Tap. Tap.
The office was dark.
Shupern was tapping the vial recovered from Hans's body against his desk.
- I don't know its exact composition, but it is unquestionably a deadly poison.
He recalled the words of a soldier well versed in medicinal herbs.
When they actually fed the poison to a captured rat, it died in less than a minute.
If the soldiers had drunk the poisoned rum, most of the unit would have died.
The thought sent a chill through him as their commander.
'Why? How in the world?'
Rohan had killed Hans, a man who had been in the knight order for three years.
He had gotten along well with the other soldiers and enjoyed a fine reputation.
And he had been a spy.
It was still difficult to believe, but the brooch had confirmed that everything the boy said was true.
Shupern set aside his thoughts and summoned the Fourth Company Commander beside him.
Hans, whom the boy had killed, had belonged to the Fourth Company.
"Company Commander."
"Yes, sir."
"That boy named Rohan. What do you think of him?"
"Didn't you say everything the boy said was true?"
Shupern gave a faint laugh at the company commander's answer.
"You know that isn't what I'm asking."
"......."
After a moment's hesitation, the Fourth Company Commander spoke, his thoughts unreadable.
"He was exceptionally skilled. Not just anyone can imitate swordsmanship after seeing it once."
"Indeed."
"If he joined the knight order......"
Shupern cut him off.
"We cannot accept him into the order."
"The boy is certainly dangerous. But he didn't seem to kill out of malice."
"That may be an even greater problem."
"Sir?"
"It means he doesn't know it's wrong."
It was true that the boy's ability tempted him.
But before Shupern was a man, he was a commander.
He had to consider what might happen within the unit if he accepted the boy.
"...If that is your decision, Commander."
The company commander raised no further objection.
Shupern must have had a reason for being so stubborn.
Their conversation was nearing its end when it happened.
"K-Knight Commander! Commander!"
A soldier burst into the office as though he could barely breathe.
Entering without permission was a clear violation of military law.
But the soldier's expression and actions said this was no time to worry about that.
"What happened?"
Shupern sprang to his feet and gripped his sword.
Usually, a situation like this meant the enemy had launched a surprise attack.
But the soldier delivered unexpected news.
"The prison... the underground prison is on fire!"
"What?"
The underground prison.
The place where Rohan and the five Noxis soldiers were confined.
Not once had trouble arisen there since they established this base.
Shupern's eyes narrowed.
Whoosh—.
Just then, the air entering between the tent flaps carried only the heavy smell of burning.
***
ROAR—!
A short distance from the blazing underground prison.
Rohan sat on the dirt, pressing down on his head.
'Killing all five at once really makes my head hurt.'
His head throbbed as a massive quantity of information entered at once.
'It feels like the path of my swordsmanship has been paved.'
Apart from the pain, a powerful sense of accomplishment welled up within him.
Several styles of swordsmanship had entered his mind, and his mind was rapidly combining them.
He wanted to swing a sword immediately.
'How many people will I have to kill to kill Reinach?'
Rohan suddenly wondered.
How many people would he have to kill to reach the end of the sword?
He would have to kill powerful figures like Shupern as well.
Whatever the answer, it was clear that he was still nowhere near strong enough.
'Is there a way to stop my head from hurting?'
That was a problem to consider in time.
Becoming defenseless for a period whenever he killed a person was a fatal weakness.
When he burned all five to death together, tremendous pain had struck his head.
"Bring more water!"
"Put out the fire!! Hurry!! You bastard, where are you throwing that? Goddamn it!"
He could see the soldiers bustling in the distance.
They had brought the roaring flames somewhat under control.
Soldiers entered the prison and carried out the corpses of the Noxis soldiers one by one.
Every body was so badly burned that it was difficult to tell them apart.
"The boy is gone!"
"The kid who killed Hans disappeared!"
Then came voices searching for Rohan.
Once events had progressed that far, Rohan stood and dusted off his rear.
Then he trudged toward the soldiers.
"The boy is miss..."
"Are you looking for me?"
"Aaargh!"
When Rohan suddenly emerged from the darkness, one soldier toppled backward.
His appearance made an already chaotic place even noisier.
"You bastard! How did you get out?!"
"Who are you to kill Hans?!"
"You started the fire, didn't you?!"
Resentful voices rang out, but Rohan did not particularly react.
Then it happened.
WHAM—! Rohan's eyes flashed as his body suddenly went sprawling.
When he turned his head, he saw a sharp-eyed man with black hair looking down at him.
'That's Creed.'
Rohan recognized him immediately.
He was the leader of the Fourth Squad, Fourth Platoon, Fourth Company of the White Wolf Knight Order.
The man's fundamental skill was unimpressive, but his distinctive grit and effort had carried him to squad leader.
SHING!
He drew his sword and pointed it at Rohan's throat.
Rohan felt murderous intent suggesting that the slightest misstep really would get him killed.
"You. How did you get out?"
Rohan dusted himself off and stood.
He answered with an impassive expression.
"Is that important? I haven't committed a crime."
"You haven't committed a crime? Ridiculous. The man you killed was a member of my squad."
"He was a Noxis spy."
"Even if he was, you had no authority to kill him."
Creed ground his teeth.
No one cherished his squad members more than Creed.
Hans, whom Rohan had killed, was also a squad member Creed had cared for with affection.
The keenly honed blade grazed Rohan's Adam's apple.
A red line appeared on his neck, and beads of blood trickled down.
"Tell me now. How did you get out?"
"A torch fell over, the prison burned, and the bars collapsed."
Rohan's gaze went to the crowd.
A man with his long hair tied tightly back flinched when their eyes met.
Pointing at him, Rohan spoke.
"The gatekeeper was asleep nearby."
Creed's gaze followed Rohan's.
Kaisen. The gatekeeper who had fallen asleep was also a member of Creed's Fourth Squad.
Kaisen raised both hands with a flustered expression.
"No, Squad Leader. It wasn't that... I definitely......"
"Shut up."
Creed looked coldly down at Rohan.
"Come to think of it, none of that matters. You performed Noxis swordsmanship. You used it to kill an imperial soldier."
The person who had killed the squad member he spent three years with stood before him.
He had found the boy unsettling from the moment they first met.
Creed did not know whether Hans had been a spy, but it was true that the boy had killed an imperial soldier with Noxis swordsmanship.
"It shouldn't matter if I kill you here."
Having spoken, Creed swept his sword upward.
The blade raised into the air came slashing down in an instant.
Several soldiers looked away from the strike aimed at a child.
But the sword could not descend through the air.
"That is enough."
When they looked, Shupern was holding the flat of the blade.
Shupern looked at Rohan and spoke.
"The interrogation comes first."
***
The moment they entered the office, Rohan's voice came from behind Shupern.
"I set the prison on fire."
SHING— A chilling sound rang through the office.
Shupern raised his sword before Rohan's eyes.
"Then you know what that means."
"Are you going to kill me?"
Rohan asked without batting an eye.
Though a sword was before him, he showed no fear.
"I only killed people who were going to die anyway. It was already past midnight, wasn't it?"
Shupern was struck speechless by the answer.
Could the boy really be referring to the midnight deadline Shupern had given the Noxis soldiers?
Apart from that, the boy remained far too calm after killing five people.
Judging by his expression alone, he could even have passed for an innocent child.
"How did you get out of the prison?"
Instead of answering, Rohan rummaged inside his clothes.
Clatter. A key fell from inside his clothes.
"I dug in the ground and found a key."
"You expect me to believe......."
Shupern frowned and tried to shout, but the brooch remained unchanged.
That meant the boy's words were true.
Rohan looked genuinely aggrieved.
"I don't know why you're pointing a sword at me."
"......."
"The man I killed was a Noxis spy, and everyone in the prison was going to die anyway."
"Even if all of that is true, you had no authority to execute them."
Rohan looked far too calm.
His words were oddly persuasive, but Shupern could not shake the feeling that he was being manipulated.
'This boy is dangerous.'
Shupern sensed it instinctively.
He had originally intended to let the boy live, but doing so now felt as if it would invite an even greater calamity.
'I should have killed him the moment he swung at Hans.'
Regret changed nothing now.
"You executed prisoners without the knight order's command. You performed Noxis swordsmanship within the Empire. That is why you will die."
Having spoken, Shupern seized Rohan by the collar.
Breaking his neck would be easier to clean up than cutting it.
The light child rose like a feather.
"Urk, urk!"
"Perhaps I have grown old, to have spared a child like you."
Rohan gasped for breath.
He appeared to be flailing his arms in resistance, but he was forcing his fingers between his neck and Shupern's hand.
Thinking he had something to say, Shupern relaxed his grip slightly.
When a gap opened, words like the scrape of metal barely emerged from the boy's mouth.
"There are... more spies."
The strength left Shupern's grip.
"What?"
Rohan collapsed to the floor and coughed for some time.
"Cough, hack... There are more Noxis spies besides Hans."
"How do you know that?"
"The supply transport operation."
Shupern's expression hardened.
"The operation two weeks from now, to carry goods arriving from the west to the imperial palace."
"......."
It was a top-secret operation known only to Shupern himself.
"Noxis is after those goods."
"Where did you get that information?"
"That isn't what's important."
Rohan spoke without expression.
"What's important is that the information reached Noxis."
Shupern's face hardened.
Setting aside how the boy knew, the fact that an enemy nation knew of the imperial palace's top-secret operation was no small matter.
"What do you want?"
"Accept me into the knight order. Then I'll catch the spies."
"Absurd."
Shupern cut him off firmly.
"If you tell me everything you know, I will at least spare your life. Nothing more."
"No."
It was a very childish answer.
His expression, however, was not.
Rohan continued without the slightest tremor.
"I'm not begging for my life right now."
"I could kill the likes of you here if I chose."
"But you can't."
Shupern's eyes wavered briefly.
Killing the boy would be as easy as snapping a twig.
But the information he possessed weighed on Shupern's mind.
The boy understood that perfectly as he spoke.
"If I tell you everything I know, you won't need me anymore. That's why I don't want to."
"What...?"
"I'm proposing a deal. I'll catch the spies. In return, accept me into the knight order."
Shupern let out a hollow laugh.
"You have already done enough to deserve death. And now you propose a deal with me?"
"Don't you have more reasons to keep me alive than to kill me?"
"Ha."
Shupern laughed incredulously.
Then, gripping the brooch, he asked.
"Perhaps you are a spy. Are you a Noxis spy?"
"Yes."
The answer came without a moment's hesitation.
Hummm—. A faint vibration came from the brooch in Shupern's hand.
The green gem turned red in an instant.
Rohan smiled when he saw it.
"Just as I thought. That object changes color when someone lies."
"......."
"You looked at it every time you asked me a question, so I was curious."
Shupern was speechless.
The boy had been testing an artifact's function in a situation where his life was at stake.
He was not a normal child by any measure.
Rohan pointed at the brooch.
"Then you must also know that everything I've said so far is true."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'll catch the spies within a week."
Shupern's eyes narrowed.
"And if you can't?"
"You can kill me."
Rohan answered calmly.
"But if I succeed, accept me into the knight order."
Shupern did not answer for some time.
The boy's words sounded absurd, but he could not dismiss them entirely.
Hans had concealed his identity as a spy for three years.
The boy before him was the one who had recognized Hans.
Moreover, he even knew about the imperial palace's top-secret operation.
At the very least, it was clear that the boy possessed information they did not.
"You don't seem to have considered that I might torture the information out of you."
Rohan smiled brightly.
It was like watching someone who did not know when to smile doing so at the wrong moment.
"You don't seem to have considered that I won't open my mouth."
Shupern sank into thought for a moment.
He could imprison the boy and extract the information.
But with Noxis aware of the imperial palace's operation, he could not wrestle with this boy forever.
If he stirred up the unit in search of spies, there was also a risk that they would notice.
If he could use the boy to catch them, that would be a gain as well.
In the end, Shupern yielded a step.
"One week."
"What?"
"I'll give you a chance for one week."
Rohan raised his head.
"Then will you accept me into the knight order?"
"Do not misunderstand."
Shupern's voice turned cold.
"Find the spies under my supervision for one week. That is my condition."
"......."
"If you succeed, I'll consider letting you join. If you fail, or kill anyone without orders again, I'll execute you on the spot."
"All right."
Rohan nodded readily.
"But I have a condition too."
"What?"
Shupern frowned.
He had granted enough of the boy's demands, yet there was another condition?
Without waiting for an answer, Rohan spoke.
"Send me to Creed's squad."
Creed, the Fourth Squad Leader.
The squad leader who had tried to bring his sword down on Rohan only moments ago.