129. Imperial Knights
129. Imperial Knights
Though I hadn't been inside for several years, the knight order barracks hadn't changed a bit.
The Imperial Knights looked like a fairly refined elite group from the outside.
As the knight order representing the current Empire and led by a Master, they put tremendous effort into managing their outward image.
Stylish uniforms, brilliant achievements, immaculate barracks—various factors had created the current image of the Imperial Knights.
But in the end, they were a knight order, a martial force that used their bodies.
To reach and maintain the skill level befitting the Empire's finest, they trained every day and wandered around soaked in sweat; no matter how much they cleaned, the inside of the barracks always carried a smell that never quite vanished.
The barracks with the few female members were somewhat better, but the men's barracks were merciless.
Especially in a place like the Imperial Knights, there was this strange mentality that the strong were always right, creating an intensely vertical atmosphere.
Casey and I moved while receiving all kinds of stares.
We were just walking down the hallway, but everyone glanced back at us at least once.
It had been a long time since I'd set foot in the knight order.
I saw many faces of new recruits I didn't recognize at all.
While that was happening, someone grabbed my shoulder.
"What's this... kids, whose family are you? The visitation room is on the first floor."
He was a knight who looked extremely good-natured.
His body was soaked in sweat, as though he'd just been rolling around the training ground, and he was covered in bruises; he'd clearly been beaten with a wooden sword.
"If you don't know where it is, want hyung to take you there?"
He really seemed to think Casey and I were the family of someone in the knight order.
"Wow, really?"
-Peok!!
I grabbed the hand the knight had placed on my shoulder and kicked his shin hard.
"U-oh?!"
The knight I kicked flew through the air for a moment before landing face-first on the floor.
"Ugh??"
"You're that weak, and you think you could guide anyone?"
I wasn't sure if the new recruit who had slammed his chest into the floor and was mindlessly coughing could hear me, but I'd gone easy on him.
"Cough! Cough!"
"Since you seem like a newbie, I'll let it slide just this once."
Granted, I'd held back at the Academy a few times, but in the knight order, there was no mercy.
Words were pretty useless against knights with that much fight in them.
Letting them learn through their bodies was the fastest way.
"Wow... mister, you just kicked him right away..."
"Guys like that won't get it if you try to tell them with words."
Casey looked surprised that I'd kicked him the moment I saw him, but my action was the right one.
Even if I'd tried to speak, that guy wouldn't have listened properly.
He would've just thought I was some kid bluffing. Making him realize it physically was the best option.
"Ugh... what the hell, it's Atlas. Thought you'd kicked the bucket somewhere—did you come back?"
Someone looked disgusted the moment they spotted me.
The owner of the voice was a knight who looked extremely dashing.
His neatly trimmed black hair and brown eyes gleamed.
He wore the spotless white-based uniform of the Imperial Knights and had pale skin, which didn't give off the vibe of a typical knight, but his sturdy physique and gnarled hands reminded me he was a hardened knight.
It was Patra, a fellow executive of the Imperial Knights.
"Looking at your face, have you just been living it up? Ugh, look at that pale skin."
"You're the one who runs around every day—you know how exhausting it is to force a smile on your face? Things are peaceful these days, so showing my face is more common than swinging a sword."
The moment we saw each other, we traded rough words.
In terms of age, I was younger, but he was an executive like me.
In the Imperial Knights, it was rare for executives to use formal speech toward one another.
In the Imperial Knights, where strength reigned supreme, skill was rank regardless of generation or age.
"Ha... peaceful... you say?"
-Peok!
"Why are you hitting me?!!"
Seeing him like that after I'd gone off to the Academy and suffered multiple times made my anger boil up, so I kicked his shin.
Unlike the newbie from a moment ago, Patra just yelped in pain and jumped back once.
He probably hated it more that I kicked his white uniform with my shoe than the pain itself.
"Must be nice, taking it easy~!"
"Well, nobody told you to wander around?! What the— Casey's here too? They said you went to catch her, did you actually bring her back?"
"Ahem, something like that."
To Patra, who was older than me, Casey puffed out her chest and spoke confidently.
Casey's manner of speaking couldn't be helped, considering she grew up in this kind of environment.
"Is the Director inside?"
"Yeah. Her condition isn't that great, so watch your mouth."
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Walking a bit further down the hallway, the Director's office appeared.
Though a musty smell wafted through the barracks due to the sweat-soaked knights, the Director's office was different.
It was as if this area alone had been partitioned off into a separate world.
When I made my presence known and entered the luxurious office built to match the Imperial Family's dignity, I saw the Director floating a sword in the air and spinning it around.
"Director, I have temporarily returned."
"I have returned."
"Yes. You did well again this time, too. Casey, you helped out well, too."
I simply ignored the sword spinning fiercely in the empty air and greeted her.
Spinning a sword around in the air using her Law was a habit the Director had whenever she had something to think about alone.
The sight of a blade unaffected by gravity spinning round and round like a windmill was a terrifying spectacle, but it was a familiar one.
The fact that she was doing this in her office meant she had quite a lot on her mind.
I thought that if I misspoke, that sword might come flying toward my torso.
"The Church's... pfft... special investigator assigned to this case is... pft... waiting at the Imperial Palace, so you can go get investigated and come back."
"What's got you laughing so uneasily?"
"Hoho, it's nothing."
But seeing her speak while holding back laughter, it seemed my worry was unfounded.
"So... I hear you finished off a Demon Archbishop this time?"
"Yes, he was the contractor of Belphegor the Great Demon."
"Belphegor... the demon of sloth and the demon of dominion. You've eliminated a troublesome one. So, how was that Demon Archbishop fellow?"
"...He attacked using hostages, so he was incredibly troublesome."
"We caught him before he could build his nest, so it was easy."
Casey and I gave contradictory stories.
He wasn't that difficult an opponent for me, but he must have been very hard for Casey.
"They say the power of a Demon Archbishop in perfect condition rivals a Master. Fortunately, it seems that wasn't the case."
"No. At best, his power was only about that of a top-tier demon."
"And before that, I hear you killed the Sword Saint?"
Even at the mention of killing the Sword Saint, a Master, Casey showed no reaction.
Masters other than me were outside her interest.
"That one was my prey, though... if it weren't for that goddamn lizard, I would have been the one to cut his neck."
"Did you read the report well?"
"Yeah... it pisses me off that the first Master I fought and defeated as a Master myself was that kind of trash."
The sword spinning in the empty air rotated even more fiercely.
"As you know, the atmosphere isn't good. It's a relief that the damage was small compared to the scale of the incidents. Still, with things happening three times in a row in this short span, the number of nobles wanting to send their students back home will only increase. To stop this, special measures will have to be taken..."
Because they hid within the shadows for their work, it was hard enough to encounter demons even once or twice. Yet large-scale incidents involving demons had occurred three times in two months.
For nobles who only knew of demons from passages in legends, the fact that their precious, sheltered children had been placed in such dangerous situations would be terrifying.
Terror and fear are contagious.
If someone starts sending their student home because they're afraid of demon invasions, that atmosphere will infect other families and students who hadn't thought much of it.
A mass exodus of students before the semester even ended—
The situation the Headmaster wanted to prevent most was becoming reality.
"It'll be good for the exam admission students, I suppose."
"The students who get swept up in this sort of thing are mostly the ones padding the bottom, so it doesn't matter much."
Linda had her arms crossed and was in deep thought for a while.
"Alright... well, you must have rushed here to wrap this up quickly, too, so let's stop here for today. Given how much you hurried, the special investigator who arrived from the Papal State has been waiting at the Imperial Palace since yesterday."
"Can I go with him?"
"You'll depart later."
It seemed Casey was to be investigated after my turn.
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I entered the Imperial Palace wearing Squete's black armor.
Though I say I entered, it was using Shukuchi.
The palace guards were flustered at the sudden appearance of a knight in black armor, but it passed as a minor happening.
"A special inspector from the Papal State, huh...."
I had worked with the Papal State a few times before, but most investigators had difficult personalities.
Since I also had something to request, I hoped we could both get through it smoothly, and I opened the door to the investigation room.
The moment I entered the investigation room, a sweet scent wafted out.
It was a bizarre thing.
An investigation room in the Imperial Palace attached to an underground dungeon should normally feel the dungeon's characteristic gloomy atmosphere, damp air, and unpleasant musty smell.
But what about this investigation room... didn't it have fresh air and a sweet floral scent as if I'd come to a flower garden?
By the atmosphere alone, it would have seemed natural for the ceiling to be open and warm sunlight to be shining down, but my eyes still took in the dark, dreary investigation room with stone walls on all sides.
It was uncomfortable, feeling a sense of disconnect between what my eyes perceived and what my other senses felt.
What sent chills down my spine was that I knew exactly who could create this kind of sensation,
and I wanted to deny that there was any way that person could be in a place like this.
"It's been a while, Atlas~!"
But that hope of mine was shattered to pieces with a single word.
"Gek?!"
A lovely smile that would make anyone look back at least once, vivid pink hair, a lovable woman whose mere presence nearby made you smile involuntarily—she was making the cold, hard investigation room feel fresh and bright.
Why on earth was that woman here in this gloomy basement as a mere investigator?
The identity of the special investigator dispatched from the Papal State was the Saintess.
She was the type of person I utterly loathed.