Chapter 371 - Persuading the Constable

"What did you say!"

Polman Vertes. Encrid had memorized the name without meaning to. He looked at the man shouting with his face flushed red. A constable. A government official, in other words. And a noble, of course.

Did they pull nobles out of some bottomless pouch inside that palace? 'Aren't there too many of them?'

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry was a viscount, a baron, a vice baron, some blue-blooded noble. Hadn't they been handing out titles a little too freely? The idle thoughts flashed through his mind, faded, and vanished. How many nobles there were was none of his concern.

Though he did think that, with so many around, losing a few wouldn't hurt. "Look here."

Rem picked his ear as he addressed the furious Polman.

"Now. Listen carefully." "You wretch! Who do you think you are, speaking out of turn!"

He appeared to be a guard captain in charge of another gate. SMACK!

At his furious outburst, the south gate guard captain slapped his own forehead behind him. He looked as though he were thinking, Why's that idiot butting in and making a scene? Encrid knew armies. He knew soldiers. How many of these men had come of their own free will?

The quicker-witted, better-informed soldiers looked uncomfortable. They knew what the people before them had done for them. These people had dealt with the Moonlight Beast, ensuring the safety of their families, fellow citizens, comrades, and friends. They had done the soldiers' jobs for them.

Unease showed in their eyes and on their faces. There were particularly many such men around the south gate guard captain. Rem blithely ignored the man who had interrupted and continued.

"This Moonlight Beast was killing and threatening citizens. But you couldn't handle it, huh? So even a proto knight came along to help us catch it. And once we caught it, it turned out to be some bastard called Vantra, or Toad, or whatever. And now what? Murder?" "You wreeetch!"

Apparently furious beyond measure, one of the guard captains raised a spear taller than himself. He looked ready to attack at any moment.

Rem lowered the hand he'd been picking his ear with and looked at him. He looked ready to cut the man down the instant he attacked. "W-wait, just a moment."

The south gate guard captain hurried forward. Left alone, this would become a catastrophe. He had seen Encrid's group fight. Polman, consumed by jealousy, had seized what he saw as an opportunity and rushed out, but the captain had tried to stop him to the very end. He had defied him so fiercely that, once this complicated situation was over, he would no longer be able to keep his post.

Still, nothing had changed. He had been dragged here in the end. He couldn't very well die for insubordination, could he? He had come feeling as though he were licking Ghoul blood despite knowing it was poisonous.

But he couldn't simply stand by, either. If he did nothing, all his men would die. His comrades would be cut down by axes and swords, their severed heads rolling across the ground. He couldn't stand by and watch that happen. "There's been a misunderstanding."

Polman's eyes narrowed angrily at the south gate guard captain's intervention.

"Stand down! Know your place!" Where did authority and dignity come from?

Looking at Krang made the answer clear. They came from the person himself. He walked differently, spoke differently. His words carried a different weight.

The trust and faith he earned through his actions gave his words power. "On your knees, now!"

Then did the man before him possess authority and dignity?

Judging by the force behind his voice, he sounded like a mosquito buzzing in his ear. Here was a pathetic man blinded by jealousy. His voice was low and imitated dignity, yet he sounded like an immature child whining. Indeed, coming all this way might itself have been a tantrum. 'Have I been seeing too many exceptional people lately?'

Krang, the Marquis of Fertile Lands, Luagarne, Aesia, and the like. Even the whip-bearing guard had come to face the Moonlight Beast. Protecting his lord was his highest priority, but he had acted because he knew that upholding his lord's wishes came first.

His actions offered glimpses of spirit, duty, purpose, and conviction. He had seemed not a tool of Krang's, but a man with something he had chosen for himself. Compared with people like that, the fellow whining before him looked all the more pathetic.

Encrid had ears, too. Hadn't he heard that the constable was grinding his teeth in jealousy over Encrid's attendance at the parties? "If you didn't come to talk, we might as well get started."

Ragna stepped forward from behind him as he spoke. SMACK.

The south gate guard captain slapped his forehead again. This was driving him mad. The constable thought he had endured quite enough. These vermin were even disregarding the dignity of a noble.

This certainly wasn't because the lady he fancied had fallen for Encrid at first sight. He was a constable, a noble, while the other man was nothing but a lowly soldier. From the rumors going around, hadn't he even gained his standing by stealing credit for his comrades' achievements? The rumors inflated by Encrid's jealous detractors were snowballing. And the willfully deaf constable heard only what he wanted to hear.

Even when he heard Encrid called the hero of Border Guard, he ignored it. Viscount Vantra had turned into some monster?

The fact that he really had turned into a monster was beside the point. This was an opportunity for the constable. Hadn't Viscount Mernes subtly encouraged him, too? To go and finish things. The result was this situation, and the words he now uttered.

"Bind them!" At the constable's order, two guard-captain-level commanders and three or four cavalrymen dismounted and approached. Their air was decidedly menacing. Even if they were merely rumors, the feats attributed to Encrid were extraordinary. If even some of them were true, he was beyond anything these men could handle.

That they stepped forward anyway showed just how widely the false rumors about him had spread. Encrid watched the approaching group indifferently. Should he go along quietly? No. Even if they asked nicely, he mustn't go.

He knew instinctively. 'It's already begun.'

Otherwise, would they come to arrest him when he had Krang and Marcus behind him? "Arrest Vice Baron Andrew as well. He faces the same charges. You may kill them if they resist."

"Hmph."

Andrew snorted at that. Go on, then. Just try it. That was his attitude. This Polman fellow's eyes swept over the weapons Encrid and his companions carried. He seemed almost to be praying for them to attack.

They granted his wish. There was no need for any great battle. Ignoring the approaching men entirely, Encrid spoke.

"Dunbachel, grab him and bring him here."

There was no need for Ragna or Rem to step in. A lone Beastman shot forward. A white shadow stretched into a streak, her short white hair looking like a long line. One of the guard captains reflexively thrust his spear. His specialty was wielding it with complete freedom. Among ordinary soldiers, he was highly skilled, but Dunbachel was a Beastman even Aesia acknowledged. As she ran, she flicked the spearhead aside with her claws to deflect its course, then grabbed the shaft and hurled it sideways.

"Urgh!"

The guard captain, still stubbornly gripping his spear, tumbled aside. Another three or four soldiers blocked her way. Dunbachel didn't even draw her curved swords. She closed in, hooked a foot behind a shin to trip one, and punched toward a jaw.

Their helmets didn't protect their jaws. They were particularly vulnerable to a fist driven upward from close range. THUD. WHOOSH. WHACK. CRACK.

After a few noises, the soldiers blocking the way to the constable fell in a heap. Dunbachel didn't stop. This was merely a step along the way. She surged farther forward. Seeing her, the constable reached for the sword at his waist, a wide-bladed broadsword.

By the time his hand reached the grip, Dunbachel was already before him on his horse. She seized the wrist of the hand trying to draw his sword. The constable was still mounted, and his startled horse reared with a whinny.

"Whoa, whoa!"

The startled constable was dragged down by the wrist. His foot caught in the saddle, and his ankle bent the wrong way with a crunch. His left foot had come free, but his right had caught in the stirrup. "Aaaaargh!"

The constable screamed at the sudden pain. Dunbachel hauled him the rest of the way down by force.

Thus, his scream began on horseback and ended before Encrid. Dunbachel had stepped forward, knocked down five soldiers in an instant, and dragged the constable off his horse by the wrist to bring him before Encrid. The capital's chief of the constabulary, the constable's immediate subordinate and the highest-ranking man present apart from him, started to move, then stopped.

'What the fuck is this?' In truth, he hadn't even dared try to stop her. Standing right beside the constable, he had barely managed to draw his sword.

The blade's thin ringing as it left the sheath expressed his feelings perfectly. It sounded powerless, devoid of confidence. Or perhaps it had only sounded that way to him. He held his sword out before him.

But was it really all right to swing this? She was clearly no ordinary fighter. He should have brought someone from the knight order. A proto knight, specifically.

He had once been a squire himself, and he had brought a knight-order member, but judging by the present situation, he had brought the wrong person.

His companion was a squire. Not a proto knight. "Can you stop her?"

The chief asked in a low voice. The wide-eyed squire to his left answered without taking his eyes off her.

"She's above me." He had left out the word "far," but the squire had known at first glance. Could he handle that Beastman if she attacked him?

They said you couldn't know who would win until you fought, but he could recognize the gap in skill at a glance. Her movements alone told him. At the very least, she was a top-tier squire, just short of a proto knight, or already at that level.

Her movements and techniques warranted that assessment. Her strikes took full advantage of a Beastman's athletic abilities. And there was something that felt even more dangerous: the man giving her orders, and the others watching without a care.

The soldiers were cowed by their very bearing. No one could say a word. The chief, the squire, everyone kept their mouths shut. Their highest-ranking commander had just been captured, after all.

They all saw the constable sprawled on the ground before Encrid, unable to stand on his twisted ankle, cold sweat pouring off him. "How dare you!"

Though cowed, he remained defiant to the last. He had no authority or dignity, but he did have stubbornness. Well, he would need at least that much to hold his position. Encrid looked at him and asked,

"Proto Knight Aesia was with us. Are you sure the charge is murdering Viscount Vantra?" "Proto Knight Aesia? Did you think invoking a knight-order member would get you out of this? These people are traitors! What are you all doing!"

Blinded by jealousy, the constable had thrown any grasp of the situation to the dogs. He shrieked. The squire watching him took a step forward. Someone had to speak sensibly.

The chief beside him showed no intention of opening his mouth, and ultimately, he had come here to say this anyway. "That is correct. Dame Aesia, the proto knight, denied none of the charges."

The squire raised his voice. "Then has she been arrested too?"

Encrid turned his gaze on him. His blue eyes stared straight at the squire.

"She belongs to the knight order." The squire wanted to swallow hard. His tension had heightened the instant their eyes met. Even so, he maintained an outwardly calm reply. Encrid considered the squire's words. Did he mean a knight-order member couldn't be held accountable for something like this? It sounded as though Aesia hadn't been arrested.

Then what was happening elsewhere? At the very least, something had clearly happened inside the palace. As Encrid pieced together the situation through a few deductions, the constable shouted. "What are you doing! Arrest these traitors at once!"

He remained stubborn to the end. The tear tracks at the corners of his eyes robbed his words of their weight.

He certainly talked well for a man who had cried from pain. His tongue was the only thing about him better than a Ghoul's. Encrid chose the quickest way to persuade him. In truth, he was getting a little noisy. WHACK!

He promptly kicked the man in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. He had kicked as though it wouldn't matter if the man died, and his neck bent with a crunch. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, however, he didn't die.

His neck bent sideways, and he hit the ground nose-first, drooling. A quick look confirmed he was only unconscious. "What? If you're going to kill him, let me do it."

Rem spoke from behind him, then added with a snicker,

"Forgotten my nickname?" Noble Hunter. He certainly had peculiar hobbies.

Leaving the unconscious man where he lay, Encrid spoke. "Who's next in command? If you're thinking of ordering an all-out charge or something, think carefully. I have no intention of turning Andrew's mansion into a graveyard." He meant to show them some kindness. The south gate guard captain was among them. That man had fought for people, for the capital's safety.

Didn't that alone deserve respect? He walked the right path. Encrid had seen that and made it the basis of his judgment.

He couldn't know everything, so naturally he based his choices on what he had heard, seen, and learned. That was what Encrid did. "I'd appreciate an explanation of what's happened at the palace," he said next. Something had definitely happened. Otherwise, this would have been impossible.

Had the constable simply gone rogue? If he were the sort to act over so little, he would have barged in long ago on whatever pretext he could find.

Why had he only come now? Because permission had been granted. Krang had said this Viscount Mernes fellow was the biggest problem.

The ominous air prickled against his skin. Encrid broke off and turned his gaze to one side. CLOP-CLOP! CLOP-CLOP!

The hoofbeats alone conveyed urgency. They were drawing closer to the mansion. "Help me!"

A shout joined them. Leaving the men before him where they stood, Encrid kicked off the ground and launched himself up onto the mansion wall.

Rem followed to his side, pushing off the wall with quick steps to spring to the top. His wall-climbing skills were exceptional. Some of the constabulary flinched at the sight and started to move, but—

"Stay still."

Ragna stopped them. The sheer pressure he exuded was on a different level. Everyone halted. From atop the wall, Encrid saw someone racing down the bluestone-paved road.

It was Marcus. He was the one who had cried for help, too. Someone was running after him in pursuit.

The pursuer was oddly dressed, wearing something like a cloak made of several layers of leather. Spears followed along above both shoulders as though floating in the air.