I quickly turned around and called out to that person with a delighted expression.
“Sir Patrick!”
Sir Patrick, a member of the Azure Dawn Knights, was rushing toward us.
“Sir, are you injured?”
“I’m fine. And the administrative officer is…?”
Sir Patrick scanned me up and down with a concerned look.
I smiled brightly to reassure him.
“I’m perfectly fine too.”
“Phew, that’s a relief.”
Hearing my answer, Sir Patrick’s face visibly relaxed in relief.
‘It seems like he cares about me a bit since we’re in the same Knight Order.’
I couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride in my chest.
It definitely felt like we had gotten closer than before.
Meanwhile, Sir Patrick turned to Giscard with a serious expression.
“Those demonic monsters—did you handle them yourself, Commander?”
“Yes.”
Giscard nodded.
At the same time, Sir Patrick spoke with a tone full of confidence.
“Well, of course, you’re unharmed. It’s not anyone else but the Commander, after all.”
…Hey, wait a minute.
That tone doesn’t even consider the possibility of Giscard getting hurt, does it?
Meanwhile, Giscarr, without even batting an eye, responded to the remark.
“Of course.”
Excuse me, Mr. Male Protagonist.
Isn’t your reaction a bit too nonchalant?
“Anyway…”
Ahem.
At that moment, Sir Patrick cleared his throat briefly, redirecting the conversation as he cautiously began to speak.
“I have something to report.”
“What is it?”
“Well, this might sound really strange, but…”
After hesitating for a moment, Sir Patrick continued with a puzzled expression.
“The 4th Knight Commander… seems to have tried to steal supplies from our Knight Order.”
Huh? What on earth is this supposed to mean?
* * *
Fortunately, the knights suffered little damage.
Most of the demonic monsters had been wiped out directly by Giscard.
Though there were a few casualties in the 4th Knight Order, their injuries were minor.
As for the Azure Dawn Knights, everyone was completely unscathed.
This was thanks to the ample supply of purification elixirs, which allowed them to use their auras freely while dealing with the beasts.
“This is all thanks to Administrative Officer Astrid.”
“Exactly. If the administrative officer hadn’t provided us with the purification elixirs, it would’ve been really tough.”
The knights looked at Cassia with sparkling eyes.
At this point, it felt like they’d believe her if she said, “The sun rose from the west today!”
“Well, I only did what I was supposed to do.”
Cassia tried her best to appear nonchalant on the surface.
But,
“Hehe.”
She couldn’t help her shoulders from rising high into the sky.
I mean, let’s be honest.
Who in the world doesn’t like receiving compliments?
* * *
And so, on a pitch-dark night,
The two knight orders headed straight to the location where the barrier stone was installed, holding torches.
They were there to figure out why the barrier had broken this time.
“This is…”
Giscard, who first inspected the barrier stone of the Azure Dawn Knights, let out a low murmur.
And with good reason — the Azure Dawn Knights’ barrier stone was stained a deep purple.
Ordinary barrier stones are as transparent as glass.
However, as they maintain the seal and the energy inside begins to be contaminated, they start to turn purple.
The color of the current barrier stone was so deep it appeared almost black.
“That’s not true!”
“We replaced it on time!”
The knights of the Azure Dawn Knights shouted, pale-faced.
On the other hand, the 4th Knight Order members were brimming with smugness, pointing fingers at the Azure Dawn Knights.
“Isn’t it because of them that the barrier became loose?”
“For heaven’s sake, what on earth were they doing to let the barrier stone end up in such a state?”
The two knight orders started clamoring noisily.
“So, you’re saying this situation is our fault?”
Sir Rodrigo, known for his fiery temper, protested, veins bulging in his neck.
“Well, as you can see, our barrier stone is perfectly fine!”
A knight from the 4th Knight Order shouted back, raising his voice.
Cassia, who had been watching the commotion, stepped forward.
“For now, let’s retrieve that barrier stone as evidence and replace it with a new one.”
Her crimson eyes swept over the agitated knights one by one.
Her calm voice rang out.
“Shouldn’t we focus on stabilizing the barrier first?”
“……”
“……”
At her words, the knights barely managed to calm down and stepped back.
Cassia glanced briefly at the 4th Knight Order’s Commander.
“Now, let’s check the barrier stone on the 4th Knight Order’s side as well.”
“Let’s do that.”
The 4th Knight Order’s Commander responded confidently.
His demeanor was bold, as if he had something to rely on.
Cassia glanced sideways at the 4th Knight Order Commander.
The corners of the 4th Knight Order’s Commander’s lips had already curled upward ever so slightly.
It was as if he were secretly plotting something sinister.
“……”
Seeing this, Cassia’s gaze sank coldly.
A moment later,
The 4th Knight Order’s Commander declared in a triumphant voice,
“As you can see, our knights have diligently carried out the replacement duties.”
And no wonder, the barrier stone managed by the 4th Knight Order was sparkling transparently.
The knights of the 4th Knight Order also had their chests puffed out with pride.
“Look at this, we have fulfilled our duties as knights.”
One of the 4th Knight Order knights pointed confidently at the transparent barrier stone with his hand.
“Because of the Azure Dawn Knights’ slacking off, this horrible situation has occurred.”
The knight from the 4th Knight Order glanced sideways at Sir Rodrigo.
His eyes gleamed maliciously.
“Without even knowing your place, you dared to shout at our knight order…”
The blatant sneer made Sir Rodrigo’s face turn red and blue.
“What did you say?!”
“Oh, isn’t that right?”
But the knight from the 4th Knight Order only retorted mockingly.
“This barrier stone is proof, right? Proof that our knight order diligently carried out our duties!”
“T-That’s…”
“And yet, you’re trying to frame us. Is this how things are supposed to be?”
The atmosphere began to shift in favor of the 4th Knight Order.
‘Those bastards!’
‘How much work did they usually dump on us!’
The Azure Dawn Knights were close to losing their minds.
Usually, the 4th Knight Order, claiming to save on the budget, would neglect to properly replace the barrier stones.
As a result, all the demonic monsters that emerged were dealt with by the Azure Dawn Knights…
“It’s true, we did replace the barrier stone properly!”
“There’s no way the barrier stone could have become that contaminated…”
The Azure Dawn Knights could no longer hide their frustrated expressions.
Meanwhile, the 4th Knight Order’s Commander chuckled to himself.
‘Yeah, this is it!’
The reason why the 4th Knight Order’s barrier stone was intact while the one managed by the Azure Dawn Knight Order was contaminated.
The reason was, in fact, quite simple.
While each knight order was struggling to handle the monsters, the 4th Knight Order Commander, taking advantage of the chaos, secretly swapped their contaminated barrier stone with an intact one.
‘Damn it, that bastard Montero can’t even handle one task properly.’
He cursed inwardly.
He had stopped by just in case, and as expected, it was true.
This was because the contaminated barrier stone was firmly embedded atop the magical facility forming the barrier.
In truth, with the situation where demonic monsters attacked right after the order was given, it was impossible for a mere knight to leave their post.
But the Commander of the 4th Knight Order didn’t have the consideration to account for such details.
And then—
“Wait a moment.”
Just as the Commander of the 4th Knight Order was about to turn away after replacing the barrier stone, his eyes gleamed ominously.
The monstrous bastards of Azure Dawn and that detestable princess—
They would surely try to figure out why the demonic monsters had escaped the barrier.
“If that’s the case…”
The Commander of the 4th Knight Order glanced briefly at the purple barrier stone in his hand.
“If I swap this barrier stone with those monstrous bastards’ barrier stone… wouldn’t that work?”
If he took this barrier stone and placed it in the Azure Dawn Knights’ territory,
he could shift the responsibility for the demonic monsters escape onto them!
“Though things have gotten a bit tangled so far, this much is brilliant!”
With that thought, the Commander of the 4th Knight Order swapped their contaminated barrier stone with the barrier stone of the Azure Dawn Knights.
The original barrier stone from the Azure Dawn Knights was secretly hidden nearby.
And thus, at present—
The Commander of the 4th Knight Order’s calculations were perfectly accurate.
In this situation, the Azure Dawn Knights couldn’t even make a proper rebuttal!
But at that moment—
“There is something I must mention.”
Sir Gerard, who had remained silent all along, finally spoke heavily.
* * * *
If you want to support the Translator, Translator’s Ko-Fi:
