**Chapter 93**
Valentine County.
"Arpen has likely already been dealt with."
"He was a man whose arrogance pierced the heavens. A fool proud of his own house, so he must have been taken down easily."
There, the Count Valentine, viscounts, and barons had gathered.
The majority were enraged, but some also showed fear.
Why were these people gathered here, contorting their faces in various ways?
It was all because of the Inquisition Sixth Division.
Because of their captain, Kallias.
"I never imagined that ruffian would go around cutting off nobles' heads so recklessly. To think he'd be that thoughtless..."
"Shouldn't all the nobles in the kingdom rise up at this point? Even if they're one of the Four Great Noble Families, to act so brazenly..."
"Well... the Royalist faction is sheltering him. And the neutral faction has justification, so they won't rise up..."
It was true that Kallias's actions were extreme. But the royal family's cover and proper justification perfectly compensated for that extremity.
"How much corruption could there really be... With things like this, isn't only the royal family benefiting? Even if we nobles unite, it wouldn't be enough, yet..."
"Indeed. No, when working for the country, one should be flexible enough to bend the law a little, but this is just... No, why us? It's not like I'm doing this only for myself—I'm saying let's thrive together, let's survive—aren't they going too far?"
The seated nobles all nodded with one heart and one mind.
The underlying assumption was that such things could happen when serving the nation.
The law was merely the law.
There were always things more important than the law.
"Regardless, there's no helping the fact that the situation is flowing in an unfavorable direction."
"Yes, that's precisely why we've gathered like this."
As the conversation somewhat wrapped up, their gazes converged on the Count sitting quietly at the head seat.
The lord of Valentine County.
Count Hogelten de Valentine.
"Your Excellency, that man won't come charging in here, will he?"
Kallias's methods were simple.
First, he pushes in and finds physical evidence with his Judgment Sword.
Therefore, as long as he couldn't breach this side, even as an Inquisitor, he could do nothing.
"That's why I've fortified our defenses thoroughly. If he seeks his death, he'll come, but otherwise he won't easily approach. The troops stationed in the county exceed a thousand. Among them, over three hundred are knights—need I say more?"
And one more thing.
"The Golden Lion is here. Even if he's a rampaging ruffian, if he values his own life, he won't dare come."
"As expected of Count Valentine. To think you'd summoned the Young Lion of Luidren. I, Illen, am deeply grateful."
The captain of the Southern Golden Lion Knight Order.
The Golden Lion, Ruen.
With him here, even that ruffian wouldn't dare approach easily.
The Golden Lion—one of the Five Stars, said to be infinitely close to Master—would that scoundrel dare draw his sword if he feared for his life?
"The Wolf of Zerban would fear the Golden Lion too. Even if he broke through Viscount Arpen's territory, he won't easily come here. Therefore. In the meantime, we must change our stance accordingly."
"By stance, you mean..."
It was then.
A messenger came running, panting heavily.
"Y-Your Excellency!"
"What is it."
"A man calling himself Count Zerban has arrived at the county!"
"...!"
Most of the nobles, who had been leisurely sipping tea, stood up as if having a seizure.
Some spat out the tea they had been sipping or choked. Regardless, to them, Kallias was no different from the grim reaper.
"Have you ever seen such a madman! To dare come here of all places..."
"What did he say?"
"He requested to be served a meal."
"The audacity...!"
"What will you do?"
"You must not let him in. That man is..."
He possesses a Judgment Sword.
If he suddenly thrusts the sword and attempts to judge the presence of lies, there would be no stopping him.
Exercising the right to silence would itself prove one's corruption.
Just as they were hesitating.
"Why not let him in?"
"Golden Lion Commander."
A handsome man with neatly cropped blonde hair and a striking impression.
The light armor he wore bore a lion emblem.
The Captain of the Golden Lion Knights, the highest-ranking noble in the south. The eldest son of Luidren. The powerhouse occupying the last seat among the Five Stars.
He was Ruen von Luidren.
"From the looks of it, he seems intent on coming in to fight."
"..."
"So wouldn't it be fine to let him in?"
Coming in alone rather than with the Inquisitors? Despite there being a thousand troops and the Golden Lion here?
As Count Valentine's composure wavered, the Golden Lion smiled and spoke.
"I've wanted to meet him at some point anyway. This is a good opportunity."
* * *
Rumble—
The sturdy gates of the county opened.
"This way."
"Mm."
Kallias drove his horse following the soldier's guidance.
Vice-Captain Diego, who had drawn close beside him, asked cautiously.
"Are you sure this is alright? It's no different from entering a tiger's den..."
"If you've grown afraid, then get lost. Hand back your vice-captain position."
"Is it bitching even when I'm worrying about you?"
"Hmm..."
Kallias thought to himself.
What kind of nerve did this bastard have to spout insolence to his superior?
Did he truly not know that killing him under the pretext of an accident during a sparring session would be effortless?
"Wh-why! What!"
Unlike his loud tone, when Kallias remained silently still, Diego's eyes trembled slightly, as if he'd grown frightened.
I see.
He's the type who knows better than anyone that he's putting on a brave front for no reason.
The underlying hostility stemmed from his original captain, Droma.
'Did Droma treat him better than expected?'
Along with the thought that he should hear about the circumstances between him and Droma sometime, Kallias looked ahead and calmly gave the answer Diego was curious about.
"It doesn't matter. They can't inflict any harm on me."
"How so?"
"The reason I'm not attacking the county is partly because of the large stationed garrison, but according to the intelligence from our scouts, the Golden Lion Knight Order is stationed here."
"Golden Lion!"
At the mention of the Golden Lion Knight Order, Vice-Captain Diego and the Sixth Division members were startled.
Where was the strongest knight order within the kingdom?
If one were to ask that question, the Golden Lion Knight Order would invariably be mentioned.
And the captain of that order, the Golden Lion Ruen von Luidren, was the eldest son of the Luidren family, one of the Four Great Noble Families of the south.
The eldest son of the north and the eldest son of the south.
If time passed, it would also be a meeting between men who would become the lords of the north and the south.
"If the Golden Lion has sided with Valentine, shouldn't we be running away instead?"
"How did you hear what I just said? Your comprehension is worse than Brance's."
"No, comparing me to that servant kid..."
Diego glared at Brance with displeasure. Brance also glared back as if to say "what are you gonna do about it."
It seemed the two didn't get along.
"If the Golden Lion is here, we can't attack Valentine, but they can't easily attack us either."
Generally, the Golden Lion's disposition was known to be righteous and manly.
Though he didn't know why the Golden Lion was here, since they had no justification to lure him into attacking Kallias, there was nothing to fear.
Rather.
'If it's the Golden Lion who occupies the last seat among the Five Stars, he's a strong person I'd want to meet at least once, so it's not a bad thing.'
It was a welcome occasion.
Since he was mostly stationed at the southern front, he was someone difficult to meet easily, but for him to come here in person—if they could exchange insights on the sword, where would there be a better opportunity?
Besides, with the current situation of being blocked by a wall, perhaps he might offer help.
'Furthermore, if it's Count Valentine, he might be plotting something with that guy around this time. The probability is fifty-fifty though.'
Since Count Valentine was a character in a typical villain position, he had also added villainous deeds accordingly.
The problem was that it wasn't clearly known what those deeds were. Multiple routes had been created, which was why.
Even to catch onto that, it would be better to go inside.
The moment he grasped the thread of their misdeeds, the Golden Lion would become his ally.
"Let's go."
After riding for a while, a grand mansion revealed itself.
An appearance almost no different from a castle.
The count's knights stationed ahead split left and right to clear the path.
Knights of the count, viscounts, and barons gathered together to welcome the Sixth Division—it was quite a spectacle.
'I'm not sure if this is a welcome or a warning.'
It was no different from entering a tiger's maw, sending chills down his spine.
At the end stood an elderly man with a sturdy physique, sycophants lined up beside him, and at the very edge, a man with hair like the sun.
That must be the Golden Lion.
"I welcome the visit of the young wolf."
Count Valentine.
Beside him, several viscounts and a baron could also be seen.
Whatever the count might have said, all of Kallias's nerves were focused solely on the Golden Lion.
The youngest knight captain and a knight who might ascend to the youngest Master's rank, occupying the last seat of the Five Stars.
One of the five strongest among Karpe's knights, excluding the five Masters.
The Golden Lion, Ruen.
Ruen von Luidren.
Kallias immediately approached the Golden Lion and offered his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Golden Lion."
"It's a pleasure, Count Zerban."
"What in the..."
"How impudent."
Ignoring Count Valentine and directly offering a handshake to the Golden Lion, murmurs of cursing could be heard.
Count Valentine, deeply displeased, huffed.
"Did you come as the Inquisition's Sixth Division, or as a Count?"
"For now, I've come in the capacity of a Count."
"I see. Let's go inside first. You've come a long way, so I should at least serve you some tea."
A short while later.
Sitting at the wide round table of the mansion, the faces of all the seated nobles came into view.
There were no faces worth remembering.
When they took their seats, the vice-captain stood as if guarding them, but Kallias was about to tell him to leave before just letting it be.
Soon, a maid filled the teacup.
Steam rose from the teacup, but Kallias didn't touch it.
"Why, does the tea not suit your taste?"
"I have no appetite. There's no alcohol."
"Looking for alcohol the moment you arrive—don't you think you're being too rude to the Count?"
"A mere viscount butting in is far more rude. Shut your mouth."
"Wh-what...!"
"..."
The nameless viscount's face turned red as he trembled, and the other nobles didn't dare speak rashly either.
As Kallias said, his status was that of a Count, and not an ordinary one but a special one at that.
The meaning of a Count held by the Four Great Noble Families was on a completely different track from simple rank, which made it even more so.
Even a Marquis wouldn't dare act carelessly—the reason being that the Four Great Noble Families were no different from small kingdoms that protected and commanded a region.
"The rumors weren't exaggerated."
"Has the ruffian taken on a different meaning...?"
Even so, it was an implicit rule among nobles to observe mutual etiquette.
Despite that, Kallias crushed them with his rank, and the nobles glared at him with sour expressions.
Anyway, Kallias, who had been staring at the bland tea, pretended to put his hand inside his cloak and took out a box from his spatial inventory.
Thud.
When he placed the taken-out box on the round table, the nobles expressed their questions with their eyes.
"What is this."
"A gift."
At the word gift, a few nobles frowned.
The stench of blood was overwhelming.
Even without opening it, they could guess what it was.
Probably Arpen's head.
"I executed him as a parasite eating away at Karpe. He dared commission my assassination. Upon investigation, it wasn't just one or two things he had done, so I executed him on the spot."
Gulp.
Arpen was a noble with a fairly distinguished family history.
His viscounty had accumulated considerable wealth and supposedly had formidable military strength, yet Kallias spoke of it as calmly as if he'd caught a petty thief on the road.
"..."
"..."
The room began to fall silent as if overwhelmed by his presence.
Looking into those emotionless ashen eyes, even without guilt, one's legs instinctively weakened.
"Even so, to arbitrarily behead a noble during this time when national law is strict is unacceptable. If His Majesty the King learns of this, he would be quite saddened."
While no one else dared open their mouths, Count Valentine answered calmly.
He briefly opened the box containing Arpen, then quickly closed it with a look of dismay.
"I did it for His Majesty the King. Moreover, there was a personal grudge as well. He dared send assassins after me, so I couldn't just sit still. You can consider it a territorial war."
"If the circumstances and evidence are clear, then that's not really a problem."
"..."
At the Golden Lion's attitude of nodding with folded arms, the nobles who were about to lose their temper momentarily hesitated.
"Count Zerban. I understand that such a thing occurred. However, what does that have to do with your visit to my territory now?"
"What do you think it would be."
Even with the evasive, ambiguous answer, Count Valentine's expression remained utterly calm.
"Is that so... However, if I were Count Zerban, I wouldn't have visited this place."
"Why is that."
"Arpen wouldn't have commissioned the assassination alone. He neither had the caliber for it, nor do I think he had a grudge deep enough against you to do so."
Kallias let out a scoff.
"So what you're saying, Count, is that multiple people commissioned it together to hide themselves."
"Correct. And if that were the case, the remaining ones would certainly be preparing to attack the Count in order to survive somehow."
"For example?"
"They'll erase everything around you."
Therefore.
"The Count had better hurry back quickly. Though, at this point, it might already be too late."
Valentine smiled eerily.
When Kallias looked around, the other nobles also wore vile smiles as if finding this amusing.
Seeing that sight, Kallias couldn't help but laugh either.
"Why are you laughing."
"I just thought you know quite a lot in detail."
"It's merely speculation."
"But it's an unnecessary worry. I'm not an idiot who wouldn't have prepared at least that much, so I've made a request in advance."
The ruffian made a request?
"My superior often frequents my residence, so the Count's worry is probably unfounded."
"Superior? If it's your superior..."
Count Valentine, who had been tilting his head for a moment, began to stiffen in an instant.
Kallias von Zerban.
The Captain of Karpe's Inquisition.
If he had a superior, there was only one.
"...Don't tell me?"
Over there.
The Inquisition Commander, Xenos, was present.
"So there's no need for you to worry."