Vol 1 Chapter 1.2 (1/2)
39—Legend of Sun Knight Volume 1
Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)
Chapter 1: In Training, Part 2—Judgment Knight– translated by dahlys
“Dili, take the work doc.u.ments back for me first, and sort them out. If it’s something simple and indisputable, you can correct it yourself and stamp our seal on it, without showing it to me.”
“Alright.” Dili heaved a sigh of relief.
In the past, even if he corrected all the doc.u.ments, Elaro would go through them again. Therefore, every time the Twelve Holy Knights left on a mission together, the work doc.u.ments would pile up like a mountain, and Elaro would have to work late into the night before he could sleep. The next day, he would still wake up at the “sight of dawn.” It was impossible for him to get more than a little bit of sleep.
“Rhonelin, lead the other platoon members and begin practice. Make sure that they become proficient at the sword skills they learned last time. I will test them next week. If anyone fails…” Elaro frowned, but could not think of any punishment. He only said, “Everyone must pa.s.s.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Rhonelin, nodding. He did not worry about failing to complete his mission. Elaro had always required his platoon members’ swordsmans.h.i.+p to be of a very high caliber, so they were all quite skilled. It was a natural fact that everyone would complete this mission.
Having given them their a.s.signments, Elaro watched the two men leave with quick, but unhurried, footsteps. They even exchanged several words, which showed how much their relations.h.i.+p had improved as compared to before. Elaro nodded, feeling very happy with his final decision.
Next, he decided to go check on the other knights-in-training, especially Shuis, whose workload was no lighter than his—the Storm Knight had always been his teacher’s best a.s.sistant. After that, he would have to return and correct work doc.u.ments together with Dili.
When he finalized his plans, Elaro turned around. He was going to check on his remaining companions, starting from the farthest one away. If memory served him right, Judge should be in the storehouse, taking stock of the donations from the branch churches…
“Knight-in-training Elaro.”
Elaro stopped walking when a holy knight, who was almost forty years of age, called out to him. He was a member of the Judgment Knight Platoon.
“Yes, sir.” Smiling, Elaro greeted, “Good morning, Sir Senior Holy Knight.”
Seeing Elaro’s calm smile, the holy knight relaxed and, with an apologetic expression, said, “Sorry to bother you once more, but Hungri has gone out of control again.”
Elaro frowned. He asked, “Is it very serious? Where is Vice-Captain Vidar?”
“The criminal is near death’s door… The vice-captain left to patrol the nearby areas in the city with the platoon. It is our platoon’s turn this month. Only another knight and I were left behind to guard the Judge’s Complex. He’s currently trying to persuade Hungri to stop, while I came to contact you.”
Since the problem is this severe, why doesn’t this guy look the least bit fl.u.s.tered? This discovery did not make Elaro feel relieved, instead, he became even more worried and immediately said, “I see, then we should make our way there quickly!”
Elaro’s footsteps were fast and hurried. He was so tall that one of his steps was the equivalent of one and a half steps of other people’s. Therefore, it did not take him long to reach the Judge’s Complex.
Logically speaking, he was only a knight-in-training. Before he entered the Judge’s Complex, he should first give his reasons to the two holy knights stationed at the door, who would then report to a higher-up. Only when he had received permission was he allowed to enter the complex.
However, throughout Elaro’s more than ten years as a knight-in-training, the rules of a knight-in-training had never been applied to him.
He hastily entered the Judge’s Complex, not even sparing the time for a greeting. The two holy knights to his left and right only sighed in relief, with no intention whatsoever of stopping him.
How can this be called persuasion…? Elaro helplessly looked at the Judgment Knight Platoon member who was supposedly “persuading” Hungri. If occasionally saying “Don’t hit the vitals,” could be considered persuading, then he was indeed “persuading” him.
With his back turned to Elaro was a person whipping a criminal with a metal chain and shouting, “You d.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d! If I don’t beat you so badly, that even your own mother doesn’t recognize you after this, I will change my name to Reallifull!”
“Hungri,” said Elaro, who was alarmed and horrified at the scene before him. The criminal tied to the punishment rack was covered in blood, and the screams that he made were as weak as a kitten’s. It was clear that he did not even have the energy to scream in pain anymore.
The person holding the metal chain turned around. His face was as sinister as a devil’s, and his imposing aura was shocking. Only when he saw Elaro did he relax his fearsome expression. Following that, he instantly turned into a sixteen or seventeen year old teenager. Although he was glaring fiercely at Elaro, his large eyes, oval face, and soft, peach-colored lips made him look like a little girl throwing a tantrum…Cough! I meant, little boy!
Elaro looked at him with a disappointed expression.
Seeing this, Hungri felt a pang of guilt. He understood that he had lost control, and that, if his teacher had been here, he would definitely have been scolded harshly… No, if his teacher had been here, there would have been no chance of him losing control at all. His teacher would definitely not have allowed such a thing to happen, and he would not have dared to go berserk in front of his teacher either.
Although he understood this, when he saw Elaro’s disappointed expression, he could not help but yell angrily, “Do you know what he has done? Do you know just what terrible crime this f**king a**hole has committed?”
“No, I don’t.” Elaro said, calmly. “I only saw you doing something you shouldn’t be doing.”
Hungri was taken aback. Although he knew that he was in the wrong for losing control, he wasn’t planning on admitting it. “Judging criminals has always been the Judgment Knight’s responsibility!”
“But have you ever seen Knight-Captain Judgment lose control? Although he looks frightening when interrogating criminals, the moment he turns around, Knight-Captain Judgment will regain his cool. He shows his rage only to make criminals confess the truth, not because he has lost control of his emotions. This is what you told me yourself. Am I wrong?”
Hungri fell silent for a moment. He neither admitted his wrongdoing nor continued arguing. Instead, he described the criminal’s felony.
“This criminal tortured and murdered at least three women. He then used his position as a grave-keeper to secretly bury the bodies in freshly dug graves, only covering them with a thin layer of soil. After that, the women’s corpses were horribly crushed under the coffins buried above them! All the evidence points to him, and he even confessed to his crime.”
After saying this, Hungri glared at the criminal viciously.
“If he has already confessed, why are you still hitting him?” Elaro hoped that Hungri wasn’t thinking of personally punis.h.i.+ng the criminal.
“I suspect that two more missing women were also done in by him. However, he wouldn’t loosen his tongue, and insists that those two had nothing to do with him.”
Hungri did not wait for Elaro to continue probing. He knew exactly what kind of questions Elaro would ask, so he took the initiative to explain, “The timing of the two women’s disappearances is the same as when these other crimes were committed. Furthermore, there are many things in common between them and the three women this man murdered. In general, criminals who torture their victims also tend to choose their prey selectively, so we can find many similarities among the victims.”
When he had heard all of this, Elaro nodded. He was glad to hear that Hungri was not beating the criminal on a whim.
“There’s no longer a problem, right?” When he saw Elaro’s face, Hungri knew that he had won. “Then, I will continue ‘carrying out the Judgment Knight’s responsibility.’”
Elaro turned to look at the criminal’s injuries. He said, “His wounds are too severe. You cannot continue hitting him. If you beat him to death, those two women’s whereabouts will forever remain a mystery.”
Upon hearing this, Hungri hesitated. Elaro was indeed correct. Also, if the criminal really were to die, Teacher would probably hang him up on the punishment rack and beat him half to death. However, this criminal was just so loathsome, that Hungri was a little unwilling to let up. As he hesitated, wondering what to do next, Hungri looked at Elaro and suddenly had an idea.
“Since you’re here, why don’t you use your healing magic on him? Then, I can start beating…I mean, interrogating him all over again.” Hungri quickly corrected himself. He knew that Elaro was most concerned that he couldn’t differentiate work from personal affairs. To sum it up, Elaro was very similar to Hungri’s teacher, so much so that sometimes Hungri wondered whether the Judgment Knight’s student was himself or Elaro.
When the criminal on the punishment rack heard that the interrogation would continue, before Elaro could respond, he quickly yelled, “I’m not guilty! It’s those women’s fault for seducing me…”
Hungri’s expression turned grave and his whip lashed out so quickly that Elaro had no time to stop him. The whip landed on the criminal’s face and tore out half of his lip so that he could not speak further, and could only make “ooh ooh” groaning sounds.
Angry, Elaro said, “Hungri!”
“Is this kind of person worth forgiving?” Hungri hmphed coldly. “You have no idea what terrible state those women’s corpses were in! If you saw them, then you definitely wouldn’t want to stop me!”
When he finished talking, he looked at the other knights present. Although he didn’t say anything, his intent was clear. He wanted anyone who didn’t agree with him to step forward and say so.
Elaro also looked toward the others. Most of the knights standing off to the side belonged to Hungri’s platoon. Only two were members of the current Judgment Knight’s Platoon. But even they were silent and did not openly disagree with Hungri. In particular, the platoon member who was supposed to be “persuading” Hungri looked dissatisfied—dissatisfied with Elaro.
The current situation pleased Hungri, who looked at Elaro with an air of defiance.
Elaro only said calmly, “That’s enough for today. If something bad really were to happen to the criminal, I’m afraid that Knight-Captain Judgment would be furious.”
The moment the name “Knight-Captain Judgment” was mentioned, everyone fell silent. Elaro couldn’t help but praise the Judgment Knight’s authority. Just how much longer will it take for me to reach this level?
“Hmph!” Hungri hurled his whip aside and yelled angrily, “That’s all for today’s interrogation. ‘Throw’ him back in his cell for me!”
When he heard this, Elaro wanted to say something to stop Hungri. He knew very well that Hungri’s “throw him back” definitely did not mean “send him back,” but literally “throwing” him back. In addition, when he saw the looks on the surrounding holy knights, he realized that they would probably be very happy to “throw” with a little more force than necessary. However, they were already unhappy with him, so Elaro was worried that he would not be able to persuade them not to do so.