Ch.205Revelation (19)

The plan was simple. Kain would prepare horses and luggage in advance down below. Maria, Boehm, and Lily would prepare to cause an avalanche from the watchtower by melting ice with reflected light from shields and sacred fire.

While Boehm remained at the watchtower to finish the remaining work, Maria and Lily would come back down alone and join Bom, who was disguised exactly like Boehm. Then Bom would casually say, “I’d like to see more of the lower area,” and the three would come down to the main fortress to join Kain, who would be waiting, and quietly disappear on horseback.

If it had been possible for the three of them to simply escape on horseback, such complicated measures wouldn’t have been necessary.

But Lily drew too much attention. Even though the White Blood Knights showed little interest in Kain and Maria, someone might have noticed the two of them accompanying the genealogist Huber.

That’s why Kain had taken out an insurance policy in the form of an avalanche. If things didn’t go as planned, they would cause an avalanche to throw all the White Blood Knights into confusion and escape in the chaos.

But they hadn’t expected Atli to come up so suddenly. Someone who normally shut himself in his room and never came out, for some reason.

“As the Knight Commander, I should see how well the path you’re taking is prepared. That’s a commander’s duty. The regent here seems to think so too.”

Next to Atli, High Executioner Astrid looked up at Lily with a dark expression. The Knight Commander smiled.

“Valkyrja Liliana, come down and receive your orders. I’ll assign that task to another knight, so you come down and return to the training ground. I’ll say it again, this is an order.”

She couldn’t go back. The training ground was some distance from here. If she went there, she wouldn’t be able to escape. Lily steeled her resolve.

“Brother Boehm.”

“Yes?”

“Go down first.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll try to hold them off here. I need to buy time for Sister Maria.”

Boehm looked at the department’s youngest member with surprised eyes. The skilled but timid and somehow intimidated youngest member was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there stood a woman with firm determination about what she needed to do.

“I’ll come up soon.”

Boehm whispered as he walked down the stairs. “I think I’ve seen everything I need to, so there’s no need to be stubborn.” Lily saw Astrid whisper something to Boehm, and Boehm nodding in response.

Eventually, Boehm disappeared completely below with one of the knights.

“I’m telling you for the third time, come down. I won’t say it again.”

“…No.”

The knights all began murmuring at once. Atli frowned.

“What? No? Say it again. What?”

“I said no. I’ll go when I want to go.”

“I’ll go when I want to go,” Atli mimicked Lily’s tone, snickering to himself. His eyes flipped in an instant.

“How dare you, HOW DARE YOU defy the Knight Commander’s orders in my castle! How dare someone like you!”

“Watch your mouth.”

“What?”

“I said watch your mouth,” Liliana snapped.

“You lost to me, so don’t tell me what to do. A mounted Berserkr losing to a Skjaldmær standing on the ground. Isn’t that a shameful story that no White Blood Knight should even speak of?”

“How dare that mouth speak!”

Atli was furious. But he couldn’t even climb two steps before collapsing. His body wasn’t in any condition to even walk up stairs.

“White Blood Knights, hear me! The Knight Commander orders you. Arrest Liliana Brynhildr on charges of disobeying orders and disloyalty, and strip her of her Valkyrja position! Destroy the traitor, now!”

The members looked at the commander with confused expressions. No one respected Atli. However, everyone respected the “tradition” that had appointed Atli as commander. According to tradition, they should naturally follow Atli’s orders.

But they couldn’t.

A sharp sound—clang!—echoed through the stone tower. Lily had struck the stone wall forcefully with the side of her halberd. The sharp impact pierced everyone’s ears.

“The White Blood’s creed is one! If you are so righteous, then break me with your strength! God breathes power into the hands of the righteous! Show your justice with your own strength!”

Clang, clang, clang! The Valkyrja struck the wall. Atli raised his finger in anger.

“Didn’t I order you to arrest her immediately! Executioner, what are you doing! The rest of the eleven knights, what are you lying around for! Seize her now!”

“Liliana Brynhildr!”

Astrid’s roar crushed Atli’s shrill voice. Everyone flinched and stepped back. The keeper of the White Blood’s creed was furious.

“Such insolence cannot be tolerated in the White Blood’s castle! Never before has anyone so rudely struck the walls where the spirits of our ancestors dwell! Are you so righteous? Are you so wronged that you must awaken these walls that have embraced and protected you?”

It was according to custom. The wronged strike the wall. And the High Executioner hears the plea of one who is angry enough to “dare” strike the wall where the ancestors’ spirits dwell. Liliana answered precisely according to custom.

“If I have done wrong, if you question whether I deserve to be a White Blood Knight, if you truly dispute whether I am a Valkyrja! It is only with blood and strength that you shall teach me!”

“I shall hear your plea!”

The High Executioner declared. Atli glared at his aunt. No matter how broken his body and mind were, he saw exactly what Astrid was doing.

But he couldn’t bring himself to speak. The executioner already had her hand half-placed on the sword at her waist. Astrid wasn’t being unreasonable. Just as Atli himself had become leader according to the ancestors’ command, Astrid too was speaking according to the creed.

“In the name of the High Executioner, I declare. Those who believe themselves qualified may challenge Valkyrja Liliana Brynhildr! This is a rightful duel, and the result must be fully accepted by oneself! Those with courage, those who believe in their fortune, prove yourselves!”

A great commotion arose. Atli hissed “Aunt!” with hatred in his voice, but Astrid returned only coldness.

“Executioner! Convey my decision! Maintain order and cut down anyone who causes a disturbance, ‘anyone at all’! Those who do not wish to challenge, make it clear here and now!”

A knight with sharp eyes stepped forward. He was holding a heavy hammer.

“Berserkr Leon, I declare non-participation.”

A woman holding only an imperial sword also declared. She was a young woman with a deep scar below her cheek.

“Valkyrja Emily, I declare non-participation.”

Atli’s hands trembled. The tables had turned. If it had been about “arresting” a traitor, all eleven top-ranking knights with skills equal to Liliana’s would have had to participate.

But Astrid had changed this into a tournament to compete for the “Valkyrja” position. So the eleven knights had no reason to step forward. They were already Berserkrs and Valkyrjas—why would they participate?

When Atli passes away, they’ll have to fight until they don’t want to fight anymore. There was no reason to bring out what they had prepared to defeat each other just yet.

“Senior Knight Oscar, I wish to request a duel.”

A senior knight stepped forward. He was a man in armor holding a mace. When Atli nodded, he walked up with confident strides.

He had no interest in the battle of nerves between Lily and Atli. He simply believed that the White Blood was a group that decided everything by strength, and he was merely following that creed.

“Begin!”

There was no battle cry. As soon as the signal dropped, he took a halberd to the chest and flew into the air. He slid down the stairs like someone riding a sled.

Thanks to his armor, he wasn’t seriously injured, but the impact was so great that he couldn’t properly control his body. Everyone looked up at Liliana with shocked faces.

Even for a senior knight, this was too much. To throw away someone like that as if tossing garbage in a single blow. Even Atli shook his head.

“Ah. Good. Good. Clean. But I wonder if this is a fair duel. This isn’t a tournament arena, much less level ground. And our respected Valkyrja doesn’t seem to have any intention of coming down. She’s even holding a halberd up there. While the rest of us are down here!”

Astrid glared at Atli with an expression that suggested she wanted to chew him to death. But Atli was completely at ease.

“Therefore, for a fair duel, the Knight Commander orders. I will give the Valkyrja position to whoever defeats Liliana Brynhildr last! Although it’s called a fair duel, it’s not level ground but terrain with height differences, so it’s disadvantageous to the attacker and advantageous to the defender!

Go! One-on-one is meaningless. Even three-on-one is meaningless. Go as you wish! Don’t stand at the very front, but don’t be too late either! Those who want the name of Valkyrja, rush in all at once!”

“Waaaaaah!”

Senior knights and junior knights, apprentice knights and squires all climbed the stairs in unison. Liliana lowered her visor. Like a thunderbird spreading its wings to pour down lightning, she brought her halberd down from above.

Armor crumpled. Swords shattered. Shields were pushed back with a clatter. People from the front flew through the air and fell on top of others.

“Look, look, Aunt! Look! People are like ghosts. People are so weak! How can they fly away with just one hit! How can it be just one hit!”

Atli pointed and laughed like a child. Astrid bit her lip until it bled. This was neither a duel nor anything else. Inside the White Blood’s castle, the children of the White Blood were engaged in a meaningless fight. It was so different from the honorable combat she knew.

At the very least, she thought Atli would have some minimum common sense. The orthodox way for knights to contest honor is to duel one-on-one out of mutual respect. Atli had broken that. It was no different from throwing the glorious position of Valkyrja into the middle of a pack of dogs.

For the first time, Astrid resented being the High Executioner. If she had been a family elder, she could have simply cut down Atli. But as a judge, she couldn’t do that. Nor did she have any grounds to overturn the Knight Commander’s decision right away.

Liliana gritted her teeth and swung her halberd, but no matter how inferior they might be, they were still knights. If not for the halberd, they would have broken through long ago.

But now, before she could swing once to shake them off, more people pushed up onto the stairs. The knights also knew that if they just jumped into the halberd’s trajectory, they wouldn’t get seriously hurt.

Someone tackled the halberd with their body. With no other choice, Liliana let go of the halberd. Instead, she punched the approaching knights and stomped on them with her feet. But the speed at which people pushed up was faster than the rate at which they were knocked back. Liliana was determined to push back with her body if necessary.

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, the door behind where Liliana was holding her ground opened wide. As a strong wind blew in, those who had been rushing forward stopped in their tracks. The next moment,

“Argh!”

Everyone covered their eyes and lowered their stance. It was reflected light. Someone behind Liliana was reflecting sunlight with a large mirror. Liliana almost turned around in confusion.

“Look ahead. Unless you want to go blind.”

Someone whispered. Liliana thought she was fortunate to be wearing a helmet. She didn’t ask why someone who should have been down below had come all the way up here, whether out of absurdity or not. Nor did she have time to thank them for helping, even if by such an outlandish method.

She simply took a step forward. She picked up the halberd from the floor and swung it horizontally. The halberd that passed over everyone’s heads with a whoosh stuck into the wall with a thud.

It was unbelievable. No matter how strong a halberd might be, it couldn’t embed itself so deeply in a stone wall. But Liliana had done it. Like sticking a kitchen knife into an egg. Even easier than breaking an eggshell.

The knights, blinded by sunlight, backed away in terror at the sound of stone bursting.

“If you have courage, come up.”

Liliana, standing with her back to the light, pulled out the halberd. Shattered stones came with it and landed on the stairs with a thud. Everyone was afraid to even look directly at her helmet. A monstrous bird was spreading its wings, coming down to tear apart its opponents with sharp beak and talons.

Liliana walked down the stairs. The knights wavered. It was only thanks to their harsh training that they didn’t step back. It’s just a human, just one knight! But how could they overcome such monstrous strength that could even break walls? How could they break through someone who could toss them away like marbles even when so many attacked at once?

The members, their spirit broken, knelt on one knee one by one. Each quietly placed their weapon on the ground. Sunlight flashed from the wings of her helmet.