“May I come in now?”
Caron poked his rough-looking face through the slightly opened door.
Dwener shot him a look that clearly said, “Do you really think so?”, but Caron casually ignored it and walked inside.
“What were you thinking about?”
“I was thinking about a strange bastard. A truly vicious one who makes people’s lives miserable!”
“I see. You were thinking about those Dark Beast Squad bastards.”
…No, I meant you.
But he couldn’t say that out loud. They were somewhat close now, but the other person was still Caron.
There was no telling how the price of such rudeness would come back to him.
In the end, Dwener decided to just go along with Caron’s words.
“That’s right. Truly vicious bastards. The kind who clearly enjoy knocking on doors after they’ve already walked into a room, like some kind of pervert.”
“That’s a pretty specific example.”
“Must be your imagination.”
Dark Beast Squad.
He dismissed them as perverts, but there was no doubt they were people he had to be wary of.
Mysterious powerhouses who had appeared out of nowhere.
Their identities and purpose were a mystery, but among all of that, what he was most curious about was:
“Why did they reveal themselves here of all places?”
The man with Snake Mask was at least at the level of an 8-star knight.
The ones with the cat, rabbit, and squirrel masks wouldn’t be far behind in skill.
(Caron knew the squirrel mask was Adonis, but he had not shared that with Dwener.)
There had to be a reason such experts chose this backwater dump as their debut stage.
Fortunately, after mulling it over for a few days, he’d managed to figure out the reason.
“It has to be because of the highest-grade magic stones.”
“I think so too.”
It was entirely plausible—no, it was a hundred percent certain.
Highest-grade magic stones had astronomical value.
“They might even have been intentionally killing off the villagers. The fewer people around, the easier their work would be.”
“Luckily, there were no signs of large-scale mining. Even if they did sneak some out, it can’t be much.”
“What are the chances they show up again to seize the mine?”
“Extremely low.”
In fact, there was one thing Caron had been worried about during this knight subjugation operation.
‘The Dark Beast Squad interfering.’
If their goal was to take over the highest-grade magic stone mine, there wouldn’t be a better opportunity than when the instructors and knights were fighting.
A perfect, fatal opening.
Even so, Caron had boldly pushed ahead with the plan.
‘Because Lord Adonis is here.’
No matter how strong Snake Mask was, he couldn’t defeat someone who had reached the pinnacle of the sword.
The Dark Beast Squad could swarm him together, but it wasn’t like they were the only ones with experts.
It would have been a fight they could definitely take.
‘Well, in the end, they never showed up.’
After clashing with Lowell, they had clearly left this area.
They were strong, sure, but also annoyingly quick to cut their losses.
“They’re highly cautious, that much is clear. Usually, people like that don’t cause large-scale incidents, but…”
“They’re still people we can’t let our guard down around. I have a feeling.”
A feeling he would keep running into them in the future.
As they continued chatting about this and that, someone knocked on the door.
It was the knock of the instructor, signaling that preparations were complete.
“What a beautiful sound.”
“Ah, that’s called a knock. It’s the sound of someone courteously announcing themselves before coming in.”
“…”
Dwener silently pulled up his hood. He had realized that saying anything more would only cause himself damage.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
To bring this story to a close.
Kwagagagak-!
The wagon carrying the prison cages barreled madly along the mountain path.
The coachman drove along the steep slope as if it were flat ground.
The prison cages rattled violently because of it.
The knights rolled around inside, slamming into their companions’ bodies.
On top of that, rain was pouring down, closer to a torrential downpour than a shower.
For the knights locked in the cages, it was hell.
“Hey! Can’t you drive a little slower?!”
“Can’t you at least put a tarp over us?!”
Thanks to their training, their bodies far exceeded those of ordinary people. If not for that, they’d be shivering in the cold by now.
Broken bones would have just been a bonus.
“Doesn’t it feel like we’ve been circling the same area this whole time?”
“It’s not just a feeling, it’s certain. Egitt Mountain is still in our line of sight, isn’t it?”
“We’ve been riding for half a day and we still haven’t left the area around the village… something’s off.”
The moment the knights felt something was wrong, the wagon suddenly stopped.
Naturally, the sudden stop threw all of them to one side because of inertia.
“Argh! My leg!”
“Damn it! This damn coachman! Get over here! You need a beating to come to your senses!”
Whether he heard that or not, the coachman climbed down from the driver’s seat and walked toward the cage.
He was a man with a cold impression and a strangely unsettling vibe.
“Here I am. Go on, give me that beating.”
“W-what did you say?”
“Go on, try. You’re criminals, so what makes you think you’re so special you can whine like you’re about to die?”
“You, you bastard! Are you asking to die?!”
“Sigh… If it weren’t for my orders, I’d have tossed you bastards off a cliff already… My friend, you agree with me, right?”
One of the knights flinched.
Because a huge man had suddenly appeared next to the coachman.
A man so big you could mistake him for a bear.
He didn’t open his mouth. He just waved his hands around wildly, making strange hand signs no one could understand.
“You don’t agree? I see. So you’d rather burn them alive? The weather’s a bit bad for that, but… if that’s your wish, I guess I’ll try my best.”
“…”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it. I’ll take care of them cleanly without leaving any trace. You know my skills.”
The huge man’s frantic hand motions suddenly stopped.
He clenched his massive fist tight, and then only his middle finger stood straight up.
The knights knew very well what that meant.
That lovely gesture. It meant, in essence, “Go to hell.”
“Bernstein, seriously? At least play along. They need to be scared for this to be fun.”
“…”
“You’re telling me to shut up and work? Sigh… How did I end up working with such a boring workaholic bear?”
Right. The ones who’d been sitting on the driver’s seat.
They were the rat, Roy, and Bernstein. And then—
“Hey, rookie. Move it.”
A man in a hood, who had been glancing around the surroundings, pointed at himself with his index finger.
“Me?”
“Who else, when you’re the only one here?”
“Hmm… those old knights?”
The one they’d called rookie.
Instructor of Annwood Academy and the man of bare minimum effort.
Ron.
“…We’ve picked up a real piece of work, huh. Is our organization actually going to be okay?”
Roy grumbled as he opened the prison door.
He then started taking the knights out one by one and removing their shackles.
Their mana restraints as well.
Ron took charge of one of the cages and began unlocking the restraints. After a while, he handed the key to one of the knights and spoke.
“Would you mind doing the rest for everyone?”
“M-me?”
“Yeah. That way it’s easier for me.”
“…?”
He was handing the key to the enemy just because it was more convenient for him?
But the knight silently carried out the task.
He didn’t know what was going on, but there was no downside to this for them.
Watching that, Roy let out a deep sigh.
Even after they got out of the cages, the knights didn’t run.
They just stood there awkwardly, rolling their eyes around.
Finally, one knight, who had been testing the waters, spoke up.
“…Are you letting us go?”
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
“But why? What are you going to do if we run away?”
“What? Ruuun away?”
Roy burst out laughing, even clutching his belly.
“Then I’ll at least give you points for courage. If you’re still willing to make that choice after looking up there, that is.”
The knights turned their gaze behind them.
There was a low rise, just high enough that they had to tilt their heads back slightly to see the top.
Two people were looking down at them from that rise.
One of them had their face hidden under a hood, but the other was easy to recognize.
“C-Caron…!”
“The Empire’s rat!”
The knights finally realized who the coachmen really were.
“They were rats.”
“What are you staring at? Never seen a rat before?”
“…”
The knights fell silent, deep in thought.
Caron and the rats. Why were they letting them go?
Could it be…
“Are they planning to use us as rats?”
“Looks like rats don’t look like much in the eyes of trash like you.”
A chilling voice came from above.
Despite the rain, they could see it clearly.
Caron’s eyes, glowing blood-red like fresh spilt blood.
“If it weren’t for a certain request, do you really think scum like you would still be alive right now?”
The knights shuddered at the killing intent in Caron’s gaze.
Caron wasn’t entirely wrong. If not for Dwener’s request, at least half of them would already be wandering the afterlife.
“Then why did you spare us?”
“To give you a chance.”
“A chance…?”
“Because several knights, including Sir Pjol, realized their mistake and reflected on it.”
Pjol, Bickerd, Redington.
They had not only tried to stop the other knights, but Pjol had even personally beheaded the lord.
“I-I didn’t know! I had no idea the Baron was doing something so horrible!”
“Really? You truly knew nothing? Even with disappearances happening one after another and strange rumors spreading?”
“T-that’s…”
“You probably had an inkling. Even if you didn’t, it doesn’t matter. That’s not your only sin.”
They had run wild, drunk on past glory.
They had ignored the pleas for help from the people of the territory.
And above all, their biggest sin was—
“You never gave him honest counsel, despite your lord’s atrocities. Why didn’t you tell him he was on the wrong path? That this wasn’t right?”
The knights clenched their mouths shut.
Ignorance, self-justification, fear, avoidance, blind loyalty.
For one reason or another, none of them did anything to stop Baron Kelven’s tyranny.
And now, they realized.
This was the moment they’d been brought here to pay for those sins.
Just then, the hooded man behind Caron stepped forward.
“I suppose it’s time I introduce myself. Officially, I’m the principal of Annwood Academy, and unofficially…”
Dwener pushed back his hood as he spoke.
“I’m the head of the Evil-Slaying Group.”
“Evil-Slaying Group…?”
“We’re a group that hunts down evildoers. It’s only natural you’ve never heard of us. We work in secret, and we were only formed recently.”
“Now that you mention it, I’ve heard a rumor. That some guys showed up who call themselves evil while cutting down evil.”
“You mean the noble and the administrator who were found dead in the Carpathia Swamp?”
“I heard they supposedly died after unimaginable torture…”
So this man had done that horrible thing? The principal of Annwood Academy?
“You want us to work under you in exchange for our lives?”
“If it’s hunting down evil… that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Get a grip. There’s no way it’s that simple. They dress it up as justice, but it’s just self-justification. In the end, you’re just murderers splattering blood everywhere.”
“But that doesn’t mean I can just die here…”
With so many people, there were just as many opinions.
By the time the noise of their arguing almost drowned out the sound of the rain, Pjol raised his hand and asked:
“What happens if we refuse?”
Well, that was obvious.
“We’ll let you live. But you’ll have to face the punishment of the law.”
Let them live?
Public opinion immediately leaned in one direction. Naturally, toward not becoming part of the Evil-Slaying Group.
Caron looked down at the chaos below, which had turned into a marketplace of voices.
‘Is this as far as it goes…’
Caron understood.
Dwener’s limit as a person. And that that limit had finally caught up to him.
To take in the Trash Knights as members of the Evil-Slaying Group.
Caron had never understood that decision from the start.
Even so, he’d been willing to follow it. Dwener had shown competence several times before, and—
‘Because I genuinely wanted you to succeed.’
He’d vowed to take all the blame and become a villain himself.
Caron had believed in that resolve, but in the end, it all came down to a lack of ability.
To think they’d all come along just because he said, ‘Come, let us slay evil together!’
He was far too naïve about how the world really worked.
And that wasn’t the only problem. The fact that he’d revealed both the existence of the Evil-Slaying Group and that he was its leader was an issue too.
Out of dozens of people here, if even one person leaked information, Dwener was finished.
‘And so am I.’
Of course, it wasn’t like he was actually going to be finished.
By the end of today, the only ones walking away from this place alive would be himself and the rats.
‘If you’d had more time, you might have achieved better results…’
But it couldn’t be helped. In this world, incompetence was a heavy crime.
Dwener wouldn’t complain, and Caron was planning to send him off as gently as possible.
So he could fall asleep without feeling any pain.
“You all seem troubled. In that case, let me tell you a little fairy tale.”
Right out of nowhere, Dwener pulled a book from his robes. It was one the knights knew well.
It was a story born in this very place, so it would’ve been stranger not to know it.
That’s right. The storybook Dwener had taken out was none other than “The Hero of Trash.”
“You all know the basic plot, so I’ll skip ahead… Yes, starting from here should be fine.”
“What are you doing…”
“Calm down and listen carefully.”
Because this wasn’t a fairy tale.
“It’s the truth of that day.”
–TL Notes–
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Why does this author love Batman non kill morality so much?
Anyway there no way Dwener figure it out himself,It gotta be in Baron Kelven family archive