The Unicorn Knight's Purge

Albrecht Baron Mansion. At the garden entrance where the front gate stood visible, Werner came to a stop.

Leona stopped half a step behind him.

This time, however, it would not be a stealthy infiltration like at Birk’s house. Werner neither lowered his shoulders nor silenced his footsteps.

He simply leaped lightly and descended slowly into the garden.

Werner had no intention of hiding his presence from Albrecht. If anything, it looked like the exact opposite.

Listen. Listen closely. He was announcing to the entire territory that everything had changed.

The instant she read her master’s heart, Silver’s own heart skipped a beat. It was neither fear nor excitement… it was thrilled anticipation.

‘Do you truly mean to go through with this, Master…?’

As if answering Silver’s silent question, the master’s foot slammed into the front gate.

BOOM—!

The hinges shrieked. The thick wooden door flew inward and smashed against the floor. Silver slid in a beat later from the side and took her place beside the master in front of the shattered threshold.

Before long, the soldiers came pouring out. Mercenaries who had thrown leather armor over their nightclothes in haste. Every one of them drew steel, yet the tips of their blades trembled faintly.

They were used only to tormenting the residents on Albrecht’s orders. None possessed enough loyalty to their employer to face a sudden nighttime intruder.

Silver read their eyes. More precisely, she read how the master appeared within those eyes.

One sword. One mask. And an aura so overwhelming it stole their breath.

That was all it took. More than a dozen soldiers stood frozen, unable to advance a single step.

A surge of pride filled Silver.

‘This is the master. My one and only lord.’

Baron Albrecht finally appeared, staggering down the stairs in his pajamas. A bloated lump of flesh infamous for preying on his own people.

“Wh-who the hell are you!”

The moment that hideous face came into view, Silver’s eyes narrowed to icy slits.

A repulsive, overfed countenance.

Silver knew that face—or rather, she knew exactly what that face had done to the territory.

The rumor that no maid who entered his mansion ever returned alive was widespread even among the knight order.

So Silver had investigated. She gathered evidence, walked the village until her feet bled, and submitted a formal accusation to her superiors.

And that report had vanished without a trace one day.

Those under Eric’s protection could not be touched. That was the law of this land. No, it was too filthy to even be called a law.

A commoner knight who had never crossed the academy’s threshold, who had risen to vice-commander on nothing but raw skill, could not even cut the neck of that fat pig.

It was then that the master slowly spoke.

A faint thread of mana rode his voice, pressing down on the air and striking every eardrum.

“Listen.”

Albrecht’s soldiers faltered, hands tightening on their hilts.

“I have come tonight to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠purge the filthy trash of this territory.”

Albrecht’s face flushed crimson. He thrust a finger at them from the top of the stairs.

“You crazy bastard! Do you know who I am? I am an officially recognized noble of the Empire! Do you even know who stands behind this family, you pathetic masked worm? What makes you think you’re so important? Do you actually believe you amount to anything?!”

Silver held her breath and watched the master.

The master did nothing.

His shoulders did not rise with rage. He did not readjust his grip. Not a single twitch answered that petty mockery.

Only the single blue eye visible inside the mask sank colder, deeper, utterly emotionless.

A chill raced down Silver’s spine.

‘I know… I know those eyes.’

Trailing the master through the night had taught her one thing. Her proud master ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠showed exactly those eyes before a certain kind of man.

Those who stole loved ones from the weak. Those who used power to drag away someone’s sister, someone’s fiancée, someone’s mother and turned them into sexual slaves.

Before such men, the master always let his eyes grow cold, as though even his fury was too valuable to waste on them.

Let’s kill him quickly. A bastard like this has no right to draw breath even one more second. Those were the thoughts those eyes revealed.

The maids who had never returned from Albrecht’s mansion.

From the moment their names were spoken, the master’s eyes had looked exactly like this. It was… terrifying, and at the same time, thrilling enough to make her womb throb.

“What are you idiots doing?! Kill that lunatic right now!”

Baron Albrecht shrieked at his soldiers in a frenzy.

Yet the master had charged in alone at night and now stood completely still even while dozens surrounded him. Fear had already taken root; none dared to strike first.

The soldiers knew they held the numerical advantage, but none wanted to be the first to step forward and become the first corpse. No one was willing to die for a pig like Albrecht.

As the stalemate stretched, the master reached into his coat, pulled out a handful of gold coins, and tossed them at the soldiers’ feet. The coins had come from the house of the corrupt loan shark Birk he had already dealt with.

Clatter.

Most were copper and silver, but a few shone with a dazzling golden hue. They scattered across the cold stone floor.

“Choose.”

The master’s voice was short and dry.

“Will you fight for that fat pig and die by my sword here and now? Or will you take this gold, leave the territory, and start a new life somewhere else?”

Silver instantly understood the master’s true intent. And once again she felt awe.

The master was not showing mercy.

He was calculating with ruthless efficiency.

Dawn was approaching and the castle was close. Trading blows with a dozen soldiers would be a clear waste of time. The knight order would arrive the moment they heard the commotion.

Cut what must be cut quickly. Handle the rest in the shadows. That was the master’s way—a mindset she, who had once believed swinging a sword hard enough would solve everything, could never have conceived.

Beneath the mask, the corners of Silver’s mouth lifted in quiet satisfaction.

“I will count to three. Decide by then.”

Heavy silence blanketed the mansion.

“One.”

The soldier closest to the coins quietly released his hilt. Metal rang sharply against marble. Every other soldier’s gaze snapped to him.

Soon a second blade fell. Then a third. Then a fourth.

“Two.”

Like a plague, the sound of falling steel filled the hall.

“Three.”

When the master finished counting, not a single soldier in the main building still held a weapon.

They staggered forward, frantically scooped up the scattered coins, and fled through the door like rats.

“Y-you traitorous bastards! Get back here! I’ll execute every last one of you!”

With the hall now empty, Albrecht screamed from the stairs. It was a pathetic, hollow tantrum.

The master walked slowly toward him.

Thud. Thud.

The steady sound of bloodstained boots on stone pressed down on the air like a death knell.

Albrecht’s massive body trembled as he backed up the stairs. Even while terrified, he kept up his bluster until the end.

“S-stay back! D-do you know who I am? I am an Empire-recognized noble! Do you know who my nephew is? It’s Eric! Eric is protecting me…!”

His retreat ended when his back hit the wall.

“……Who the hell are you?! What do you want? M-money? I’ll give you as much as you want—just stop…!”

A sniveling, desperate, and far-too-late question.

The master spoke. Very briefly.

“I am the Unicorn Knight.”

That was all.

Schlick.

The master’s blade slid in smoothly and severed Albrecht’s thick neck in one clean stroke. A thin arc of blood sprayed across the ceiling.

Albrecht’s head, still wearing a mask of terror, dropped to the floor with a wet thud.

Silver let out a long, trembling breath inside the mask. Joy? No, something far stronger. Loyalty. Yet it felt different from what she had once offered to Lady Isabella.

Wearing a mask, moving in secret, committing murder. It was hardly the act of a knight. There was no honor, no pride.

But still… still…

According to something the master had once said, this was the kind of moment that felt incredibly satisfying.

‘Young master…’

Albrecht. A man she once believed she could never touch in her entire life.

Buried reports, vanished evidence, rotten power shielded by the upper echelons. A reality no commoner knight could overcome no matter how she devoted her life.

Yet it had ended completely with a single step and a single breath from the master.

The master nudged the corpse aside with his toe and turned to look at the quietly standing Silver.

Silver received that gaze in silence. No words were spoken. The master did not bother voicing an order.

The master’s single blue eye met her golden ones for a brief moment—and that was enough.

‘……Order received.’

Having answered only inside the mask, Silver slipped out through the side door like a dagger. The hem of her coat melted silently into the darkness.

The master had reached a place her own power could never have touched.

In that case, cleaning up the scattered rats was the hunting dog’s duty.

Soon, short death cries began ringing out one after another in the dark forest nearby.

And then, like a wolf ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that had no business being inside the castle walls, a howl full of pure happiness and delight tore through the night. It echoed far, far away, rising higher and higher, as though the wolf were racing joyfully through the forest with its mate.

Some of the residents who had taken shelter inside the castle to escape the monsters awoke to that beautiful wolf’s howl.