Even the firm faith of a devoted servant has its cracks. With Franz’s whereabouts now unknown, Karl began to anticipate that a traitor might emerge among those with Franz.
Franz was unworthy of the knights’ trust.
No relationship can be built solely on unilateral devotion. Just as his subordinates swore their loyalty with their lives, Franz should have reciprocated with equal trust.
However, it was all too clear that he was not someone who would dedicate or sacrifice anything for anyone but himself.
Eventually, their relationship would fracture. The cracks may have already begun to form. Once fissures start in any shape or form, they cannot be reversed.
Perhaps Franz could remain willfully blind to this fact until the rift became a chasm.
Karl decided to lean into this possibility a little.
Meanwhile, the imperial investigation unit did not cease their pursuit, but opportunities could arise in any form at any time. That hope was fulfilled more swiftly than expected.
“Franz’s subordinate has surrendered.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. To be precise, they secretly inquired whether they might receive a reduced sentence for confession…”
“What does it mean to inquire secretly?”
As Clovis stepped aside, Matthias took his place.
Last night, Matthias received an unexpected contact while tracing Franz’s escape route based on information uncovered late into the night. The message came to the deputy commander of the imperial investigation unit.
Upon verifying the content, Matthias doubted his eyes. He checked the Louisette transmitter multiple times, but the message was real, not an illusion, and its content was clear.
“The criminal Franz has sent a message stating that instead of revealing his whereabouts, he wants to know to what extent he can receive a reduced sentence via the Louisette transmitter.”
“How can we judge that the person contacting us provides useful information?”
“He indicated the area where Franz stayed until recently, asking us to verify it. He claimed it would confirm he is one of Franz’s closest aides. We immediately dispatched investigation knights and are awaiting a response.”
“Assuming that Franz really was hiding in that area, how can we discern whether the information he provides in the future is genuine? It could be a trap.”
“That is also a concern among the investigation team. For now, we will wait for the reports from the dispatched knights. If indeed a criminal has stayed there, we hope to acquire any information.”
Franz’s subordinate has made contact. Is this truly a surrender from a betrayer, as he anticipated? Or is this another smokescreen from Franz to confuse the investigation?
Either way, it was necessary to meet with the one who made contact. If it’s the former, negotiations could lead to capturing Franz easily; if it’s the latter, capturing him would allow for a counterattack.
“We should be able to track the location from which the message was sent via the Luizette transmitter.”
“I started tracking immediately upon receiving the message. However, it seems that a magic stone has created a smokescreen, leading to dozens of tracked locations.”
“A magic stone was used. It must be someone from Franz’s side.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Relay the reports from the dispatched knights as soon as they come in.”
“Yes, I’ll follow your orders, Your Majesty!”
The shadow of the long-missing Franz is inching closer. According to him, it won’t be long now.
After exchanging brief greetings with Matthias, Karl looked over the approval documents again. Beyond tracking Franz, there were many other tasks he needed to handle.
Until now, he allowed each department to function autonomously, respecting their independence. However, people easily forget that with authority comes responsibility.
The irresponsible actions of Emperor Alexander, who ignored public welfare and administration, were now slowly revealing their consequences. The notion of doing things independently essentially meant forgetting obligations and acting on whims.
Thus, Karl decided it was necessary, albeit cumbersome, to finalize and approve all the tasks directly. It was truly a hellish workload. He heard someone say he willingly walked into hell.
However, if the final manager ignores the mess for his own comfort, the impact falls back on the public. No matter how tedious and exhausting it may be, it was essential for him to keep an eye on public welfare.
“Your Majesty, it would be wise to take a break.”
“Where is the time for a break?”
He needed to finish the work quickly to return to Celeste and Valerie. As quickly as possible, but without cutting corners. Karl’s eyes swiftly scanned the documents.
***
Franz, Stilikov, and one knight close to Stilikov had vanished. In an instant, the twelve knights, abandoned, could not believe what had happened to them and were enraged.
While the others said they would wait, it was impossible. They had been transported through the magic stone until now.
However, now to hear that they would gather the remaining magic stones safely while the others moved dangerously was hard to accept.
All remaining knights agreed that Franz and Stilikov needed to move safely, but seeing one chosen knight sparked their ire.
“It’s unacceptable that that guy was chosen just because he’s close to Stilikov.”
“Isn’t it the same for all of us who risked our lives to come to this dangerous place? How could you abandon us…?”
“Leaving us behind, sure, I understand it might be an unavoidable choice. But why him? What’s different about him and us?”
“How can we move to the secret place from here? We’ll be captured before passing the quarantine and will be instantly executed.”
“Life isn’t the issue, as I pledged my loyalty to Franz. But this isn’t right.”
Five of the twelve knights were furious about Stilikov’s actions.
“I won’t question what Franz decided. We have no right to speak on that.”
“Our lives have already been forfeited, haven’t they? Didn’t we pledge our loyalty to Franz and decide on death? Is the loyalty of a knight so easily swayed?”
Of the remaining seven, two upheld unwavering loyalty and were enraged at the five who had wavered. The remaining five could only watch the confrontation unfold without taking sides.
Even after Commander Rodrigo lost his strength, they tried to accept that all that remained for them was death.
However, a glimmer of hope appeared from an unexpected place. Commander Tecla, imprisoned for illegally trading magic stones, extended a hand.
Given that a death sentence was inevitable after investigation, Tecla gathered all remaining strength to secretly bring in magic stones to the underground prison and caused an explosion in hopes of survival, however slim.
Franz and his party, who anticipated the incident, managed to survive unharmed and gathered all the remaining quantities of the smuggled magical stones that had been used in the explosion to move towards the Grand Duke.
From there, escaping became relatively easy, and they flowed and flowed until they reached this point.
During their flight, they faced the brink of death countless times. The knights willingly sacrificed their bodies solely to protect Franz, and some even suffered fatal wounds.
Some knights had their fingers and feet crushed beyond use.
However, they did not care about such things. They dedicated their lives for the safety of their lord, Franz, and to see him survive and seize the throne.
But then their lord abandoned them and vanished in pursuit of his own escape.
A truly loyal knight would have rejoiced if their death led to their lord’s survival, but only two harbored such loyalty.
The five in anger and the five who, while remaining bystanders, felt internally miserable—together, the ten knights began to ponder whether they would die abandoned like this or seek another way, if possible.
Although Stilikov, who had earned Franz’s immense trust with foresight, wanted to show the knights that this time his decision was wrong.
“…In exchange for providing the desired information, we might be able to request a leniency from the imperial investigation team.”
“What? Desired information? Are you saying you would betray Lord Franz? How dare you!”
“Go ahead and try to kill me. We’re all doomed anyway, so what do I have to lose?”
“Are you still calling yourself a knight? A knight’s honor is more precious than life itself, everything.”
“The one who first discarded all of that was Lord Franz.”
Two of the loyal knights jumped up in disbelief, but it was impossible to stand against all ten knights.
In the end, the voices of the ten completely overwhelmed the two. They decided to cling to the minimum possibility of survival.
