Chapter 48 Nightfall Guardians (1/2)
Chapter 48 Nightfall Guardians
Translator: Tchu
Editor: Amaranth, Neth
Shaar looked at the fellow standing in front, noticing a fiery spirit burrowed within his eyes. The deeply ingrained hatred shown in his gaze caused Shaar’s heart to waver slightly. Within his gaze he also appeared ready to attack at a moment’s notice; looking to rip out Shaar’s flesh.
Ah, Shaar finally remembered. The previous time they met, they sparred, but the martial arts he showed were all very strange. Every move looked similar to that of the simple movements used in cutting wood or any other normal task.
Could this fellow also have studied under that old man?
“There’s no need to speak, I won’t surrender.” Shaar’s eyes rolled. “Do you take me for a fool? Given your stance, do I really have another choice, but to fight?
Rahim sneered.
Rahim was confident knowing his squad was nearby and fully-equipped. They also had their horses prepared and were ready to strike. This pitiful boy was fully surrounded, so it would be almost impossible to flee, even if he had wings.
Rahim straightened his lance while his eyes radiated a murderous spirit. “Good. I can cleanse this shame with your blood!”
In front of this wild boy, Rahim’s gaze held a deep hatred and a deathly aura. Let God be his witness as he had every reason to cut this boy into countless pieces and feed him to the hounds.
Rahim was a member of the noble order of imperial knights called the ‘Glory of Osgiliath, so he couldn’t recall the last time he was humiliated this badly.
Osgiliath… a lofty, honourable name! Within the entire continent, only one order dared to title themselves as such. This was due to the fact that ‘Osgiliath’ is also the imperial capital of the entire Byzantine Empire!
This order swore allegiance to the royal family and was under the direct control of His Majesty, the Holy Byzantine Emperor. The order was created by the sacrifices of their members, giving up an ungodly amount of blood and iron. They follow a glorious tradition which states that only qualified knights were able to title themselves under ‘Osgiliath’.
The order ‘Glory of Osgiliath’ also had another unofficial name; the ‘Nightfall Guardians’. This order was only loyal to the royal family, but their members were different from the regular palace guards. This order was a special division under His Majesty, the Holy Emperor’s personal army. Neither supervised by the Imperial Army nor the senate, these soldier’s salaries and costs were directly paid through the royal treasury.
Therefore, to differentiate between this informal knight order and the regular Imperial guards, the people started to call those fellows “Nightfall Guardians”. Since they were not formally established in the empire’s regular army , they all had to show exceptional bravery and power in order to join. The people also named them as such due to the fact that members of the order had the habit of wearing only black armour and only working during nightfall, rightfully earning them the title of ‘Messengers of Death’.
Every member of the order of ‘Glory to Osgiliath’ was carefully chosen from the army’s group most outstanding knights. Every member had a pure bloodline and was extremely loyal to the royal family, especially the emperor. It could be said that the order held greater loyalty towards the Holy Emperor than the empire itself.
In one such incident within the history of the Byzantine Empire 100 years ago, a civil war broke because a man usurped the throne and became the new emperor. However the ‘Nightfall Guardians’ held their loyalty towards the previous emperor and fought a bloody battle to resist against the new emperor. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, they fought and almost burned down the entire royal capital. Even when the previous emperor committed suicide due to fear, they never surrendered. As one final attempt to resist, the remaining group drunk on the desire to join their lord in death, decided to charge forward. Only a select few managed to break through and survive, but even then they refused to surrender because they solely held loyalty to the previous emperor and not the actual empire… which led them to flee the city.
(ED: whew… this was a tough one)
This small group of remaining knights were later found to have formed a rebel army and taken over nearby bandit territory near the empire’s borders. The empire took an entire year to suppress this rebel army.
After this, the new emperor actually decided to rebuild the order of ‘Nightfall Guardians’. Almost every imperial minister opposed the idea but the emperor heavily insisted it.
Using the words of the current emperor then, His Majesty the Holy Byzantine Emperor Svendara the First; “Which emperor within this world does not desire to have such an order of fierce knights who are forever loyal, even in death?”
Due to the heavy criteria for joining this group, the order had very few members. Historically speaking, even at its peak, it never exceeded more than 500 members.
Every member of the ‘Nightfall Guardians’ were among the elite, holding an infallible will and absolute loyalty. Every member held an esteemed status, even greater than that of the royal guards.
Rahim joined the Nightfall Guardians many years ago and earned the rank; Cavalry Captain three years ago. It was the highest achievement of his life. Although he was only small Cavalry Captain with only twenty people under him, however how could a Guardians Cavalry Captain be measured by normal means?
In the Nightfall Guardians a small Cavalry Captain like him, even though he had only a dozen of people under him, when facing an ordinary general in peacetime they did not have to bow to each other and saluted at the saw eye level. One could imagine how arrogant the Nightfall Guardians were!
Rahim’s temper was harsh and tough, his execution of commands were decisive and followed the imperial order extremely strictly. Simultaneously, he excelled in martial arts and showed a faint sign of superiority when compared to a dozen of other Nightfall Guardians Cavalry Captains. In the past two years, the regiment commander of Nightfall Guardians mentioned about a promotion of two younger members to vice regiment commanders and in Rahim’s heart a faint hope emerged because of it.