CH 57

“What if I say yes?”

“……hmm”

The nervous-looking man heard Gray’s response and folded his arms, pondering something. After a few moments, the man looks up and gives Gray a sidelong glance, as if he is trying to figure out what he is looking at. Gray stares at the man, not hiding his discomfort.

A nervous-looking man opens his mouth in the midst of the volatile atmosphere.

“Well, I don’t care about them. They were going to be executed sooner or later anyway. But what do you want, money or…?”

Saying that, he turns his attention to one of the carriages.

“You come out of nowhere, blabbing on and on… you’re a holy knight, aren’t you? What the hell do you want?”

Without lowering his guard against the holy knight in front of him, he turned his gaze to the side.

(I can’t see him, but there’s another one. Is it magic or a magic tool… Either way, it’s a nuisance.)

“Hmm”

The man who was called a holy knight shows an intrigued expression when Gray notices the existence of his comrades.

(If the Holy Knights’ only goal is Zanis, we might be able to manage… but if they want the children as well, we can’t avoid a battle.)

Gray readies to release his magic as he regains his grip on his sword. He cannot use too much flashy attack magic in order not to involve the carriage with the children in it.

“Hmm… Oh, I’m sorry. Come to think of it, I haven’t given my name yet. My name is Scrad. I am a holy knight in the Holy Land of Storia.”

A holy knight who calls himself Scrad begins to introduce himself as if he had just remembered.

Gray cast a suspicious look at Scrad, who suddenly began to introduce himself.

“Show yourself Meyer. And don’t forget to introduce yourself.”

“…Huh?! Why, Mr. Scrad!”

A man named Meyer, who was called by Scrad, appeared, wearing white armor and a gray cloak, with rather long red hair tied behind his back.

Meyer was unconvinced, to which Scrad responded with a small sigh.

“Hurry up. I’ve been asked by the Holy Knight Commander to take care of you. If you are not very attentive, ……”

“Uh… I understand….I’m Meyer. You can tell I’m a holy knight just by looking at me.”

Reluctantly, Meyer turned to Gray and introduced himself. The young holy knight seemed to be a bit too much for Scrad to handle.

Scrud stares at Gray. It’s like saying that since I introduced myself, you should do it too.

Gray sighed and then opened his mouth.

“Gray. As you can see, I’m an adventurer.”

“… No, that’s impossible.”

“Hmmm. Why an adventurer… but that’s okay.”

“No, it’s not good?!”

Scrad ignores Meyer’s every attempt at a response, and continues.

“So could you please answer my previous question? It’s my job, after all.”

“No. How about that?”

“Hm”

Scrad squints at Gray’s reply. The expression on his face was a strange one, looking both grim and good-humored.

“I understand. I’ll leave you to it. …Oh, yes, yes. May I have the dead merchant’s body there?”

“…do what you want”

Gray agrees, even though he thinks he shouldn’t back down.

“I appreciate it.”

Saying that, Scrad approached  Zanis’ corpse. Meyer raises his voice at Scrad.

“Hey…wait a minute, Mr. Scrad! Are you seriously going to leave this bandit alone?!”

Gray, who called himself an adventurer but was called a bandit, clicked his tongue in a grumpy manner.

“Obey me. Our goal is to capture Zanis, or if that is too difficult, to purge him on the spot. If that is the case, our objective has already been achieved. Then we should return and report back as soon as possible.”

Scrad told Meyer indifferently.

Meyer, on the other hand, remains unconvinced and carries Zanis’s corpse lightly, roughly stuffing it into a large sack. He glances at Gray once, then walks off in the direction from which Zanis’ carriage came from.

After confirming this, Scrad also glanced at Gray and walked away.

Gray, who was left behind, was a little relieved that there was no battle, approaches the carriage where he expects the children to be.

(I didn’t know if I could finish it without causing damage to those two people.)

―――――

While walking to the horse that is waiting for him on the way, Meyer talks to Scrad, who is walking in front of him.

“I’d like to know why.”

“… what is it?”

Scrad answers without looking back.

“It’s obvious, it’s the reason you let him go.”

From Meyer’s point of view, it was nothing less than the Holy Knight overlooking a robbery in this country.

“Did you miss it? So you think you can beat that guy?”

“Of course, right? There’s no way a thief with a little bit of skill can win against two holy knights.”

At that time, Meyer was planning to surprise Gray with his magic tool, the “cloak of concealment”.

Moreover, Scrad is one of the most powerful of the Holy Knights. There was no way he could lose by any chance, he thought.

However, from Scrad’s point of view, if Meyer moved there, this young Holy Knight would no longer exist in this world.

I don’t know how that man did it, but he had an almost perfect grasp of Meyer’s movements.

And Meyer himself is completely unaware of this.

(If we fight there, even if we win the battle, the damage to us will be too great. There is no guarantee that I myself will return alive either.)

Scrad sighs for what seems like the millionth time today, then looks back.

“Meyer. Be ready when we return. I’ll train you from scratch.”

“Ha… Huh?! What, why!”

Scrad ignores Meyer’s voice of disapproval and starts walking again.

(…I should report that the children had already been taken away. Fortunately, I am the only one who knows the details of this mission.)

Scrad was a serious man, but not so blind as to devote his life to the work of the Holy Knights. Above all, he has a loving family, a wife and a daughter. The reason why he participated in the coup was because almost all the other holy knights joined in.

In that case, it was determined that it would be riskier to decide not to participate in the coup.

Scrad was also considering fleeing the country with his family in case of emergency.