DKFTI 126

“What brings you here?”

“Ah, the priest in charge of your shift said something suddenly happened, and asked me to tell you he’d be a little late.”

Sibel quickly replied, and the knights let out a sigh.

“That guy’s always like that. He’s the only one who’s busy, huh? Never thinks about how hard it is for us.”

They sounded pretty irritated. Well, it wasn’t Sibel’s problem anyway.

The holy knights grumbled about the absent priest for a while, then turned to look at the two standing nearby.

“Why are you looking at us like that?”

“Oh, I completely understand how you feel.”

At that moment, Sibel quickly stepped forward and placed his hand over the knight’s. Aizen frowned when he saw that. Why was that guy suddenly grabbing someone’s hand like that?

“He’s really selfish, right?”

“Well… yes, that’s true. He’s often late and keeps changing what he says.”

“We know all about that. He doesn’t have a shred of responsibility.”

Just by the way he dumped the message on a random person and left, it was obvious his reputation wasn’t great. And Sibel’s guess was right.

“Everyone has complaints, even if they don’t say them out loud.”

The holy knight took the bait. Sibel almost blurted out, “Didn’t you just say plenty a minute ago?”

“I know, I know.”

“Well, thanks for understanding. Priests love to look down on us holy knights. Especially those of us in the lower ranks…”

Apparently, there were hierarchies here too. Sibel nodded quickly.

“Really, the temple’s full of problems. They don’t even treat people like you properly when you’re doing such hard work.”

“Hmm, is that so.”

The sympathy seemed to make the holy knight embarrassed. Sibel immediately seized that opportunity.

“Since he’ll probably be here soon, why don’t you take your break? We can watch this place for you.”

“But the replacement hasn’t arrived yet. Something must’ve happened. Everyone’s late, both here and there.”

“Could something have happened? You should go check. Leave this place to us, don’t worry.”

Sibel smiled brightly at the holy knight. The knights exchanged glances.

“Yes, nothing’s gonna happen in a safe place like this. It’ll be just for a moment. Just a moment.”

It was a devil’s whisper. Then one of the holy knights spoke up.

“You’re right. It’s already been an hour. Our shift’s twice as long as usual, I’m dying here. Let’s go find the next team.”

“Yes, I’m worried something might’ve happened too.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

Sibel was satisfied with how smoothly the conversation was going. Unfortunately, there was at least one person among them who still had his head screwed on straight.

“But we can’t all leave. It’s not like priests have any real strength.”

“Then some of us stay, and some go.”

“I’ll go too. I can’t stand this anymore.”

Three of them started moving.

“Yes, it’s fine. One’s enough to stay behind.”

When the three left their posts, Sibel and Aizen exchanged looks.

***

A holy knight was asleep nearby. Not by choice, of course, but thanks to Aizen’s hand strike. Sibel looked around while checking the unconscious man.

“How are your hands even that fast…”

“Is that really what matters right now?”

“But your technique’s good. You were able to knock him out safely.”

He wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to praise, but he complimented Aizen for knocking the knight out safely.

Aizen immediately started picking the lock. His quick, precise hand movements almost looked like performance art.

How could someone like that be the hero of the Holy Kingdom…?

“There.”

Aizen unlocked it in no time. It felt too easy. It should’ve been at least somewhat difficult, but when things went too smoothly, it only made Sibel nervous. Then again, after breaking out of a prison, maybe “easy” wasn’t the right word.

He opened one door, and when they stepped inside..

“I knew it was too easy.”

There was another door.

“This one doesn’t have a lock.”

The large iron door had no visible mechanism. Sibel felt like he’d seen something similar before. The memory of the ghost Silo came to mind.

“No way.”

“It needs holy power.”

Aizen realized it too. The massive door required holy power to open.

“But we don’t have that. We…”

The two of them, filled only with mana, looked troubled. Then Aizen’s eyes turned toward the fallen holy knight.

Sibel could hardly believe it. Was he really going to use the man he’d just knocked out? Of course he was. Without hesitation, Aizen dragged the knight by the arm.

“Ugh…”

The knight, reacting to Aizen pulling his arm, suddenly came to his senses. Then Aizen opened his mouth.

“Hey, hey, wake up. Use your holy power.”

He slapped the holy knight’s cheek without restraint. The way he did it looked more like a thug from a back alley than a knight. Who in the world had created a monster like him?

“Ugh…”

The holy knight instinctively let holy power flow to his fingertips. As his hand touched the door, the carvings on it began to glow in gold from the point of contact.

“Kh…”

But the holy knight soon fainted again.

“What happened? Was it because he used his strength?”

“He didn’t have enough holy power to open this door in the first place.”

Aizen clicked his tongue.

“If it were the old me, I could’ve opened a door like this just by breathing on it.”

He regretted losing his holy power, but there was nothing to be done now.

“Hmm, so what do we do? Maybe there was something useful in that bag.”

He regretted losing his bag again.

“It’d be nice if we could just smash it open.”

Aizen licked his lips and stared at the door with a dangerous glint in his eyes. If he saw even the smallest crack, he looked ready to hit it with something.

But the door wasn’t that simple. Sibel started to think there might even be another door behind this one. As expected, it wasn’t going to be easy.

“We can’t handle this with just our power. Maybe we should bribe someone.”

“Ordinary holy power won’t be enough. You’d have to bribe someone at least on the level of a high priest. Can you manage that?”

“Our castle treasury’s full of things that could be worth money.”

“This place might be rotten to the core, but it won’t be easy to find a high priest willing stolen contentto sell out for money.”

“Are you sure about that?”

At Sibel’s words, Aizen fell silent for a moment, thinking, and then had nothing to say back.

“Well, I said it’d be hard, not impossible.”

Even if Aizen had spent his life being pampered as a hero praised by the Holy Kingdom, he still had enough sense to know how the world worked. No one was above money.

“So what do we do?”

“Like you said, bribing—no, recruiting someone might actually be a good idea.”

“Don’t you have anyone you were close to?”

At Sibel’s question, Aizen thought of someone. But…

“It’s more complicated than I thought.”

He had plenty of connections with high-ranking priests and holy knights. But if he showed up looking like this, who would accept him willingly?

“You don’t have any friends?”

Aizen’s brow twitched at Sibel’s teasing as he was lost in thought. Just as he was about to protest…

“Hurry.”

Because of the echoing acoustics underground, even distant sounds rang loudly. Someone was coming.

Aizen and Sibel exchanged a quick look, then hurriedly dragged the unconscious holy knight out of the room. While Sibel pulled the knight away, Aizen reset the unlocked mechanism and sealed the door again.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

There was more than one set of footsteps approaching. After locking the door, Aizen sat the holy knight down on a nearby chair. As the holy knight kept slumping sideways, Aizen held him up just in time for several people to appear before them.

“Why are you the only ones here?”

The priest they’d seen earlier in the hallway frowned when he saw the three guarding the door.

“Ah… well, the priest in charge told us he’d be late, and the others said they were tired… no, actually, they were worried because the next shift was delayed, so they went to check.”

“What? How could they leave just one person behind?”

The priest frowned. But Sibel smiled brightly and spoke again.

“We told them we’d stay here together, so they could go without worrying.”

“Even so… hmm, fine, we’re busy right now. Step aside for the moment.”

“Yes, sir!”

What was going on all of a sudden?

Something about the atmosphere felt tense. Behind the three priests who had entered, more people followed. This time, there were holy knights and a priest in unusual robes.

“Please wait a moment, High Priest Brivan.”

High Priest? Sibel’s eyes turned toward the man being addressed. It seemed the very person they’d been hoping to find had appeared. At the same moment, Aizen turned his head as well.