Volume 2 Chapter 105 And So, Off To The Next Adventure
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Oswald of the ‘Knights of the Sun,’ who had defeated the traitor McCutchen, was held accountable for breaking the pact and allowing an army into the castle, leading him to serve in labor as punishment.
This was the official narrative presented to the public regarding the recent events.
Oswald and his trusted aide Aisha were confined to the labor section of the fortress, while the thousand soldiers were dismissed and returned to Ramsey.
In Ramsey, the official who had been acting on Oswald’s behalf continued to govern, and 3 bureaucrats were dispatched to report back to Maribel.
Oswald’s banking duties were handed over to his subordinates.
His residence in the fortress, which had been destroyed and rendered uninhabitable, was decided to be repurposed as a new political center, replacing Maribel’s Main Castle.
The citizens were told that all of this was Oswald’s own wish.
Naturally, the citizens were puzzled by this decision.
They wondered if it was too harsh in terms of the law.
However, for the people living in the town, what mattered most was their peaceful lives, and unless they faced unreasonable tax increases, the fate of their rulers ultimately had little impact on them.
By the time a week had passed since the incident, the town had returned to its usual tranquility.
Maribel reorganized the bureaucrats and appointed a new commander of the royal guard knights.
Eleonora.
The red-haired noblewoman from the former ‘Knights of the Sun.’
She had been defeated by Oswald and abandoned by the holy sword.
Maribel personally approached her with a request, and Eleonora, who had heard about Oswald and McCutchen, accepted, stating, “Only you can maintain the peace in this country.”
Although the holy sword still chose Oswald, she was once again honored as a member of the ‘Knights of the Sun.’ While she couldn’t use it because it ignited upon contact, she was tasked with managing the Holy Sword of the Sun, which was housed in a replica golden sheath.
Regarding the witch faction that betrayed Maribel, as soon as they learned of Oswald’s unexpected defeat, they fled.
They vanished without a trace.
Naturally, wanted posters circulated everywhere thanks to Owl, but in the end, the only one they managed to capture was a woman named Elizabeth, who had been trapped in the fortress’s adventurer Guild.
Of course, no matter how much knowledge she had about politics or magic, there was no way she would be rehired.
Elizabeth was set to be dealt with by Owl.
To fill the gaps in personnel, an urgent recruitment drive was launched, targeting recent academy graduates who hadn’t found jobs in the royal capital.
On the surface, the personnel replenishment seemed to go smoothly.
However, the reality was that they were a disjointed group of newcomers who didn’t know their left from their right.
There was no way they could entrust the leadership of the magicians to the young Christy, who lacked the necessary ability.
As a result, the overly powerful Head magicians were effectively positioned as subordinate agencies under the bureaucratic nobility, following the directives of Maribel and the officials, limited to performing ritual magic, opening teleportation gates, and maintaining the barrier of the Main Castle.
The previous situation, where they were at the center of power, was interpreted as the real anomaly.
Christy had no desire for power, and Maribel was careful to ensure that none of the newly appointed Head magicians were as unscrupulous as Natasha, implementing special laws to prohibit the monopolization of knowledge and skills.
This meant that every action taken by the Head magician of the Margrave Izerland territory would be scrutinized.
* * *
Two weeks after the incident, on a sunny morning.
Kian met with Maribel at the Izerland fortress and was officially granted the title of Knight.
He was also recognized for the right to build the promised house, which was considered his reward for the recent events.
Considering what was lost, it wasn’t a job that paid off, but among the executives of the fortress, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t appreciate Kian.
As the Knight who took down Oswald, he became quietly renowned.
What was gained was fame.
Several high-paying personal requests had already been made for Kian, and due to scheduling conflicts, he found himself in a position where he had to decline some.
Moreover, after picking up on the situation through informants, invitations from knight orders and mercenary groups began to pile up.
Following Maribel’s audience, Eleonora even directly invited him to join the knight order.
Of course, he respectfully declined all of these offers.
Above all, what’s precious to him is his own freedom.
His original plan to hone his skills as an adventurer and raise his rank remains unchanged.
”Now then──”
After the audience, he visits a labor facility near the arena.
He’s here to meet a certain man who’s being held there──Oswald.
He was to be kept alive by Maribel, signed over 2 hundred magic contracts──double what Aliona had──and then fitted with silver shackles on his limbs.
Before leaving the fortress behind, he thought he’d at least say a quick hello to him.
Even though they ended up on opposing sides, Kian didn’t particularly dislike Oswald.
In fact, during the adventure at Izerland fortress, Oswald had been quite helpful.
Kian believed that even if someone becomes a prisoner, one should still show proper courtesy.
”Hello.”
At the entrance to the underground detention facility, built below sea level, 2 of Eleonora’s soldiers were standing guard.
”Hello. Are you here for a visit, Lord Kian?”
”Yes. I’m here to see Oswald.”
Feeling a bit of discomfort at being addressed as ‘Lord,’ he smiles at the guards.
The two guards open the facility’s door and gesture with their arms, “After you.”
He thanks them and proceeds inside.
He greets the guards.
After passing several solitary cells, he continues down a flight of stairs, eventually reaching the lowest level of the underground facility.
Following the damp, earthy-smelling corridor, where the groundwater flowed close by, he quickly reached a dead end.
No one else was allowed in the lowest level, except for his cell.
In case he did something, they planned to bury the entire bottom level with earth magic.
The fewer casualties, the better.
”…Hmph, …huff, …hmph”
When Kian stood before the cell, he saw a muscular man with neatly shaved golden hair doing pull-ups, hanging from the ceiling beams.
He wondered how long he had been working out; countless beads of sweat were flying off him with each up and down movement.
”Sir Oswald.”
”Ah, Kian. Good to see you. Just a sec. …Seventy…hup! …Phew.”
The naked man released the beam.
Landing as gracefully as a cat, he enveloped himself in flames to purify the grime before picking up the trousers carelessly tossed on the bed and putting them on.
He──Oswald──slowly walked towards the iron bars.
He was blocked by a barrier, so the young man put his hand on the invisible Wall.
”There’s a chair there. The guards prepared it for you.”
”Yes, but I’ll be leaving soon.”
When Kian said that, the golden man, wearing only rough white trousers, said, “What a bore,” and plopped down on the bed.
Oswald was the same as ever.
The only difference was that his expensive noble attire had been replaced with a slave’s white trousers.
Amazingly, his broken bones had healed, and he was perfectly fine.
Although he was confined to this underground cell except for doing manual labor, his muscles had undeniably atrophied.
Well, his strength didn’t depend on how big his muscles were, so he didn’t think his combat ability had changed at all.
Oswald stared at the ventilation duct, which was making noises, and opened his mouth.
”…I’m still alive. They should just kill me already. What is that little girl thinking?”
”I suppose she wants you to become a ‘Knight of the Sun’ again. Lady Eleonora, in comparison, just doesn’t measure up, as Her Excellency Maribel has pointed out.”
”If I had taken on the role of military advisor, I probably wouldn’t be alive right now. I should be grateful.”
”To begin with, if I hadn’t rushed in, your coup would have succeeded.”
”Haha, true enough. Should I hate you or be thankful?”
”I came today to say goodbye to Sir Oswald.”
”Hmm… so you’re finally moving the base back to East End. I wonder if the body of the familiar I cut down has been properly restored?”
”It’s not back to full strength, but it’s somewhat okay.”
”I see.”
Oswald gazed at Kian’s entire figure with his golden eyes.
”You’ve really messed up your armor. And your sword too.”
”…Yeah, well.”
To reiterate, Kian had lost a lot in the fight with Oswald.
First was the Windsong Blade.
The other was the entire ‘Nightshade’ set.
The coat was burned and torn beyond repair, and most of the boots had been crushed by Oswald.
He would need to take the Windsong Blade to Renaud for inspection, and as for the coat, there was barely a scrap of fabric left, making it impossible to wear.
Because of this, Kian’s current gear was severely worn down.
Just a shirt and leather pants.
And his weapons were a wooden sword and a club.
He ran out of money after ordering new kimono gear for Natra and Rufna.
He had given the one spare longsword to the strongest, Natra.
Oswald opened his mouth with a blank expression.
”You’re equipped worse than when we first met.”
”At least back then I had some armor… Well, I plan to get re-equipped while working on my trade. Starting from scratch isn’t so bad after all.”
”If you stop coming, the only person who’ll request a meeting is Christina. Honestly, it’s a bit discouraging.”
”Christy? I’m surprised. Does she still consider you a friend?”
”No, that’s not it. She’s studying my blood. Besides blood draws, I’m forced to undergo some exercise tests and take various medications between my labors. She believes that if she can uncover the principles behind the holy sword’s sheath that transforms possessed humans into something else, it would bring significant benefits to both medicine and national defense.”
”I see. So that’s one of the reasons why Her Excellency Maribel has kept you alive.”
If he had killed Oswald, the holy sword’s sheath might have chosen someone else.
It would have been a hassle if he couldn’t return to Eleonora, and heI couldn’t conveniently use the holy sword’s wielder for blood draws or various studies.
It’s only because Oswald is a captive that experiments on human subjects can be conducted.
”Did Mr. Owl say anything?”
”He told me to pledge my loyalty to Her Excellency before Christina rewires my brain. He’ll come to regret that someday.”
”As long as you think that way, you definitely won’t be able to get out.”
”Kian, you should be careful of Owl too. You saw it as well; he’s not human. He’s a vampire.”
”Yeah. Her Excellency knows that and still makes use of Mr. Owl.”
Oswald frowned at Kian’s calm response.
”So you… won’t intervene until it’s absolutely necessary. You just visit. There might be times when you fight by chance, but for the most part, you intend to remain a bystander.”
”Since I’m not even able to take care of my own troubles, I can’t keep looking after others for long. However, if Her Excellency Maribel is in danger, I want to help her as a friend.”
”People change when they gain power. Maribel is no exception. Before long, she’ll start giving you orders in a domineering way.”
”If I can’t follow that, then I’ll just have to leave her. It’s the privilege of a rootless adventurer, isn’t it?”
Kian said this and then, “Well, I’m off,” he started to leave.
Oswald got up from the bed and walked over to the iron bars.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply