Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Who the Hell is Yan? (2)
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The Imperial Capital, Gesentium, was a colossal city divided into five districts.
The layout consisted of districts for agriculture, commerce, military, and technology in the east, west, south, and north, respectively, all encircling a central residential area.
Each of these five districts was larger than most major cities, and the entire capital was so vast it could have been considered a country in its own right.
Surrounding this capital was a double and triple-layered fortress wall, known as "Odelia's Necklace," or the Guardian of the Empire.
“Ugh.”
The Forsaken Dogs seemed utterly overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the walls and the city, the likes of which they had never seen or even heard of.
Even the clueless Garon had his head bowed, his eyes fixed on the heels of the person in front of him. What more needed to be said?
*Clank. Clank.*
Soldiers from the palace, sent to greet the Crown Prince, naturally surrounded us.
Their armor was so fine that calling them mere soldiers felt like an understatement.
And their discipline was so sharp that the mercenaries from the rural outskirts didn't even dare to meet their gaze.
We truly were a pathetic sight, perfectly matching the name of our mercenary band, the Forsaken Dogs. A sigh escaped me automatically.
Could we really establish ourselves in this terrifying capital?
“Tsk.”
As I clicked my tongue, the mercenaries flinched, their shoulders trembling.
In contrast, our vagrant knight seemed to have no thoughts at all.
Whether faced with the massive walls or the gleaming knights, his expression remained impassive throughout.
I couldn't tell if it was because he had seen the capital before or if his disposition was simply detached from worldly matters.
In the end, it didn't matter.
For now, I was content just to have entered the capital without being inspected, all thanks to the Crown Prince.
If we hadn't been in his party, it would have taken at least half a day just to pass through the three gates.
“We will part ways here…”
At the main road leading to the central residential district, Gunther and I bid farewell to the Crown Prince.
“I will send someone soon.”
The Crown Prince returned the sentiment with a promise of a future meeting, then once again urged me emphatically.
“Until then, do not, under any circumstances, leave the capital.”
There was still quite some time before the Cradle's entrance exam anyway. I was stuck in the capital whether I liked it or not.
As I gave a small nod of agreement, I suddenly felt eyes on me.
*Furtive glances.*
Even while maintaining their perfectly rigid posture, the palace elites were sneaking glances at me.
They seemed curious about what kind of kid I was to make the Crown Prince promise a future meeting with such insistence.
But not all their gazes stemmed from pure curiosity.
Some went beyond curiosity, their eyes probing.
I was sure that as soon as their escort duty was over, a good number of them would rush to report everything they had seen and heard here to their respective masters.
The Crown Prince, knowing this, had undoubtedly made a fuss with his unnecessary plea.
In essence, the Crown Prince had just declared to the world that I was his man.
“I’m already tired.”
I had barely arrived in the capital, yet I already felt like I’d been thrown into the heart of a power struggle, and a wave of exhaustion washed over me.
“What’s there to be tired about for someone who abandoned his master to stick close to His Highness?”
Gunther chided me as I stretched my body this way and that.
He seemed quite displeased that his squire had abandoned his master to ride comfortably in a carriage alone.
But he only knew one side of the story.
The walls of the imperial carriage, the Hildegrim, were said to be able to block the sword strike of a decent knight. With some exaggeration, they were like fortress walls.
Putting aside the ride quality, the sense of isolation and silence, as if cut off from the world, was an unbearable ordeal.
“That thing isn't meant for people. I'm serious, it felt like being buried alive in a coffin.”
Gunther just scoffed at my candid review of the ride.
“You don't know anything, Master.”
I grumbled back at him.
The only reason I had endured that living-dead experience, glued to my seat in the carriage, was for an altruistic and noble purpose.
‘Appoint Knight Gunther as an Imperial Undercover Inspector Knight.’
‘And what do I gain from that?’
‘Knight Gunther, unbound by worldly things, would report everything he sees and hears while wandering the world to Your Highness without omission.’
All for the sake of saving someone with absolutely no life skills.
‘Not bad, but I already have more than enough people willing to be my hands and feet.’
‘But none of them were able to uncover the source of the poison.’
‘So you're saying I should have Gunther act as the link to you, the one who did uncover the source of a poison no one else could.’
After enduring what felt like being buried alive, I had managed to sell Gunther to the Crown Prince for a good price.
His official title was ‘Imperial Undercover Inspector Knight,’ or just Undercover Inspector for short.
It was a position for someone to wander the world in place of the sedentary Emperor, observing the state of the empire and, on occasion, delivering a swift slash of the sword.
It was also a position of immense authority, granting the power to commandeer troops from nearby fortresses or castles if necessary.
Of course, Gunther wasn't the ambitious type to go around beheading lords or borrowing troops from imperial fortresses.
All I wanted was the activity fund and imperial support that came with the position.
In short, it was enough that the vagrant knight with zero life skills wouldn't starve.
It bothered me a little that I hadn't gotten his consent, but was this all for my own benefit?
Even if it wasn't, I couldn't help it.
Besides, convincing Gunther was the Crown Prince's job, not mine.
“Master. Please, strive for the peace and well-being of the imperial citizens.”
“...?”
“The future of the Empire rests on your shoulders…”
“Hmph. There you go with that nonsense again. You must be up to something.”
Gunther eyed me suspiciously for a long moment.
But he didn't press for details.
He simply suggested we find an inn and drop off our luggage.
“Ah.”
Then I remembered a problem I'd forgotten.
The cost of living in the capital was astronomical.
The reward money from Komlat and the payment for the Knight-slayer schematics wouldn't last long.
If we weren't careful, we might even burn through the entire payment from the Chimera escort mission on lodging alone.
My head suddenly started to ache.
How were we supposed to survive these murderous prices?
Gunther and the mercenaries, oblivious to the bleak future awaiting them, just stared at me blankly.
My only hope was the Freelance Knight Guild.
The escort mission was technically over, as representatives from the guild had already collected the Chimera's corpse a few days before we even reached the capital.
Still, considering the importance of the mission, I thought the guild might offer us some assistance.
Weren't they, after all, the self-proclaimed patrons of knights without mounts?
But in the end, we wouldn't need to rely on the guild's charity.
“Halt!”
Knights and soldiers clad in pure white armor surrounded Gunther and me.
A thick cross insignia drawn in the center of their snow-white surcoats stung my eyes.
A cross so red it looked as if it were painted with blood.
I recognized it.
Among the many monastic orders in the Empire, it was the symbol of the most radical and aggressive one, dedicated to purification.
“The Iron Cross Monastery…?”
It was the symbol of the order that worshiped the Iron Cross.
The moment they appeared out of nowhere to block our path, I recalled Gunther's origins.
A paladin from a monastery.
The knights and soldiers before us were his brethren.
In other words, this was a sort of family reunion.
The problem was,
“Excommunicated Knight Gunther. Cooperate peacefully, and we will not bind you.”
the family ties didn't seem particularly amicable.
“If you resist, you will be executed on the spot. There will be no exceptions.”
*Click-clack.*
The monastery's troops closed in around us.
***
In the end, Gunther and I were detained by the monastery.
We were in a room with white walls on all four sides and not a single window.
“Why did you have to needlessly step forward! You should have feigned ignorance and left with the others!”
Gunther raised his voice.
“What kind of squire in the world abandons his master when he’s being dragged away?”
“Still, you should have left with them. You should not have come here with me.”
Normally, he would have just chided me a little and let it go, but today was different.
“Tell them, even now. That I deceived you. That you followed me without knowing what kind of person I was.”
His face was contorted as he spoke.
It was the first time.
In all my past and present lives, I had never seen him display so much emotion.
Feeling awkward, I kept my mouth shut instead of running it.
“Do you have any idea where this is to just follow me in!”
Even without Gunther's words, I already knew this was no ordinary room.
[Signal is weak.]
[Cannot connect to the Outskirts Constellation channel.]
[Cannot connect to private channels.]
The moment I stepped inside, my connection to the stars was severed.
I remembered hearing about it sometime in my past life.
That there was a prison built specifically to detain knights.
A very special facility that neutralized the blessings and powers of the stars.
It seemed this was one of them.
His face harder than ever before, Gunther glared at the locked door.
“So, what is this place?”
My attempt to keep my mouth shut out of tact was short-lived; I couldn't contain my curiosity and asked.
“This is a Chamber of Penance. A knight who has sinned relinquishes all his privileges here and reflects on how insignificant he is.”
“So, are you a sinner, Master?”
A myriad of emotions flickered across Gunther's face.
But what remained in the end was,
“I have wandered the world for a long time, but I have yet to find the answer.”
something too faint to be called conviction,
“For now, I just walk on.”
yet too firm to be a vague hope.
“I hope, and I pray, that this signpost I have erected in my heart will guide me to the right path.”
*Twitch, twitch.*
My mouth tingled.
Words I wanted to say rose to the tip of my tongue, and I could only move my lips without a sound.
“…”
But in the end, I couldn't utter a single one of the words I held in my mouth and had to swallow them back down.
I quietly approached and tugged on his sleeve.
Then I looked up at his gaunt face.
At least the Gunther I knew was not the kind of man to commit a sin.
Of that much, I was certain.
*A meeting of minds.*
Hoping my belief would be conveyed to him, I gave him an intense look.
“Do not worry. No matter what happens, I will get you out of here.”
Ah, it wasn't conveyed.
“It will happen before the Cradle's exam, I promise.”
As Gunther spouted his misguided reassurances, I didn't bother to correct his misunderstanding.
I simply thought to myself.
Right before being dragged here, I had given the Forsaken Dogs a few instructions.
If they remembered my words, Gunther and I would be released soon enough.
It just wouldn't be right away.
I had told the Forsaken Dogs to take their time anyway.
There was no rush.
“Saved on lodging fees.”
It was a bit stuffy without a window, but the room was clean and tidy. It wasn't a bad place to stay for a while.
Since it had come to this, I planned to stay here until the entrance exam.
“What do you think they'll give us for food? They won't starve us, right? Speaking of which, isn't it about time to eat?”
As I pressed my ear to the door, Gunther looked at me as if I were absurd.
I met his gaze.
After all, he was the one who had repeatedly said to me when I complained about living on the streets,
As long as your back is warm and your belly is full, what does it matter where you are?
I returned his words to him, without changing a single syllable.
“...Now that I hear it, that is true.”
Gunther smiled.
“What's important is not where you are, but the state of your mind.”
His face looked as if he had attained some great enlightenment.
There was no more anguish to be seen.
***
A frown creased the monk's brow.
He had received a report that a great sinner of the monastery had entered the capital.
The problem was that while he knew the man was a great sinner, he had no way to confirm the exact crime, and to make matters worse, both the Abbot and the senior monks were away.
Fortunately, what he had to do was clear enough.
Detain him, then await instructions from the Grand Monastery.
The monk immediately had the Iron Cross Knights, who were on standby within the monastery, apprehend the sinner.
That was already half a month ago.
“The child who came with the sinner is requesting that his meal portions be increased. He says meals are important for a growing boy…”
“The sinner's squire asks for the convenience of being allowed to take walks or exercise. He also promises not to cause any trouble…”
“The child is looking for something to read, what should I do? He says if there are no other books, he’ll take the holy scriptures…”
“That child requested confirmation that his confiscated belongings are being kept safe…”
“The child…”
“That child…”
The child's demands continued day after day.
The boy's behavior, making excessive demands without understanding his own situation, felt rude and childish, yet at the same time, pitiful.
That must have been why the good-hearted monks couldn't just ignore the boy's requests and reported every single one to him.
“Give him plenty to eat, as much as he wants.”
“Leaving the Chamber of Penance is out of the question, under any circumstances.”
“If he seeks the holy scriptures himself, why refuse?”
“Tell him to put aside his worries about his belongings.”
Considering the child's circumstances, the monk partially granted the requests that were not unreasonable.
The sinner was the one at fault, not the child who was suffering for having the misfortune of serving the wrong master.
As he resolved the child's grievances day after day, the monk himself began to get confused.
Had he apprehended a great sinner of the monastery, or had he taken in a hotel guest?
It was a relief.
He wouldn't have to ponder this for much longer.
On the day the sinner was apprehended, he had already sent a letter to the Grand Monastery asking how to deal with him.
It was about time for someone from the Grand Monastery to arrive.
“...?”
But the person the monk was waiting for did not come. Instead, a series of unexpected letters arrived day after day.
[The individual currently detained at your monastery is a key person of interest in a case of great importance to this Guild…]
[First, we wish to express our sincere regret that your monastery is forcibly detaining a child under the patronage of the Imperial Family…]
One was a protest from the Freelance Knight Guild, and the other was a letter of protest from the Imperial Family.
The reasons were different, but the point was the same.
—Immediately release the child and his guardian.