Special Force (4)

Let’s see. One, two, three, four, five, six…

‘Seventeen.’

The Noarkan elite force was made up of seventeen individuals.

Although I only recognized three of them, that was enough for me to gauge the strength of the rest.

I didn’t even need all three of them to begin with.

The vice-commander of Orcules. Demon Eye, Roland Banozant.

Knowing that this guy is the commander is enough to predict the level of the other members.

Each and every one of them was elite enough to take on a hundred men alone. Noark’s finest.

Needless to say, if we clashed head-on here, we wouldn’t stand a chance. Unless I had brought all my clan members with me, that is.

Of the current members, Raven is the only one I can truly rely on.

Moreover, five of the twenty were specialists in searching rather than combat. Even so, I had no intention of running away with my tail between my legs.

It’s been quite some time since we entered the Marquis’s estate.

‘They should be showing up soon…’

That was the thought running through my head as I watched the corpse collector being put in handcuffs.

“Bjorn Jandel… you damn bastard…!”

He glared at me, his eyes filled with hatred.

“Someday, I’ll gouge out your eyeballs myself and chew them up! I’ll grind all your insides and feed them to goblins! Then, in that state, I’ll apply preservatives to your corpse so that you won’t even be able to rot, and-

“I understand. You probably have more matters to attend to over there,” It was possible he was trying to prove his innocence by cursing at me, so I didn’t react much to his sudden barrage of curses.

“You heard that, Banozant. As you can see, the Corpse Collector isn’t working for me. He’s innocent. Let him go.”

Needless to say, the vice-captain didn’t release him just because of what I said.

Though he didn’t completely fall for my tricks, he still had to take responsibility as the leader.

It seemed he wanted to eliminate any variables, just in case.

So…

“Y-y-you… you…!!!”

The Corpse Collector stammered, seemingly at a loss for words. In the end, all he could do was tremble in his cuffs.

Tap tap tap—!

Suddenly, the sound of armored knights running echoed from outside the door.

“This is… getting troublesome, Vice-Captain.” Glasses muttered. He was probably the brains of the group.

The vice-captain’s gaze swept over me. “So that was to buy time…”

“…So it was to buy time.”

Even as he said this, there was no emotion in his eyes. He was simply watching me, and because of that, I failed to recognise the trace of emotion hidden in his otherwise expressionless eyes.

Soon enough, though, I realized what it was.

‘Curiosity.’

It felt as though he was still in the information-gathering phase, trying to understand what kind of person I was. And the reaction that followed told me he’d gathered some data on me.

“You are quite a troublesome opponent.”

“…”

“Release Abet Necrapeto.”

“The variable has disappeared.”

It was an order without explanation, but Glasses executed it without question.

As if he had absolute trust in the Vice-Commander’s eyes.

“See? I told you it wasn’t me!” The Corpse Collector let out a furious snort as he was freed from his allies’ grip.

Even so, his mood appeared to improve once he was released.

“Hah… honestly! To think we’d be toyed with by the tongue of some savage like that… I simply can’t understand it!”

He reverted to his strange way of speaking, and his renewed confidence made me want to smash my fist down on his head.

Bang—!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t my fist that came down. Instead, the door burst open with a thunderous bang and a white-haired veteran knight stormed in with his subordinates.

“This is as far as you go, Baron Jandel! The Supreme Commander has ordered that you be stripped of your rank and punished for overstepping your authority—”

 

Much like a policeman arriving with a warrant, the old knight began shouting as soon as he entered the room.

But then he froze upon seeing the situation inside the room.

“…Huh?Why are they here..”

Judging by his stunned expression, I realized I’d likely looked the same when I first barged in.

Noark’s special forces, which could not be found anywhere, had been discovered at the Marquis’s estate. And they were facing against me, Bjorn Jandel, the one accused of exceeding his authority.

Since I had achieved results, I probably wouldn’t be punished.

It may have been nothing more than blind luck, but results were all that mattered in the end. There was no need for me to concern myself with what came after.

The only remaining issue was to wipe these guys out here together with the knights—

“Long time no see, Morgan Caritumore.”

“…You are… Demon-Eye?”

It turned out the vice-captain was acquainted with that knight, the room stirred with murmurs at the mention of his name.

“Caritumore…?”

“The 2nd Royal Knights Commander…?”

“Then he is the famous ‘King’s Knight’…?”

Since the Marquis had sent him to arrest me, I knew he wouldn’t be insignificant, but someone even more important than I’d expected had arrived.

“Morgan Caritumore”

Better known by his epithet, “the King’s Knight,” he was the former bodyguard and right-hand man of the King of the New World. After the King fell ill and became bedridden, he retired for political reasons, but recently took office as the commander of the vacant 2nd Royal Knights…

“Pssit… you don’t see him out and about very often.”

Given his presence, it was only natural that everyone was shocked.

The Vice-Commander of Orcules is certainly a big shot, the reputation of that old monster over there didn’t lose out at all. Before he retired, nine out of ten people in the city would have called him the strongest without hesitation.

“Evil Eye, Banojant. Your presence here means… Baron Jandel has truly succeeded in his mission.”

Huh…

“…It seems so.”

“I heard you stormed the marquis’s estate without a plan, but it seems that wasn’t the case after all. I thought it strange that someone of your caliber would act so rashly.”

“……”

“How on earth did you do it? Even the Royal Intelligence Bureau failed to grasp this information.”

“The secret is… rational deduction and suspicion.”

“Hoho, so you can’t reveal your informants?”

Uh…

“……”

“How on earth did you do it? Even the Royal Intelligence Bureau couldn’t uncover that information.”

“The secret is… logical deduction and suspicion.”

“Hoho, so you can’t reveal your informant?”

Huh…

“……”

It felt as if a senior member at my company were looking at me with pride, and I ended up just closing my mouth shut from the pressure of it.

 

As always, that works about half the time.

“Anyway, the situation is urgent. We can talk later. There’s no harm in discussing it after we’ve dealt with all these lawless insurgents..”

“I’ll help as well.”

With that, my conversation with the Knight of the King came to a close.

Okay, that went on a bit too long… I’m just glad he isn’t a paladin.

Knight Gramps drew his sword, and I assumed my battle stance in response. We had the advantage in numbers, and the terrain favored us as well, since the marquis’s office had no windows.

‘Probably to prevent external intrusion.’

Moreover, the Marquis’s mansion is famous for its ‘durability.’

I’d heard it was built in exactly the same way as the king’s residence.The outer walls were built from extraordinary materials, and layered with countless magic. Rumor had it they could hold for a full minute even at the end of the world.

“Surrender your weapons obediently and beg for mercy.”

The only escape route, the entrance, was blocked by the King’s Knight.

“That is the only choice you have today.”

Even in the face of Knight Gramps’s overwhelming presence, Vice-captain Banozant showed no emotion. Instead, he spoke only a single line.

He simply spoke quietly.

“Very well. We surrender.”

…What?

“…What did you just say?”

So it wasn’t just me. Knight Gramps sounded just as caught off guard as I was.

“I said we will surrender.”

The vice-captain repeated himself in the same flat tone.

…It was a completely unexpected development.
***

The Orcules special unit had clearly infiltrated this place with some purpose.

Yet they were surrendering so easily.

Not fighting to the bitter end?

No matter how you looked at it, the situation was suspicious and unsettling.

Knight Gramps was no different, so he took matters into his own hands and arrested them himself.

And yet…

“……”

“……”

Right up until the end, they offered no resistance, simply allowing themselves to be captured. And just like that, it was all over.

“…You’ve achieved great merit. Congratulations, Baron.”

“Please tell the Marquis that we also worked hard…”

The men assigned by the Marquis were happy about the current situation, they were ultimately glad.

In an effort to chase away the uneasiness behind their joy, they leaned into optimism.

Although the men assigned by the Marquis were happy with the current situation, they also had doubts.

In an effort to chase away the uneasiness behind their joy, they leaned into optimism.

“At first, it was strange why they were acting like that. But actually, thinking about it, it’s a natural response.”

“That’s right. With the King’s Knight here, what could they possibly do?”

‘They probably judged that surrender was their only option.’

It’s true that the situation was unfavorable for those bastards.

But I just don’t think they would do that.

And this time, it wasn’t just a gut feeling. I had a reason.

‘It makes no sense that… no one resisted.’

After the Deputy Commander declared surrender, not a single soul voiced any objection.

Not the Corpse Collector, nor the Screaming Witch.

Including glasses who seemed like a loyal right-hand man, and the other members.

‘Vice-Commander! Surrender? What are you saying! Let’s fight to the end!’

‘If we get captured like this, all that awaits is torture and death!’

‘I’d rather die fighting!’

One or two would likely show such reactions, but the complete absence of any such response was just too strange.

Unless they had planned for this situation and discussed it beforehand.

‘…They definitely have something up their sleeve.’

The problem was that I had absolutely no idea what it was, and there was nothing I could do about it right now.

“…Caritumore, what will you do with them?”

“It has nothing to do with your mission, but since you contributed greatly to capturing them, I’ll answer. From now on, they will be transferred to the royal family. And they will be imprisoned and forced to spill everything they know by intelligence agents.”

Yeah, that’s how it’s going to be…

“…Can’t we just kill them all right here?”

I explained how dangerous they were and even raised the possibility that they’d let themselves be captured on purpose, but Knight Gramps didn’t listen.

No, to be precise, he listened properly and then refused.

“I know there’s truth to your words. But we are currently at war, and to win the war, we need the information they possess.”

“So we can’t justify it.”

“That’s right. If we kill those who have already surrendered and been bound, who will take responsibility?”

“Please understand that I cannot bear such responsibility based on intuition alone.”

Knight Gramps firmly rejected my request.

 

However, perhaps feeling uneasy, he personally checked the bindings of the prisoners who had been captured, even doing the dirty work himself.

Then, after some time—

“We will now transport them to the royal capital. As they are extremely important individuals, anyone who shows negligence until they arrive and the mission is complete will be severely punished.”

With that, Knight Gramps led them all out to the garden, and the Noark bastards were transferred to a carriage designed for transporting criminals.

And then… what was this?

“Bjorn Jandel.”

The vice-captain, who was being dragged towards the carriage by the knights, spoke to me.

“Let’s meet again next time.”

As he said it, a meaningful smile crept onto his lips.

It was not the face of someone being dragged off to die, and that gave me certainty.

I’d regret letting them go like this.

“…You messing with me?”

The vice-captain replied with his trademark, irritating smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“What if I am? Are you going to harm me? Someone like you, who has so much to lose?”

“…”

“Contrary to appearances, you are a very rational person. And dealing with such people is not very difficult—”

I cut him off and gave a short reply.

“Yeah.”

“…?”

He looked puzzled by how short my answer was, though he probably had a rough idea why.

“Are you saying you intend to harm me?” the vice-captain asked, his eyes once again filled with that same curiosity.

“Yeah”

Crunch!

It was obvious that things were about to get messy from here on out.

Crunch!

Even so, it was better than living with regret. If I let him walk away now, I had a feeling I’d never get another chance to finish this.

Right. So—

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

Demon Eye, was it?

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

When it came to me, his ability to read people couldn’t have been more wrong.

 

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