Hyde, Interrupted by the Black Knights #1
Palchea province.
In the beautiful port city of Veneto, people wearing black cloaks were unusually numerous. Their faces looked as vicious as bandits or thieves, and their eyes were murderous.
Maybe they really are bandits.
“Ah, Sir Roland’s Black Knights!”
“So cool!”
But contrary to appearances, they were popular with the people. And Psyche liked them too.
“Most of the Black Knights, excluding Sir Roland, were criminals—bandits, mountain bandits, pirates, heretics! The Holy Crusade gave those people a second chance. Isn’t that wonderful?”
The members of the Black Knight Order were mostly former sinners and monsters. Sir Roland the knight had captured them, converted them, and resocialized them through faith and Scripture—that, apparently, was the true nature of the Black Knights. That was why they were said to achieve such outstanding results when dealing with heretics, cults, and bandits.
Snakes know the ways of snakes, after all.
Because they themselves had once been heretics and bandits, they could read the enemy’s strategies, launch surprise attacks that struck at weak points, or carry out reckless operations that somehow succeeded. I acknowledged those achievements. The Black Knights had been quite a troublesome opponent for us on the battlefield.
“Oops!”
At that moment, an old woman walking ahead of us tripped on a stone and dropped her bundle. A situation where I could help someone in need. I hurried over.
“Sister, are you all right?”
“I-I’m fine, but the bundle I was going to give my grandson…”
I reached for the bundle—and was greatly surprised.
Heavy—.
The thing was enormously heavy. At least fifty kilograms, by the feel of it. While I stood there flustered and fumbling, unable to lift it properly—
“Hey, move aside. You look like you can’t even use your strength.”
A man in a black cloak strode up, hoisted the bundle as if it weighed nothing, and even offered the old woman guidance. “Where’s your grandson’s house? I’ll take you there.”
Watching that, Psyche’s eyes sparkled.
“Hyde, you yielded the good deed to the knights, didn’t you? As expected, you have such a generous heart!”
I can’t exactly say I couldn’t lift it because it was too heavy.
So I simply nodded. Psyche’s eyes sparkled again as she watched the old woman and the Black Knight.
“Giving sinners a chance to live anew—. Isn’t that a truly wonderful idea? I believe even the most wicked sinners should be given a fair opportunity.”
Psyche was kind, as always.
Yes. No matter what kind of sinner, the chance to repent and start over should be given. Except for that Nicholas who went after my wife, and that Roland bastard.
Then Milione snorted. It was a clear sneer.
“Psyche putting on the hypocrite act again? A new chance? Bullshit! Even if it’s a heinous criminal who slaughtered countless people, raped, and set fires—you still have to give them a chance?”
“I think so!”
“What about the bereaved families of the people he murdered? What are you going to say to the rape victims and their families? The people killed by that evil bastard don’t get another chance, do they?”
Pretty profound coming from Milione. Well, she does secretly enjoy reading and thinking.
Still, Psyche remained unwavering.
“Even so, I believe we must not give up. Even if those people are demons called the Great Sin Seats…!”
That was Psyche. She sincerely believed people could be made to repent and be reformed.
“We who were made in the image of the Creator all possess a good side. I believe this world can become a little better.”
This very quality of Psyche’s had saved Rust’s life more than once in the past. She had never killed him. She had believed a second chance was possible. Looking at the result—Psyche’s choice had been right! In fact, I had received a second chance and was living more diligently and devoutly than anyone.
Milione snorted again.
“You think a villain rotten to the bone can be reformed? Look at that man Rust. A heinous monster who killed his own parents from the moment he was born. That kind of man will never be reformed. Even if he’s given a second chance, he’ll just become a villain again!”
This crazy bitch! Cursing like that right in front of me!
I wanted to snap back, but held my tongue. We had arrived at our destination.
The prison facility where Lucy and the nuns were being held. Black-cloaked soldiers of the Black Knight Order were everywhere.
“Aren’t you going to spit out the location of the base already?”
“Take your hands off or I’ll cut your wrists clean off.”
“Gyaaaaaah!”
Torture in full swing, by the sound of it. They were probably interrogating the captured prisoners, digging for information. Looking at the assortment of tools and bloodstains covering the walls, I frowned.
Barbarian bastards. True to their criminal origins, their methods are brutal. That’s probably why they work so well—they inflict the most miserable tortures they’ve experienced themselves.
“Could Lucy really be locked up in a place like this? She must have been so happy to finally leave the island, only to end up trapped somewhere this harsh. She’s surely heartbroken.”
Psyche’s voice was thick with worry. I was moved by her thoughtfulness.
“Even with our journey growing more complicated by the hour, you’re still fretting over Lucy. As expected, Psyche—your kind heart is almost a flaw.”
“I-is that so?”
Psyche blushed awkwardly. Beside her, Milione snapped.
“—Ah, for fuck’s sake, cut the crap! If you’re going to talk like that, do it somewhere I’m not!”
What’s wrong with a husband and wife having a conversation? Her temper really is rotten.
We kept walking and soon reached the cells. It was a miserable prison. Straw had been roughly scattered inside the iron bars, and Lucy sat atop it—completely unaware of our arrival, engrossed in something.
Pop—!
Lucy suddenly moved. Like a cat pouncing on prey, she lunged and snatched something with her handcuffed hands.
“Hehe! Caught it!”
—Bark bark…!
It was a creature that barked like a dog. A small animal living in the prison—a white rat with a long tail.
“It barks like a dog, so Dog-rat! They lived at Grande Nunnery too, and they live here as well! Dog-rat! So cute! Though if you roast and eat it, it tastes even better!”
—Growl…!
“Ah! It got away!”
I had expected her to be dejected from being locked up. Instead, Lucy was catching rats and playing by herself just fine. Milione clicked her tongue.
“How old is she? A grown woman playing with rats. That crazy bitch!”
Perhaps the volume of that remark was too great. Lucy seemed to spot us beyond the bars.
“Ah! Hyde! And Psyche and Milione! You came to see me! Or did the soldiers catch you guys too and throw you in prison?”
“Lucy, we came to visit you. Are you hurt anywhere? Is anything uncomfortable?”
Psyche immediately checked Lucy’s condition through the bars. From what I could see, Lucy looked fine. In fact, her health seemed excellent.
“Me! First time I’ve ever been locked in a mainland prison! I just ate lunch too! Don’t know what it was made of, but it was porridge! Oh yeah!”
Coming out of that terrible island, even prison is fun?
Well, it might be natural. That island was where Lucy’s mother had been burned alive after being branded a witch—the very place that had triggered her trauma and fractured her mind. Still, prison was a bit much. I spoke up.
“I’ll speak with the knight order and ask whether we can move Lucy’s quarters. In this matter, Lucy is not a perpetrator but a victim who should be protected.”
Lucy’s crime was arson. But that had been the work of her other personality, Emma. Crimes committed under dissociative identity disorder were normally mitigated. Whether such an argument would hold any water in this barbaric medieval world was another question, but I was confident I could persuade them. And if persuasion failed, I already had more than three alternative methods prepared.
“Lord Ruuuust…! I can feel it…! Lord Rust is here in Palchea…! This Galatea will soon go to your side…!”
Galatea in the neighboring cell was in terrible shape. Looking at her, Psyche’s expression grew deeply gloomy.
“I thought if I showed Galatea to my master she might improve a little, but that was just my wishful thinking. After what happened on the island, her symptoms have gotten worse than before. It’s my fault.”
Psyche blaming herself? The one at fault isn’t Psyche. The real culprit who reduced Galatea to this state—the brainwashing of the Crescent Moon Sisterhood—is what’s terrifying!
I spoke to comfort her.
“Shall I take a look at Sir Galatea’s condition?”
Hypnosis. Maybe I can cast it again?
With that thought I approached Galatea’s cell.
“What the hell are you?! You scrawny, pasty bastard! Get lost! Don’t interfere with my communion with Lord Rust! Spit! Get the hell away from me!”
The once-kind Galatea even spat in my face. She had been a good knight who had once written me a travel pass.
“Now then, when I snap my fingers—”
“Aaaah! Someone get this guy away from me!”
Hypnosis or not, she was in no state for it to take hold. I snapped my fingers, but the Crescent Moon Sisterhood’s brainwashing on Galatea proved stronger than expected. It had no effect. Watching this, Milione marveled.
“As expected of Rust. The hypnosis of some nobody like Hyde can’t undo that baptism. Galatea’s life is already over! Reducing a person to that state—Rust is the absolute worst!”
“……”
My feelings are getting complicated in all sorts of ways.
I turned away and approached the jailers.
“Brother, I have something to say regarding Lucy’s treatment. In this incident, Lucy is a victim. Does it not seem pitiful to keep her locked in a cell?”
A jailer wearing an eyepatch over one eye looked at me. His face, covered in scars, looked thoroughly vicious.
“The imprisonment of Lucy Emma was ordered directly by Sir Roland of the Golden Badge. Even if it were Abbess Midnar rather than you, that order cannot be altered.”
So Abbess Midnar’s influence is less than that of the Six Knights’ Roland, is it.
The jailer continued.
“Tomorrow there will be a public trial in the plaza for Lucy and the sisters of Grande Nunnery. Lucy Emma will almost certainly not escape burning at the stake. After all, she is a witch who summons fire.”
“What? Burning at the stake?”
“The nuns of Grande have testified. Lucy Emma raised flames and burned the nunnery, they say. And someone named Anemone of Walpurgis is alleged to have colluded with her.”
This situation is sliding toward the worst of the outcomes I anticipated.
Hearing this, Psyche cried out in shock.
“This is absurd! Where is my master? Where is Sister Midnar?!”
“That nun has been confined to a safe house under Sir Nicholas’s orders. She caused quite a disturbance. Even if you meet her, there will be nothing you can do. In this Palchea, by command of His Holiness the Pope, the decisions of the Black Knights are as good as the will of God.”
Their will is God’s will? I was prepared to cut them some slack as ignorant brutes of criminal origin, but this is more than I can tolerate.
Unable to endure the despicable situation any longer, I spoke.
“I know your kind well. Idiots who think a little reflection makes them new men. Who do you think you are? Give trash a second chance and it’s still eternal trash. Shouldn’t you be the ones locked in prison?”
“What, you son of a bitch? What did you just say?”
“See? The moment things go sideways, the swearing comes right out. You think wrapping yourselves in fancy cloaks and soaking up a little praise from the crowd makes you new people? Do you honestly believe being forgiven of your sins and living a new life is that easy?”
To become a new person you at least have to take the royal capital and find the Holy Grail. Without even that, freeloading a fresh start—these fucking bastards. If starting over were that simple, would I have gone through all this hell?
“Who’s that bastard?”
“What the fuck is that guy’s problem?”
The black-cloaked soldiers turned their attention on us. The situation was drawing far too many eyes. Psyche shoved me from behind.
“Hyde! We need to get out of here first! Let’s go find our master!”