episode_0026

At a time when the seeds of evil were causing a stir in Filah, there were those who were pondering how to deal with them.

Among them, some were starting to become anxious.

First and foremost, there was the Emperor.

The pledge was not just happening in Filah, but it had started everywhere under the influence of the church within the empire. It was all due to the stern command of none other than the Pope.

“Persuade the mercenaries and knights under the banner of peace. In doing so, you will be able to achieve the peace desired by God.”

The intention behind it was not a major issue, but upon closer inspection, it was simply a measure to bind the Emperor.

By tying the feet of talented individuals who could be used for military purposes, the Emperor’s power was gradually diminished. On the other hand, the church, under the pretext of working towards peace, could naturally organize their own militia.

It was truly a humiliating situation.

Finally, the Emperor began to adjust his thinking.

In other words, he started to let go of his arrogance and take the situation more seriously.

This was the reason why the Emperor had been sharpening his focus on quelling rebellions in recent times, and why he was calculating whether he could defeat the Pope in their conflict, staying up all night pondering.

Especially since the movements of the nobles were unsettling, the concerns only deepened. They were on the verge of establishing a new Emperor very soon.

And there was another group that unintentionally became restless due to this butterfly effect.

“The bishop is raising an army to attack us, is it true? Didn’t they say it would be fine?”

“Well, um. It’s a bit of a complicated issue.”

“Argh, damn it! Can’t you give a straight answer?!”

Those who refused the pledge or blatantly violated it.

Among them were the knights and mercenaries who never expected the Pope to draw his sword and come out forcefully if the pledge was actually broken. Whether the pledge was actually violated, the potential for violation, or even the mere thought of violating it, all led to scandal.

The church’s accusations of violating the pledge were now familiar to everyone. It had spread widely, from the priests of the Papal Court to the clueless knights in the far northern villages.

Therefore, those who had not yet pledged or had violated it were well aware of the disadvantages of doing so, yet they had made a deliberate decision to defy the church.

While it was possible to criticize them for living a life of wrongdoing, it was not as if they had no justification at all.

“Then isn’t it just a matter of not doing things that would lead to scandal in the first place?”

“Think about it. If you live like that, who would hire you as a knight? What’s the point of carrying a sword and following orders without any reward?”

Being a knight was truly a profession that consumed a lot of money.

Unless they had their own fiefdom to cover the costs, or they were able to maintain their reputation through modesty and high esteem like a lone knight with a famous sword, they were destined to be drawn to money.

So it was not surprising that there were those among the knights and mercenaries who succumbed to the temptation of plunder.

As knights rose to suppress them, the impoverished ones would fill the void left by the bandits, and the cycle of destruction would continue.

But someone came up with a clever plan to find a loophole in this seemingly endless cycle.

“Why don’t we just not be bandits?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? How can you be a bandit while committing robbery?”

“No, think about it. If we occasionally engage in plunder but also take on the tasks of noble lords, wouldn’t we still be considered knights? As long as we don’t overdo it, everyone might turn a blind eye.”

While scandal was declared as a violation of human rights, in cases where one could switch between being a knight and a bandit several times a day based on personal preference, it did not have much impact.

When a well-armed group gathers, it is not economically feasible for lords to track them down and deal with them one by one.

And isn’t it an attractive choice to be able to justify to the voices urging for a solution that ‘since we were not thieves to begin with, we cannot do that’?

If we were to nitpick, they were in a gray area between knights and thieves.

And although they knew everything about each other so far, they quietly overlooked the appropriate amount of plundering.

When the church attacked the heretics, they remained silent because they were not heretics.

When the lords attacked the thieves, they mocked them as fools who were not cautious and called themselves knights.

Only when they became the target themselves did they finally realize that the whole world was ready to tear them apart.

“An army is being built to condemn the oath-breakers! It’s all over now!”

“There must be a way. Yes, Emperor! If the Emperor needs an army, he will surely use us. Let’s go find the Emperor.”

Dreaming of a happy ending, they went to the Emperor with dreams and hopes, only to taste the bitterness of life once again.

Even though he was the rival of the Pope and the soul, using humans who had been condemned for their wickedness was a bit… noticeable. Especially since his power base relied heavily on the support of the common people.

There was no one bold enough to openly ask if he himself had been condemned for his sins.

If so, he would have long been buried and turned to dust.

Naturally, the church did not treat the oath-breakers as human beings. It was fortunate if they were not seen as walking loot.

For those who had been deemed unusable by both the Emperor and the Pope, the choices given to them naturally narrowed down to two.

They were forced to make a choice.

Either flee to a foreign country, change their identity, and live as knights, or become thieves. There was no more room for ambiguity.

And the intentions of the knights and mercenaries who were openly beaten in the square converged.

“…Since it has come to this, we strike first before they strike us!”

“Damn it, are we just going to sit back and take it every time? The priests of the church need to wake up now.”

“After the Council ends and the church gathers the army made up of oath-breakers, we will strike during their moment of carelessness!”

Filah was no exception.

Those who had made a secret pact made plans to fight.

*****

Even upon careful self-evaluation, I realized that my faith was exceptional.

It was not because I had been a devout believer since my previous life. Rather, it was paradoxical because I came from a modern world filled with reason and logic.

In a world where magic could easily render classical mechanics useless, it was not unreasonable to believe in a god.

Especially considering the fact that I had experienced a supernatural event like a second life. And this also helped calm my mind in a battlefield where luck played a significant role.

So, I made an effort to follow the teachings of the church as much as possible. After all, it was not immoral by modern standards.

Do not plunder, do not steal, do not hit others without reason, and so on.

These were the contents of the oath ceremony, and the fact that these were emphasized from the beginning was a bit bitter, knowing that they were not being well observed.

But it is humans who are bad, not the teachings.

As part of this, my morning routine when I did not wake up early due to insomnia is as follows.

First thing in the morning, I praise God for being able to greet a refreshing morning and shout out a slogan to invigorate my body.

It may seem foolish to others, but it was also a way to reminisce about a past life that no one in this world could empathize with.

At the same time, it was a process of preserving my identity as a modern person stranded in medieval times, and reflecting on the fading values of morality and justice. Of course, the girl was often taken aback by my cheerful morning greetings.

To maintain the solemnity and atmosphere expected of a knight, I would sometimes strike a dignified pose and carefully choose my words when speaking.

However, when alone with the girl, I didn’t put much effort into such things. Because of that, the girl was one of the few who knew that my appearance inside and outside was different.

Unable to understand this, Lycia once asked me.

“Sir Knight.”

“Yes?”

“The morning greeting you say when you wake up… what is it? It’s a word I’ve never heard anywhere else.”

Since it wasn’t an action intended to be understood by others, my answer, omitting information about my past, was superficial.

“It’s a prayer to start the day energetically by waking up early. It’s a phrase I used in my hometown. If it’s hard to understand, you can just think of it as a dialect.”

After saying this, about a week passed since then. It was the day after I made a vow.

I woke up early, and as the girl heard the rustling sound of me getting up and stretched, she hesitated for a moment, glanced at me, and shouted like this.

“Early bird gets the worm!”

“….”

I never forced her to follow along.

It seems like the girl has started to learn strange things.