Chapter 280 (1/2)

Kain and the others had arrived at a restaurant called the “Deer Arbor of Gold.” Sitting in front of a massive pile of plates near the very back of the restaurant, Kain had a look of despair on his face.

He wondered what number they had reached since they began ordering from the most expensive meal down. So far, the total price had to come out to at least seven large silver coins. At any rate, it wasn’t the type of money that you would expect to spend when you just want to “go get some tea.”

However, across the table from him, the black knight’s previously lifeless eyes seemed to fill with a sense of satisfaction.

「…Ahhh, I’m full.」

「Is that so… Well, I’m glad that you are.」

As the waitress held her hands out towards him with a huge smile on her face, Kain jingled the large silver coins into her palms. She ran towards the back of the store excitedly.

「So, mam… You have memory loss, is that correct?」

「At the very least, I don’t remember anything that happened before I came to Ellark. However, I do know a lot about this city.」

「…Well then, that must mean that you know about the situation that the city is in.」

As Ein opened her mouth for the first time in a while, the black knight nodded her head firmly.

「Well, I guess so, though the situation is exactly what it looks like.」

「Before we came to this kingdom, we heard that the forces on each side were roughly matched.」

「Yeah, it seemed to be that way. However, recently, there’s been a sudden turn in events.」

After saying this, the black knight started to talk as if she were trying to recall recent events.

「So, first… uhh, what happened, again? At the beginning, thanks to all of the magic knights in the kingdom, our defense was completely impenetrable.」

By “magic knights,” she was probably referring to the soldiers of the Staves of Light Chivalric Order. Not only were they the most powerful magic users in the kingdom, but as knights, they were also proficient with swords.

No matter how powerful the swordsmen of the First Princess’s Imperial Guard Chivalric Order were, as long as the magic knights of the Staves of Light Chivalric Order defended it with a variety of magic defenses, the city of Ellark was untouchable. Therefore, the forces were matched.

「However, there was one incident that completely changed everything.」

That “incident” referred to the sudden outbreak of countless Alva from within Ellark’s borders. As the Staves of Light Chivalric Order shifted their focus to fighting the Alva that relentlessly attacked the townspeople, the First Princess took advantage of the opening to carry out an attack.

「Wait, that means…」

He wondered if they had deliberately used the confusion of the Mazoku invasion in order to push through with their attack. As Kain tried to say this, he was cut off by the black knight’s words.

「Apparently, a soldier that is thought to be part of the Staves of Light Chivalric Order used magic against the First Princess’s Army.」

Suddenly under attack by a Staves of Light Knight, the First Princess’s army was completely taken by surprise. Acting in retaliation, the soldiers attacked the Staves of Light Knight with a barrage of magic spells, demolishing the entire front gate in the process.

The crumbled gates and the melted armor were the result of that.

The First Princess’s army was told to “leave them to get trampled by the Mazoku” and they left shortly after… or so they say.

Upon hearing this, a question arose in Kain’s head.

「So, was the Staves of Light Knight at the gate alone? Or were there more than one of them?」

「Apparently there was only one.」

「In front of the gate?」

「Yeah.」

The black knight gave Kain a funny look as he tilted his head to the side, but Ein understood what Kain was thinking.

The front gate was a very important location for the kingdom that needed to be defended. Especially with a civil war going on, they would certainly have many guards stationed there, and even with the Alva invading the city, it would be hard to think that every single guard was sent away from the gates.

However, the biggest mystery was the reason why the guard was standing in front of the gates completely alone. Normally, if a guard were to defend the gates on their own, they would stand atop an observation tower to get a better view of the enemy, and they would immediately call for help if things went wrong. Even if they had a good reason to have to stand in front of the gates, where was the need to fire magic, without warning, into the First Princess’s Army? Doing so would bring forth the worst situation imaginable.

「That sounds really suspicious…」

「Are you trying to say that I’m lying?」

Sensing the annoyment in the black knight’s face, Kain panickingly shook his head.

「N-no, no, no! That’s not what I meant? I’m just trying to say that there might be something fishy going on.」

「That’s what a lot of people are saying. But more importantly, apparently there are a lot of traitors from the Staves of Light Chivalric Order.」

「Traitors?」

「Yeah. I don’t know the exact details, but there are a lot of people joining the First Princess’s side that are thought to be from the Staves of Light Chivalric Order. They pretend to die in battle and then defect to the other side.」

Kain understood that it had become an unexpectedly difficult situation.

He didn’t know exactly how much of what the black knight said was true, but at the very least, there was no mistake that rumors like that had been spreading at a public level. In most cases, there was at least some sort of truth in these types of rumors.

「…So I guess we have to go to the king’s castle as soon as possible.」

As Kain said this, the black knight nodded, uninterested.

「So you’re one of the princess’s guests?」