Ch. 11 The 12 Knights of the Roundtable
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 11 – The 12 Knights of the Roundtable
On a lazy afternoon, Maximilian was passing time at Round Ark’s request counter.
In his hand was a familiar ledger, the one the nameless Vampire Lord had signed when he delivered the invoice.
Maximilian smiled meaningfully as he looked at the strange sequence of characters, like a dried-up worm stretched out metaphysically.
‘Interesting.’
Of course, it was fascinating. At the time of signing, the Vampire Lord couldn’t even remember her true name.
So, what did the signature on this ledger mean?
Given the circumstances, the Vampire Lord probably wasn’t in her right mind.
Her head must have been spinning, and she likely had no idea what she was doing.
This wasn’t just speculation; Maximilian had seen the Vampire Lord’s eyes spinning right in front of him, so he could say this with certainty.
The Vampire Lord, in an unconscious state, had signed the ledger without realizing it.
This made the story even more intriguing. What did this mysterious sequence of characters, written unconsciously by a Vampire Lord who couldn’t even remember her true name, mean?
At the very least, no language in this world resembled this form.
Yet, it wasn’t just random scribbles either.
Of course, Maximilian didn’t think staring at this mysterious string of characters for a long time would help him decipher it.
It wasn’t rational to obsess over an unsolvable problem.
He just wanted to imprint the form in his mind, in case he encountered these characters elsewhere.
“Hmm, hmm.”
Anyway, Maximilian was taking a rare break.
With the peaceful guidance of the Vampire Lord complete, he thought there wouldn’t be much to do for a while.
From that perspective, the table by the window where Maximilian sat was the best spot in the house.
In the afternoon, warm sunlight streamed in, and only the occasional white noise could be heard.
It was Maximilian’s personal seat, prepared just for himself.
The vintage aesthetic was simply his taste.
He had developed a preference for more mature tastes compared to the other knights.
Being the only sensible one among the Round Ark’s Twelve Knights required such things.
There was no harm in having a mature demeanor.
“Phew.”
But as always, rest doesn’t come easily to those who pride themselves on being sensible.
Just as Maximilian was about to drift into a light sleep, the analog phone on the table rang.
It was an internal line connected only to the request counter.
“Ugh….”
Once again, Maximilian couldn’t rest and picked up the phone.
As always, he ended up digging his own grave. Maximilian tended to create his own workload.
Through the vintage analog phone with a slight static, the voice of the receptionist at the counter whispered.
-“Sir, a client looking for the Vampire Lord has arrived.”
That one sentence was enough to get Maximilian moving.
* * *
“White hair, red eyes, small build, hoodie, and shorts. Got it. I’ve called the person in charge, so you should be able to get an answer soon.”
From the description, it was clearly the nameless Vampire Lord. What on earth had happened overnight?
The people currently handling the Vampire Lord’s request at the counter were a man in a trench coat and a high school girl in a hoodie over her uniform. Both were in bad shape.
They were bandaged up from broken and torn injuries, so Maximilian managed to piece together most of the story.
Moreover, he knew these two.
They were among the four people hospitalized after the Raven Plaza incident caused by the Vampire Lord’s reckless actions.
It seemed they had come here to find the Vampire Lord from that day. In that case, there was nothing more to see.
Information about the “nameless Vampire Lord” was classified. It was a top-secret matter decided by Round Ark’s leadership.
Unless there was a compelling reason, they would have to turn them away.
But the response Maximilian received from the two left him staggering once again.
“W-What do you mean the Round Ark Lounge’s C branch? Did she destroy another wall?”
Could this foolish Vampire Lord go even a single day without causing trouble?
This made it three walls the Vampire Lord had destroyed in just a week.
One was the outer wall of the blood donation center, blown away by the Vampire Lord herself. Another was the wall of the lounge.
The third wasn’t directly destroyed by her, but it was the outer wall of an apartment blown apart by a deranged liberal vampire’s suicide attack.
What grudge did she have against walls? Maximilian couldn’t understand the Vampire Lord’s thoughtless actions.
“She pierced through the wall at supersonic speed… It seems there was a fight, or some kind of trouble. Is that why you’re here?”
“No, after that, we caught her while she was running away, but lost her. I need to save that lamb, and this idiot… Hongryeon here wants to catch her and make her a friend.”
Maximilian glanced at the high school girl named Hongryeon.
Her cheerful smile seemed pleasant, but after hearing she had attacked the Vampire Lord, she didn’t seem entirely normal.
A typical mercenary from the underworld.
Having made that judgment, Maximilian decided not to prolong the conversation.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t provide any related information at this time. The information we have is also limited. You probably know more details from your direct encounter. I apologize for not being able to help.”
“…I see. Alright. I wasn’t planning to chase her obsessively anyway.”
The priest’s expression was strange.
“Hongryeon, let’s go. It seems we’ll have to give up on tracking the Vampire Lord for now. If not, we should head back to the lounge. If what you say is true, she’s definitely become a mercenary.”
Maximilian felt uneasy.
He had trusted the Vampire Lord’s passive nature to cause little trouble, but instead, she was causing explosions left and right.
Of course, rumors spreading didn’t matter, but they had to approach the Vampire Lord, who still didn’t understand this world, carefully.
Who knows what preconceptions might form?
He wanted to maintain the Vampire Lord’s current personality as much as possible.
Re-educating her into an adult wasn’t what Maximilian wanted.
In fact, the more socially awkward she was, the better.
He just hoped she would stay that way.
If she became aware of her own value and awakened as a key figure, it would only lead to more headaches.
He could only hope another incident like the self-proclaimed liberal vampire wouldn’t happen again.
“…?”
At that moment, Maximilian locked eyes with the priest, who was giving him a meaningful look.
Feeling his heart shrink, Maximilian wondered if he had done something wrong.
It was like a thief feeling guilty. For Maximilian, withholding information also undermined neutrality.
Other knights might have angrily kicked them out, but Maximilian was a principled man. He wanted to consider external perspectives and maintain a political stance.
In that sense, the priest’s suspicious look implied that Maximilian had slipped up somewhere.
It suggested there was room to doubt their neutrality. It made him uneasy.
Maximilian agonized with a world-crumbling expression until the two left the counter, then finally followed them out and grabbed the priest.
“You’re jumping to conclusions without any concrete evidence. I never said I would do anything.”
The priest smiled coldly and muttered.
But even so, the fact that he was from an external organization couldn’t be ignored.
It was a kind of teasing, done knowingly.
‘A talent from an external organization with aligned interests.’
Suddenly, Maximilian felt it was a good opportunity and decided to speak up.
It was a proposal for a mutually beneficial deal.
“…Alright. I’ll declassify the information. As I said, what we know about the Vampire Lord is still limited. But I think you understand what that means.”
“Of course.”
The priest nodded leisurely.
Maximilian sighed as he watched.
A principled man always chooses the harder path over the easier one.
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