Chapter 169: Never Abandon a Comrade
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 169: Never Abandon a Comrade
The Empire, Central District 14.
Crackle. Crackle.
Acrid smoke billowed as the sound of burning debris echoed through the ruins.
“What a mess.”
A cursory glance at the horrific scene might suggest a terrorist attack by an armed revolutionary group, but this was no act of terror. It was the ‘result of an incident’ that had occurred during a suppression operation.
“Ah… Sir Knight. You’ve arrived.”
The police chief in charge of the scene approached, his face pale. Tiana rubbed her brow and asked, “Please explain the situation.”
“Yes. This was, uh, a warehouse used as a base for distributing illegal mana stones. We’re not yet sure if it’s connected to the Revolutionary Group.”
He swallowed dryly and continued his report.
“A Sentinel Knight received a tip and deployed solo… When the suspects resisted and tried to flee, the knight personally launched a sword strike at the mana condenser inside the warehouse to block their escape route.”
“Oh, heavens.”
Knights with more than a year of experience were expected to deploy alone. To move in groups was considered a waste of a resource as valuable as a knight…
Which was exactly why things like this happened.
“Yes. The impact caused the condenser to go berserk, triggering a chain explosion. As you can see, it swept through the surrounding commercial area, resulting in a large number of innocent civilian casualties.”
Tiana clicked her tongue inwardly.
This could be a case of excessive force, or it might not be. That was the grim reality. It all depended on how one interpreted the knight’s actions—and who was doing the interpreting.
But the timing was catastrophic.
Anton, the bulwark who had held back the tide of the Imperial Palace, had been ousted, and Kairon had seized the center of power.
And right at that moment, the perfect incident had occurred.
Tiana asked the chief, “And the knight?”
“…He’s over there, inside the warehouse.”
She entered where the chief pointed.
Crackle—crackle—
In the heart of the warehouse explosion, where the flames had yet to be fully extinguished and smoke still billowed, a knight stood. He was drawing ragged breaths, having sustained only minor burns despite the devastation.
“He looks like a weapon.”
The moment she saw his face, Tiana let out a heavy sigh.
A man who seemed to have become a weapon himself—Cliff, an 8th-year Senior Knight.
“…Cliff.”
Jerome, who had appeared at some point, called his name. Jerome’s expression was equally grim.
Cliff was a notorious pain in the ass, even within the Sentinel. Far more rigid and inflexible than Jerome, he was Anton Zefren’s most ardent supporter.
To put it simply, he was a loyal retainer.
No, even that word fell short.
He was the most loyal of the loyal. He sometimes seemed possessed, but everyone understood him.
It was because of the path his life had taken.
“Cliff.”
The one who had first found and taken in the young Cliff—abandoned by his parents, living as a pickpocket in the back alleys of the Empire’s underbelly—was none other than Anton Zefren.
Anton had spent his personal fortune to send him to school. Cliff had studied relentlessly, gained admission to Empire Point, and finally graduated with honors to be commissioned as an official knight of the Sentinel.
Cliff had been saved by the man named Anton.
That was why.
“…Sir Jerome. I have nothing to say.”
To him, a Sentinel without Anton was likely a meaningless place.
*
The northern region of Robrus.
SHWAAAAAA—!
A swirling white storm. Within the curtain formed by particles of snow, Yelena was descending the mountain.
Crunch. Crunch.
The sound of her footsteps felt somehow unreal.
Crunch. Crunch.
The fluffy sensation under her feet. The shards of ice that bit into her cheeks like glass.
“I wonder. Were you ordered to bring me in alive?”
Yelena asked the Adversaries leading the way. There was no reply. They merely quickened their pace, their mouths shut. Among them was a man who, just a short while ago in the Empire, had been her guard.
“Your name was Ivan, wasn’t it?” she asked her former guard.
“…”
He, too, said nothing. He simply escorted her onward without so much as a glance.
“There’s no law against talking, is there? You could at least keep me company.”
She mocked herself with a lonely smile.
Looking back, it had all been so strange.
Her house was purged in an instant, her father was executed without anyone knowing, a knight from an enemy nation approached her with a deal, and with his help, she had spent the last few days roaming the capital of Robrus to become a traitor to her country.
It still felt like a lie.
To think I’d have such a bizarre and surreal experience at the end of my life.
“…Pfft.”
She struggled to suppress a laugh.
Crunch. Crunch.
Endless silence and a blizzard that blinded her to what lay ahead.
Whoooosh.
A fierce gust of wind. Feeling her life flutter away in vain, she quietly descended the mountain.
“…But still. His Excellency the Secretary General must truly despise the Izenheim sub-species.”
At the words she tossed out casually, the Adversaries’ killing intent rose like a sharp, blue blade.
“To carry out a purge like this over a mere rumor.”
Finally, a reaction from the silent Adversaries.
“His Excellency the Secretary General cannot be a sub-species. I refuse to believe it.”
“…Do you wish to face summary judgment right here?”
Ivan, who had been silent until now, growled, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword.
“Whether my head is chopped off in the capital or I freeze to death here, it’s all the same to me.”
Yelena shot back with a mocking laugh, provoking him. The other Adversaries held Ivan back.
“Well, if His Excellency the Secretary General truly is an Izenheim…”
Yelena’s steps came to a halt.
“Then of course he should be struck down and killed. We can’t have a filthy sub-species like that ruling over us.”
The Adversaries’ gazes calmed. Ivan gripped the sword at his waist tightly.
But he didn’t draw it. Instead, he shook his head as if lost in thought.
Just then.
Suddenly.
A single point of silver light shimmered faintly in the air.
“…?”
To Yelena’s eyes, it was but a fleeting moment.
Less than a second passed.
A flash of light shot through the blizzard, flying at a speed that was impossible to perceive.
—
A soundless, silent melody, all the more alien for its quietness.
It claimed the lives of two Adversaries at once.
Slice.
A silence followed, as if the world had stopped. A sword aura, even purer than the white mountain range, blossomed. The battle had begun in an instant. The Adversaries moved on instinct, immediately drawing up their mana.
But one of them reached not for the sudden enemy, but for Yelena’s neck.
BZZZZT—!
A blue current of electricity shot past his feet.
KIIIIIIING—
One second. A torrent of mana, like a thousand lightning bolts striking at once, raged madly through the snow-swept blizzard.
BZZZZZZT—!
A ferocious storm of electromagnetism erupted from all directions. Electrodes sparked in a chain reaction through the air. Superheated sparks flew between the snowflakes.
Yelena could only stare blankly at the scene. In truth, she hadn’t even had time to close her eyes.
KRRRRRACK—!
Two seconds. A flash of lightning blinded the Adversaries. It tore through their mana like paper and rattled their skulls.
*
Beyond the curtain of blue lightning, Maximilian’s moonlit silver longsword danced silently once more.
Slice. Sccrrch. Clang!
Three seconds. That was all the battle took.
It was over in less than three seconds. The ambush was cleanly executed.
Fssshhh…
When the blizzard had quietly settled again, every last one of the Adversaries had been decapitated.
“…”
Yelena looked toward the figure in the distance.
Flick.
She watched Maximilian elegantly flick the blood from his sword.
She watched him as he gathered his wind-tousled clothes and turned to face her.
“…There is a simple saying in the code of the Imperial Knights.”
His slanted eyes curved into a smile.
“Never abandon a comrade.”
*
—The Sentinel Knights’ conference room.
They couldn’t bring themselves to treat a fellow knight like a criminal and throw him in a subterranean interrogation room, so the investigation was being conducted here temporarily.
Tiana stared silently at Cliff, who sat across from her.
“Senior Knight Cliff. Do you have any excuses or anything to say regarding your negligence?”
He just kept his head bowed, not even pretending to listen.
“Hello?”
“…”
“Anyone home?”
Well, talking was pointless. It looked like a second-year was investigating an eighth-year, but that was only because all the higher-ups had already failed.
“…I’m leaving then?”
“Go.”
“Oh, so you answer that.”
“…”
He clammed up again.
What a stubborn bastard. Truly.
Tiana scratched the back of her neck and walked out. Jerome and the other knights, who had been waiting outside, strode toward her. Tiana made an X with her fingers.
“He’s not saying a word.”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Just then, the sound of multiple footsteps echoed from down the corridor.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The sound of combat boots, as if marching in unison. Kairon and several noble-born knights approached like a troop of soldiers.
They stopped, their faces cold.
“…Hah.”
Kairon, the new Vice-Commander of the Sentinel, looked back and forth between Tiana, Jerome, and the rest of Anton’s old faction before spitting out coldly:
“Dismissed.”
His very first word was utterly decisive.
Tiana swept her hair back.
“Dozens of innocent civilians were injured, swept up in a knight’s excessive use of force.”
He suddenly held out his hand. A knight beside him placed a newspaper in it.
“This is the front page of the papers that will be distributed throughout the capital tomorrow morning.”
Thwip. He threw the newspaper at Jerome’s chest. Tiana’s eyes followed the bold headline.
[ Sentinel Knight’s Negligence Leaves City Center in Ruins… 17 Innocent Civilians Seriously Injured, Hospitalized! ]
[ An Uncontrollable Armed Group. Can We Let This Stand? ]
“…Move.”
He then roughly shoved the frozen Jerome and Tiana aside and entered the conference room.
— Cliff. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?
A voice leaked through the gap of the not-quite-closed door.
— The hearing for the Minister of Commerce is underway at the Palace. If Kents Bertem takes that seat, he’ll surely use this incident as leverage…
SLAM.
Knight Reynel shut the door. He crossed his arms and shot a sneer at Tiana.
“Tiana. What are you even doing here?”
“Where I choose to be is my own business.”
“…Hah.”
Reynel shook his head as if exasperated.
“Someone once called you a young Adria. You’re acting just like her. Anyway, all of you, step aside.”
He waved his hand dismissively even at Jerome, who was his senior by a long shot.
“We’ll handle it from here. Big problems are for big people. You know?”
Jerome’s expression hardened at the insolence. The other senior knights looked just as displeased.
“Let’s go. For now.”
Tiana took the lead and pulled Jerome away.
“Sir Cliff won’t listen to us. You think he’s going to listen to those guys?”
Grind. They all gnashed their teeth and turned away. Behind them, the sound of mocking laughter rippled through the air.
Tiana pressed her fingers firmly against her throbbing temples.
There was one fact she could no longer deny.
The Sentinel was divided.
And perhaps, it was impossible to mend.
…
— This is wonderful. Hahahaha! It feels like pulling a rotten tooth.
Hee hee hee hee. The high-pitched laughter flowed directly into her ears through the mana listening device.
— But I knew this would happen sooner or later.
Sonette Kandel, inside a dark building, listened to the wiretapped voice with her eyes closed.
— Those knight bastards are so damn arrogant. They swing their swords around, deluded into thinking they’re always right. I knew they’d cause a huge mess like this someday.
Kents Bertem’s voice was grating. It was excessively high and thin, repulsive in a different way from Reutern.
— That is why I!
There was a clatter, as if a very drunk Kents was climbing onto a table.
— As the Minister of Commerce!
Woooah! Sycophants cheered and applauded beside him.
What a spectacle.
— Will bring them under control!
It was nothing but bragging. It seemed he would never say a useful word in his life.
“…”
Sonette opened her eyes. A man stood before her.
“The equipment?”
When she asked, he nodded.
“The preparations are almost complete.”
The Anton Zefren Closed Hearing. The transcript of that day would be printed in movable type at this very place: the Zeppeltron Printing House.
Of course, this action would help the Sentinel. But that was better than letting Kents’s influence grow. If left unchecked, the core of the Imperial Guard would shift toward Bertem.
As Sonette Kandel, this was something she had to do.
— The Sentinel will soon bow their heads to me.
Kents Bertem’s voice continued in her ear.
Become the Minister of Commerce and control the knight order. I have the right to do so.
Kents seemed to harbor such hopes, but what he had said in the transcript was nothing of the sort.
On the contrary, it was utterly vulgar and base.
— This is what you call politics. I do nothing, and they fight amongst themselves. They cause their own accidents. Hahahaha!
He had dredged up Anton Zefren’s private wounds and insulted his entire family as fallen nobles.
These vulgar words, recorded in the transcript, were, no matter how she looked at it, a far cry from any kind of ‘right.’
— I feel great. Bring more wine. There should be a Cadeau ’45.
On the other hand…
Maximilian Ebenholtz.
Sonette flipped to the latter half of the transcript in her hand.
It contained his thoughts on Anton.
— What? We drank it yesterday? Then go buy more! Go anywhere!
Even in that filthy, secret room, Maximilian had maintained his dignity.
If this had been a ‘public hearing’ watched by the public and the press, one might have interpreted his defense of Anton as a pretense of mercy for his own image, since Anton’s fall was already a foregone conclusion.
But this had been a closed hearing.
It was an event behind a veil, never meant to be revealed to anyone.
Therefore, he could have freely poured out any ill will he held for Anton, or all the reasons why he was a loser. He could have willingly joined the Palace nobles in trampling Anton.
But Maximilian hadn’t done that. On the contrary, he had stopped the Palace mouths from denigrating Anton.
And even now, fully aware of the rumors surrounding him, he remained silent to uphold the laws of the Imperial Palace.
Maximilian himself had maintained the most knightly of demeanors.
“Print it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
THUD!
The darkness was illuminated by the lights of the equipment.
Clank. Clank.
From now on, the transcripts would be printed here every night until there were enough. Then, at the opportune moment, they would be released to the world.
That time would likely be…
“It will be enough by the time of the public hearing, won’t it?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Sonette Kandel watched the machines pressing type onto paper with impassive eyes.