Duke Pendragon

"The Shadow Brotherhood. Quintuplets…"

Vincent stroked his chin while narrowing his eyes after reading a letter from the Twilight Tower. As expected, the masters of the tower were very knowledgeable.

The Shadow Brotherhood was certainly a great assassination organization.

"However…"

His lord had already revealed the entire truth about the attempted kidnappings in front of the emperor and numerous nobles of the imperial castle. It wasn't only the nobles of the empire, but rather the general public who were angry with Mirin's Margrave.

However, Vincent instinctively knew that there was bound to be more.

His lord was wise. His lord wouldn't have intentionally revealed the truth to the world in a grand fashion without a proper reason. And Vincent knew that the purpose of his lord's actions was to drive Mirin's Margrave and the hidden forces into a dead end.

If that were the case, it was Vincent's responsibility to properly unravel his lord's intentions and act accordingly.

"I sent two of the strongest people remaining in the kingdom to York Town. In that case…"

Vincent's eyes glimmered with light.

The bait was set.

How would the quintuplets of the Shadow Brotherhood react?

"It's most likely that…"

A smile of cold conviction came to Vincent's mouth, rather than his usual sly, good-natured smile. The Shadow Brotherhood was involved in all kinds of incidents involving murder and kidnapping, and all of its members were characters possessing unique, splendid skills.

In particular, the leader, or rather, the leaders of the organization were prodigies of assassinations. Number 1 were geniuses of the trade who would be born only once every decade or so. They were known to share all of their senses, their thoughts, their will, as well as their emotions.

In addition, one of them had been responsible for stabbing Luna with the Evil Blade, Carnion…

"Although they disappeared like smoke afterwards…"

Even though the Twilight Tower had already roughly identified the identity of the Shadow Brotherhood, it was quite difficult to track the organization's movements. It was because their location could never be specified.

They had no headquarters, and the locations of the leaders were unknown as well.

"But they cannot escape this time…"

Now Vincent knew where they were located. Moreover, he knew their next course of action. And that was why Vincent could smile as the genius regent of the Pendragon Kingdom.

Ring!

He rang a small silver bell on his desk.

"Did you call, Your Excellency?"

"Is Baroness Conrad currently in her quarters?"

"Yes."

"Please let her know that I would like to visit her."

"Understood, Your Excellency."

Vincent's assisting servant bowed before quietly stepping out.

***

Clop. Clop…

The horses and carriage slowly advanced on the royal road. The heavy snow had been cleared by the scouting party. The number of passersby had also dropped to almost zero since the last time they were on the road.

However, Killian remained vigilant as he continued to observe the surroundings with sharp eyes while riding his horse.

"Captain, the scouts are returning."

"Hmm."

"There's nothing out of the ordinary up to a kilometer ahead, Captain."

"Good. Randle, Graham. This time, you two will scout ahead."

"Yes, sir!"

Once two knights reported back after scouting ahead, two other knights quickly took their spots and rode ahead of the carriage.

Killian was ensuring the group's safety by taking all necessary measures, which was why he continued to send two knights to scout ahead. At the time of the kidnapping attempt on Mia and Raymond, the enemies were said to have laid traps on the road ahead.

Although he was sure they wouldn't resort to the same trick twice, it didn't hurt to be careful.

"Is there something wrong, Captain Killian?"

Elena's voice resounded from the carriage, and Killian pulled his steed closer to the carriage before speaking.

"It's nothing, Your Majesty. We will soon be arriving at an intersection of the road leading straight to the royal castle. There is a strider post as soon as we pass that point, so I am planning for us to take a short rest there."

"Let's do that."

During the Pendragon Kingdom's long-cherished project of roadbuilding, Vincent had a post set up every 30 kilometers. The posts would act as a shelter for Striders as they monitored and protected the road, as well as a place for messengers to switch out their horses in case of an emergency. It would allow messengers to reach any place in the kingdom within two or three days.

In addition, it acted as a safe shelter for important figures of the kingdom, in this case, Elena and Elsia, to rest safely.

"Captain! There is a carriage up ahead with a missing wheel."

The two knights reported back after returning from their mission.

"What? Hmm…"

Killian narrowed his eyes.

There were two bridges in the upcoming intersection. Crossing the left bridge would allow the group to head straight to the royal castle without coming across any more crossroads.

And just when they had finally arrived at a relatively safe checkpoint…

"What should we do?"

"We will ignore them and pass by. Keep your heads up and watch their movements."

"Yes."

The royal knights were determined not to let anything happen. They were well aware of the humiliation and shame experienced by their colleagues who had been escorting Mia and Raymond.

Clop! Clop!

The intersection could be seen far away.

Just as the scouting knights reported, a carriage led by two horses was stopped on the side of the road, and two men were examining the bottom of the carriage and its wheels.

"Ah!"

The two men closely watched the carriage approach before exclaiming when they saw the symbol hanging from the front of the carriage.

"We greet the great lineage of the dragon, the Royal Family of Pendragon!"

They took off their hats and bowed politely.

Killian responded with a curt nod and carefully examined them before attempting to continue on his way towards the left bridge.

"E, excuse me!"

"Hmm?"

Killian turned his sharp gaze after hearing the expected response. The man appeared to be a servant of a noble family. He spoke carefully after receiving Killian's fierce gaze.

"I, I apologize, but the wheel shaft of our carriage has become splintered. Could sirs possibly help us?"

"Where are you headed?"

"We were going to the border…"

"If you cross the Redhorn Bridge to the right and travel for about 10 kilometers, you will come across a Strider post. It will only take a couple of hours on foot, so you may ask for help there."

The servant nodded at Killian's words. However, he had a troubled expression.

"But the sun is about to fall… I, I will forever be in debt if you could help us out, sir knights."

"Do you even know who is in this carriage? How dare you attempt to interrupt the royal family's procession!?"

"O, our master is also on his way back from attending the banquet of Her Majesty the Queen and Her Highness the Princess in York Town. Please show us mercy!"

A royal knight roared, and the servant fell to the floor. The door of the broken carriage opened and a figure walked out. It was a young man with a gentle, ordinary impression. His physique was quite normal, and he had no distinguishing characteristics.

"I am Carl Lloyd, eldest son of Baron Lloyd, the lord of Eastwen. Things are a little urgent, so I would really appreciate it if you could lend us some help."

"Hmm…"

Killian scrutinized the young man and his two servants.

He could not feel any trace of spirit from the three people. It meant that they wouldn't be a threat. Perhaps he would have helped them in ordinary circumstances.

However, now wasn't the time. In addition…

"What's going on, Captain Killian?"

Elena called out from inside the carriage. Killian inched closer before explaining the situation.

"Yes, Your Majesty. The wheel of their carriage seems to have fallen off. It's the eldest son of Baron Lloyd, the lord of Eastwen."

"Is that so? Please help them out if you can."

"Ah! Your Majesty the Queen…! It is an honor!"

The man who introduced himself as Carl Lloyd bowed his head with an ecstatic expression. It appeared he was thrilled to hear the voice of the Pendragon Kingdom's elder queen.

However…

"But, Sir Killian, isn't Baron Kevin Lloyd the lord of Eastwen?"

"That is correct, Your Majesty."

"….."

The three figures flinched ever-so-slightly while bowing.

"Sir Kevin Lloyd is a renowned knight in Eastwen. Is that right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. He is famous for being an outstanding swordsman. He has three sons, two of whom were great knights following in their father's footsteps. They are capable enough to apply to become royal knights."

"I see. And the one asking for our help is the eldest son?"

"Yes. And he is also known to be an outstanding knight as well. But strangely enough…"

Killian's hand reached for his longsword's pommel.

"I cannot feel any spirit that a knight should possess. It means that he is either an unparalleled knight who is even stronger than His Majesty the King, or that he is intentionally hiding it."

Fwooosh!

Killian pulled out his longsword and exuded a fierce spirit. The other royal knights also riled up their spirit and unsheathed their weapons as if they had been waiting.

"….."

However, the three bowing figures did not react to the actions of the royal knights and the Captain of the White Dragon Knights. In fact, they remained motionless for a short while.

Soon, Carl Lloyd slowly raised his head and straightened his posture.

"I made a mistake. To think you would know the Lloyd family."

The two servants followed suit and raised their heads while dusting their pants.

"That's why I suggested we choose a less famous noble. I told you that we might get caught."

"I don't think that's the problem here. Even third-rate mercenaries wouldn't have tried something like this."

"You might not expect it, but classic, cliched methods can often work wonders. Especially against such great figures…"

The impression of the three people underwent a transformation. Before, all of them had been extremely uncharacteristic and ordinary, but now they were more conspicuous. It wasn't as if their faces had changed. However, their straight posture and the sharp, swirling light in their eyes were quite memorable.

It was enough for Killian and the royal knights to detect danger.

"Was it you guys? Were you the ones responsible for attempting to kidnap Princess Mia and Prince Raymond?"

Killian spoke while glaring with menacing eyes.

"I guess you could say that, but it isn't completely true."

"To be exact, it wasn't us, since we are only us."

"That's right. Those who aren't us are nothing more than puppets."

"Since all of you insist on barking nonsense, it must mean that you were involved."

Fwoosh!

Killian's spirit burned brighter with anger.

In step with his action, the rest of royal knights surrounded the three figures, with the exception of a few knights escorting the carriage. However, even though the strongest knights of the Pendragon Kingdom were erupting with anger-driven spirit, the three figures appeared calm and composed.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter since we were going to get rid of them anyway."

"That's right. The dead don't talk."

"Except for us…"

The whispers of their fallen brother still lingered in their ears. They were staring at the dragon's symbol. The one responsible for the murder of their brethren was the master of that very symbol.

Paaaa…

Their eyes filled with an evil energy, and a similar, malicious spirit began flowing from their bodies.

"Everyone, be careful! They can use magic!"

Killian raised his voice. It was the first time he was encountering such an energy. It felt similar to his past encounter with the evil sorcerer who called himself the "Nameless One."

'This might be a little dangerous…'

He didn't know how things would have turned out if his lord had been absent during the encounter with the evil sorcerer. However, Killian wasn't afraid.

It was because…

"One. I will leave only one alive, since I'll need one to spill all their secrets before dying in the most horrible fashion!"

Rumbleee!

Not many were aware of Killian's true skills. However, witnesses would unhesitatingly agree that Killian, the orthodox knight of Pendragon, was the second strongest knight in the Pendragon Kingdom.