Chapter 235
Chapter 235
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 235
Chapter Title: Bishop Akenar 2
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A sudden blast of a horn echoed from the village's eastern road toward Coxhall.
Armed Salvation Knights appeared behind the mounted herald blowing the horn, bearing the Salvation Knights' banner.
"Tch."
Azadin clicked his tongue at the sight of them.
In truth, the scene that had puzzled the villagers happened because Azadin had detected their approach using "Arael's Voice."
Seeing the Salvation Knights arrive from an unexpected direction, Azadin hesitated over what to do.
"This is a headache."
As the Salvation Knights appeared, the lizardmen gnashed their teeth in frustration and began slinking away.
A few couldn't let go of their regrets and bared their teeth at Azadin with growls, but even they eventually gave up and fled.
Though Azadin had sliced throats and crushed skulls, performing valiantly, the lizardmen's vitality was astonishingly resilient—only a few corpses lay dead. Even with heads smashed and brains spilling, the lizardmen withdrew without dying.
Instead, the Salvation Knights charged into the village on horseback and surrounded Azadin en masse.
"Drop your weapons and get on the ground! Bishop Akenar of Coxhall of the Salvation Knights is en route!"
"...Bishop?"
Azadin tossed the lizardman's khopesh to the ground, sheathed his Seramite longsword, and sat down.
It seemed the bishop had come in person upon learning of the pilgrimage group's attack.
"Bow your head!"
The knight atop his horse barked an order, but Azadin refused.
"Didn't you see me fighting the lizardmen? I usually avoid insulting people by calling them blind, but are you lot actually blind with your eyes wide open? Instead of wasting time bothering me, why not chase down the lizardmen and finish them off? If you let them escape alive, who knows where they'll kill next."
Azadin, born without eyes and living under the name of the eyeless one, generally avoided references to blindness when insulting others.
But now, he was angry enough to ignore that principle. Not only had they failed to pursue the fleeing lizardmen, they were focused on subduing him mid-battle.
To them, escorting the bishop clearly mattered more than saving the villagers or exterminating the lizardmen.
Their demand for him to bow was just caution against him drawing and swinging his weapon—purely to make their bodyguard duty easier.
"Our duty is to escort the bishop. What proof do we have that you're not in league with those lizardmen?"
"That's why I put down the blade. This is me being considerate of you all."
"And the sword on your back?"
"This one's a treasured blade too important to risk even a scratch."
"Hm?"
At that moment, the Salvation Knights noticed the sword slung across Azadin's back and recoiled in surprise.
"T-that's a Seramite longsword!"
"What?!"
The knights recognized it as a Seramite longsword and cried out in shock.
"You bastard! Where did you get that?"
"Don't tell me Lady Izumira?!"
They seemed to assume Azadin had taken Izumira's Seramite longsword.
"Ah... seriously."
Azadin clicked his tongue at the pathetic display of the Salvation Knights.
From childhood, Azadin had loved tales of the Three Great Archangels.
The three great archangels of virtue, who descended from the heavens out of pity for humanity to lend their strength, and the holy knights who upheld those virtues, wielding the power of white mana to protect mankind.
To Azadin, born without eyes and with an incomplete grimoire, scorned by his own kin, the stories of holy knights fighting alongside the Three Great Archangels had been his dream and hope.
Yet now, all that remained here were scoundrels unworthy of the title knight.
Of course, as a realist, Azadin knew humans couldn't be perfect. Even an organization founded on the noblest ideals would inevitably corrupt, decay, and twist once run by people.
But even accounting for that, weren't these guys particularly low-quality?
'Honestly, their pilgrimage group was so pathetic it nearly got wiped out entirely, and yet here they are harassing me? Do you idiots even have what it takes to handle me? If not for the favor Sir Plank bestowed on me and the fact that I'm technically a Hospitaller by appointment, I'd be done putting up with this.'
Azadin still considered himself an Emperor's Herald and a Salvation Knight of the Salvation Knights.
Sir Plank dubbing him a knight could never be a meaningless act. Denying it was unthinkable for Azadin.
'Putting up with it because I'm a Salvation Knight.'
At that moment, the villagers stepped forward.
"Sir, if not for that man, we'd all be dead."
"Yes. He defeated the lizardmen and saved us."
Bravely, the villagers spoke up in Azadin's defense before the armed knights.
"He was incredible! All those lizardmen, he went whoosh, whoosh like this!"
A child mimicked swordplay, imitating Azadin. Though comical from a kid, it captured the essence perfectly.
Namely, how Azadin had effortlessly handled a swarm of lizardmen while falling back.
"Hmm."
The holy knights, whose eyes weren't knots in wood, paused at the villagers' pleas.
"You heard them? Stop bothering me and go catch the lizardmen. If they're too much for you, want me to do it?"
Azadin said and took a casual step, but spears and swords blocked his path.
"Hold it!"
"Our regular pilgrimage group was just attacked in this area."
"We're investigating, so cooperate with the investigation."
"'Cooperate, if you please'? You must've misspoke."
Just then, Izumira and her group belatedly arrived at the village.
"Huh?"
"Salvation Knights?!"
Izumira immediately held up her holy insignia.
"I'm Hospitaller-Errant Izumira of the pilgrimage group! What's going on?"
"Ah, Lady Izumira."
"You're safe."
The knights swarmed to her upon confirming she was unharmed.
"Sir Belinz. Sir Sepheld? You're alive."
"Thanks to the Three Great Archangels' grace."
"What grace? You mean you ran for your lives."
Camilla, who'd been listening, snorted. She said it just loud enough for the knights to catch or not.
If they called her out, she'd play innocent; if they quoted her exactly, they'd have to admit their shame aloud, which she'd love to see.
Sure enough, the images of these pilgrimage knights using the serfs and prisoners they'd brought as arrow fodder while fleeing were still fresh.
Hearing them invoke angelic grace now was laughable.
The knights glared at Camilla but turned away, pretending not to hear upon seeing the massive half-orc scratching his chin beside her.
Then Izumira posed a question.
"Is it true the bishop has arrived?"
"Yes. The bishop is coming by carriage, so it'll be a bit delayed..."
They appeared to be some kind of scouts from the bishop's escort.
"So you really fled all the way to Coxhall."
Izumira's question carried barbs.
They dressed it up as fetching reinforcements from the bishop, but in truth, these knights had bolted straight to Coxhall the moment the pilgrimage group was attacked.
Otherwise, the bishop wouldn't arrive so quickly.
"Ahem. We had no choice once we learned of our comrades' peril. And we didn't flee to Coxhall—the bishop already knew of the attack and sent troops to patrol the area. We didn't run that desperately."
Chastened by Izumira's subtle rebuke, the holy knight made excuses sheepishly. The other one still hadn't read the mood.
"Haha. We cast vigor spells on the horses. Allowed us to flee really fast."
"But why him?"
Izumira wondered at the knights' wariness of Azadin.
"Ah, Lady Izumira. Do you know this man?"
"He's carrying a Seramite longsword..."
They glanced behind her. A Seramite longsword hung on her back too.
Compared to Azadin's, the grip leather was fresher, and the three-winged wheel emblem carved on the pommel was pristine. Azadin's was clearly older, worn from much use.
'Huh?'
'They're different?'
Everyone had assumed Azadin's Seramite longsword was Izumira's when they first saw it. But now, it was clear the two swords were distinctly different.
"This man is, well, an Emperor's Herald. With the pilgrimage group on the brink of annihilation, I had no choice but to hire him with the Emperor's gold coins, shameless as it was."
"!?"
"What?!"
The knights immediately leveled their spears and swords at Azadin again.
"D-drop your weapon!"
"Do it now!"
"No thanks?"
Azadin scoffed.
"Listen. You lot summoned me here. I came to aid the survivors when the Salvation Knights were in crisis, and as you can see, I provided ample help. So what crime are you trying to pin on me?"
"W-well, that's..."
"As he said, I hired him. He faithfully fulfilled his contract, so arresting him now would be betrayal. Moreover, unlike the King's Church, we don't oppose the Emperor—what justification do you have to seize him?"
Izumira defended Azadin too.
"But..."
At that moment, a quiet but firm woman's voice rang out.
"Because the Emperor's followers destroyed the kingdoms of Btuma and Korasar."
"Pardon?"
The door of a newly arrived carriage at the village edge opened, and a woman in a silver noblewoman's mask stepped down. It was Bishop Akenar of the Salvation Knights in Coxhall.
"We see you, Bishop."
Izumira dismounted and knelt on the ground.
"I'm glad you're safe, Lady Izumira."
"Y-your words honor me."
"Then, Emperor's Herald..."
The bishop turned to Azadin.
"I'm grateful you saved Lady Izumira. But I've heard the Emperor's followers annihilated Korasar and Btuma, massacring countless people. If that's true, I'm sorry, but we must detain you."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then we'll have no choice but to use force. Of course, capturing a seasoned Emperor's Herald may prove beyond our strength, but can we ignore evil just because we're not strong enough to uphold justice?"
Bishop Akenar spoke calmly.