Death Knight (4)
"Young Master, are you really okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine… fine…"
I answered Arin while trying to get up, but the moment I moved, a wave of exhaustion swept through my entire body.
"What do you mean fine? You've been half-dead for three whole days!"
"I-It's just because I haven't been sleeping well. If I rest a little, I'll be okay."
As I forced myself upright while saying that, Arin tilted her head suspiciously.
"What could you possibly be doing at dawn that keeps you from sleeping?"
"Huh? Oh, uh… I had some research to do late at night…"
I avoided her gaze as I answered, but Arin was not the type to let things slide so easily.
"Liar! All the books were untouched, and the pages were exactly the same too!"
"Ugh!"
This was bad.
Once the first lie failed, suspicion only grew stronger.
Staring at me with narrowed eyes, Arin continued questioning me.
"What exactly were you doing alone at dawn, Young Master?"
"N-No, that's…"
"And secretly without even me or Sir Dunkel knowing?"
"Th-That…!"
This was driving me insane.
I couldn't think of any more excuses.
"Uhh…"
While I stammered awkwardly, I noticed Dunkel's brows gradually narrowing as he watched me.
'Damn it, did he figure it out after all?'
After staring at me seriously for a moment, Dunkel slowly approached.
"…Young Master."
At the sound of Dunkel's voice calling me, my shoulders twitched.
Maybe it was because I felt guilty, but my body was moving even more stiffly than I expected.
'What humiliation! The great Archimond trembling like this because he can't even think of a simple excuse…!'
I desperately tried to come up with something to say, but my fatigue-ridden brain refused to function properly.
"It's alright. There's no need to be embarrassed."
But then, with a solemn expression, Dunkel placed a hand on my shoulder.
'He's letting it slide? Thank god…'
Just as I sighed in relief, a sudden sense of unease crossed my mind.
…Wait. What does he mean by "embarrassed"?
"Miss Arin."
Dunkel's grave voice called out to Arin.
"Yes!"
Arin widened her eyes and looked at him, and Dunkel spoke with utmost seriousness.
"Young Master is currently going through a very important stage of life."
"An important stage?"
'An important… stage?'
'What the hell is this guy talking about?'
I stared at him with a bizarre expression, but Dunkel nodded once more as though confidently telling me to leave everything to him.
'No, seriously, what exactly is this bastard misunderstanding?'
"Things like this will probably happen often from now on."
"Huh? He's going to keep looking this sick?"
"Yes. But that's perfectly natural."
"???"
Dunkel nodded toward the confused Arin, then turned back to me and said,
"At that age, men are naturally full of vigor."
"…You crazy bastard."
I got it now.
I understood exactly what this lunatic thought my condition was.
This insane knight—what the hell does he think I am?!
"Hey, Dunkel. I know what you're thinking, but it's not like that! Actually, I—!"
I shot up from my seat while shouting.
Seeing how red my face had become, Dunkel grabbed both my shoulders reassuringly.
"There's no need to worry, Young Master. Every man goes through this phase."
"I said it's not that! I'm serious, it's not!"
But by then it was already hopeless.
Dunkel had already reached his conclusion and clearly had no intention of listening to reason.
"There's no need to be embarrassed, Young Master."
"It's not that, not that, NOT THAT! Why the hell would I need to do that alone at night when I—!"
Right as I reached that point, Dunkel suddenly stood up as though remembering something and began walking toward the door.
"Hey, hey! I'm not finished talking! Where are you going?!"
Hearing my desperate shout, Dunkel replied,
"I'm going to report this to His Grace the Duke."
Watching Dunkel say such utter nonsense with a completely serious expression made my head throb.
"No, why would you report that to Father—! No, before that, it's NOT THAT!"
"Please don't be ashamed. Young Master Delline went through it as well."
Wait, he did this to Delline too?
A knight sexually harassed the heir of a ducal house?
Why are all the knights in this family completely insane?!
'Instead of Rudel, I should've turned this bastard into a Death Knight!'
Looking at Dunkel's face burning with a bizarre sense of duty only strengthened my conviction.
"It is a tradition of the Leinrant Knights for the first witness to report such matters."
"What kind of tradition is that?! That's just an insane old custom!"
"As a member of the knight order, you must accept it."
I was doomed.
These lunatic knights genuinely refused to listen to human language.
No, what kind of madman even created a tradition like this?
When I asked in disbelief, the answer I received was utterly despair-inducing.
"It was a tradition established by the founding duke himself."
"As Young Master Klein's escort knight, I cannot fail to report such joyous news. Then I shall take my leave…!"
"Hey, hey! Dunkel! Stop! Hey!"
I rushed out into the hallway after Dunkel as he darted through the door.
But he was already sprinting far away toward Heinkel's room.
"This is slander against nobility, you crazy bastardtttt—!"
I was shouting desperately when—
"Young Master Klein?"
At the voice calling me, I snapped back to my senses and turned around.
It was the head butler, Berkman.
"Uh… what?"
Still dizzy from the chaos Dunkel had left behind, I held my aching head as I answered.
"It is almost time for your appointment… shall I postpone the schedule?"
The moment Berkman said that, my muddled thoughts finally began returning to normal.
"No, I'm ready."
After saying that, I called toward Arin, who was waiting inside the room.
"Arin, let's go."
"Yes~!"
Helian had invited only me and one servant to attend to me.
At the sound of her name, Arin approached carrying the luggage she had prepared in advance.
"This way, please."
After confirming we were ready, Berkman nodded and led me toward the mansion entrance.
In front of the estate, a four-horse carriage and two knights from the Paul Wyvern ducal house waiting as escorts were already standing by.
"Young Master Klein."
"We've been waiting for you."
After confirming the faces of the knights I had seen before, I slowly boarded the prepared carriage.
"Whoa, the carriage seats are so soft!"
"Try not to get motion sickness this time and get some sleep in advance."
The soft seats made for high-ranking nobles seemed to please Arin, and her expression brightened immediately.
"…The young master of Leinrant shares a carriage with a maid?"
"What, is there a problem with that?"
I answered the knight's puzzled question with one of my own.
"N-No, sir."
Perhaps sensing my gaze, the knight shook his head before mounting his horse.
"You never know what might happen. Please be careful."
"I know. Don't worry."
"Ah, and…"
Right before departure, Berkman approached the carriage as though he had just remembered something and whispered into my ear.
"…I understand that you're at a particularly vigorous age, but you should at least keep it to a regular schedule."
It felt like the little sanity I had barely recovered was instantly blown away again.
Right. He was standing near the door—there was no way he hadn't heard it all.
"You'll wear your bones out."
Right, Berkman had originally been a Leinrant knight too.
Seeing the head butler spouting utter nonsense with that dead-serious face drained away even the energy to argue.
"It's NOT LIKE THAT, you insane bastards…!"
"Hyah!"
While I screamed inwardly in despair, the carriage carrying me left the Leinrant estate behind.
Step. Step.
A damp mountain trail where the rainwater had only recently dried.
A giant clad in black priest robes walked down the path with slow, deliberate steps.
"Kiiiiiii…!"
"Grrrrr…"
The priest advanced one step at a time.
On either side of him lay corpses so horribly mangled they were barely recognizable as human.
Rotting flesh, shattered bones, and the Empire's insignia scattered everywhere.
The ones who had attacked the priest were necromancers of the Empire.
"S-Spare me! Please…!"
The last surviving necromancer staggered backward while begging for his life.
But the moment he turned to flee, Garrison's massive hand had already seized him by the throat.
"K-Kgh…!"
"Repent and confess. Praise and worship. Thus shall I grant you eternal territory, so that you may abide forever—the soul dwelling within the holy body…"
Like a prayer or a curse, the priest recited scripture while tightening his grip around the man's neck.
At once he resembled both a wounded beast and a saint carrying a cross.
"Wh-Why…?! Why would an agent of the Holy Church attack us…?!"
The necromancer struggled desperately, unable to comprehend the situation, but it was useless.
The moment Garrison tightened his hand, the necromancer's head burst apart like an overripe fruit.
Pop—!
A killing executed in an instant.
This made twelve necromancers he had already eliminated.
As the priest walked along the corpse-strewn mountain path, he suddenly felt something brush against his arm and turned his head.
"Oh dear."
A deep, resonant voice reached him.
Judging by the height, the owner stood around Garrison's chin level.
The one who had bumped into the priest was an old man wearing worn travel clothes.
"Hohoho, my apologies."
Despite his elderly voice, the old man possessed a remarkably sturdy physique.
His white hair tied back behind him, he smiled warmly as he spoke.
"..."
Blank, unfocused eyes.
The priest immediately realized the old man was blind.
'A necromancer… or perhaps…'
Seeing how calm and composed the old man was, Garrison fell briefly into thought.
But nothing about the old man's behavior suggested he was trying to ambush him.
'He's not an enemy.'
If the man was not an enemy of the Church like the necromancers, there was no reason for hostility.
Having reached that conclusion, Garrison spoke.
"How is it that someone unable to see is traveling these roads alone?"
His flat voice directed itself toward the old man.
Only then seeming to realize where the priest stood, the old man smiled and replied,
"Ah, my younger brother sent me a letter, you see. I'm on my way to see his face after a long time."
"I see."
With that brief response, the priest turned around and resumed walking.
He had already exterminated every heretic blocking the road.
He judged that the traveler would come to no harm now.
"Ah, young man."
But then the old man's voice called out behind him, and Garrison turned once more.
"What is it?"
The old man silently observed Garrison for a moment before slowly nodding.
"You failed to kill him this time, which means you'll never be able to kill him in the future either."
At those words, Garrison's breathing stopped for an instant.
The first person he had ever failed to kill.
Realizing immediately what the old man meant, Garrison bared his teeth.
The path he walked was a single straight road.
And at the end of that road stood the Leinrant ducal estate.
That fact alone was enough for Garrison to direct hostility toward the old man.
"Shall I kill you right now?"
A murderous voice emerged from the mouth of the Holy Church's human weapon—the Executor.
An ordinary human would have fainted on the spot.
But the white-haired old man merely chuckled softly, showing no trace of agitation.
His composure resembled someone who had transcended worldly matters altogether.
"Did I not tell you? You cannot kill him."
As the old man lifted his head slightly—
Garrison's face was suddenly right before him.
It had happened in the blink of an eye.
"And why do you think that?"
As Garrison's furious voice rang out, the old man answered him calmly.
"Ties nurtured within the heart must be severed the moment one resolves to do so. Since you failed to kill him in one strike, you'll never be able to sever that bond for the rest of your life."
Hearing those words, strength flooded into Garrison's fist.
His iron-like punch had already reached the old man's face.
A moment later, the old man's body should have vanished without a trace.
Fwoooom—!
A terrifying tearing sound split through the air.
A blow powerful enough to distort space itself for a moment.
And yet the priest who unleashed the attack only frowned deeply.
"We shall meet again soon enough. We can continue our conversation then."
With those words, the old man's figure vanished without a trace.