happened meant she had obtained the necessary information without anyone realizing she was there.

……As expected, Sedona is a capable knight.

I feel like there’s no one more suited for the Holy Shield Knights than her.

And actually, isn’t this an unexpected chance for me, too?

I can make contact with my comrades as part of the Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights. Sedona can extract information from her comrades as part of the Holy Shield Knights. In other words, if we act together, we can advance our investigation to our mutual advantage. It’s a bit complicated to cooperate based on what’s essentially a conflict of interest, but borrowing Sedona’s strength here is the best course of action.

“Hey, Sedona. If you’re under ‘free movement’ orders, that means there’s no penalty if you work toward solving the problem, right?”

“Eh? Hmm… that’s true! Plus, if I investigate with Varna-kun, we can use the power of the Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights, too—two birds with one stone!”

“Is it already a decided fact that I’m cooperating!?”

“Won’t you… help me?”

“Stop looking at me like that! It’s making me feel guilty for no reason! Fine, I’ll cooperate, I wanted your help too!!”

Unable to withstand Sedona’s teary-eyed, pure gaze, I folded immediately. I was the one who had meant to propose it, yet Sedona had taken the lead, and more than anything, there was no reason to refuse if we were thinking the same thing. At my reply, Sedona raised her hands in that blooming, flower-like smile of hers.

“Yes! We’ve formed the strongest duo!!”

“Good grief, I can’t win against you… Sedona, I think you know this, but I absolutely do not want any casualties. From here on, no more messing around.”

“That goes without saying. …Varna-kun really was thinking the same thing as me. I’m strangely happy about that♪”

“……Y-yeah.”

Sedona pressed her back against me like a puppy and looked up.

How should I put it—I think she’s a devious woman. When she says things like that, even if it’s a fact I would normally accept, it makes me blush. I warned myself not to let my consciousness drift toward Sedona more than it used to, perhaps because the distance between us had grown since our time at the academy.

Thinking about it, the reason we could decide to cooperate with so few words before even confirming the details of the case was because we were friends. This current distance is just right. That’s why I think our relationship as it is now is the correct one.

“……Ah, also, I’m using the name Orcus in town. Don’t call me Varna in public, no matter what, okay?”

“Eh? Why, of all names, Orcus-kun?”

“No, I couldn’t think of a better fake name on the spot…”

“Orcus-kun, huh. He’s a bit of a weird guy, right? Like how he gets suddenly high-tension and waves his hands around when you get close; he seems like a dangerous person.”

A sudden stray bullet hit the Orcus inside my brain. He fell prostrate, face-down, looking like it was the end of the world, and never moved again. For now, I warned Sedona with all my might, “Never, ever tell him that to his face.”

“Got it, Varna-ku—no, Orcus-kun!”

“Yeah, keep calling me Orcus for a while.”

It’s an aside that the Orcus inside my brain slightly gasped back to life. I’m you, but I’m not you.