Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: The Emperor's Letter
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“Finally made it. I can see the gates.”
Claudia, riding at the front, pointed ahead. The familiar sight of the checkpoint before the city gates welcomed us, a scene we'd grown used to by now.
The line was definitely longer than when I'd first arrived after escaping prison. It was proof the city was starting to buzz with life again.
‘The forge might reopen soon too? I'll probably need to swing by before long.’
True to its reputation as the most newbie-friendly route with the Silver Dawn Knights in Bran 4, following the main storyline let you stock up on most of the essentials for the journey ahead right here in this one city.
The forge for reinforcing armor and weapons or adding attributes, shops handling most mid-to-low-grade items, and even the mage tower for learning spells up to mid-tier.
If you put Aurora in the lord's seat and kept up good relations, melee-focused knights or warriors could handle all their upgrades right here.
Of course, that was just most elements—top-tier spells, items, divine incantations, and blessed weapons still had to come from elsewhere.
“What're you thinking so hard about?”
A head popped into my view. Blue hair filled the corner of my sight. Lize was peering at me with her usual mischievous grin.
Her chest bounced in rhythm with the horse's gait, like it was putting on a show. She'd ditched her armor back in the Arachnaira's boss room, so all she had on top was a single white sleeveless shirt.
For the record, armor was infinitely restockable. The castle's magic apparently treated it as part of the original inventory—as long as you just picked it up and walked out, it replenished itself.
At this point, I had to wonder what curse the old lord thought that magic was.
According to Aurora, it was a spell applied only to a handful of top-tier mage towers. She'd really lucked out finding something like that.
Apparently, only one person in the empire could even cast it: the nation's greatest mage, who also owned the Grand Library. The Silver Dawn Knights must have really gotten under his skin.
In a way, it was a stroke of luck. Despite hating them enough to dig up a spell like that, he lacked the justification to act, and ended up dying first.
From his perspective, it must've been a real headache. He couldn't just execute an imperial knight order on a whim because they rubbed him the wrong way.
Tearing the Silver Dawn Knights apart and forcing just four knight-commander level survivors to serve him was probably the best revenge he could manage on the spot.
‘And then he keeled over.’
“…You’re not thinking about that girl’s chest, are you?”
My thoughts kept spiraling, delaying my response, so Lize shot me a suspicious look. She scooted even closer. I answered hastily before the interrogation ramped up.
“Nah. Just had something on my mind.”
“Then why not grope mine? I could make you forget all about hers.”
“…How many times do I have to say I’m not doing that?”
Ever since the heresy trial fiasco with Stella, Lize’s behavior had gotten more and more blatant. She’d just struck a pose emphasizing her chest, twisting her body a little—it was plain as day.
My patience was wearing thin to match. If these temptations kept up, I wasn’t sure I could hold out. At most, I’d give myself another month before the line broke.
“Fine, fine, I get it. Obviously. I was just messing around.”
Lize flashed me a cheeky grin.
The offer to let me fondle her chest after it was all over? I’d turned that down. When she heard, Lize jumped up asking what the problem was, and I laid it out straight.
Once I started, I didn’t trust myself to stop at just her chest.
She blanked out for a second, then pulled back with a nod and her trademark playful expression. Ever since, it’d been stuff like this nonstop.
“You’re back, Knight-Commander!”
As we approached the gates, the line split apart to clear a path. The guard checking wagons at the checkpoint spotted Claudia and snapped to attention with a salute.
“Glad you made it back safe! Was the subjugation a success?”
“Yeah.”
Claudia patted the Arachnaira’s head tied to her saddle. Even after all this time, it looked no different from the moment it’d been severed.
Regular monsters aside, powerful ones like the Arachnaira barely decayed without some special circumstance.
They said you could leave one out in the open, and it’d take half a year to start rotting a bit. The Human Butcher—who melted down to a bloodied sword drop right after—was a rare case.
“Don’t get any weird ideas? It’s a humanoid monster.”
The guards flinched at the sight of the head, so Claudia cut in before any dumb comments slipped out.
Even decapitated with its tongue lolling and eyes half-rolled back, its beauty was intact—so up close, mistaking it for a human head wasn’t out of the question.
“Yes, sir! Understood!”
The guard cleared the way immediately. Good—no pointless hassle.
“Heading straight to report to the lord? Feels weird dragging everyone to the castle.”
“Pretty much. I’ll handle Iris. Sis, Claudia, Delta—you head to the lord’s manor first.”
Erika veered left at the fork, while we stuck to the main road. Maybe mindful of the stares, Lize rode quietly without clinging to me.
We reached the manor in no time. A knight at the front gate stopped us. One of the new hires after purging the old lord’s servants.
Unlike the last batch, he didn’t treat us like trash. He’d even geeked out when he heard “Silver Dawn Knights,” going on about how we served the emperor.
“What brings you here?”
“Back from monster subjugation. Here to report on it to the lord.”
“Got it. Go on in.”
The knight exchanged a few formal words and stepped aside. That same maid was waiting at the manor’s entrance.
The one who’d served Aurora since childhood and was the most trustworthy. She bowed politely, her maid outfit covering her from neck to toe without a hint of skin.
As we dismounted, a few servants came to lead the horses away—pausing to flinch at the Arachnaira head on the saddle, naturally.
“Mind if we wait here for the other two?”
“Not at all. We’d recommend it, actually. The lord needs time to ‘prepare,’ after all.”
The maid glanced at me as she emphasized “prepare” in response to Claudia. Out of nowhere, Lize plastered herself to my arm. A tense glare passed between them.
How long we waited, I couldn’t say—but Iris and Erika arrived. Stoic and quiet made for a duo so silent you couldn’t even hear them breathe.
Lize and Claudia shook their heads at the suffocating vibe. Honestly, I got it a little.
“Lady Aurora is waiting inside.”
The maid led us to the drawing room and opened the door with precise movements.
Inside, Aurora sat at the head seat in her usual dress—exposing side-boob, underarm, and collarbone—sipping tea. Her golden eyes locked right on me.
“How’d the subjugation go? Wrap up okay?”
“We all came back alive. Probably went fine.”
“Hmm… Seeing as you all trashed your armor, I’m not so sure?”
Erika and Claudia coughed awkwardly at that—they’d both nearly died, one poisoned into a coma, the other grabbed by the Arachnaira.
“Fine, Iris didn’t even join, and Delta never wears armor anyway—but the rest of you went out fully equipped, right? Coming back without it means you lost it somewhere. If it was fine, you’d be wearing it now.”
“Spot on. Yeah, a lot went down.”
“I wanna hear every detail later. But first, I’ve got stuff to say. Sit. Can’t talk standing around.”
Aurora gestured. We took seats around the table on the sofas. Maids swarmed in, setting down teacups, saucers, and pouring for each of us.
“Delta. First things first—you need to hear this.”
“Me? Oh, that thing I asked you to look into last time—”
“We did finish investigating that, but it’s not what I’m talking about now. Wouldn’t call it priority one if it was.”
“…?”
“Here’s the real deal.”
Aurora carefully picked up a parchment from the table and handed it to the maid beside her. The maid took it with both hands, bowing at the waist, then approached me and extended her arm.
“Take it. It’s yours.”
“Can I open it here?”
“That’s why I’m giving it to you—but the other knight-commanders can’t see. You check it first, alone. Only if you say it’s okay can we look.”
“…What’s the big secret?”
“Flip it over.”
Following Aurora’s words, I turned the rolled parchment. A knotted string and a golden seal above it, stamped with a pair of dragons.
A very familiar emblem.
“Uh, this…”
Words caught in my throat. Lize, right beside me, leaned over out of curiosity—then jerked back, face pale. The other knight-commanders staring at the parchment did the same.
“That’s right. The emperor’s seal.”
Aurora took a sip of tea.
“Emperor Kaikilia herself sent you a letter directly.”