CH 483

This humorous situation was making it hard for Knight Wiggins to keep a straight face and suppress his laughter. It was so hard, in fact, that he was sweating prodigiously under his clothes.

What a lamentable thing it was that the masks worn by the knights of the Round Table didn't hide their mouth area! Knight Wiggins would've disconnected the mic and guffawed to his heart's content if only the mask hid his whole face.

Just the distorted shape of Knight Leveaux's mouth alone, visible below his mask, was enough to give Wiggins a month of relaxing sleep. Look how panicked and agog that mouth was!

'Wearing a mask must be such a blessing for you right now, Knight Leveaux.'

Droplets of sweat could be seen trickling down Leveaux's jaw area below the white mask covering his face from forehead to nose. Leveaux was so flustered by the news that he had forgotten his usual impeccable manners and relaxed attitude and didn't even bother to wipe the sweat away.

This situation was proving to be a tonic for Wiggins' weary soul.

If he could, Wiggins wouldn't have minded sitting back and cracking open a few beer cans, but he was an adult who knew how to control his urges. Those beers could wait until the end of this conference.

This video conference was hastily convened by Wiggins right after Elena finished making her report. Convening a conference like this always required a lot of effort, and Wiggin needed to expend a lot of his mental energy to sit through it. However, at least for today... He couldn't have felt any more refreshed even if he tried while pressing the button. And his voice sounded oddly cheery as he explained the situation.

- Are you... Are you telling us the truth?

Knight Leveaux's voice, trembling and hushed, sent a chill of pleasure down Wiggins' back. That was how much he enjoyed this moment!

“Yes, Knight Leveaux. This information was brought to my attention by Pawn Elena. If you suspect the report's veracity, surely you can contact the Chevaliers right now to confirm? So... Let me ask you, Knight Leveaux, can you get in touch with your Chevaliers or not?”

Knight Leveaux's lips clamped shut. Without a doubt, his lower lip must be getting chewed out by his teeth out of sight.

- ...No, I cannot. I've lost contact with them for over ten hours already.

Knight Wiggins shrugged. “You heard him, everyone.”

No more explanation was necessary. Elena's report and Leveaux's situation matched perfectly. So, what else was needed at this point to convince the others? If anyone still insisted on additional proof, they didn't deserve to have a seat on the Round Table.

As expected, no one demanded such a thing. And no one said a word, either. They were all rendered mute by the shocking contents of the report.

To Knight Wiggins, though... This lengthy silence sounded like an orchestra playing a grand classical piece. If music was meant to pleasure people as they listened, this silence qualified as an excellent piece of music to Wiggins' ears.

- To summarize...

Master finally broke his silence.

- After verifying Pawn Elena's report through various channels, we can now safely conclude that the Chevaliers dispatched to South Korea had all been captured by the South Korean martial artists.

Several low gasps could be heard coming from the speakers. They had all figured that out already, but listening to their Master say it out loud... It felt like they had been hit with a kill-confirmation shot.

- What about casualties? How many have died?

- Knight Wiggins, please give us an update.

Wiggins fake-coughed to clear his throat, then raised his voice toward the mic. “Miraculously, no one has died, everyone. According to Pawn Elena's report, Kang Jin-Ho has suppressed and captured the Chevaliers without entering into a physical confrontation.”

- Impossible!

Knight Leveaux shot up to his feet.

- They are the proud Chevaliers! How dare you imply that my Chevaliers have surrendered without first fighting against their enemy!

“Mm? But, I've said nothing of the sort, Knight Wiggins.”

- This and that are the same, are they not?!

A faint smirk formed on Knight Wiggins' lips. Even if his peers viewed him as a flippant man who laughed at the failures of his own allies, Wiggins couldn't stop himself from expressing his amusement at this moment. Nothing in this world would've been more entertaining to watch than Knight Leveaux's entire figure trembling away from barely-contained fury, after all!

“I'm merely relaying the contents of a Pawn's report, Knight Leveaux.”

- You...!

- That is enough, both of you.

Master stepped up just then to sort out the situation.

- I understand how you feel, Knight Leveaux. However, now isn't the time to lose your temper. Do not forget that, even as we sit here and waste time arguing with one another, the Chevaliers are going through hell on the other side of the world.

Knight Leveuax plopped down on his seat. His soulless, defeated demeanor prompted other knights to look at him with sympathy. Even Knight Wiggins felt a pang of pity for the Frenchman.

How could he not, though? Knight Leveaux loudly joked about how hard it could be to eliminate a lone East Asian martial artist and dispatched his trusted Chevaliers, but...! Never mind getting wiped out during a fierce battle, they... They shamefully ended up as hostages instead!

If they had been wiped out, at least Knight Leveaux could've said something about their noble sacrifices for the Round Table's cause. However, with everyone being captured alive with zero casualties, Knight Leveaux couldn't even do that.

'Indeed, we can't help but pity him...'

Despite his thoughts, though, Knight Wiggins couldn't stop grinning.

Master leaned back in his chair.

- Our current issue is... How will we deal with this crisis?

One of the knights raised his voice.

- Shouldn't our first priority be figuring out where everything went wrong? If we hastily try to deal with the problem without contemplating it first, there is a chance that we might repeat the same mistakes again.

- Mm... You have a point. Knight Wiggins?

“Yes, Master.”

- As someone who took on this task first... Can you tell us your thoughts on what could've possibly been our mistakes?

“Of course,” Knight Wiggins briefly nodded. Now that the Round Table's Master had paved the way for him, it was time to go for the kill. “The biggest mistake we've made was completely ignoring the warning from our field agent.”

- Mm...!

Knight Wiggins was pleased by Master's perfectly-timed sound effect and continued to speak in a sing-song voice. “Pawn Elena is a discerning, smart, and capable field agent, sirs. And her opinion was that Kang Jin-Ho was an incredibly dangerous individual, and that any sloppy attempt to assassinate him would only backfire on us. That it'd only result in a terrible situation for the Round Table. However, almost everyone present today chose to roundly ignore that warning.”

Knight Wiggins noticed that his fellow knights were sneakily avoiding looking into the cameras, their hands fidgeting or impatiently knocking on the table. What a wonderful set of responses this was.

“To make matters worse... I've offered my own warning as a knight of the Round Table, yet it also fell on deaf ears. One of the Round Table's tenets is to respect our field agents and to treat them as precious members of the Round Table. But we forgot to uphold that simple ideal, so... Failure like this was an inevitable result.”

- Indeed, Knight Wiggins.

Master weightily nodded.

- I am also guilty of this failure. I've forgotten that every agent is an integral part of the Round Table. And I've foolishly overlooked their opinions. At the very least, I should've paid closer attention to Pawn Elena's opinions and dispatched more agents to investigate this situation further. However, we decided to skip that important process under the pretext of being too busy. It's no wonder we are rewarded with a humbling result like this.

That certainly was a scathing self-rebuke. Willing to go this far had to be one of the greatest plus points of Master, or so thought Knight Wiggins.

Everyone made mistakes. People might dream of becoming a perfect existence that never made mistakes, but the cold, hard truth was this: a human who made no mistakes couldn't be a human anymore. They had to be a god. Humans made mistakes precisely because they were humans.

Master knew when to admit to his mistakes. And he also knew how to accept the blame for it and repent. Perhaps that was why he was qualified to carry the incredible burden of the Round Table's leadership position.

- We will need to reflect on it and do our best to improve ourselves from this moment on. However... It's also true that we can't keep repenting while our Chevaliers are currently locked up as Kang Jin-Ho's hostages. We must focus on finding the solution, a suitable response, for this matter.

Master continued the conference by addressing the knights in a grave-sounding voice.

- Since that man has captured the Chevaliers alive, he must want something from us. Knight Wiggins, what are his demands?

“Before I start...” Knight Wiggins hesitated slightly, wondering if what he was about to say seemed right in this situation. Even so, he realized he simply had to say it... the question of suitability be damned! “I'd like to express my sincerest condolences to Knight Leveaux, as he must be deeply pained by how his knight order was defeated so unceremoniously by his opponent.”

Griiiit!

The sound of Knight Leveaux gritting his teeth came out from the speakers. However, the smile etched on Knight Wiggins' face only deepened at that.

He stared straight at Knight Leveaux and continued to address the rest of the Round Table. “My opinion is that... It'll be more beneficial for us to listen directly to Pawn Elena, who has already spoken directly to Kang Jin-Ho several times. If her report is not relayed properly again, we might have to deal with yet another catastrophe of this nature.”

- Mm... I agree, Knight Wiggins. Please connect her to us.

“Thank you, Master.”

Once he got Master's permission, Knight Wiggins quickly connected to the channel prepared ahead of time. Soon, Elena's face appeared on the corner of the screen, and a satisfied smirk floated up on Knight Wiggins' face.

- Good day to you all, sirs. This is Pawn Elena.

Master briefly nodded and addressed Elena.

- Before we proceed, allow me to express my gratitude for your consistent hard work on this mission.

Elena smartly shook her head.

- Not at all, Master. This is a job any agent of the Round Table will gladly carry out.

- Thank you for saying that. Although I'd like to exchange more pleasantries, we're running short on time as is. I hope you understand. Well, then. Please give us the rundown on the situation.

- Yes, Master.

Elena held nothing back and reported on everything she witnessed and heard. The expressions of the knights changed several times as they listened. And then, weighty silence descended on the conference after Elena's report ended.

- ...It certainly is hard to accept, isn't it?

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Unsurprisingly, the first person to break the silence was Master.

- This means Kang Jin-Ho alone... slaughtered Nanahoshi-gumi's elites. Every single one of them, without exception. And without getting injured, to boot.

Elena briefly nodded.

- Yes, Master.

- This... How certain are you, Pawn Elena?

Elena's expression seemed to stiffen as if she was standing even taller.

- Master. All the members of the Chevaliers witnessed this event. And that is the only explanation for why they surrendered without even putting up a fight.

- I see. Let me ask you, then. Pawn Elena, what is your opinion on this development? Do you believe their actions have besmirched the honor of the Round Table?

What a delicate question that was. Knight Leveaux had been barely suppressing his urge to rip that woman's mouth wide open, but Master's probing question made him forget all about the urge for the time being and lean forward to focus on Elena's reply.

- No, Master. My honest opinion is that the Captain of the Chevaliers made a wise decision. If they hadn't surrendered and fought back, the Round Table would've had to contend with a severe loss to its combat force, and we'd have created an unfixable enmity with Kang Jin-Ho... No, the entirety of South Korea's martial society. Captain Vincent couldn't have made a better choice and gave the Round Table perhaps its best opportunity.

Master seemed interested in what Elena said just then.

- When you say the best opportunity...?

Elena nodded weightily.

- It's the best opportunity to improve our relationship with Kang Jin-Ho. Master, as I've reported earlier, Kang Jin-Ho must not be turned into our enemy. He is not someone who'd upset the peace of East Asia. No, he... He could very well devour the entirety of the region itself!

- I see... Thank you for your report, Pawn Elena.

- No, sir. It was my honor. Everything is for the sake of the Round Table.

Elena's face disappeared from the corner of the screen. The knights silently stared at the empty spot, not knowing what to say.

- So, he wants us to come up with compensation that will satisfy him...?

Master muttered to himself.

- This is not as simple as it sounds, everyone. Not only is Kang Jin-Ho demanding payment for the hostages, but he also wants compensation for targeting his life from us. From what we can glean from Pawn Elena's report, Kang Jin-Ho is an extremely arrogant man. Compensation that can satisfy an individual like him will have to be... quite considerable.

Knight Wiggins chimed in. “And we're forced into a position where we must keep offering him compensation one-sidedly until he feels satisfied, Master.”

- Indeed, that is true.

Master let out a long sigh. To think a momentary lapse in judgment would drive the Round Table to a corner like this!

If only he knew how things would end up, Master would've heeded Knight Wiggins' original warning in a heartbeat. How could the price for questioning Wiggins' loyalty just once be this dear?

Before the silence could deepen, however, Knight Leveaux suddenly spoke up.

- It's not like we're out of options, everyone!

- Knight Leveaux? What do you mean?

Knight Leveaux finally had stopped gritting his teeth by then. He grimaced and slowly spat out his words.

- We give up on rescuing the Chevaliers and reattempt Kang Jin-Ho's elimination as soon as possible. That is our other option.

His furious-sounding voice instantly silenced the conference.