Chapter 35
Chapter 35
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Rumors of Magical Thieves
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There's one fact that many people refuse to believe.
That Enri is the captain of the knights.
Claudia Duchy.
Captain of the Black Rose Knights.
This isn't a position you can rise to simply by being strong in combat.
Personal martial prowess is a given, but you also need the intelligence to command a unit, the insight to read the flow of battle, the leadership to guide your subordinates, and even the instructional skills to train your knights on a regular basis.
The captain's seat demands excellence in all six areas of ability.
It's the rank that commands and governs an entire unit!
"—Report."
"Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary?"
"Yep, pretty much the usual."
Enri received a report from his vice-captain Luca about everything that had happened in the territory while he was away. Luca began recounting the events from leading the knights on patrols around the duchy.
Tales of handling a massive monster outbreak near the territory, a rise in bandit activity, travelers from other lands flocking to see the elves and causing incidents...
Enri listened to all these minor matters with one ear and let them flow out the other, nodding mechanically like a doll whose head only bobbed up and down.
"As for anything unusual... there's a weird rumor going around, so we're looking into it."
"Rumor?"
"Yeah, something about bandits who use magic showing up..."
Enri scratched the back of his head irritably and frowned slightly at Luca's words. Bandits using magic wasn't all that strange in itself. Some folks went around claiming magic was the privilege of blue bloods, but Enri knew full well that wasn't true.
Blue blood was innate. In other words, even if neither your parents nor ancestors were mages, one could still emerge spontaneously.
And those spontaneous mages? Nine out of ten ended up joining a mage tower or getting adopted by nobles—but every hundredth one might stray down the wrong path.
"If it's just bandits, their level's probably not that high. Send some guys before they grow into a real threat."
"I've already sent Bourbon and Tennessee."
"Those two? Well, a couple of regular knights should handle some thieving scum."
There were cases where someone grew up oblivious to their own magical talent until they accidentally awakened it.
Or cases where bad luck led them to be raised by criminal organizations, brainwashed and all.
In either scenario, even if born a mage, they'd inevitably end up scraping by at the bottom. Petty thieving mages went without saying—they might terrify commoners, but even sending regular soldiers could suppress them without major losses.
Having heard the full briefing, Enri dismissed it as nothing worth worrying about.
That is, until a week later.
Until the two knights he'd dispatched returned as corpses.
"—Luca."
"...Captain."
"Get my gear ready."
Gazing down at his fallen subordinates' bodies, Enri murmured in a voice devoid of emotion. Those listening flinched at the chilling, mechanical tone as the captain issued his order with an expressionless face and turned away.
"I'll just report to the Lady and be back."
"...Yes, sir!"
Luca immediately rushed to the stables to prepare Enri's horse.
After briefing Eve, Enri set off with the knights toward the site where his men had died.
Knight are treated as quasi-nobles.
So a knight's murder is handled much like a noble's.
The knights, realizing their comrade had been slain, burned with rage in their eyes, vowing to tear the killers limb from limb.
That fury was unleashed entirely on the villagers where the bandits had been spotted.
"K-Knights, sirs? What brings you to our village—"
"Do you need to know why we're here?"
"N-No, of course not! Forgive me! I spoke out of turn..."
The elderly village chief bowed deeply, sweat pouring down his face. The knights knew it was just a commoner's natural tension upon meeting them, but in their grief, they twisted even that into suspicion of guilt.
"Sweating buckets for no reason. Got something to hide?"
"N-No, sir! Absolutely not! I swear it on Duke Claudia himself!"
"On Duke Claudia himself? How dare you. Do you think a mere commoner has the right to invoke his name?"
Shing—
The sound of a sword being drawn made the chief and villagers pale with horror, flattening themselves to the ground. But the blade didn't return to its sheath. Instead, heavy steel boot steps and murderous footfalls echoed relentlessly.
As the villagers trembled, convinced their end had come and filling the air with the stench of fear, Enri halted his subordinate knight.
"Enough. Stop there."
"But, Captain..."
"Don't make me say it twice."
"...My apologies."
"Village chief? Raise your head."
The chief staggered to his feet at the voice. It was far too young to command knights, but after that display, he had no defiance left.
It wasn't just age-weakened legs making his knees buckle from that brief prostration. Too terrified to even meet eyes, the chief stood as Enri looked down from horseback and spoke.
"You're the ones who reported bandits recently, correct?"
"Y-Yes! That's right! Some knights came by not long ago and said they'd exterminate the bandits!"
"Do you know what happened to those knights?"
"Forgive us, but we truly don't... We haven't heard anything since they headed off to deal with the bandits."
"Which way did they go?"
"T-That way..."
Enri eyed the old man and confirmed he spoke the truth. At least, this village didn't seem connected to the bandits who killed his knights.
Satisfied, Enri signaled to move out, and the eagerly waiting knights began to advance one by one.
Heading in the direction the chief pointed, footprints began appearing on the well-maintained road. Enri distinguished his subordinate knights' tracks by depth and width, then followed them.
"Did they fall into a trap?"
"I sent them after hearing about a mage. They'd have prepared thoroughly. Not the type to die to some bandit's pitfall."
As they rode along, an arrow whistled from somewhere. Recognizing from the sound alone the crude bow that fired it, Enri tugged hard on the reins with a quiet frown.
Thud— The arrow embedded itself just short of Enri's position.
Realizing the shot missed, the shooter cackled and cautiously revealed itself.
A goblin. One of those monsters that appeared with suspicious frequency, almost as if spawning naturally. Seeing them, Enri recalled Luca's report.
'A massive monster outbreak, she said...'
Such events were exceedingly rare. Monsters, being living creatures, had natural limits on reproduction. Like beasts regulating their numbers to live in harmony with nature, monsters usually kept their populations in check.
But occasionally, they ignored that rule and exploded in numbers—when a powerful individual was born within the group, one capable of dominating the entire horde.
Just as blue-blooded nobles emerged among humans, monster lords appeared among their kind to rule them.
Magical bandits, two dead knights, and a monster surge.
Like pieces of a puzzle snapping together, Enri nodded as if he'd roughly pieced it all.
"Perfect timing. Time to test the new weapons."
"Yes, sir."
At Enri's words, the knights drew the firearms slung from their saddles one by one. Guns crafted from blueprints tortured out of the alchemist Machina Ars from Alchemists' City Ars after long interrogations.
The knights swiftly shouldered their weapons and aimed at the goblins. The primitive monsters, unaware of what was trained on them, just giggled and waited for the knights to finish sighting.
"Fire."
Bang—!
Not the bomb-like rumble of this era's gunpowder, but a sharp, tearing crack rang out. The goblins cackling far beyond arrow range erupted in sprays of blood and tumbled to the ground.
With no time to realize what thunderbolt from the heavens had shredded them, the knights reloaded in an instant and took aim once more.
"Fire."
Thunder clapped again.