Chapter 190
Archbishop Albato's office.
"What? Arrest Count Zervan? Is what you are saying right now true, Xenos?"
"Yes. Even I heard it and doubted my own ears."
The eldest son of House Gradas, one of the Four Great Noble Families and former Commander of the Inquisition.
Xenos von Gradas.
He was currently explaining the whole story to Archbishop Albato du Valus.
"Her Majesty the Queen has also given her consent. Isn't that a bit strange? She is not someone who would stab Callias in the back like this. Nor does she have any reason to."
"I see. It is strange."
Albato replied, wiping the beads of sweat from his bald head with a handkerchief.
"There must be an unavoidable situation. Or perhaps the nobles have schemed something to seize power. Do you not know the exact details?"
"There are no circumstantial details yet, so I haven't been able to find out more."
"This is difficult. To arbitrarily arrest the man the moment he returns. I just hope he didn't do anything unnecessary..."
Albato, letting out a sigh, opened his mouth as if he hadn't yet managed to ask.
"By the way, what is the charge?"
"That is... it is so shameful to even mention that I cannot bear to."
"The charges are just a facade anyway. What does it matter? It's not like Callias actually committed a crime. Tell me."
Xenos hesitated a bit before speaking.
"They say he molested a woman..."
"..."
Albato and Xenos fell silent for a while.
Originally, they should have thrown a fit, screaming that there was absolutely no way that was true.
But with so many things weighing on their minds inwardly, they couldn't bring themselves to do so.
Wasn't he notoriously famous for it?
The scoundrel Callias.
How many women had he toyed with? It was enough to make one wonder if they had all risen up together.
"Ahem, can't they not arrest a Count just for molesting a woman?"
Albato couldn't bring himself to say that it wasn't true, or that it was a misunderstanding or a false charge.
Xenos also nodded heavily.
"That alone wouldn't be enough to arrest a Count of a nation. But that woman is not a mere commoner, but a foreign..."
It was then.
Bang-!
Xenos's words were cut off by a knight opening the door and entering.
A woman with water-colored hair swaying as it covered one side of her eye.
A Witz Paladin wearing light half-armor and carrying a sword sheath that perfectly resembled her, the woman who was soon to be declared a Saint.
It was Esther Sol Cilliad.
"I heard a royal decree for Count Zervan's arrest has been issued. Is it true?"
"We were just talking about that. No, we were. Saint Esther."
"What is the charge? What crime could he have possibly committed to arrest a Count of a nation! Moreover, a hero who saved the country and rescued Her Majesty the Queen!!"
Slam!
Albato swallowed dry saliva at Esther's fist slamming the desk.
"Please calm down first. The charge is... it's so nonsensical. There's no need to worry about it. It seems politics are involved."
"No. I need to know. What exactly is the charge for arresting him! I have to know to stop this situation, don't I? Xenos. What is it."
When Albato wouldn't tell her, she pressed Xenos. Xenos made eye contact with Albato and answered awkwardly.
"They say he molested a foreign woman."
"Look at this! How nonsensical! How could a hero who saved the country molest a woman..."
Esther's infuriated eyes began to blink slowly.
Soon, she furrowed her brow as if deep in thought, and asked Xenos again.
"Molesting a woman?"
"...Yes."
"A misunderstanding, right?"
"..."
Xenos fell silent.
"Right?"
Albato also averted his eyes.
"Ha..."
Esther covered her face with both hands.
A charge that she thought could never be true, yet somehow felt could be possible.
Xenos and Albato.
And Esther all wore agonized expressions as the silence dragged on.
* * *
The Queen's Knight.
The titles of the hero who saved the country and the heir of the North represented Callias, but Carpe had not yet shaken off the deeply rooted rumors of his scoundrel past.
Since the troll offensive that occurred in the North had not yet spread to Carpe.
Thus.
"Count Zervan. By the honor of Her Majesty the Queen, I place you under arrest."
Thump, thump, thump!!
At the command of the Fire Demon, Karina, soldiers and knights appeared in an instant and surrounded him.
"What is the meaning of this!!"
However, Callias's close retainers who had come down escorting him did not stay still.
Aaron and Allen.
And with Orphin at the center, Flora and Emily's group, as well as the Elven Quartet, took a step forward to threaten them.
"Wasn't Callis one of the Four Great Nobles? I heard it was a really high rank, why are they arresting him?"
"Well, who knows. Philo. Politics is originally about bringing down the high and mighty, you see. Haha."
"Don't step forward too much. We stand out too much."
Especially in a situation like this.
If the existence of other races were to be revealed, the one with a headache would be Callias.
Serena, draped in a robe, calmly observed the situation.
"That person is strong. Can I try fighting her?"
"Don't ask me."
Ovarna, holding his staff as if he couldn't care less, burning with a desire to win.
And the Shield Saints Junis and Aili, standing on either side of Callias, looked at the unfolding situation with strange expressions.
"A flower in each hand. No different from the rumors, so I'm very relieved. Trash."
The Fire Demon, Karina, sneered at Callias.
"If you want to resist, go ahead. But keep in mind that my sword is not one that shows mercy to its enemies."
The air suddenly grew muggy.
The heat she emanated was slowly rising as if preheating.
The Fire Demon, Karina.
The innate ability of her sword was the Fire Demon.
A demon that burns everything.
As an expert who had reached the rank of Master even with her sword sheathed, her body was already a fire burning at its peak even without drawing her sword.
Flames were already beginning to boil over her boots.
If she set her mind to it, turning the area into a sea of fire wouldn't be a difficult task.
Knowing that, she must have come before entering Caladi.
"Hmm."
Callias first assessed their forces.
Four captain-class knights, and about two hundred soldiers and regular knights.
And the Master commanding them, Karina.
'Not such a formidable force.'
They probably felt confident that this much was enough.
Even if he didn't know what charges they were trying to arrest him with, the high officials of Carpe wouldn't know the fact that Callias had become a Master yet.
For a single Master is a being that can slaughter hundreds of knights.
Although he was called the hero who saved the country, the martial prowess of Callias evaluated by the world was, at best, right below Master.
That must be the force they assumed.
'Breaking through is easy.'
Even if he excluded the Saints from his fighting power, stopping them was not a difficult task.
Karina's presence was a bit of a variable, but he could easily shake them off and escape.
Unlike before.
The current Callias was a one-man army.
Possessing fighting power in itself.
Besides, even without the Ashen Legion, Callias's close retainers were strong.
The trio of Orphin, Allen, and Aaron had grown into captain-class knights, and the trio of Serena were strong individuals who only had one wall left before becoming Masters, weren't they?
And Ovarna, who was the floor master of the 61st floor, was a skilled individual in a position to teach those who had just become Masters.
It meant that even if he didn't step forward, they had enough power to handle this level of force.
Add to that the Saints and himself.
And if he even summoned the Ashen Legion?
To be honest, overturning Caladi, the capital of Carpe, wouldn't be impossible either.
But would dealing with this level of force really be that difficult?
No. Absolutely not.
However.
'She said it was Her Majesty the Queen's order.'
If the Queen wasn't involved, it could be smoothed over by resisting, but if it was a direct order from Her Majesty, things would become troublesome.
For if he were to truly disobey a royal command, it would be the perfect pretext for the nobles to pick at.
In that case, pointlessly resisting itself could mean making a mountain out of a molehill.
From the start, the very fact that Karina came instead of a Master he was acquainted with meant that it might not be entirely the Queen's will.
There was something.
There must be a hidden card that made the high nobles of Carpe raise their hands in approval.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to do such a thing.
A clear justification.
They were doing this because they had a justification.
'As long as they don't want their heads to fly off by my hand, they can't do this.'
Callias's Sword of Judgment still craved the necks of the unjust.
It might have been committed by those who feared that.
For now, he had to make a choice.
"What should we do?"
Allen asked, drawing his sword and keeping watch. At his single word, there were countless knights who would fight without fearing death.
But Callias shook his head.
"If Her Majesty ordered it, there must be a just reason. I am Zervan. If it is the Queen's command, it doesn't matter where it is."
The dignified demeanor of a knight.
At Callias's declaration, the loyalty of the knights protecting him pierced the heavens.
To be able to serve a master overflowing with loyalty to the country like this. How honorable and glorious it was!
Orphin, who knew his past all too well, even teared up.
Callias asked proudly.
"What is the charge?"
"Indecent assault and fornication with a woman."
Orphin's tears vanished in an instant.
The faces of the knights, who were ready to face even death with steadfast expressions, crumpled.
"..."
"..."
They were about to scoff at the nonsensical claim, but suddenly felt as if something was stuck in their throats and gulped.
There were some points that made sense.
'Come to think of it...'
Even though he was a completely changed person now, in the past... wasn't he a bit like that?
They roughly knew that the term "wastrel of the Order" didn't come out of nowhere.
But unlike the silent knights.
"Nonsense!! He might lack some manners, but he's not that kind of guy!"
"That's right!"
"Seeing as he hasn't laid a single finger on Serena, I can believe it! There's no way he'd do that!"
The Elven group denied it.
They shouted that the Callias they had seen all this time was absolutely not that kind of person.
But what returned was only mockery.
"What are you doing, shouldn't you also hurry and clear your master's false charges!"
"Uh..."
However, those who knew even a little about Carpe couldn't easily say no.
Like them, the words "No" rose to the tips of their throats, but they couldn't spit them out.
They wanted to claim their master's innocence right then and there.
But the title of Carpe's number one scoundrel.
And the number one wastrel kept stirring their minds.
"Pfft."
Junis couldn't hold back her laughter.
"Ah..."
Aili was remembering a fact she had forgotten.
"I recommend you kill yourself before you bring any more shame to Carpe."
Karina even looked at Callias with contemptuous eyes, as if he was pathetic.
And Callias.
"It's been a while..."
A really long while.
"This pisses me off."
He was genuinely about to get angry.
"Are you planning to resist? Scoundrel."
To Karina, who asked with a sneer.
"I'll show you what a real scoundrel is."
As if responding to his cold anger.
In Callias's hand, only a single sword named Lament was held.