Chapter 162
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
The day before Lord Yurei’s murder, Hestia Village.
Without knowing what was happening, Hestia Village carried on with its daily routine.
As the influx of people grew, crime increased as well, and rough men began organizing.
It was only to be expected.
Though it was foreseeable, Hestia Village’s guard force had to stop it at all costs.
They busily moved about to maintain order in the village.
“Captain William, isn’t it time you headed home?”
“Is it that time already?”
“It’s been long past that. This is overtime, you know.”
William could work overtime as much as necessary.
But when a superior kept working, his subordinates naturally felt self-conscious about leaving.
He needed to put some tasks off until tomorrow.
William collected his coat and rose from his seat.
“Then I’ll be off. Good work today.”
“At attention! See you tomorrow, Captain!”
“And don’t drink too much and roll around again!”
Leaving his cackling, teasing subordinates behind, he started on his way home.
He looked up at the evening sky, where red and black blended together, and thought,
So another day is passing just like this.
Everything was an ordinary sight, but an unresolved knot remained in one corner of his heart.
Whenever that knot rose to mind, his left hand throbbed.
The hand that Regent Ferda had stabbed with a dagger.
The hole had closed and the hand had recovered enough to use, but it throbbed as though a fragment were still lodged inside.
Anxiety swept over him that he might lose the use of this hand.
“Damn……”
I won’t be getting a proper night’s sleep today, either.
Muttering that, William moved on.
He entered a tavern on the road to his house.
Unlike the taverns on the outskirts of the bustling main street, this was a quiet place.
Since regular customers mattered more here than anywhere else, the manager with the splendid mustache welcomed William.
“Oh, Captain, you’re off work!”
“I’ll have a beer.”
“Certainly.”
William slid over the coin he had taken out in advance, and the manager brought him a beer.
The manager was talkative, but he was also good at reading the mood.
It was easy to tell that William needed a quiet rest right now.
“Here you are. Don’t gulp it down like last time—take it slowly!”
The manager left the beer and turned away.
Seeing the coin lying on the table, William said,
“Manager, aren’t you taking the money? Do you grow it in the ground?”
“What do you mean, do I grow it in the ground? I run an honest business! You already paid, so why would I take more money?!”
“What are you talking about?”
“The gentleman over there said he wanted to buy you a drink.”
Wondering who that could be, William turned his head.
It was a man he had never seen in the village before.
He instinctively felt uneasy.
Still, he shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
William merely raised his glass to express his thanks, then turned his head away.
As William turned, he heard a chair scrape against the floor.
The man stood up.
William undid the button on his dagger sheath for the moment.
“Are you Captain William, the head of the guard?”
“I am.”
“I bought you a drink. Isn’t it only proper that you at least give me one toast?”
“I’m sorry. I’m not the sort of person who befriends strangers.”
“That’s true. You are the captain of the guard, after all.”
William’s hand subtly moved toward his waist.
“Don’t be so wary. I didn’t come here intending to harm you.”
The unfamiliar man proved that he was harmless by placing both hands on the table.
William did not react, as though he always drank in this posture.
That act did not last long.
The beer mug he raised with his left hand trembled from the pain, causing foam to rise.
“That hand injury looks serious. Wouldn’t it be better to drink with your right hand?”
“Mind your own business.”
His reply was even colder.
But the man still seemed interested.
“It sounds as though there’s quite a story behind it. Could you tell me about it?”
“I only fell while drinking.”
“Don’t lie. Who gets a stab wound from falling while drunk?”
“It’s terribly embarrassing, so will you stop asking?”
William smoothly glossed over the matter in response to the man’s sharp observation.
“Let’s not have a pointless argument. I know what happened.”
“Didn’t I just tell you? I fell.”
“Don’t do this. I came here to help you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, so leave now. Otherwise—.”
“Regent Ferda will ruin the Far East.”
The man cut William off.
William felt emotion welling up in his chest.
“You come to the Grand Duchy and spout such slander?”
“Slander? You don’t seem to know. He’s a practitioner of black magic. The Serdes Academy of Magic is already paying attention to him.”
At last, William drew his dagger.
“As captain of the guard, I can no longer overlook this. State your identity. If you refuse to answer, this conversation is over.”
Even with a blade held to his throat, the man did not waver in the slightest.
He spoke as though he was already accustomed to risking his life in this way.
The man cautiously slipped a hand into his coat and took something out.
“I am an investigator for the Golden Eye, an agency directly under the Imperial Family.”
It was an insignia proving that he was a mage belonging to the Imperial Family.
“And I also serve Crown Prince Alexander.”
“Did an investigator come here just to throw his weight around against a lowly captain of the guard?”
“Lowly? William Miller, you are not someone who deserves such treatment. I already know that you were renowned as a promising knight in the Duchy of Yurei.”
He knew William’s identity.
William had roughly expected as much from the moment the man began insulting him.
“So lower the dagger and let’s talk. I have no intention of using force in someone else’s territory, but if you strike first, I have no intention of stopping, either.”
“……”
William did not think he would lose.
But as captain of the guard, he could not cause a disturbance.
He lowered the dagger, and the man calling himself an investigator grinned.
“What brings an investigator here?”
“I’m investigating a murder.”
“Whose?”
“Someone you know. Lord Yurei.”
William tensed.
A murder was troubling enough, but it had to involve someone from the Yurei family.
“Rumors are going around that he died in this territory. Did you know that?”
“Are you suspecting me?”
“Of course not. I’ve heard that you betrayed your lord, but I also know you’re not the sort of man who would kill that young lord.”
“Then I have nothing to say. I have never seen Lord Yurei or his knights.”
“I’ve prepared the questions. Try answering them.”
“What?”
The investigator took something out and showed it to him.
At a glance, it looked like an ordinary crystal ball, but the mana and spellwork contained within it were anything but ordinary.
After finishing the setup, he asked William,
“Let’s start with an easy question. Your name is William Miller, correct?”
“That’s right.”
A green light came on inside the crystal ball along with William’s answer.
It was a crystal ball enchanted with a lie-detection spell.
“You were once a knight apprentice in the House of Yurei?”
“That’s right.”
Green.
“And you came here as the leader of a large group of refugees?”
“That’s right.”
Green.
“Are you satisfied with your position as captain of the guard?”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm. It doesn’t seem that way.”
A red light came on.
It meant that he was lying.
“You say that, but you can’t deceive your own heart.”
“……”
“A promising knight apprentice reduced to a mere captain of the guard. Even if you find the work meaningful, do you really think someone who once held a lofty position would be satisfied so easily?”
“I’ve never thought that.”
The light turned red again.
William asked himself in return,
Do I truly have no desire to rise in the world?
Of course not.
William knew that very well.
Sometimes, he regretted it like this.
If only he had closed his eyes that one time, he wouldn’t have had to suffer like this.
“Do you know what kind of person your lord is?”
“I do.”
“Do you also know that he is a black mage?”
“……”
His face hardened at the words black mage.
He had never told anyone, but he had harbored some suspicions.
He had felt it strongly in Ferda’s appearance whenever he became emotional.
That Ferda possessed a Red Circle.
And that most mages with Red Circles were black mages.
But judging that was not William’s responsibility, so he had pushed it far from his mind.
“No answer?”
“……I don’t know.”
The red light appeared again.
“Even if he is a black mage, what I have is only a suspicion. There is no doubt that he is devoted to the Far East.”
“Devoted……”
The investigator nodded with a serious look in his eyes.
“Then let me ask you the next question. What do you think of a black mage with a Red Circle showing mercy?”
As someone who had walked the path of a knightly elite, William could answer that immediately.
It was extremely dangerous.
Black mages always had ulterior motives, and their mercy and generosity concealed vicious blades and poison.
“Do you think Regent Ferda is different from them?”
There were no exceptions among black mages.
“Black mages are all alike. Policies for the people are no different from throwing feed to pigs. They eat without knowing anything, and only realize it on the day they are slaughtered. Ah, I should have escaped this place sooner.”
“……”
“Didn’t you flee the arms of Duke Yurei to avoid the deaths of innocent people?”
“……”
“You finally escaped a pit of thorns, only to find a pit of flames waiting for you. Will you simply submit to that fate?”
William pressed his lips tightly together.
It would have been a different matter if he were dying alone.
But imagining the people of Hestia Village suffering made his heart ache.
Picturing himself regretting his foolishness was agonizing.
“You’re a righteous man. You wouldn’t forgive the injustice before your eyes. You have to bring about justice, don’t you?”
Justice……
William unconsciously looked down at his hand.
The place where Regent Ferda had stabbed him with the dagger had not yet properly healed.
And whenever the pain rose, the scene from that time overlapped with it.
What Regent Ferda had shown was anger.
And black energy enveloping his body.
That was right.
It would not have been strange for Ferda to kill William that day.
The chill of that moment was still vivid.
‘What had risen with that chill……’
Anger.
That anger still remained in William’s chest.
William closed his eyes and lost himself in thought before making his decision.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Tomorrow, Regent Ferda will be named as the murderer of Lord Yurei. You only need to reveal that he possesses a Red Circle and is an emotionally driven time bomb. You don’t need to be too direct. It will be enough to show that hand and play a supporting role.”
He gestured with his chin toward William’s bandaged hand.
“What do I get in return?”
The man looked at William as though surprised, then answered.
“His Highness the Crown Prince will appoint you as a Guardian Knight. If you don’t want to become an Imperial Knight, he’ll give you territory instead. You can live there however you wish.”
“……”
Receive territory and move there to begin a new life.
Living according to the justice he wanted to uphold was every knight’s dream, and William was no different.
“……I understand.”
“You’re certain that means you’ll cooperate?”
“I’ll expose his atrocities.”
The crystal ball lit up green.
The investigator grinned and rose from his seat.
“Then let’s get moving. There’s someone who has been waiting more eagerly than anyone to hear that you agreed to cooperate.”
William set down his beer and followed the investigator.
Since there was no time to waste, they needed a quick means of travel, and the investigator moved with William using teleportation magic.
And now, he stood here in the Golden Council.
Only two people appeared in William’s eyes.
His former lord, Duke Yurei.
And his current lord, Regent Ferda.
Duke Yurei’s gaze was piercing.
William thought that was understandable.
After feeding, housing, and training him with such care, William had betrayed him by joining forces with the rebels.
“Sir William, would you testify regarding Regent Ferda?”
At the chairman’s words, William’s eyes instinctively turned toward Ferda.
Count Consilius’s Adam’s apple kept bobbing, as though he might spit out the anger born of betrayal and seize all attention.
If even his close aide was that furious, what about Ferda?
He watched with his arms crossed.
Unlike Consilius, he showed no sign of resentment or anything similar.
His gaze was calm and tranquil.
Like a deep lake.
“Regent Ferda is……”
Looking into those eyes, William became certain.
That choosing to stand on this platform had been the right decision.
“He is more devoted to the common people than anyone.”
* * *
It was a moment of joy and sorrow, brought about by William’s one sentence after he had taken the stand to expose Ferda’s character.
Alexander was the one whose expression changed so blatantly.
Hadn’t he said that his confidant had certainly finished persuading William, only for William to offer testimony completely opposite to that persuasion?
‘I definitely heard that the back of his hand had been stabbed with a dagger……?’
A knight’s hand was his life.
Alexander knew how rude and insulting it was to lay a hand on it.
And he had been told that William was undoubtedly furious.
A man like William, who had lived the life of a knight, could never forgive Ferda.
Alexander abruptly cut in to prevent William from changing the atmosphere.
“Wait a moment, Sir William!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I understand that Regent Ferda inflicted that stab wound?”
If William lied and said that he had fallen while drinking, Alexander intended to make a scene and accuse him of breaking his oath to speak only the truth.
“That’s correct.”
William readily admitted it.
“Even if the lord is a lord, isn’t touching a knight’s hand a grave crime?”
“That is a punishment applicable to knights. I am not a knight, but a captain of the guard. Therefore, it was a punishment I deserved.”
Ferda had clearly been emotional at the time.
William could still clearly sense what Ferda had felt whenever he looked at the back of his hand.
But after that, nothing had happened.
Even though the captain of the guard had committed the grave crime of abducting a princess while being driven by emotion, Ferda had not held him accountable any further.
“Since he ended my punishment for the wrong I committed with nothing more than this, I am grateful for his generosity.”
At the same time, anger boiled within him.
It was anger directed at himself for making such a foolish choice.
“Sir William, you have taken the stand to expose him. If your purpose is to praise him, please step down now.”
“I did come here to expose someone.”
The target was simply different.
The eyes that had been directed at Ferda now turned toward Duke Yurei.
“I wanted to stand here to expose the tyranny of Duke Yurei!”
He exposed everything that had happened in the Duchy of Yurei, which he had witnessed while walking the path of an elite.
“The true tyrant who refused to take responsibility for his failures, disrupted the lives of his people with excessive taxes, and squeezed dry anyone who refused to obey him by branding them traitors!”
The tide of public opinion that had been turning against Ferda was halted.
Consilius’s rotten expression brightened.
Curious about what Ferda had been thinking when he had shown no reaction at all, Consilius asked him quietly,
“Did you know the captain of the guard would do that, Regent?”
“To some extent.”
“What do you mean, ‘to some extent’?”
“I wasn’t certain, either. He came on his own without even telling me.”
“If he came out here intending to do that, he should at least have given us a hint. He’s making us go through the wringer.”
Ferda said he had not been certain, but he had trusted William.
Ferda had brought William along because there was chivalry in his heart.
Because he trusted William’s chivalry, he had felt the greatest sense of betrayal when William went along with the princess’s escape.
If William had uttered even a little nonsense, Ferda had been prepared to kill him on the spot.
But he had not.
It had not been deliberate, but a mistake.
And Ferda believed that William would not make another mistake.
That faith had now been proven here.
He was still a noble knight.
Alexander was covering his face.
The flesh he could not conceal with that hand was as red as a ripe pepper.
Valdemar must have been just as thoroughly screwed, but he showed no sign of agitation.
Or perhaps, unlike Alexander, he was hiding it well.
While that story was still unfolding, Akad stepped in.
“Sir William, that is a fine exposure, but this is a hearing to establish Regent Ferda’s character. Please speak only to that point, and keep it concise.”
Told to state only the gist, William answered,
“If Regent Ferda says he did not kill Lord Yurei, I believe that he did not. And even if he did kill him, there must have been a valid reason, just as he said.”
“……I understand. You may step down now.”
As William stepped down, he glanced at Duke Yurei.
The duke vented his fury with a face as red as a ripe pepper.
“Miller…… how dare you……”
“……”
William could not answer and kept his mouth shut.
He could not wear a relieved expression merely because he had exposed him.
William had still betrayed him, after all.
Thanks to William infiltrating the enemy as a hidden blade while pretending to be an ally, they could no longer treat Ferda carelessly.
Ferda, who had kept silent and waited, decided it was time to step forward.
“It is all well and good to dig into my past, but why not approach this from the root?”
“What do you mean, Regent?”
“The black magic that killed Lord Yurei left traces behind.”
Riding the momentum, Ferda said to them,
“I ask that you investigate the traces of that black magic and uncover the truth.”