The Former Holy Knight. Having Lost My Job and Childhood Friend, I Decided to Start a Dark Guild - Chapter 42

“Cecil, I am deeply disappointed in you this time. To think that you, as the captain, allowed a heretic who invaded our esteemed Gigantic Rock Castle to escape right under our noses.”

The location is the king’s audience chamber. Rather than reprimanding, Prince Raymond sends a satisfied smile from behind the king, who sits on the throne.

All I could do was silently bow my head. After all, this incident was an undeniable blunder. Not only did I let the intruder escape right before my eyes, but Lilith was injured in the process.

Moreover, the vanishing of the lower knight Bumpy compounded the problem. The sudden disappearance of a knight under disciplinary inquiry is unprecedented. Nadale insists that the intruder abducted Bumpy, meaning that a knight of the Holy Knight Order, a treasure of the royal capital, was easily taken by a heretic.

For me, being unable to learn the time and place of the meeting with Leon was too much to bear. The thought of Leon standing alone at the meeting place was enough to cause me pain. I had been looking forward to finally meeting him.

Prince Raymond said to the king seated on the throne, “Father, I bear responsibility for this incident.”

“What do you mean? You have a responsibility as well?”

Prince Raymond approached me, placing his hand on my back. “Cecil’s mistake is as if I, her fiancé, made it myself.”

Feeling his hand on my waist made my body burn with heat. Even though I should push his hand away, my body stiffened, leaving me unable to think.

Probably, Prince Raymond, like that night, had consumed some aphrodisiac and was enveloping himself in Leon’s aura. The scent of Leon emanating from the prince reacted with the powerful aphrodisiac I had been made to drink, robbing me of my will. The prince’s cunning strategy was to exploit my feelings for Leon.

Prince Raymond said with a smirk, “Father, what do you think? Perhaps it’s time for Cecil to gracefully step down as captain of the Holy Knight Order and be welcomed into our bloodline sooner than planned.”

The king, stroking his silver beard and fixing his gaze on me, opened his mouth, “Of course, it would be an honor for our family to welcome the esteemed Saintess. Yet, Raymond, objections to a Saintess’s marriage abound within the theological circles.”

“Do you believe in such foolish tales as the resurrection of the Demon Lord, Father? The Demon Lord is nothing but a fairy tale. We no longer need the power said to destroy the Demon Lord.”

“There’s also the matter of the Holy Knight Order. Raymond, the LeBlanc family, has expressed concerns to me recently. They favor a Holy Knight whom you are suspected of having expelled. Of course, I trust that you would not do such a thing. However, if the royal family were to demote Cecil from her position as captain unilaterally, it would cause a significant problem.”

Prince Raymond appeared dissatisfied.

“I have doubts about Cecil’s abilities. Lately, the Holy Knight Order’s performance has notably faltered. I have received reports from Nadale that the Order has not been capturing heretics as effectively as before.”

That was true. The Holy Knight Order hasn’t been as successful as in the past. The reason is unclear. The number of heretics captured has drastically decreased in recent months.

The performance drop coincided exactly with the day Leon was expelled and disappeared. Of course, Leon, a lower knight, had never captured a single heretic. It seems unlikely his absence would have any effect.

Prince Raymond continued, “Father, I propose promoting Deputy Captain Nadale and appointing him as the new captain. Nadale has both the ability and the track record. He is the perfect person to reform the Holy Knight Order. Cecil can retire and support the country as my partner.”

I shook off the malicious thoughts and took a step forward. Given Leon’s unknown location, stepping down as captain of the Holy Knight Order is out of the question.

“Your Majesty, in the name of the Saintess, I will make amends for this failure with results. Please allow me to fulfill my duties for a while longer.”

Numerous tasks demanded my attention, yet the paramount concern was to revitalize the very heart of our order: the Holy Knight Order. I decided to start by speaking with knights whose rate of capturing heretics had drastically decreased.

I gathered five mid-level knights in the captain’s office. These young knights had been promoted through the ranks by capturing multiple heretics in succession. Despite previously boasting high performance, they had recently failed to produce any results.

“I have not summoned you to place blame. This issue transcends individual culpability and concerns the whole order, not just you. I just want to know if there’s a reason for the downturn.”

I intended to speak as gently as possible, but the knights looked at me with tense expressions. That was to be expected. Apart from disciplinary inquiries, it was rare for knights of their class to have direct conversations with me. I wished I could break the ice with light conversation but I lacked such finesse.

If only Leon were here, he could have given me some information about them beforehand. Now, I had no choice but to ask directly.

“Let’s be clear: everyone here has seen a drop in performance. Why?”

The knights exchanged wary glances before one of them hesitantly spoke up.

“The problem may lie in our teamwork.”

“Teamwork?”

“Yes, we used to capture heretics more efficiently, or rather, there was better coordination among us. Lately, the cooperation with other knights has been poor, creating a tense atmosphere.”

Coordination with other knights, indeed. Tight teamwork is essential for lower and mid-level knights facing heretics from the dark guild.

I spread out a piece of parchment to check their patrol formations. This wasn’t ordinary parchment; it was enchanted with holy magic to automatically record who teamed up with whom, when, and what heretics they captured, allowing me to grasp the full picture quickly.

Since my Saintess powers manifested and I became the captain of the Holy Knight Order, I had delegated the management minutiae to the vice-captain. This parchment, borrowed from the vice-captain’s room during his absence, was something I was looking at for the first time.

As expected, none of them had captured any heretics lately. For example, the last time the knight speaking had caught a heretic was five months ago, after putting a member of the Gambino Family on trial for heresy. As I read the details, I noticed Leon’s name listed as an assistant knight.

Although he was only assisting and hadn’t made any captures himself, it was heartening to see that Leon, despite lacking skills, had been working hard.

Moving on to another knight’s records, I found another capture of a Gambino Family heretic. This heretic was a violent thug who had broken into a pawnshop run by ordinary people, a name I was familiar with. The team member listed was… Leon again. Like the previous case, Leon’s name was noted as an assistant knight.

Upon examining a third entry, a sense of unease washed over me. Once more, Leon’s name emerged: Assistant Knight Leon Stein.

Sweat began to seep into my grasp on the parchment. I had forgotten why I called the knights to my office, engrossed in reading records. And the more I read, the more my heart raced.

After going through a series of records, I managed to hide my turmoil as best as possible and asked, “Hey, it seems like Leon was always involved whenever you achieved something. What’s going on here?”

The knights exchanged looks again, then awkwardly looked down.

“You haven’t been claiming Leon’s accomplishments as your own all along?”

Sensing my anger, one knight hastily explained, “No! It wasn’t like that! Nadale-sama told us that taking the achievements of a skillless nobody was fine!”

“The achievements of a skillless nobody are fine to take…”

The words I had thrown at Leon seemed to rebound on me, causing a sharp pain in my heart.

Suppressing the pain, I read other records to learn more about Leon’s traces. Indeed, that was the case. Leon was always present at the capture scenes. It wasn’t a coincidence. The common denominator in each separate case was Leon.

Thus, Leon scorned as an orphan and deemed worthless, had outperformed us all.

Even as his lover scolded him, he never complained. Knowing that without manifesting a skill, he couldn’t advance, he just silently stood guard, closest to the citizens of the royal capital. What had I been seeing in him?

And the only one who knew the full extent of Leon’s achievements was Nadale.

At that moment, an unpleasant sweat ran down my back.

(Did Nadale, the vice-captain, know all of Leon’s achievements and still play a part in his expulsion?)

I asked the knights, “Incidentally, Nadale’s forces have been deployed since dawn. Is anyone privy to the nature of their mission?”