accomplice (3)
30 minutes later.
After the hearing, Tomahawk returned to the quarters where Leonard was. In order to tell the news that he had done it, that he had delayed the hearing as requested, he boldly opened the door to the quarters.
“Leonard! I did-”
But there was no Leonard in my class.
Only the black magician chained in chains greeted him with his teeth bared, and a piece of paper was left on the bed Leonard was sitting on.
“… but, you don’t have one.”
Tomahawk scratched his head shyly. The empty air currents of the quarter touched my skin.
After sniffing for a moment, Tomahawk checked the paper on the bed. It was filled with Leonard’s elegant handwriting.
[Mr. Tomahawk.
As soon as you find this memo, please come to the Merimo Cafe near the Imperial Palace. Also, please dispose of this paper immediately and thoroughly crack down on the door of the office. Please do not have any conversations with the imperial family guards on the way, and do not have any doubts or thoughts about this situation. Please keep in mind. ]
“…?”
Tomahawk’s brow naturally furrowed. He pondered the contents of the memo for a while.
Don’t even talk to the imperial family guards, don’t even think about this situation.
What kind of nonsense is this?
“·······”
Tomahawk stared blankly at the paper, then tore it to shreds. After crushing the shape beyond recognition, it was thrown in the trash.
I don’t know what Leonard-sama is thinking, but he must have had an idea.
Tak-tak- I turned my hand and headed to Café Merimo.
······
The outdoor parking lot of Café Merimo.
I am sitting in the back seat of the sedan. My driver, Ergon, is having a drink at a cafe, and there is only my sedan in the parking lot. The languid peace of autumn hovered around.
Booo
After a while, a top-of-the-line sedan stopped beside it. Jiying- The back seat window rolled down, revealing Karios’ face. Karios frowned and said.
– I don’t know if this car is right since I haven’t seen it in a long time.
-Leonard’s sedan is correct, Master.
– Is that so? But why is there no response?
Karios poked his head out the window and looked around to find me.
I watched it silently.
The tinting was strong, so it was invisible from the outside, but from the inside, the outside situation was clearly visible.
– Where did you go to the bathroom?
Karios got out of the car and pressed his face against the window.
It was so ridiculous that it was almost a waste to watch it alone. When I lowered the window, the boy’s cheeks twisted as if under gravity.
“Woo-wook-”
Karios grabbed his face and took a step back. After tapping both cheeks, he looked at me in the car.
“I was surprised. If you were inside, why didn’t you come out?”
“I’ll just deliver the stuff anyway.”
I passed the bundle out the window. It was a bundle containing the ‘Mission Record of the Immortal Knights’.
“The book you lent me the other day. Thank you. Thanks for helping me a lot.”
“Ohhh… Looks like you finally lifted the seal.”
Karios gave a thumbs up while looking at the bundle and at me. Sealing the annals is a level of difficulty equivalent to the ‘7 Continental Conundrums’, so it was a natural reaction in a way.
“I knew you could do it, Leonard. Is there anything else you need? Or would you like to ask?”
“no. Just go.”
I said emphatically.
Then, Carios asked back as if he was dumbfounded.
“······already?”
“why? Anything else to say?”
“No, it’s not like that, but…”
After a moment of hesitation, the boy smiled brightly. Like a puppy that wants to be played with, he raised the corners of his mouth.
“Still, we haven’t seen each other in a while, and it’s boring because we’re always at home, but how about clearing up old grievances while meeting? If you go to the cafe over there and drink something-”
Geeing-
I furiously raised the window.
I know you’re bored, but now wasn’t the time for leisurely chatting. Because I had to prepare for the hearing that was about to resume.
-Leonard? Leonard? Is it really like this? It’s been several years since we’ve been together, but how can it be so coldly…
“·······”
I stared straight ahead without a word. Karios, who grumbled for a while, boarded his sedan shortly after. As if representing his feelings, the sedan left the parking lot with a loud exhaust sound.
Woo-woo-!
Sedan slowly drifting away.
I stared at the back and thought.
“·······”
The Imperial Family Protection Plate, which can be said to be the culprit behind this situation.
The source was none other than Sir Bernos. Fifteen years ago from now, Sir Bernos died while on a mission to subjugate warlocks. The official record was that the death was caused by a demonic attack, but the truth was otherwise.
Sir Bernos was killed by an attack mage, not a witch beast. That too, by Knight Commander Terios. By a well-planned trap.
I blankly looked out the window.
“…Is it because of that setting?”
“A father who would do anything for his son.”
It was a sentence that implicitly explained Terios. It was a character set in order to instill a strong background for Karios and to create a helper who would cover the main character’s mistakes.
Could that setting be the problem?
Therios killed Bernos. By removing the pillar of the group (Bernos), the authority of the Imperial Guard was weakened, and the incident was caused by using Bernos’s Imperial Guard. As a result, the Imperial Guard fell into a total of two crises, which would act as an opportunity for the offensive line, that is, Karios.
I never thought that the character that was put in for the convenience of the writer would bring about such a big butterfly effect.
“under······”
I let out a deep sigh. I closed my eyes for a moment and calmed my mind.
It’s already too late to regret.
Once a setting was written, it could not be reversed, and this situation could not be prevented in advance. It was a bomb that should have exploded. So focus only on getting the best out of the worst.
My goal is to clear the stigma of the Imperial Guard.
The information currently possessed is Vervine and Annals.
However, neither could be used as evidence at the hearing.
According to ‘Annals of the Mission of the Immortal Knights’, Vervain was abducted when he was three years old. After that, all memories were erased through the brainwashing curse, and I lived in a state without an ego for 15 years. Even if you break the brainwashing curse by doing so, you will not be able to fulfill your role as a witness. You will spend the rest of your life as a conscious vegetative person, with no memories.
Its brutal life is written, but all the evil deeds of the Immortal Knights are recorded, but the Annals could not be used as evidence either. This is because the Annals can only be read by the emperor.
If it is revealed that I have read the Annals, I too will face severe punishment.
In order to avoid all those restrictions, to reveal the truth without the Annals and Verbain… that is the only way.
“·······”
I moved my gaze to the passenger seat. I looked at the bag containing the ‘Immortal Knights Robe’ I made myself.
Tonight, break into the headquarters of the Immortal Knights once again. And hang there…
-This is it.
Just when I was determined, Ergon approached me with a Tomahawk in a sedan.
-The owner is waiting for the captain of the guard inside the sedan.
Ergon bowed his head and went back to the cafe.
Tomahawk approached with a hesitant sedan. I slowly looked inside the car and opened the back seat door.
“Did you call?”
“Please sit down.”
I suggested sitting next to it. Tomahawk came into the sedan lightly.
A calm air flowed inside.
“·······”
Tomahawk, who glanced at me carefully, opened his mouth.
“I… the hearing.”
“I already heard. You responded well as I asked.”
I laughed lightly. Only then did Tomahawk’s face light up. He said in an excited voice like a child receiving a Christmas present.
“Oh, did you hear? It was the first hearing, but the pressure was no joke, right? My hands were sweating and my heart was beating so fast that I almost had a heart attack. But once again, the fear disappeared. Everything goes as Leonard-sama said, but how amazing it is…”
He poured out his words without hesitation. It seemed that the afterglow of the hearing was still left. I know the pride, but I couldn’t delay any longer.
I said in a low voice.
“Temporary Guard Captain.”
“Yes······?”
For a moment, Tomahawk’s expression froze. His chattering mouth was tightly shut, and beads of sweat formed on his shiny skinhead.
It was a misunderstanding that he had done something wrong.
“Why are you doing that…?”
In order to uncover the truth of this situation, Tomahawk’s help was inevitably needed. Tomahawk was the one who could attend the hearing right away and the helper who would fill that ‘role’.
I looked at the tomahawk with serious eyes.
“Listen carefully. Tomorrow morning, the fact that the Imperial Guard has captured the warlock will be announced throughout the empire.”
“yes? But that’s because we infiltrated the Immortal Knights-”
“Of course, with the information that Tomahawk and the crew ‘accidentally’ arrested them.”
“·······”
Tomahawk said no more. As if the thoughts in my head had stopped, only my eyes blinked as if I couldn’t understand.
To him, I spoke.
“Tomorrow at 3 am, I will release the warlock near the imperial palace. At that time, Tomahawk-sama, who was patrolling the area, accidentally found the warlock and arrested him. Then tomorrow morning all the news outlets will put the news on the front page of the newspaper. Do you understand?”
Tomahawk barely nodded.
“······yes. All right.”
“There are only conditions.”
“Conditions?”
“You have to go out on patrol with pure intentions. You must never recall the thought of apprehending a warlock or the conversation you had with me. It should be just normal, routine patrol.”
I opened the door of the back seat with [Depression]. He pointed to the imperial palace in the distance and said.
“Keep in mind. It’s 3 am, near the imperial palace.”
“······All right. I will follow your orders without making any mistakes this time.”
Tomahawk puts one hand on his chest, formally. Suddenly, a sense of spleen dwelled in his pupils.
“I’ll just go.”
Tomahawk turned calmly.
I stared at the scenery of the imperial palace spreading over his shoulder.
The cloudless sky is piercingly blue, and the desolate autumn air sharply penetrates the skin.
“·······”
A second hearing that was not in the original.
I will definitely overturn that unpredictable battleground, the absolutely unfavorable game.
＊＊＊
That night.
Headquarters of the Immortal Knights.
It’s past midnight, but the Immortal Knights are all awake. All but the minimum troops mobilized all over the continent to find Verbain, and the rest of the personnel searched inside the headquarters. I searched everywhere to find the traces of the culprit who stole the berwein.
“Nothing has been found in the lower levels.”
“Does that make sense? Did two people come and go? Stop talking nonsense and look again.”
“All right!”
The lowest level of headquarters.
Temporary Knight Commander Rectacio shouted as he looked around at the Knights.
“Don’t miss a little dust, a hair, find it all! If we don’t find out by the next hearing, we’ll all be dead. Okay?”
“”Yep!!””
The knights crawled on the floor and searched for traces of the intruder.
It has been 24 hours since the external and internal search was conducted.
But there was no income whatsoever. I searched the whole country, but I couldn’t find the shadow of Verbine, and even if I searched the whole inside of the headquarters, there was no trace of the intruder. Not even that common hair was visible.
It was truly a matter for a ghost to sing.
“I’ll be sick…”
Rectacio glared at the crew with his ax eye. It was clear that there was a traitor inside. Otherwise, he could not have committed such a perfect crime.
“I’ll be up there, tell me right away if you find anything.”
“All right!”
Rectacio headed to the Knight Commander’s office. I tried to check the list of recent transferees. That time when I was walking up the stairs.
“…?”
Something sparkled on the stairs on the first floor. It was a small cubic. Unfamiliar yet somehow familiar.
“no way······”
Suddenly, lightning flashed in my head.
Rectacio hurriedly took off his robe and contrasted the skull pattern on his chest with the cubic.
A similarly shiny cubic.
However, the size was completely different. It was twice as small as the cubic used in the Immortal Knights’ robes. I’m sure it wasn’t an accessory on our side.
Another robe drawn in my head at the same time.
A group that is close to the Immortal Knights, but with a polar opposite inclination. Shield patterns painted on their backs.
“·······”
Only then did Rectacio realize why no trace was found. I became aware of the reason why not a single strand of hair came out.
The intruder is the one with no hair at all.
“Temporary Guard Captain Tomahawk… It was your fault .”