The one who claid to be Cheris twisted his body.
His hands were bound behind his back, making free movent impossible. Still, I didn’t help him as he struggled to show the soles of his feet.
The man collapsed onto the floor, groaning as he kicked off his shoes.
I let out a quiet snort when I saw his bare feet.
Trying hard, aren’t you.
“You were injured in the war, so you probably don’t see much,” he said.
Both soles of his feet were covered in burn scars.
“There are a few traces left, but....”
Around the ball of the foot, that is.
With a faint smile, I looked down at the soles mottled with uneven burn marks. He claid they were war injuries, but I knew that was a lie.
I hadn’t sat in the position of Knight-Commander for just a day or two.
How many people had I seen who tried to burn away the brands carved into their soles like that. But those brands don’t disappear just because you scorch the flesh with fire. Within the reddened at, I could still read the shape of the mark.
You really scrubbed it hard.
Hard enough that unless soone had seen hundreds of criminals, they wouldn’t be able to read it.
“Why did you run?”
I tore my gaze away from his feet and asked.
“Was your execution date approaching?”
“No.”
The man flattened his upper body against the floor again.
“That society has no answer.”
I looked down at him with a subtle smile.
He watched my reaction.
I tilted my head slightly, signaling for him to continue.
“Overall, the problems are severe. They’re shaken too easily by changes in nature, and they still operate a class system like they did back in the Empire. Naturally, their level of technology can’t keep up with Earth’s.... Supplies across the board are in terrible condition compared to Earth. But the old ones sit on every position, and nothing progresses. Commander, what could soone like have known or chosen during the war? Back when I was on Earth, I didn’t even have freedom of movent. I was swept up in the flas of war, and when I opened my eyes, I was outside the Core.”
“So you want to be taken back in?”
“I’ll tell you everything I know.”
He lay flat, begging.
“Anything.”
I laughed shortly.
Then I moved.
“Hii—!”
“Taleb!”
“Ahh!”
Our kin recoiled in horror, and Richard shouted harshly. One of the seniors who had been pointing at jerked in panic and swung his gun toward .
Looking closer, Trevain was aiming at too.
Ignoring the chain of reactions, I pressed the tip of my sword into the man’s neck.
“Na.”
The sword tip touched his Adam’s apple.
“Your real na.”
The man’s body trembled violently.
He shook, glancing at in terror.
Then he stamred his na out.
“S-Shaunton.... Shaunton Wheelobbler.”
“Ah. The Wheelobbler family.”
That, too, was a na from mory.
“I used to see them occasionally when going south.”
“Y-Yes.... Yes! My father often spoke of the Commander’s praise to when I was young....”
“Third son, then?”
The condemned man flinched.
I lifted his chin with the flat of the blade so he couldn’t retreat backward. The trembling of his body traveled up through the sword.
His light-green eyes flickered desperately, trying to read what was inside .
“Y-Yes.... Yes, that’s right. You rember. It’s an honor....”
“Shaunton. Lying cos as naturally to you as breathing.”
I laughed briefly again.
“The third son of the Wheelobbler family is dead. His na was Hinton Wheelobbler. Your younger brother.”
Now Shaunton began to break out in a cold sweat.
I smiled lightly, then slid the sword back into its sheath.
When I lifted my head, I saw the seniors staring at . The emotion in most of their eyes was shock. The only one who didn’t seem shocked was Richard Green. Even Jonathan was looking at with faint surprise.
Two gun barrels were still trained on , but if they fired, I could dodge.
I t Richard’s eyes.
“Squad Leader.”
I spoke politely.
“This individual is a criminal and not worth taking as a prisoner.”
Shaunton shrieked in panic.
“Commander!”
Neither Richard nor I looked at him.
With his arms crossed, Richard stared straight at and asked,
“There’s no credibility at all to the information he’s giving?”
“That’s why the Creatures left him alone. If there had been any risk of information leaking, a swarm of Creatures would’ve killed him.”
“No!”
Shaunton scread in protest.
“I can tell you a lot, Commander! Really! Where do you think I’ve lived for decades!”
“A discarded one?”
“One who should have been discarded, but for various reasons, the disposal was delayed.”
Back on Earth, they’d kept him alive just in case he could be used as a biological shield.
Shaunton was a criminal Rei had once captured. A case of committing cris after receiving blessing. His cris were vile, but he wasn’t particularly useful, so unlike Rose, he’d been sentenced to death. And unlike Rose, there was no room for leniency. Rose had only gouged out the eyes of criminals; Shaunton had preyed on the powerless.
In other words, trash.
“Are his cris severe?”
“Commander!”
“Human trafficking and murder.”
I had seen the brand of a murderer and the brand of a trafficker carved into each sole of his feet.
Shaunton crawled and edged closer to my feet again, but I paid him no mind.
I smiled faintly and waited for Richard’s judgnt.
Shaunton scread.
“Commander! Please show rcy! I’ve reflected and repented all this ti! Just give one chance, and I’ll live properly! I’ll honestly spit out everything I know, even if it’s not much! I’ve been outside ever since the war ended. Surely I must’ve heard sothing! I must have sothing to give you!”
“Shut up!”
Richard shouted.
But Shaunton never took his eyes off .
Oh, Shaunton. So humans don’t scare you, huh.
I glanced down at the man rubbing his face against my feet, then lifted my head.
“Squad Leader.”
“I beg you, Commander! Weren’t you called the most holy knight? Please show rcy.... You were the Commander of the White Knights. You’re not like that ruthless Commander of the Black Knights!”
“Should I cut out his tongue?”
I asked flatly.
If left alone, he would keep talking.
Richard’s eyes widened slightly.
“What?”
A question tinged with faint surprise.
I blinked.
Seeing his subtly surprised expression, I added an explanation.
“It seed like you wanted him silenced. He looked like he’d keep talking.”
“...No need.”
The surprise on the squad leader’s face lted away quickly.
He lowered his gaze and looked down at the man crying at my feet.
“If the information he gives has no credibility, and even the enemy discarded him, then there’s no reason for us to take him in either.”
“Yes.”
I thought that was a reasonable conclusion as well.
“Handle it however you want.”
“Richard!”
“Thank you.”
Deciding quickly makes things easier.
After taking my eyes off Richard, I bowed my head. I ignored Trevain’s shout. Slowly bending at the waist, I looked down properly at Shaunton. He stared up at with a face drenched in tears.
I vaguely rembered it. After we crossed over to Earth, we’d debated what to do with this one.
Unanimously, we’d decided to keep him around in case humans ever demanded experints that crossed the line.
That was how vile his cris were. If the world hadn’t been overturned, his head would have rolled under the blade of the youngest knight, not mine.
“Commander....”
I didn’t cut him off.
“Kyle!”
Then the man who had once used his rank to trample commoners spoke to .
“I’ll tell you about Kyle.”
“Go ahead.”
I replied leisurely.
“Tell .”
At least I should hear his last words.
There was a high chance Shaunton would spew information ant to cloud judgnt. Even if he believed it was true, it was far more likely to be false. Still, I didn’t stop him from speaking.
Hearing my answer, Shaunton brightened.
“The Commander of the Black Knights!”
Spitting as he spoke, he continued with fervor.
“The Empire’s sharpest claw desires the end.”
Ah. That title brings back mories.
Kyle’s epithet.
“If he can’t achieve victory, he’ll settle for mutual destruction. They’re all burning with vengeance. There will be no surrender! Never! No negotiations either!”
“Of course. He’s been bloodthirsty to kill .”
“It’s not just you.”
Shaunton lowered his voice.
“Everything inside the barrier.”
This ti, he wasn’t lying.
“Whether human or anything else. If they can’t win, they’ll annihilate everything.”
Crazy bastard.
For a mont, my vision went white.
Razor-sharp fury surged up inside , and for an instant, reason slipped away. If I’d had even a little less life experience, I wouldn’t have been able to rein it back in.
But I quickly grasped the thread of reason again. The rage spreading inside hadn’t vanished, but at least I hadn’t lost myself enough to vent it.
I didn’t forget that the information Shaunton had might not be reliable—in fact, it was more likely not to be.
Ah, of course, it could be true.
Judgnt would co later.
I quietly looked down at the criminal.
A noble who had sold the vagrants and poor commoners of his domain behind their backs.
asuring his sins, I broke the silence.
“Thank you for telling .”
Taking a step back, I whispered gently.
“We’ll end this now.”
“No!”
Shaunton scread.
“Spare ! Just let live! I’m your kin! I’m not human!”
His death cry echoed thunderously through the space.
“Even if you pity no one else, you should pity !”
The sword drew blood at Shaunton’s neck.
A single drop of blood beaded at the tip of the blade. It didn’t drip. I made sure of that.
If Shaunton moved, or if I twisted the blade, that bead would run down his neck.
I smiled at the frozen man.
“?”
I couldn’t hold back a scoff.
“Why ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ would I?”
“Because I—!”
Shaunton cried through his tears.
“I’m the sa as you—!”
The head rolled.
Several Badgers let out shrill screams.
Trevain cursed roughly. Jonathan blinked, staring fixedly at the severed head. An unnad Badger lowered his gun and fired a bullet into the head that had been aid at monts ago.
Once again, only Richard Green wasn’t surprised.
I flicked the blood off my sword and sheathed it.
The headless body collapsed forward with a dull thud.
Ah. I should’ve taken him outside first.
Watching the blood pool, regret ca belatedly. It was a bad habit. Back when I was a Knight-Commander, I’d cut down without hesitation anyone who charged at trying to assassinate royalty. Even if that head rolled across a carpet the royals cherished. Even if the blood splattered onto the Emperor’s shoes or the legs of his golden chair.
That habit had resurfaced without thinking.
I need to get a grip.
I’m the youngest now, so I’m the one who has to clean everything up.
“I’m sorry.”
After watching to see how much blood would spill, I gave up and lifted my head.
Eyes poured down on .
Seeing the seniors frozen in place, I smiled awkwardly.
“I’ll clean it up quickly. If we ventilate a bit, the sll of blood will dissipate.”
Burning the body would make disposal easier, but it would stink badly.
“May I bury the body in the backyard?”
No answer ca.
They stood there, frozen, staring at —until Richard Green ordered everyone out of the room.
Reviews
All reviews (0)