The Knight's Oath
I descended the stairs into the underground passage alongside Isabella.
“Black-hair!”
“Die!”
The moment I reached the bottom, they recognized me. Men gripping daggers surged forward.
Kaiser Sword Style
I parried the incoming daggers from both flanks and instantly plotted my next action.
Crin Martial Arts
Thud. Crack! The flexible, lightning-fast kicks I learned from Crin slammed into the two masked men’s torsos.
“Ugh…!”
“Agh!”
I watched them tumble backward from the counter.
“Why are you after me?”
“You black-haired bastard! Did you really think we wouldn’t realize you’re planning to wipe us out by cozying up to that noble bitch?”
“Filthy piece of trash!”
They were convinced I had stirred all this up by attaching myself to Isabella.
“You’re carrying quite the misunderstanding.”
“Shut your mouth!”
“We’ll take you hostage right here!”
“…”
The reason I had come down was to collect my reward for eliminating the red ratman and the compensation for serving as Besta’s—no, the witch’s—attendant.
Yet judging from the current atmosphere, it looked like I would be helping Isabella clean up the village after all.
She’s terrifying, Isabella.
She must have predicted things would reach this point and invited me to her room last night. From The Ear’s perspective, the circumstances lined up too perfectly to dismiss. A black-haired man appears out of nowhere, contacts The Ear’s informant, seeks information on the hero Besta who might hold the organization’s weaknesses, and shares an extremely intimate relationship with the noble Isabella who arrived at the farm village—even spending the night with her.
Can’t be helped.
Now that the answer was clear, I didn’t hesitate. I looked at the fallen women and spoke.
“Then… I can take it that you are all hostile toward nobles, correct?”
“Hic…!”
“Krrgh…”
Since denying it had already become fact, I decided to make full use of Isabella. Come to think of it, I was already enjoying benefits by riding on the name of noble. The adventurer guild’s respectful treatment of an F-rank like me was proof enough. Given the situation, this seemed the optimal way to claim my reward from The Ear. If anything, Isabella’s decisive move had created the perfect chance to secure what I demanded even faster.
“If that’s not the case, guide me to The Ear immediately.”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
“I’ll kill you!”
“You’ve chosen the worst option.”
As the pair charged, Syucali and Eos materialized at my sides and assumed combat stances.
I knew The Ear possessed significant power. There were likely moderates hoping to coexist with the nobles, hardliners determined to protect their achievements and fight the nobles to the bitter end, and others who disliked both sides and simply wanted to flee. Looking at the fractured state of their forces, it wouldn’t be strange to say the organization called The Ear was already on the verge of collapse.
The power of nobility is absolute.
I finally understood why Isabella had desired noble status so desperately. The mere appearance of a noble in the village was enough to shatter The Ear’s iron grip over the farm village…
Becoming a noble doesn’t sound so bad.
“You sneaky black-haired bastard! So you were waiting for backup!”
“We won’t forgive this!”
I concluded conversation was pointless with these two.
Water Shot
Swish—slash! Eos’s Water Shot and Syucali’s black blade dropped both men.
“We’re heading deeper.”
“Yes, Master.”
We stepped over the pathetically crumpled bodies and advanced further in.
Clang! Clang!
“Kill any woman who refuses to surrender!”
“It is the Baroness’s will! Wipe them all out!”
Inside, Isabella’s subordinates were already engaged in combat. They must have descended through a different staircase.
“I’ve been waiting.”
“Kang Seo-ja, you’ve finally arrived?”
They were the women I had met during the merchant caravan’s supply request—Damo, whom I had granted physical durability, and even Puriko, who had tasted my cauldron cooking for the first time. It seemed they were now working under Isabella. Their participation in the battle and the purging of The Ear made that clear.
That’s… the Kaiser Sword Style.
At the very front, a female knight swung her blade. Vesna, upper-rank knight of Kidichi territory. Dozens of charging organization members lost their heads without her making a single sound.
She’s on an entirely different level from Vera beside her.
Vera was desperately displaying her own Kaiser Sword Style to assist her sister, but the gap was obvious.
Slice!Swoosh… Crunch.
Just how strong was she to turn this into a one-woman slaughter show?
“Advance!”
“S-Sister! Wait for me!”
Vesna moved like a machine driven by purpose alone.
“Knights really are in a league of their own.”
“No kidding~”
Isabella’s subordinates swelled with confidence at Vesna’s display.
“We’ll follow Lady Vesna as well!”
“Yeah!!”
Thanks to her, we swept through the underground passage with surprising ease. The Ear attempted ambushes from the ground and deployed hidden weapons and poison traps to catch the knight. None of it worked. Vesna’s rapid sword couldn’t even be touched; every attack simply flowed past her. I finally understood why the Kaiser Sword Style contained no defensive techniques. It crushed enemy assaults with overwhelming speed and drove them back with relentless offense. Vera had called it the Kaiser Sword Style. The swordsmanship Vera and I had shown felt like child’s play next to what Vesna displayed.
Whoosh!
Crash!
Vesna dodged a liquor bottle hurled from the gambling den. The bottle shattered on the floor, plunging the underground passage into brief silence.
“No matter that you’re a noble, this is too much…”
“This place is our home.”
“We will fight to the death!”
Those emerging from the gambling den were not The Ear’s members. They were ordinary people who worked here—the male hosts, the gambling operator, the liquor manager, and many others. They had gathered to block our path.
“This is artificial.”
“It is.”
Anyone could see the crowd had been forcibly assembled.
“Kron Village has done nothing wrong.”
“Exactly. We believe a noble who appeared out of nowhere is simply destroying a village that was doing fine.”
“The Ear hasn’t committed any great sin. What is this about killing them?”
“On the contrary, The Ear protected us and gave us work!”
Even knight Vesna seemed to realize they were civilians. She refrained from swinging her sword recklessly. As expected, she possessed far greater justice and responsibility than Vera.
“This is…”
Even Isabella’s subordinates hesitated. Indeed, as these people said, there was no clear justification for a noble to judge The Ear. Thanks to them the village had prospered, adventurers had gathered, and the entire community had benefited. Isabella herself had even assisted Kidichi territory with the wheat she purchased here. If we continued, we would be at a disadvantage. Forcing our way through would brand Isabella as a power-hungry slaughterer noble. That was how deeply The Ear had rooted itself in the village and its people’s hearts. Purging them by force would undoubtedly create problems later, since The Ear’s influence had spread to every village in Tygon territory. It would be easy to paint Isabella as a villainous noble.
“We should push forward.”
“Yes, some sacrifices are inevitable.”
Among Isabella’s subordinates, voices rose calling for the deaths of these people.
I turned to them. “If you do that, Lady Vesna will not stand by quietly.”
“What? That knight would betray us?”
“Impossible.”
The subordinates laughed in disbelief.
“No, the black-haired one is right. That knight is not Lady Isabella’s knight. She may very well understand the will of the weak and choose to protect them.”
The female warrior Damo calmly supported my view. Just looking at Vera standing beside Vesna, unable to raise her sword, made it obvious. Her older sister Vesna would be even less likely to draw hers. Chivalry existed for lords and the weak. The Kaiser Sword Style I learned from Vera embodied that principle. A knight trained in both its technique and spirit might very well raise her blade for the people.
“Then what should we do?”
Everyone had frozen in dilemma. Leaving things as they were would damage Isabella—not only now, but her reputation and future rule over Tygon territory would suffer. She would be labeled a wicked noble. We could not allow that. After all, nobility was a rank created by people. Isabella’s power would only grow with people’s support, and talented individuals would gather only if they respected her character. A bad first impression would take her a long time to overcome.
Can’t be helped.
It looked like I would have to play the card I had intended to use when meeting Juri, The Ear’s bodyguard, to claim my reward.
“I’ll handle this.”
“B-Black-hair?”
Syucali and Eos followed as I stepped forward.
“Do you have a plan, Master?”
“I do.”
“But there are so many civilians…”
“Don’t worry.”
As I walked, I pulled the document from my robe. Vesna and Vera watched me closely.
“We are not driving out The Ear without reason.”
“Stop your nonsense, black-hair!”
“The Ear has shown us plenty! Who are you to speak!”
“Cursed male bastard, get lost!”
The people stood united in defense of The Ear.
“Please look at this document.”
“What the hell is that, you bastard!”
“Kahak! Ptui!”
Eggs and liquor bottles flew at me, but I dodged them leisurely and read the contents aloud.
“The shaman Besta supplied variant monsters and conducted business with The Ear.”
“Variant what? Who cares?!”
Whether they listened or not didn’t matter. The important thing was justification—something that could move the heart of the knight beside us.
“The shaman Besta’s true identity was a witch. Here is evidence that The Ear colluded with her, kidnapped villagers, transformed them into variant monsters, and held hunting festivals with them.”
“A w-witch…!”
“Variant monster festival… D-don’t tell me it’s those variant monsters from three years ago!”
“Correct. The variant monsters you killed and hunted were villagers possessed through necromancy.”
“Th-that can’t be!”
“Bullshit!”
“Lies!”
The villagers, unaware of sorcery’s power, shouted in denial.
“This is clear evidence. You must have heard the recent rumors of a witch appearing.”
“It has to be a lie!”
“Exactly! The noble deliberately spread those rumors!”
As expected, they refused to believe. They stood firmly on The Ear’s side. But from the beginning, what I had been watching was Vesna’s heart—the one I had witnessed at the scene.
“There definitely was a witch.”
Vesna raised her sword once more.
“Are you all allies of the witches as well?”
“That can’t be!”
“Who’s on the witch’s side? We’re just people who live in this village…!”
It’s over.
Vesna had witnessed the witch at the villa. No matter how loudly the people cried that they were weak or how much I claimed it was a lie, Vesna was not the kind of knight who would deny what she had seen with her own eyes.
“The v-variant monsters were real…”
“Yeah… that’s why the adventurers gathered, but…”
“It’s a lie! Don’t waver!”
Vesna moved like lightning. She identified the one shaking the crowd’s hearts and swung her blade.
Slaaash!!
“So you were the witch’s follower.”
“Gurgh…!”
The masked woman collapsed with a slash across her back.
“The Ear is in league with the witch. They turned the village into a farm for raising variant monsters by using its own people. The evidence is right here.”
I walked among them, holding the contract high for everyone to see, then presented it directly to Vesna.
“There was clear evidence after all.”
“Yes. Lady Isabella does not judge people recklessly. Rather, The Ear has arbitrarily occupied land without a noble present. This is tantamount to insulting Count Kidichi, the rightful owner.”
“…I, Vesna, first sword of Lord Kidichi—”
As Vesna’s resolve surged, a wave of power rippled from her blade.
“A knight’s oath…!”
“U-ugh…”
The moment the villagers felt that overwhelming presence, their legs gave out and they collapsed.