Chapter 270
Chapter 270
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 270
Chapter Title: Chadra's Conqueror 8
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*Crack!*
With a gruesome sound, Selim's horn snapped off, and blood sprayed out.
Azadin pressed the blazing Aurelia Dune against the broken stump to cauterize the wound.
“Gaaah! Me, I! To lose my horn!”
Once more, the savory aroma of seared beef filled the air.
The griffins, their appetites whetted by the smell, approached while drooling.
“Ugh...”
“Selim, it looks like you've trained the griffins since they were chicks not to attack cows or you. But what if such a delicious smell fills the air? They can't hold back their instincts, can they?”
Azadin held an azure steel dagger to Selim's throat while continuing to sear the wound with Aurelia Dune.
Selim, his head pinned to the ground by the flaming sword, couldn't even get up.
It was holding out only because it was a horn; if that blade touched his skin directly, he'd suffer severe burns.
The instinct to avoid the fire kept Selim pinned flat to the dirt.
The sizzle of cooking flesh reverberated as the griffins grew confused.
Torn between the tantalizing scent and the crisis of their lifelong caretaker, they didn't know what to do.
“I, I get it. I lost! I surrender!”
“Then call off the griffins.”
Selim whistled.
“K-Kids. Go hunt outside. Daddy's fine.”
At Selim's words, the griffins circled him hesitantly, eyeing both Azadin and Selim with suspicion.
When Azadin casually lifted and swung the blazing Aurelia Dune, the griffins took one more step back.
But they didn't flee further, continuing to watch Azadin closely.
It seemed they wouldn't withdraw until Selim was completely safe.
“Get up.”
At Azadin's command, Selim rose to his feet.
“Urgh, I'm sorry, Bishop. It was my weakness that let a guy like this...”
Selim still believed in Bishop Sehnat.
Azadin bound Selim with rope and subdued him completely.
“Wha... Sir Selim's been subdued?!”
As Azadin took down Selim, his subordinates and the village soldiers came rushing over.
“Everyone, calm down! This guy's dangerous! He's no ordinary man, so don't try to rescue me recklessly...”
Selim tried to stop them, worried they might charge Azadin to save him.
But...
“We're saved now!”
“Hooray!”
“Sir Azadin! Thank you!”
The soldiers cheered, celebrating Azadin's victory.
“Finally free from those damn griffins!”
“Hey, you! Bull-headed bastard! Serves you right!”
“...Huh?”
Selim apparently hadn't realized how much his men and the villagers despised him.
“How could you all do this...”
“Do what?”
“To you, griffins might just be cute pets, but to us, they're terrifying monsters that make our skin crawl!”
“You and your monsters playing around! Do you know my kid got his arm broken under a horse corpse your griffin ate and tossed aside? His arm twisted all wrong, left him crippled, and you just laughed it off! If I think about my son, grilling you over charcoal wouldn't be enough—I held back only because I was scared!”
“Our roofs turned white from griffin shit, stinking to high heaven, but how could we climb up to clean when we were too terrified?”
The people vented their pent-up rage until their throats were hoarse.
Without Azadin, they looked ready to skewer Selim themselves and roast him.
“So, are you going to kill him? Shall we prepare the gallows?”
“He's a minotaur, so the gallows would have to be huge. He's heavy.”
The soldiers eagerly prepared to hang Selim.
But Azadin stopped them.
“Wait. Who said anything about killing him?”
“Huh?”
“W-We assumed you'd execute him, of course...”
“Y-You have to kill him. You know the damage we've suffered.”
They revealed only that they'd hold a grudge if Selim wasn't killed.
Selim had to die here to guarantee their safety...
“If we don't execute him now, we'll be the ones who die.”
“What about the griffins if we do? He hatched them from eggs—they see him as their parent. And they don't attack cows or him because he's a minotaur with a bull's head, right?”
“......”
Azadin's questions left them speechless.
The griffins Selim had hatched himself saw him as their parent, which was why he could control them.
If Selim died, they'd become uncontrollable monsters and spread everywhere.
Imagining griffins multiplying while devouring the wildlife of the Chadra hot springs made their vision swim.
“Well then, Selim.”
“Ugh... urgh. Uwaaaaaah.”
Surprisingly, Selim was sobbing, tears and snot streaming down his face.
“To think everyone hated me! Urgh... huaaa. I wanted to be a holy knight!”
“......”
Everyone felt awkward seeing a full-grown adult—no, a minotaur—wailing like that.
“If you hated it, just say so!”
“We did say we were scared because of the griffins!”
At the soldiers' words, Selim bawled even harder.
“I'm a minotaur too—didn't I say it was scary? I thought you'd get used to it.”
“There, there. Calm down.”
Azadin soothed Selim and reached out to Camilla.
Camilla handed him the documents she'd taken from Selim's office.
“It's the bishop's order. Your wanted poster, Azadin? There's even a portrait.”
“Let me see...”
Azadin unfolded the document.
Sure enough, it featured portraits of those managing fortresses and villages across the Chadra Plateau, including Azadin.
“No specific order to kill, huh? Makes sense.”
Bishop Sehnat wasn't stupid enough to leave written proof of an assassination order. It was probably given verbally.
“Th-The bishop told me these people were spies the cultists infiltrated into the knights' order. He said we had no choice to protect the order from the cultists.”
“Can you testify to that?”
“T-Testify? Sure, I can. But the courier will deny it, and I'm just a minotaur—they won't believe me in the church? The bishop's my patron; that's how I even got a position...”
Selim wiped his tears and snot, sniffling.
He'd been utterly devoted to the bishop, his patron who got him into the knights' order.
But learning that the men he trusted implicitly and the villagers he thought were friends actually hated him enough to kill him had shaken all his beliefs.
“Even if they really were spies, executing them without a proper trial is nonsense. If they were cultists, wouldn't pulling info on the organization that sent them be more important? Never crossed your mind?”
“Nope. The bishop's the one who got me into the rescue knights' order—I never even thought to doubt him until now.”
“That's truly foolish. A Hospitaller should let virtue alone light the path ahead. Blind loyalty to any one person is just a delusion that blinds you to virtue. Tell me, Selim. Why did you want to become a knight?”
Azadin suddenly asked Selim that.
Selim rummaged in his bosom and pulled something out.
It was a ceramic figurine of a knight riding a hippogriff in flight.
The figurine was encased in a brass locket to protect it.
“I found this by chance as a kid. It was pretty, so I kept it, and I'd look at it whenever I thought of it...”
“Huh? Just for that?”
The other soldiers scoffed at such a trivial reason.
But Azadin could tell Selim was sincere.
“No, he's earnest. I understand your suffering from Selim's recklessness, but mocking him for this isn't right.”
“Ah, yes...”
“Sorry, Sir Azadin.”
The soldiers apologized to Azadin in unison.
“It's not me you should apologize to. But I understand.”
They had no desire to apologize to Selim.
The damage from his hatching griffins had been immense; the resentment ran deep.
Realizing now that what he'd believed might be wrong, Selim prostrated himself, banging his head on the ground.
“Sob sob. I'm an idiot. I didn't know anything. I really don't deserve to be a knight.”
The soldiers felt awkward watching Selim's breakdown.
*He seems genuinely regretful, at least.*
*But what if Sir Azadin falls for it and lets Sir Selim go?*
*I even suggested hanging him. This is bad.*
As they worried for their safety, Azadin addressed the crowd.
“Alright, I get that you're afraid of retaliation now that you've vented to Sir Selim. I'll take responsibility for him. He won't harm you.”
“I-Is that so?”
“Then yeah.”
“Honestly, Sir Selim's just dumb, not a bad guy.”
Relieved that Azadin would handle Selim, the people admitted they held no real malice.
Azadin extended a hand to Selim.
“Come on, rise, Sir Selim. I need you.”
“B-But. What about you? How are you different from Bishop Sehnat? Don't you have ambitions too, beating Kahsan and everyone to scheme something? I can't trust anyone anymore, not even myself.”
“Fair enough—once bitten, twice shy. But Sir Selim, I don't demand blind faith.”
“Hm?”
“No need for the blind loyalty you gave Bishop Sehnat. Just take virtue as your guiding light and advance. If I block that path, cut me down and keep going.”
“...But I don't know what's right.”
“At least now you know you don't know. It cost a high tuition, but that's what lessons are. You can know things from books in your head, but to know them in your heart, you pay dearly.”
Azadin said this with a wry smile.
“I paid quite a price to learn that myself.”
He suddenly missed Midiam. Was she safe?
“O-Okay. I mean, yes, sir.”
Selim took Azadin's hand and stood.
“I served evil out of ignorant folly, so Sir Azadin, I'll follow your guidance. But... if I think it's not the path of virtue you speak of, then...”
“Do as you will.”
“Very well...”
Selim knelt before Azadin, flipped his axe, and offered it hilt-first.
“I offer you my axe. Lead me, Sir Azadin.”
Azadin took the axe and handed it back, sealing the oath of loyalty.
Thus, one of Chadra's Five Ogre, the minotaur Sir Selim, pledged fealty to Azadin.