Receiving the Reward
"Next prisoner, enter!"
Nobern Castle. Having caught up with the prisoner transport carriage early that morning, I arrived in Nobern with the soldiers and stood before the tribunal. The trial was not being conducted by the lord who held judicial authority, but by his son, a man named Orlando, acting as his proxy.
When my name was called and I stepped into the courtroom, a young man who could only be Orlando sat upon the high seat in the center, flanked by elderly retainers on either side. Our eyes met, and he regarded me with evident interest, but I paid him little heed and looked away. Instead, my gaze fell on Cableini and Mild, both bound with ropes and kneeling side by side before the judgment platform.
"The suspects Cableini and Mild stand accused of breaking into another’s home and stealing a valuable jewelry box. I humbly beseech you to render a wise judgment and restore justice to these lands, my lord Orlando."
At the retainer’s words from the right, Orlando briefly reviewed the documents before beginning the interrogation.
"Cableini and Mild, did you truly invade the Fitzgerald estate and steal the jewelry box?"
"We stole nothing!"
"We are innocent!"
Both continued to proclaim their innocence with aggrieved expressions. Orlando listened in silence, nodding several times, then suddenly turned toward the soldiers waiting by the door.
"Bring in the one called Hans."
Hans entered the courtroom and launched into a scathing attack, branding Cableini and Mild as a thieving couple who had long coveted the family’s wealth.
"This woman and this man have always been greedy for riches! I knew a day like this would come! I beg you most earnestly to deliver a harsh punishment!"
How thick his face was. I found myself impressed by Hans in a strange new way.
Once Hans finished, Orlando turned to me.
"Then let us hear from Leader Hyun-woo of the Kether Mercenary Group, who has come to defend the accused. According to the preliminary report, the supposed victim Hans has been speaking falsehoods. Is this true?"
"It is," I replied, nodding with absolute confidence.
Hans’s eyes bulged and he jabbed a finger at me. "Th-this is absurd! How dare you spout lies inside this sacred courtroom! You bastard! Just how much have they paid you?!"
I ignored his outburst and calmly laid out the story I had prepared, never taking my eyes off Orlando.
"This man framed Cableini and Mild as thieves, then planned to have a soldier he had already bribed murder Mild during transport. Afterward, he intended to pardon Cableini’s crimes on the condition that she become his slave and take her for himself."
"Preposterous! B-bribing a soldier? This is nonsense!"
Orlando, who had been listening quietly, finally spoke. "Well then, Hans. How do you explain this man that Leader Hyun-woo has brought forward?"
At his gesture, a bound soldier was dragged from the side room. The moment Hans saw his face, he froze, speechless.
I continued without pause. "Early this morning, while the soldiers had halted the carriage to rest, this man planned to lure Mild to an isolated spot under the pretense of visiting the latrine together and kill him. He intended to tell his comrades that Mild had attempted to escape and was killed accidentally. Fortunately, I appeared at the scene and the plot failed."
Hans shook his head in disbelief and made one final desperate stand. "H-how could you possibly know such details! Mild might really have tried to run! Lord Orlando! Everything this man says is fabricated! He dares spout vulgar delusions before the noble son of our great lord!"
"Silence! Do not forget that causing a disturbance in this solemn courtroom will only increase your punishment!"
One of the retainers rebuked him sharply, and Hans clamped his mouth shut with a face full of resentment.
I drew out the letters and documents I had taken from Hans’s room the previous night and unfolded them for all to see.
"These contain the correspondence between Hans and the soldier, along with the contract hiring local youths to secretly plant the jewelry box in Cableini and Mild’s home. All the evidence needed to resolve this case is recorded here. I submit these as official evidence."
"H-how… how is that in your hands…?!"
Hans went deathly pale and stood frozen. The bound soldier eventually confessed to the conspiracy, lending weight to my words, and the entire matter was resolved with surprising ease.
Cableini and Mild were safely released, while Hans and his accomplices were arrested and thrown into prison.
When Brad, Cableini’s brother, later heard the news, he was overjoyed. Clenching both fists, he declared he would craft me a truly magnificent dagger.
One week later, I received that masterpiece from him—a blade infused with the soul of a master craftsman.
"Throughout my years forging blades, I have given unique names only to those that are one of a kind in all the world. This blade’s name is Shy."
"The Shy Cobalt Dagger, I take it."
I accepted the dagger and gave it a light swing through the air.
"Oh! Please be careful!" Brad exclaimed, leaping back in alarm.
I tilted my head at his exaggerated reaction. "Is something wrong?"
"That blade contains a special power. To the eye, the blade appears to be only about twenty centimeters long, but at the user’s will it can extend to nearly twice that length—thirty-five centimeters. The additional fifteen centimeters are not physical but formed of transparent mana, invisible to others. Only the person holding the dagger can see the extended portion."
I stared at the blade and silently commanded it to lengthen. From the tip of the twenty-centimeter edge, a white, glowing blade sprang forth like a beam of light. The blade had grown by fifteen centimeters.
It felt almost like a toy. A smile rose unbidden to my lips.
"Can you see the extension?" I asked Brad.
"I cannot. Only the one holding the dagger can see the extended blade."
I dismissed the transparent portion and smiled brightly at him. "You’ve truly created something wonderful. So that’s why it’s called the Shy Cobalt Dagger—because it stays hidden like a shy maiden most of the time?"
"Yes, exactly. That is the ‘shy’ in its name."
In the capital, inside the commander’s office of the Bitensbach Knights.
Marquis Gregory was carefully reviewing the documents sent by Adelia.
"Hmm…"
His expression darkened at the news that Orleans and his unit had been completely wiped out by a mere bandit group.
"To think the bandits of the southern region possess strength rivaling that of elite troops… I had intended to seat Orleans in the position of Thousand-Man Commander once this matter concluded. I never imagined he would fall so easily."
Gregory clicked his tongue in regret. Vice-Commander Edmond, standing beside him, wore an equally grave expression.
"We must act swiftly before Marquis Espera uses this incident to shake His Majesty."
Marquis Espera was Gregory’s political rival. Recently he had been actively approaching key figures in the kingdom, seeking to establish his own knight order.
Currently, only two knight orders existed in the Ingibar Kingdom, each enjoying considerable privileges. The first was the Bitensbach Knights, which held exclusive rights to investigation, prosecution, discretionary prosecution, and warrant requests, allowing them to exercise powerful authority over the nobility.
The second was the Holy Knights, a religious order formed from the most martial priests of the various temples. Created long ago to assert the rights of religious figures against the nobility, any location housing a battalion or larger enjoyed extraterritorial status.
Against this backdrop, Marquis Espera wished to create a new knight order with power equal to the Bitensbach Knights. He had long argued that the Bitensbach order’s unchecked monopoly of authority must end, and he traveled between the king and central nobles advocating for a new order to ensure political neutrality and transparency in investigations.
To Gregory, Espera was nothing less than a thorn in his side. Not because he coveted the exclusive right to arrest and prosecute nobles, but because he saw no sincerity in Espera’s claims—only a cunning ploy to expand his own faction.
Fortunately, the king had not yet lent an ear to Espera’s arguments. The Bitensbach Knights had always demonstrated absolute loyalty to the crown and acted in perfect accordance with the king’s wishes. Any rumor of a noble harboring discontent toward the royal family prompted the knights to investigate that noble thoroughly, unearthing even the smallest misdeeds and ensuring imprisonment regardless of whether the rumor proved true or false.
Thanks to the Bitensbach Knights, the king’s prestige and authority remained unshaken. Since they alone were sufficient to protect the royal power, the king had seen no need to consider creating a new order.
That had been the situation—until now.
Of the nine units dispatched to the southern region, two had already been annihilated. If the king’s ambitious campaign to eradicate criminal organizations and bandit groups in the south yielded no significant results, the narrative would change. The king’s competence would be questioned by both the people and his vassals, and the royal family would shift the entire blame onto the Bitensbach Knights.
What followed was obvious. Voices calling for reform of the Bitensbach Knights would rise within the palace. The nobles supporting Marquis Espera would seize the moment to push for the creation of a new order. Even the king, disappointed by the knights’ unexpected struggle, would find it difficult to dismiss their arguments.
Gregory resolved to take urgent measures to prevent such a situation at all costs. He also wished to protect his daughter Adelia, who had been sent to one of the most dangerous regions.
He looked at Vice-Commander Edmond.
"We will not inform outsiders. We shall secretly deploy a mercenary group. Forming an additional dispatch unit from our own knights would draw too many watchful eyes, so we must be cautious."
"Sending another unit immediately after two have been annihilated would make us appear desperate to His Majesty and the ministers. I agree with your judgment, Commander. It is better to show confidence that the remaining seven units are more than sufficient."
They could not afford to display any sign of weakness. Yet reversing the current unfavorable atmosphere required additional forces. Therefore, Gregory and Edmond decided against sending another official unit—which might suggest the remaining seven were inadequate—and instead chose to secretly contract with a mercenary group and dispatch them first to Nobern, where Adelia was stationed.
The Lion Heart Unit’s relief seemed the most urgent. The bandits who had annihilated both Orleans—the finest knight among the nine units—and the Guillotine Unit could not be ordinary foes.
"Keep three things in mind when selecting the mercenary group. First, they must be tight-lipped and able to maintain secrecy. Second, they must not be the sort who would later exploit the honor of participating in His Majesty’s personal campaign against southern criminal organizations and bandits to cause trouble once the operation ends. Third, consider the character of the leader. A diligent, courteous, exemplary, and responsible individual would be ideal."
Edmond bowed his head. "I will keep your words in mind."
As he turned to leave the commander’s office, Gregory called him back.
"Ah, one more thing I nearly forgot. Add this as well."
"What is it?"
Since the mercenaries were being sent to where his daughter resided, this condition had to be observed without fail. Mercenaries raised as wild as stallions could easily become licentious.
"The leader must be a woman. One who possesses both skill and integrity."
And so the group that secretly contracted with the Bitensbach Knights was the Valkyria Mercenary Group. Meaning “fighting maidens,” the Valkyria Mercenary Group consisted of twenty female members, all maidens, led by a young woman named Seira.
"Move out!"
Having concluded their contract with Edmond, they immediately mounted their horses and set off for Nobern.