Chapter 27
The gateway city of Serigel.
Due to its geographical features, those passing through the gate had to undergo a strict inspection process, but this did not apply to knights.
This was even more true for a knight of Paganoa.
“Evangeline of the Paganoa Knights. My business is concluded, and I am returning.”
Evangeline delivered a formal report.
Of course, the gatekeeper had long since opened a separate gate for high-ranking officials as soon as he saw Evangeline.
Clip-clop.
She lightly pulled the reins and exited the castle gate.
Beside Evangeline was her ever-present attendant.
“I have delivered your letter to the Knights. It will arrive earlier than us, so support may come sooner than you think.”
“It must. We cannot let Sir Reinhardt fight alone.”
“Yes. I feel the same.”
If she had her way, Evangeline would have wanted to stay.
But the jewel tucked away in her clothes was, without a doubt, dangerous.
To deliver it to Paganoa as quickly as possible, she had suppressed her reluctance and begun her return journey immediately.
“About that jewel you possess, Sir. It looked like a very dangerous object to my eyes as well.”
Evangeline agreed with her attendant’s opinion.
Evil magic constantly flowed from the jewel.
It was an object that could never have been found if not for Reinhardt, and even if it had been found, it would have surely been after an irreversible accident had already occurred.
“The Knight Commander will be pleased.”
“He would be. Probably.”
The Knight Commander of Paganoa.
He was a man who did his best to execute demons and warlocks more than anyone else, and even now as commander, he was a person who would willingly step out into the field himself.
The commander would surely break into a broad smile the moment he saw the jewel Evangeline had brought.
Saying that they could now land a blow on the evil ones.
“If properly researched, we may be able to grasp the exact process of the summoning ritual. After all, the warlock of Agrio-s mentioned it was an item they absolutely had to obtain.”
“Paganoa will succeed. As they always have. However, I am so surprised that Sir Reinhardt found such an object.”
“Sir Reinhardt just did what he had to do.”
“Is that what he said?”
Evangeline nodded.
Despite having achieved something tremendous, Reinhardt had simply been nonchalant when delivering the news.
As if he were talking about what he ate for breakfast and what he would eat for lunch.
Any other knight would have done their best to make their contribution known, but Reinhardt seemed to hope the news would not spread.
-There is no need to try and bring him over by force. A man like Sir Reinhardt will one day walk the same path as us.
Suddenly, the words of Inquisitor Bardo came to mind.
It was advice he had given Evangeline as soon as he heard she was visiting Serigel.
Evangeline agreed with him.
Reinhardt would one day become a member of Paganoa.
Doing what must be done, in the place one must be. Considering what Reinhardt always said, it was bound to happen.
“Ah, do you happen to know what relationship the Taton Knights have with the City Hall?”
“It’s no different from anywhere else.”
“But didn’t the guard captain give a formal report to Reinhardt?”
“That is……”
In truth, Evangeline had also found that part somewhat strange.
The City Hall guards and knights did not usually have that kind of relationship.
Moreover, Reinhardt’s demeanor while receiving the report was certainly natural. It meant this wasn’t the first time such a situation had occurred.
“Because he is Sir Reinhardt.”
“Hmm, I see.”
It felt as if any question could be transformed into a natural phenomenon just by attaching the name ‘Reinhardt’.
His attitude towards Evangeline was also like that.
She had met numerous knights so far, and all of them were men who admired Paganoa. They were all busy trying to exchange even one more word with Evangeline.
But Reinhardt.
“He became extremely enraged the moment he heard the word ‘Black Magic’.”
Her thoughts were cut off by the attendant’s timely words.
“He did.”
“And he became stronger. You must have felt it too, Dame.”
It was just as the attendant said.
In the process of listening to the guard captain’s report, Reinhardt had clearly grown progressively stronger.
It felt as if he grew stronger the angrier he became.
And when the guard captain left.
Reinhardt, at the point when his eyes were glaring fiercely and his tightly bitten lower lip was trembling, was.
‘Extremely strong. Much more so than the last time I saw him.’
Did he grow in that short time?
Or did he still have power that he had not yet revealed?
It was a question Evangeline could not answer.
Perhaps even Reinhardt himself did not know.
‘Doing what must be done, in the place one must be.’
Evangeline stopped her thoughts there and gripped the reins tightly.
The thing she had to do now was to return to the Paganoa Knights as quickly as possible.
***
“A knight from Paganoa is coming! The news is that a knight other than Dame Evangeline is coming to visit our Taton Knights!”
Ethan Taton simply could not contain his joy.
This was an opportunity to broaden his connections.
It meant a chance to become ‘acquainted’ with another knight from Paganoa, not just Evangeline, whom he already knew.
“Is that so.”
But Reinhardt was indifferent.
Of course, that was only his outward expression.
‘Why do they have to send another person?’
Before leaving Serigel, Evangeline had said so.
That she could not let Reinhardt face evil alone.
That she had requested a dispatch from a trusted colleague, who would soon arrive to assist in Reinhardt’s mission.
Naturally, Reinhardt had refused, but Evangeline did not accept his refusal.
“This is truly a joyous occasion. To have two Paganoa knights nearby! At this point, I can't help but think Sir Reinhardt is already a knight of Paganoa.”
“That is not true at all. I am a knight of Taton.”
“Of course, you are. That’s a given. For now, you are a knight of Taton, and you are carrying out a mission with me, but……”
Ethan’s cheekbones soared. Reinhardt desperately suppressed the urge to drag them down himself.
“In any case, it is soon time to welcome our guest. They said he would arrive today, correct?”
“That is what I heard.”
“Yes, in that case, it is only right that our Sir Reinhardt greets him personally.”
“Wouldn’t you be more suitable than me, Commander?”
“Ordinarily, that would be the case, but you are an extraordinary person, are you not? The other party will surely want that as well. Since he must have heard in detail about Taton’s knight, Reinhardt.”
Ethan said so and then broke into a broad smile.
His expression was an order to leave. To be more precise, it was the expression of a parent seeing their child off to their first day of work.
‘I can’t exactly tell him not to come.’
Reinhardt, trying hard to hide his annoyance, left the knightly order.
Not wanting to attract attention, he covered himself with a robe and sought out the Serigel gate.
“This is Reinhardt of Taton. Today, a guest……”
“Ah, Sir Reinhardt! We have already been informed. Would you like to wait here? We will report to you immediately upon his arrival!”
It seemed the news had already spread this far.
The gate soldiers had even cleared out an entire lounge so Reinhardt could wait comfortably.
The sight of a fluffy fur cushion placed on the chair was quite burdensome.
“Please rest comfortably!”
Reinhardt, resigned, sat down and monopolized the empty lounge.
Arguing about whether it was necessary or not would only be a hassle.
‘Anyway, the key is who they sent.’
Reinhardt thought as he sat on the fur cushion.
There were numerous knights in Paganoa. The number of knights with proper skills alone easily exceeded a hundred.
‘The knightly order’s composition won’t be of people I remember. The time period is completely different.’
Evangeline was a case in point.
During the time the main story progressed, she possessed abilities befitting her title, the Knight of Frost.
Every time she swung her sword, a pure white frost would leave a trail, and the enemies she cut down would freeze solid as they were split apart.
But not now.
At this point in time, Evangeline was merely a regular knight of Paganoa who was extremely skilled with a sword.
‘It’s not like they would send a high-ranking knight. If warlocks are already active, Paganoa’s key personnel would be rolling around in a much more serious neighborhood than here……’
Then it had to be a regular knight.
Since Evangeline said it was a trusted colleague, it was probably someone relatively close to her.
It was when Reinhardt had thought that far.
“Sir Reinhardt! The guest has arrived at the gate!”
“I’ll be right out.”
When he opened the lounge door, a soldier with a flushed face was waiting. He had the expression of a student who had seen a celebrity for the first time.
Feeling uneasy about it, Reinhardt asked a question.
“Did you hear the guest’s name?”
“Yes, I did. It is Sir Fermil of the Paganoa Knights.”
The soldier answered vigorously, and Reinhardt, without realizing it, clicked his tongue.
Fermil, the Knight of Swiftness.
It was because he was a figure he knew as well as Evangeline.
***
In the Paganoa Knights, there are three main and supporting characters.
Reinhardt, the Knight of Light; Evangeline, the Knight of Frost; and Fermil, the Knight of Swiftness.
In the lore, the three of them were very close within the knightly order.
And one of them would be chosen by the ‘protagonist’ to join the journey to defeat the Archdemons.
‘All three had similar performances. Though the process changed a lot.’
The case of choosing Reinhardt was already famous.
The flow was to dominate in the early to mid-game, then rapidly collapse in the very late game when Reinhardt died.
Therefore, when choosing that route, the key was how well one raised companions other than Reinhardt in the early to mid-game.
‘Evangeline was on the decent side.’
Evangeline, the Knight of Frost, was a character who performed at least moderately from beginning to end.
If you invested in her, you would get as much efficiency as you invested, and even if you just took care of the basics, she was a character who pulled her weight.
‘The problem was Fermil. Because he was a typical late-bloomer type of character.’
Fermil, the Knight of Swiftness.
Unlike the other two, he was a force to be employed strictly for the very late game.
He lacked so much presence that it made one wonder if he was really a knight of Paganoa, his speech and actions were flippant, and his skills were just so-so.
However, what Fermil needed was a catalyst.
It was a story of him realizing the burden he carried, feeling its weight, and finally becoming a serious knight.
“Well, I see. So this is Serigel. It certainly falls short compared to the capital, but it seems livable for a few days. Though it is a bit lacking.”
“Indeed it is. The city’s class certainly falls short for Sir Fermil to stay in!”
“That’s my man. Keep up the good work. With an eye like that, you too could become an Inquisitor one day.”
Reinhardt began to think deeply about the conversation he was hearing beside him.
Fermil, the Knight of Swiftness, and his attendant.
If one were to judge by appearances alone, it was embarrassing to even compare him to Evangeline.
‘Of all the bastards to come, it had to be him.’
If it was going to be like this, Evangeline would have been better.
She had a favorable opinion of Reinhardt, and she was someone who would readily accept the excuse of ‘it just happened that way’.
‘What should I do with this guy. If I let him run wild, it’s obvious my head will hurt even more.’
Reinhardt knew Fermil’s personality.
In a situation where he was already facing the troublesome problem of the Miller Caravan, he had no intention of meekly tolerating another headache like Fermil.
Looking at the back of the loudly chattering head, Reinhardt made a decision.
‘I’ll have to break his spirit a bit. So he doesn't act up too much.’