The Former Holy Knight. Having Lost My Job and Childhood Friend, I Decided to Start a Dark Guild - Chapter 86

With silver hair cascading over her shoulders and clear blue eyes, it’s hard to believe at first that this young woman is the ringleader of the ongoing frontier folk uprising.

Behind her stood two robust men with dark skin, and above the heads of all three, ancient characters floated in a mist.

Even without a clear understanding of their abilities, the aura emanating from the trio unmistakably marked them as no ordinary individuals.

From where Shea Sirene and I were seated, facing each other, we could see Holy Knights bustling about. It seemed possible for someone to spot Shea Sirene from the street if they looked closely into this guest room, but no one paid any attention.

Well, even if I were a low-ranking Holy Knight on patrol duty, I wouldn’t imagine the enemy’s leader hiding in such a cheap inn.

I turned my gaze back to Shea Sirene, wondering what her visit truly meant.

She was the first to speak, having stared intently into my eyes for a while. “It is an honor to meet you, Don Michino. I apologize for imposing on you after such a long journey.”

“It doesn’t bother me, but…” I almost blurted out that if the Holy Knights found them, it wouldn’t be surprising to see three heads lined up at the Saintess’s Wall in a few days. But I softened my response. “If you value your lives, you’d better head back beyond the wall.”

Shea Sirene smiled. “Meeting you is worth risking my life. Above all, as the leader of the Sun’s People, I must express my gratitude to you, Don Michino.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I can’t think of any reason why you’d thank me.”

“You must be familiar with the man who long served as the chief heretic inquisitor of Bernard’s domain.”

A memory of a man weeping in a dark underground passage flashed through my mind. (“I’ll do anything, please save me… I don’t want to die…”) “Ah, Torquemada Slobryn.”

She nodded. “You must know well what he did here.”

Of course, as a former Holy Knight, I’m well aware of Torquemada’s actions. He famously subjected the local frontier people, who fell outside the papal hierarchy, to heretic inquisitions and claimed an unprecedented number of lives. As a result, Torquemada, initially a regional inquisitor, was promoted to the chief inquisitor of the papacy in the royal capital.

“When news arrived that Torquemada Slobryn had passed to the netherworld, you can’t imagine how many tears of joy were shed by the people.”

Shea Sirene bowed respectfully.

“Hey, hey, no need to bow,” I said.

“I don’t know how you know this, but it troubles me to be thanked. We just took a job and did it for the money. You mentioned you have a request for us, but unfortunately, we cannot accept.”

“Why not?”

“This is another family’s turf. Taking jobs here goes against the rules.”

“Even though you have subdued the royal capital, the Dark Guilds here are trivial for someone like you.”

“Even so, I cannot accept.”

As I spoke, loud voices came from outside the window. “Under the name of Saintess Cecil-sama, punish the filthy heretics! A severe death!”

In the alley in front of the inn, heretics surrounded by Holy Knights were being led away, just like during the day. They were pelted with stones and insults, all looking down dejectedly.

Shea Sirene, staring intently outside, said, “Just for being heretics from the frontier, all of them will soon descend the River of Sorrow and head to the netherworld. As you can see, some of them are hardly adults yet.”

“That depends on the results of the heretic inquisition.”

“You know well how heretics are treated here.”

That was true. The only outcome of heretic inquisitions here was death. Slowly, I began to understand Shea Sirene’s motives.

“You’re not suggesting we rescue them, are you? That we should side with you against the Holy Knights?”

After a pause, Shea Sirene spoke slowly, choosing her words. “In a way, that’s what I mean. However, the current situation isn’t as simple as distinguishing friends from foes.”

She placed several pictures on the inn’s table. I gasped as I looked at the scenes they depicted.

The images showed units of the Royal Capital Holy Knights, my former colleagues and seniors. The men’s bodies bore marks of brutal torture, and next to them, female Holy Knights were being assaulted by frontier men, stripped of their uniforms. It was clear from the bloodstains on the ground that their purity had been violated.

Shea Sirene said, “Such barbaric acts are strictly forbidden by the creeds inherited by the People of the Sun. However, in the current situation, such old shackles as creeds no longer hold meaning, and even I, as their leader, cannot control them.”

“I understand, but how could this happen…”

It was unbelievable that the frontier folk could capture so many Holy Knights. Since my time in the royal capital, it had been a question why suppressing the uprising was proving so difficult.

As I looked at the images, I noticed something. Among the men assaulting a female Holy Knight from the Royal Capital, I recognized a face.

That man belonged to the Bernard Holy Knights. He wasn’t a stranger to me, having once stayed at the garrison in the royal capital. He should have been fighting alongside the Royal Capital Holy Knights against the frontier folk. Why was this man dishonoring a senior female Holy Knight of mine?

“What in the world is happening here?”

“It’s the same as what happened in the royal capital,” Shea Sirene said, taking my hand.

“It’s a battle revolving around the Saintess and the king.”