A solemn atmosphere permeated the corridors of the Genmel Monastery. I had become so accustomed to walking these halls that they no longer stirred any emotion in me.
‘I knew it might happen, but I didn’t expect them to summon me so suddenly.’
The reason I was here was, of course, to speak with Tenellon, the Grand Archbishop of the Dawn Society.
‘He must have had high expectations after my bold declaration to end things with the Sword Saint.’
In the end, I failed to bring back the head of ‘Hayden Reich,’ which would certainly disappoint them.
‘Let him do what he will.’
Surely he wouldn’t be angry enough to kill me over something like this. After all, I’ve been building my position here for a long time. As long as he doesn’t issue a kill order, I’ll be fine. Trust can be rebuilt, and if necessary, Tenellon can be dealt with. His existence needs to be eliminated to handle the troublesome Dawn Society.
Although I’m not sure if I can match him yet, I feel I can at least hold my own against him.
‘It’s not far now.’
The time to deal with these troublesome matters is approaching. In the past, just thinking about this would make my hands sweat with tension. But now, I felt nothing of the sort. I was eager to deal with this quickly and move on to other matters.
‘Hmm?’
As I walked toward the audience chamber, I noticed a man emerging from the inner sanctum of the monastery. Only those of ‘Monsignor’ rank or higher could enter that area. The man had a rather imposing figure. It didn’t take long to recognize him as ‘Korund.’
“It’s been a while, Sir Korund. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Our relationship was ambiguous at best. I had only seen his face among the bishops when I had an audience with Tenellon. Nevertheless, I greeted him as if we were acquainted.
-Don’t play dumb. You noticed the eavesdropping spell I placed on Bishop Korund and used it, didn’t you?
I recalled a conversation I had with Eleanor. I still didn’t know exactly what had happened at the Arena. I only knew that Aiden’s plan had failed thanks to Eleanor’s hint.
“Ugh… Julian.”
That’s why I had to confront Korund. I needed him to explain what had happened yesterday.
“So, is everything fine in the Holy Nation?”
“Yes, fortunately.”
“You must have had a hard time. Guarding a prince with no claim to the throne isn’t a pleasant task.”
“Ha, it wasn’t so bad.”
When I laughed briefly and looked him straight in the eye, Korund flinched. It was clear that he was afraid of me, but I still didn’t know why.
“By the way, this is the first time we’ve met since I saw you in the audience chamber before I went to the Holy Nation.”
“Cough, cough!”
Korund started coughing roughly, as if something had gone down the wrong pipe.
‘What’s with him?’
I was wondering when he spoke first.
“This is not the first time… Didn’t you see me at the Arena?”
“What are you talking about?”
I feigned ignorance. I hadn’t seen Korund in person; Eleanor had only told me about him. This allowed me to act even more brazenly. Behaving this way would make it seem to him that I knew more than I was letting on.
“Did you perhaps visit the Arena?”
“Uhm?”
This conversation would not only satisfy my curiosity but also serve as a ‘warning’ to Bishop Korund.
“It’s strange. You don’t seem like the type to visit such a place… Did you have some kind of ‘appointment’?”
I could hear the sound of him swallowing nervously.
“Hmm?”
As I let out a slight sneer, Korund’s face turned pale.
“J-Julian, listen. I did meet with Aiden there, but I refused his proposal!”
“Proposal… Sir Aiden must have had some ill intentions towards me, then.”
“Y-yes!”
“So, he proposed cooperation to you, Sir Korund, as a fellow mage?”
Korund flinched, and in that moment, part of the puzzle seemed to fall into place.
“You said you refused his offer, didn’t you?”
“O-of course. Before considering right or wrong, no noble would dare turn against you in the capital!”
There were quite a few people who openly held grudges against me, despite his claims.
“It’s true, there have been recent conflicts with Sir Aiden. I believed my actions were justified, but it seems Sir Aiden doesn’t see it that way.”
“Well, mages are notoriously brazen.”
Watching Korund sweat profusely, I chuckled internally. He was one of those brazen mages too, after all.
Entering the audience chamber, I greeted Archbishop Tenellon and briefly recounted the events in the Holy Nation.
“Hayden Reich used the power of a demon?”
At first, disappointment was evident on his face due to my failure to resolve the issue, but as the story progressed, his expression brightened.
“Yes, what flowed from his body was not only aura but also ‘demonic energy.’”
“Even the mighty Hayden Reich had to bow before the power of the Demon Lord!”
Tenellon’s hearty laughter showed his evident pleasure. I had a rough idea why.
The sacred relic he possessed, the Demon God’s Cup, could harness demonic energy and control demons. It was, quite literally, a ‘relic for the Demon Lord.’
‘If Tenellon fully masters the Demon God’s Cup, he might believe he could easily kill a Sword Saint imbued with demonic energy.’
Of course, that was Tenellon’s overconfident assumption.
‘The Sword Saint would surely be aware of the Demon God’s Cup’s existence and would have prepared countermeasures.’
Even if he hadn’t, the Sword Saint, with his immense mental resistance, would be nearly impervious to the Demon God’s Cup.
“Indeed, as you say, Lord Tenellon.”
There was no need to inform him of this. He was too engrossed in his own delusions, celebrating on his own.
Since things had come to this, I might as well add fuel to the fire.
“That said, if they have built such a large demon breeding ground, it’s certain they are collaborating with Archdeacons.”
Oh! It seems he’s actually thinking for once.
As Tenellon mentioned, to create such a grand demon hall, the Archdeacons within the Holy Nation must be involved. This meant…
‘The Holy Nation is supporting the Sword Saint.’
This also meant that there was no guarantee that the demon hall we destroyed earlier was the only one.
“Ah, by the way, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Tenellon abruptly changed the subject. Curious about what it was, I shifted my gaze to him as he began to speak.
“Recently, it seems that the ‘Closed Eyes’ is moving to investigate us.”
The Closed Eyes? Why am I unaware of this?
“Is that so?”
“Yes, do you know anything about it?”
“Well, this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“That makes sense. You’ve just returned from the Holy Nation.”
While I would expect Julian to know about activities within the Closed Eye, I’m not the head of the organization. Moreover, as the name ‘Royal Exclusive Agency’ suggests, they often handle matters unofficially and covertly.
“I’d like you to take care of it.”
I almost laughed at the absurdity of the request. Why would I do that? Even if I could handle it, I shouldn’t.
“That would be difficult. I am also a member of the Closed Eyes, after all.”
It was brazen of me to say this, given my position as a bishop within the Dawn Society, but such boldness was typical of Julian. I was merely pretending to be courteous for my own benefit.
“I suppose that makes sense. If something happened to a fellow member of the Closed Eyes, you might be suspected.”
Tenellon seemed to find this reasoning acceptable.
“Then I’ll have to assign another bishop to handle it.”
“In that case, I’ll take my leave…”
I nodded briefly to Tenellon and was about to exit the audience chamber when he called out.
“What do you plan to do about the Aiden matter?”
Naturally, Archbishop Tenellon seemed to be aware of the tension between Aiden and me.
“Are you going to handle it the same way you did with Gerard?”
There was a hint of suspicion in his question. Unlike when I first joined the Dawn Society, Tenellon now viewed me with a mix of hostility and doubt. I couldn’t discern his exact intentions, but he was no longer as lenient as he had been before.
“I didn’t handle Gerard. He was ‘handled’ on his own, wasn’t he?”
At this point, it didn’t matter. The damage was done.
“That’s true.”
Tenellon nodded, seemingly both understanding and not understanding.
“Julian, as you suspected, after Gerard disappeared, the Black Knight also ceased to appear. It’s fitting to say it was self-inflicted.”
“Yes, indeed.”
“But what if the Black Knight were to reappear?”
Leaving that lingering question, Tenellon fell silent.
“That’s unlikely to happen, is it?”
Right, that won’t happen. After all, I am the Black Knight. I have no plans to use that identity for a while. I’m too busy with other matters to continue that charade. I’d rather not.
***
I knew that Aiden’s laboratory was located in the slums, but I hadn’t pinpointed the exact location. To find it, I decided to use the people in the slums. It wasn’t difficult to enlist the cooperation of the Blood Ghost Gang.
“If we help this one time, you’ll overlook the fact that criminals were active in the Arena, right?”
It seemed that Trale, the leader of the Blood Ghost Gang, was still fixated on the events at the Arena.
“What does that have to do with us?”
The problem was that Meyer, who was temporarily in charge of the Nameless Gang, didn’t seem very cooperative.
“Recently, there was an incident where a demon appeared in the slums, wasn’t there?”
“So what?”
“What I’m looking for is related to that.”
“Get lost, it has nothing to do with us.”
Short words, an insolent attitude. It was clear she had grown up in the slums. What a rude brat.
“Don’t you have to keep the peace here?”
“That’s not our job. There are plenty of other groups in the slums besides us, aren’t there?”
No, not really. There are only two other groups at most.
“Aren’t you going to help?”
“No. Besides, I don’t know what your intentions are, and I see no reason to help you.”
What an arrogant tone.
‘Should I scare her?’
That could work, but if Meyer took it the wrong way, it would cause more trouble. I didn’t want to make an enemy of a potentially powerful mage from the ‘Five Colors’ group.
After a moment of thought, I had a brilliant idea and slowly began to speak.
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Whether it’s unfortunate for you or not, it has nothing to do with us.”
“I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about the Black Knight. If you don’t care, I’ll be on my way.”
After saying this, I turned to leave, pretending to walk away.
“Hey! Wait, what do you mean by that? Who will be unfortunate?”
“The Black Knight. It was him who requested this favor.”
“Is that… really true?”
Yes, it is. Because I am the Black Knight.
‘Well, not currently active, but let’s just go with that.’
“So this isn’t for the Dawn Society?”
“Yes, precisely…”
I leaned in and whispered to Meyer.
“It’s to root them out.”
Meyer looked at me with a slightly startled expression, and I simply smiled.
I knew it was a risky statement that could be exposed at any time. But coming from ‘Julian,’ Meyer had no choice but to believe the Black Knight.
That’s what it means to be a savior of someone’s life.
Cliche Novel 