Chapter 10: Interlude

Charles Balto frowned. He was the second son of Count Balto, who would soon inherit his father's title. His father wanted to give the territory to Charles and knight order to Alex. Charles loved math, while his brother loved going out and playing. Even though neither of them was the best, their father saw them as two sides of the same coin and hoped that they would bring prosperity to Balto's domain.

Charles had a good relationship with Alex. However, he hated Balto's knight order with every fiber of his being. Knights must be respected, and anyone who defied them would be cut down on the spot. Most of the knights kept order, but some used their authority to get free meals or harass girls on the street. The fact that he had no talents for sword fighting made him hate them even more.

Moreover, they were expensive. Each knight needed about 10 gold for their salary every month. Count Balto had been lax with his spending, and thus, when Charles saw the finance report, he almost fainted on the spot. If Alex were there, he could negotiate to decrease or cut down some knights, but since Alex was dead, some knights went rogue.

The news about Alex's girls came to him. When the knights abducted such girls, he didn't mind at all, even if they killed them. He barely knew Rebecca and Nana. Moreover, he also didn't want to touch secondhand goods. However, when the news of their escape reached him, he panicked.

When he said Balto's knights were weak, it was not an understatement. The best knights all went to the imperial capital to become royal knights, while the nobles got the dregs. All of them were knight's orders, so people assumed they were similar or maybe slightly weaker than royal knights, but nothing could be further from the truth.

This preconception was because the royal knights and feudal knights had similar levels when they were accepted. But the apprentices of the royal knights underwent a sadistic training regime where over 30% of them literally died because of it. They had to kill monsters every day and hone their skills until night, while the feudal knights merely patrolled and sometimes swung their swords at a dummy.

This led to a status disparity. Most royal knights were at least level 60, while the feudal knights could barely reach level 40. Some of Balto's knights were even lower, at level 20. They would even lose to some bandits. This fact was only known by the count and himself.

It was okay for the time being. However, a beginner adventurer, level 10 at that, had now escaped their grasp. If this led some people to question the capabilities of Balto's knights, his reform would be in a pinch. Bandits and thieves would run rampant in his territory if they knew Balto's knights were weak.

"Sir, what should we do?" Charles' advisor asked after hearing the news.

"Arrest the knights. Then, pin the blame on the women. Say that these sluts worked together with the bandits to kill Alex. Tell Horaine's knights we mean no harm and apologize for our knights' unruly behavior."

"What proof do we have?"

"Why were the bandits there? Why did Alex go orc hunting so far away? It must have been incited by them."

"That's not enough proof."

"I don't care about the women or even the case itself. It's just a baseless accusation. A hypothesis. We are not going to follow through with it. What we are going to do is dispatch these low-level scum of our knights who messed up in other people's cities! But it must be done discreetly." Charles almost couldn't contain his anger. Not only did the knights fail their duty to protect Alex, but they also acted without orders by apprehending these girls unlawfully. Moreover, to put salt into the wound, they failed and shamed the entire Balto knight order.

The advisor understood Charles's intention. Giving random accusations would divert the attention from low-level adventurers escaping Balto's knight into citizens acting against the knight's inquiry and authority.

"Yes, sir." Charles was smart. If he simply apologized for the actions of these knights, people would take advantage and make fun of his knights. Moreover, if people knew his knights were even lower level than other feudal knights, his territory would be in chaos, and bandits would run rampant. The worst thing that could happen is that he would be questioned by the royal knights.

Charles was as corrupt as Alex's knights. He knew money was power, and thus, he tried to gain as much of it as possible. However, this world also runs on power and status. No matter how much money he had, if high-level people came to rob him, he wouldn't be able to do anything. That's why he planned to reduce the number of knights and recruit only high-level ones. This ran in stark contrast with Alex, who was corrupt but leaned more on cronyism and nepotism.

It needed to be said twice that both Alex and Charles were not the sharpest tools in the shed.

Now onto the other side of power: Captain Sheena was ready to return to the Royal Capital of Latvin. She was asked by General Arwen to eradicate bandits that slipped past the royal knights on the frontier. When she heard about Alex's death, her heart didn't move a bit. She also ignored Rebecca and Cecile, who were harassed by knights. If it was up to her, she would help. Unfortunately, this was Horaine and Balto's knights' business. She couldn't intervene. Knights and adventurers died every day, and she also knew some knights liked to harass commoners. What intrigued her was the fate of the bandits that died. She even had to delay her departure to the royal capital.

"So, there are still remnants of bandits, huh?"

"I think this is all. There can't be that many bandits that slipped past us. Moreover, these guys seemed to be at the bottom of the barrel. Their levels barely reached 20 or 30."

"It is still quite high for bandits. Don't let your guard down."

"We already performed reconnaissance on the surrounding area where we found the bandits' corpses three times."

"I see. Good then. So, what does the autopsy say?" Serena looked at the corpses. Hiro's skill sucked all the nutrients from the bandits. It made the corpse look like it was mummified.

"The bandits died of malnutrition. It was a life-sucking skill. Maybe a succubus did it."

"Oi! Are you telling me a sentient demon prowled inside our country?" Sheena asked the knight acting as a forensic. The knight had appraisal skills, but it merely told him how the bandits died. It didn't tell him who or what did it.

"There are many who can perform life-suction skills. Most undead can do it. A blood-sucking bug monster could do it. A parasitic tentacle could also do it. Even a human necromancer could do it. But only a succubus would kill the men and spare the women."

"Ah, yes. You are right. Sorry, my emotions got the better of me. The girls testified that they didn't even see the culprit. They also claimed that they were sleeping. That means the monster that did this didn't even care about the women. Your judgment was correct."

"Your apology is unwarranted, Captain Sheena."

"So, boss! What are we going to do?" another knight asked.

"We will do nothing and leave. A succubus can fly. We will never be able to catch it. However, send a message to the surrounding cities. They must have at least two or three level 70 knights in case the succubus reappears in their territory."

"Yes, sir!"

"Hm… would a succubus kill the trees in their surroundings, though?"

"If the environment has also died, then maybe the succubus used life-suction magic and not race-specific skills, Captain Sheena. Or maybe it was simply the work of unrelated bugs. We investigated the scene about two days late. Many things could have happened during that time."

"Yes. You are right. There is no way a succubus could suck fifteen men's nutrients without them realizing it." Sheena nodded.

And so the investigation came to a close. Sheena then prepared her horses to return to the capital. She was already imagining her bed and pillow at home. If the top knights acted negligently like this, it was no wonder that the Latvin Kingdom was in a downward spiral.

On the adventurer guild's side of things, Receptionist Gloria was sorting through her documents late at night. Rebecca's letter had already been put into the magic receiver. It should teleport the letter to the royal capital and deliver it to Count Evesys the same day. However, no reply had come. Gloria merely shrugged. This usually meant Count Evesys had abandoned her or didn't think her predicament was essential to him.

Gloria needed to be careful. Being a receptionist at the adventurer's guild came with a salary of 20 gold per month, which was even higher than that of knights. However, if complaints arrived, she could lose her job quickly. Moreover, she needed to maintain a cold attitude among adventurers. Many declining nobles' sons and daughters chose to be adventurers. If she didn't respect them, she might lose her job, but if she relented to their every whim, other adventurers would complain, and she would also lose her job. She was an orphan with two younger sisters to feed. She couldn't afford to lose this job. She must maintain her distance from her clients.

And so, she continued to do her duty in a cold and calculating manner. The loss of three beginner adventurers was no big deal to her. Adventurers died by the dozens every month, even in safe places like Horaine. The fact that Rebecca and her friends didn't come back meant they had been captured by knights.

"It's almost that time, huh? What a shame." Gloria wrote a poster about the preparation for the monster stampede. Every season, there would always be a surge of monsters coming from the forest. At this time, adventurers and knights would all come out to cull the stampede. Gloria was smart. She knew there had been trouble among the knights. She had a feeling things would not end well within the knight order. If adventurers had to take care of the stampede by themselves, there could be many casualties.

However, that was not her problem. Her job was to make requests and greet adventurers cordially. She also needed to appear as beautiful as ever to attract successful adventurers to become her groom. Gloria had her own priorities. She needed to take care of herself. The lives of low-level adventurers didn't matter to her.