episode_0038

As the barrier was lifted, the scenery of the Crystal Palace, burning red like a setting sun, was revealed.

“I was so bored waiting, I thought I’d die!”

“You’ve returned, Commander-nim.”

The voices of the Black Serpent members who greeted me there were either too calm, or purely joyful like children. Without even the slightest doubt that I would return.

It had to be this way.

“C-Commander…!”

And there were others who called out to ‘another Commander’.

“Lord Roland!”

“Commander-nim—!”

“L-Lord Roland, Commander of the Knights!”

Roland, the Commander of the Templar Knights who should have answered their calls, was no longer of this world. And the Holy Star Spear that should have been in his hands was now in mine.

Without a word, I adjusted my grip on the Star Spear and looked around.

“…”

Innumerable star remains lay scattered like mountains of rubble.

The brilliant starlight that should have shimmered along the knights’ armor and blades was now covered in bloody, spilled intestines, casting a feeble glow.

It was a tomb of stars made of flesh, blood, and bone.

“Just as the Commander said, we kept our promise thoroughly!”

Wolfman Sandalphon said, twisting his wolf-like maw.

“Because we didn’t lay a single finger on those Paladin bastards!”

That was true.

Not a single finger was laid on Charlemagne’s 12 Knights who were there. They kept their promise. Exactly, without a single word wrong—.

I wasn’t surprised. I knew it would turn out this way from the start. I intentionally said it like that, knowing.

Not to touch Charlemagne’s 12 Knights, the court knights called Paladins.

I knew, and purposefully didn’t mention ‘those other than them’.

I wanted him to hand over the Holy Star Spear right then and there. That was the price of the mercy I offered.

However, instead of peacefully handing over the Holy Star Spear, Roland chose to resist, staking his life.

The moment negotiation or compromise is offered, mercy no longer stands as mercy.

Therefore, this was the minimum respect and duty I could show towards Roland’s will.

Regardless of how this situation might feel to the recipients of mercy.

“Kill us! Kill us right now, you monsters!”

“Strike off our heads right now! Do you think we’d beg you for our lives?!”

“Oh, Lord Roland…!”

There were the who had lost the ‘Commander’ who led them, whose core Templar Knight forces had been entirely annihilated, and yet had miserably survived.

At my feet, they wailed at the corpse of a knight who had met death, whom even I didn’t remember.

“You monstrous bastards, you devilish fiends…!”

“You’ll fall to hell! Even if I die, I will absolutely drag you bastards to hell—.”

There they were, shedding tears of blood, biting their lips until they bled, and writhing.

It was no metaphor. Their eyes were bloodshot red, and drops of blood, not tears, were falling. They trembled with humiliation more painful than death.

“D-Don’t move. …It’ll hurt more.”

In front of the raging knights, there was a girl stammering shyly in a voice as small as an ant’s.

Manipulating threads of magic intricately tangled in both her hands, as if playing cat’s cradle.

Each time, the 11 Knights of Charlemagne writhed in pain, curling their bodies further as if constricted by something invisible.

“Kill us! Strike off our heads right now, you villains!”

“Are you scared?! Don’t act like cowards! I said kill us right now!!”

“How much more must you disgrace us and defile our honor before you are satisfied?!”

The voices of the knights, clamoring to be first, felt strangely distant.

“Commander-nim.”

“Commander!”

I strangely yearned for the sight and voice of Aria, who simply approached me and bowed her head in silence. Alice was the same.

“You’ve acquired the Holy Star Spear.”

“Hmm, with this, our objective is achieved!!”

“…”

I didn’t answer. Was this truly worth going to such lengths for?

I didn’t know. I even realized that there was no need to summon the entire Black Serpent for this.

Because I alone would have been enough from the start.

For issuing such unnecessarily grand commands and preparations, it was an absurdly anticlimactic end.

“It concluded smoothly, Lord Rain.”

By then, Golden Mirror Robert approached and asked. Over his black uniform symbolizing a serpent, various golden ornaments were profusely attached.

The golden shimmering monocle and chain decorations, emitting a glint of intellect, were no exception.

As the third in rank in the organization, following me and Aria.

“What will you do with them?”

He asked. I looked at Charlemagne’s knights there once more.

I didn’t know how they were captured without a single scratch, but as a result, no one was harmed, and they were tied up by Witch Gretel’s cat’s cradle.

“Release them.”

“!”

I said, my voice devoid of interest.

“…Okay, I understand.”

Then the little Witch Gretel untangled the cat’s cradle she had tied with both hands.

As soon as they were released, the 11 knights there simultaneously kicked off the ground. No, they *tried* to kick off.

“Non, Non, Non!”

Just then, a voice called out ahead of them.

“Non, non… Not elegant!!”

There was a handsome man with long, straight hair, calmly reciting, blocking his comrades.

Astolfo, the Knight of Flowers.

“I, Astolfo, declare to you, Lords, amidst the agony of tearing apart flower petals—.”

The strong individual who had taken over as Commander of the 2nd Knight Order, following the 1st Knight Order Commander Roland, shouted.

With enough spirit to stop all the other knights who had lost their reason.

“Now is the time to accept the ‘mercy’ they bestow!”

“Mercy?! Lord Astolfo, how dare you utter such disgraceful words, ignorant of honor!”

“Indeed! Surely, Lord, you are not afraid of the Black Serpent—.”

“Disgrace?! Non, non, non! Realize that the truly disgraceful ones are you, Lords!”

Astolfo said.

After speaking, he knelt on the spot. At the feet of the Serpent’s Commander there, Rain Grey.

“Please, I beg you thus. Spare… our lives.”

He was kneeling more shamefully than anyone, begging for his life. Therefore, my answer did not change.

“…I have no business with you.”

I said in a nonchalant voice, then turned my back. Leaving Lord Roland’s cold corpse at my feet, with his Holy Star Spear in my hand.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Astolfo! I have no intention of remaining a coward like you!”

Just then, one of Charlemagne’s 11 Knights shouted. He was a man like a walking heavy tank, his massive body, overwhelming even Wolfman Sandalphon, clad in heavy armor.

“Lord Mondur! Stop!”

Astolfo hastily shouted his name, but it was already too late. Lord Mondur, adjusting his grip on a large hammer that looked even larger than his nearly 3-meter frame, kicked off the ground.

With a momentum akin to a charging tank, he rushed towards me—

Aria’s black sword was swung.

A swirling orb of jet black at the tip of the black sword bent and compressed Lord Mondur’s upper body like paper.

Furthermore, the moment the sword was swung, Alice’s shadow had already surged from beneath Lord Mondur’s feet, swallowing his lower body.

Meanwhile, Selena’s coat fluttered, and hidden weapons scattered their sharp edges from beneath it, causing Mondur’s body, armor and all, to shatter into hundreds of blocks.

As it shattered, all his blood evaporated. Jinjo Scarlet’s lips reddened.

“Ah… Old Man Geppetto is going to scold me.”

The puppet known by the alias ‘Wood Carving,’ Pinocchio, had his nose slightly elongated.

“Tch! Leave some for me too!”

“Ah, Lord Rain! Please forgive this maiden!”

Only after no trace of the corpse’s fragments could be found, Sandalphon clicked his tongue, like a dog chasing a chicken [a proverb about being left with nothing or being disappointed].

Freya also stomped her feet, as if disappointed.

“Everyone… is fast.”

“Whoa, what just happened?”

“Well, I… I don’t really know.”

Witch Gretel mumbled, and Silan of the Evil Eye scratched his head.

Beside them, a man was laughing. He was, literally, a laughing man.

“Ah, this is why these knightly types are like this.”

The Golden Mirror sneered, subtly lifting his golden monocle with a fingertip. With a silent Ergo beside him.

“What will you do with the rest, Lord Rain?”

After sneering, he asked again with an intrigued expression, regarding the fate of the others.

“The promise not to lay a hand on them is still valid.”

I said, leaving Astolfo kneeling and holding his breath behind me.

“But there’s no obligation to stop them from committing suicide.”

“Ah, please forgive my foolishness.”

I had obtained what I needed, and the objective was achieved. With an uninterested expression, I turned my back once more.

When I glanced up, I saw the Empress of the Empire, Nike II, still seated there, looking down at us. Along with the Three Grand Dukes who attended her.

They were not the only ones seated.

Even amidst this, there were those who watched the spectacle from VIP seats of other nations, with no intention of standing up.

The Duchy of Germania, the Northern Kingdom Alliance, the Anatolia Empire, the Eun Dynasty…

Besides them, countless rulers from across the continent remained in their seats, observing us.

I didn’t care.

With this, I had obtained the key leading to the ‘Hero’s Tomb’. I had no more business here.

As always, it was time to retreat like a villain.

*

It was not difficult to escape the Crystal Palace and shake off any pursuit. No, there was no pursuit to begin with.

Even the Dreadnought-class aerial battleship of the Bretona Empire, casting its shadow from the sky, did not stop us as we left.

However, the tasks that needed to be done were not yet over. And it was something that could not be delayed.

The Holy Star Spear of Longinus, both the key and map leading to the Hero’s Tomb.

That spear, which the strongest knight of the Holy Kingdom should have wielded, was now in my hands.

Far too compliantly.

Could they truly not have foreseen this outcome?

There were no unexpected traps. Or perhaps there were, and I simply didn’t notice them. Either way was fine. Everyone makes plausible plans, after all.

The night when the dawn moon shone palely like a corpse.

An abandoned factory in the suburbs, where we were staying after leaving the capital.

I don’t know why, of all places, an abandoned factory was chosen, but in any case, we arrived there.

“Ergo.”

There, under the name of ‘testing’, I once again sought out the Golden Mirror’s masterpiece.

Extending the Star Spear in my hand, I issued the command that a Commander should rightfully give.

That day. Leaving behind the struggle with Roland, which could barely be called a fight, a struggle filled with an incomprehensibility that even I couldn’t understand.

“Illuminate the path to the Hero’s Tomb.”