### Chapter 43: News (Part 2)
That night.
In the south of Alectine City, at the temporary camp of the Second Knights Order.
Dusk had faded, and the night had fully unfurled itself. A cool breeze swept through the row of tents, and the low buildings glowed brightly with light. The knights standing guard strolled under the glow, and in the distance, someone made a comment that sent them into fits of laughter echoing through the night.
“Hahahahaha—”
“Did the Vice Captain really say that?”
They staggered toward the gate, some clearly inebriated with flushed faces. One burly man with a scruffy beard suddenly threw an arm around the shoulder of a young knight beside him, leaning in to say, “Crow Dog Street, Jasmine Lane! Haha, everyone saw it! Who in the camp doesn’t know he keeps running over there with no reason at all? And then he’s all like… what is it… routine visits? Routine to check how many holes those flashy ladies have, huh!”
“Pfft hahahaha…”
“Going to those raunchy places doesn’t even break current doctrine! The Vice Captain hasn’t seen his lady in almost two years, right? We’re all men here; who doesn’t know what’s in our hearts… And then he has to act all proper in front of us…”
“He’s definitely off on another routine visit to Babatala tonight, isn’t he?”
“Tomorrow, we should all go and stretch our bones, have a little drink, and make some noise…”
As they rambled on, they wandered off, the lights dimming a bit more under the tents. On the other side, a man who had just come out of one of the rooms, still loosely clad without armor, and holding a wine pouch that looked like he just woke up, rubbed his forehead with a frown. He sensed something and looked up at the sky, but it was pitch black above, with the moon hidden behind clouds, not even a speck of starlight in sight.
Then, from behind him, a woman’s soft voice floated, “Brother, where are you going? We’re not done yet…” Hearing this, the man chuckled, took a swig of wine, and replied, “I’m coming right back,” then quickly turned and strode back to the room.
Caw—
In the distance, the raspy call of a raven echoed.
Before long, a black bird flapped its wings, swooping down from the darkened sky, perching atop the highest tent. It groomed its feathers, its scarlet eyes swiveling around with the movement of its head. Suddenly, after a moment, it transformed into a billow of black smoke, quietly dissipating and merging into the darkness behind the tent.
Then, a small figure cloaked in a cape, half-hidden by a mask, stepped out from that shadowy void.
She approached the window of the highest tent, noticing it was open but without a lit candle inside. The cloaked figure lightly rested her hand on the window frame, leaped gracefully, and flipped into the tent’s interior.
“Phew…”
In the silent room, it seemed she let out a soft sigh.
This was too easy…
I thought sneaking into the Second Knights Order’s camp in this city without getting noticed would be a hassle, especially getting into the Vice Captain’s command center. I had no idea it would be this effortless, just because half of the knights on guard were drunk, and the rest were either chatting or dozing off. The entire camp was so lax it was hard to believe—there wasn’t an ounce of vigilance. Forget about me, even a petty thief with some skills wouldn’t find it difficult to blend in.
Second Knights Order…
No wonder it takes you half a year to track down a “defecting knight”… even someone like Lilith, who has no real power, can easily take Barry out of the city…
I raised my head and looked around the dim room as I walked over to the most prominent desk placed in the middle. I had confirmed earlier with the Chaotic Power that this tent and the surrounding area had no one else around. Other than the few dozen knights stationed here, almost no one else was hanging around; most were probably off messing around, with only a few daring souls choosing to stick around the camp.
What a joke…
Is this Second Knights Order a gathering place for the Church’s incompetent knights?
Thinking this, I halfheartedly rummaged through the books and files on the desk, tugging open drawers. With no light to see, I conjured a fist-sized ball of ice above my head; the glow it emitted barely let me see the room’s layout, but it wouldn’t let the distant knights catch wind of anything amiss.
“Legend of Knight Hogg… Redemption of Banner…”
“This guy seems to really like novels…”
“The Key of Liyea… I think I’ve seen this in my father’s study… Huh? The Night of Blooming Desire? What kind of book is this…”
“Tsk… pervert…”
Not finding what I wanted, I turned and walked to the cupboard in the back. When I opened it, I saw it was mostly empty, only hanging a few worn clothes. However, the bottom shelf contained a small storage box, so I crouched down and opened it to find two seals, each pressed beneath thin documents.
…This should do the trick.
I casually picked one up and held it in front of my eyes.
“Second Edict from the Holy Council…”
Oh…
Is this an order from the Holy City?
“Concerning the taxation scheme for the southern borders of Silgaya… taxes should be uniformly managed by the Currency Exchange, with the Second Knights Order overseeing implementation, and the Knowledge Association responsible for transportation matters. Both parties ensure smooth merchant routes, with Alectine City, Silent Fortress, and other severely impacted cities given priority distribution… Alectine City’s allocation for January is 160,000 coins… Silent Fortress gets 1,380,000 in March… Huh?”
The edict detailed the follow-up implementation scheme for taxation in the southern borders of Silgaya… but Silent Fortress is getting allocated this much money…
I furrowed my brow, peering at the page before setting it aside and picking up the next document.
The parchment’s header boldly read: Statistics of Defecting Knights from the Third Knights Order.
…This is it!
Since the so-called “defecting knights” matter is the responsibility of the Vice Captain of the Second Knights Order, after the chaos last year, he must be the one compiling the list of those who survived the night. The original list is left here, but actually, they don’t even know who these people are; they can’t be sure of who managed to escape.
I’m guessing the Vice Captain certainly can’t remember all these folks, especially who they are and what they look like.
With over three hundred knights, knowing who’s alive and who’s dead relies solely on this list.
Since that’s the case, all I need to do is make a few tweaks on the list…
I immediately skimmed through the names, noticing that most had been crossed out. After some searching, I finally found Barry’s name among the few that remained.
I headed back to the desk, picked up the feather pen, dipped it in ink, and neatly crossed out Barry’s name. I tilted my head, thought for a moment, and randomly crossed out two more before returning the pen to its place. I then walked back to the cupboard, blowing on the ink to speed up the drying process.
With that…
Barry is now “dead” to the Second Knights Order.
Even if they later discover that this list was tampered with, it would be hard to pinpoint which names had been altered. That’s why I deliberately crossed out two extra names—just in case the Vice Captain had a rough impression of the lives left on the list. This would only cloud his judgment further.
If things go south, it’s unlikely the Vice Captain would report the “tampering with the list” thing to the Holy City. At this point, he neither has the guts nor the need to. The smart thing is to pretend he doesn’t know and keep it under wraps until it’s time to report to the Church that the task has been completed satisfactorily.
By that time, even if the Vice Captain knows someone might still be alive, as long as the upper echelons of the Church believe all the “sinners” from the Third Knights Order have confessed and been executed, then Barry would be completely free from pursuit. After all, he’s just a minor character; there’s no way the Church would expend effort launching a second hunt. What’s important is the Third Knights Order, those so-called “leftovers of St. George,” not some little knight named Barry.
That’s all that matters.
Feeling the ink was dry enough, I set the list down and turned my attention to the final document in the box.
