Rapid Promotion
The moment Karen appeared—absolute authority itself within the Agnes Territory—every mouth in the training grounds snapped shut.
Even Albert, half out of his mind, was no exception.
"M-My Lord…!"
Albert looked to Karen as a drowning man clutches at straws, his eyes raw with desperate hope.
That hope died almost at once.
Her gaze was as cold as a frost-bitten winter.
"I will tolerate no further disturbance. Anyone who continues to make a scene from this moment on will be regarded as defying me directly."
In that instant she was no fragile young woman. At the absolute ruler's single rebuke, every soul in the training grounds froze in place.
And yet one man still found his voice.
"M-My Lord, I have something to say…!"
It was Albert, face drained of color, stumbling over his own words. Gone was any trace of a Knight Commander's pride; only ugliness remained. Pointing a trembling finger at Orion like a child tattling to an adult, he cried,
"Th-That man is a monster wearing human skin…! M-My Lord, you too have been deceived by—"
Albert's words died in his throat.
He had seen the look on Karen's face as she stared down at him—a look that said his wretched excuses were not even worth answering.
Realizing she was no longer on his side, Albert cast a pathetic glance around him, hoping someone—anyone—might speak in his defense.
"No one……"
Every soldier whose eyes met his looked away at once. Not a single person raised a voice on his behalf.
Then Karen spoke.
"I watched your duel from the beginning. The loser was to leave the Order of Knights. That was the agreement, was it not?"
She addressed Albert with as much compassion as she could muster for a man who had once served her.
"This duel began at your own proposal. As a knight of honor, fulfill your promise without complaint. Do so, and I will pursue no further charges for what has happened here today."
To the very end, Karen granted him that courtesy.
Stripped of every last hope, Albert hung his head.
He remembered the retirement ceremony of the previous Knight Commander—a man who had left the stage to thunderous cheers, his final moments radiant.
And him?
Where did it all go wrong…?
Where had he taken the wrong turn? He was not even permitted to stand here, let alone receive a retirement ceremony. What had the past ten years of effort been for? Why had he come all the way to this remote land?
Everything had turned to foam.
Everything.
All of it—because of that bastard.
With a sudden lunge—
"Control yourself!! If you go any further, you'll only add to your crimes, Commander!"
Arnold, the vice-commander who had served under him, shouted in alarm. Albert paid him no mind. He seized Orion and pressed a blade to his throat.
Orion had already discarded his sword; he had nothing left with which to defend himself. Albert's actions were those of a common criminal who had abandoned every scrap of a knight's pride.
"Shut your damn mouth—!!!!"
If things continued this way, he was as good as dead already. At the very least, he wanted to kill this lowborn foreigner—the root of every disaster—before he went. Only then might his heart find some peace.
"So you insist on seeing this through."
Karen sighed and shook her head.
Every knight in the training grounds drew steel and firearms—yet none dared strike, held back by the hostage and by Albert's own considerable strength.
"Sir Albert."
"Shut up—!!!!"
In Albert's eyes she was no longer his master.
"You're in league with this filthy foreigner too, aren't you? Ha—so even a Grand Duke is just a little girl in the end. What could a spoiled brat like you, living fat and easy under your parents' shadow, possibly hope to accomplish—!!!!"
Karen's brow furrowed. Those were not the eyes of a man capable of reason. Madness had claimed him entirely.
Judging that words would no longer reach him, she caught Orion's gaze and gave a slight nod.
"Wh-What are you trying to—"
"Don't move!! Your life is—huh?"
What Orion did next left everyone stunned. Albert tried desperately to stop him, but Orion had no intention of holding still.
"Tch. What a pain."
With a razor-edged blade still pressed to his throat, Orion simply took hold of the sword—using nothing more than two fingers.
"You insane—"
Albert's reflexes were nowhere near enough. Orion casually shoved aside the blue longsword that had been driven against him with such force, spun around in a flash, and seized Albert by the collar.
"Close your eyes. Dirt's coming in."
Still clad in his heavy armor, Albert's body was hoisted into the air, described a clean arc—and slammed face-first into the ground.
"Gah—"
BOOM—!!
He tried to lift his face on pure reflex, only for Orion to pin him down again. Blood sprayed across the surrounding snow.
Karen shot Orion a look of pure exasperation—the kind that said, You could have at least left him conscious enough to understand speech.
Orion clicked his tongue, grabbed Albert by the hair, and hauled his head up.
"Still alive?"
"Ugh… uh-heh…?"
"Answer me."
At Orion's chilling tone, Albert nodded frantically—exactly like a wriggling loach. Soft laughter rippled through the onlookers. It was not schadenfreude, exactly; the man simply looked so ridiculous in that state that laughter burst out before anyone could stop it. Ask a hundred people whether this specimen looked like a Knight Commander, and every last one would answer no.
"Haa."
Karen, who seemed to be sighing more and more these days, finally spoke.
"Sir Albert. No—the criminal Albert Alstein."
The murmuring died away as her voice carried across the grounds.
"A knight holds honor sacred and treats a promise as inviolable. By this act, you have discarded a knight's pride—and even that was nothing more than the impulsive product of your own vile desires."
"Even so, as your lord and master, I have watched your devotion these past ten years. In gratitude for that service, I had intended to overlook your crimes and let you go."
Karen's expression shifted. What filled her eyes now was not pity or regret, but anger.
"Yet far from repenting, you heaped insults upon the one who is your master. As Knight Commander, you should have nurtured those under your command—instead you turned violence upon them. Therefore I, too, will now recite the crimes I have until this moment chosen to ignore."
She accepted a document from Heily.
"My, there are quite a few. First: embezzlement of the Order's operating funds. Second: the theft of secret manuals passed down through the Agnes family for generations. Hmm? And recently you have even been harassing the women of the territory? You truly have lost your mind. Beyond that—verbal abuse, assault, dereliction of duty—matters you yourself would know well enough."
All of it had taken place in less than a single year. Was this what people meant when they said power changes a man? The embezzled sums had not been large, and the stolen manuals were of no great importance. Setting aside the information she now held, she might well have closed her eyes for the sake of his past service.
But he had crossed the line. He had gone beyond the bounds of forgiveness.
"I hereby pass judgment. The criminal Albert Alstein is permanently banished from the Agnes Territory. He shall never again set foot upon this land."
Albert's eyes went hollow.
As if her business were concluded, Karen turned and walked away.
"If you understand, get out of my sight at once."
After that, Albert trudged out of the territory step by dragging step. Not a single person came to see him off.
Once the matter was settled, Orion answered Karen's summons and presented himself at her office. She greeted him with a calm expression as he opened the door. Orion's face, by contrast, was thick with discontent.
Karen tilted her head.
"What is the matter?"
"You're asking because you don't know!?"
Orion flared up as if someone had jabbed a bruised finger.
"Honestly—is every last person in the Knight Order a complete wreck of a human being? The so-called Commander picks a fight the second he lays eyes on me, calling me a lowborn foreigner. The new recruits talk behind my back right to my face. Do you people not even hold personality interviews around here? And you told me everything would be fine. So what is this? All I can see ahead of me is a future of nonstop verbal abuse!"
Having vented his fury, Orion let out a sigh as if the whole thing were pointless.
"Then again, the boss herself is the type who shoves a contract in someone's face and starts threatening them. My mistake for trusting her in the first place."
He did not feel he had gone too far. Whatever would be, would be. With that, Orion turned to leave the office.
"You're right. I was wrong."
"There she goes again…… wait, what?"
He had fully expected her to say something like, So, are you finished? Caught off guard, Orion paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked back at her.
"Your words are correct. As lord of this territory, the failure to properly manage the Knight Order is my responsibility."
"Well—if you're going to admit it that fast, I don't really have much left to say……"
Karen pointed toward the side wall.
"Which is why I prepared this. Consider it an apology. Do with them as you see fit."
Orion's gaze followed her gesture. There, sure enough, stood the thug trio who had so enthusiastically badmouthed him behind his back—trembling like hikers who had just come face-to-face with a tiger in the mountains.
"And those guys are…?"
"They claim they were acting under the banished man's orders. They came to me before your duel began and confessed everything."
When Orion turned a dubious look on the trio, the words poured out of them like a broken dam.
"H-Her Lordship is telling the truth! We really had no choice!!"
"Th-That's right!! We'd barely been in the Order a week when that bastard showed up and said, 'If you don't do as I say, your lives here are going to get very uncomfortable'! What were we supposed to do!!!"
"B-But after we saw Sir Orion completely overwhelm him, we changed our minds!!"
Orion looked the three of them over. The desperation was genuine.
"Oh-ho. So you're the ones who spread the rumor that I beat him?"
Hope kindled in their eyes.
"Y-Yes!!! That was us!!"
"How could a one-punch nobody like him ever beat Sir Orion!!"
Orion glanced sideways at Karen. She merely tipped her chin as if to say, Handle it yourself.
They are pretty pitiful, though.
They were just kids. After scraping their way into the Knight Order, how hollow would it feel to be thrown out after only a few days?
Hmm.
"Still—how am I supposed to trust people who already stabbed me in the back once?"
Their faces went deathly pale.
"Had fun running your mouths about me, didn't you?"
Pale drained into pure white. At the sight of them, Orion burst out laughing.
"Pfft—I'm kidding, kidding. Think you can do better from now on?"
"Y-Yes!!! We'll work our hardest!!!"
"Good. You must be hungry—go get something to eat."
Their eyes lit up with open admiration.
"Y-Yes, sir!!! We will never forget this kindness!!!"
It was more than a little awkward from Orion's point of view, but the three of them bowed at a perfect ninety degrees and filed out of the office.
Watching them go, Karen allowed herself a small smile.
"You're kinder than you look."
"Hmm. Never thought about it that way—but now that you mention it, I do seem kinder than the boss, at least."
Karen shot him a sharp look. Orion pretended not to notice.
"Anyway, we're done here, right? I'm going to go eat too."
"No. Wait."
"Pardon?"
"I have something further to discuss with you."