The first thing he saw was Wilkerson looking at him with suspicious eyes. Seeing the four paladins
gathered beside him, it seemed they had explained the whole situation to him in the meantime.
A little distance away, Bertek stood with an anxious expression. After staring at Damon for quite some time,
Wilkerson opened his mouth.
“Just what is your true identity?”
“……”
Wilkerson glanced at Saramis, who stood behind Damon, then grew serious.
“In all my life, I never even dreamed that such powerful Death Knights could exist. Who on earth
are they? According to everything I know, unless one were a Demon King, it would be impossible to
create Death Knights that strong. So you must answer my question.”
It seemed the shock of having been defeated by a Death Knight had been considerable. At Wilkerson’s attitude,
as though he would obtain an answer even at the cost of his life, Damon nodded.
“That is only natural. They were once the strongest knights in Truvenia, after all……
The stronger a Death Knight’s original foundation, the more its abilities improve. I brought them
back to life in order to hunt dragons. In other words, I used their souls as the medium and granted them the bodies of Death Knights.”
“Is… is that true?”
Saramis answered that question in his stead.
“It is. We were originally honorable knights of Icarot. After losing our homeland and
families to the dragons, we wandered this world without a destination and chose the path of becoming Death Knights
for the sake of revenge. If only we can take revenge on the dragons, we do not care even if our souls are never saved for all eternity.
For revenge, we accepted everything……”
A look of relief appeared on Wilkerson’s face. If they truly had been the strongest
knights in Truvenia, then his defeat was not shameful in the least. In truth, though he ranked within the top ten
in Terbia alone, if one considered all of Arcadia, Wilkerson’s abilities
would not even place him within the top hundred. Moreover, the process by which they had become Death Knights was also
perfectly understandable. If he had been placed in their situation, he too would have sold his soul without a second thought.
But that was not his only question.
“Then for what reason were you arrested by the hands of the Dontrel garrison?”
“……”
“Do not tell me you were captured because of bad luck. Frankly, there is no possibility whatsoever that someone of your ability
could have been arrested by the likes of Bertek.”
“You’re a rather quick-witted fellow.”
Damon nodded. As he did, he was glaring at Bertek with a sinister look.
He had already made up his mind to give Bertek a thorough lesson.
For the sake of his own advancement, he had pinned crimes on mercenaries, concealed the fact that Juliana had given the tip,
and tried to monopolize both the bounty and the credit. Those sins were by no means light. Judging by his deeds,
he would have deserved to be killed on the spot, but unfortunately, Damon was in a body that could not commit murder.
Even so, punishing him without killing him was an extremely simple matter. In order to carry out
that plan, Damon glared straight at Bertek and shouted.
“You fool. You couldn’t even handle that one little matter properly?”
“Wh-what are you……”
Bertek, who had been utterly cowed, wore a bewildered expression. Right in Bertek’s face,
Damon thundered at him with a voice as sharp as a drawn blade.
“You clearly said you would mobilize five Sword Masters and five thousand soldiers. Yet what
is this? You brought only one decrepit old Sword Master and a pack of weaklings who were annihilated by a single breath,
and you dared to boast so loudly? It was fortunate there was only one dragon.
What were you planning to do if there had been two or more?”
“……”
At the utterly baseless words, Bertek could only feel baffled. The words flowing from the black magician’s mouth
were that absurd. But Wilkerson’s reaction was different. Confirming that an ambiguous light had risen in his eyes,
Damon thought, Now, and delivered the decisive blow.
“Useless bastard. After handling matters like that, you demanded the enormous sum of one thousand gold?
Not a chance. I cannot give you even a single coin.”
Only then did Bertek’s face turn blue, as though he had grasped the situation. Damon did not miss the moment
and sealed Bertek’s mouth.
“I have no desire to hear your petty excuses. Silence.”
Having completely blocked any room for Bertek to defend himself, Damon turned around. Behind him,
Saramis was watching the situation while emitting a blue radiance.
“W-wait……”
As expected, Wilkerson urgently stopped Damon. At the same time, he signaled the paladins
to take measures so that Bertek could not flee. As the paladins approached and subdued Bertek,
Damon turned his head.
“What is it?”
“From what you said, it seems you made some kind of deal with Bertek. Is that correct?”
“Of course I did.”
Seeing Damon answer at once, as though this was exactly what he had been waiting for, Wilkerson’s eyes gleamed.
“Could you perhaps tell me what kind of deal it was?”
“Well, it is not as though I cannot tell you.”
Putting on an angry expression, Damon began to unfold the story according to his script.
“I assume you have heard from them and learned my identity, so I will not explain at length. After
disposing of a dragon in Truvenia, I seized the dragons’ magical treasury and crossed over
to Arcadia. Because of that, all the dragons of Truvenia are currently chasing after me.”
“I-is that so?”
In any case, it was true that the other party had just disposed of a dragon moments ago. Since he had heard
from the knights the words exchanged between the dragon and the black magician, Wilkerson could only believe him.
“That was precisely the problem. One dragon would not be difficult, but if two or more came at me,
things would become quite troublesome. The dragons that I and the Death Knights can face
are limited to one at a time. Because of that, I had no choice but to keep avoiding their attention.”
Wilkerson nodded as though he understood, but at the same time felt chills run down his spine.
The dragon that had just died had been so powerful it was terrifying. They had been suppressed before
they could even properly approach, so there was no need to say more. But if
two or more such dragons appeared and attacked……
‘Our kingdom would probably suffer a blow close to destruction, wouldn’t it?’
Wilkerson shuddered and quietly listened to the black magician’s words.
“Originally, I intended to go to the Crossen Empire. If it was the Crossen Empire, the strongest in Arcadia,
would it not have the ability to scatter them sufficiently?”
“Th-that is true.”
“But that fellow must have heard some rumor, because he came looking for me. He proposed this:
I will use my influence to mobilize troops for you. I will bring in at least ten Sword Masters and more than five thousand
troops, so for now, please go to Terbia. Terbia is a powerful kingdom fully capable
of dealing with dragons. That is what he said.”
“H-he truly said that?”
Wilkerson asked back as though he could not believe it. He simply could not understand. Those were the sort of words
that could never be spoken unless one intended to ruin the entire country wholesale.
But Damon nodded as though there was no need to think about it.
“Frankly, I do not know what that fellow’s ulterior motive was, but the terms were not disadvantageous to me in the least.
In the end, I agreed. Because of that, I had to disguise myself with the ridiculous status of a prisoner,
though. He said he could only mobilize the troops if he did so……”
Damon looked at Bertek with an ambiguous gaze. Pitiably, Bertek, who had been subjected to the Silence spell,
could not offer a single word of protest and could only tremble.
“But I later learned what that fellow’s purpose was. He was aiming solely for money.
As compensation for doing so, he demanded one thousand gold from me.”
Having finished speaking, Damon looked straight at Wilkerson.
“Isn’t he truly pathetic beyond words? To try to sell out his country for a mere one thousand gold.
Well, considering the treasures inside the magical treasury, one thousand gold was not a particularly large sum,
so I agreed without thinking much of it. But……”
Damon paused briefly, then looked straight into Wilkerson’s face.
“I never dreamed the forces he mobilized would be this few. If the troops were so weak that they could not even handle
one dragon and would be wiped out, I would have rejected his proposal without a second thought. That
is the entirety of the deal between that fellow and me.”
At those words, Bertek felt his vision go dark. Just as he had done to the mercenaries,
this time he himself had fallen into a perfect trap. The words flowing from the black magician’s mouth
were lies from beginning to end. But there was no way whatsoever to prove that they were lies.
‘N-no. That is absolutely not true.’
Bertek’s words merely circled inside his mouth. Since it was a Silence spell cast by a 9th Circle mage,
he was in a state where he could never break the magic placed upon him. Wilkerson shot Bertek
one cold glare, then turned his head back toward Damon.
“Are all the words you have spoken just now true?”
“Then do you think they are not? In that case, you must have thought that I would be captured by
a low-level magician like that. I am a master of the 9th Circle. Moreover, you yourself have already experienced
the abilities of the Death Knights I command, have you not?”
Wilkerson was at a loss for words. Judging by the situation, it was clear that Bertek had sold out the nation
for money. Even while fully knowing that the Kingdom of Terbia would suffer truly enormous damage.
A loathsome magician who had sought one thousand gold and tried to lure him and his soldiers into a death trap.
Already, due to Bertek’s scheme, five hundred innocent soldiers had died in vain. Along with
two loyal paladins under his command. Now, what remained to him was only the strict punishment
of Bertek. Even the surviving paladins were directing furious gazes at Bertek.
“Despicable wretch.”
“You will spend the rest of your life in a prison where not even light reaches.”
Watching the paladins spit out their words one by one, Damon wore a pleased expression.
‘That feels wonderfully satisfying.’
But since he could not reveal his inner thoughts outwardly, Damon forced himself to control his expression.
“Then I will be on my way. What do you intend to do now?”
They had neither the justification nor the ability to arrest him. If they acted rashly, they could
lose all their remaining people as well. With only him and four paladins, they could not even handle
one Death Knight emitting that baleful gaze, so, swallowing his tears, he had no choice but to let the black magician go.
Moreover, for him, punishing Bertek was the highest priority.
“D-do as you wish.”
“Thank you.”
Wilkerson watched the black magician nod and walk toward the carriage, then shouted like a thunderbolt.
“Bind Bertek at once.”
“Yes, sir.”
The surviving paladins rushed in and bound Bertek. Unable to utter a single word of protest,
he had no choice but to be tied up tightly. Because the silence magic the black magician had placed on him had still not
worn off, Bertek could only beg with his eyes, tears welling up. But Wilkerson’s eyes
as he looked at him were as cold and stern as frost.
“You have committed high treason. Since five hundred soldiers have already lost their lives because of you alone,
you should prepare yourself for at least a life sentence.”
Having finished speaking, Wilkerson turned his head as though he did not even wish to meet his gaze. Without hesitation,
he gave orders to the surviving paladins.
“We have lost five hundred soldiers, but the escort will continue. The five of us will escort the traitor Bertek
to the capital. We must arrive within the deadline and put him on trial.”
“Understood.”
Thus, the Terbian escort party heading for the capital resumed its journey toward its destination,
having changed its prisoner to someone entirely unexpected. As punishment for indulging in petty greed,
Bertek had become a traitor and found himself being transported to the capital.